Team/Staff

  • Janessa Johnsrude. Dell'Arte Internatinoal Orbit Arts Director. Dell'Arte's Prison Arts Program Director.

    Janessa Johnsrude

    PROGRAM DIRECTOR / TEACHING ARTIST / DA FACULTY

  • A woman with long dark hair smiling, wearing a dark long-sleeve shirt with the word 'Doughgirls' on it, crouching down with her hands clasped in front of her, in an indoor setting with a door visible in the background.

    Samantha Williams-Gray

    TEACHING ARTIST / DA FACULTY

    (Pelican Bay Theatre Arts)

  • Close-up of a woman with long hair smiling, wearing a dark top, necklace, and a pendant, against a plain background.

    Kimberly Haile

    PROGRAM ADMINISTRATOR

  • Black woman with a shaved head smiling outdoors in black and white.

    Michelle Matlock

    GUEST TEACHING ARTIST

    (Pelican Bay Theatre Arts)

  • Black and white photo of a man with dreadlocks, earrings, and layered necklaces standing outdoors with blurred foliage in the background.

    Espaço Oliveira Mendes

    GUEST TEACHING ARTIST

    (Pelican Bay Theatre Arts)

  • Black and white portrait of a woman wearing a wide-brimmed hat, earrings, and a vest with a satin collar, looking directly at the camera.

    Amica Hunter

    RECENT GUEST TEACHING ARTIST

    (Pelican Bay Theatre Arts)

  • Close-up black-and-white photograph of a woman smiling with wavy hair, capturing her eyes and facial expression.

    Julie Douglas

    RECENT GUEST TEACHING ARTIST

    (Pelican Bay Theatre Arts)

  • A man with a beard holding a wooden carved face mask in a workshop.

    Tony Fuemeller

    RECENT GUEST TEACHING ARTIST

    ( Pelican Bay Theatre Arts)

Orbit Arts was established in 2025 by Program Director Janessa Johnsrude in fellowship with Program Administrator Kimberly Haile and with support from Teaching Artist Samantha Williams-Gray as a new umbrella program at Dell’Arte for healing-centered, embodied arts facilitation. It includes our long-standing theatre work at Pelican Bay State Prison, expands to the Humboldt County Correctional Facility, and aims to grow beyond carceral spaces into schools, organizations, and community groups. 

We acknowledge contributions to our programming first and foremost from our participants who have helped shape and guide our offerings over the years. Additionally, thank you to the CRM office at Pelican Bay, CDCR, staff at Humboldt County Correctional Facility, past and current Dell’Arte staff, faculty, and board members, the California Arts Council, our formerly incarcerated advisors, donors, and supportive community members (of which there are many).

Thank you to the William James Association (especially Laurie Brooks, Joey Reyes, Henry Frank, and Julie McNeil who served as lead-artist) for their work implementing our engagement at Pelican Bay over a decade ago as our former coordinating organization and as mentors throughout our time at the Prison. We’d like to thank and acknowledge past program staff and teaching artists for their work in Pelican Bay, including Zuzka Sabata (who, along with Janessa, co-founded and co-directed our initial work at the prison during the first several years of engagement), teaching artist Melanie Shauwecker (who helped continue to collaboratively develop our engagement from 2019-2020), teaching artist Juni Newman (who helped coordinate, along with mask maker Newman, the Pelican Bay Balinese Exchange Project from 2020-2021), and Julie Douglas (who served as Dell’Arte’s Community Arts Engagement Director from 2022-2026).

A very deep thank you to the numerous guest teaching artists, invited artists, invited guests, and students who have come into the prison to work with us. We are so grateful to have so many shoulders to stand on, uplifted by many, many hands.