Who's Who in Room 41

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JILL NACKE - (actor) - [New York]
BA 92. AEA. email: nackojacko@aol.com

SALLY NACKER - (actor) - [New York]
I'm a University of Iowa Alumni (B.A. in Theatre Arts) in the New York City area (residing in Connecticut). Since1992 I have earned my living through principal SAG work (national, network commercials, mainly--I have nine). I am signed with Cunningham, Escott, Dipene NY, LA and Chicago. Though my homebase is in Connecticut with my guy and two cats, I would love to do some theatre in Chicago. I have a friend there to stay with, and I'm thinking of exploring the area.
email: snacker7@yahoo.com

BRETT NEVEU - (playwright, actor, director, puppeteer) - [Los Angeles]
('92)
Born in California and raised in Iowa, production credits include the go with the Terrapin Theatre Company (Chicago), Eric LaRue with A Red Orchid Theatre (Chicago), Empty with Stage Left Theatre (Chicago), Eagle Hills, Eagle Ridge, Eagle Landing with Spring Theatreworks (New York) and The Factory Theatre (Chicago), Drawing War with Chicago Dramatists and The Last Barbecue with the Asylum Theatre (Las Vegas), The Aardvark (Chicago) and 29th Street Rep (New York).  His play Eric LaRue has been workshopped at The Echo Theatre Company (Los Angeles), The New Group (New York), Here (New York) and The 42nd Street Workshop (New York).  He has also worked with various midwest play development groups such as The Playwright's Center in Minneapolis, No Shame Theatre in Iowa City and Chicago, and is currently a Resident Playwright at Chicago Dramatists.  His play American Dead will be produced by American Theatre Company (Chicago) in February and his plays twentyone and Eagle Hills, Eagle Ridge, Eagle Landing will be shown in reperatory with Spring Theatreworks (New York) in June.  Brett has been commissioned twice by Steppenwolf for their New Plays Initiative (2002 & 2003) and is also the recent winner of the Goodman Theatre's Ofner Prize for New Work.  Brett currently lives in Chicago with his wife, artist Kristen Neveu.
email:
bneveu@earthlink.net

MOLLY NEYLAN - (actor, lighting designer, set designer, stage manager) - [Los Angeles]
Molly has been living in Chicago for the last 5 years.  She is the co-founder and co-artistic director of GroundUp Theatre.  Most recently, she was seen playing Masha in Chekhov’s Three Sisters, performed at National Pastime Theatre.  Molly is also the current Resident Lighting Designer for the critically acclaimed, equity theatre house, The Artistic Home.     She has also worked with such notable Chicago companies as Timeline Theatre, Shattered Globe, Prop Theatre, and The Gift Theatre Company.  She just finished lighting The Miss Firecracker Contest at The Artistic Home.  In terms of the rest of her life:  she’s obsessed with watching Hawkeye sports, she still loves to hang out with Erika Winters, Mark Swaner, Jeff Ramnani, Ryan Bollettino, and Dana Green; and she’s living in a “dead-sexy” apartment with her own garage!  (…so….not that much has changed!)  In 2004 she will be playing Mathilda in the fabulous George Walker play Zastrozzi, as well as performing in GroundUp Theatre’s upcoming cabaret show, Letters/X.  It’s an all-new piece based upon the comedic interpretation of actual letters written amidst the course of a break-up.  So you know she’s got plenty of material.  Heh heh…
email: mjneylan@hotmail.com

OLIVER OERTEL - (director/sometimes actor/fledgling filmmaker) - [Los Angeles]
Graduated University of Iowa in Dec. 1990. Artistic director of Moveable Feast Theatre Company 1992-1997. At Iowa, headed up No Shame Theatre board 1989-1990. In Chicago, started No Shame Theatre, Chicago, directed the dreamer examines his pillow by John Patrick Shanley, Tales from the Back Seat, The Big Conspiracy by Peter Ullian, and Death by Woody Allen. Studied with Del Close at the ImprovOlympic, and performed on a house team there for two years. ... Now lives in Los Angeles and works at Di Novi Pictures.
email: ooinla@gateway.net

ANDREA ONSTAD (nee KIRCHMEIER) - [San Francisco]
email: Onstad_aj@pillsburylaw.com

