Advisory Board

We are grateful to our marvelous Advisory Board of business and theatre professionals for helping to guide us in achieving our mission.

Business Advisors

HENRY AND GLENDA CORNING

HENRY CORNING and GLENDA CORNING– artists, environmentalists and investors– are longtime supporters of the arts in the Bay Area. Henry is a 6th generation venture capitalist, and spent more than twenty years as a member of the LP management board of Greylock before turning his attention to CleanTech and sustainability investing.  Henry founded Expansion Capital Partners, Springcreek Advisors and greenmuseum.org, the first on-line museum of environmental art. He also serves on the executive board of the Stone Age Institute which studies the evolution of human technology. Glenda’s background is in the healing arts. In 1991, Henry founded Meadowsweet Dairy, and Glenda joined him shortly thereafter. The Dairy is a collaborative sculpture studio and a pioneer of environmental art using wood, stone and steel to craft traditional objects of sculpture as well as site-specific constructions with environmental utility. Meadowsweet Dairy’s work has been exhibited in numerous galleries and site-specific shows; permanent outdoor installations are at (among others) the diRosa Preserve in Napa, CA and the Farallon (Farallones) Islands.

ADRIENNE GRAVES

DR. ADRIENNE GRAVES  is a visual scientist by training and a global industry leader in ophthalmology. As past CEO of Santen Inc., the US subsidiary of a 120 year old Japanese pharmaceutical company, she successfully established a strong global presence and brought multiple products through development to approval and commercialization. Dr. Graves has led global teams through successful acquisitions and partnerships. She is a dynamic, highly sought-after international speaker on topics of leadership development, scientific careers, women’s leadership/mentoring, and scientific and business development. Dr. Graves serves on the boards of TearLab Corporation, Encore Vision, Inc., American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery Foundation, the Glaucoma Research Foundation, American Academy of Ophthalmology Foundation (Emeritus), Pan-American Ophthalmology Foundation, Brown University Medical School, and the Advisory Board for Amach Capital Partners. She received her Ph.D. In Psychobiology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and did her Postdoctoral Fellowship in Visual Neuroscience at the University of Paris (France). She received her AB with Honors in Psychology from Brown University in Providence, RI.

Artist Advisors

DENNIS MCINTYRE

Dennis McIntyre has been performing around the Bay Area for several decades. His first brush with Theatre was a photo opp, aged two, on the lap of the late, great Sara Allgood. Fifteen years later, he would find himself cast in PAJAMA GAME’s only one-line role. He fled the East Coast in 1969, confident that he would find his future in San Francisco, among his fellow misfits. He was not disappointed. He is a proud, long-standing, and wholly unrepentant member of SAG, AFTRA, and Black Rock City’s Gate/Perimeter staff. He was a Critic’s Circle Best Actor nominee for his portrayal of Tobias, in Custom Made Theatre’s 2009 production of Albee’s A DELICATE BALANCE. Other favorite roles include those of Cardinal Richelieu, in Shotgun Player’s THREE MUSKETEERS, and Ulrich, in Virago Theatre’s AFTERLIFE OF THE MIND. He would like to acknowledge Santa, the Tooth Fairy, and the Easter Bunny, for teaching him everything anyone really needs to know about Suspension of Disbelief.

LOUIS PARNELL 

Louis Parnell  has worked extensively as an actor and director with numerous companies in the Bay Area including American Conservatory Theatre, Campo Santo, CCT, Center Repertory, CentralWorks, The Magic, Marin Theatre Company, SF Playhouse, TheatreWorks, Thick Description and Traveling Jewish Theatre; as well as with many smaller nomadic companies. He most recently appeared in TJT’s productions of DEAD MOTHER and DEATH OF A SALESMAN followed by CABARET, CORONADO, MAN OF LA MANCHA, THE FANTASTICKS and ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST all at the SF Playhouse, where he also directed RECKLESS. Other favorite acting performances include leading roles in ART, AFTER THE FALL, ANGELS IN AMERICA, THE BOYS IN THE BAND, IT HAD TO BE YOU, SPEED-THE-PLOW and TALLEY’S FOLLY. Favorite directing gigs include AMERICAN BUFFALO, DEATHTRAP, FOUR DOGS AND A BONE, HURLYBURLY, PRIVATE EYES and RECKLESS. He has been honored with 10 BATCC nominations for acting or directing (4 wins) and 5 DramaLogue and Dean Goodman Choice Awards. He has also performed in numerous film, television and commercial roles including TRAUMA, NASH BRIDGES, AMERICA’S MOST WANTED and the PBS documentary RALPH ELLISON: AN AMERICAN LIFE which was an official selection at the Sundance Film Festival in 2006. He is on the Board of Directors of the SF Playhouse, was a founding member of Genesius Theatre Company and the Actors Theatre of SF, and is a proud member of Playground at Berkeley Rep, SAG, AFTRA and AEA.

HELEN SHUMAKER

Helen Shumaker has worked Off Broadway and Off Off Broadway: with Ethyl Eichelberger, Karen Finley, Joan Cusack, John Albano, Madeleine Olnek, the bad neighbors theater company, Tom Judson and Michael Feingold at PS 122, The Kitchen, W.O.W., Dixon Place, La Mama, Cherry Lane Theater among others. In LA and SF with Ellen Sebastian Chang, John O’Keefe, J. Raoul Brody, Word For Word, Magic Theater, Campo Santos, Cast Theater. She has directed herself in four solo plays including MONA ROGERS IN PERSON by Philip Galas. Film: she is featured in the Kornbluth Bro’s HAIKU TUNNEL, appeared in Francis Coppola’s JACK. Television: Three PBS specials on New Works and Performance Art. Radio: NPR’s THE HOLLOW. Awards include: Emmy, three Drama Logue performance awards (LA and SF), Back Stage Award for performance (NYC), Bay Area Critic’s Circle Awards: Performance – Female, and Solo Performance, Bay Guardian Goldie Award for Solo Performance.