Vanguard Repertory Company 

dba La Cañada Flintridge Shakespeare Festival

Administration

Sam Ross President & Co-Artistic Director
Sam is both a member of Actors' Equity Association and the Screen Actor's Guild. He has been acting for over forty years and has performed in over 100 plays and a dozen films throughout his career. He attended the Greenville Performing Arts High School and the College of Charleston's theater program. Sam also has Masters Degree in business from Georgia State University.

In 1990, Sam founded the Down Right Theatre (DRT) in Atlanta, where he served as executive producing director for 35 productions over five years. Under his leadership, DRT won several awards for acting, direction and scenic/lighting design, as well as "Best Theatre in Atlanta" in 1991. DRT was not only an artistic but also a financial success growing revenues and season subscribers threefold by the end of its fifth season. Sam left DRT when he was accepted to the MFA program for acting at the renowned Trinity Repertory Conservatory in Rhode Island under the artistic direction of Oskar Eustis. DRT continues on in its present form 15 years later as Aurora Theatre in Lawrenceville, GA.

After graduate school, Sam became a financial consultant specializing in theater management working with and/or serving on the board of directors for Down Right Theatre, Neighborhood Playhouse, Soul-Stice Repertory, Push-Push Theatre, Georgia Ensemble, The Road Theatre Company and Pasadena Shakespeare Company.

Sam founded and is president of Kudzu Productions and has produced several shows in the Los Angeles area including Heathen Valley at the Adler and Oleanna at the Court. He recently ventured into film production as executive producer of Four Degrees in late 2004. The short film has been seen all over the world in major film festivals.

Matthew Burgos Vice-President & Co-artistic Director

An award-winning director, Matthew was one of the youngest MFA directing candidates in the country in 2003 and completed the directing program at the prestigious Florida State University School of Theatre in 2006. Specializing in physical acting and directing techniques based on Plastiques, Viewpoints and other movement-based rehearsal languages, he brings a unique and progressive visual style to each production. He has directed productions of How I Learned to Drive, Crazy for You, Marat/Sade, Metamorphoses, Julius Caesar, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Oedipus Rex, The Zoo Story, The Death of Zukasky, and Lone Star among others. He recently directed the highly praised Saint Joan at The Met in Los Angeles.

As an educator, Matthew has taught acting, directing, survey courses, movement and voice at a variety of institutions including Florida State University, Azusa Pacific University, Riverside City College and currently resides at Mt. San Antonio College as full-time theatre faculty.

As an actor, Matthew has appeared in Big Love, MacBeth, The Comedy of Errors, Romeo and Juliet, Much Ado About Nothing, Arcadia, Our Town, The Country Wife, Dracula, Still Life with Iris, A Christmas Carol, The House of Blue Leaves, Off the Map, Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up?, Footloose, Little Shop of Horrors, Hair, The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Jesus Christ Superstar.

Kristen Salacka Company Stage Manager

Lisa Blandford Company Manager

Elizabeth Ross Director of Education

Liz Ross has a B.A. in English and a minor in Journalism from the College of Charleston. She has taught English Literature for 19 years with this being her 10th year teaching at FSHA. Liz is serves as FSHA's summer school principal. Prior to FSHA, she taught English at St. Pius X High School in Atlanta, Georgia and was the assistant to the chairperson of the theater department working on such shows as Wait Until Dark and Fiddler on the Roof. At FSHA, she was the assistant director and costume designer for the 2009 production of Twelfth Night.

She was on the Board of Trustees of Soul-stice Repertory Theater Company in Atlanta Georgia and was appointed Education Director for the 98-99 season where she is credited with developing, designing and implementing curriculum including a special unit on Shakespeare that included Macbeth, Hamlet, Othello, Richard III, Twelfth Night and Taming of the Shrew.