Maddie Palombo started acting and performing in plays as a youngster but says she didn’t start taking it seriously until high school and definitely never thought she’d pursue a career as a drama teacher. But two years of studying with local theatre power couple, Kisky and Dash Holwerda, gave her a glimpse into a future she now wants to shape for herself.
“It wasn’t something I had considered at all before working with them, but I was just so inspired by the impact that I saw them have on people,” says Palombo, 18, from her dorm room at Suffolk University, located in downtown Boston, Massachusetts, where she’s a freshman majoring in theatre. She plans to act and teach drama once she graduates. “They had a huge impact on me. I think it was totally life-changing for me to be in their studio and I can only aspire to be that for some kid.”
Palombo, a 2025 graduate of Redmond Proficiency Academy, worked with the Holwerdas’ Ponderosa Players youth theatre company from the time of its inception in 2023 until she left for Boston last summer.
“I was the first-ever Ponderosa Player student. That’s my claim to fame. I brag about it a lot,” says Palombo with a chuckle. “I was the first person to sign up for their first class.”
Palombo had done theatre work at other local companies with the Holwerdas before the couple opened Ponderosa Players and jumped at the chance to be part of their new theatre group.
“I just thought they were the sweetest people, and I had to get in,” she recalls. “I think I’m a better person for what I got out of their classes. Not only did I gain a lot of technical and performance skills, I feel confident presenting myself in a professional or college-level audition. I think I also grew a lot as a person. I think it’s a really special thing to have educators who are able to push you and motivate you in the way that Kisky and Dash do for their students. It’s a safe space to make mistakes and to try and fail and try again. I think even if theatre is not something a kid’s going to pursue long-term, what you can get out of one class is life-changing — the confidence, the social skills, and the ability to present yourself. “
Sergio Carrillo, 18, agrees. The Caldera High School senior got into theatre in the fourth grade, after his mom enrolled him in karate class. The karate instructor also happened to teach drama, noticed raw talent in the boy, and encouraged Carrillo’s mom to sign him up for children’s theatre classes. He’d acted in productions by various theatre companies in Central Oregon and had friends who’d worked with Ponderosa Players, so he followed the new company on Instagram.
“Last year, I saw that they were doing a dream show of mine, which is ‘Ride The Cyclone,’” he recalls. “I knew I wanted to audition for it.”
He nabbed the role of Noel in the dark comedy musical about six members of a Canadian high-school choir who die in a roller-coaster accident and find themselves in limbo, where Karnak, a mechanical fortune teller, reveals he’ll resurrect one of them. The teens each perform a unique musical number to try and convince him they’re the one to bring back to life. The numbers reveal their personalities, dreams, and regrets, and the evocative, poignant performances explored themes of life and death.
“I just really related to the characters and that it covered topics about teens like issues with self-esteem or fears for their future, or just behaviors, where they don’t really know why they’re doing stuff, but they just do it anyway. It just really spoke to me deeply,” said Carrillo, who’s subsequently performed in two other mainstage productions for Ponderosa Players and plans to study drama in college while also pursuing professional auditions, likely in Boston, Los Angeles, or New York. Carrillo said that while the Holwerdas select productions that explore the trials, tribulations, and dreams of teenagers, they also support their actors as they navigate those same things.
“They treat their actors with a lot of respect,” said Carrillo. “They have expectations that since we’re older, we have the ability to put in the work, and they know what to expect of us. They know when to push us and when to allow us some grace, either because we’re having a hard time, in school or just, like, general teen anxiety or drama.”
The Ponderosa Players production of “Ride The Cyclone” is also what drew Aurora Dixon, 17, a junior at Bend High School, to the company.
“That was the first one I ever did with them, and I really just love that musical. I was really excited to do it,” said Dixon, who played the character of Jane Doe. She also just performed the role of Elsa in “Spring Awakening,” a coming-of-age pop-rock musical set in 19th century Germany that explores themes of teenage sexual discovery. Dixon said the way in which the Holwerdas approached material helped shape and grow her as an actor.
“I really love their artistic direction. They always make everything very artistic and they take liberties to make things more interesting and do their own spin and play on things that I find really interesting,” said Dixon, who plans to pursue theatre in college as well as study biology. “And it’s also just such a welcoming environment. You can make mistakes, and you can grow and learn. You feel allowed to make vulnerable mistakes because of the space that they’ve created.”
