Dominick Alesia

Dominick (he/him) is very excited to be working again with Nothing Without a Company! He is an emerging Playwright, Actor, and composer who was most recently seen in Nothing Without a Company’s New Play Festival: 4PLAYs. Other acting credits include Hair, Joe Turner's Come and Gone, various performance art pieces, and more. Something he loves and admires very much about Nothing Without a Company is the drive to make daringly important statements and tackle challenging projects thought to be nearly impossible. He would like to thank everybody here at this incredible theatre company, the other cast members, writers, and directors. He's very thankful for the opportunity to write for Nothing Without a Company, and he hopes enjoys loves the pieces we have prepared together!

janey bell*

Janey (she/her) is a Chicago writer native to Washington state who specializes in speculative fiction and playwriting. She earned her degree in Fiction Writing and Playwriting from Columbia College Chicago in 2016, and is a 2011 California Arts Scholar. She recently placed 3rd in the Writers of the Future Contest. Her first play, Bobby Pin Girls is being produced by Nothing Without a Company and opens in November 2017. Her work can also be found in the upcoming edition of the literary magazine "Hair Trigger." She has two cats.
 

Joseph Giovannetti 

Joseph (he/him) is a Chicago-based playwright, actor and director. He is a founding member of InGen Productions and a company member with MPAACT. He is also an Associate Company Member with Akvavit Theater. Joe was recently seen in Nothing Without a Comapany's New Play Festival: 4PLAYs as Mike in Leah Bognanni's Accidents. Directing credits include The Lockout produced by Six Hours Short, a musical about the 2011 NBA lockout and InGen Production’s Welcome to Earth, his musical adaptation of the 1996 film Independence Day. Joe holds a BA from North Park University in Theatre and Performance Studies and is currently pursuing an MFA in Writing for the Stage and Screen at Northwestern University.

HANNAH II-EPSTEIN*

Hannah (she/her) was born and raised on the North Shore of Oahu, Hannah is currently attending The Graduate School at Northwestern University's Writing for the Screen and Stage MFA Program. She is a Co-Artistic Director, Board Member, and Founding Member of Nothing Without a Company. Since 2007, over ten of her plays and musicals have been produced in Hawaii and Chicago. Hannah has participated as a writer in many 24 Hour Fests for Nothing Without a Company, Silent Theatre, Columbia College Chicago, and Northwestern University. She was awarded 30 under 30 in Windy City Times in 2014. Hannah's film, Sweet, won Best Film Runner Up in Chicago's 48 Hour Film Project in 2015. In 2016 Hannah and her play, Not One Batu, were honored by Hawai'i State Theatre Council Po'okela Awards in the categories of Non-Resident Guest Artist and Overall Play. Catch Not One Batu in the summer of 2018 in Chicago produced by Nothing Without a Company and in partnership with Lanialoha Lee and Aloha Center Chicago.

Olivia Lilley

Olivia (she/her)is a director, writer, and producer whose work runs the gamut from irreverent takes on classic literature (Faust: Save me or I’ll die, Friedrich Schiller Writes The Robbers) to autobiography with dream ballets (The Party House, She <3’s NY) to site specific, improvisatory visions of non-fiction (I Saw The Best Minds Of My Generation). Olivia is the founding Artistic Director of The Runaways Lab Theatre (Voted Best New Theatre Company in The Chicago Reader’s Best Of 2014) and an ensemble member. Olivia is the head of Pop Magic Productions. She is currently devising an original piece with choreographer, Kelly Anderson for the Prop Thtr, which combines her two favorite things: Documentary and Broadway Spectacle. Olivia received her BFA in Directing from Carnegie Mellon School of Drama.

JOSH MATTINGLY*

Josh (he/him) has called Chicago his artistic home since 2002. He joined Nothing Without a Company in 2017, and was a cast member of the 2015 production of Down the Moonlit Path and was a participant in the 2016 24-Hour Play Festival. During his time in Chicago, Josh has worked with The Bailiwick, Silk Road Rising, The Hypocrites, Collaboraction and Forks & Hope Ensemble, among others. His plays have been produced around Chicago, including with Collaboraction, The Mayor's Office of Special Events and Quest Theatre Ensemble, where he was also a founding member. 

