Board of Directors

Board of Directors

Meredith Hagedorn, Founder and Executive Artistic Director

Meredith has been a professional actor and director in regional theatres across the country for over twenty years and an acting teacher for all ages in Atlanta, Los Angeles, and now in the Bay Area. She began producing theatre in college and has been an acting & directing member of multiple theatre troupes across the country. Along with the many hats worn at Dragon, she also teaches teens and adults professional acting, marketing, and producing with her private coaching work.

Laura Jane Bailey, Chair

Laura Jane is an actor and esthetician. She has performed in many
Bay Area productions including several Dragon productions - Love Of A Pig,
Cloud Nine and Smell Of The Kill. Originally from Chicago, Laura
Jane was the Artistic Director for the Jeff Award nominated theatre company
Cobalt Ensemble Theatre. She taught Meisner acting technique at the Chicago Actors' Center. Laura Jane is a member of Theatre Bay Area and Actors' Equity.

Jill O'Nan, Vice Chair

Jill has been a professional writer and editor for more than 15 years. She began her career at ROLM (now Siemens Enterprise Communications) as a technical editor, and then joined Centigram Communications as a senior marketing writer. Since starting her own freelance business in 1995, Jill has worked with high-tech companies large and small, including Alcatel-Lucent,
Cisco, Covad, Hitachi, HP, Huawei, Jasper Wireless, Macrovision and SOMA Networks.

In addition to her high-tech experience, Jill is a recognized authority on sustainable weight loss and weight management. She has been featured in Newsweek, First for Women and Eating Well, and in 2008 appeared live on the nationally syndicated "Morning Show with Mike and Juliet."

A native Midwesterner, Jill grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio. Jerry Springer, the

now-infamous talk show host, was mayor of the city at the time and gave the commencement speech at her high school graduation. Jill attended Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio, graduating summa cum laude
with a B.A. in philosophy. She completed an M.A. in East Asian Studies at Stanford University and then spent a year in Japan before returning to Stanford for her J.D.

James Kasyan, Secretary

James is a techie by trade who welcomes the opportunity to help Dragon Productions in any way he can. He can be seen around the theatre, doing phone setup, moving flats, building, tearing down sets and, most recently, in the tech booth doing lighting and sound design.

Monica Cappuccini, Fundraising Event Chair

Monica was born in London. She has a BA in French/Italian from the University of Leeds and a degree in Italian Studies from the University of Florence. She came to the USA in 1972 for a quick visit and stayed. During that time, she worked almost exclusively in the travel industry. For 25 years she owned a travel agency in Palo Alto, focusing on adventure travel - her main interest being in fast-disappearing tribal and nomadic cultures, specifically in the Middle East,
India and West Africa. An avid photographer and travel writer, her travels gave her wonderful opportunities to immerse herself in the lives of the people she visited. She served on the Board of Women's Recovery Association from 2005 -2010. She is also on the Silicon Valley Peninsula Foundation's "Donor
Circle for the Arts." Recently, Monica has returned to her first love, the
stage, and is currently a proud member of the Bay Area acting community.

Greg Deckrow, Treasuror

Greg is a motorcyclist, musician and photographer by avocation and a Commodity Manager by vocation. He regularly puts more than 25,000 miles a year on his BMW motorcycles stopping only to eat, sleep or take a photograph. Greg was also responsible for getting Monica Cappuccini (fellow Dragon Board member) back on her bike. He plays percussion with the Ohlone College Wind Orchestra and Mission Peak Brass Band and is the drummer for the classic rock group Fossil Farm. Introduced to the
Dragon by Monica in 2009, Greg has been in regular attendance ever since and is looking forward to contributing to the growth of the Dragon.

Janette Herceg

A Native Palo Alton, with 20 years’ experience in Community Services for the City of Palo Alto, retired from the position of Volunteer Coordinator for the Palo Alto Art Center. She's a mixed media artists, jeweler artists and Graduate
Gemologist with a BA in Applied Design / San Diego State University. Also a facilitator (10 years) in “Controlled substance education” for the National Council of Drugs and Alcohol as a Certified Alcohol and Drug Addiction Counselor /University of California Santa Cruz. With a love of community, artistic expression, neuroscience and gerontology, she's currently holding the position of Sr. Director of Volunteer & Enrichment Programming at Lytton Gardens. Her hobbies include, training in women’s volleyball for the Senior Games at Stanford University, inline skating, cooking, wine tasting, traveling, cycling, sewing and gardening.

Armen Vidian

Armen's a fan of the theatre and a healthcare IT entrepreneur. Armen has lived in teh Bay Area for 12 years, and has worked directly with many across the technology and venture capital communities.

Professionally, Armen has leveraged his engineering education and graduate work in management at Stanford to create a career in high-tech and healthcare Marketing over the past 13+ years. He has launched new, innovative products to do such varied things as treat heart valve disease, to help people shop online, to conduct cardiac surgery, and to help physicians keep records through an iPad.

