Ruben Van Kempen
is currently the director of Theatre at Roosevelt High School. In 2006 He was awarded the 1st Annual Ruben Van Kempen Arts Educator Award by Intiman Theatre. He is also the recipient of the 2004 Butch Blum Award of Excellence, the 2000 Christa McAuliffe Washington Award for Excellence in Education Award and the 1986 Seattle Excellence in Education Award.

As a theatre director he recently directed You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown for Seattle Pacific University and for the Roosevelt High School Theatre Ensemble produced/directed Too Darn Hot, which played to full houses at the 2006 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Directing credits include Quilters and My Fair Lady at Western Washington University, Leonardo the Learner, a play produced by Intiman Theatre and Seattle Children's Museum and numerous shows for Seattle CLO, (receiving The Seattle Times Footlight Theatre Award for Me and My Girl - best Musical Revival 1993), Seven Brides For Seven Brothers, Funny Pages, & Hans Christian Anderson at the Village Theatre, the Northwest premiere of Good News! and others. Along with Beth Orme and Kim Douglass, he co-directed Broadway's Fabulous Century for the 2000 Hawaii tour, plus I Got Rhythm, which performed at the 1996 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Ruben is a graduate of the UW School of Drama where he studied with Greg Falls, Eve Roberts, Robert Loper and Joan White. As an actor he has performed extensively in regional theatre. Some performances include work with television actress Jean Smart (Designing Women, High Society, Style & Substance), Broadway's Harry Groener and as a back-up vocalist singing for Pat Boone, Debby Boone and T.V. personality, Kathie Lee Gifford.

A proud educator, he has seen former students perform on Broadway in Curtains, Never Gonna Dance, Chicago, Into the Woods, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Oklahoma, Life With Albertine, A Chorus Line, Good Vibrations and Lennon. They have been in national tours of Fosse, Chicago, Sunset Boulevard, Evita, Swing and Civil War. Alums have found careers in television with roles in Friends, Felicity, The Practice and Spin City, and have performed at the Tony Awards and in many television commercials. International productions in London's West End and Europe have seen grads in The King and I, Miss Saigon, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, West Side Story and Cats. His wife Myrnie teaches strings for the Edmonds School District and his children both play classical violin and cello. Basically, they have the arts covered in their household. Ruben is listed in the 2006, 1998, 1996 & 1992 editions of Who's Who Among America's Teachers.

Beth Orme
has taught Mathematics and Theatre at Roosevelt High School for over 10 years. She was the class advisor for the 2003 graduates, organized and administrated the Homework Center, and was a committee head for the Gates Foundation for Transformation. Along with Ruben she took 45 students to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1996. Currently, she is completing her tenure as Washington State Thespian Director for the International Thespian Society. She will continue to stay busy as the “stay at home/go to work Mom of her two fabulous children, Grace (3 years old) and Henry (11 months old).

Some of Beth’s Regional Theatre Performances include the roles of Nina in the 5th Avenue Theatre production of A Day In Hollywood A Night in the Ukraine, Miranda, from The Tempest, Rosemary in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Marianne from The Miser, Polly from Crazy For You, Peggy Sawyer from 42nd Street (twice!), Nanette from No, No, Nanette, Tiger Lily from Peter Pan, and Vera in On Your Toes.

A few of Beth’s professional choreography credits include Meet Me in St Louis, Crazy For You, 42nd Street, Mame, Tempest, Music Man, and a Starbucks National Meeting Industrial . In 1996 she won the Seattle PI's Best Choreography of the Year for her work in Crazy for You. She has directed Matchmaker, Mousetrap, Quilters, and Our Town to name a few.

A couple of Beth’s most interesting and unusual experiences include being cast as a Hip Hop Dancer by Adam Arkin for the TV series Northern Exposure, playing Raggedy Anne and Sweet Tooth Sal for the Bon-Macy Christmas shows, and dancing in the King Dome for the Mariners as a Mariners’ Moosette! Go M’s!!!. Beth received her BA in Theatre and Math from the University of Washington and her Masters in Theatre Production from Central.

To stay this busy requires a lot of energy and support! Beth would like to thank her husband, Matt; children, Grace and Henry; parents; sister; and Grandmother; Bonnie, Rich, Suzie and Carroll for their continued help and patience.

Grace Thompson (Light Designer)
Grace received her AA degree in dance from Bennett College in New York and her BA in Theatre Arts, specializing in Design, from UCLA. Before raising children she designed lights for numerous shows on the East and West Coasts. Her daughter volunteered Grace to design the lights for Anything Goes in 1986. She has continued to design lights for the last 22 years and was instrumental in designing the renovated lighting system installed in the old Roosevelt auditorium in 1989. She is the volunteer lighting guru, helping students with the teaching of light design, lighting instruments and continues to help students create futures in the theatre - college and beyond. In her spare time, Grace is the photographer for Seattle Civic Light Opera.

Karen Grace (Scenic Designer)
Karen received her BFA in Costume and Set Design from the North Carolina School of the Arts and did some time as a professional techie before choosing to head back to class for a Masters in Education from the University of Washington. After her first collaboration with Ruben (the Northwest premiere of Good News in 1996), Karen directed the Bremerton High School drama program for two years. Aside from designing RHS musical sets, Karen’s last 7 years at Roosevelt have found her teaching AP US History, Ceramics, Drawing and Painting, and the 10th Grade Block. Karen is also the South African trip coordinator for Hands for a Bridge.

Craig Wollam
Craig is co-founder and Technical Director of Seattle Scenic Studios, a non-profit serving non-profits and education throughout the western Washington including Seattle Public. He and his studio have been working with the Roosevelt Tech class since 2000. He has also designed for mainstage shows including the musical Beauty and the Beast in 2006. As a freelance scenic and lighting designer, Craig’s work has been seen at NWAAT, Seattle Public, Mirror Stage, Langston Hughes, Wooden O, Intiman, Seattle Opera, Centerstage, Seattle Rep, Book-It, the Village, Seattle Children’s, Spectrum Dance, Civic Light Opera, Golden Fish, ArtsWest, Bellevue Opera, Wing Luke Museum, The Bruce Lee Exhibit for Inter*Im, Seattle Shakespeare Festival, React, Exchange Theatre, Black Box Opera, Tacoma Actors Theatre and Alice B Theatre here in Washington. Out of town, Craig has designed for Arizona Theatre Co., Chicago Theatre Center, Atlanta’s 14th Street Theatre, Boston’s Lyric Theatre, Dance Theatre Workshop of NY, the Colony in Miami, the Zephyr in LA, and the Actor’s Playhouse NY. Recent projects include Sleeping Beauty for Spectrum Dance, Death of a Salesman for Langston, Honus & Me with Seattle Childrens’, Noises Off and Nicholas Nicleby at Centerstage, Jungle Book for YTN, La Centerentola with Bellevue Opera, Lobby Hero and Jenny Chow for Seattle Public, and Production Design for Plight.