Artistic Director

Now living in Los Angeles, Caldwell has spent the last 16 years in Washington, DC as a director, writer, producer, and educator. He is the 2023 SDCF Zelda Fichandler Award recipient for his creativity and deep investments in the community. He has received Helen Hayes awards for directing, writing, and producing and was a regular recipient of the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Artist Fellowship.

His most recent directing credits include Romeo & Juliet at Folger Shakespeare Library, Look Both Ways at The Kennedy Center, Poetry for the People at Theater Alliance, Skeleton Crew at The Contemporary Theatre of Ohio, and Passing Strange at Signature Theatre. He has written and adapted new works for Theater Alliance and the Kennedy Center, including Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks from the book by 2024 MacArthur recipient Jason Reynolds. A national tour is planned for early 2025. Poetry for the People: The June Jordan Experience, which he created alongside renowned composer Adrienne Torf, received the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Adaptation.

Caldwell was the artistic director at Washington DC’s Theater Alliance for six seasons, where he directed, developed, and produced socially conscious, thought-provoking programming that transformed the region and had global impact. Under his leadership, Theater Alliance was chosen to lead an American Arts Envoy with the US Department of State. He devised and directed the new work, A Global I.D.E.A., with 23 artists and activists from Bangladesh, Nepal, India, and the U.S. that explores what “Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility” mean on the global stage. He’s developed and led similar international programming promoting cultural preservation, LGTBQIA+ rights, disability advocacy, peacebuilding, and countering violent extremism, human trafficking, and gender-based violence. In addition to his international work as an educator, Raymond was a faculty member and resident director at Howard University’s Department of Theatre Arts. He was part of the National Arts Strategy Executive Leadership group at Harvard, holds an MFA in Acting/New Play Development from Ohio State University, and a BFA in Acting from the University of Florida.

Managing Director

is honored to join The Fountain Theatre alongside Raymond O. Caldwell at this exciting moment in the organization’s history. She comes to Los Angeles from Raleigh, NC, where she served for eight years as Executive Artistic Director of the National Women’s Theatre Festival. During her tenure, she produced, directed, and championed hundreds of productions, workshops, and readings by theatre artists of underrepresented genders at every career stage.

Notable productions under her leadership include the regional premieres of Dance Nation by Clare Barron, her critically acclaimed original work Licked Cupcake, and the first digitally native productions of Mfoniso Udofia’s modern verse translation of Othello, Lauren Gunderson’s Natural Shocks, and Carson Kreitzer’s Freakshow. She also advanced the development of new works such as Karen Finley’s COVID Vortex Anxiety Opera Kitty Kaleidoscope Disco and Jacqueline E. Lawton’s XIX, a historical drama centering the experiences of Black and mixed-race women during the ratification of the 19th Amendment.

Johannah’s artistic passion lies in developing and devising new socio-political works through the lenses of universal access and intersectional feminism. Her original piece The Momversations Project—co-created with Molly Claassen—documents the urgent issues mothers in America face today through real-life conversations. The work premiered in workshop form in 2022 and is currently in development for a world premiere.

In 2022, Johannah received the Kennedy Center’s LEAD® Award for Emerging Leaders for her groundbreaking work integrating universal open captioning into every performance at her organization. She has consulted for numerous arts organizations on accessibility and disability inclusion, provides trainings in multiple accessibility topics, and authored The Sensory Friendly Workbook, an interactive resource for creating sensory-friendly and “come as you are” productions. As a leader, she is both a systems-thinker and systems-disruptor, known for her strategic insight and coalition-building skills.

A passionate teaching artist and tireless advocate, Johannah has taught at every level from preschool to post-college. She is especially proud of the WTFringeLab for Directors & Producers program she developed to address training and opportunity gaps for early-career directors and producers from marginalized backgrounds. She also serves as a Chief Ambassador for PAAL, the Parent Artist Advocacy League for the Performing Arts, connecting organizations, hiring bodies, and parent artists with vital knowledge, resources, and support.

Johannah is a graduate of NYU/Tisch School of the Arts/Playwrights Horizons Theatre School. She currently divides her time between Los Angeles and Landers, California, where she lives with her family and five pets.

Box Office Manager

tired, wired and filled with existential dread

Producer

joined the Fountain team in 2007 and has smiled and whistled, much to the irritation of everyone else, every day ever since. James enjoys chatting, hobnobbing, and wine sipping with all the theatre's many fine friends, family, and patrons. For work, he can be found running the whole stack of theatre activities, whether that's toiling on a pile of paperwork, coiled into a pretzel in the tech booth, or producing fabulous Flamenco shows. He's enjoyed co-producing the Fountain's Rapid Development Series and is looking forward to many more scrumptious seasons to come. He's compelled to the theatre by its immediacy, its intimacy – the visceral impact of being so close to real humans with real sweat and real spit. In a world that's increasingly disjointed, behind glass, and far away – theatre becomes more powerful than ever. Terran Fighting!

Accountant/Bookkeeper

Peter Carrisoza obtained his business degree from CSU Northridge and has worked as an accountant/financial analyst in a variety of industries ranging from entertainment to defense contracting. He is currently enjoying his third year at the Fountain Theatre.

