About Us

Theater Between is a performance collective located in Santa Cruz that develops original works for the stage.

Our Vision
  1. We live in a time of heightened anxiety about the state of our world. We believe this anxiety stems from our estrangement from each other and from the world of nature. This estrangement is rooted in old stories of judgement, conquest, and dominion.
  2. As theater artists, we address the crisis of separation through the medium of performance, whose inherent goal is relationship. This relationship arises between performer, audience, and the world at large, including our biosphere. 
  3. We believe that we need to examine and release old stories that keep us shackled in dysfunction. We need new stories rooted in the idea of interconnectedness of all life if our world is to survive and thrive. We regard performance as uniquely suited to the  articulation and development of such stories.
  4. In our work, we examine the ancient paradigm of microcosm, in which the human body enfolds and reflects the universe. We apply that paradigm to the theater itself, regarding it as a cosmos in miniature. We see the paradigm of microcosm as an antidote to the prevailing ideology of separation.
  5. We start with a play that is already conceived and ready for rehearsal. We develop it further within the ensemble through interactive, somatic, and improvisational methods. 
  6. We believe that as an act of communal sharing, performance can help us imagine and enact our world anew through harnessing our power of creative destruction and beneficent forces of wild nature. As we free the part of our vitality that has been latent and unexpressed, we become bold servants of our inspired dreams.

Aleksandra Wolska, Founder & Artistic Co-Director

​Aleksandra is a theater director, playwright (The Feast of the Hungry Ghosts and The Performer), teacher, and filmmaker. She holds an MFA in Directing (Boston University) and a Ph.D. in Dramatic Criticism (Stanford University). Her directorial credits range from originally devised productions to plays by Shakespeare, Ionesco and Beckett. She directed The Wall at the Santa Cruz Fringe Festival, All Wear Bowlers, and machines machines machines machines machines machines machines with Rainpan 43 at Here Arts Center in NYC. Nominated for Drama Desk Award, All Wear Bowlers achieved international acclaim touring USA, Europe, Asia and Australia. Formerly an Assistant Professor of Theater Arts at the University of Minnesota, Aleksandra is an independent scholar working on a book Theater of the Spheres: The Art of  Staging Cosmos. As a filmmaker, she wrote and co-directed the documentary "The Heart of a Bell", which premiered at Pacific Rim Film Festival in 2011. She works and lives in Santa Cruz. Past work 

Jerilyn Kass, Artistic Co-Director

Jerilyn is an educator,  dramaturg/editor, and poet. She is the founder and owner of Freedom Test Prep, a wholistic SAT and ACT prep company which transforms students' thinking about themselves and their capabilities so that they can access greater power and joy. Her insight into human behavior and her sensitivity to the possibilities within have helped her craft gorgeous poetry and co-create plays with depth and interest.  She co-directed The Wall at the Santa Cruz Fringe Festival and authored the poetry book What I Couldn't Tell You. Jerilyn lives and works in Santa Cruz.

Jarek ​Truszczynski, Actor

Jarek is a theater and film actor, designer, and composer. Before immigrating to the USA, he established himself as a versatile performer and theater artist in his native Poland, becoming a member of the National Theater of Warsaw. A co-founding member of Stanford Theater Institute, he played the part of the Old Man opposite Geoff Hoyle in The Chairs (Ionesco), Gogo in Waiting for Godot (Beckett), Tukros in Ajax (Sophocles). At Stanford, he played Khlestakow in Inspector General (Gogol), Woyzeck in Woyzeck (Buchner) and Feste in Twelfth Night (Shakespeare). His other notable roles include Stanley in Streetcar Named Desire (O’Neil) and Macheath in Three Penny Opera (Brecht). In 2017, he played Mr. Martinelli in Never Here, a feature film with Sam Shepherd and Mireille Enos. Jarek has designed stage sets for several productions for local and national companies. He works and lives in the Bay Area.

Mathew Schreiber, Sound Artist

Mathew is a composer, sound designer, improv guru, and theater artist. His work as a composer is rooted in his love for the sounds of the world: a roaring train, a distant car alarm, a songbird, the thundering surf. When composing for theater, he undertakes a deep journey, letting his emotional body guide him like a compass into what each moment needs to bring the scene to its fullest expression. His experience in experimental and improvisational theater inspires and informs his work. Website