Russ Sperling [he/him/his] (President) is the Director of Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA) for San Diego Unified School District. He is responsible for all components of arts education in the California’s second largest school district. Under his leadership, the district’s board of trustees unanimously approved a district Strategic Arts Education Plan in the fall of 2016 and established the VAPA Foundation, supporting the arts in schools in 2017.
Mr. Sperling currently serves as Western Division Immediate Past President of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME). He previously served as President of the California Music Educators Association (CMEA).
He is a founder and remains the lead coordinator of the San Diego Pride Youth Marching Band, an ensemble of 80 high school and college students from throughout Southern California. The band performs in San Diego Pride events and parade, and is the only one of its kind internationally.
He is the founding President and now board member of the San Diego Winds, a professional wind ensemble. He is the Director of the Grossmont College Concert Band.
Mr. Sperling served three years as Visual and Performing Arts Coordinator for the San Diego County Office of Education. He provided consultations and services to the 42 school districts in San Diego County on all facets of arts education, K-12. While at the county, he served as the leader of Arts Empower San Diego, San Diego County’s strategic arts education initiative. He has also served four years as Director of Visual and Performing Arts for the Sweetwater Union High School District.
Mr. Sperling began his career as the Instrumental Music Director at Helix Charter High School. During his fourteen-year tenure at Helix, the band and orchestra tripled in size, won numerous awards and performed in Europe on three tours.
Mr. Sperling holds a B.A. in Political Science from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, a Masters in Educational Leadership from Point Loma Nazarene University and a second Masters in Music Performance with an emphasis in Conducting from San Diego State University.
Mr. Sperling was recently recognized as San Diego Pride’s Volunteer of the Year. He has received the Arts Advocate award from Bravo San Diego. From the CMEA Southern Border Section, he has received their “Music Educator,” “Administrator,” and “Band Director” of the year awards. He has received the Outstanding Administrator award by the California Art Education Association, and has been honored as a distinguished alumnus by the School of Music and Dance at San Diego State University. He has received the “Prize Principal Award” from KYXY FM and Point Loma Nazarene University. He has received the Golden Apple Award from Helix Charter High School for excellence in teaching.
Catherine Hanna Schrock (she/her/hers) (Vice President) is an Applied Theater Practitioner, which unites her roles as an educator, theatre artist, writer and community organizer. She designs creative programming that equips diverse communities to engage in complex dialogues toward social and community development. Her original performances and interactive experience designs cultivate empathy and deepen human understanding and connection.
She is the Cofounder of Imagine (imaginebravespaces.com) where she works alongside a team of compassion-driven artists who invite communities to imagine and then create new ways of being together through theatre.
Catherine also specializes in Theatre of the Oppressed and specifically, Forum Theatre, an uncommon kind of interactive theatre that allows audiences to roleplay toward conflict transformation. Since 2017, her Forum Theatre projects (kNOw MORE, Safa's Story, Danny's Story, Brea's Story) have reached over 25,000 people in San Diego County where she is applauded as a “spectacular facilitator who handles children with extreme sensitivity and respect, and engages the audience from the moment they enter the theater” (Times of San Diego, 2020).
Additionally, Catherine has worked with numerous local and international organizations including the Global Immersion Project in Palestine and Israel, Arts for Life-- a girls' empowerment and arts program she founded in Kenya, Invisible Children’s Teacher Exchange program, which she helped develop and directed in Uganda, and is a teaching artist with the Old Globe Theatre.
She holds a Master’s Degree in Educational Theater from New York University and a BA in Sociology and International Development.
Tom Abbas [he/him/his] (Treasurer) Tom is a native San Diegan and a 1984 graduate of San Diego State University with a degree in Accounting. He is a Certified Public Accountant and has been a partner with Abbas, Jenson, & Cundari for the past 30 years. He has served on the board of directors for several local non-profit organizations including Special Delivery San Diego, America’s Finest City Softball League and the Greater San Diego Business Association Charitable Foundation.