AARON OSTER - [Philadelphia]
email: loveslinky@aol.com

SKY PALKOWITZ - - [Los Angeles]
email: ryckisky@hotmail.com

TIRA PALMQUIST - (playwright, director, actor, poet) - [Irvine, CA]
U of I student (actor and poet) from 1983 to 1985 (BA), UCI Creative Writing (MFA).
Tira is teaching freshman composition at UCI. Formerly Artistic Director of Total Theatre, Tira's adaptation of The Island of Dr. Moreau won many kudos, among them, the Sunny Award for Best New Work. Tira was also named as a finalist for Best Director of a Musical for Total Theatre's Deirdre. Tira is married to Phil Thompson (BA U of I '86), and they have a daughter, Maja
email: hiredpen@email.msn.com

MARK PETRAK - - [Seattle]
email: mpetrak@ix.netcom.com

AMY LYNN PIGOTT - (Director/Producer/Educator) - [Los Angeles]
Amy has worked in all aspects of theatre with directing, acting and technical credits from theatres as diverse as Bailiwick Repertory, The Unusual Cabaret and Cafe Theatre Upstairs in London. She is the Artistic Director of the Chicago-based theatre and film company, Pantechnicon Artworks, through which she produced and directed the epic multi-media piece, Oedipus Goes to Hollywood and the live serial, Larry and the Werewolf. Other directing credits include Arthur 33 at the Circle Rep. Lab in New York, Smiley at Cleveland Public Theatre and Mystery at Midnight at Stage Two Theatre in Highwood. Amy works as the Associate Producer for Heartland Films, through which she has produced such industrial wonders as True Grit or Butler Cleans Up and the multi-media dental products sales meeting piece titled, Supra Man. She has worked on industrials for Coca-Cola, The Farm Bureau, Reynolds Aluminum and Motorola and served as the script supervisor for the independent feature, Anticipation. Amy also produced a film for Art Resources in Teaching, for which there has been an A.R.T. scholarship awarded to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is currently producing a documentary titled A Sled Dog's Tale, which she hopes will air on PBS in January of 2000. Amy is the Co-Founder and Vice President of the Board of Directors of the Albany Park Theater Project, which brings together teens from Chicago's Albany Park neighborhood to create and perform theatre that comes out of their personal experiences, their neighborhood and their diverse native cultures. Prior to that, she spent time directing, program designing and teaching for SOUL: Stories of Urban Life, which is a community-based oral history performance project in Chicago's Uptown/Edgewater neighborhood and for After School Action Programs' Girl University, which was for young female residents of a HUD building in Uptown. Amy is the Immediate Past Vice President of the Board of the Women's Theatre Alliance, which is a service organization dedicated to promoting women's leadership in the theatre arts. Amy is married to filmmaker and fellow Iowa alum, Eric A. Pot. They have one son, Liam Christopher Pot, and are looking forward to the birth of their second child in April of 2000.
email: amylynn@ripco.com

LARRY PONTIUS - (playwright) - [New York City]
email: muijo@juno.com

ERIC A. POT - (film maker, actor) - [Los Angeles]
Eric is a card-carrying member of the Director's Guild of America (DGA) and recently wrapped Season One (and the only season) of NBC's slightly misconceived retelling of KNIGHT RIDER.  Before that odysee he spent 6 months in Post Katrina New Orleans crafting the long overdue Final Destination 4 in 3-D! Other time passers of the last five years include Die Hard 4, House Broken (w/Danny Devito), Finding Amanda (w/Matthew Broderick), Shoot 'em Up (w/Clive Owen), Sex and Death 101 (w/Wionna Ryder), Snakes on a Plane, Bonneville (w/ Jessica Lange), Ask the Dust (w/Selma Hayak), Just Like Heaven (w/Reese Witherspoon), Cellular, Syriana, Freaky Friday and Barbershop.  Eric lives in the Valley with his wife, Fellow Room 41er Amy Lynn Pigott and their 3 Children Liam, Rileigh and Madailin.   The above has kept him occupied for the bulk of the 21 century and he expects will continue to do so for the remainder. 
email: ericpot@earthlink.net

JONATHAN PRICE - (composer) - [Los Angeles]
BA '92; BM '96
Jonathan Price has recently returned to composing for musical theatre after a fourteen-year hiatus during which he composed and produced soundtracks for film and television. His first musical theatre outing, since composing four Unusual Cabaret musicals in the early nineties, was Lao Jiu: The Musical which opened in 2005 at The New Drama Centre in Singapore to overwhelmingly rave reviews. Jonathan's music for television has been heard on The Disney Channel, Showtime, The Discovery Channel, TLC, PBS, and Fox. He collaborated with Jeff Goode on the song "Hubba Hubba Hula" for Disney's number-one animated series American Dragon: Jake Long, created by Goode. His music for film includes the features Rustin, Cyber Wars, and Dark Woods. His work as a soundtrack producer and synthesist can be heard in An Unfinished Life, The Grudge, Runaway Jury, Shade, The Core, The Country Bears, The Shipping News, and Bandits.
email: jonathan@jonathanprice.com

