The 2010 workshop is now over. Thank you to everyone who joined us and made the workshop a great success!

Check back soon for photos and information on next year's workshop.

Coming soon, the 16th annual Winter Wonderland Workshop. January, 2011...

The staff for the 2010 Winter Wonderland Workshop included:

SAFD FIGHT MASTERS

DAVID BOUSHEY – A career spanning over 35 years as a stunt coordinator and instructor, David is the founder of the United Stuntmen’s Association (USA) and the Society of American Fight Directors (SAFD). He has won multiple Los Angeles Critics Awards for Fight Choreography, has been inducted into the Hollywood Stuntmen’s Hall of Fame, and has been named one of only seventeen Fight Masters with the SAFD. He has worked with numerous celebrities including Tommy Lee Jones, William Hurt, Christopher Walken, Denzel Washington, Jon Voight, Chris Cooper, Brad Dourif, Marsha Mason, Gillian Anderson, David Duchovny, Danny Glover, Harvey Keitel, Meg Ryan and Elijah Wood. He was also just awarded the "Distinguished Alumni" citation from Central Washington University.

k JENNY JONES – k. Jenny Jones, a Fight Master and Certified Fight Director of the Society of American Fight Directors (SAFD), stages fights and teaches throughout the U.S. and abroad.Her regionalcredits include Actors Theater of Louisville, St. Louis Repertory, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Ensemble Theater of Cincinnati, Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, Portland, Cincinnati, Kentucky and Dayton Operas. A Master Teacher of stage combat, Ms. Jones is internationally known for her contemporary fighting style, and is the only woman in the U.S. inducted into the College of Fight Masters by the SAFD. She resides in Cincinnati, Ohio where she performs, choreographs and is currently a Professor of Drama at the College-Conservatory of Music.

RICHARD RAETHER – Richard’s work as a fight director has taken him from The Alabama Shakespeare Festival, to The Roundabout, to The Chicago Shakespeare Theatre to The Guthrie Theater and more. He has also staged fights for such television shows as The Guiding Light, One Life to Live and All My Children. Richard has served as adjunct or guest instructor at many training programs including Alabama Shakespeare Festival, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, North Carolina School of the Arts, Carnegie Mellon and Southern Methodist University. Richard is currently the artistic director of Artists’ Ensemble; the professional theater in residence at Rockford College. His directing credits range from Romeo and Juliet to Annie, from Servant of Two Masters to Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf. The Chicago Tribune called his production of Playing With Fire: After Frankenstein “A Triumph”. Richard is a member of Actors Equity Association, Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, Society of American Fight Directors, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, and Screen Actors Guild.

J. ALLEN SUDDETH – J. Allen Suddeth has worked professionally for the past thirty years out of the New York area. For Broadway, he has staged fights for Gem Of The Ocean, Saturday Night Fever, Jekyll & Hyde, Angels in America Part One and Two, Loot, Saint Joan, A Small Family Business, and Hide and Seek. Off - Broadway he has worked on productions for The Manhattan Theater Club, Playwrights Horizons, The New Group, The Public Theater, BAM, Second Stage, Riverside Shakespeare, Jean Cocteau Repertory, The Pearl Theater, and the New York Theater Workshop. Regionally, and in LORT theater he has worked for Centerstage in Baltimore (over 50 productions), The Arena Stage and The Shakespeare Theater in Washington, D. C., as well as The Denver Center, The Huntington Theatre, The Hartford Stage, The Goodman Theater, The Actor’s Theater Of Louisville and The Cincinnati Playhouse In The Park, Seattle Repertory Theatre, The Northshore Music Theater, and the Big Apple Circus, among many others. As a master teacher, Allen has trained actors for The Juilliard School, Mason Gross School of The Arts at Rutgers University, The Lee Strasberg Institute, S.U.N.Y. Purchase, and The Stella Adler Conservatory, as well as being a frequent guest artist at major universities in the US and abroad. For television, he has staged action sequences for over 750 programs on ABC, CBS, NBC, and HBO. He is the author of “Fight Directing For The Theater,” published by Heinemann Press. Allen has also taught at the National Stage Combat Workshop, currently at U.N.L.V., for twelve years, and is the founder of the National Fight Directors Training Program held at The North Carolina School of the Arts. Allen is also a producer of The Complete Unarmed Stage Combat DVD Library. He is ranked as one of fifteen recognized Fight Masters in the United States by The Society of American Fight Directors.

