About Us
Kyndra Laughery always felt that she was destined to entertain. As a child she would go to great lengths to make people laugh. As a grown-up Kyndra tried to take life more seriously, but always there was a joke to be made. Then one fateful evening in 2000, The Year of the Dragon, she saw The Hamazons on public access television. Her inner Warrior Princess heard the beat of comedy calling her to her tribe.
She spent the next five years honing her skills with The Green Room Theater Company. There she was in The Neo-Variety Show where she is best known for her rendition of The Pee-Pee Dance. She also played Theatersports with Food Fight Theater, to be known later as The Second Saturday Players.
She was officially inaugurated as an Hamazon in 2006, The year of the Dog, which turned out to be a favorable year for all of us.
Along with being a Hamazon, Kyndra now directs the Teen Theatre, formerly under direction of hama-sisters, Carolyn Myers and Cil Stengel. This award-winning social action troupe performs scenes and songs of personal importance to everyone, young and old.
Carolyn Myers directed her first play at age 8, idealistically produced an all-white version of "A Raisin in the Sun" in junior high, had her first original play censored in high school, majored in drama at UC Santa Barbara, and has been a founding member of four social action theaters: The Gorilla Theater, The Isla Vista Community Theater, Lilith, the internationally renowned women’s theatre of the 1970’s and 80’s, and Mixed Company Theater (in partnership with Dori Appel) in Ashland, Oregon.For fifteen years, with Cil Stengel, she directed Planned Parenthood’s Teen Theatres in Southern Oregon. Her plays “Girl Talk” and "Hot Flashes" (written with Dori Appel) are published by Samuel French, Inc., and “Dos Lesbos” (with Terry Baum and Alice Thompson) was featured in Rome for EuroPride 2000 and banned by the Pope. Her epic poem “She Bop” was made into an animated film by Joanna Priestley and is performed by vocal artists at cultural events around the globe.
Currently she performs and tours with her old friend Terry Baum. They’ve reunited to create the hilarious “Theatre of the Crackpot Crones.” Their theatre is an evening of scenes, monologues and improvisations—interspersed with stories of adventures in the women’s movement. For more information check out www.crackpotcrones.com <http://www.crackpotcrones.com>
Eve Smyth, raised on Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan movies, Sheena of the Jungle comic books, and Wonder Woman, is finally able to apply those long hours of research now that she is a Warrior Princess of Comedy. Sharpening her spear of humor, shielding herself from bad puns, and polishing her tiara, Eve loves leaping into the improv fray with her Hamazon sisters. Eve was born and raised in Seattle, then spent several years in San Francisco, before finding her West Coast equilibrium in southern Oregon.After graduating with a degree in theater from San Francisco State University, she co-founded a theater company that performed original comedies in San Francisco and the Northwest. Eve taught and performed with BATS Improv, and made appearances with Eat the Apple, Hey You Improv, and First Draft, an improv writing performance group. Eve currently teaches improv classes for youth at Oregon Stage Works and Willow Wind. She has written several plays for children that have been produced at Oregon Stage Works Ashland Children’s Theatre. www.oregonstageworks.org <http://www.oregonstageworks.org>
Cil Stengel has always loved theatre. As a child, she performed in Christmas pageants, lip-synced the Partridge Family in the bathtub and occasionally traveled to Omaha to see professional touring productions such as "Show Boat," "A Chorus Line," and Diana Ross live in concert. These early experiences gave her chills that told her that the stage was where she belonged. Perhaps she was a bit dramatic, and perhaps the chills were due to those Midwest winters, nevertheless Cil has managed stay active in show biz for most of her adult life.After graduating in theatre at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, she acted at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland. From there she went on to produce, write and perform in various independent projects. For 13 she directed and wrote for Planned Parenthood’s Teen Theatre (with Carolyn Myers.)
Currently, Cil teaches acting at Rogue Community College. She is also involved in developing an original piece of theatre with Crater High drama students, who will perform at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland in August 2010. Cil loves doing improv with The Hamazons because not only is it good, clean fun, it's also a fashion opportunity.
HAMAZON HALL OF FAME Judy Dolmatch Deborah Elliott Sierra Faith Bobbi Kidder Joanie McGowan