Meet The Team
Matthew Purdon
Chief Creative Officer / CEO
Matthew Purdon is the Founder, CEO & Chief Creative Officer for Woander World. Matthew has been inquiring into immersive and interactive forms of entertainment for over thirty years. He was the creator of “The Campus Beat” the first improvised, interactive sitcom for the Web in collaboration with ImprovOlympic and Del Close and co-founded Odyssey Works with Abe Burickson in 2001.
Matthew also has over 25 years of experience managing creative, development, design and product experiences for new and emerging businesses. He most recently worked as Sr. Product Director for Adobe's Digital Media Business leading Adobe's GenStudio solution to help customers use GenerativeAI to fuel their content supply chain. Prior to that, he was the Head of Enterprise Product for Adobe's Creative Cloud. He joined Adobe through the acquisition at Livefyre, where he was SVP of Product & Marketing. Matthew has helped build many other startups, including roles as the VP of High School Services for Chegg and the founding VP of Product for Suzy, an enterprise marketing research software. He has taught UX design for CSU East Bay, San Francisco State University and General Assembly and continues to invest and advise start-ups in creative technologies.
He began his journey as a theatre major at Northwestern University and has worked professionally as a director and an Equity actor. He currently serves on the board of Marin Theatre.
He holds an MFA in Art & Consciousness from JFK University, is an actively practicing landscape painter and a longtime spiritual practitioner of the Diamond Heart path. He lives in Mill Valley with his wife Liz and their 2 children with whom he play tests his latest immersive ideas.
Heather Gallagher
Creative / Strategy Consultant
Heather Gallagher is a creative collaborator and strategist supporting Woander and The Wylding Woods across story development, program design, experience strategy, and business planning. With a background in immersive entertainment and large-scale experience design — including nearly two decades as a senior leader at Burning Man — she brings both imaginative vision and practical know-how to the table.
She’s currently focused on The Circle of Woander, an augmented reality story adventure that blends magical narrative, local lore, and real-world exploration into a one-of-a-kind experience in downtown Mill Valley. Designed as both an adventure and a protection spell, the Circle connects the energy of Mill Valley with the magic of the Wylding Woods — inviting families to reawaken their sense of wonder, curiosity, and connection.
Born on Halloween — when the veil is at its thinnest — Heather is a child of the fairy folk, naturally drawn to storytelling, transformation, and the invisible threads that connect us. At Woander, she helps conjure wonder into the everyday, one spellbinding experience at a time.
Chuck Whelon
Character Illustration
Chuck Whelon is an illustrator and cartoonist, known for his webcomic series "Pewfell", which follows the misadventures of a lovestruck and dim-witted wizard. Chuck's other works include "What to Doodle?" series for Dover Publications, and several search-and-find books for Simon & Schuster, now published in many different countries and languages. Chuck also creates maps, cartoons, and other illustrations for Goodman Games' Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG, and other tabletop games. Urfspace is Chuck’s single-panel sci-fi cartoon series begun in 2019 to explore the outer limits of reason and make fun of the future. Chuck was born in Basingstoke, England, and has lived in San Francisco since 1995.
Website: PlanetUrf.com | Instagram: @urfspace
Charlie Orchard
Puppet Designer
Charlie is a puppet maker from Nottingham, England. They specialize in large, solo-puppeteer dragon puppets. They were in charge of building Agnor and bringing her to life! When not making dragons, Charlie can either be found in their studio making all sorts of puppets, animal costumes, props and other fantastical items. Or in a field with their friends playing a LARP game with the cool things they've made!
You can see more of their work at: www.KeepDrawingCharlie.com or search 'KeepDrawingCharlie' on any social media app
Eric Wright
Puppet Designer
Eric Wright is the co-founder and lead designer at Puppet Kitchen, a NYC-based puppetry studio that has been bringing amazing ideas to life since 2008. Past clients include Paramount Pictures (IF), Thom Browne Fashion, The New York Mets, IBM, Netflix (Brainchild), Virgin Voyages (Scarlet Night), Wizards of the Coast (Magic the Gathering), The San Diego Zoo, Selfridges Department Store, H&M, Nickelodeon, and more. His theatrical designs have also been featured in productions across the country and his puppetry performances include The Metropolitan Opera (Madama Butterfly), Off-Broadway (Little Shop of Horrors), The Public Theater (Compulsion), New York’s City Center (The Firebird), and New York’s Lincoln Center (Basil Twist’s Petrushka). Wylding Woods is Mr. Wright’s Bay Area debut, and he’s thrilled to bring some magical moments to this new and exciting adventure!