Board of Advisors

Dale Albright

Dale Albright is the managing artistic director of theatre Q and director of membership services at Theatre Bay Area. Dale has appeared as an actor at Dragon in Chekhov in Yalta (Stanislavski) and Heidi Chronicles (Peter), as well as Dragon's co-productions with theatre Q of Snakebit (Michael) and Cloud 9 (Betty/Gerry). Dale also directed Dragon's As Bees in Honey Drown, Side Man, and Burn This as well as theatre Q's The Sum of Us, Torch Song Trilogy and My Strange Nation. Dale's first full length play, Keep the Yuletide Gay, was performed by theatre Q in 2006 and 2007. Other acting appearances have been with New Conservatory Theater Center (Tennessee Williams in Tennessee in the Summer), City Light Theater Company (Compleat Female Stage Beauty), Theatre Rhino, Town Hall Theatre of Lafayette and Thrillpeddlers.

Lessa Bouchard

Lessa Bouchard's credits in the midwest include work with Walk and Squawk Performance Project, the Planet Ant and Matrix Theatre in Detroit, where she also co-founded and was the artistic director for Pow! a feminist theatre company; also EP Theatre, StageLeft and Victory Gardens ACCESS program in Chicago. She has a BFA in theatre performance from the University of Detroit Mercy and an MFA in Interdisciplinary Art and Media from Columbia College Chicago. Now in the South bay, she is proud to have appeared as Vi in the Memory of Water at Dragon in 2009 and directed Tongue of a Bird at Dragon in 2011.

Carl Cookson

Carl Cookson’s knowledge spans 45 years in the Title Insurance business, including 21 years as Owner and Chair of Santa Clara Land Title Co. He served as President of the California Land Title Association, and President of the California Escrow Association and remains active in both organizations. Cookson was a founding Board member of Cupertino National Bank and currently is on the board of San Jose National Bank. In the non-profit sector, Cookson has been President or Chair of the San Jose Symphony, Children’s Discovery Museum, Silicon Valley Arts Council, Symphony Silicon Valley, Santa Clara County Boy Scouts, and is the current Chair of City Lights Theater. He has served as Chair of the San Jose Chamber of Commerce, Community Partnership, Fairgrounds Management Committee, and is the Founding Co-Chair of the Silicon Valley Capital Club. Cookson is a graduate of San Jose State University.

Bob Miller

Bob Miller is a arts supporter and businessman from the East Bay. Bob works with pharmaceutical businesses throughout the East Bay and frequently volunteers for many arts organizations. Bob is a founding board member of Theatre Q.

Diane Tasca

Diane Tasca is the founder and artistic director of the Pear Avenue Theatre in Mountain View. She has acted in over sixty productions in California and elsewhere, and holds a doctorate in English Literature. She lives in Palo Alto.

Kimberly Wadycki

Kimberly Wadycki graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a bachelor's degree in political science. While pursuing her degree she was very active at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts - she was the founding producer of "On the Rocks" a series of student written, directed, and produced one-acts, sat on the Administrative Board of the Krannert Center Association for three years, and was the sole student campus representative on the search committee to hire the new Executive Director of the Krannert Center. Professionally, she was heavily involved with St. Louis Shakespeare and Magic Smoking Monkey Theatre where she worked as a Stage Manager, Board Member, and Production Manager. After a 6 year hiatus Kim has "un-retired" to become active with Dragon Productions Theatre.

Austin Grose

joined Shasta Ventures with 14 years of experience in venture capital finance, most recently as CFO of Allegis Capital, a $500 million family of funds. His prior experience includes CFO roles with Associated Venture Investors and MK Global Ventures. Austin began his career as a CPA with Arthur Andersen & Co., where he led audit and tax engagements for clients in a variety of industries.

Education

M.B.A.,
American Graduate School of International Management (Thunderbird)

B.A.,
Business Administration and Spanish, Carroll College

Ana-Catrina Buchser

Ana-Catrina Buchser has been directing theater since 1998 at different locations throughout the Bay Area, such as Bus Barn Stage Company, Santa Clara Players, Tabard Theatre Company, and City Lights Theater Company. Her directing credits include Antigone (in the Oval Office), The Hound of the Baskervilles, Proof and Moon over Buffalo. At Dragon Productions Theatre Company,Ana-Catrina directed Edward Albee’s Seascape, The Memory of Water, The Smell of the Kill, and Bertolt Brecht’s The Caucasian Chalk Circle. She has also worked as Assistant Director for Philip Kan Gotanda’s world premiere Love in American Times and for Ian Bruce’s Groundswell at the San Jose Repertory Theatre. Ana-Catrina is an alumna of the Stanford Marching Band. She attended Stanford University and received a double Bachelor's Degree in Human Biology and Drama, as well as a Master's degree in Directing. Ana-Catrina is an Associate Member of SDC, a member of TBA, and an alumna of Directors Lab West.