Anna Rose Ii-Epstein*

Anna Rose (she/her) is a co-founder of Nothing Without a Company.  Although a native of Texas, she has considered Chicago and the theatre community her home for over 14 years. She fell in love with Chicago while attending the National High School Institute Cherub program at Northwestern. Soon after, she attended DePaul Theater School, where she feel in love with yoga, and Columbia College Chicago, where she received her BFA in Acting with a minor in Directing. She has performed, directed, assistant directed, assistant taught, and produced over 25 new plays with Nothing Without a Company and various other companies including Steppenwolf Theatre, Victory Gardens Theatre, The Goodman Theatre, Mary Archie Theatre, The Inconvenience, Redmoon Theater, Nothing Special Productions, About Face Theater, Pride Films and Plays, Silent Theatre Company, Windy City Performing Arts, and The Center on Halsted. Anna Rose is a Licensed Massage Therapist (LMT), focusing on energy work and body awareness through breath control. She is proud to be the originator of the Red & Gray Playwright Festival, where students write, direct, and produce their own works at The High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in her hometown, Houston, TX.  She featured in Windy City Times 2014's 30 Under 30 award with her wife Hannah Ii-Epstein as the first power couple to be honored together in this category. In the past few years, Anna Rose has begin dabbling in film. Anna Rose produced and was featured in Nothing Without a Company's short film Sweet, submitted to 2015's 48 Hour Film Fest Chicago, which won Best Film Runner Up, Best Directing, and Audience Award Group B Runner Up. Check her out as a featured extra in Signature Move, a queer movie coming out soon! Feel free to contact her, she is super nice! Or see what else Anna Rose is up to at ii-epstein.com.

Sharon KromE

Sharon (she/her), originally from small-town Maryland, has lived, worked, and studied across Europe, including Graffiti-smattered Berlin. Most recently, Sharon completed her MFA in Writing for the Screen and Stage at Northwestern University, where she discovered her love for teaching. Here in Chicago, she has directed a webseries, AD'ed at Big Shoulders, and taught middle schoolers film production at Old Town School of Folk Music. Currently, she is Marketing Coordinator at Silk Road Rising, self-producing, and painting abstract impressionistic pieces (aka fancy paint splatters).

Ian Martin

Ian (he/him) is an emerging creative: writer, director, producer. He is a recent transplant to the city of Chicago and is currently serving as the Artistic Producing Apprentice at Goodman Theatre. He is a part of the Director's Haven 2017 cohort with Haven Theatre where he will direct Amiri Baraka's The Toilet.  He graduated with a B.A. in Theatre from Indiana University, but has studied in the arts from a young age, attending the Cincinnati School for the Creative and Performing Arts during his formative years. Recent directing credits include an independent production of Shakespeare’s The Tempest and assisting on an academic production of The Colored Museaum. He is originally from Cincinnati, OH.

Jonathan Mayo 

Jonathan (he/him) has experience in all aspects of theatre and is super excited to be working with Nothing Without a Company as a director!  Jonathan has several upcoming projects, one of which being the newest iteration of his oral history project Cleaning Closets for which he recently received an Individual Artists Program grant from the city of Chicago.  With this grant he'll be able to devise a new work with high school students from around the city based on their own coming out stories.  Jonathan is also co-producing the Fall Fest in Uptown and collaborating with High Concept Labs in the Fall.  

Jill PErez

Jill (she/her) is a Chicago based theatre director, producer, and performer. She most recently directed Tragedy: a tragedy by Will Eno as a part of the Lab Series at DePaul University and served as assistant director for the U.S. premier of The Last Wife at TimeLine Theatre Company. Since moving to Chicago, she has assistant directed for Nick Bowling, Dexter Bullard, Kelvin Wong, Erin Kraft as well as others. For the past four years she has been a member of The Horror Ensemble, a group that creates immersive theatrical experiences that are inspired by fear and audience choice. She received a BFA in theatre arts with a concentration in directing from DePaul University. Assistant directing credits at DePaul include: Metamorphosis by Steven Berkoff, We're Going to Be Fine by Laura Jacqmin, The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare and The Bee by Hideki Noda.

