Panndora Productions

A co-founder of the company, Sonja acts, directs and produces with Panndora. Her support of new theatre led to the creation of Panndora’s Box Annual Festival of New Works, which is having its Quinceañera celebration of 15 years in 2021. She directed the premieres of Panndora’s Box winners, Hook-Ups by Alexandra Petri in 2012, Medusa Undone by Bella Poynton in 2015, Jupiter Moon by Bob Valine in 2018, and A Wolf's Mother in 2019. She regularly directs and performs in Panndora's Box. Acting credits with Panndora include Well and Vivian Bearing in W;t, Scrooge’s Really Really Bad Night, String of Pearls, It’s a Wonderful Life, Three Tall Women, Thirteen Hands, Collected Stories, and Tennesee’s Women, plus collaborations with Long Beach Opera, including one with Michael York. She serves on the Yale School of Drama Board of Advisors, the Boards of Antaeus Theatre Company (LA), Heartbeat Opera (NY) and Fringe Benefits (LA), as well as the Advisory Board of Rattlestick Playwrights Theater. Sonja is a reformed lawyer, a graduate of SCR’s Professional Conservatory and the Steppenwolf Lab Rats. She was a fellow in Directing at the Yale School of Drama and can’t seem to stay away. Sonja usually lives in Long Beach with an understanding husband and three orange cats. (although she travels a lot and also lives a third of the time in Cambridge, MA – but that’s another story) (and then there was the Pandemic).

KAREN, a co-founder, acts, directs and produces with Panndora Productions. She appeared at the Garage Theatre as Charles Manson's mother in A Wolf's Mother, Dorothy in Jupiter Moon, Kate Wolcott in Sweet Texas Reckoning, and Athena in Medusa Undone. She directed the premiere of Fragile Thing Cracks, another Festival winner, and had a leading role in Panndora’s Catching The Butcher at the Long Beach Playhouse. Karen also runs light and sound for Panndora and has on occasion been our Stage Manager. Other acting credits include Hook-Ups, Well, Crimes of the Heart, W;t, Collected Stories, The Rainmaker, Thirteen Hands, and The Last Night of Ballyhoo, to name a few. Karen also serves on the board of New Voices Playwrights Theatre, an Orange County based playwriting group. A native Wisconsinite, Karen studied at SCR and is a graduate of CSULB.

As PANNDORA'S Founding Artistic Director, David directed Sonja and Karen in their inaugural production of Collected Stories by Donald Margulies. He has been a Resident Artist from the beginning and starred in the Company's productions of I'm Not Rappaport, Tennessee's Women, and It's A Wonderful Life, a radio play. He directed Tennessee's Women and a reprise of Collected Stories. David has been part of Panndora's Box Annual Festival of New Works for years, as both an actor and a director. We met in Karen Hensel's Advanced Acting class at South Coast Repertory, where this all began. David comes from New York where he danced for years with Bob Fosse (yes, that Bob Fosse!)

PETE TAYLOR has been a resident artist with Panndora for a long time - since Tennessee's Women back in 2004. He acts, directs, and designs sets, lighting and sound. He was featured in Glove Story by Ken Pisani, A Wolf's Mother by Cary J. Simowitz and In Kings & Fools by Kevin Daly.  Pete directed Sweet Texas Reckoning by Tracey Godfrey. Before that he appeared in our world premiere of Fragile Thing Cracks, directed and appeared in W;t, and was technical director, set and lighting designer for Catching the Butcher. Pete's many acting credits include leading roles in The Last Night of Ballyhoo, Scrooge’s Really Really Bad Night, BOO!, Love Letters, Twelve Angry Men, K-2, Our Town, Murder at the Howard Johnson’s and It’s a Wonderful Life. Pete has voiced dozens of videogame characters and has directed many theatrical and commercial productions, including the critically acclaimed The Belle of Amherst, Panndora Productions’ I’m Not Rappaport, the world premieres of Cecilia Fannon's Scrooge’s Really Really Bad Night and Time is a Gentleman. He is very proud of Panndora’s Box—our annual playwriting festival that brings us the amazing new plays we produce each year. Pete almost always acts and directs in Panndora's Box.

As a Resident Artist with Panndora Productions, Rebecca directed Glove Story. She had leading roles in In Kings & Fools and Sweet Texas Reckoning, as well as Catching the Butcher, Tennessee’s Women, Thirteen Hands, String of Pearls, It's a Wonderful Life, Scrooge's Really Really Bad Night, BOO! and In These Great Times with the Long Beach Opera. She regularly appears and directs in Panndora’s Box new works festivals. Other theatrical productions Rebecca has appeared in are The Last Night of Ballyhoo, Miss Reardon Drinks a Little, The Haunting, Veronica’s Room, Love Letters, and as Emily Dickinson in The Belle of Amherst. Rebecca also enjoys set design and photography, and is the company's resident photographer.

