Rio Journal

Based on reportage, letters, and diaries of a young American foreign correspondent for UPI (United Press International) and ABC News, broadcasting from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and writing from Amazonia and South American cities from Brasilia to Buenos Aires, 1963-1971. "Rio Journal" offers an incantatory look at a country under a military dictatorship. Two actors introduce a gallery of characters from colonels to comedians with an underscore of samba and suspense. From the team that brought Qaddafi’s Cook to SFIAF 2023.

Belville Productions

Belville Productions, formerly Bons Tempos, has been producing plays drawn from social issues, folklore, and history and telling untold stories since 2016. Their drama "Qaddafi’s Cook" played SFIAF in 2023 after originating in Mexico and touring to London, New York, San Diego, Hollywood, Minneapolis, and Indianapolis. Productions of three other plays were performed in Marin and Minnesota in 2024 and 2025. The legacy of the late Lance S. Belville (co-founder of Minnesota's History Theatre now in its 48th season, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship Winner in Playwriting, and author of more than 50 produced plays) serves as the starting point.

Artist Biographies

Lynn Lohr

Lynn spent 15 years in the professional theater in Minnesota, where with playwright Lance Belville, she founded the History Theatre, dedicated to doing new work based on social issues, history, and folklore. As an actor, director and producer, she oversaw the History Theatre’s growth, securing and renovating its 597-seat home. Plays she produced or directed won five awards from the Twin Cities Drama Critics Circle. Along with world premieres by leading Midwest playwrights, Lynn directed North American premieres of plays by the U.K.’s David Edgar, Northern Ireland’s Marie Jones, and by Frank McCourt, author of "Angela’s Ashes." Since 2016, Lohr has directed four Belville plays in international festivals, on tour, and in the San Francisco Bay Area and St. Paul. She was a New Works Producer for the 2024-2025 season at the Barn Theater in Ross, CA.

Lance S. Belville

Lance S. Belville (1935-2020) has had well over 100 productions of 50 plays (five off- and off-off-Broadway) Belville’s plays have toured to 30 states and three other countries. "Qaddafi’s Cook" was featured in the Latin American Season of the Actors Centre in London’s West End and toured Mexico, New York City, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Indianapolis. Lance received a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Playwriting and a Kudos Awards for Best New Play from the Twin Cities Drama Critic Circle for "Scott and Zelda, The Beautiful Fools" and a Kudos Award for overall Production for his play with Eric Peltoniemi's music, "Plain Hearts." Lance was the founding playwright of St. Paul's History Theatre and became its artistic director. With a degree in Cinema from the University of Southern California, Belville won a Silver Medal Award from the New York City International Film Festival. He began his writing career as a foreign correspondent in Rio de Janeiro for United Press International (UPI) and then for ABC News.

Eric Peltoniemi

Belville and Peltoniemi wrote three musicals together for Minnesota's History Theatre. Eric has covered the musical waterfront: touring artist, singer/songwriter, award-winning lyricist/composer for the music theater, record producer and record label executive at acclaimed Red House Records. He has performed throughout the US, as well as in Canada and northern Europe. In 2018 he appeared in the multiple award-winning Finnish film, "Ikitie " (The Eternal Road) singing a song he wrote for the production. His songs have been covered and recorded by a number of folk and roots music artists. Reunited with Belville Productions, his songs were at the heart of their 2022 show at the Gremlin Theatre and his music is featured in their "Cowboy and Widow," and the children’s play "Mbahir and His Amazon Friends."

Sean Mireles Boulton

Sean Boulton is an actor and musician with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Southern Oregon University. He was the Musician/Music Captain for “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at Oregon Shakespeare Festival and acted in “Pelicans” with Ashland New Plays Festival; Isaac in “The Book of Will” at Ross Valley Players; Zamyslov in “Summer People,” David Bliss in “Hayfever,” Steve in “She Kills Monsters,” “Into the Woods,” “The Arabian Nights,” and “The Bottle Tree,” all for Oregon Center for the Arts. His film credits include “The Basement” (Student Short Film). He received the KCATCF Certificate of Merit for Musicianship and Outstanding Ensemble in “Arabian Nights” and “She Kills Monsters.”

Juliana Eiras

Juliana Eiras is an actress and drama teacher with a Bachelor's degree in Performing Arts from UNICAMP and a certificate from the Dramatic Arts Technical Course at Carlos Gomes Conservatory in Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil. She has also studied Decroux's Corporeal Mime, puppet manipulation, mask acting, and clowning, and has experience with urban dance and drag art. Juliana spent two years researching and developing her thesis, "The Elements of Silent Cinema as a Creative Tool for the Performing Arts," at UNICAMP. As a storyteller and drama teacher, Juliana has worked with children and adults of all ages. She co-created the theater podcast "Merda! - A Brazilian Theater Podcast" (available on Spotify) and has created audiovisual works, including "A Batalha" (available on YouTube), featuring Brazilian musician Germanno Falcão. Recently, she has been acting in “The Window Affair” at Town Hall Theater in Lafayette, “Comedy of Errors” at Sonoma Shakespeare , Avalon Players at Buena Vista Winery, “Pins and Needles," and “The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui” both at Mercury Theater, Petaluma, California.

Tom Berger

Tom served in a succession of roles from Production Manager to Tour Director to Managing Director for St. Paul’s History Theatre—a key part of over 60 world premiere productions by 45 playwrights/composers, personally overseeing tours to 25 states of 12 of those productions. In 2017, he resumed working with Lohr and Belville functioning as Production Manager/Designer, and subsequently Co-Producer for "Atlanta Burning, Sherman’s Shadows," "Cowboy and Widow," "Qaddafi’s Cook," and "Eric and Friends," playing Minneapolis and St. Paul, and touring to London, San Francisco, Indianapolis and Kansas City. With Lohr, he co-produced for the Minnesota Historical Society, "The Man Who Bought Minneapolis" and "Nina, Madam to a Saintly City." Berger volunteers as a member of the Central Minnesota Arts Board and is its Vice President.