Theater Partners
Jon Tracy • Artistic Director, Marin Shakespeare Company
Director, playwright, filmmaker, designer and educator, Jon Tracy has been artistic director of the Marin Shakespeare Company, in San Rafael, California, since October 2023. The organization’s managing director, Lesley Currier, describes Tracy as “one of the most visionary and inspiring leaders on the Bay Area theater scene.” In 2021, Jon directed the award-winning documentary What’s In A Name, about the life of vocalist Lady Zen, a San Miguel Playhouse associate member.
Jon has directed plays for companies such as Magic Theatre, Shotgun Players, Aurora Theatre Company, San Francisco Playhouse and American Conservatory Theater. As a playwright, he has created dynamic adaptations of George Orwell’s Animal Farm and Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey. He works internationally as an art and culture producer for theatre and film, and has accepted an invitation to join the advisory board of the San Miguel Playhouse. He is looking forward to an alliance with our theater.
David Sakvarelidze • Artistic Director, Sokhumi State Drama Theater
Georgian theater and opera director, arts manager and composer, David Sakvarelidze is internationally recognized for his innovative productions and for transforming the cultural life of Georgia. After graduating from the Tbilisi Theatrical University, Sakvarelidze studied with Giorgio Strehler and Luca Ronconi in Milan; Peter Brook at the Royal National Theatre Studio in London; at the Tisch School of the Arts in New York and with Jennifer Tipton at Yale University.
After Georgia’s independence from Soviet rule, Sakvarelidze became the predominant figure in Georgian theater, establishing a reputation for championing contemporary writing and developing new writers. David has toured his productions throughout the Caucasus nations and neighboring countries.
Last year, during a visit to Tbilisi, San Miguel Playhouse board president Marcela Brondo developed plans with David to exchange theatrical productions between Tbilisi and San Miguel, once our new theater is open and operating.
Music Partners
Jonah Kim • Acclaimed Cello Soloist and Chamber Musician
A cellist of international stature, Jonah Kim has been described by the Washington Post as “the next Yo-Yo Ma,” and praised by The Strad for his “flawless delivery of Herculean technical demands.” Kim has joined forces with the future San Miguel Playhouse as the venue for a chamber music series he will curate, and most importantly, for an annual summer education program he will lead. The program will be open to young musicians of Mexican heritage as well as from other countries.
Kim was the sensation of the 2023 San Miguel Chamber Music Festival, and developed a deep appreciation for our city. As a former child prodigy, who made his solo debut at age 12 with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Kim is keenly aware of the importance of nurturing young talent. Just as the San Miguel MetOpera Trust has launched international careers for young Mexican singers, the education program Jonah envisions can become a gateway for instrumentalists.
Ragnar Conde • Founder and Chairman, Escenia Ensamble
Ragnar Conde has distinguished himself as a stage director, producer, acting coach and playwright, and most notably as a scenic designer of opera. He is the founder and general director of Escenia Ensamble, A.C., a performing arts company in Mexico, and recently was named director of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, Mexican District.
Ragnar is daring and creative in his approach to opera. In March 2023, he combined two operatic monodramas, Poulenc’s La Voix Humaine, and Zerbinetta’s Monologue, from Richard Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos, into a two-character chamber opera, and brought his production to the former San Miguel Playhouse – one of the standout productions in the theater’s decade-long history. (See the VIDEO.) He is looking forward to bringing more exciting operatic content to the new theater as a Visiting Director.
Paulina Derbez • Violinist, Author, Educator
Paulina Derbez is an award-winning classical and avantgarde violinist, a TedX speaker, and author of The Conscious Musician, a book known internationally by musicians for its groundbreaking approach to music education. She performs and gives conferences and courses in countries such as Canada, Mexico, Austria, Italy and Switzerland. A member of the Ontario Philharmonic for a dozen years, she was also director of the Festival México Contemporáneo at York University, Toronto. The Toronto Globe and Mail named her one of the top ten most successful Mexicans living in Canada, and she was just recently awarded Special Prize in the London Classical Music Competition.
Paulina will move to San Miguel next year, and will bring both music and education to the new San Miguel Playhouse, as an advisory board member. She says she is delighted to have an opportunity to work alongside Jonah Kim, a friend and colleague.
Design Partners
Architecture • Acoustic Engineering • Landscape Design
The Playhouse Rebuilding Committee is currently working with two master architects; an acoustic design expert who is also a concert pianist; and a wife and husband landscape design team with an impressive portfolio.
Architect Fernando Cervantes was selected to oversee the restoration of San Miguel’s historic Casa de Ignacio Ramírez “El Nigromante.” He is working with the committee on the design and remodeling of the new building’s interior, and on obtaining necessary permits.
Queretaro-based Javier Lascurain was one of the architects who designed the magnificent Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City. He has twice examined the new theater building, and recently brought the committee a schematic design that, if approved, would allow for a mezzanine, increasing the seating capacity to 160, more seats than were in the original theater in Independencia.
Andrea Lascurain (daughter of architect Javier Lascurain) is an international piano soloist with a master’s degree in acoustic engineering from La Salle University in Barcelona. Her specialty is designing concert halls with pristine acoustics for live, unamplified music.
Sozo Landscape Design, based in Brooklyn, New York, and San Miguel de Allende, was founded in 2001 by Linda Speer Luck and Markus Luck. Their prestigious client list ranges from the Matilda Hotel in San Miguel to the Taghkanic Art House, in New York’s Hudson Valley. Linda and Markus are working with the committee pro bono, an extraordinarily generous donation to the future San Miguel Playhouse