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| Who We Are
KOLT comes from the names of its founders: Kelley Ogden and Lisa Thew. After moving from Houston to Sacramento in 2005, Kelley and Lisa wanted to contribute to and be a part of the Sacramento theatre scene and lend their voices to the plays that were being produced locally. Their inaugural production, Keely and Du by Jane Martin, was a searing abortion drama. With accolades from both audiences and critics alike, it went on to garner four Elly nominations including Best Production of a Drama. KOLT's next show, Lips by Constance Congdon, entered the political fray of the Presidential election season with a story involving America's first female President and the gay civil rights struggle. After a successul run, KOLT took a break to allow Kelley and Lisa to pursue individual artistic projects. In February 2010, they closed their latest and most successful show to date, Crime and Punishment. KOLT's next production, Escape From Happiness, will open at the Ooley Theatre in mid-November 2010.  Kelley Ogden / Co-Founder, Producer, Performer
Born into an acting family, Kelley whined until she was finally given her first stage role at age 4. She attended the High School for Performing & Visual Arts in Houston, Texas and earned her BFA in Performance from The Theatre School at DePaul University in Chicago. This is where she met Lisa, her partner in life and in art. While in Chicago, she studied commedia dell'arte for 2 years and performed in the first Chicago Clown Theatre Festival. Kelley has been fortunate to work in varying capacities for such prestigious arts organizations as Steppenwolf Theatre, The Royal George Theatre, Illinois Theatre Centre, Dallas Theater Center and the Houston Ballet. Her favorite roles include Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Festa Longno in The Stand-In and Leemore Fillmore in Stick Knife Here. KOLT audiences saw her as Keely* in Keely and Du, Rachel in Lips and, most recently, as Sonia* in Crime and Punishment. Kelley also performed as The Player* in Big Idea Theatre's production of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard and in BIT's production of Almost, Maine. Most recently, she played Pam in Hunter-Gatherers at Capital Stage.  Lisa Thew / Co-Founder, Producer, Director
Lisa was raised in Lincoln, Nebraska, land of the Cornhuskers (Go Big Red!) and wanted to be on stage from the time she saw Grease at the drive-in movie theater when she was 7 years old. She studied with the Advanced Theatre Company in high school and went on to a slightly gypsyesque decade of moving around and doing theatre in different parts of the country, landing in Chicago at The Theatre School at DePaul University, where she met her partner Kelley. In Chicago, she became a founding member of the Chicago Sable Ensemble and played one of her favorite roles, Joyce in Possible Worlds with SlimTack Theatre Co. Other favorite roles have included Nellie in Summer and Smoke and Roberta in Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, both with the Actor's Theatre of San Antonio. In 2007, she traveled to the other side of the stage and has been loving it there ever since. She has directed KOLT's productions of Keely and Du*, Lips and Crime and Punishment* as well as The Vagina Monologues at UC-Davis' 2009 V-Day. Lisa's most recent directing project was the critically-acclaimed production of Burn This for Resurrection Theatre, which ran in June 2010 . | |
| * Denotes Elly Award nominations | | | |
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