Alex Villafuerte [he/him/his] (Secretary) Alex Villafuerte is the Director of Communication and Community Engagement for San Diego City Councilmember Kent Lee. Alex has 11 years of experience in marketing and communication strategy as well as five years in event and community organizing in both the Asian and Pacific Islander community and the LGBTQ community locally and internationaly. In 2018, he co-founded the San Diego Queer APIMEDA Coalition and in 2021, co-founded the San Diego API Coalition. Currently, he serves on the County of San Diego Leon L. Williams Human Relations Commission, the co-chair of the San Diego API Coalition, and a board member of the ABC 10News Community Adivsory Board. In his free time Alex enjoys traveling, exploring San Diego’s food and beer scene, as well as staying active with yoga, rock climbing, hiking, and snowboarding.
Debbie Macdonald [she/her/hers] (Member-at-Large) worked for the YMCA of San Diego County for 25 years. Debbie began her YMCA career at the East County YMCA as the director of child care services. Subsequently, Debbie was promoted to executive director of the YMCA Childcare Resource Service providing services to child care programs and low income families in San Diego County. As executive director, Debbie was responsible for a budget which included many federal, state and local government contracts. Debbie was active in state wide and federal advocacy and served on many state wide boards of directors.
Debbie graduated from Stanford University with a B.A. in political science, San Francisco State University with a M.A. in child development and San Diego State with a MBA.
Debbie retired from the YMCA in 2014 and remains active in the community as a board member at Temple Emanu El, a board member for Osher, Life Long Learning Institute at UCSD, secretary of the Clairemont Democratic Club and co-chair of the leadership team of the San Diego County Childhood Obesity Initiative (COI).
Debbie is married to Nancy Kossan and has two sons and a new granddaughter.
Scott Williford [he/him] (Immediate Past President) was elected to the Diversionary Board in July 2014 and as Board President in February 2017. Scott stepped down as President in June 2022 and continues to serve on the Board Executive Committee. He has brought a perspective as a patron of the Diversionary Theatre from its early years, as well as a diverse business experience background across many industries in San Diego since 1982. Scott currently works at Survivors of Torture International as Senior Development Manager, after retiring from SDG&E in 2021. He has extensive experience in customer relationship strategies, product marketing and analytics in Aerospace, Technology Research, Software, Banking and Utilities industries. He was a pioneer in LGBT tennis organizations in the 1980’s and 1990’s, serving as Board President for the San Diego Tennis Federation (SDTF) for seven years and later founded the international Gay and Lesbian Tennis Alliance (GLTA). Scott received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering at UC Davis and an MBA in Finance from San Diego State University.
Andy Acosta (Trustee) Praised for his sweet lyric voice, Cuban-American tenor Andres Acosta continues to stand out through his strong vocal presence and magnetic acting. Favorite roles include Timothy Laughlin in Fellow Travelers at Florida Grand Opera, Madison Opera and Minnesota Opera as well as Tony in Francesca Zambello’s production of West Side Story. He has performed at Houston Grand Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Florentine Opera, Atlanta Opera, Glimmerglass Festival, Pittsburgh Opera, and San Diego Opera, among others. Acosta is a recipient of Opera America’s 2018 Career Blueprints grant and a Gerda Lissner and Sullivan Foundation Award semifinalist. He received an Encouragement award as a Central Regional finalist for the Metropolitan Opera National Council competition in 2017 and won awards in the Dorothy Lincoln-Smith competition and the National Society of Arts and Letters competition. He was awarded the Judy George Junior Young Artist First Prize Award in the 2015 Young Patronesses of the Arts competition and is recognized as a Braulecht Estate Endowed and Music Guild Scholar.
Sherri Eden Barber (Trustee) Sherri is a director, Artistic Director of Ricochet Collective, and former Resident Director of Hamilton (And Peggy Company). Recent productions: Tiny Beautiful Things with Nia Vardalos (Pasadena Playhouse), To Let Go and Fall (Theater Latté Da), Esperanza Spalding’s Emily’s D+Evolution (Development on European Tour), Happily After Ever (Ricochet Collective – 59E59, Edinburgh Fringe Festival), good friday (The Flea Theater), Only You Can Prevent Wildfires (Ricochet Collective – Teatro Circulo), Gordy Crashes (Ricochet Collective – IRT), Mr. Landing Takes A Fall (The Flea), Herman Kline’s Midlife Crisis (The Beckett), 24 Hour Plays on Broadway with Pablo Schreiber, Laverne Cox, and Melanie Griffith (American Airlines Theatre). Sherri is a recipient of The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Directors Fellowship, a Drama League Directing Fellow, and recipient of the US/UK Exchange Award. RicochetCollective.com. SherriEdenBarber.me
Isiah Bell (Trustee) is currently a graduate student at the University of California San Diego. His passion for activism and working with underserved communities led to his pursuit of a Master’s degree in international affairs. He has recently completed work on local and national political campaigns. Prior to continuing his formal education, Isiah worked for over a decade in Hollywood in the field of entertainment, styling celebrities and working on ad campaigns for film and television. In addition to his work in the entertainment industry, he spent several years working in the corporate sector of Apple Inc, and co-chaired the Pride at Apple group, which worked to create a safe work environment for members of the LGBTQ+ community.
