The Cake at City Lights Theater Company

Sundiata Ayinde

A Bay Area performer passionate about universal access to the arts. She spent two years as an assistant dramaturg working under Philippa Kelly on work such as As You Like It adapted by Shaina Taub at SF Playhouse. Sundiata’s latest work includes Ernestine in Crumbs From the Table of Joy by Lynn Nottage, directed by Tanika Baptiste, at Town Hall Theatre; Babes in Ho-lland by Deneen Reynolds-Knotts, directed by Leigh Rondon-Davis, at Shotgun Players; The Legend of Georgia McBride by Matthew Lopez, directed by Elizabeth Carter, at Center Rep; and The Watermelon Cabaret, directed by Mylo Cardon, at Magic Theatre for FnFProductions.

Tom Gough

Served as City Lights’ Artistic Director from 2001-2004 and most recently appeared as Paravicini in The Mousetrap and Felix Geisel in The Game’s Afoot. Additionally, Tom has over 20 City Lights acting credits including Aragon/Duke in The Merchant of Venice, Ted in Ideation, Ross/Bishop in The Elephant Man, Claudius in Hamlet, Betterton/Killegrew in Compleat Female Stage Beauty, David in The First Day of School, Roger/Gary in Noises Off, and The Commander in Lysistrata. His seven City Lights directing credits include Fat Pig and the company’s first staging of Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show in 2003. A graduate of UC Davis and Santa Clara University, Tom currently teaches Theatre Arts at Foothill College and still occasionally performs with ComedySportz-San Jose Improv of which he is a founding member. Some other recent/favorite roles include Stan in Sweat for The Pear Theatre, George in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? for Los Altos Stage, Angelo in Measure for Measure for Silicon Valley Shakespeare, and Austin in A Statue for Ballybunion for San José Playhouse. Thank you for choosing to support live theatre today.

Lizzie Izyumin

Since graduating from San Diego State University, she has been performing around the Bay Area with companies such as South Bay Musical Theatre, The Pear, More Mas Mirami, and of course, City Lights. Most recently, she played Little Sally in SBMT’s production of Urinetown. When she is not performing, Lizzie teaches theater and music at schools all around the Bay Area.

Luisa Sermol

Credits incude Cult of Love (2nd Stage-Broadway/Berkeley Rep); Hamlet (Roundabout); Macbeth (CSC); Hurricane Diane (Aurora); Fefu and Friends (ACT); They Promised Her the Moon, Archduke, In Every Generation, and It’s a Wonderful Life (Theatreworks Silicon Valley); It’s Only a Play and Noises Off (Hillbarn); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Portland Center Stage); Romeo and Juliet, A Little Night Music, and The Maids (Williamstown Theatre Festival); The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart, The Humans, Cuba Libre, The Goat, Sideman, Three Sisters, Master Class, and Night of the Iguana (Artists Repertory); Myra’s Story (Corrib Theatre); Blood Wedding and Caucasian Chalk Circle (Shaking the Tree); Company (Broadway Rose); and Moon for the Misbegotten, (Coho). Television and film work includes Grimm, Leverage, Personals, Zero Effect, and Insect Poetry. Luisa is a Juilliard School graduate and a 2024 Lunt Fontanne Fellow. Visit luisasermol.com.

Max Tachis