Producing Director

has been Producing Director of the Fountain Theatre since 1993. The Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle honored him with the Milton Katselas Award for Lifetime Achievement in Directing. He is the recipient of multiple awards for directing and producing, both in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Among the 26 shows he’s directed at the Fountain, recent ones include: I, Daniel Blake, The Lifespan of a Fact, The Children, Daniel's Husband and The Chosen. His stage adaptation of Eliot Weinberger’s What I Heard About Iraq received an Edinburgh Fringe First Award, an Adelaide Fringe Award, was produced by the BBC, received a UK tour, and has had numerous international productions. His stage adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby (Finalist for the PEN Literary Award in Drama) is produced widely throughout the world, with over 550 productions to date. It is the only stage adaptation authorized by the Fitzgerald Estate, and is published by Dramatists Play Service, along with his adaptations of Tender is the Night (winner of the PEN Literary Award in Drama) and The Last Tycoon. He has produced 52 shows at the Fountain over the past 33 years. Prior to coming to Los Angeles, he lived in San Francisco where he was the General Manager of Beach Blanket Babylon, Artistic Director of The One Act Theatre Company, and Executive Director of Theatre Bay Area. He belongs to many theatre, human rights, and political advocacy groups. www.simonlevy.com

Development Associate

Madison Mellon is a Los Angeles–based arts professional whose career bridges theatre, media studies, and nonprofit development. She holds a BA in Drama from Vassar College and an MA in Cinema and Media Studies from the University of Southern California, where her research focused on queer studies, animation, and musical theatre.

Currently, Madison serves as a Development Associate and grant writer for the Fountain Theatre, where she supports fundraising initiatives designed to expand access to the arts, especially for young people and underserved communities. In this role, she works on grant proposals, donor communications, and institutional fundraising strategies that help sustain the theatre’s productions and education programs.

Her professional experience also extends beyond development: Madison has worked in artistic and production capacities, from graphic design and puppetry as an Art Department PA to assisting directors and stage managers at various San Diego theatres. She is also a theatre critic for Stage Raw, where she contributes reviews that engage thoughtfully with the Los Angeles theatre landscape.

Programs & Administrative Associate

RheAnn is a playwright, director, and dramaturg. She is a born and raised Mississippian who comes from a long line of community leaders, teachers, civil rights activists, and prayer warriors – all of whom are colorful storytellers. At 18, RheAnn moved to New York City, where she earned a degree in Playwriting and Directing at Marymount Manhattan College. While in New York, she worked in several theatrical lanes, including stage management, intimacy directing, dramaturgy, directing, and theatre education. RheAnn developed her passion for dramaturgy as a New Work Development Intern at The Public Theater in New York City. Since then, she has continued bi-costal career as a director and dramaturg. When she isn’t at a desk or in a rehearsal room, RheAnn suffers as a writer and publishes short stories on her substack. 

Today, RheAnn is based in Los Angeles, though she still considers herself deeply rooted in her Southern identity. RheAnn is a curious student of Southern Black mysticism, folklore, blues music, and the evolution of Black Southern culture. She is a fanatic of the fantastical, paranormal, and anything that can be considered a puppet. 

One might think that RheAnn took a job at The Fountain Theatre to grow her skills as a producer, theatre educator, and dramaturg. But that’s only a fraction of the truth. RheAnn is here on a mission to catch The Fountain Theatre Ghost. Each flickering light or abnormally chilly hallway brings her closer to her destiny. 

In a larger sum of the truth, RheAnn enjoys using her producing and dramaturgical skills to provide audiences with the opportunity to celebrate and connect with art that heals, reflects, and radically informs. RheAnn is a firm believer that storytelling has the power to shift culture, broaden perspective, and uplift humanity. As an educator, RheAnn knows that when children learn to confidently show up as themselves on stage, they will bring that same energy anywhere life takes them. Her work supports The Fountain Theatre’s mission to create entertaining and thought provoking art that inspires a new wave of empathy, activism, and community. 

Publicist

has been providing publicity services to the Los Angeles performing arts community for the past 28 years, and is honored to have represented the Fountain Theatre since 2008. Prior to becoming a publicist, Lucy spent ten years as the production manager/staff producer at the Odyssey Theatre, earning an L.A. Drama Critic’s Circle Award, an L.A. Weekly Award, 4 Drama-Logue Awards, and a Women in Theatre Recognition Award.

Impact & Engagement Manager

ReSheda is an LA based actress and is delighted to join the A Noise Within family. Originally from Pine Bluff, Arkansas, she trained at American Conservatory Theater and Stella Adler Studio of Acting, NYC. Some of her theater and on-screen credits include The Bluest Eye (Frieda), the west coast premiere of Ft. Huachuca, Me Little Me (an award-winning film that premiered at SXSW), Her Study of a Killer (Lifetime).  When she isn’t actively on a project, she continues to hone her craft through developmental works and staged readings. www.reshedadterry.com

Technical Director

has been Technical Director at the Fountain since its inaugural production of Winter Crane in 1990. He has overseen virtually every Fountain production, on and off site, including their numerous flamenco shows, and has appeared here on our stage in Declarations: Love Letters of the Great Romantics, and the Fountain’s hit productions of Master Class and Joe Turners’ Come and Gone. Scott's talents as actor-singer-guitarist were also seen in the Shakespeare Festival L.A. productions of As You Like It and Twelfth Night at the Globe Theatre in West Hollywood and in the film A Day in the Life of Sunny Paradise.