SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE -- Since the 1990s, Damashek has applied that same intellect, passion and rigor to acting classes she’s taught at San Francisco State University. Local actor Juliana Lustenader, who graduated from the university in 2013, recalls that after a five-minute scene in Damashek’s classes, students “would sit there listening to notes for half an hour.”
For many, the ardor is endearing. Local actor, composer and director Casey Robbins, also a 2013 San Francisco State grad, even created a short-lived band in her honor, called the Bamasheks (of which “Splendour” cast member Sam Jackson was also a part). “What’s amazing about her is she is a little scary,” he says. That’s in the way she makes the classroom “a sacred space,” the way “she takes zero bull—,” the way she’s “a mile ahead of everybody else.”