DAVID WOOLLEY – David Woolley is a free lance fight director and actor. He is one of fourteen members of the College of Fight Masters with the Society of American Fight Directors and a member in good standing of Actor’s Equity. He is Senior Lecturer at Columbia College of Chicago, teaching stage combat for the actor and overseeing violence for their season of plays (now in his 24th year). He recently finished his 20th season performing as Guido in Dirk and Guido: the Swordsmen. He sponsors the Margaret Martin Sword and Pen Competition for the Babes With Blades- directing the 2006 winner Affair of Honor: Picnic, and 2008 winner, Los Desaparacidos; and will stage the fights for the upcoming Gulag Mouse. Most recent projects are: the Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity, Victory Gardens; Year Zero, Victory Gardens; Of Mice and Men, Columbia College Chicago; He Who Gets Slapped, CCC; and, the Wild Party, CCC.

SAFD FIGHT DIRECTORS

PAUL DENNHARDT – Bio to come.

JOHN MCFARLAND – Bio to come.

IAN ROSE – Ian has been staging fights in the New York and Philadelphia areas for over twenty-five years. Ian has arranged fights for commercials, for film and on stage. Ian's work has been seen at the Riverside Shakespeare and Interborough Repertory Theatre in New York City, The Whole Theatre in New Jersey, the Bridewell Theatre in London, MTM Studios in Rome, The Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, The Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival, the Philadelphia Theatre Company and Novel Stages in Pennsylvania. He is a Certified Teacher and Fight Director with The Society of American Fight Directors and with Fight Directors Canada, where he holds the title of Fight Master. Ian has had the honour to have taught at seven Canadian National Workshops, and is one of the coordinators of the Philadelphia Stage Combat Workshop. He continues to study and be fascinated by Shotokan Karate, where he currently holds a black belt, 2nd Degree. Ian is an adjunct professor at Temple University. For more information on Ian or the Philadelphia Stage Combat Workshop see: www.ianrosefights.com or www.philascw.org

CHRISTINA TRAISTER – Christina is currently in her third year as a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Theatre at Michigan State University, teaching Classical Acting, Voice, and Stage Combat. Prior to relocating back to her home state of Michigan, she was a San Francisco based actor and fight director for twelve years. Professional fight directing and teaching venues include the American Conservatory Theater, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, Michigan Shakespeare Festival, Purple Rose Theatre Company, BoarsHead Theatre, North Carolina School of the Arts, University of San Diego, University of California-Santa Cruz, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Adrian College, and Hillsdale College. She has also taught stage combat courses at numerous regional workshops across the country. Christina holds an MFA in acting from the Alabama Shakespeare Festival and a BFA in acting from the University of Michigan.

SAFD CERTIFIED TEACHERS

LERALDO ANZALDUA – Leraldo Anzaldua is a Houston based Actor and Fight Director. Currently, Anzaldua is an Adjunct Professor for Movement and Stage Combat at the University of Houston School of Theatre & Dance. Mr. Anzaldua has worked with the Alley Theatre as Fight Director for a number of shows including The World Premiere of Ken Ludwig’s Treasure Island, Hitchcock Blonde, Subject to Fits, Wait Until Dark, Black Comedy, Equus and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Other theatres include Mr. Marmalade with Stages Repertory Theatre, Gem of the Ocean and Seven Guitars with Ensemble Theatre, Houston Grand Opera’s Rigoletto, Aida; Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival/ Foothill Theatre Company- Romeo and Juliet and Taming of the Shrew. He was Fight Director for Cymbeline and Julius Caesar with the Houston Shakespeare Festival as well as Il Tabarro for Opera in the Heights. Internationally, Anzladua has worked in Stockholm and Uppsala, Sweden, as Motion Capture Fight Director and Talent for several video games, including Vivendi Universal/ Starbreeze Studio’s The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay and it’s sequel- COR: Assault on Dark Athena(title character); Eidos Interactive/ Avalanche Studio’s Just Cause (all male) and TDK Mediactive/Starbreeze Studio’s Knights of the Temple: The Infernal Crusade. and took part in a performance collaboration with the DAH Theatre from Belgrade, Yugoslavia, at the International Theatre Festival in Sibiu, Romania and He was a Guest Instructor of Staged Violence at RADA in London. Anzaldua has been a guest instructor for staged violence at North Carolina School of the Arts, Roosevelt University, Julliard and Alabama Shakespeare Festival and The National Stage Combat Workshop at U.N.L.V.

