Our Writers
Kris Neely is ASR’s Founder, Owner, and Editor-in-Chief.
Kris served as a member of the San Francisco Bay Area Theater Critics Circle (SFBATCC) and also served as a Theater Bay Area (TBA) Adjudicator.
He is a stage director who earned an SFBATCC Best Director award (Lend Me a Tenor, Ross Valley Players) in 2013, an Outstanding Production Shellie Award nomination for directing A Case of Libel for Pittsburg Community Theater, and his direction of Leading Ladies for Novato Theater Company was listed as one of the “10 Best Plays of 2014 in the North Bay” by the Marin Independent Journal newspaper. Kris has also won an Honorable Mention Best Actor award from Fringe of Marin. Plays Mr. Neely has directed have been nominated for over 17 arts achievement awards.
He has worked with Ross Valley Players, Pittsburg Community Theater, Novato Theater Company, Fringe of Marin, Playwright Center of San Francisco, Ensemble Repertory Company, San Francisco Jewish Community Center Players, Left Coast Theater, and Aurora Theater Company (The Global Age Project.)
Mr. Neely is also a multi-time Amazon #1 Best Selling author. But his favorite accolade is that his Best Selling book “Buddha is a Greeter at Walmart” rests comfortably in the collection of the United States Library of Congress.
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Barry Willis is Executive Editor of ASR’s Theater section. He is also a Senior Executive Writer & Editor at Aisle Seat Review.
Barry is also a member of the American Theatre Critics Association and president of the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle.
Mr. Willis has worked extensively as a writer/editor for publications and websites including Stereophile, Guide to Home Theater, Ultimate AV, AudioVideo Interiors, Home Theater, Photographic Magazine, The Absolute Sound, The Perfect Vision, and DTV Magazine. Since 2007 he has been American correspondent for British audio-and-music journal Hi-Fi News.
He is also an occasional contributor to Food Arts, garnering a nomination for a James Beard Award in Journalism.
Formerly the art-and-theater critic with the Pacific Sun newspaper, he currently writes theater reviews for the Marin Independent Journal newspaper.
Contact: barry.m.willis@gmail.com
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Cari Lynn Pace is a Sr. Contributing Writer and Editor for Aisle Seat Review. Ms. Pace is a member of the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle and writes for the Marinscope Newspaper Group in the North Bay.
By day, Ms. Pace is a well-respected real estate broker and speaker. Her articles have appeared extensively in industry publications, including CA Real Estate Law Journal and Inman Publications. Ms. Pace has contributed to a pair of real estate agent training books, and authored the popular reference book “Don’t Shoot Me…I’m Just the Real Estate Agent!”
Ms. Pace also owns Professional Publishing LLC and www.ProPubForms.com producing real estate transaction forms. Contact: pacereports100@gmail.com
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Sue Morgan is a Contributing Writer for Aisle Seat Review. A literature-and-theater enthusiast, Sue makes her home in Sonoma County’s Russian River region.
Contact: sstrongmorgan@gmail.com
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Jeff Dunn is ASR’s Classical Music Section Editor. A retired educator and project manager, he’s been writing music and theater reviews for Bay Area and national journals since 1995. He is a member of the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle and the National Association of Composers, USA.
His musical Castle Happy (co-author John Freed), about Marion Davies and W.R. Hearst, received a festival production at the Altarena Theater in 2017. His opera Finding Medusa, with librettist Madeline Puccioni, was completed in January 2023.
Jeff has won prizes for his photography, and is also a judge for the Northern California Council of Camera Clubs.
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Aisle Seat Senior Contributor Susan Dunn — Since arriving in California from New York in 1991, Susan Dunn has been on the executive boards of Hillbarn Theatre, Altarena Playhouse, Berkeley Playhouse, Virago Theatre and Island City Opera, where she is a development director and stage manager.
An enthusiastic advocate for new productions and local playwrights, she is a voting member of the SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle, and a recipient of a 2015 Alameda County Arts Leadership Award. Contact: susanmdunn@yahoo.com
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George Maguire is a Sr. Contributing Writer for Aisle Seat Review, and a voting member of the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle. A 50-year veteran of stage and screen, he has more than 40 film and TV productions to his credit. He is Professor Emeritus of Solano College Theatre.
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ASR’s Executive Editor, Linda Ayres-Frederick, is the Artistic Director of San Francisco’s Phoenix Theatre. Since 1985, she has enjoyed a rewarding career as an actor, director, producer, critic, and playwright, twice granted the Shubert Playwriting Fellowship. Linda’s plays have received over 20 productions in NYC, the SF Bay Area, and Alaska, where she has performed in addition to France and Edinburgh. A 3Girls Theatre playwright in residence, member of the Dramatists Guild, American Theatre Critics Association, AEA, AFTRA/SAG, she is a Sarah Lawrence College graduate (Bronxville, N.Y.) and has written for the Yale University Graduate Professional, SF Bay Times, Forallevents.com and the Westside Observer. She is a published poet and playwright and proudly serves as Vice President of the SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle.
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Aisle Seat Executive Reviewer Joanne Engelhardt is a Peninsula theatre writer and critic. She is a voting member of the SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle (SFBATCC). Contact: joanneengelhardt@comcast.net
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ASR Senior ContributorWoody Weingarten has decades of experience writing arts and entertainment reviews and features. A member of the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle, he is the author of three books, The Roving I; Grampy and His Fairyzona Playmates; and Rollercoaster: How a Man Can Survive His Partner’s Breast Cancer. Contact: voodee@sbcglobal.net or https://woodyweingarten.com or http://www.vitalitypress.com/
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Team ASR is composed of a selection of writers, directors, actor, musicians, dancers, technicians, stage managers, and a host of other arts folks.
We don’t name names for obvious reasons — and Team ASR often buys their own tickets and do not announce their presence as such at a performance — but it is important to note that each Team ASR review is screened by one or more ASR Editors to insure a ‘fair’ review, warts and all, when appropriate.
The goal of Team ASR Reviews is to communicate directly with the technical staffs who are largely ignored by most reviewers. These behind the scenes folks work their collective butt’s off to mount a show, and they deserve well-intentioned constructive criticism from fellow artists as appropriate — and ditto for well-earned praise.
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