Cyndy Fujikawa is a Los Angeles based theatre artist and filmmaker who recently directed The Spy Who Went Into Rehab at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival starring FOTW veteran Mike McShane. She received her MFA from the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco where she was a founding member of the ACT based Encore Theatre Company. Her passion is bringing biographical and autobiographical work to life. She is the director/producer of Ninety Minutes Later, an award-winning documentary film about the fatal 2018 police shooting of actress Vanessa Marquez, for which she received a 2024 grant from Eastside Arts Initiative.As a playwright, she was commissioned by Cornerstone Theatre Co. to adapt the cherished memoir, Farewell to Manzanar, for the stage. She is perhaps best known for telling her father's story (actor and former Manzanar incarceree Jerry Fujikawa) in the one woman play, Old Man River, which was later adapted into an award-winning documentary film. Cyndy is a two two-time Van Lier Fellowship recipient for her work autobiographical work at legendary Mabou Mines and New York Theatre Workshop.
Paul Codiga is in his 25th year as a Local 399 Teamster Location Manager in Television and Film here in Los Angeles. He has worked on THE BIG LEBOWSKI, OH BROTHER WHERE ART THOU?, SPARTAN, CSI:MIAMI, BAD SANTA, SEX AND THE CITY, RENO 911, LOOT, THE COMPANY YOU KEEP and BAD MONKEY. He began working in theater in the 1980's in San Francisco after graduating from SFState with a BA in English Literature, co-founding the radical theater company DUDE THEATRE. There, he produced their hit cult shows: BUCKETS OF BLOOD, IMELDA:THE OPERA, THE CHARLIE MANSON PLAY and others. He ran the Theater Program at Intersection for the Arts from 1980-89, producing Culture Clash, Suzan-Lori Parks, David Barth, Erik Ehn, Octavio Solis, Cintra Wilson, Lambs Eat Ivy, lesser mortals, Carmelita Tropicana, Shane Carroll and many other artists. Paul is thrilled to have started this festival six years ago with his old friends Peter Kjenaas and Kim Teevan, and this year adding the talented Cyndy Fujikawa to the team. I am the proud Father of Vivian Rose Codiga and Dashel David Codiga. I dedicate this years festival to my parents; Vivian Rose Rinaldi Codiga and Stanley Paul Codiga. RIP.
Just to get this out of the way, here is how Peter’s last name is pronounced: ch (chin), en, us. Kind of like a sneeze… Peter is a freelance writer, director, actor, teacher, producer and runs The Mile High Theater. He helped produce and co-wrote the feature film In Search of Fellini with Nancy Cartwright. Theatrically, Peter was a founder of The Mountain Shakespeare Festival in Pine Mountain Club as well as Artists Without Nets in Los Angeles and Spectrum Theater Company in San Francisco. He has performed at the Oregon, Berkeley and Kern Shakespeare Festivals as well as Portland Center Stage and has directed in many locations.