Hobey Ford
Puppet Designer
Hobey Ford is internationally renowned in the puppetry field as an award-winning performer and a Kennedy Center Partner in Education teaching artist. Ford knew early on what he wanted for his life’s work after seeing a puppet show while still a youngster. While studying at an arts college, Hobey found "... one of the cornerstones to my work. I would approach puppetry as storytelling with puppets." Ford designs and constructs all of his Golden Rod Puppets as well as the beautiful sets that surround them. Ford has received the highest awards for his brilliant and priceless contributions to the world of puppetry: two-time winner of puppetry's highest honor, the UNIMA Citation of Excellence; recipient of three Jim Henson Foundation grants; and The Hermitage Fellowship. Hobey Ford is renowned for excellence in his craft. Chosen as a Kennedy Center Partner to teach teachers (and other artists) how to use the performing arts in the classroom curriculum, Hobey not only performs his original works all over the world but also offers workshops to teachers and students alike.
Jody Drezner
Theatre for Young Audiences Consultant
Jody Drezner Alperin is the co-founder and Artistic Director of Off The Page, an arts education and theatre company. Off The Page works with young people in and outside of school, exploring issues they are most passionate about and creating new works of theatre with them and for them.
With Off The Page, Jody is a co-adapter of ALL AMERICAN BOYS, she co-produces MISSING FROM THE MUSEUM, and is currently developing an adaptation of Kip Wilson’s WHITE ROSE. She is also a co-founder of No Book Bans, a grassroots advocacy organization focused on uniting people in the theatre industry to fight book and play bans. Jody also works as a facilitator in group settings learning and advocating for racial equity and as a leader of white affinity groups. She co-facilitated the opening sessions of TYA/USA’s 11-part series, Listen Learn Lead: Anti-Racism in Theatre for Young Audiences. Jody has also worked with Bank Street College’s Center on Culture, Race, and Equity and with Anahsa Consulting as a facilitator with clients across the country.
Jody has been a guest lecturer at colleges and universities on using arts education methods in the classroom and a presenter at conferences across the country. She is also an organizer and activist, sits on the steering committee of NYC Opt Out, and works with many other organizations on issues of education equity in NYC schools and racial justice within our systems,
Jody is a graduate of Northwestern University in theatre and has been seen as an actor on stages all over the US. Jody was a sign language interpreter for many years, working in the NYC public schools. She lives in Brooklyn, NY with her husband Brad. Their two children, Dov and Oren are often early readers of her work.
Monique Johnson
Branding / Graphic Design
Monique’s early love for exploration and creativity naturally led her to art. Throughout school, she dove headfirst into every art class she could find, even teaching herself calligraphy and painting. What began as a hobby quickly became a calling, thanks to the encouragement of her high school art teacher. That’s when she made the decision to pursue a career in illustration, a path that gave her invaluable skills—everything from understanding color and interpreting visuals to infusing artistic flair into her designs.
Monique’s career has truly been an adventure! She’s worked at startups, design firms, and held roles as both an Art Director and Creative Director. But after the birth of her first child, she took a bold leap—she struck out on her own as a brand designer for small businesses. This is where she truly found her calling. Monique’s love for visual storytelling and joy in helping entrepreneurs express their brand identity became her driving force!
One of the most unique things about Monique is her ability to become a conduit for my clients’ stories. She takes her clients on a collaborative journey, helping them get outside their comfort zones to discover creative leaps that inspire the best brand ideas for their business. For Monique, the process of creating a brand is just as important as the final product, and that philosophy has led to some truly incredible transformations for her clients.
Jackie Tat
Marketing & Community Engagement
Jackie Tat is a brand builder with both heart and hustle. She started her creative journey in photography, capturing content for her guinea pig’s Instagram account—which gained over 1,000 followers back in 2013. From pet influencer beginnings to brand storytelling today, Jackie’s passion for content creation has only grown.
