IPHIGENIA
Devised by Megan and Shannon Kurashige and the cast after Euripides
DIRECTORS
Megan & Shannon Kurashige
CAST
Iphigenia - Molly Levy
Agamemnon - Eric Avery
Clytemnestra - Charmaine Butcher
Achilles - Hadassah Perry
Chorus - Kira Fargas and Ryan Rouland Smith
COMPOSER
Jordan Glenn
MUSICIANS
Ben Davis, Jessica Folson, Jordan Glenn, Cory Wright, Matt Wrobel
COSTUMES
Emily and Shannon Kurashige
LIGHTING
Allen Willner
STAGE & PRODUCTION MANAGER
Christina Larson
SOUND ENGINEER
Nathan Corder
Iphigenia at Aulis was written by the Greek playwright Euripides between 408 and 406 BC. It is his last surviving play.
The creation of IPHIGENIA was supported by generous individual donors and the San Francisco Arts Commission.
ABOUT SHARP & FINE
Sharp & Fine creates devised performances that combine exuberant choreography, original text, and live music to tell stories that invite both audience and performers to imagine boldly and feel deeply.
We believe storytelling is a powerful tool for envisioning and creating pieces of the world as you wish it to be. For us, that means bringing together good people and making the space, time, and questions to cultivate work that cares fiercely, tries outrageously, and is never afraid of laughing at itself. How else can we make new stories that even attempt to say something worth listening to?
OTSUKARESAMA DESHITA
THANK YOU FOR YOUR EFFORT
To Charmaine, Eric, Hadassah, Kira, Molly, and Ryan, for making and telling this big beast of a story with us. Thank you for being so generous with your imagination, effort, trust, and time.
To Jordan, for an absolutely gorgeous score, and to Ben, Cory, Jessica, and Matt for bringing it to life.
To Allen, for creating our world, and to Christina, for making sure the world runs smoothly. To Mika, for wielding that blowtorch for us!
To Emily and Jason, for your steadfast love and support. To Jay and Jesse, for putting up with our art-making chaos. To the Hamamura and Gragas clans, our Aunties, and the Walking Mommies, for supporting S&F and extending your remarkable hospitality to our audience. To Katharine, Carson, and Meredith, for helping us build the future of S&F.
And to all the friends, audience, and supporters who make Sharp & Fine’s work possible.
CO-DIRECTORS
MEGAN & SHANNON KURASHIGE
Megan & Shannon Kurashige are sisters, directors, choreographers, producers, reluctant arts administrators, and mostly lapsed dancers. Across everything they do, they believe in telling stories and making space to listen. They co-founded Sharp & Fine in 2011 to make a home for ongoing collaboration and experiments in theatrical storytelling.
As choreographers, they have been commissioned by Robert Moses’ KIN, Kunoichi Productions, Oakland Ballet, the US/Japan Cultural Trade Network, and Soundwave. As dancers, they worked with Liss Fain Dance, Mark Foehringer Dance Project, Christian Burns, Alex Ketley, Ballet Pacifica, and Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montreal. @sharpandfine on Instagram
DEVISER-PERFORMERS
ERIC AVERY
Agamemnon
Eric Avery is an interdisciplinary artist and cultural organizer with over nineteen years of professional experience in theatre, interactive performance, and community-based projects. Since 2018, they have focused on applying a reparationist framework to their creative practice, organizing projects, and life. This dedication to relationship-centered process has put Avery in partnership with non-profit organizations, municipalities, social service agencies, universities, farms, community centers, prisons, art galleries, public spaces, and private homes. In addition to collaborations, Avery has independently created over 25 original productions. They earned a Bachelor's in Theatre & Film from the University of Kansas and an MFA in Theatre Arts from Towson University. Honors/Awards: Bessie Award (Outstanding Visual Design), Lavender Magazine Best of List (Outstanding Performance), Elliot Norton Award (Outstanding Design), 2024 MAP Grant Awardee, Zellerbach: Community Arts, East Bay Fund for Artists, Dresher Ensemble Artist Residency, TBA CA$H Grant, Rainin: New & Experimental Works, and more.
Eric joined Sharp & Fine in 2025
CHARMAINE BUTCHER
Clytemnestra
Charmaine is a dance artist based out of Oakland, CA. After graduating high school with an Associate's Degree, they continued their training at Alonzo King LINES Ballet's Training Program in San Francisco. Charmaine has worked professionally for various choreographers, including Amy J Lambert, Beth Terwilleger, Cameo Lethem, Chuck Wilt, Dani Rowe, Dwight Rhoden, Robert Moses and performed with Ballet22, Ballare Carmel, BODYSONNET, Coriolis Dance, San Francisco Opera, Seattle Opera, SFJazz, Smuin Contemporary Ballet, and Verlaine & McCann’s Burlesque Nutcracker. They worked closely with Moscelyne ParkeHarrison throughout 5 seasons dancing with Robin Dekker’s Post:ballet. In 2025, they premiered an original role in Matthew Ozawa’s Parsifal for San Francisco Opera, choreographed by Rena Butler. Charmaine currently dances with Sharp & Fine and frequently collaborates with their partner Babatunji, showing work independently at San Francisco Trolley Dance, RAWdance’s CONCEPT Series, Dance Lovers (SF), Studio 210 Residency, and with Inner Child Foundation. Charmaine is working as a dancer in Babatunji’s Phoenix Paradox (working title) produced by SOZO Media, which will premiere in 2027. Charmaine is also an instructor, teaching rigorous and inspiring contemporary ballet classes as well as breaking based floorwork approaches inspired by their time working with Babatunji. In 2019, Charmaine completed their bachelor’s degree in Marketing & Entrepreneurship. In addition to dancing and teaching movement, Charmaine enjoys baking gluten free goodies for their friends and works as a floral designer whenever the opportunity arises.
