Production Portfolio

Nicole is a perceptive, sharp, and quick individual with extensive experience and a deep passion for theatre like few people I have ever met.
–Patti Meyer, (former) Technical Director of The Marsh

The Forever Wave, a radio play (2023-)
Inspired by Dylan Thomas’ Under Milk Wood, this radio play for voices takes place in a futuristic, climate-impacted San Francisco where the sea level has risen 200′. Combining geography, climate science, Bay Area history, and an assemblage of voices—survivors and dead alike—The Forever Wave is a comprehensive exploration of a what-if future that seems ever more likely every year we fail to address the impacts of climate change and economic inequality.

Brought to vivid, auditory life by a multicultural, multigenerational, and multilingual cast of 12 representing the diversity of the Bay Area in terms of culture, ethnicity, gender, and sexual expression, The Forever Wave is a study in resilience, resourcefulness, and community-building. “If you survive the apocalypse,” one narrator asks, “don’t you get to help build what comes after it?”

A blue sky in the background with a red and white radio tower looming tall behind a closeup of a small black bird on a dry branch. A suggestion of trees and fog on the horizon.

Detail from the Forever Wave map of a drowned San Francisco circa 2070 after a 200 foot sea level rise. The land is in light green and the water royal blue, place names are detailed in white and character names in dark green with dark green arrows pointing to their locations indicated by red stars.

Topography map of a drowned San Francisco after a 200 foot sea level rise, the water is dark blue and the land in gradients of green for the lowest land and shades of browns for higher ground.

Photoshopped image of the Golden Gate Bridge in which the water of the Bay is touching the bottom of the bridge span as if after a 200 foot sea level rise.

Bikes to Books (2013-present)
One of my favorite ongoing projects is co-leading the Bikes to Books literary history bicycling tours of San Francisco, with the truly inspirational Burrito Justice! Over the years we’ve expanded our programming to include beer socials, lectures, presentations, readings, a one-mile walking tour of literary North Beach, and our signature seven-mile bike ride. Our 2013 “map launch,” held in Jack Kerouac Alley, included 12 readers performing selected segments of work from the 12 authors and artists featured on the route.

Two performers, Beck Hirshfeld, a young woman in a red button down shirt and glasses, Steffanos X, a middle-aged man in a grey striped suit and a nice fedora with a red feather, seated in front of a colorful mural.

A gathering of people, some seated and some standing, on Jack Kerouac Alley outside of Vesuvio bar.

A reader, Jim Nelson, wearing a brown hat and suit jacket, reads to a group of bicycle riders on an urban side street in San Francisco.

A group of smiling bicycle riders on an urban side street in San Francisco.

A pair of hands holding a small zine, opened to a page entitled Grant Street Coffee Joints (RIP)

A map graphic of a portion of the Bikes to Books literary history bicycle tour, with numbered author names and images, such as William Saroyan and Mark Twain.

Fringe Festivals (2000-present)
I’ve been working on the international Fringe Festival circuit for almost twenty years, after first stumbling across the San Francisco Fringe Festival at EXIT Theatre in 2000. As a lighting tech/designer, tour support, and journalist, I’ve traveled to multiple festivals in Canada, the U.S., and Edinburgh. Companies and artists I’ve worked for include the San Francisco Fringe Festival, Ambit Theatre, Barry Smith, Naked Empire Bouffon Company, and Christina Augello/EXIT Theatre. Additionally, I’ve been a volunteer for the Montreal Fringe Festival, and a Fringe reviewer for StageRush in NYC.

A costumed performer in a white padded outfit and small black top hands a postcard to a smiling woman in a white blouse on a crowded lawn.

A low wooden shelf at right angles to a tech table, both covered with computers, lightboard, tech script, and coffee cups.

A show postcard for American Squatter with two photos of the performer, Barry Smith, as a cleancut adolescent and as a squatter in London. The Tagline in white type says "I came. I saw. I stank."

Performer Christina Augello seated on a stool on a theatre stage performing for an audience.

A crowd mingling in a dimly lit room with small round tables and large leather seats.

A craft table with a cardboard television on top of a ribbon reel with Fringe written on the front

IncivilitySF/Subversion (2017-2020)
IncivilitySF was an annual showcase of politically-inspired work from San Francisco’s underground, co-founded by myself and Nathaniel Justinano, and co-curated by Sabrina Wenske and Larry Bogad. Our monthly development series, Subversion, invited artists working with themes of social justice, community-empowerment, and political awakening to come try out new work/work-in-progress in front of an audience. Artists pictured below are Eric Larsen, Ashton Wolgast, Fenner, Praba Pilar, Ed Wolf, Peter Griggs, and Rotimi Agbabiaka.

Two dancers, Eric Larsen, an elderly male in loincloth and Ashton Wolgast, a Black woman in loose dance clothing, perform in front of a backdrop painted with a mushroom cloud..

Fenner, a non-binary performer wearing a loose white shirt and tan leggings, crouches down onstage in a pool of light.

Performer Praba Pilar in a black dress and grey hair standing against a black background touching her mouth which is open and smeared.

Performer Rotimi Agbabiaka in a black leather jacket and blue lighting stands behind a music stand onstage.

Performer Peter Griggs dressed like Freddie Mercury in a white crop top, sings into a microphone in front of a smiling crowd.

Performer Ed Wolf, wearing a shirt patterned with Loteria game pieces and green shorts points a gun at a large sheet of paper on an easel, with the words "common ground; empathy" written on it.

Salon San Carlos (2011-2015)
An intimate, living room series of original works, staged in three different neighborhoods. Performers and companies included SF Buffoons, Naked Empire Bouffon Company, Kingdom of Not (as the Wounded Stag), Right Brain Performance Company, the Independent Eye, Foul Play Productions, Christian Cagigal, Ryan Hayes, Jeremy Greco, Mia Paschal, Maura Holloran, Megan Cohen, the Slow Poisoner, Gaea Denker/Princess Cream Pie, and L.M. deLeon.

Performer Christian Cagigal with short brown hair, glasses, and scruff, dressed in a grey cardigan, sits in front of a low table to perform his act as a Black man in a brown jacket watches.

Performer Mia Paschal, a Black Woman with pulled back dark hair, stands in a living room on a wood floor in high heeled tango shoes and a wraparound dress of patterned grey and brown.

A performer in a black cocktail dress and short dark hair stands in a living room, arms outstretched behind her.

Three Dancers stand in a living room doorway, dim red lighting and artistically blurred image.

Two elderly performers wearing human-face masks pretend to drive a car in a private living room.

Flyer with photo of two skeleton puppets captioned Bones Boning, and a graphic with a face of a drag queen, a topless cis woman, and an androgynous performer in a news cap.

Voter’s Bloc Theatre (2008-2011)
A political street theatre/radio play series dedicated to highlighting a single issue on the ballots of upcoming elections, including California’s No on 98 campaign, and No on L, San Francisco’s sit-lie proposition. Series culminated in a San Francisco mayoral campaign in 2011, featuring Tyler Null as his self-created politician persona, Spencer Blackhart.

Spencer Blackhart performer in a dark suit and striped tie stands on a milk crate on a city sidewalk, as people carrying Spencer Blackhart for Mayor signs surround him.

Performer Spencer Blackhart dressed in a dark suit and striped tie, holding a microphone and a photograph of a Black politician.

Spencer Blackhart performer in suit shakes the hand of a person wearing glasses and a Top Gun flightsuit.

Sign that reads: FOR RENT, Voters Bloc Theatre and Realty, No on 98 (with contact info)

Voter's Bloc Theatre poster for HOPSCOTCH-FREE sidewalks/No on L.