The Dacha Team

Kate Drummond - Artistic Director, Founder
She/Her
Kate Drummond is a graduate of the Seattle Children's Theatre Teaching Apprenticeship, and has a BA in Drama from Washington University in St. Louis, where she explored acting and directing and developed a specialized interest in Shakespearean verse. In Seattle, she has performed with Dacha, Jet City Improv, and Unexpected Productions, among others. Kate teaches for several organizations in and around Seattle, including Seattle Children's Theatre, Bainbridge Performing Arts, foundry10, and Seattle Shakespeare Company's Short Shakes program. When not teaching or performing, Kate can be found in working at Jet City Improv as the Education Director.
Past Dacha credits include: Director of Yarn: Unraveled, The Light Princess, Quick Bright Things, Dice: Twelfth Night; Ensemble Director of Dice: Hamlet, Dice: As You Like It, Pride & PrejuDICE; Intimacy Choreographer for The Moors, Metamorphoses, the Dice series; Juliet in Dream Things True; Nina in The Seagull;

Mike Lion - Artistic Director, Founder
He/Him
Mike is a director, actor, and Russian translator. He concentrated in Theatre at Hampshire College and created an immersive adaptation of Hamlet as his thesis. He frequently directs in non-traditional spaces, working to blur the line between audiences and performers. Mike is drawn to physical theatre and has trained in Commedia dell’Arte, American Melodrama, Suzuki Movement, Slapstick, and Clown. He works as an Admin Assistant and Improv Coach at Youth Theatre Northwest. Mike was thrilled to direct Dacha's production of The Moors by Jen Silverman at Theatre Off Jackson last winter.
Past Dacha credits include: Director of The Moors, Metamorphoses, Who Killed Otter's Babies?; Ensemble in Dice: Twelfth Night, Dice: As You Like It, Pride & PrejuDICE; Ensemble Director of Dice: Hamlet; Puck in Quick Bright Things; Assistant Director of Ghost Party; Director/Translator of The Snow Queen; Director/Writer of An Awfully Big Adventure;

Beth Pollack - Artistic Producer
She/Her
Beth is a graduate of the Seattle Children's Theatre Teaching Apprenticeship. As a performer, she has been involved in various classical, contemporary, and devised pieces in New York and Seattle. As an educator, Beth has worked with New York’s Mad and Merry Theatre Company, Seattle’s Young Shakespeare Workshop, The 5th Avenue Theater, and ACT Theatre. Beth holds a BA in Theatre Studies and the Historicization of Dramatic Literature from NYU's Gallatin School of Individualized Study and would be happy to explain exactly what that means.
Past Dacha credits include: Princess in The Light Princess; Helena in Quick Bright Things; Sonata in Who Killed Otter's Babies; Ensemble in Dice: Twelfth Night, Dice: As You Like It, Pride & PrejuDICE; Ensemble Director/Fight Captain of Dice: Hamlet; Dramaturg for The Moors, Metamorphoses; Writer/Assistant Director of An Awfully Big Adventure

Claire Stark - Director of Production
She/Her
Claire is a Production Manager and Stage Manager originally from Indianapolis, Indiana. Since her transfer to Seattle, she has worked at the 5th Ave Theatre (Annie, Adventure Musical Theatre, Rising Star Project, Bliss, Sister Act), the Seattle Children’s Theatre (Corduroy, Black Beauty), and of course with Dacha. Previously, Claire worked as an assistant stage manager with the Indiana Repertory Theatre and the Santa Cruz Shakespeare, each for three seasons. She returns to Santa Cruz this summer as an AEA Stage Manager for The Tempest. Claire loves coffee, Shakespeare, and a well organized tech schedule.

Emily Huntingford - Artistic Producer
She/Her
Emily received a BA in Theatre from Whitman College and has been in Seattle for three years performing throughout the city. A lover of classical theatre, she has memorized the entirety of Hamlet, As You Like It, and Pride and Prejudice and has acted with Fern Shakespeare Company, GreenStage, and Key City Public Theatre. She has also performed with the UMO Ensemble in Falling Awake at ACT Lab and Burien Actors Theatre. Most recently she performed Polka Dots with Parachute Players at Seattle Children’s Theatre.
Past Dacha credits include: Moor-Hen in The Moors, Ensemble in Dice: Hamlet, Dice: As You Like It, and Pride & PrejuDICE, Lifting Ensemble in The Light Princess, Peaseblossom in Quick Bright Things

Orianna O'Neill - Artistic Producer
She/Her
Ori is thrilled to be helping out as an Artistic Producer! From Portland, OR and an alumna of Beloit College, Ori has previously been a company member with Dacha, and has stage managed or acted in 8 productions over the last three years. Ori is frequently heard as a vocal performer with Viva Vocalists, Saint Marks Cathedral Choir, and The Esoterics, where she is a Board Member. In her daytime life, Ori is the elementary music and performing arts specialist at Giddens School, and is frequently heard bothering her coworkers by playing the recorder.
Past Dacha credits include: Stage Manager for Dice: As You Like It, Pride & PrejuDICE, Ghost Party, The Light Princess, Quick Bright Things; Flopsy (Lost Boy) in An Awfully Big Adventure