TOM PUCKETT - (graphic designer/actor/bartender) - [Denver]
BA '92
email: puck70@comcast.net

LAURA QUINN - [New York]
MFA playwrighting student from 89-92
Living in New York, NY
email: quinnlq7@aol.com

CHRIS RAGNER - [Des Moines]
BA '90
Extensive work in the early 90s in the DSM area including such roles as Mozart in Amadeus, The Herald in Marat/Sade, industrial and commercial work. Set his first love aside after his first child, Alyssa Jean was born July 29, 1995. Chris has two sons - Ethan Anders, born December 2, 1997, and Caleb Anthony, born December 21, 1998. Active in supporting families of children with Congenital Heart Defects. Chris is working on a documentary film about Hypo Plastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS), a fatal defect which Ethan has. Future projects include Ethan's story and Iowa Arts for Baby Hearts. Chris and his wife Jean are presently at Drake University.
email: Ethanheart@aol.com

SARAYU RAO - [Los Angeles]
email: sarayu_@excite.com

STEVE RAWLEY - - [Portland, OR]
Steve only spent one year (84-85) and one summer (85) at the UI theatre dept. Steve did a little No Shamin' with the Portland chapter's 2004 run.  Steve blogs somewhat regularly at the website listed below.  Steve lives in Portland, Ore., with his wife and two kids, ages 4 and almost-7.  He enjoys a pretty decent Portland theatre scene from the cushy seats of the house (no rehearsals! no builds!); Steve's looking forward to a mini- package at Artists Repertory Theatre this coming season. Steve is also looking forward to a mini-package at the Portland Winter Hawks (Canadian Major Junior hockey) this season.  He tries to play pickup hockey at least three days a week (though he's taking the month of August off), and tries to write daily to complete my science-fictionalized memoir.
email: rm41@rawley.org
web: http://morehockeylesswar.org/

TODD RISTAU - [Roanoke, VA]
Currently teaching theatre courses as an Asst. Professor for Mary Baldwin College and helping to coordinate the national network of No Shame Theatres while in charge of No Shame at Mill Mountain Theatre of Roanoke.  Married, happily, to the University Librarian of Hollins University.  Have a guest room, would love for you to come on down and visit, but you may have to write and perform a piece at No Shame to pay for your supper.
email: noshametheatre@aol.com
web: http://www.ristentltd.com

JENNIFER RIVES - (Actor) - [Knoxville, Tennessee]
BA acting student at Iowa 1986-92 give or take
Jennifer has just finished her first year at the International Actors Training Academy at the University of Tennessee. Last year she played Arkadina in The Seagull, which was taken to an international theatre festival in Budapest, Hungary. She went to another festival in June to Bratislava, Slovakia. Jennifer received her equity card this past summer in Dancing at Lughnasa, in which she played Agnes at the Clarence Brown Theatre. This fall she will be performing in the American premiere of Dance In Time, created and directed by Hungarian director Laslow Marton. In the spring she will be seen in Midsummer Night's Dream, directed by Liviu Ciulei. In between she will be performng in Three Penny Opera and Caberet. Next summer she will be intently looking for work outside of this coddled MFA world.
email: jennrives@prodigy.net

TASHA ROBINSON - [Chicago]
Former No Shame Board member and Arts Editor of the UI's Daily Iowan ... Currently Associate Entertainment Editor of the satirical newspaper The Onion (www.theonion.com). Conducts interviews, writes book and movie reviews, and manages the Chicago-area theater and reading "event picks." So if you've got a show going up in Chicago, drop her a line a couple of weeks before opening night.
email: tashar@theonion.com

BRIAN ROCHLIN - (writer, director, producer, dramaturg) - [Miami Beach]
email: BRochlin@aol.com

STEVE ROSSE - [Iowa City]
'80
"...did regional theatre for three years, off-off B'way for two, worked in the film industry for five (Best Credit: Set Decorator on Do The Right Thing) then went to Thailand on a holiday in 1990. Stayed until 1997. Came home with a wife and two kids, became the Theatre Critic for the Press Citizen for a year, now I'm in the Nonfiction Writing Program at the U, living in my Mom's old house, writing articles on No Shame for Spectator.
email: SteveRosse@aol.com