Kisky says that providing a professional, inclusive space for Central Oregon youth to explore theatre, drama, and life was the goal of Ponderosa Players, which conducts year-round classes and produces live dramatic and musical productions for youth ages 7 to 18.
“We thought there was sort of a gap in what was offered for youth theater arts in Central Oregon,” Kisky said. “There’s a lot of sign-up based programs, but we thought there was a need and a desire for students who want more, who want to pursue theater either as a career or they want to do it in college, or if it’s just something that they take really seriously, you know, kind of like club soccer, and they want a more heightened experience, a more pre-professional experience. That’s what we’re able to offer.”
The theatre group recently completed its second offering of 2026, the musical “Spring Awakening.” In January, Ponderosa Players put on “The Little Prince.” In June, they’ll produce “Once Upon A Mattress.” Also on tap are “The Phantom Toll Booth,” “Dear Evan Hansen,” “Romeo and Juliet,” and “Into The Woods.”
Additionally, they’re offering a slate of classes, including Acting 1, which runs March 5-April 20 for ages 11-14; Ready, Set…Improve! March 7-May 2 for ages 10-14; and Acting Basics for ages 7-10 from March 7-May 2.
They’ll also present “Too Darn Hot!” for a third season in July at Tower Theatre. It’s a “cabaret” of sorts, says Dixon. Kisky says it’s a fast-paced yet fun experience for all who participate.
“The kids have three weeks to learn anywhere from 12 to 15 musical numbers with choreography, and learn other harmonies, and learn all the blocking and their lines. Then they get to perform it. It’s a blast,” says Kisky. “It’s like summer camp. It’s super-fast and furious, and they really pull it out and put it together. “
Ponderosa Players classes are open to all youth who’d like to sign up, while youth must audition for the mainstage productions, for which the Holwerdas bring in professional actors to work with and guide the youth.
“We’re trying to really give them a different, more tailored experience,” Kisky said. “Our idea is if students want to come in and get the training, they can sign up and take classes, and when they feel like they’re ready to step up to the challenge, then they can come and audition.”
Kisky, 34, graduated from Kenyon College with a bachelor’s degree in drama, and then studied at conservatories in the U.S. and London, England, before moving to New York, where she acted professionally and then moved into producing for an arts nonprofit. She moved to Bend in 2021.
The couple met in 2022, when Kisky acted in, and Dash was working the crew for, “Love, Loss, and What I Wore” with Bend’s Ellipse Theater Community. The couple began dating, started Ponderosa Players in 2023, working in a variety of spaces and out of their home. They got married last July, opened their new theatre space in August, and have just found out they’re expecting their first child this August.
“It’s been a whirlwind. It was a jump off a cliff that’s worked out pretty well for us,” says Dash, about how much the couple has packed into a few short years. The 27-year-old Bend native began acting as a youngster before moving backstage where they were “kind of grandfathered into the directing team at the Children’s Theater after I graduated high school and started directing a number of shows.”
Added Kisky: “It’s definitely been its own challenge and learning curve. Having our own theatre space has created some better separation between our work life and our personal life. Where we are now, we can bring the theatre home a little bit less. By and large, it’s been really amazing and there’s no one else I’d rather do it with.”
The couple not only enjoys working with young people in a theatre setting, but in the classroom, too. Kisky is completing her degree so she can be a middle-school math teacher, while Dash works for Realms Middle School as an educational assistant for the supported ed program and teaches the school’s drama classes. The focus on education and providing an inclusive, safe space for young people is what they’d dreamed of when they started Ponderosa Players.
“I just am constantly astounded by how well Dash works with the kids,” Kisky said. “They have a whole host of teaching experience that they’re able to bring and different skills to make sure that our programs are safe and accepting and tailored to different kids’ needs.”
In its third season, the company is expanding, Dash said, drawing students from around Central Oregon. The company’s new theatre space is in the same complex as Blockbuster and School of Rock, the latter of which the Holwerdas hope to collaborate with on a joint production of “School of Rock” with the music school’s students providing the score for the Ponderosa Players.
“We’re growing really rapidly as a company and we see that in our classroom enrollment, and we really see it in the turnout for auditions, especially not only as it increases in number, but skill level,” Dash said. “From our perspective, it just gets higher and higher in terms of the students that we’re getting. By the time we got to this show (“Spring Awakening”), we were floored by the way they showed up to auditions and how prepared they were. There’s just a lot of raw talent here.”
This article appears in the Source March 5, 2026.
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