Edgar Miguel Sanchez*

Edgar (he/him) is psyched to join 24 Hour Fest as a director. Mr. Sanchez has been a full time artist in the city of Chicago for the last ten years. Aside from his work as an actor, which includes productions at OSF, APT, The Rep, Goodman, Steppenwolf, Chicago Shakespeare, and The Court Theatre, Mr. Sanchez was a co-founder of Sankofa Theatre Company. He served as Executive Director for four years. While with Sankofa, Mr. Sanchez directed two full productions: A Midsummer Night's Dream and This Is Our Youth. He's directed and written numerous shorts for the following festivals: 24 Hour Abby Fest, Woman's Alliance Theater, Victory Garden's One-Minute Play Festival, Red Theatre's One Act Play Festival, Oregon Shakespeare Festival's Black Swan Project, and Congo Square's Jambalaya Series. Mr. Sanchez's other full production as a director includes A Midsummer Night's Dream in Austin, Texas with Redneck Shakespeare: Master of Revels. Mr. Sanchez was born in Dominican Republic, raised in Miami, Florida, and received his B.F.A. in Acting from The Theatre School at DePaul University with a minor in Sociology.

RJ Cecott

RJ (he/him) is a proud graduate of Illinois State University with a B.S. in Acting. Between Illinois State University and Moraine Valley Community College, RJ has portrayed such roles as Eric Harris in columbinus, March Hare in Alice in Wonderland, Prior Walter in Angels in America and Justin Hammond in After Ashely (Irene Ryan Nomination). RJ was also a part of the Midwestern Regional Premiere of Green Day's musical, American Idiot. RJ can also be seen on Netflix’s Sense8 and Showtime’s Shameless, along with the web-series The Mailroom on YouTube (from Northwestern University). 

Ted Dayton

Ted (he/him) is a member of the Unrehearsed Shakespeare Company and the Bittersweet Arts Company. You may have seen his work recently in Richard II with Unrehearsed Shakespeare, 1-4 with Fury Theatre, or in Good Zoo at Bittersweet HQ. Other credits include TL;DR (Nothing Without a Company), Measure for Measure (Unrehearsed Shakespeare), Nobody's Wench (Fury Theatre), Ghost Boy (dir. Paulina Strayer), and Arcadia (dir. Emily Brantz). He is a graduate of Columbia College Chicago.

Val Gerard Garcia Jr.

Val (he/him) is making his Nothing Without a Company debut with the 24-Hour Fest! As an actor Val recently performed with Drinking & Writing Theatre Co. in their VS Series and Tabula Rasa Theatre Co. in their 24-Hour Play Festival. His next endeavor? The world premiere of Zombie Bathhouse in October from Campsongs Productions premiering at the Hoover-Leppen Theatre in the Center on Halsted October 13th-29th! He is a proud graduate from the University of Pittsburgh. ValGerard.Weebly.com

Romeo Green*

Romeo (he/him) is a Company Ensemble Member with Nothing Without a Company and has been involved for many, many years. He has starred in various past productions including Alice, and The Big Bad Spooktaculuar. Romeo is excited to continue creating new work with Nothing Without a Company!

Gretchen Rachel Hammond

Gretchen (she/her) has performed in numerous playhouses in the United Kingdom, Indianapolis, Los Angeles and Chicago before retiring from the profession in 2006.  She has since worked as a screenwriter, film critic for FOX 59 and WXNT radios in Indianapolis and as a development officer for theatres, social justice and educational organizations. Gretchen spent the last four years as a senior reporter for Windy City Times in Chicago. Her investigative pieces and features led to three consecutive annual state Lisagor Award nominations and a win in 2015. In 2016, she was honored by the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA) for her investigative piece on LGBT detainees held in Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities. Outside of her work, Gretchen organized a successful LGBT job fair in 2014 and 2016 while receiving notoriety last year for donating a kidney to one of Windy City Times' readers. In 2017, Gretchen left Windy City Times in order to take a role as a Contributing Writer for Tablet Magazine in New York. Gretchen has lectured at the Adler School of Professional Psychology and Roosevelt University in Chicago. She has served on the boards of the Chicago College of Performing Arts, Theatre on the Square and the TransLife Center at Chicago House.

