FULL TIME FACULTY
bree valle
Artistic Director of Theatre Arts Program, Actor, Director, and Teacher
bree valle studied Contemporary Performance (Directing) at Arizona State University with Circle Repertory founder Marshall W. Mason. In addition, she spent 3 years working at the Institute for Studies in the Arts—partnering with performance pioneers Leslie Hill and Helen Paris and interdisciplinary devisor Rachel Rosenthal. Major influences in bree’s unique style belong to mentors David Smukler at York University and Richard Armstrong of the Roy Hart Institute in France. The foundations of her Movement Design came from David Barker’s Connected Motion and, most recently, with Anne Bogart’s SITI Company in New York. As a professional freelance director, bree continues to work with universities and forward-looking theatres to create new work that challenges the individual artist to connect with questions about their own history and to create imaginative, playful and transformative theatre. Her guest artist work includes residencies with Teatro de La Vuelta del Siglo in Jujuy, Argentina, Universidad de Costa Rica, Universidad Autónoma de Centro América and Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Madball Theatre Company in Mumbai, India and Paper Balloon Theatre Company London, England.
Her performance research has been presented at the International Popular Culture Conference in Toronto Canada, International Drama/Theatre and Education in Bergen, Norway, PSi Conference at Penn State University and the International Sound Symposium X in Newfoundland, Canada.
In all, bree has directed over 90 shows nationally and internationally. Currently, bree serves as the Artistic Director of the Cuesta College Theatre Program. In 2021, she received the Gold Medallion the most prestigious award given by the Kennedy Centre in Washington DC for her work as a theatre director.
Email: BValle@cuesta.edu
PART TIME FACULTY
Barbara Abbott
Barbara Harvey Abbott is thrilled to have recently joined the Performing Arts team at Cuesta and teaches Costume Construction (DRA 236 & 237), because she loves helping people develop the ability to sew or deepen the skills they already have. She studied Technical Theatre at Pepperdine University and received her MFA in Costume Design from Indiana University. Locally, Barbara has designed costumes for shows at SLO Repertory Theatre, Opera SLO, and Central Coast Gilbert & Sullivan and worked as a Cutter/Draper at PCPA. In addition to costuming, she enjoys raising her four young daughters and has a passion for fermenting foods and exploring the art of hand sewing and visible mending. She shares her visible mending and alteration projects on IG @seamstressbabs.
Email: Barbara_Abbott@cuesta.edu
RYAN FLORES
Ryan Flores (he/him) is honored to be part of the award-winning Performing Arts Department at Cuesta College, where he serves as the instructor for Entertainment Lighting (DRA 212) and the department’s resident lighting designer. Ryan has designed lighting for several acclaimed Cuesta productions, including The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and James and the Giant Peach, which collectively earned 20 national awards through the American College Theater Festival (ACTF). He is especially proud of the collaboration between the creative team and dedicated Cuesta students that helped achieve this remarkable recognition.
In addition to his work at Cuesta, Ryan serves as a freelance Lighting Designer and Technical Director throughout the Central Coast. Each year, he collaborates with approximately 15 organizations, helping bring a wide variety of live events and productions to life. His experience working with diverse teams, venues, and technical systems has strengthened both his artistic vision and technical expertise.
Ryan also serves as the Managing Director of the Templeton Performing Arts Center, where he is helping lead the venue into an exciting new era while establishing it as North County’s Premier Indoor Performance Venue.
Theatre, and particularly theatrical lighting design, is Ryan’s greatest passion. He is continually inspired by the power of technology to enhance storytelling and create meaningful audience experiences. Throughout his career, he has contributed to more than 150 live productions, including plays, musicals, concerts, and immersive fundraising events. Outside of the theatre, Ryan enjoys traveling, watching horror films, and experiencing innovative live performances.
Ryan is passionate about mentoring the next generation of lighting and technical theatre artists. Through access to two fully equipped performance spaces and a hands-on learning environment, students gain practical experience while developing the skills needed to succeed in the industry. Ryan emphasizes collaboration, communication, and professionalism, fostering an environment where students can grow as artists, technicians, and creative problem-solvers.
Email: Ryan_Flores@cuesta.edu
PHILIP VALLE
Mr. Valle is a writer, director and musician. His earliest play, The Stall, was first produced by the Dept. of Theatre while he was an undergrad at U.C. Berkeley, majoring in comparative literature. After moving east, as head of theatre at Northland College, Wisconsin, Mr. Valle was awarded a grant to direct The Ophelia Project: a devised touring collaboration between teenage girls and their respective communities. He received his MFA from Arizona State University, where his multimedia work, Lincoln’s Sassy Nation, was awarded full production by the IST - Institute for Studies in the Arts.
Mr. Valle has taught courses in Theatre History, Playwriting, Directing, Acting and Devising for Northland College, Arizona State, University of La Verne, Cuesta College and the Department of Theatre and Dance at Cal Poly. He has been the guest artist for Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México in Mexico City and The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., where he taught master’s workshops in directing and devising. In 2020, Mr. Valle received the Outstanding Faculty Award from Cal Poly’s Honors College, where he developed a course in Creativity.
Mr. Valle’s original theatrical works, performed in the United States, Canada and Mexico, are inspired by the history of social justice, from the civil rights movement to the anarchic rise of rock and roll. Recent productions of his plays pool ’63, Refried Elvis and the immersive play Ghost Ship received numerous national awards, including Outstanding Production of a Devised Work and Outstanding Theatrical Creation from The Kennedy Center. In 2019, Mr. Valle presented his research in the "Cognitive Science of Creativity" at Queen’s University – Belfast, Northern Ireland. In 2022, Mr. Valle joined collaborators in Mumbai, India for an ongoing devised theatrical/film project addressing global climate justice and the fashion industry entitled The Bombay Runway.
Mr. Valle is currently the co-founder of The Staging Change Project, an outreach program addressing climate science by providing transformative performing arts curriculum to thousands of students across San Luis Obispo county. In 2025, Mr. Valle and his student research team will present a workshop about environmental justice for the International Drama and Education Conference in Athens, Greece.
Email: PValle@cuesta.edu
Brian Williams
Brian Williams brings over two decades of professional experience in theater and the fine arts. A lifelong artist, he has worked across nearly every medium, cultivating a versatile skill set that bridges traditional and contemporary practices. Prior to joining Cuesta College, Brian taught fine art for a variety of arts organizations and worked extensively as a freelance set and prop designer throughout the county. His professional credits include productions with the San Luis Obispo Little Theatre, Opera San Luis Obispo, the Pacific Conservatory Theatre (PCPA) prop department, and service as Technical Director at The Great American Melodrama, among others.
Brian’s connection to Cuesta College spans more than twenty years, beginning as a student whose first set design was created on this very campus. Since then, he has contributed to numerous Cuesta productions, bringing both technical expertise and creative vision to the stage.
In his teaching, Brian emphasizes collaboration, exploration, and reflective practice. He describes his pedagogical philosophy as one in which learning is reciprocal:
“Every teaching opportunity is a chance to learn something new—about myself, about my students, about the world, and about the process. I believe the process is far more important than the finished product, because it is within the process that discoveries are made. It is through those discoveries that the finished product ultimately comes to life, whether on the page or on the stage.”
Email: Brian_Williams@cuesta.edu