Derek has been a resident artist with Panndora Productions since Catching the Butcher days. He has recently joined ranks with producers Karen Wray and Sonja Berggren, helping produce the company's annual Panndora's Box. With the company his directing credits include In Kings & Fools and numerous Panndora's Box readings. He also directed The Dogs Pond by Travis Baker, a Panndora's Box winner, at the Whitefire Theatre. His Panndora acting credits include Alan John in Sweet Texas Reckoning, Poseidon in Medusa Undone, Bill in Catching the Butcher, and numerous Panndora’s Box readings. Other stage credits include Intimately Wilde at the Long Beach Playhouse, Donner Party-The Musical at the Found Theatre, Equus at the Morgan-Wixon Theatre, The Merry Wives of Windsor at The Lyric Theatre, Vampire Lesbians of Sodom at the Bootleg Theatre, and Hamlet at Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Derek also enjoys teaching a performance class in Long Beach and Santa Monica. More info at dereklong.net

Carmen has been a resident artist with Panndora Productions since Tennessee's Women, and is also a resident artist with Breath of Fire Latina Theatre. She has frequently appeared in Panndora's Box, staged readings for South Coast Rep and Breath of Fire Theatre, and has held leading roles as Echo in Medusa Undone, Tennesee’s Women, W;t, Three Tall Women, and Hurricane In A Glass.  With other theatres, she's appeared in Steel Magnolias, Afterplay, and A Lie Of The Mind.  Carmen is a graduate of SCR's Professional Conservatory and has studied with Steppenwolf West.  Born in Manila, Philippines, of Catalan-Spanish and Argentinian heritage, she immigrated to the United States and attended St. Mary's Academy in Los Angeles, then went on to earn her Masters Degree in Spanish Literature and Linguistics. She was adjunct professor of Spanish at Cal Poly University.  Earlier in her teaching career she taught Kindergarten for the Anaheim City School District.

Pam is honored to be a resident artist with Panndora where some of her favorite performances are Mary Brodie in Fragile Thing Cracks, Her in Hook Ups, and Joy and Dottie in Well. She has also been part of Panndora’s Box Annual New Works Festival as an actor and a director, and she co-produced Catching the Butcher. Other favorite theatrical productions include: Fun & Nobody, Vanities, HellCab, Daisy's for Katie and About Faces (a national showcase with the Australian Institute of Dramatic Arts (AIDA)). She was an improv performer with the OC Crazies. She has been in several independent films including: Wigger (premiered at the Malcolm X Festival 2010), Nine Fourteen (shown at LA Film Festival), The Telling, Eddie, Underground Kings. Her TV credits include LA Forensics (Court TV) and What You Should Do (Lifetime).  Pam is also a registered Drama Therapist. She has studied with Judith Weston, Pete Taylor, Karen Hensel, Mary McDonnell and Paul Parker (AIDA). 

CAITLIN is an L.A. native and a busy Panndoran, recently joining the tribe of Resident Artists and readers for Panndora’s Box. She appeared in Panndora’s productions of Medusa Undone by Bella Poynton and Fragile Thing Cracks by Ben Jolivet. She frequently appears in Panndora's Box Festival of New Works. Other favorite theatrical productions include: Fool for Love, The Wizard of Oz, and Return to the Forbidden Planet. You can also catch her in the audience of Cher's next farewell tour. 

YURI OKAHANA (Scenic Design) is Panndora's resident scenic designer. Based in Los Angeles, Yuri is originally from Tokyo, Japan. Her scenic design credits with Panndora include In Kings & Fools, Sweet Texas Reckoning, and Medusa Undone at the Garage Theatre, and Fragile Thing Cracks at Long Beach Playhouse. Yuri is a guest artist and lecturer in design at Westmont College and CSULB. Some of her other projects: The Dido Project at Westmont College, Darkside (U.S. Premier), PinkMilk (West Coast Premier), Sans Merci and Night and HerStars at the Garage Theatre, Revival at Acting Arts Theater, Waiting for Lefty: Seeing Red at California Repertory Theater. Yuri’s design work has been exhibited at Design Showcase East in NYC, Design Showcase West at UCLA, and Theater Pokolenly in St. Petersburg, Russia. She holds an MFA in Scenic Design from California State University, Long Beach. Yuri’s website can be viewed at www.yuriokahana.com

REE JOHNSON began his career as a professional singer in Las Vegas and California, opening for greats such Diahann Carroll.  He has performed in nightclubs throughout Los Angles and Orange County and headlined on Carnival Cruise Lines. Ree’s theatre credits include the Judge in Sweeney Todd, Lov’in Al and Frank in Working (Dramalogue Award), Jim in Big River at Laguna Beach Playhouse and Metro Theatre in New Zealand and Walter in Raisin in the Sun.  A Resident Artist with Panndora Productions, Ree was in their productions of I’m Not Rappaport, It’s a Wonderful Life, Scrooge and several Panndora’s Box Festivals.  Other leading roles include Little Shop of Horrors, Requiem for a Heavyweight, Of Mice and Men, Jesus Christ Superstar (with Ted Neely) and Guys and Dolls with Leslie Uggams in Las Vegas.  Film credits include: The Arrival, Drug Wars, The Prisoner and American Letters