Alexia Jasmene

Alexia (she/her) is excited to be working with Nothing Without A Company on their 24 hour theatre project. She was seen as Millie in American Theater Company’s reimagining of Picnic as well as other past credits in Chicago including Kin Folk (The New Colony), Warrior (The Gift Theater), Merry Christmas, Mulch Pile (Mercy Street) among many others. She most recently played Amy in the world premiere two woman show Naming True at Urbanite Theatre in Sarasota, FL and is happy to be back in Chicago. She is trans woman that is a Chicago based actor, musician, poet, and standup that performs around the city and currently has representation in L.A. with Transgender Talent, LLC and is also seeking representation for the Chicago region.

HEATHER JENCKS

Heather (she/her) is thrilled to participate in Nothing Without a Company’s 24 Hour Fest with such an exciting company and cast! You may have seen Heather as a hummingbird and mom in Nothing Without a Company's world premiere of Down the Moonlit Path. Other credits include: Nanay (Free Street Theatre), Six Characters In Search of an Author (Ghostlight Ensemble), King Lear (Eleusis Collective), Patria Libre (Prologue Theatre Company), The Benchmark (StepUp Productions). Heather was honored to participate in the Women’s Theatre Alliance (WTA) Juried Showcase, performing Gideon’s Knot, is a proud alumnus of Black Box Acting Studio, The Second City Training Center, The Annoyance Theatre, and iO Chicago, and has had the pleasure of studying at L’Ecole Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq and the summer conservatory at RADA.

Karen Keme

Karen (she/her) is a Chicago Chatham resident - #Southside! She has taken the Red/Green/Blue lines to:  Green Shirt Studio, Sarantos Studio, McKaw Theatre. Currently cast in Chi-ILL The Series, and A Taste of Theatre's The Representive.  Grateful for this opportunity. XOXO

Drew Michele

Drew (she/her) is a trained theatre and film actress from Florida where she received her BA in Theatre from UF. She is new to Chicago and very excited to make her theatre debut here at this festival with Nothing Without a Company. Previous credits include: Lydia in Lydia at The Across Town Repertory Theatre (FL) and a Pinhead in The Elephant Man at The Hippodrome State Theatre (FL). For more credits and to learn more, check her out at: www.drewmichele.com !! She enjoys a good book, hammocking with her husband, and good conversation about Game of Thrones fan-theories when she is not on stage. 

Jamie Newell

Jamie (she/her) is a versatile actress, artist, performer and entreprener who loves show business. She was featured in Nothing Without a Company's 2015 production, Punk Punk as Marissa. Jamie also participated in two of Nothing Without a Company's 48-Hour Film Projects, in 2015 and 2016. Recent film credits include Contagion, The Nest, and The Discoery of Alan Hindley. 

NIC PARK

Nic (he/him) is a filmmaker, writer, musician, and actor hailing from Pittsburgh and based in Chicago. He graduated from Northwestern University with a BA in Radio/TV/Film and a minor in Asian American Studies. While at Northwestern, he performed as an actor or as a bassist in productions including Jungalbook, Holes, and The Who's Tommy. Nic is a company member of For Youth Inquiry, a collective that focuses on using participatory theatre and community engagement to provide sex education for Chicago area students. 

Sharon Pasia

Sharon (she/her) is a college student trying to get her life together. This is her first time participating in the 24-Hour Fest and is super thrilled to be a part of it! Recent theatre credits include Heathers (New Wave Girl), How I Learned to Drive (Female Chorus), and Brave Like Them (Shopkeeper). While she's not crying over mid-terms, you can catch her walking dogs at a park near you.

JACK ScHULTZ

Jack (he/him) is a proud Company Member of The Agency Theater Collective where he produces the Basement Series, a monthly theatrical event in the basement of Green Shirt Studio. Performance credits with The Agency include I'm Falling in Love All the Time, I Wish to Apologize to the People of Illinois, The Spirit of Seventy-Six, and their upcoming production of Hellcab. Jack is an instructor at Green Shirt Studio and on Staff with Sideshow Theatre Company. 

Ivori SKye

Ivori (she/her) is a 25-year old artist. She participated in previous 24 Hour Fest with Nothing Without A Company as well and was featured in 2014's Alice as the Cheshire Cat and as the DJ in Big Bad Spooktacular. She is a rapper/singer who is working on her second mixtape. She has an Associate's Degree in Liberal Arts. Her dream is to open a film/music production company.