While still in school, she launched her own automotive accessories brand, growing its Instagram presence to over 10K followers in just one year. Since then, she’s helped brands grow their audiences through storytelling, aesthetic content, and data-driven digital marketing strategies. Her work has directly contributed to viral campaigns, six-figure sales goals, and real community connection.
Jackie specializes in building brand voices that feel like home to their audience. Whether she’s crafting an email campaign or designing content for social, Jackie’s favorite part of the job is seeing her work spark genuine engagement and joy.
Jacquelyn Scott
Store / Set Design
Jackie Scott works as a production design and scenic designer for film and theater across the Bay Area. She is designing the interior of the Woander retail store. The idea of the design is to feel as if nature is creeping back in, reclaiming the space. There will be natural elements, pops of whimsy, and lots of color throughout the store.
Zach Fish
In-store Game Design
Zach Fish is a creative producer and interactive designer with over 20 years of experience in live events, narrative experiences, and immersive entertainment. Their work spans immersive theater, interactive digital games, and alternate reality experiences, with a focus on the intersection of technology and storytelling. Zach served as Creative Director at Strange Outfit, where they led the development of three entertainment products, including the interactive game show 100 League! They previously directed Nocturne X at Numina Studio, a 6,000-square-foot responsive alien environment, and produced a five-month ARG campaign with Definitely Real Inc., which reached over 10,000 participants across more than 150 online platforms. Zach is also a longtime member of 13th Floor Theater, where they design and perform in narrative-rich immersive works like Assemblage of Monsters and The Lost Inn. Currently, they are also serving as artistic director of On Beyond, a performance and production company that produces new works by emerging performance artists in the bay area.you can see more of their work at www.Zach.Fish and www.OnBeyond.xyz
Haley Who
Tree Design
Haley Who is a versatile artist whose career spans roles as a Specialty Costumer, Puppet Fabricator, Prop Designer, Production Designer, Puppeteer, Circus Performer, Event Producer and Art Director from film and television to live production.
She has collaborated with major studios like Jim Henson Company, Disney, Nickelodeon, Netflix, and Universal Studios on iconic projects such as The Dark Crystal, Fraggle Rock, Masked Singer, SpongeBob SquarePants, and Five Nights at Freddy’s.
After receiving her BFA in Sculpture, Haley Who has honed her expertise in sculpting, fabrication, and surface treatments, with works permanently displayed at renowned institutions including the San Francisco Zoo, Children’s Discovery Museum, Children’s Museum of Santa Rosa, Madame Tussauds Wax Museum, and the Museum of Moving Image in New York. Her clients have included Arnold Schwarzenegger and Wieden+Kennedy, among others high profile clients.
Driven by a love for creating unforgettable experiences in arts and entertainment, her travels have taken her through 13 countries to study puppetry and performance arts worldwide—from Vietnam and Tokyo to South America and Europe she has experienced the depth of performance arts cultures around the world. She has designed giant puppets for engaging audiences at art festivals such as Lightning in a Bottle, Burning Man, and Maker Faire.
Haley’s collaborations extend to experiential designers, spectacle performers, circus companies, and stage productions for clients like Google, Apple, and Airbnb to name a few. Through her artistry and performances across the globe, she aims to deliver magical experiences that captivate audiences of all ages and bring a spark of wonder to a sometimes mundane world.
Aureolus Stetzel
Costume Design
Aureolus designs clothing and costumes with a deep focus on Earth and human systems—considering water, soil, labor, material cycles, and pollinators. With a Master’s in Sustainable Fashion Design from UC Davis, their work explores solutions to the environmental and social harms caused by the fashion industry, drawing from both historical practices and emerging innovations.
Driven by a strong sense of responsibility, Aureolus aims to create positive impact through thoughtful design. As industrial production and climate crises intensify, they advocate for urgent, systemic change to challenge exploitative norms and build a more sustainable future.
