
Performer Interviews, Q & A, and performance excerpts
with Marsh and MarshStream founder Stephanie Weisman
Thursday April 8, 2021 at 7:30pm
MarshStream’s First Anniversary
One year of MarshStream
Join us on Stephanie’s MarshStream to celebrate one year of MarshStream with
Geoff Hoyle, David Ford, Don Reed, Melissa Bangs and Candace Johnson.
Celebrating its diversity, its programming and over 500 performances since April 9, 2020!
MarshStream founder, Stephanie Weisman will chat with the performers about their transition to the digital black box and their upcoming MarshStream and shows live from The Marsh, once
we can reopen our theaters.
From Geoff Hoyle’s first filmic solo adventure, to Candace Johnson’s FitnesSing!™ and her upcoming Black composer singing and solo performances, to Melissa Bangs new writing development series, to Don Reed’s Zoomba Room. See what we’ve done and what is coming up!
Click Box to Watch
About the Guests
David Ford has been collaborating on new and unusual theatre for three decades and has been an artist-in-residence at The Marsh for most of that time. The San Francisco press has variously called him “the solo performer maven“, “the monologue maestro”, “the dean of solo performance”, and “the solo performer’s best friend” and a week rarely goes by when residents of the Bay Area can not enjoy one of his productions.
Geoff Hoyle clowned as Mr Sniff in San Francisco’s Pickle Family Circus, Cirque du Soleil and Circus Flora. He has appeared many times at ACT, Berkeley Rep, and off-Broadway, performing solo in regional theaters in the US and at festivals in Europe. On Broadway he originated the character of Zazu in The Lion King. Most recently he performed his solos Geezer and Lear’s Shadow at The Marsh.
Don Reed, (NBC/Snap Judgment/CBS) was the 2016 Theatre Bay Area – WINNER – for Outstanding Solo Production “East 14th” (extended 22 times) and most recently Co-Produced filmmaker Robert Townsend’s solo hit “Living the Shuffle” (2019/2020). A San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Nominee, NAACP Theatre Award Triple Nominee for Best Actor & Best Playwright, Don is also a Triple Nominee for Theatre Bay Area Outstanding Solo Production across his 7 one-man shows. Reed has traveled virtually every weekend since April 2009 from LA to perform live in the San Francisco Bay Area and nationally, A full summer 2008 Off-Broadway garnered approval from The New Yorker, New York Times, and Harlem News.
Praised by Opera Wire for her vocal clarity, dramatic presence, and expressive interpretation, soprano Candace Johnson, has concertized widely, including guest appearances at Carnegie Hall and The Manhattan Center. In 2018, Johnson premiered her one-woman show, VOX in a BOX at UC Berkeley, followed by a 2019 “Marsh Rising” performance. The show is a musical biography of how she uniquely fused her black music heritage and classical training to find her “voice”. On the music faculty at UC Berkeley, Johnson teaches voice classes and specializes in the research and performance of classical works by African-American composers. Johnson earned her doctorate in voice performance from the University of Michigan.
Melissa Bangs is fifth generation Montanan. In her many years away from Montana, Melissa worked as a labor organizer, a development director of an international human rights organization, a Spanish teacher and a nonprofit consultant with an emphasis on strategic planning, fundraising, board development and facilitation. Her journey away from Montana took her to Santa Cruz, Mexico, Chile, San Francisco, El Salvador and New York City. In 2004, Melissa brought her nonprofit consulting business home from NYC and worked with well over 100 nonprofit organizations throughout Montana before the birth of her daughter, Adelaide, in 2012. Between 2015 and the present, Melissa has drawn on her comedic roots from the Upright Citizens’ Brigade in NYC and shared her story with over 7,000 people. Melissa toured with her husband, Eric, daughter, Adelaide and their 130 pound dog, Etta James. Their journey has led them all over Montana, on a year-long West Coast Tour, to DC, NYC and beyond. All along the way Melissa’s mantra has been, “If my story does nothing else, may it unleash yours.” To fuel this mission, she has led storytelling workshops for moms that struggled in the perinatal period.
About the Host

Stephanie Weisman founded and has been the Artistic/Executive Director of The Marsh since its inception in 1989. Under her leadership, The Marsh has grown from a one-night-a-week performance series to producing 600-700 shows annually on its four stages. In addition to its developing work performance series, The Marsh’s programs include: artist-in-residencies, after-school and summer workshops for youth both onsite and in 5 SFUSD, and performance development classes, workshops and Performance Initiatives. In 1996 Stephanie spearheaded the drive to successfully buy their 12,000 sq ft facility on Valencia Street in San Francisco. This increased The Marsh’s programs four-fold as well as provided for a stable Bay Area arts organization. In 2010, The Marsh added a second venue in Berkeley. In 2020, Stephanie initiated MarshStream. She is currently at work developing her opera, Aphrodisia, with dancer, Wei Wang.