MICHAEL ROTHSCHILD - (writer, producer) [Los Angeles]
(BA '00)
Mike moved to LA  and is currently working as a content producer for AOL Television.  Mike is also a writer and producer for No Shame LA and was a writer and associate producer on Jeff Goode's FIN48 project.  Mike is also doing some freelance sketch writing for Esther's Follies in Austin, Texas (thanks to fellow alum Sommer Austin).  Also working on some scripts of his own and spending a lot of time perfecting his poker face.
email: rothschildmd@gmail.com

DAVID RUSH - (playwright) - [Chicago]
email: darush@siu.edu

CHAD ROYAL-PASCOE - [New York]
I am now in New Yo
rk City and am continuing my fundraising career.  Although not active in theatre, god knows that I see enough shows (both good and bad).
email:
chadroyalpascoe@hotmail.com

SAMIR SABOURA - [Los Angeles]
email: samiaminla@aol.com

JENNIFER SAVARIRAYAN - (actor/dancer & movement teacher/choreographer) - [Chicago]
Jennifer is an active member of Gestic Theater Company, Paint Box Children's Theater, and TinFish Productions. You can contact her at Shakti Dance, ph#: (773) 348-4860 or through email:
email: jensav@hotmail.com

JON SCHROEDER - - [Seattle]
email: jonbox@u.washington.edu

SARAH LAUREL SCHROEDER - (stage manager, set designer) - [Iowa City]
email: slschroe@icaen.uiowa.edu

BRAD SCHNURR - (actor) - [New York]
email: BASchnurr@aol.com

JERI LYNN SCHULKE - (actor) - [New York]
BA '90
Recently graduated from MFA program at University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill.
email: jerilynn67@earthlink.net

MEGHAN SCHUMACHER - (director) - [Los Angeles]
Currently the Managing Director of Moveable Feast Theatre Company. Most recently she directed Jean Paul Sartre's No Exit and produced Woody Allen's Death directed by Oliver Oertel. On June 8, 1996 Meghan married Oliver Oertel. They recently moved to Los Angeles, California.
email: meginla@aol.com

JENNIFER SHEPARD - (Actor/Comedic Improviser, Director, Teacher, Theater Owner) - [Bar Harbor, ME]
 ('94)
 I am now living in the great state of Maine.  We opened ImprovAcadia, a seasonal improvisational theater devoted to short and long form improv, in 2004 and we're just about to start our third season.  ImprovAcadia is located in Bar Harbor, ME near Acadia National Park.  The theater is open from Memorial Day weekend through Columbus Day weekend.  Our website is http://www.improvacadia.com.   During the winter, I knit and we teach improv classes at the College of the Atlantic, the Beth C. Wright Cancer Center (laughter is the best medicine) and through ImprovAcadia.  I've also been directing shows at the high school and coaching high school kids on their college auditions.  Recently, we were asked by the Sea Coast Mission to travel Isle Au Haut (population 75) to teach improv classes to the children of the island.  Our class was held in a one room school house and we got to sleep on a ship.  It was the best.  The Boston Globe went with us - the article in the Globe will be out on 2/19/06.
email: improvacadia@mindspring.com

JOEL SHEPHERD - (scenic design) - [New York]
MFA Scene Design at UI 1993-95
Moved to NYC in Jan. of '99 and trying the freelance design thing. Off to a good start, he designed two small shows: August in January and Women of Asia in February and March. In April he will design Below the Belt at Axis Theatre in Baltimore where he is a founding and active member. Recently designed Angels in America, also at Axis Theatre.
email: shepherd@interacess.com

LIBBY SIMEON  - [Seattle]
email: iskwesis@aol.com

DOUG SIMPSON - (actor) - [Chicago]
email: simpson@bases.com

LISA SCHLESINGER - (playwright) - [Iowa City]
email: LiSeana@aol.com

LAURA SLATER - (actor) - [Chicago]
('98)
email: lslater23@hotmail.com

JOHN SMICK - (actor, director, playwright) - [Iowa City]
email: jsmick@bigfoot.com

SARAH SMILEY - (stage manager) - [Chapel Hill]
MFA '05
Relocated to the beautiful state of North Carolina and is now a stage manager for the PlayMakers Repertory Company. It appears that there are not many alum south of the Mason Dixon line, so if you're ever in the area, drop her a line.
email: sesmiley@unc.edu