GINA CERIMELE-MECHLEY – Gina Cerimele-Mechley, an actor/director/teacher/choreographer/movement coach, is one of the few female Certified Teachers in the country with The Society of American Fight Directors. She is the resident fight director for The Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, The Cincinnati Ballet, and The Actor’s Guild of Lexington. Gina’s work as a performer/fight and dance choreographer/director has been seen across the country in theatres such as the Tony Award winning regional theatre The Denver Center Theatre Company, Opera Theatre Saint Louis, The Alabama Shakespeare Festival, the Sterling New York Renaissance Festival, Alaska Cabin Nite Dinner Theatre, Busch Gardens, The Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, The Cincinnati Ballet, Playhouse in the Park, Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati, Cincinnati Children’s Theatre, Clear Stage Cincinnati, and the Human Race Theatre in Dayton. Gina did motion capture work for Nintendo, prior to “settling down” and having a family. Gina has held teaching positions in the theatre departments of CCM, CCM Prep, NKU, Miami, XU, and at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, where she also served as the resident dance choreographer. She focuses her career on keeping the arts in education by working at several area high schools as their dance choreographer, fight choreographer, or director as well as providing workshops in Acting Shakespeare and Stage Combat for the Artists on Tour Program with the Cincinnati Arts Association. She is also the founder of the High School Acting Studio at the acclaimed Cincinnati Actor’s Studio which provides professional training and performance opportunities for high school students. Gina is one of twelve teachers in the country who was recently honored with the Presidential Scholars Award for Excellence in Teaching in the Arts. She is proud to say that every year she produces award-winning students and sends them off to outstanding colleges from coast to coast!

BRIAN LETRAUNIK – Brian is an actor, fight director and SAFD Certified Teacher of stage combat, currently based in Macomb, IL. Choreography credits include fights for Western Illinois University, Simpson College, Light Opera Works, Profiles Theatre, Red Hen Productions, Chicago Jewish Theatre, Bailiwick Repertory and Summer Music Theatre, among many others. He has taught stage combat throughout the country, including classes at Western Illinois University, Simpson College and the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Brian has served as a staff and/or faculty member for the National Stage Combat Workshops, Carnage in the Corn, Winter Wonderland Workshop and the Rumble in Rockies. Favorite acting roles include Alfie in A Man of No Importance, Major Petkoff in Arms and the Man, Dr. Scott in The Rocky Horror Show, Lafew in All's Well That Ends Well, Toby Belch in Twelfth Nightand the Duke of Clarence/Duchess of York in Richard III. Brian has a BA in Theatre from Columbia College Chicago and is currently completing his MFA in Acting at Western Illinois University.

NEIL MASSEY – Neil has been studying and performing stage combat for over 15 years. This has given him the opportunity to act or stage (or both) fights all over the country in Shakespeare festivals, outdoor dramas, touring shows, and regional theatres. Neil currently resides in the Chicago area, and is an accomplished swordcutler. His business, Rogue Steel, has become one of the foremost suppliers of stage combat equipment in the country. He has been a guest instructor at Columbia College, Roosevelt University, Marymount College, and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