Sparks
Experience Design
Sparks (they/them) is a relentlessly hopeful, queer, solarpunk experience designer based in Portland, OR. They craft experiences that leverage wonder, play and collective imagination to potentiate systemic change. Sparks gets fired up about building strange and enchanted worlds that provoke new perspectives, elicit behavioral shifts and imagine better futures. They design experiences that help humans connect—with themselves, with our planet, with each other—in unexpected and delightful ways. Sparks is humbled to be part of such a wonderful team of humans (and creatures!) helping to bring Woander to life.
Outside of their work with Woander, they are excited to be designing a climate adventure series, combining components of physical endurance with immersive theatre and climate activism to inspire a new climate story—one where we’re no longer paralyzed spectators, but active, imaginative architects of our collective future.
You can see more of their work at: sparks-of-art.com
Jason Asbahr
Augmented Reality
Jason has 30+ years experience pioneering realtime 3D and spatial computing, bringing breakthrough user experiences to emerging platforms spanning VR/AR, AI, MMO, mobile, and arcade, working with organizations like Niantic, Sony, Electronic Arts, Intermedia Outdoors, RedOctane, Warner Music, and Universal Music.
Josh Corn
Creative Technologist
Josh is one of the founders and lead creative technologist for Double Take Labs—a transdisciplinary design studio that focuses on developing unique ways of blending creative technology and physical design into interactive experiences. His work includes designing a robotic airport assistant for KLM airlines, custom vending machines and mechanical games, and hardware for immersive theater shows. Josh teaches in the Columbia University School of the Arts' Digital Storytelling Lab with a course called Creative Coding. He also teaches at New York University’s ITP program and CUNY City College of Technology in the Emerging Media Technology department.
Simon Ellison
Creative Technology Design
Simon Ellison is a trained industrial designer, with a penchant for mechanical engineering. He has found himself working on all aspects of a product lifecycle. He innovates through constant iteration and refinement, using a hands-on approach to validate design and engineering decisions through physical prototypes. Simon has worked on a range of products, both simple and complex; one-off designs and mass-produced. He is most happy solving problems that create a better everyday experience for humans.
Lee Armstrong
Puppeteer
Lee Armstrong is fascinated by the movement of inanimate objects. She is a Co-founder, Puppeteer & Producer at Images In Motion in Sonoma www.imagesmedia.com which specializes in puppetry for TV/film, and related art services. Credits include the classic Fraggle Rock, Being John Malkovich, Monkeybone, numerous PBS shows and commercials. Ms. Armstrong is the recipient of two regional Emmys, as a producer/writer and puppeteer. Her work has been a key part of videos that have earned awards from the National Ad Council, the Telly Awards and KidsFirst. She has taught hundreds of workshops on puppetry, to adults and children across America, and for a decade lectured on “Jim Henson and the Art of the Muppets” at UC Santa Cruz. She is on the board of the San Francisco Bay Area Puppeteers Guild www.sfbapg.org.
Eriette Atanante
Storybook Fairy / Swing Puppeteer
Eriette Atanante is a Bay-Area based performer and puppeteer. Her credits include: Landmark Musical Theater’s The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Marcy Park), You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown (Sally Brown), and PLAY Theatre’s Elephant and Piggie: We’re in a Play Squirelle #2 and Don’t Let the Pigeon Drivw the Bus the Musical! (Duckling, Bus Engine, Dog Puppeteer). When she is not acting on stage, Eriette works as a children’s theater teacher, bringing the joy of theater to schools around San Francisco.
Cintya Chaves
Freeda / Swing Puppeteer
Cintya is an actress, voice-over artist, and teacher with a passion for bringing stories to life! Her journey began with dance and Yoga, shaping her expressive approach to performance. She works in commercial voiceover, narration, and dubbing for clients in Brazil, Europe, and San Francisco, recording from her home studio and local studios in the Bay Area.
Beyond voice work, Cintya is also a Hatha Yoga instructor and have had the joy of regularly writing and narrating meditations and bedtime stories in Portuguese for the British app Sleepiest, creating soothing moments for children and families. She also narrates bedtime stories for Calm, helping little listeners drift off into dreamland with comforting storytelling.