Kirk Brown (Artistic Trustee) is an award-winning creative producer, actor, and founder of Sardis Capital, a GTM studio and capital connector supporting mission-driven, diverse-led startups. With over a decade of experience at the intersection of storytelling, strategy, and social impact, Kirk has helped emerging brands raise millions in early-stage funding while shaping campaigns that center cultural innovation and inclusion.
As a performer, Kirk’s acting credits span stage and screen, including work with La Jolla Playhouse, Diversionary Theatre, The Old Globe, BET+ and critically acclaimed independent projects. He is the creator of Illuminate, powered by his non-profit Melanin MeetUps, a TED-style speaker series centering Black thought leaders, which premiered live with The Old Globe and was later sold as a digital series. Kirk is represented by the Gersh Agency and continues to develop original IP across scripted and unscripted formats.
A board member of The Whitney Plantation and passionate advocate for LGBTQ+ and BIPOC voices in the arts, Kirk brings a cross-sector lens to Diversionary’s Artistic Trustee Board — championing bold, queer-centered storytelling that builds equity, connection, and culture.
Melody Corvalán [she/her] (Trustee) Granddaughter to Mexican migrant field workers is a San Diego native. Melody was the first in her family to attend college. She was accepted to the University of Utah in Salt Lake City where she majored in International Studies. She spent her 20’s living in Argentina where she brought back a big souvenir, her now 13 year old son Diego. Melody is the daughter of a retired Mariachi musician, her son has taken on the family tradition and is now a 5th generation trumpet player. Melody however, has no musical talent and instead has learned she possesses other useful talents. Melody has been planning weddings and events for 15 years, moving back to San Diego in 2016 to work for the Hotel del Coronado as the head of their weddings department. Melody didn’t come out of the closet until her 30’s, which prompted her to dive into nonprofit work benefitting the LGBT community including the SD Human Dignity Foundation, the SD Human Rights Campaign as well as the SD LGBT Center. Melody and her partner Roman (a trans man, advocate & housing specialist) coparent two dogs (Storm, a white husky and Oso a black poodle mix).
B. Lindsey Deaton [she/ella] (Trustee) is a maker, artistic director, a public servant and a fierce transgender and LGBTQIA+ youth advocate. Mrs. Deaton is one of the world’s leading experts on the transgender singing voice and is widely recognized as a leader in building the global trans choral movement. She has spoken and written extensively on how to create a safer choral space for trans and gender non-conforming singers. Lindsey Deaton currently serves as the first appointed transgender Commissioner for the City of West Hollywood on its Arts and Cultural Affairs Commission and is the Founder and Artistic Director of the San Diego Queer Youth Chorus. Lindsey is the Creator and Artistic Director of The TransVagina Diaries, an original theater project produced by the National Organization for Women Hollywood Chapter (HollywoodNOW) and co-sponsored by the City of West Hollywood. Lindsey is also the Creator and Artistic Director of The Church of Trans Love, a theater piece with music for the City of West Hollywood LGBTQ Pride Arts Festival 2022 and 2023. Lindsey Deaton is a 2022 California Arts Council Established Individual Artist Fellowship grantee and a 2022 National Theater Project Creation & Touring Grant Finalist. Her TransVagina Diaries project also received a 2019 MAP Fund Finalist grant. Lindsey came to West Hollywood in May 2015 and founded the Trans Chorus of Los Angeles (TCLA). Under her artistic direction, TCLA became the largest group of trans and non-binary people anywhere who gathered regularly to create music. Lindsey Deaton’s work with the chorus has been covered and featured on NPR, MSNBC, LA Weekly, The Advocate and in the Los Angeles Times, who said she is “…Providing an essential voice”. Lindsey is currently featured in the major feature documentary ‘OUTLOUD’ produced by Gemini Productions. Lindsey is married to Joan, her wife of 43 years, has two daughters Mary and Joci, and hikes regularly with Joan and their one-eyed rescue pooch Scoobi.
