ABOUT US
It begins..
In 1998 after the film Dangerous Beauty came out, both Tara Rech and Jwlhyfer de Winter developed an interest in the real Italian Courtesans of the 16th Century. Jwlhyfer wanted to put together a group to attend local Renaissance Faires in character with historically accurate costumes and personas. Tara also dreamed of attending Renn Faires adorned in Venetian garb, with a character to match.
Tara and Jwlhyfer met at the 2003 PEERS Dangerous Beauty Ball and found that they had a common desire to research and faithfully reproduce the costumes and personalities of a courtesan. They decided to combine their efforts and create theatre.
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Jwlhyfer de Winter & Tara Rech; Founding performers
Jwlhyfer de Winter (Artistic Director), writer, co-founder) majored in Performance Art at the San Francisco Art Institute. She wrote, directed and performed in Theosomorphia; Danse Vampyresque, Wolfbone, Winters Dream of White Roses, and sung in Dweller at the Gates of Silent Memory among other pieces. She was a special type film extra for two years in Hollywood, California and worked in approximately 15 films and 3 music videos. She is the co-founder, former President and Vice President of The Greater Bay Area Costumer's Guild. For the First Fairie Tale Masquerade Ball she served as the concept creator, entertainment coordinator and house manager for six scheduled performances in one evening. She performed as Mary Shelley at Romantic Poetry on the Lake for two years. She was a regular attendee at the Renaissance Pleasure Faire (Blackpoint) for 7 years, where she interacted and improvised frequently with participants. She has been a Costume Judge at the Dickens's Faire for the past several years and also performs there as Elizabeth Eleanor Siddal; teaching patrons about Women artists of the Victorian Era and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. She was a featured Artist in the Nebula Award nominated book The Costume Makers Art. She has been singing since she was six, and has sung English Renaissance and British Isles Folk Music since 1987. She has played the Irish Wire Strung harp for the many years and is studying the lute and the bowed psaltery. She seeks to explore character through the act of donning costume.
Tara Rech, Ph.D. (writer, co-founder)
Before pursuing her doctorate in clinical psychology, Tara worked as a professional actress in over 40 theater productions in England and the U.S.A. She studied theater at Arizona State University State University, Bobby Ball Academy Ball Academy, and completed a 1-year full-time acting program at the Drama Studio of London. She has performed in a wide range of plays, including Julius Caesar (London fringe theater), Veronica's Room and Laundry and Bourbon (San Jose Stage Company), Company, Godspell, and Election Day. A founding member of Touche swordfighting academy (fightmasters: J.R. Beardsley and Richard Lane), Tara is certified in stage combat at the advanced level ("recommended") through the American Society of Fight Directors and the British Society of Fight Directors. She sings, dances, and is currently learning to play the Lute. Serving as a bridge between her career choices, her doctoral dissertation (titled Raising the Curtain: the Relationship Between Potential Space and Meaningful Experiences in the Theater) uses psychoanalytic theory and stories from both audience members and actors to determine how meaningful theatrical moments are identified and shared.
The rest of our cast:
Shawna Spiteri (Musical/Blocking Director/Writer) has a bachelor's degree in theatre arts from San Francisco State University, where she studied music formally as well. She has extensive dance training in classical ballet, tap, jazz, modern, folk and ballroom dance. Shawna has performed both classical and avant garde music with local groups such as Masterworks Chorale and The Enormous Ensemble, plus she has done professional voiceover work for David Lynch's Blue Velvet and Francis Coppola's Dracula. 1994, Shawna followed her interest in Celtic and early music into harp studies with well-known instructor and composer Diana Stork. Since then, Shawna has become a teacher of Celtic-style harp herself, helps direct the Bay Area Youth Harp Ensemble and just finished her first CD with the trio Triskela. Shawna has performed with Bella Donna since 2004.
Role: Rosetta Caravello (Courtesan)
Jennifer Erlichman has 20 years experience in the theater arts as both actor and musician,
and has studied performance music since age five. She has done costuming and makeup for theater,
and focuses her current business on historical costume design. Jennifer has performed with
Bella Donna since 2005.
Role: Lucrezia Boccherini (Courtesan)
Darieum Pagani is an accomplished poet and costumer; he is a native Italian and fluent in the language. Darieum joined Bella Donna in 2006.
Role: Domenico Pagani (household)
Dany Slone is an accomplished costumer who has won numerous awards for her projects, has a musical background, and has extensive experience with live action role playing and masquerade performances. Dany has performed with Bella Donna since 2004.
Role: Magdalena d’Iverno (Seresina's Sister-in-law, household)
Kendra Van Cleave (Event/Faire Liason/Costume Approval and co-design) has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history, is an accomplished historical costumer, and has performed as an actor and dancer at a number of Renaissance and Dickens faires. Kendra has performed with Bella Donna since 2005.
Role: Angelica da Venzone, a.k.a.“La Tempesta” (Courtesan)
Linda Wenzelburger (Treasurer) has a background in singing, ballroom dance and ballet.
She was schooled in fashion design and has worked with several Bay Area theatre
groups as Costume Designer. Linda has performed with Bella Donna since 2005.
Role: Chiara Vespucci (Courtesan)
