Stina’s first big role was in high school as the White Queen in Alice in Wonderland. Stina studied at Los Gatos High School, Stephens College and San Jose State University. She did her student teaching at her high school alma mater. She has a degree in Acting/Directing with a minor in Women’s Studies.
Later she worked with a Shakespeare company in Los Gatos, California, taught children’s workshops in the bay area and ran a vaudeville/melodrama theatre in San Jose. At the vaudeville theatre she could be found performing, singing, doing choreography and directing the four three month long shows each year.
Moving back to Oregon and landing in Lincoln City, she met Jack Coyne who invited her and her husband, Dennis Gibson, to join Theatre West. Jack encouraged and mentored them both. Her first show at Theatre West was Girls of the Garden Club. There were seventeen women and one man on the small stage we have at the theatre. She also directed A Christmas Carol produced by Community Family Players and presented at Eden Hall.
A few Stina’s favorite roles at Theatre West include Mother Superior in Nunsense, Miss Reardon in And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little and Opal in Opal’s Million Dollar Duck.
When asked about the rehearsals for the play she is currently directing (Murder is a Game), she said: “I am having so much fun with this play. I feel that it is perfectly cast. I’m blown away with how well everyone is doing.”