Charmaine joined Sharp & Fine in 2022
KIRA FARGAS
Chorus
Kira is a queer, first-generation Filipinx-American movement artist, choreographer, educator, and drag performer. She began her dance training at the Westlake School for the Performing Arts in Daly City, CA, and received her BFA in Dance from the University of Arizona in 2017. Kira has performed and collaborated with UNA Productions (Fuchsia), EIGHT/MOVES (Mia Chong), Detour Productions (Eric Garcia and Kat Cole), Sharp & Fine (Megan and Shannon Kurashige), New Dialect (Banning Bouldin), and KT Nelson, among others. Their choreographic work has been presented at UNA Productions’ Glimpse, ODC’s State of Play, BODYSONNET’s OTHER/self, RAWDance’s Concept Series, and more. Central to their artistic practice is an exploration of their Filipinx and queer identity, honoring both their cultural lineage and community. Kira currently co-directs the Contemporary Training Program at the Westlake School for the Performing Arts alongside Hadassah Perry. She is deeply committed to mentoring and collaborating with the next generation of dancers.
Kira joined Sharp & Fine in 2025
MOLLY LEVY
Iphigenia
Molly Levy is a performer and dance educator who is drawn to the heart and humanity of dance. She is curious about how movement uncovers truths we may otherwise never know and inspired most by untethered honesty. Born and raised in the Bay Area and currently based in Oakland, Ca, Molly has performed throughout the country in devised original works, immersive theater, site-specific dance, and full evening burlesque shows. Her collaborations have included work with Sharp & Fine, Paufve Dance, Post:ballet, Cantankerous Creatures, Katie Scherman + Artists, Seattle Opera, The Equus Projects, and LROD. In addition to performing, Molly has worked in theater as a movement director creating fluid movement languages and character specific movement studies for adaptations of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Hamlet, devised site-specific theater, and The Light Princess (a musical). As a teacher, Molly integrates her background in ballet, floorwork, and body-mind centering practices to offer a grounded and supportive approach to learning dance with an emphasis on anatomical alignment, functional progressions, musicality, and individual expression.
Molly joined Sharp & Fine in 2022
HADASSAH PERRY
Achilles
Hadassah is a San Francisco–based professional dancer and drag performer, and the codirector of Westlake School for the Performing Arts Contemporary Training Program with Kira Fargas. She currently performs with UNA Productions and Detour Productions, and has previously worked and collaborated with New Dialect, Babatunji Johnson, Bryan Arias, Alex Ketley, Yin Yue, KT Nelson, and Deborah Slater. Hadassah teaches at Training Ground SF and has created original works for Pearl Street Collective, RAWdance’s Concept Series, UNA’s Glimpse, and New Dialect’s Third Voice. @smileypiley on Instagram
Hadassah joined Sharp & Fine in 2024
RYAN ROULAND SMITH
Chorus
Ryan Rouland Smith holds a BFA in Dance and Choreography from Virginia Commonwealth University. In 2014, Smith became a member of Kate Weare Company, performing in and originating roles in such works as Dark Lark, Unstruck, Marksman and Praise. In 2019 while dancing in New York, Smith had the pleasure of working with Stefanie Batten Bland, Look Who is Coming to Dinner and Nicole Vaughn Diaz, A Portrait of Them. Following the collaborative process between Kate Weare Company and ODC, Decameron/Up For Air; Smith joined ODC/Dance from 2021-2025. While there he had the pleasure of dancing and originating works by Sidra Bell, Mia J. Chong, Sonya Delwaide, Catherine Galasso, KT Nelson, Dexandro Montalvo, Kimi Okada, Amy Seiwart and Brenda Way. Currently Smith is freelancing in the Bay Area, this is his first collaboration with Sharp & Fine.