Destiny Strothers

Destiny (she/her) is thrilled to be involved in the 24-Hour Festival! Recently she's been seen all over the city in staged readings of Racial Science by Guadalis Del Carmen at Black Lives, Black Words, The Stories of Us by Jelisa Jay Robinson at Visión Latino and Labor Day Weekend by Osiris Khepera at the Chicago Theatre Marathon! She has also worked with The Hypocrites, Chicago Children's Theatre, Albany Park Theatre Project, Illinois Humanities, 20% Theatre Company and The Onion. She holds a BFA in Theatre Performance from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Catch her this fall in Huggable Riot's Panic! at the Honky Tonk Wednesday nights at 8PM at The Annoyance Theatre & Bar!

KEVIN SPARROW*

Kevin (they/them) is Nothing Without a Company's Literary Mana4and is  a writer, performer, and curiosity who utilizes text to create performances, performance to create text, and both to create responses that provoke inquiry and participation. With Nothing Without a Company, they co-devised and performed in [Trans]formation (2016) and acted as Dramaturg for Down the Moonlit Path (2015) as well as performed and have written for Nothing Without a Company's 24-Hour Play Festivals. Kevin has been involved in solo and group performance work in local venues including Dank Haus, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Northwestern University, the Art Institute of Chicago; nationally in New York, Denver, Kansas City, and Pittsburgh; and internationally in Wellington, New Zealand. They also are a current co-coordinator of the monthly artists’ salon series, HI typ/O, and served as Production Manager for the IN>TIME Performance Festival in Winter 2016 and Assistant Director of the Out of Site Performance Series in Summer 2015.

Derek Van Tassel*

Derek (he/him) has worn numerous hats with Nothing Without a Company over the years, including; stage manger, assistant director, director, audience wrangler--but his favorite Nothing Without a Company experience was playing The Mad Hatter in the 2014 remount of Alice. Whether it's acting in a 24-Hour Fest or wheeling a cello in a shopping cart thru Lincoln Park, Derek loves working with this crazy group of theatre artists! Outside of Nothing Without a Company, Derek directed both workshops of the new musical Toulouse with NY Theatre Barn and the Athenaeum (www.toulousethemusical.com). In October, Derek will be singing and dancing in just a towel in Zombie Bathhouse with  Campsong Productions at the Center on Halsted (www.zombiebathhouse.net) 

Other favorite directorial credits include; Into the Woods (Circle Theatre), A Funny Thing Happened..., Dames at Sea (Columbia College Chicago), The Romans, Miss Fortune (Lincoln Square Theatre), Fatima & Maama (Point of Contention Theatre), Attractions Tend to Lend Themselves to be Fatal (Silent Theatre), The Apocalypse: Now in 3D! (Quixotic Comedy), Joe Jane's 365 Sketches: Weenus (Strawdog Theatre), and Drunk written by Nothing Without a Company's own Hannah Ii-Epstein.

Phranque Wright

Phranque (he/him) began his entertainment career in the Chicagoland area as a magician - specializing in "close-up" restaurant style magic.  He took martial arts and improvisation courses to enhance his stage performance and body movement.  In the mid 1990's he moved to Denver to study Chinese Medicine, stating "Now I do real magic."  He has been a supporter of Nothing Without a Company for a few years now and was honored to be a part of their 2015 48 Hour Film Project, Sweet as "The Expert".  He is excited to be invited to this 24 Hour event and looks forward to working with the wonderful talent at Nothing Without a Company.

andy lynn

Andy (he/him) is a freeform creative; pushing for the exhumation of personal stories that deconstruct walls in order to forge worlds of understanding and discovery. Working with a diverse constellation of artists, creators, makers, doers and be-ers is pertinent to his work, constantly pushing him to expand his thinking and become a better human.  Mr. Lynn's recent theatrical credits include Production Manager and Lighting Designer for Nothing Without a Company's The Kid Thing, as well as the immersive solo performances of Meghan Gogerty's Housebroken, Nicole Gurgel-Seefeldt's 900 Gallons, and Dominique.C.Hill's Rupturing Silence.