Elizabeth has been toiling, playing and reinventing herself in the theatrical world for 30 years. After graduating from SUNY Purchase with a BFA in acting she worked away at a theatrical career in NYC until she escaped to Seattle in 1992 to pursue her interest in creating physical ensemble theatre. She started the Open Circle Theater in the 90's when grunge was cool and theatre in Seattle was done in warehouses in the Lake Union District. She is the current executive artist for the UMO Ensemble where she directs, designs and performs. Her most notable directorial works include Pu’uhonua and See Me Naked with Maria Glanz and Open Circle Theater, Rapunzel, Fatal Peril, Red Tiger Tales, Fail Better and the Resistance Cabaret with UMO. Elizabeth owns and designs for Cicada Bridal in Seattle.

Janet McAlpin trained for two years at the School of Jacques LeCoq (Paris, France), co-founded UMO Ensemble (1987) and has been teaching, directing and performing physical theater for over 36 years. She has participated in various roles, performing, creating and co-directing UMO Ensemble in El Dorado, Body Inheritance, Fatal Peril, Red Tiger Tales, and Fail Better. She has taught clown theater at Freehold studio (Seattle, WA) and Naropa Institute (Boulder, Co) and within the UMO school of Physical Arts. She has directed UMO Ensemble, Circus Contraption and other companies and individual artists. She has performed various characters on different apparatus (Hoops, trapeze, globes and stilts) at Teatro Zinzani, Cirque du Flambe, the Moisture Festival and with UMO Ensemble both regionally and internationally. Her recent creative endeavors have ranged from writing and performing with UMO Ensemble, creating a duet clown trapeze act with David Godsey and an apple, playing foolishly with Vashon Repertory Theatre and 14:48, opening a venue called Open Space for Arts and Community on Vashon Island and producing numerous festivals and events there.

David Godsey is a graduate of the Professional Training Program at the Circle in the Square in New York and the Laboratory of Movement Studies at Ecole LeCoq in Paris. Since UMO’s co-founding in 1987, the Ensemble has been the primary focus and outlet for his performance work. Most recently David was lead artist for UMO’s Final Broadcast (2007). He also directed the creation of UMO’s Millennium Circus (1999) as well as Birth, Love, Death and Re-Birth (1996), a collaboration with the Seattle Men’s Chorus. Outside of UMO, David works with his partner Janet to create and perform original character clown pieces.

Lyam White has been a writer, performer, and resident brute with UMO Ensemble since 2003. He's a student of multiple martial arts since 1984. He studiedtheater (with a focus on verse) and literature at Southern Utah University in the 1990s. He made his first foray into solo performance in 2020 with American Wulver, which streamed from 18th & Union; excerpts of the earliest drafts were first showcased by UMO and then Unicycle Collective. Regional credits include performances with Open Circle, Theater Schmeater, Annex, Greenstage, Capitol Hill Arts Center, Consolidated Works, Joe Boston Productions, Radial Theater, and 14/48.

A performer, playwright and teacher, Maria appeared in Vashon Rep’s productions of The Exonerated and Savage / Love. A joyful member of UMO Ensemble, Maria was one of the lead writers (with Lyam White) for FAIL BETTER: Beckett Moves UMO. After COVID cancelled its premiere at ACT Theatre, Maria transformed her epic play VIC into the seven-episode audio drama VIC: The Life and Times of Victoria Woodhull, Future Presidentess, which premiered on Voice of Vashon / KVSH. Thanks to the pandemic, she got to check off a bucket list item and act while laying in dirt for UMO’s video experiment Conversations from the Grave. In 2018, Maria toured to 23 cities in Right Angle Entertainment’s production of PostSecret: The Show. Her solo works Pu’uhonua (place of refuge) and See Me Naked, both directed by Elizabeth Klob, toured the US and Canada and garnered Best of Fest honors at several festivals. Maria received an Artist Trust Fellowship in Theatre and was nominated for a Gregory Award for her work as Emily Dickinson in Sound Theatre Company's acclaimed production of The Belle of Amherst. Before landing on Vashon, Maria worked with multiple companies in Seattle including theatre simple, Open Circle, Live Girls and more, and she delights in playing with 14/48 whenever they invite her. Maria has been a joyful teaching artist throughout her career and served as Artistic Director for Rainier Valley Youth Theatre in Seattle and Playwrights Project in San Diego.

Max is a designer, musician and collaborative art-maker based in Seattle, exploring the boundaries between design disciplines for live performance. Max creates unique soundscapes, music, and visuals for a variety of projects including plays, podcasts, installations, dance, and film. His freelance work with regional companies in Seattle and Colorado includes; ArtsWest, Sound Theatre Company, The UMO Ensemble, Acrobatic Conundrum, eSe Teatro, Vashon Repertory Theatre, Tales of the Alchemysts Theatre, and others, as well as Colorado College in Colorado Springs. Max is thrilled to be a company member of the UMO Ensemble.

