Meet Our Company

Samson Syharath is a multidisciplinary artist, producer, educator, and administrator focusing on visibility of Asian-American artists and under-served communities. After receiving a B.A. from the University of Arkansas – Fort Smith, Samson trained at the Portland Actors Conservatory where he is currently Associate Artistic Director. He was part of the Theatre Communications Group Rising Leaders of Color Cohort in 2017 featured by American Theatre Magazine and was the recipient of the Portland Civic Theatre Guild’s Leslie O. Fulton Fellowship that same year. Samson is also a company member of Theatre Vertigo and helped Bag&Baggage Productions with artist outreach for their Problem Play Project.  www.samsonsyharath.com

Dmae Lo Roberts has been the executive producer of MediaRites since 1991 and has managed numerous projects. Her Peabody-winning documentary Mei Mei, a Daughter’s Song is a harrowing account of her mother’s childhood in Taiwan during WWII, adapted  into a film in 2014. Roberts and MediaRites won another Peabody-award for the eight-hour Crossing East, the first Asian American history series on public radio. Roberts received the Dr. Suzanne Ahn Civil Rights and Social Justice award from the Asian American Journalists Association and was selected as a United States Artists (USA) Fellow. As a theatre artist, she has won two Drammys, one for her acting and one for her play Picasso In The Back Seat, which also won the Oregon Book Award in 1996. She has has performed in and produced dozens of stage plays in her career on Portland stages including the IFCC, Artists Repertory Theatre, OSF-Portland and Tygres Heart Shakespeare Company. She will be featured in Artists Rep’s production of Caught in October 2017.

Larry Toda (producing ensemble) earned his B.A. in journalism and communications, and is a corporate marketing manager for Mentor Graphics Corporation in Wilsonville. Previous professional roles include Henry in South Pacific (Lakewood Theater), Emperor and Sailor in Pacific Overtures (Keller Auditorium) and Mike in From Oregon With Love II (Fuji Television Japan). He has performed most recently in MediaRites’ Theatre Diaspora’s productions of Breaking the Silence, The Theory of Everything, A Sound of a Voice, and After the War Blues. He currently serves on the board of MediaRites.

Alex Haslett (producing ensemble) is a writer, theatre artist, and professional fundraiser currently residing in Portland. In addition to his work as a company member, he currently serves as Theatre Diaspora’s board secretary. Outside of Theatre Diaspora, he is also a board member of Third Rail Repertory Theatre, and works with the Philanthropy team at OPB.

Lila Yang is a Post-Bacc Pre-Med student Portland State University where she also received her BA in Theater in 2017. Lila is currently the Stage Manager for FashioNXT here in Portland. Previously she has worked for Northwest Children’s Theater and also attended classes there growing up.

Jenna Yokoyama is a singer, theater creative, and audio producer. Her creative work often focuses on exploring the experiences of the Asian American community. She has a passion for understanding the complexity that makes up the interconnected nature of culture, identity, and art. Recent credits include radio hosting at KBOO and KQAC in Portland, co-writer of Gambatte: An American Legacy, and on-stage in The Journal of Ben Uchida and Where the Mountain Meets the Moon. She has degrees in music from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

Beatriz Abella is a first-generation Filipino-American, born and raised in Alaska and now based in Portland, Oregon. She studied Music and Business Administration at Southern Oregon University on the Diversity Scholarship, Filipino-American Association Scholarship, and multiple music scholarships. She has performed classical and musical theatre repertoire in San Francisco, Seattle, Germany, Mexico, the Czech Republic, and at a variety of venues including the Oregon Cabaret Theatre and New York City’s Carnegie Hall. Beatriz received Camelot Theatre’s 2017 Best Character Actress Award and appeared onstage with multiple theatre companies including the Brava! Opera Theater & James M. Collier Young Artist Program, Mocks Crest Opera Light Opera of Portland, and Renegade Opera. In 2020, she made her film debut with 945 Productions’ internationally recognized short film “Buried” as “Kane Jordan.” In 2022, she delighted audiences with her rendition of “Little Buttercup” in Light Opera of Portland’s “H.M.S. Pinafore” and made her debut with Renegade Opera as the narrator/“White House Tour Guide” for their sold-out production of “Tito.” In 2023, Beatriz played “Ma” and “Amah” in Oregon Children’s Theatre’s ground-breaking production of “Where the Mountain Meets the Moon,” featuring Portland’s first ever all-AAPI musical cast. Proud of her Filipino heritage, Beatriz continues to prioritize diversity and inclusivity with her artistic pursuits.

