Listen to Gia Batista and Rob Salas!

Gia Batista is a founding Artistic Director of DSE as well as an actor, director, and education coordinator. Her acting credits include: Eurydice in Relapse (DSE), Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (DSE), Beloved in The Sonnet Project (DSE), Viola in Twelfth Night (DSE), Juliet in Romeo and Juliet (DSE), Gallethea in Gallethea (UC Davis), Isabella in Measure for Measure (UC Davis), Perdita in A Winter’s Tale (UC Davis), and Sheila in Hair (Studio 301). Ms. Battista’s directing credits include: Relapse, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged (DSE), The Sonnet Project (DSE), Fuddy Meers (Studio 301), Macbeth (Studio 301), and Love’s Labour’s Lost (North Coast Repertory Theatre). While studying at UC Davis she taught Shakespeare to K-12 students through the Mondavi Center’s ArtsBridge Program. Ms. Battista received her BA in English and Dramatic Art from UC Davis.

Rob Salas has directed the Ensemble’s productions of Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Henry V while serving as a founding Artistic Director. While establishing the Ensemble, he received his MFA in Directing from UC Irvine, where he helmed the productions of Mary Stuart, Escape from Happiness, The House of Bernarda Alba, Rhinoceros, and Speed-the-Plow. Mr. Salas has assistant directed at many prestigious theaters including South Coast Repertory, American Repertory Theater, and the Utah Shakespeare Festival. Other directing credits include The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) at New Village Arts in San Diego, Action: Ecuador at Dramatic Adventure Theater in New York, and Harvard University’s productions of The Zoo Story, Julius Caesar, and The Tempest. Mr. Salas received his BA in English and Dramatic Art at Harvard University.