Meghan [she/they] is a transplant from Long Island, New York. They have been a performer for two thirds of their life and looking forward to increasing that ratio! They have studied dance and movement starting at age 2 and utilize that foundation in their acting career. After receiving a BA in Theater Arts from Stony Brook University they moved to New York City to study clown and performance under Chris Bayes of the Pandemonium Studio and Yale School of Drama. From there, they traveled to France for nearly two years in order to study under clown master Philippe Gaulier. While traveling back and forth to France, they moved to Vashon to work on a farm and learn the art of butchery. It was during this time that they got involved with the UMO ensemble. They were introduced via Open Space for Arts and Community where Meghan was hired on as a movement teacher in the UMO school and Technical Director of Open Space. They began playing with the ensemble and found they shared the language of physical theatre. From there they participated in the development of SQUEEZE and were soon invited to formally join the ensemble. Meghan continues to play and perform with UMO as well as other theater companies around the Puget Sound area.

Photographer

Performer

Performer - FAIL BETTER

Musician

Composer/Musician - FAIL BETTER, SQUEEZE

Performer

Performer

Performer

Performer & Teacher

Performer - SQUEEZE

Performer - RESISTANCE CABARET

Musician

Performer - VIC!

Martha is EnJoy Productions Artistic Director, and responsible for creating EnJoy’s landmark public and private events. She is an aerialist, actress, director, mask-maker, puppeteer, gifted teacher and trainer, forging a reputation as a creator and producer of singular influence in a career spanning over 30 years.

She has studied with a number of world masters in theater, improvisation, clowning, dance and design. In 1987, she co-founded UMO Ensemble and moved to Vashon Island, WA. UMO has gone on to become among the most heralded and influential theater companies of its time. Martha was also the Founding Producer of the first Fringe Theater Festival in the US (Seattle, 1991 & 1992), and in 2001, she became the first female performer/director at the legendary Teatro Zinzanni. Martha currently directs EnJoy’s collaborations with TZ in the creation of events away from the renown Speigeltents in Woodinville and Chicago. Co-founding EnJoy Productions in 2003, Martha has designed and produced entertainment and original theatrical productions for over 300 corporate, non-profit and civic events throughout the US and abroad. She has also as produced city-wide storytelling programs in Tacoma, as well as Pierce County First Night, the largest New Year’s Eve festival on the West Coast.

Martha was raised in NYC and holds an MFA from the National Theatre Institute (Waterford, CT) and Ecole Jacques Lecoq (Paris).

Esther started her movement career as a modern dancer in NYC. She co-founded Vashon-based UMO Ensemble, performing original physical theater internationally for over 20 years. Esther then began a love affair with aerial arts and started performing as a soloist. She has appeared locally in Seattle’s Moisture Festival, Open Air, Burlesquo, and corporate events around the region. Some highlights include: dangling from a crane at the Point Defiance Zoo, Silkfire fabric piece in the Hotbox at the Museum of Glass, Fabric Tango, Aviatrix -a 4-woman aerial troupe. Esther’s most recent full length creation was Secrets I Can’t Remember, an aerial dance quartet. She teaches Pilates at her studio, Performance Pilates.

Kevin worked full time with UMO until 2001, and has continued to join the Ensemble on at least one project per year. He currently runs EnJoy Productions with partner (and UMO Co-Founder) Martha Enson. Kevin leads EnJoy’s unique approach to auctions, meetings and communication training. He is an actor, musician, auctioneer, facilitator and trainer, as well as a student of religion, comedy and neuroscience.

Known for his humor, improvisation, original music and characters, Kevin has hosted hundreds of events for corporations and associations, and auctioneered for over 500 regional and national non-profits. He was also the creator and host of the TV show Big Night Out for two seasons on the Seattle Channel.

Kevin has designed and facilitated at the United Nations and the World Health Assembly in Geneva, and provided communications training for the US Navy, Intellectual Ventures and scores of healthcare organizations throughout the US.

Kevin was raised in Minneapolis and holds a master’s degree in Organizational Leadership (Pinchot University) and a BA in Comparative Religion (Bowdoin). He lives on Vashon with Martha, their daughter Ruby, and Milla the Wonder Dog.

Steffon Moody began his career as a visual artist at the age of 16, working as a theatrical set painter at the Muny Opera in St. Louis. He learned the craft of set painting from his father, Robert Moody, and a crew of 14 painters. Their weekly task was to paint the scenery for an entire musical on one of the largest stages in the United States. Paint, literally, flew.