ADAM MCLEAN – Adam is a Boston based director, fight director, actor and theatre educator. Adam most recently taught full time at Boston Arts Academy where he had the pleasure of directing Jose Rivera's Marisol. He also recently directed David Lindsay-Abaire's Rabbit Hole for Newton South Summer Stage. In additon, Adam directed Henry Purcell's Dido and Aeneas for Metro West Opera. Adam has taught movement, acting and/or stage combat at Emerson College, Boston University, the Opera Institute, the New England Conservatory and was a Visiting Assistant Professor at Florida State University. In addition, he has taught at the National Stage Combat Workshops in Las Vegas and the North Carolina School of the Arts. He has performed and taught at the Sibiu International Theatre Festival in Sibiu, Romania. Adam's fight direction has been seen at A.R.T.(Donnie Darko), Company One (Mr. Marmalade), the Actor's Shakespeare Project (Titus Andronicus), Shakespeare Now! (Macbeth), Boston Playwrights Theatre (Little Black Dress) and the Nora Theatre (the Caretaker). When he can, Adam continues to study the Michael Chekhov Acting Technique with the Michael Chekhov Association (MICHA) and is a Certified Teacher with the Society of American Fight Directors (SAFD). Adam holds a BA Drama from Thomas More College. He also earned an MFA in Theatre Pedagogy from Virginia Commonwealth University.

DARRELL RUSHTON – Darrell Rushton earned his MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University, where he choreographed fights for The Rivals. He has been a guest artist at West Virginia University, North Carolina School of the Arts and has taught at regional Stage Combat Workshops around the country, including the Chicago Winter Wonderland, Seattle Sockeye, Denver’s Rumble in the Rockies and the National Stage Combat Workshop, as well as coordinating the Savage Mountain Summer Stage Combat Workshop.

At Frostburg State, he has been the fight director for Of Mice and Men, Urinetown, Breath, Boom, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Violet Hour, Romeo and Juliet, Flyin’ West, Fuddy Meers, Loves Labors Lost, I Hate Hamlet and Man of LaMancha. Professionally, his fight choreography has been featured in Windwood Theatricals Urban Cowboy and The Unsinkable Molly Brown, and Cumberland Theatre's Jekyll and Hyde and Brigadoon. He is a member of Actor’s Equity Association, Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, Society of American Fight Directors, Phi Mu Alpha and the Association of Theatre Movement Educators. Publications include articles in the ATME Journal, the Fight Master: Journal of the Society of American Fight Directors, and The Cutting Edge.

TV and Film appearances include One Life to Live, All My Children, and Saturday Night Live in New York and Traffic, Runaway Bride, and HBO's Shot in the Heart. Theatre appearences include Twelfth Night, Woman in Black, Bye, Bye, Birdie, Taming of the Shrew and Brigadoon at the Cumberland Theatre as well as regional appearances in Florida, Pennsylvania, Indiana and Illinois.

KC STAGE – K.C. Stage is a Certified Teacher with the Society of American Fight Directors. She has taught and studied Stage Combat all over the world including teaching at the Rendezvous South Africa Stage Combat Workshop at the University of Pretoria as well as gaining Actor Combatant status with the Nordic Stage Fight Society and the British Academy of Stage and Screen Combat. K.C. has choreographed fights for professional, college, and community productions throughout the East Coast and Midwest including work for the Flea Theatre, 13P, Summer Theatre of New Canaan, Twenty Feet Productions, Lexington Children's Theatre, and Lexington Shakespeare Festival. K.C. holds a BA in Theatre from the College of William and Mary in Virginia and currently resides in Raleigh, NC.

JOHN TOVAR – John is an actor, fight choreographer, an SAFD Certified Teacher and currently serves as their Vice-President. He holds a Bachelors degree in performance from Illinois State University, where he was the recipient of the prestigious Jean Scharfenberg Acting Award. John has taught stage combat at DePaul University, Illinois State University, Ball State University, The Actor’s Gymnasium, and was a Guest Artist at Roosevelt University. He has also taught at The Winter Wonderland Workshop (where he is the Coordinator), Seattle Sockeye, Rumble in the Rockies, Havoc in the Heartland, and the North Carolina School of the Arts Summer Session: Introduction to Stage Combat. Currently, John teaches theatre courses at the College of DuPage and stage combat at Elgin Community College. Selected productions that John has choreographed include Accomplice and Ruthless: The Musical (Noble Fool Theatricals), Temporary Help and Communicating Doors (Buffalo Theatre Ensemble), Robin Hood and The Glory of Living (College of DuPage), Bat Boy: The Musical (Ball State University), and Cyrano de Bergerac (Independent Players). Selected roles include Dr. Caius in The Merry Wives of Windsor (Illinois Shakespeare Festival), Ronald in The Altruists (Mary-Arrchie Theatre Co.), Gerstein in Ghetto (Famous Door Theatre Co.), Dr. Astrov in Uncle Vanya and James in That Championship Season (Independent Players). John resides in St. Charles with his wonderful wife, Colleen.