Jay Henslee [he/him/his] (Trustee) is originally from Northern California, but has enjoyed calling San Diego home for the past eight years. Jay attended Chico State University with a major in marketing and sales. He is currently a Vice President, District Manager for U.S. Bank, having spent the past 14 years in various roles throughout California. He was a recipient of the Sacramento Business Journal “40 under 40” award, and was instrumental in expanding the U.S. Bank retail market in Northern and Southern California. He is heavily involved with a number of local non-profit organizations, and is on the Board of Directors for Rebuilding Together San Diego, City Ballet of San Diego and the San Diego Performing Arts League. Jay is a 2017 graduate of LEAD San Diego.
Daniel Jáquez [he/him/his] (Trustee) is a Director, Theater-Maker and Translator of plays. He is co-founder of San Diego’s TuYo Theatre and is one of the inaugural Classical Directing Fellows at The Old Globe, where he directed The Winter’s Tale. Jáquez serves on the Latinx Theatre Commons Advisory Committee, and is adviser and director for the Lark’s U.S./México Playwright Exchange. He is a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. In New York City, Jáquez was Director and co-founder of Unit52, Intar Theatre’s acting company; Director of Intar/Jerome Foundation NewWorks Lab, a festival producing four new plays by emerging Latinx playwrights annually. Jáquez spent a year in Portland, Oregon serving as Interim Artistic Director of Milagro Theatre where he directed several productions in Spanish and English and received Portland’s DRAMMY award for outstanding direction. Jáquez earned an M.F.A. in Directing from Institute for Advanced Theater Training at Harvard University/Moscow Art Theatre, and a B.S. in Mathematics from the University of Texas.
Colleen Kendall [she/her] (Trustee) earned a BFA in Speech & Theatre from Rowan University and worked in advertising and television production in New York before pursuing entrepreneurial opportunities. She co-founded an R&D company in photographically personalized giftware. Among other products, the firm developed and patented family entertainment equipment—at the time cutting edge—that made “customized picture postcards with the consumer’s image in a choice of site-specific backgrounds,” which was installed internationally. After an early retirement, Colleen qualified for her SAG-AFTRA cards and performed in commercials, industrial films, episodes of Renegade (Stu Segall Productions), and at San Diego theatres including Moonlight, Starlight…and Diversionary where she appeared in Coming Soon, Small Town Confidential, and both the original production and revival of 10% Revue. While in her acting career, she accepted her biggest role: Financial Consultant at Smith Barney. After another early retirement, Colleen completed a Copyediting Certificate program at UCSD and has over fourteen years of experience in corporate writing and editing and creative writing. She and her wife Georgia Griffiths—a former Diversionary trustee—married four years ago on their twentieth anniversary as a couple. The two are active volunteers for Angel Flight West (Georgia as pilot and Colleen as co-pilot), a nonprofit organization that arranges free, non-emergency air travel for children and adults with serious medical conditions and other compelling needs.
Christopher Oscar Peña (Trustee) is a story-teller originally from California, now splitting his time between New York and LA.
As a playwright, the Clarence Brown Theatre commissioned and produced the world premiere of his play The Strangers. In New York, the Flea Theatre produced the world premiere of his play a cautionary tail. He collaborated with actress Solea Pfeiffer on her solo show You Are Here, which was commissioned by Audible, and played to sold out acclaim at the Minetta Lane Theatre off-broadway, and is now available for download on Audible. After having its world premiere at Arizona Theatre Company, his play how to make an American Son opened in North Carolina at Common Thread Theatre Collective, and had its west coast premiere Profile Theatre in Portland, Oregon as part of “The American Generation.” As part of the season, Profile also produced the world premiere of his play awe/struck and for the first time in the theatres 25 year history, they commissioned a new play. The world premiere of Our Orange Sky closed out his season long collaboration with the theatre. His plays how to make an American Son, the strangers, and a cautionary tail are collected together for the first time, in christopher oscar peña: Three Plays published by Methuen Press.