Caitlin Gjerdrum
Puppeteer
A California native, Caitlin has worked with a number of local companies since moving here for college, including Fresh Ink, Flat Earth Theatre, Project: Project, The Open Theatre Project, and Maiden Phoenix. Career highlights outside the Boston area include summer stints at Bread & Puppet in Glover, VT and at Dell’Arte International in Blue Lake, CA. An avid musician, musical theatre actor & consultant, she has also workshopped several new musicals, including Precious Bane (Miriam Raiken-Kolb & GL Horton), Homewrecker (Liz Ruddy & Yicheng Wu), Roswitha (Kevin Bleau & David Schrag), and, on the horizon, The Golden Cage, by Deborah Henson-Conant.
Esther de Monteflores
Puppeteer
Esther de Monteflores is an American circus artist, physical performer, and puppeteer.
Esther has toured extensively with circus companies including Circus Bella, Bindlestiff Family Cirkus, Cirque Mechanics, Venardos Circus, and Flynn Creek Circus. Esther has presented her unique take on circus arts and puppetry at festivals including Moisture Festival, Cannonball at Philadelphia Fringe, Art on the Atlanta Beltline, and Luminaria Contemporary Arts Festival. Esther is the recipient of a Fellowship in Performing Arts (Artist Trust, Seattle, WA) as well as project grants for her solo/duo shows.
When not performing, Esther is an arts administrator working with organizations in circus and theater.
Fred Riley
Puppeteer
Fred Riley has performed marionettes from 9 foot to 7 inches tall. He has performed rod, moving mouth, Czech black, tabletop, mask, and every combination thereof. He has performed shadow with press screen, overhead, and 30 foot wide cinematic. Jon Ludwig, Ping Chong, Janie Geiser, Yeng Feng, Josef Krofta, Larry Reed … These are just a few of the iconic directors that Fred worked with and learned from over many years in puppet theater. He has directed and written for the Center for Puppetry Arts and many others. He choreographed for Ping Chong and Company. He has taught movement and puppet theory. He voiced many puppets and has done voice over work for many companies. He has recorded and done sound design. He is so grateful for all he has been able to do and accomplish.
This next chapter is about using all these skills toward something new and more personal. He wants to work from an emotional core. Wants to blend the styles and forms he has learned into a new landscape for the stage. Looking to find the essence of life force has been the root of all the work he has done for decades. Breathing through these figures to listen rather than to tell.
Lisa Zagone
Puppeteer
Lisa Zagone is a professional visual artist specializing in unique, once-off creations for theatre, film, performance and private commissions. Lisa has over 30 years experience in costume design, scenic arts, puppetry, specialty props, wearable art, set design and practical effects. She is currently freelancing in the East Bay, and enrolled in the graduate school at UConn in Puppetry Arts. Lisa earned her MFA and BA in Fine Art, with an emphasis on Textiles at San Francisco State University.
Check out more of Lisa’s work at https://lisazagone.com/
Colin Epstein
Dungeons & Dragons Game Master
Colin Epstein (they/he) is a multi-disciplinary performer and professional Game Master for Dungeons & Dragons and other RPGs, born & raised in Berkeley. Their career in movement and theater has taken them from teaching kids to juggle in Taiwan to dancing in Europe to stages & sites throughout the Bay Area. You can catch them on stage with 13th Floor, Lizz Roman & Dancers, Tara Pilbrow Dance, and On Beyond; or listen to them on The Roll Report - available wherever you find your podcasts!
You can see more of their work at: Instagram/Bluesky: @therollreportcast
Hannah Lozier
Dungeons & Dragons Game Master
Hannah Bradshaw Lozier is an experienced DM, artist, writer, and educator native to North Bay. They believe that imaginative play is one of the best (and most fun) ways to learn and connect with others, and have a DM style oriented around empathy, diversity, and creating impactful character-driven stories. By day, Hannah works as a social media manager for local D&D podcast The Roll Report, and as an after school teacher at Tam Valley Elementary. By night, they craft stories and create art with other passionate nerds along with their two cats, Gatsby and Minerva.
Calvin Lin
Retail Associate
Calvin is a board game enthusiast from San Francisco. He is also a fan of escape rooms, video games, and all sorts of fun experiences. He is excited to be your guide into the Wylding Woods, and is always ready to recommend your next favorite game — just ask!