Meet the Artists

An accomplished performer and director, Joel relocated from New York to establish StageWorks Fresno, where he served as Artistic Director. His numerous directing credits include: [title of show], The Secret Garden, Dogfight, Mamma Mia and The Mountaintop and many others. With StageWorks Fresno, he appeared as Bessie in Casa Valentina,Msr. Thenardier in Les Miserables, Zsa Zsa in La Cage aux Folles and others. With UR Here Theater, he appeared in 2023's Southern Baptist Sissies. He is honored to serve as an Arts Content Specialist for The Office of the Fresno County Superintendent of Schools and is a proud member of Actor’s Equity! #henrystrongforever

Sunshine is alway happy to play with UR Here Theater, on and off the stage. Originally, from Fresno, CA she studied back east and had the fortune of working the Regional Theatre circuit. Some of her favorite credits include: The Book of Will (Stageworks Fresno); The Countess (Washington Stage Guild), Twelfth Night, The Tempest, A Christmas Carol (Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park); A Sense of Place, Private Eyes, Breath, Boom (Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati); The Last Night of Ballyhoo (Human Race Theatre Company); The Oedipus Trilogy, Hamlet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Comedy of Errors (Cincinnati Shakespeare Company).

Kate has worked in theatre locally as an actor, director and educator for over 35 years. She wrote, directed and performed in a one-act for Rogue Festival 2024 (99 Dreams). In addition to other Rogue productions, she has directed for CenterStage, Fresno Pacific University, and several high schools including University High. Kate directed UR Here Theater’s staged reading of POTUS. Favorite acting roles include Mama (I Remember Mama), Lady Macbeth, Hannah (Arcadia), and Baruska (Once). Kate is a member of the UR Here Theater Board, and is a part-time lecturer in the Theatre Arts & Dance Dept. at Fresno State.

Stephanie Axsom is excited to be making her UR Here Theatre debut!! You may recognize her from Fresno State's Men on Boats (Dunn), Fresno State ETC's Wild Swimming (Nell), Mad Gravity (Eudora), macbitches' director, and Madera Theatre Project's Odd Couple FV (Sylvie).

Having had the privilege of working with many wonderful theatre companies and across several different mediums over the span of her career as a stage manager, Jenna is excited to work with UR Here Theater this season. Previous credits include La Cage Aux Folles; Next To Normal; Ragtime; [title of show](StageWorks Fresno), Once(CenterStage Clovis), Tommy, Les Misérables, (Children’s Musical Theaterworks), Seussical: The Musical(Performance Riverside); operas with Fresno Grand Opera, Opera Columbus, and Opera in the Ozarks. She is excited to play with this new group of creative souls within our community! #henrystrongforever

Mark has performed with UR Here Theater, Good Company Players, and StageWorks Fresno, recently as Papa in Little Women, Salieri in Amadeus, and directed the hit production of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) (all for GCP). He toured nationally in Man of La Mancha with Ed Ames and served as managing director for Sacramento Theatre Company and Toledo Rep, directing award-winning productions. A frequent guest narrator for the Fresno Philharmonic, he also enjoys playing Santa for their holiday concert. Mark moved to Fresno in 2014 as the city's Director of Communications and is currently the director of Beautify Fresno.

Karina Balfour is an adjunct instructor of Theatre at Fresno City College. She earned her BA in Theatre (Fresno State) and MFA in Acting Pedagogy (University of Alabama). Karina spent 9 years in Philadelphia, PA and Atlanta, GA performing in regional theatres and teaching at several colleges. This is her 5th collaboration with UR Here Theatre. Most recently she was seen in Fresno City College’s Hand to God. Other favorite Fresno-area credits include: The Wolves (Soccer Mom, Fresno State), Book of Will (Alice, Stageworks), Zoot Suit (Alice, SAC), Dance Nation (Moms, UR Here) and directing The Line (FCC) and No Easy Road to Freedom (FCC).

Nico J Diviccaro is making his UR Here Theater debut with Perfect Arrangement! He’s ecstatic about the opportunity and very grateful to be sharing this piece of art with the Central Valley. He has been seen in numerous shows, most recently he was in University Theatres production of Red Velvet as Charles Kean, and did runs with their Experimental Theatre Company with his role of Michael Novak in God of Carnage and Walt Disney in A Public Reading of An Unproduced Screenplay About the Death of Walt Disney.