DC WRIGHT – D.C. Wright has been directing fights and teaching stage combat to others for over twelve years. Recent professional credits include the Off-Broadway production of The Blowin' of Baile Gall at the Donaghy Theatre in the Irish Arts Center, Of Mice and Men and Romeo and Juliet at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre, and Macbeth, Henry VIII, and Twelfth Night at the Illinois Shakespeare Festival. He has also been busy at in academic circles as well directing fights for Communicating Doors, The Monument, Henry IV pt.1, and Zastrozzi at Western Illinois University, as well as Romeo and Juliet for the University of Kansas. D.C. also helped direct and performed in two wild west stunt shows for an amusement park in Taiwan. D.C. has taught combat classes at institutions around the country including Brigham Young University, University of Utah, Boston University, Emerson College, Ball State University, Western Illinois University, Colorado College, and Dixie College, as well as at several local, regional, and national workshops including the SAFD’s NSCW, Winter Wonderland, Rumble in the Rockies, Boston Tea Party, Las Vegas Winter Workshop, and the Eureka College Combat Workshop. D.C. holds a Master of Fine Arts from the Boston University’s School of Theater Arts Professional Theatre Training Program, and a BA in Theatre from Brigham Young University. D.C. is an Associate Professor at Western Illinois University where he is the Head of Movement/Stage Combat. D.C. has a beautiful wife, Heather, two of the cutest girls you have ever seen, and a brand new baby boy, born with a sword in his hand.

MIKE YAHN – Mike Yahn is a Certified Teacher through the Society of American Fight Directors, a partner in Combat Incorporated, and a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. His fight choreography has been seen at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Playwrights Horizons Theatre, Theater for a New Audience, New York University, NYC Fringe Festival, the New England Shakespeare Festival, Close Combat Instructional Videos, and the Pirates of the Caribbean toy commercials. Hooked on stage combat ever since he saw Fight Master J. David Brimmer pretend to destroy a man’s face with an invisible cannon ball, he has worked as Brimmer’s assistant both on and off Broadway in such productions as Spring Awakening the Musical, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, Bug, and Speed the Plow. He is also an instructor of Wing Tsun (Wing Chun) kung fu, traveling from Hong Kong to Budapest studying the art (including a demonstration on Discovery Channel’s Fight Quest). He currently runs his own branch of City Wing Tsun in NYC’s East Village and recently stunt doubled Mark Strong on the upcoming film Sherlock Holmes, starring Robert Downey Jr. www.mikeyahn.com

MATTHIAS FITTKAU – Teacher and co-founder of stage-combat deutschland (SCD). He statred his carrea in 1991 during his study as an media ingeneer. He is a Actor Combatant at the British Academy of Stage and Screen Combat. Matthias is teaching as an lecturer at the University for Music Freiburg at the Opera scool and fight teacher at the Munic Film Academy. Matthias is working as a fight choreografer for Opera at the Opera scool, MainiActs theater in Freiburg and for the fighting groupe Bunter Haufen Freiburg. In 1999 Matthias founded together with Doerte Jensen the stage combat deutschland organisation. He is coordinating workshops in whole germany, certified by the BASSC and the SAFD. He is teaching in Munic and Freiburg workshops with different weapons, including Helebard vs. Sword and Shield in Munic and Basel (Swizerland) and Rapier and Cloak in Munic. Matthias is teaching together with Helge (SCD). Helebard vs. Sword and Shield and Rapier and Cloak.

HELGE LANDMESSER – Helge is working for Stage Combat Germany (SCD) as workshop coordinator, teacher and fight performer. He teaches stage combat in Germany and abroad with various weapons and unarmed and stages fights for theater and film. He is instructor for stage combat at the Drama Academy Aachen.