Steffon now teaches drawing and design at DigiPen School of Technology; a gaming and animation college in Seattle, WA. Working at DigiPen affords Steffon the luxury of mixing with a population of stellar artists from Disney, Pixar, the gaming industry and the fine arts world.

This website is dedicated to works in the 2D mediums of oil paint, ink, graphite and charcoal. Each medium elicits a different kind of storytelling.

Steffon uses only three colors (plus white) in his oil paintings: Cyan, magenta and yellow; known as the CMY color wheel. All other colors are derived by mixing those three. CMY is a more perfect system than the traditional Red/Yellow/ Blue color wheel, which has a difficult time achieving vibrant violet hues.

Steffon has a BFA in painting from Washington University in St. Louis , and has worked as an artist for the Muny Opera, St. Louis Repertory Theater, Greg Thompson and SuperScenics.

Steffon also took a 30 year tangent as a performer, first with the UMO Ensemble and then with his own company, Chameleon Performance, which is still alive and kicking today. www.chameleonperformance.com

Steffon lives on Maury Island with his wife, Arlette, daughter, Louisa, and son, Giacomo.

Abby Enson spends much of her time helping people find freedom and ease in their bodies through Body work and the Gyrotonic expansion system. She sporadically works on art projects.

Amy has worked in the performing arts for over two decades as an actor, physical theater performer, and teaching artist. Inspired by early works of the UMO Ensemble, Amy traveled to Bristol, England to study and train in contemporary circus arts at Circomedia. During her studies, Amy specialized in trapeze, rope, red nose clown, and acrobalance.

As a teaching artist, Amy interweaves the disciplines of movement, theater, mindfulness, and yoga. She offers interdisciplinary workshops for all ages and focuses on resourcing and uplifting under-heard youth voices. For the past several years, Amy has been studying healing-centered education with Dr. Angel Acosta and is working to create an educational framework at the intersection of art, restorative practices, and social justice.

Amy is currently a faculty member at Highline College in Des Moines where she facilitates courses in theater, yoga, health, and wellness. She also enjoys hiking, gardening, cooking, meditation, and being at home with her husband, son, and goldendoodle.

A life-long teacher and practitioner of performance and creativity, Bradley made the decision to help others inhabit their own innate superpowers of creative thinking and living. His focus of study is the psychology of creativity and how our stories create and shape our lives. He hosts the inventive podcast The Quotidian focusing on the intersection of creativity and everyday life.

Now, through creative consulting and one-on-one coaching, Bradley uses a variety of performative technologies to push clients into hyper-focused and engaged solutions by utilizing their own creative energies as the primary source of innovation.

Kajsa Ingemansson is the founder of KAMI Performance Works. She is known for her transformative acting and world-class movement, acting and performance coaching. She provides whole health, movement and performance solutions in the Performing Arts, Business and Healthcare Industries.

She is the creator of Empowered Performance Transformations [EPT] which is a performance method based on The Alexander Technique that sources your inherent powers, increases versatility & amplifies your impact by psychophysically changing the habits that get in your way of creating life as you want it, on and off stage.

When Ela was six years old his father made a deal with him: "I won't buy you any toys, but I'll help you make anything you want." Thus, Ela was launched on a lifelong path of “making,” an attitude and lifestyle that was initiated by his off-the-grid home-schooled environment of his childhood in the mountains of Southern Oregon.

In 1989, at the age of sixteen, he was awarded a scholarship to attend the Atlanta College of Art. He graduated with a BFA in sculpture in 1993. While at ACA Ela began experimenting with combining sound with form to create musical sculptures, a process that has resulted in more than forty large-scale musical instruments to date. From college onward, Ela's art has encompassed sculpture, music, film, and movement in live performance. Ela's artistic horizons continue to expand as he erases the lines between disciplines to create multi-faceted works that now include design and fabrication of public art, architectural design and planning, numerous recordings, short films and scores.

In addition to Lelavision's performance work, Lamblin has received two commissions for permanent public sculpture – Whirl Piece (2006,Yesler Terrace Community Center, Seattle, WA) and Welcome to the Wheel World (2008, Beacon Hill International School, Seattle, WA). He has also produced five CDs of music on his invented musical sculptures, the first of which, Sculptaural, was recorded through Jack Straw's Artist Support Program (1996). Others include Raga to the River, classical Indian Raga in the Dhrupad tradition (2000), and Long Period Events, engineered by Grammy nominated record producer, Tucker Martine (2005). Lamblin received the Artist Fellowship in music from Artist Trust in 2004.