"All the world's a stage, And all
the men and women merely players: They have their
exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many
parts..."
- William Shakespeare, As You Like It
Drama is what plays out on "The World Stage". Each
person buys into the action and reaction and plays out their
part depending on their karma. Karma is a word very similar
to drama, both rooted in action and reaction. The best drama
reflects the hegelian dialectic of thesis (action) and antithesis
(reaction), evolving into a synthesis. Gabriel has brought this
into his productions whenever possible throughout his years
of serving the dramatic arts as a stage designer, technician
and performer. After Gabriel's theatrical biography below, please
be sure to check out his latest project: Karmageddon, a
Musical Revue, introduced at the bottom of this page.
Awakening to Theater
As a growing boy in grade school, Gabriel was always captivated
by the living breathing worlds made real thru the rare school
play he was able to be in, and when seeing his older commune
brother, Chris, in school plays. It wasn’t until his senior
year of high school that Gabriel finally dove in and got cast
in the school plays, and found a place that allowed him to be
'bigger than life'.
UC Davis Drama
When Gabriel went off to UC Davis, he quickly zeroed in on
Dramatic Art as a major, and immersed himself in the acting
coursework. He landed a role in Bertolt Brecht’s St.
Joan of the Stockyards with a tough, visiting British Director,
William Gaskill, playing a starving meat packing worker. Then,
getting called in to try out for Don Juan, it became
evident that his youthful look coupled with his tall, thin build
made him a unique casting challenge. So he delved deeper and
deeper into backstage work. But, to this day, he sees acting
as the noblest artform.
UC Davis was a great department for experiential learning,
and Gabriel enjoyed a regular work study position in the Scene
Shop, where he learned the fundamentals of stage carpentry,
scene painting, etc. During the four years he was at UCD, Gabriel
had endless opportunities to design sets, lights, costumes,
sound, and even direct a one act play.
Gabriel assisted the faculty designers with special projects,
like carving and gold-leafing the British Royal Arms for The
Devil's Disciple, as pictured here (12'w x 6'h). Gabriel's
set design teacher, Ralph Fetterly, brought him into the graduate
set design course to help him prepare a portfolio for graduate
school auditions.
Gabriel's first mainstage set design at UC Davis was for Zora
is My Name, by Ruby Dee. This was the west-coast premiere
directed by Harry Charles Johnson. Gabriel
then went on to  design
Peer Gynt with British avante garde director Pip
Simmons (pictured here). His last show was a musical adaptation
of The Birds, directed by Jeff
Bengford. Years later, Gabriel would be
invited back as a guest artist to design After the Fall,
directed by Rod Ceballos.
Gabriel received his BFA in Dramatic Art at UC Davis in
1992 and was given Departmental Honors for outstanding undergraduate
work.
 After
graduating, Gabriel was referred to the Foothill Theater
Company in Nevada City by his design teacher, who was a
resident designer there. Gabriel designed The Importance
of Being Earnest there with director John
Deaderick. This was a great lesson in practicality, painting
and set dressing. It was a huge set design: 16 foot walls, with
a 24 foot turntable stage and 4 spinning pariaktoi, creating
3 distinct settings. This would be Gabriel's last show in California
for a few years, as he was accepted to a prestigious drama conservatory
back east.
Carnegie Mellon Drama
At Carnegie Mellon University, Gabriel was given the opportunity
to design some of their most exciting shows with world class
directors and artists, and his love of the art of theater grew
many fold in collaboration with his amazingly talented peers
and mentors.
 In
his first year, Gabriel spent most of his time on class projects.
The small scale sketch, groudplan and model was the method of
choice. Gabriel learned the benefits of small scale white models,
which were required on most projects because they could communicate
the 3-dimensional idea quicky and be redone relatively easily.
Pictured is Gabriel's first 1/8" model for Oedipus
Rex.
After demonstrating  a
willingness to redo drawings, students were given the okay to
do 1/4" drawings. But students were notallowed to use color
until they could draw light and shadow. By the end
of Gabriel's first year, he had started to grasp the importance
of light as the motivation for set design, mostly by experimenting
with light color pencils on dark paper. Pictured is Gabriel's
sketch for La Boheme. Later, Gabriel was able to explore
color with projects like  Rigoletto,
pictured here as adapted into the world of a travelling carnival
and "freak show".
Students were allowed more time on projects to develop more
finished sketches as well. Pictured here is a design for Two
Trains Running,  which
Gabriel was able to research right in the Hill District of Pittsburgh.
Gabriel was given many production assignments thoughout the
CMU season. He served on many shows as an assistant set designer,
props master and  scenic
artist. Gabriel's first mainstage design at CMU was for Sweeney
Todd, directed by J. Ranelli. This skeletal design
was intended as "actor focused theater". 
Pictured here is the pie shop and the judge's study. Gabriel
designed lights for Dr. Faustus in CMU's studio theater
as well.
Gabriel's last design at CMU would be for The
Cherry Orchard, directed by Mladen Kiselov. This design
was conceived as a duplication of the finely carved oak house
in the Kresge Theater, built in 1912. The house detail was continued
up onstage into the setting to give a sense of immediacy to
the great loss suffered  at
the end of the play, when the house is boarded up for good and
the Cherry Orchard is chopped down. It was also conceived as
a "four seasons" play, with each of the four acts
representing a season. Pictured is the last hurrah of the fall,
followed by the desolation and loss  inwinter.
