About Us

Allison Kenny (leadership team) has been a Playbacker since 2007, performing with Living Arts Playback Theatre, San Francisco Playback, and Oakland Freedom Theater—where she was also a co-founder. Allison has studied playback theatre in Los Angeles, India, Mexico, and with the Centre for Playback Theatre in New York. She is a certified playback theater instructor and on the path to become an accredited trainer. In addition to Playback Theatre, Allison is a certified coach, writer, entrepreneur, and therapeutic parent by adoption. Allison identifies as white, cis-gendered, fat, queer and neurodivergent. Her obsessions include: collecting house plants; spending quality couch time with her chihuahua; and going out to queer brunch.

Joyce is a performing artist, director, and educator. She is the founder and director of LAPlayback Theatre Company and also performs with Oakland Freedom Theatre and Pangea Playback Theatre and Dailey Innovations, Inc. in conjunction with equity trainings. Joyce is a former member of Body Weather Laboratory LA and has performed with Oguri and Roxanne Steinberg at many venues including The Guggenheim and Getty museums. She is also a former member of Living Arts Playback Ensemble in the Bay Area & completed the International Playback Theatre Network’s Leadership Program. Joyce is a certified Feldenkrais Practitioner and an Associate Professor in Theatre and Asian American Studies at Pomona College.

Ricardo Pérez González (leadership team) is a queer Puerto Rican playwright and TV writer who wrote for the third season of Designated Survivor on Netflix. A triple Sundance alumni, Ricardo is also the former Artistic Director of Big Apple Playback Theatre, and has taught Playback, a form of improvised theatre based on the stories of the audience, across the U.S. He has also used it in schools as an anti-bullying resource for the past decade. In addition to teaching writing at NYU and Harvard, he is a long-time group facilitator and corporate trainer, specializing in interpersonal dynamics and personal presentation. He has worked in this capacity with Barclays, Google, Ernst & Young and the MTA.

Ben Campbell

Ben is a proud founding member of LA Playback Theater. Ben has a BFA in Theater from NYU and a Masters in Social Work from CSUN. Ben has performed across LA and off the West End in London. Ben is currently a NICCU Social Worker at Children’s Hospital, Los Angeles. Past credits include throwing a lobster at Will Forte in Netflix’s A Futile and Stupid Gesture.

Francesca Lafayette

Francesca is a friend. She is a connector, personally and professionally, working in Human Resources for 15 years. Francesca is a graduate of the Master of Studies in Law at USC. Specializing in leaves of absence, she brings compassion and care to folks and supports them through often challenging situations. Through playback Francesca hopes to further her curiosity in people and explore empathetic listening skills. 

Jenny Garcia

Jenny is a Licensed Acupuncturist and Herbalist, Somatics Practitioner, dancer and theater artist rooted in a commitment to Healing Justice. She is a fervent believer in the holistic nature of medicine as not merely a service conferred upon others, but an intentional practice of relating to one another in mutual care. Jenny’s background in social organizing and healing within and beyond Los Angeles, where she grew up, propel much of her work. She has studied Theatre of the Oppressed and completed a Fulbright grant on Street Theater as a Community Organizing Tool in Salvador, Bahia.

Ariel Campos

Ariel is a percussionist whose diverse musical background includes performances with artists and groups including: Kelly Clarkson, John Legend, Country Pop Duo “Brooks and Dunn,” Louie Cruz-Beltran, Francisco Aguabella and Poncho Sanchez and Opera singer Zachary James. Ariel has been featured in solo concerts and recitals with the UCLA Philharmonia, California State University, and Northridge Wind Ensemble. He was an original cast member of the Tony and Emmy award winning musical “Blast!,” which premiered in London and a featured musician on the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack to the film “Bella.”