Terry Kitagawa (he/him) is a PNW based actor, director, musician and technician. He loves working on and developing new works both as an actor and director. His directing credits include directing readings and workshops in NYC, and assistant directing Off-Broadway at 59E59 and Theatre Row. Select performances include: Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, OCT;  Baseball Saved Us, 5th Ave’s Adventure Musical Theatre; Ring of Fire, Stumptown Stages; Cambodian Rock Band, OSF; We Are Not Free, audiobook. 

Ari Chadwick-Saund (they/them) is a South Asian/mixed race
nationally produced playwright and multidisciplinary artist based in
Portland, Oregon. They proudly serve as a company member of
Theatre Diaspora, Oregon’s only professional Asian American/Pacific
Islander (AAPI) theatre company. Recent and current production
work includes collaborations with Oregon Children’s Theatre, Artists
Repertory Theatre, LineStorm Playwrights and Bag & Baggage
Theatre, Profile Theatre, Body Home Fat Dance, Risk/Reward PDX
and On The Boards Seattle, Renee’s Queer Cabaret, Kryptic Films,
APANO/AMP, Advance Gender Equity in the Arts and Literary Arts.
Recent poetry publications include collections in Pile Press’ Winter
Issue Vol. 3 and Mythos Magazine’s Moon Goddess Issue. Future
publications include a trio of poems to be published by Drip Literary
Magazine in the autumn/winter of 2022. They are currently working
on editing their first poetry chapbook, Twist the Legend.

Featured Artists 2019

Catherine Ming T’ien Duffly
Jasper Howard
Shareen Jacobs
Joe Kye
Elaine Low
Melissa Magana
Sofia Molina
Shelley B. Shelley
Dre Slaman
Samson Syharath
Larry Toda
Andrea White
Jane Vogel

Featured Artists 2018

Jasper Howard
Savira Kambu
Joe Kye
Elaine Low
Melissa Magana
Josie Seid
Samson Syharath

Featured Artists 2017

Anthony Lam
Sarika Mehta
Elaine Low
Matthew Sepda
Paige Rogers
Joe Rogers

Featured Artists 2016

Wynee Hu (founding ensemble member)
Tonya Jone Miller
Leo Lin
Ken Yoshikawa
Sofia May-Cuxim
Enrique E. Andrade
Ming Young
Ken Tang
Paige Rogers
Jess Ford
Bobby Bermea
Jamie Rea
Emily Gregory
James Dixon
Ashley Williams
Colin Kane
Adrian Baxter
Isaiah Sims
Brooke Calcagno
Caitlin Fisher Draeger
Natasha Stockem

Featured Artists 2014-2015

Chisao Hata (founding ensemble member)
Heath Hyun Houghton (founding ensemble member)
Wynee Hu (founding ensemble member)
Tonya Jone Miller
Elaine Low
Nicholas So
Zoë Anderson
Bruce Burkhartsmeier
Emily Gregory
Joseph Wahl
Paul Susi
Kat Templeton
Sumi Wu
Michelle Fujii
Toru Watanabe
Bobby Bermea
Colton Ruscheinsky
Herb Tsuchiya
Nikki Nojima Louis
Toni Tabora-Roberts
Rusty Newton Tennant
Kimo Camat
Leticia Maskell
Billy Boudavong
Simon Tam
Minh Tran