Gabriel's Thesis Project was Faust, by Goethe. For
this he prepared 1/8" color sketches for each of the 20+
scenes, 1/2" scale design plans, a 1/2" scale color
renering, a 1/4" color scale model, a full set of color
costume renderings, prop drawings and written design thesis.
Gabriel received his MFA in Scene Design from CMU in 1996.
During summers, Gabriel taught scene paingting in the Carnegie
Mellon Pre-College program and served as Stage Technician for
the Festival of New Plays at CMU. He
also served as Production Design Consultant for the 1995 Beaux
Arts Ball in the College of Fine Arts Building at CMU.
While finishing his Thesis at CMU, Gabriel did a couple free-lance
designs with the Pittsburgh Playhouse at Point
Park College. He designed Come Back to the 5&Dime
with director Raymond Laine and a wonderful children's theater
version of Stuart Little, directed by David Vinski.
Marin Theater Company
 Returning
to the Bay Area, Gabriel ended up landing at Marin Theatre
Company, where he started working in the scene shop
as master carpenter and assistant technical director. His first
design there was Machinal (pictured), directed by Don
K. Williams for the MTC School. This play deals with the mechanical
world stifling the feminine impulse, se the design is built
as a huge gear rolling along the steel riveted walls. Behind
is the deep blue sea and the moon. This design landed Gabriel
a chance to design with Artistic Director, Lee Sankowich, for
the show Molly Sweeney (pictured). He would collaborate
one more time with Sankowich, this time designing lights for
the comedy  Bleacher
Bums.
During this time, Gabriel also did freelance scenery and lighting
design at the Aurora Theatre Company in Berkeley
for Tom Ross's production of Abigail’s Party;
and designed lights for A Bedroom Farce with director
Gerald Slate at the Hayward Little Theater,
a large three quarter round stage with extensive lighting equipment.
Lowell High School
In 1999, Gabriel landed a position as Technical Director and
Theater Tech Instructor for Lowell High School's Performing
Arts Department. Lowell is one of the nation’s top high
schools with an award winning performing arts program and incredibly
creative students. Gabriel learned to direct a 1000 seat/30
lineset proscenium stage; a tech crew of up to 30 students and
volunteers; a design and publicity department; production budgeting,
publicity & box office management; and a technical theater
program with beginning, intermediate and advanced level students.
Gabriel and his Crew hosted a full performing arts season, with
regular musicals and plays; dance, choir, orchestra, jazz and
band concerts; school assemblies, performances and rallies;
plus local groups like Shan Yee Poon Ballet, and international
rental groups from as far as Russia.
Gabriel also supervised facility maintenance, and made improvements
& upgrades, including design & grant work for renovations
to the Carol Channing Theater, and new additions like the Steve
Silver Little Theater. During Gabriel's tenure, the Lowell acquired
all new, state of the art sound and lighting systems, and a
remodeled scene shop, dressing room, paint and storage areas.
 Even
though Gabriel learned alot about delegating and stepping out
of the way, he always liked to keep his hands involved, and
served alongside the students with scenic, lighting, sound,
props and costume design; technical direction and set construction;
lighting, rigging, sound, costumes, publicity, etc.
 With
Gabriel's guidance, his Theater Tech students were able to win
the Tech Olympics at the Ohlone College Theater Festival, and
won 1st prize in Set Design for Twelfth Night  (pictured).
Gabriel's students were an inspiration to him and brought him
great joy, always showing up for the challenge that live theater
offers. When Gabriel asked them if they were really up for doing
the two story version of Dr. Higgins' study in My Fair  Lady
(pictured), they insisted and made the extra effort needed.
Gabriel's final production for Lowell was South Pacific
(pictured). This show brought the tech students  out
as a cohesive group and honored their devoted service, with
the director giving them a full bow at the end along with the
actors. Gabriel knew he was leaving them in a good place for
the next TD, and looks back at Lowell as some of the best team
oriented theater he has ever done.
When Gabriel finished paying off his student loans in 1994,
he opened to the Universe and was called to take some healing
time away from the City and expand his ministry on to the world
stage. Since then, he has been less involved in traditional
dramatic arts and more in sacred ritual and devotional music
performance. He looks forward to his next stage design project
in service to his ministerial calling.
Gabriel is seeking collaborative artists (script
writers, composers, producers, publicists, performers, puppeteers,
musicians, designers, technicians, etc.) for this exciting new
theater production. Please contact Gabriel to
arrange an interview/audition.
Karmageddon: a Musical Revue
 A
musical revue and puppet cabaret for the End of Times, based
on the mainline prophecies as unsealed in the Everlasting
Gospel. What happens when earthlings keep on riding
the 'gravy train' of capitalism on into tribulation? It all
unfolds on 'The World Stage', a fully designed, touring spherical
stage representing our transforming planet earth.
The story line follows a group of young people
who are literally called from out of the audience to drop their
old world roles and take a stand with Archangel Michael by presenting
the 'little book' to the world thru a revue of fantastic music,
dance, puppety and pageant.
As the tribulations unfold in front of them
on the world stage, the players are called into their drama/karma
to heal it. As they do, each is taken thru a cosmic initiation,
remembering who they are and how they are to serve in the Creation's
plan. The characters transmute the karma as it comes up, synthesizing
the mythology around the End Times by making a stand with archangel
Michael, who delivers the world with full ETI contact, culminating
in the arrival of all the world avatars on the New Jerusalem
mothership, bringing the New World of free giving and recieving
and delivering (almost) all the souls back into the eternal
family.
Posting here soon:
Outline & Script
Stage Design & Drawings
Music & Lyrics
"The play's the thing..."
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