He is a New York Theatre Workshop Usual Suspect, and his work has been developed by Playwrights Horizons, the Goodman Theater, Public Theater, Two River Theater, INTAR, Ontological Hysteric Incubator, Playwrights Realm, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Old Vic, Orchard Project, Naked Angels, and New York Theatre Workshop, among many others. A two-time Sundance Institute Theater Fellow, he has also held fellowships with the Lark Play Development Center (Van Lier), was a recipient of the Latino Playwrights Award from the Kennedy Center, an Emerging Artist Fellow at New York Theatre Workshop, Playwrights Realm Writing Fellow, and was a part of the US/UK Exchange (Old Vic New Voices). He was named one of “The 1st Annual Future Broadway Power List” by Backstage, has been published by Methuen, No Passport Press and Smith and Krauss, and recently completed his nine-year residency with New Dramatists. He has an extensive relationship with the 24-Hour plays, having written for their plays on Broadway, their musical benefits, their gala in LA, and written several viral monologues for Bonnie Milligan, Cory Michael Smith, John Gallagher Jr., Jon Rua, Bill Heck, Raviv Ullman, Evan Jonigkeit, and many more. His first viral monologue with frequent collaborator Hugh Dancy was forever memorialized as a cartoon in the New Yorker. He is now on the board of the 24 Hour Plays and is an Artistic Trustee on the board of Diversionary Theatre in San Diego
In television, he was a writer on the Golden Globe nominated debut season of the CW show Jane the Virgin, the critically acclaimed HBO show Insecure (in which he also appeared as the character Gary), as well as the Starz show Sweetbitter, Motherland: Fort Salem on Freeform, and the ABC / Hulu series Promised Land. He produced the BET+ holiday film A Jenkins Family Christmas and co-wrote the hit BET+ holiday film The Cookoff. He is currently developing the original series Night Nurse with filmmaker Crystal Moselle and artist Derrick B. Harden, and Honeytrap with Omar Sharif Jr. With collaborators Josh Bergasse and Zoe Sarnick, he is writing his first musica, The Invisible LIne, and is working on a new play commission from IAMA Theatre. He received his B.A. from U.C. Santa Barbara and his M.F.A. from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.
Allison Rossett [she/her] (Trustee) After 40 years as a university professor, Dr. Allison Rossett is now Professor Emerita of Educational Technology at San Diego State University. She currently consults to government agencies and corporations in workplace learning and technology-based systems working on topics as diverse as development for the people who develop online learning programs, helping organizations with strategic directions for career development and workforce learning. She keynotes conferences for learning professionals who work in health care, pharmaceuticals, insurance and defense. Once a New Yorker, now for many decades a happy San Diegan, Allison is a member of the Defense Acquisition University Board of Visitors, the Arcadia University Board of Trustees, and Diversionary’s Board, as of April, 2016. Allison is a member of the TRAINING HRD Hall of Fame and was recognized by ATD for a remarkable career of contributions to workplace learning and instructional technology. Allison also received the International Society for Performance Improvement’s highest award, Member for Life and CLO’s equivalent, the Norm Kamikow award. Allison is most proud of her very, very, very long relationship with Sue Reynolds, CEO of Community HousingWorks.
Glenn Sipes [he/him] (Trustee) hails from the Pittsburgh area. After receiving a B.S. in Pharmacy from the University of Cincinnati he earned his Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of Pittsburgh. After three years of additional research training at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, he joined the University of Arizona Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy in 1973 as an assistant professor and was promoted to Professor in 1982. During his 40 years of service at the UA he served as Head of the Department of Pharmacology and the Department of Toxicology and was also the Founding Director of the UA’s Center for Toxicology and of its Southwest Environmental Health Sciences Center. His research accomplishments were recognized by The Society of Toxicology (SOT), the American College of Toxicology and the Academy of Toxicological Sciences (ATS) all of which honored him with their Distinguished Scientist Awards. He served as President of SOT, ATS and the International Union of Toxicology and was elected a Fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the Academy of Toxicological Sciences. When he retired from the faculty, he stated that his greatest satisfactions were to be a part of the professional and scientific development of junior faculty and postdoctoral fellows and serving as a mentor for over 100 graduate students. As Professor Emeritus he spends a few hours a month conducting safety assessments on food and fragrance ingredients and as a member of the National Advisory Board of the UA College of Pharmacy. After retirement he was finally able to move to San Diego where he keeps busy practicing yoga, playing bridge at Redwood Bridge Club and raising funds for the Diversionary Theatre’s Annual Gala.