Ryan joined Sharp & Fine in 2025
COMPOSER + MUSIC DIRECTOR
JORDAN GLENN
Drummer/composer/improviser JORDAN GLENN spent his formative years in Oregon where he received a BM in Jazz Studies at the University of Oregon. In 2006, he relocated to the Bay Area where he received an MFA from Mills College. Since then he has worked closely with Fred Frith (Fremakajo, FF Trio, Gravity Band), William Winant, Zeena Parkins (The Adorables), Roscoe Mitchell, Ben Goldberg, Myra Melford, Todd Sickafoose, John Schott, Lisa Mezzacappa, Kyle Bruckmann, Michael Coleman, Beth Schenck, Matthew Welch and bands Jack O' The Clock, Secret Chiefs 3, The Rova Sax Quartet and tUnE-yArDs. He has been commissioned to create scores for evening-length dance pieces by Sharp & Fine and Liss Fain Dance. Currently, he is one-third of the collective flatways with Sudhu Tewari and Matt Robidoux and composes/conducts the large, percussion heavy band BEAK. More info, including his lengthy discography can be found at www.jordanglennmusic.com
Sharp & Fine collaborator since 2016
MUSICIANS
BEN DAVIS
Cellist Ben Davis has been concentrating on fusing his classical, jazz and contemporary music experiences into a raw vehicle of acoustic expression. He started improvising while playing for dancers in Earthfall Dance UK, then following gigs with Evan Parker, Louis Moholo, Vincent Courtois and Wadada Leo Smith, Ben developed a freer approach to improv which he utilized while playing and recording with Ingrid Laubrock, Simon Nabatov and Bobby McFerrin. His own group Basquiat Strings collaborated with Ellery Eskerlin in the BBC Electric Proms and was nominated for the Mercury Music Awards 2007, during which time he was a member of the London based collective F-IRE and subsequently collaborated individually with many of its artists. More recently Ben has been playing with Tomeka Reid, Mary Halverson, Ben Goldberg, Chris Brown, Myra Melford, Larry Oaks and was involved in the Mills College festival "In The Fault Zone" with Roscoe Mitchell and Nichole Mitchell.
Sharp & Fine collaborator since 2024
JESSICA FOLSON
Jessica Folson is a versatile and instinctive artist who performs all genres with ease and energy. As an active freelancer and teacher in the Bay Area, some of her recent career highlights include recording at Skywalker Studios with 3232 Productions, playing in the pit orchestra at SF Playhouse, collaborating with Grammy-award winning composer Kinan Azmeh, and playing at SF Jazz with Chris Potter. Jessica plays with many Bay Area orchestras including the Monterey Symphony, Stockton Symphony, Vallejo Symphony, and the California Symphony, and recently won a position with the Boise Philharmonic. She is a co-founder of Mosaic Strings, a rostered ensemble focused on fostering community with high quality performances. Jessica maintains an expanding private violin studio and is an orchestra coach at Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory. Jessica earned her master’s degree at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she studied with Simon James.
This is Jessica’s first project with Sharp & Fine
CORY WRIGHT
Reeds player Cory Wright, educated at Oberlin College and the University of Southern California, has been involved in both the jazz and creative music worlds for the past 30 years, including time spent in New York, Los Angeles and his current home in the San Francisco bay area. His recent projects reflect his interest in blurring the distinction between composed and improvised material and in combining the harmonious with the atonal, and groove with the arrhythmic. Cory has played in ensembles lead by Anthony Braxton, Vinny Golia, Eddie Gale, Adam Rudolph and Yusef Lateef. He is currently a member of bay area groups Bristle, the Nathan Clevenger Group, Crushing Spiral Ensemble and Orchestra Nostalgico, and leads his own projects Green Mitchell and the Cory Wright Outfit.
Sharp & Fine collaborator since 2016
MATT WROBEL
Guitarist Matt Wrobel is active as a performer in the Bay Area and beyond. He has played at venues including: Davies Symphony Hall, SFJazz, The Catalina Island Jazz Festival, Newport Beach Jazz Festival, Sunset Jazz Festival (Japan), The Stone (NYC), Barbés (NYC), and many others. He has performed and/or recorded with: The Beth Schenck Quintet, John Wood's Learning Music, Jenny Scheinman, The San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus, Justin Nielsen, Jeff Lorber, and David Kikoski, among others. In addition to performing, Matt enjoys teaching and has worked as a visiting artist and clinician at CSU Bakersfield, CSU Fullerton, and BYU Idaho.
Sharp & Fine collaborator since 2024
CREATIVE TEAM
ALLEN WILLNER
Lighting
Allen Willner is a lighting designer for theater, dance, and opera. He has lived and worked in San Francisco and New York as a Lighting Designer for 20 years. Locally, he has designed for many Bay Area dance companies including Sharp & Fine, Erika Chong Shuch Performance Project, inkBoat, Garrett Moulton Productions, Deborah Slater Dance Theater, Katie Faulkner’s Little Seismic Dance Company, Kristin Damrow & Company, ABD Productions, Moving Ground, and Epifany Dance Theater. Allen has designed for regional and international theaters and has received numerous awards and nominations for his work, including the Theatre Bay Area Award, Bay Area Critics’ Circle Nomination, and the Isadora Duncan Dance Award.
Sharp & Fine collaborator since 2016
CHRISTINA LARSON
Stage + Production Manager
Christina Larson (she/her) has spent her career behind the scenes in theater - in practically all roles - but primarily as a stage manager or producer. She is beyond excited to be back working with one of her favorite teams to date - Sharp & Fine.
Sharp & Fine collaborator since 2017