Aberdeen Stuart
Portland born and raised, Aberdeen Stuart has explored countless mediums through the years. In the visual arts, they explored culture and tradition through pen and ink drawings of Scandinavian folk objects as an ode to their heritage. Aberdeen began performing in a Swedish youth folk dance group as a child and has loved the stage ever since. In July 2024 as a part of the first Bodyvox adult recreational summer intensive, they developed a drag persona Deenie Weenie and opened the show with a lip sync number. Playing with gender and identity, they continue to develop visual and performance art now.
Danielle Higbee
Danielle, 28, relocated to Portland, Oregon in September of 2021. Prior to this move, she lived the first quarter of her life in Pennsylvania where she cultivated a love of dance and the outdoors. She grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia and graduated from Allegheny College, a small liberal arts school, in 2018. While an undergraduate, she studied Environmental Studies, philosophy, and dance and movement studies. She was heavily involved in service organizations focusing on engagement with local businesses and community members as well as all dance organizations of various styles on campus. Between graduation and moving to PDX, she worked many jobs; waitress, sewing machine operator, caregiver, and retail associate at a plant shop. All the while attempting to figure out what exactly she wanted to "do." Her move to Portland was motivated by her desire to obtain a Master in Public Health, with a focus on Environmental Systems and Human Health. She attended the Oregon Health and Science University and Portland State University School of Public Health.
Katheryn Shamrell
Katheryn is an actress, writer, US Army veteran and linguist, who extensively used her languages working with refugees and immigrants from around the world in her career. Before retiring in 2020, she started to study theater in order to indulge her secret passion for acting Shakespeare. She has lived in Panama, Germany and Russia and travelled around the world with her latest adventure a first time trip to Greece.
Joanna Tyler
Joanna Tyler recently moved back to Portland after many years of exploring the world and obtaining her masters in clinical mental health counseling. She loves to write, perform, create, and is excited to be back on the scene!
Sophina Flores
Sophina Flores (She/Her) directed Liminal, The Between Spaces and Ritual Treatment at Roots and All Theatre Ensemble. Recently she has worked as an Assistant Lighting Designer to Marika Kent at Portland Center Stage, and designed lights at Bag and Baggage, Passinart, Salt and Sage, The Actor's Conservatory, FUSE, Oregon Children's Theater, From the Ground Up, Crave, Lewis and Clark, Hand2Mouth, Profile, and Artists Repertory Theater. Other directing credits include Arsonists, Rancho Trinidad, The F-Word, Wedding Grift, Little Women, A Slight Ache, Romeo and Juliet, and Noises Off! As a theatre maker, playwright, deviser, and choreographer, her work centers the intersectionality of identities as a neurodivergent, bisexual Puerto Rican woman, and prominently features themes of mental illness and trauma, with surrealist or magical realist motifs.
Laura Cannon
Laura Cannon is a dancer, choreographer and educator with over 25 years of experience in site-specific dance and innovative practices beyond traditional stages. She founded ProLab Dance in 2019 to support her multidisciplinary performance visions. Cannon has been recognized and awarded for her work as a dancer, choreographer, director, filmmaker and costume designer. She received the Oregon Arts Commission Individual Artist Fellowship in 2023 and served as a Dance Wire PDX Ambassador in 2021-22. She is based in Portland.
Leiana Petlewski
Leiana (they/them) is a Portland based actor, dancer, theatre maker, choreographer, and intimacy director who is interested in creating work that explores universal experiences within particular circumstances. They hold BAs in Dance and Applied Theatre from Pacific University, as well as a certification from the Portland Experimental Theatre Ensemble’s Institute for Contemporary Performance. Previous acting credits include Junie in Great Wide Open (Portland Playhouse), Lavinia in Titus Andronicus (Salt and Sage), and Bea in Miss Terri Terror Presents: Horror Anthology (Stage Fright Festival). Leiana has previously worked as a guest resident choreographer for Pacific University and an Intimacy Director for Salt and Sage and Pacific University. They strive to create art in a collaborative and accessible way that centers on stories previously unheard.
Lisa Swartz
Whether Lisa is busting a joke or a dance move, one thing is for sure: you want to be watching. Born and raised in Denver, CO with a background ranging from physics to rock climbing to aerial dance to entrepreneurship, Portland-based performing artist Lisa Swartz has found humor and emotional vulnerability to be two of the best raw materials for building bridges across disparate worlds.
You won’t want to miss this emerging artist make her live stage solo debut at From the Ground Up for her unique style of storytelling through movement.
Maddy Schultz
Maddy Schultz (they/them) is a Theatre Arts graduate from Portland State University with a focus on performance. Their interests also include writing, sound, lighting, as well as theatre operations. Maddy has been involved in many facets of theatre, from working as a PA and board op for Profile Theatre, to writing two autobiographical devised pieces in the From the Ground Up Residency in 2020 and 2021, and performing in plays at PSU. Maddy completed the Third Rail Mentorship program as well, where they had the opportunity to study Clowning, Viewpoints, Meisner, and get hands-on experience with tech professionals. Maddy recently completed the Form: Language, Body, & Breath six week workshop with Katherine Murphy Lewis and Andrea Parson. They are excited to be a part of the 2025 From the Ground Up Residency. Maddy hopes to continue learning and growing as an actor and writer! Maddy’s work has a focus on the lived experiences of a fat, queer, nonbinary person in their journey to understand the world and themselves with a neurodivergent brain.
Meredith Sevy
Meredith (she/they) is a self-proclaimed dabbler in nerd-doms, a dancer, a life long learner, a citizen of the world.
Sam Cruz
Samantha Cruz is a dancer, choreographer, singer-songwriter and dance teacher--born and raised in Portland, Oregon. Her love for art began at an early age, inspired by the many artists in her life including her parents and brothers. Samantha has been dancing for 18 years, training in ballet (specifically ABT curriculum), contemporary, Jazz, hip hop, tap, and African. Choregrapher and teacher Sara Parker introduced her to improv dance and constant movement practice which sparked Samantha’s interest in choreography and phrase work, and continues to inspire her creative process today. Samantha is currently a trainee at Open Space, in the Open Space Too program--getting to work closely with students in the school as she studies teaching with Maeve Dougal and Charlene Hannibal, and Franco Nieto, Co-founders of Open Space.
Sideny Novak
Sidney works across multimedia art, choreography, and film. Her work as a whole is focused on the cyclical nature of compulsion and addiction and the pain and inner conflict that arises from it. She is also influenced by her independent research in cultural anthropology, comparative religion, symbology, and ritual studies, as well as her own experiences with compulsive behavior. She combines different mediums to create visceral works that depict how maladaptive and addictive behaviors affect and, in turn, shape one's reality.