The Unusual Suspects Theatre Company

Mission & History
The Need
Programs & Services
Curriculum
Goals & Results
Awards & Recognition
Board of Directors
Staff
Teaching Artists

Staff

617 S. Olive Street, Suite 812
Los Angeles, CA 90014
Tel: 213.488.8488  Fax: 213.488.8498
admin@theunusualsuspects.org

Sally FairmanSally Fairman - Executive Director
Sally has 17 years theatrical experience as actress, writer, director, and producer in NY and LA. From 1987-1997, she taught ESL at Columbia University and City University of New York (CUNY), including a theatre workshop in which immigrant students created and performed original stories. She studied acting at The Neighborhood Playhouse in NYC. In 1997, as a first-time writer, she co-won the Jury Award, short play category, HBO Comedy Arts Festival, Aspen. The award brought her to LA, where she met with people from Showtime (and others), and eventually landed a job at a clothing boutique, where she had several celebrity sightings and ultimately met the Founder of Unusual Suspects (US), actress Laura Leigh Hughes. In 1999, she started volunteering as grant writer for US, and got a job at Hitech Systems, a public safety software vendor. At Hitech, she managed customer service and inside sales for emergency centers in the USA and Mexico. Since becoming Executive Director of US in 2005, Sally has lead a 500% expansion of the organization’s budget and programs and developed multiple community, government and school partnerships with probation, state youth corrections, and local title one schools. She has created re-entry opportunities for US alumni through the organization’s summer alumni program, expanded programming to include elementary through adult-age participants, implemented sequential learning opportunities, and overseen the organization’s unique, participant-driven community building initiative, which uses audience interaction and discussion to explore solutions to intractable local issues and develop leadership opportunities for youth and adults.
sally@theunusualsuspects.org

Melissa DentonMelissa Denton - Program Director
Melissa Denton is an actor, director and arts administrator with over 15 years of arts education experience including 5 years as Project Coordinator with The Roundabout Theatre Company in New York, managing 20 teaching artists at Bronx Theatre High School. Her duties included site liaison, curriculum design, and serving as production manager for all theatrical performances. Prior to her time with US, Melissa received a B.S. in Speech Mass Communication from SDSU and later received an Arts-in-Education certificate from Manhattan Marymount College. She has worked as a teaching artist for various arts organizations in NYC including ENACT and the Guggenheim Museum. Melissa began working with The Unusual Suspects in 2006 as an event and program coordinator. Then in early 2008 became Program Director overseeing programming implementation and development, teacher training and curriculum development. Her directing credits include Buzzworks Theatre Company's Invasion of the Minnesota Normals, produced in 2008, Only You, awarded Pick of the Week by Back Stage West, Cabin Pressure, co-written by Maile Flanagan, and the world premiere of Pete's Garage by Joe Keyes. Her TV credits include Seinfeld, Mad TV, and Sex and the City and has provided the voices for the Oh Yeah! series on Nickelodeon.
melissa@theunusualsuspects.org

Frances Carley – Development Director
Francy has more than seven years of experience in nonprofit fundraising and program coordination for organizations that focus on children, the arts, and social justice issues, both as a staff member and a volunteer. In Los Angeles, she was a fundraiser for the Natural History Museum and for the Violence Intervention Program, which serves children and families affected by domestic abuse. As a volunteer, she is currently a mentor for Writegirl, a group that pairs teen girls with writers, encouraging them to express themselves through writing. In 2002, she received a BA in anthropology from CU-Boulder and in 2005, a master's degree in public policy from UCLA. Her background also includes theater production, creative writing, and the cello. Francy first worked with US as a consultant from 2004 to 2006, completing the organization’s first three program evaluations.
francy@theunusualsuspects.org

Amy Ellenberger - Communication & Outreach Coordinator
Amy is an actress, educator, and arts administrator. She has performed with various theatre companies on the east and west coast including the La Jolla Playhouse, Chautauqua Theatre Company, Contemporary American Theatre Co. in Columbus, OH, and Six Figures Theatre Company in NYC. Amy is a member of the improv comedy group the Mutiny, stars in the web series Lost Angeles, and co-hosts the internet radio show, Worst Show on the Web. She has administrative and production experience with such noted organizations as the Barrow Street Theater and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. She received her B.F.A from Otterbein College and recently her M.F.A. from the University of California San Diego. Amy is a founding member of Chalk Repertory Theatre.
Amy@theunusualsuspects.org

Rebecca Sigl - Program Assistant
Rebecca Sigl is an actor and company member of Theatre of NOTE in Hollywood where last year she was lucky enough to be a part of the award-winning play "He Asked For It" by Erik Patterson. Other LA credits include Bianca in "Taming of the Shrew" and Salarino in "Merchant of Venice" for Shakespeare-by-the-Sea. She holds a BFA in Acting from Boston University. While in Boston she directed a program with high school students in which they wrote and performed their own one-act plays. Rebecca joins The Unusual Suspects after having spent the past year at the Children's Hospital Los Angeles Foundation where she worked in Operations/Donor Services and gained a priceless understanding of what it takes to keep a non-profit organization running. She believes wholeheartedly in the power of theatre and the mission of The Unusual Suspects and is honored to be a part of the administrative team.
Rebecca@theunusualsuspects.org

David Guerra - Outreach Coordinator, Pacoima
David Guerra was born and raised in Los Angeles where he attended Bell High School and later graduated from East LA College. He transferred to the University of California, Santa Barbara receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Theatre. Upon returning to LA he resumed his acting career and also became a teaching artist, mentoring and working with youth and adults in public schools and community centers. His film and television credits include: Cargo, La Rosa y El Gato, Flor de Naranja, Diagnosis X and Untold Stories of the ER. He served as a Teaching Artist for the second half of the program at Camp G in the Fall 2008, working as an acting coach for the youth performance of Belly of the Beast: The Quest for the Unsolved Mystery of the Tiger Suit.
David@theunusualsuspects.org


THE UNUSUAL SUSPECTS THEATRE COMPANY | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2009
617 S. Olive Street, Suite 812 | Los Angeles, CA 90014 | Tel: 213.488.8488  Fax: 213.488.8498 |
admin@theunusualsuspects.org