Custom Made Theatre Announces New Artistic Associate

The Custom Made Theatre Company (www.customstage.org) today announced the appointment of Gabriel Grilli as Artistic Associate. Gabriel will appear in the company's upcoming spring production of Noah Haidle's Mr. Marmalade (Actor's Equity approval pending) and will have an ongoing company role as a director, teacher, performer and administrator.

An actor, director and writer with over a decade of experience in New York and regional theatres, Gabriel joins Custom Made after settling in the Bay Area in 2007. His previous work with the company includes appearing in last season's production of David Mamet's The Old Neighborhood, and contributing as a director to Custom Made's fall mounting of Chekhov adaptations, Orchards.

Brian Katz, Artistic Director of Custom Made Theatre, commented, "Gabriel brings a wealth of experience to Custom Made, and his work as an artist as well as his perspective as someone who has self-produced and run his own off-off Broadway company will strengthen our artistic, literary, and marketing departments."

Gabriel's credits in the Bay Area include appearances with 42nd Street Moon, PlayGround, SF Fringe Festival, Magic Theatre, Playwrights Foundation and The Playwrights' Center. Before moving to San Francisco, he was Artistic Director of the New York City-based collective Venus Fly Trap, and worked at theatres such as The Old Globe, Syracuse Stage, Geva Theatre, Cider Mill Playhouse, Texas Shakespeare Festival, HERE, and the NY Fringe Festival. Gabriel is also a member of PlayGround, Actors' Equity, and the Lincoln Center Directors' Lab.

Custom Made's Managing Director, Leah Abrams, added, "I'm so excited about what this new relationship will bring to our season and to our expanding education department." Gabriel has taught acting and movement on the East coast at The New School, NYU, Penn State, and the School of Visual Arts, and internationally with Acting Abroad (Normandy, France) and Oxbridge Programs (Cambridge, UK).