CHARLES SMITH - (playwright) - [Athens, OH]
A graduate of the Iowa Playwrights Workshop, Charles Smith is a member of New Dramatists and playwright-in-residence at Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago. His most recent work includes Les Trois Dumas, which was commissioned and produced in 1998 by the Indiana Repertory Theatre and translated into Croatian for Croatian Radio; and The Sutherland, which received its world premiere production at Victory Gardens in 1997 after receiving the 1997 Illinois Arts Council s Governor s Award for New Plays. Other plays by Charles Smith include Jelly Belly, Cane, Takunda, Freefall, Black Star Line, City of Gold, Tales of South Africa, Young Richard, and Golden Leaf Ragtime Blues. Mr. Smith teaches playwriting in the School of Theater at Ohio University.
email:
smithc4@ohiou.edu

SCOTT SMITH - (actor, director, playwright, composer, sound designer) - [Chicago]
email: drshaden@aol.com

CHERYL SNODGRASS - (actor, director) - [Chicago]
U of Iowa student (actor) until 1990. MFA from University of Wisconsin - Madison. .... Brief stint as artistic director of Les Enfants du Maïs Theatre Collective (Des Moines / Chicago). Current artistic director of C'est Destine (Chicago / Madison).
email: chitowncheryl@aol.com

MICHELE ULLIAN (née SOHNER)
(BA, 1991)
Michele is the Program Coordinator for the Training and Development program at Korn/Ferry International.  At home she creates a variety of original American crafts.  She and her husband, Peter, live in the relatively undiscovered neighborhood of Inwood, at the Northern Tip of Manhattan, across the street from Inwood Hill Park, and the last old growth forest on the island of Manhattan.  Their son, Alexander, born February 1st, 2001, likes to talk to their two cats, Beethoven and Gershwin.

ASHLEY SOVEREIGN - (actor) - [Minneapolis]
(BA)
Ashley Sovereign has recently completed a doctorate in counseling psychology and is working as a psychologist in the Minnesota state prison system.
email:
ashleysovereign@yahoo.com

DOUG STECKEL - (actor) - [Chicago]
University of Iowa student (BA '93)
Mercenary and soldier of fortune. Has worked extensively with Pantechnicon Artworks, Kaleidoscope Childrens Theatre, Room 41, Les Enfants du Ma‹s, Act One Studios. Was member and Literary Manager of Moveable Feast Theatre Company. Has done voiceover work for Literature Selections on Tape through ScottForesman/Addison Wesley Publishing; yes, students around the country will hear him read them stories. Still thinks he's that Number One Starting Pitcher the Cubs need to make it to The Big Dance.
email: doug_steckel@hotmail.com

KARLA STEFFENS-MORAN - (playwright) - [Iowa]
Karla M. Steffens-Moran has moved to Mount Vernon, IA with her husband Mike and her three kids, Grace (8), Zak (5), and Luke (1) and of course Sam, the aging but still graceful and beguiling Wile E. Coyote of the brood--in order to get back to basics.  After eight years of birthin' babies and paying her dues in Arts Administration, she has decided to go back to writing...stay tuned.
email: steffran@aol.com

JILL STEWART
Jill spent 8 years in Charlotte, NC working for Barbizon Lighting. She was lucky to learn the game with all the other beginners on Dawson's Creek & One Tree Hill and worked on many feature films (28 Days, Domestic Disturbance, The Patriot, Black Knight...etc).  In 2005, Jill returned to Chicago where she discovered that not taking any business classes in college was a huge mistake! Jill currently manages Barbizon Chicago. So, if you need a gig or are in the need for lights!...contact Jill!!

email:
jgrips@comcast.net
email: jstewart@barbizon.com

MICHAEL STONE - (carpenter, electrician, rigger, movement coach, actor) - [Iowa City]
Mike Stone is a freelance computer programmer and unix network administrator. He began writing code at the age of nine, in a back room at school, on a DECWriter teletype connected via 300-baud acoustic modem to an HP3000 mainframe named 'Huey'. Since 1995, Mike has been a member of the Web Consultants' Association, a community of online consultants sharing ideas, technical information, and war stories from around the world. He has consulted with such organizations as Demon Internet UK, Boeing Aircraft, American College Testing Services, and the United Nations Foundation and Better World Fund. He spent a year on salary as technical team leader for the Internet Products Center of Lee Enterprises, a half-billion dollar media company which owns 22 daily newspapers, 14 television stations, and approximately 50 specialty publications. He is currently writing a book on software design and development, to be published by Addison Wesley in the spring of 2000.  Mike has been a stagehand for 15 years, and a high rigger for 10. In that time, he has worked hundreds of concerts and dozens of musicals, including at least three "this time we really mean it" final road tours of Cats. He juggles, bakes a mean cheesecake, and does a wicked backrub.
email:
michael@yawp.com
web:
http://www.yawp.com/

ERIC & VICKI SUMMERS -  [Des Moines]
email: summers@tcpa.com


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