JESSICA REDISH is the Founding Artistic Director of The Music Theatre Company, where she directed and choreographed the company’s productions of PIPPIN (Joseph Jefferson Award Nomination - Choreography), Merrily We Roll Along (Joseph Jefferson Award Nomination - Midsize Musical), Erika’s Wall and The 9/11 Report. Other Chicago area credits include choreographing RENT directed by David Cromer at American Theater Company/About Face Theatre, She Loves Me at Writers’ Theatre and Seussical at First Stage in Milwaukee. New York credits include Movement Direction for the off-Broadway production of Adding Machine directed by Mr. Cromer, as well as directing and choreographing various new musicals at the New York Music Theatre Festival and NYFringe. Jessica has served as a guest director or choreographer at Roosevelt University, Hollins University, Perry Mansfield, and Northwestern University, her alma mater. Upcoming projects include choreographing Sweet Charity at Writers’ Theatre, Pinkalicious at First Stage and The Pajama Game at The Music Theatre Company. Jessica is a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.

ROSE MARIE PACKER COMPANY MANAGER

 LISA STUECKEMANN MANAGEMENT ADVISER

RICHARD BECKER

SHERRI BLIX

JAN CHANNON

MICHAEL HALBERSTAM

MICHAEL SEEDMAN

STEVE ZACHARIAS

 ASSOCIATE ARTISTS STANDING BEHIND THE MISSION OF

THE MUSIC THEATRE COMPANY

ELANA ERNST (REMEMBERED) Music Theatre Company Credits include: Erika's Wall (Erika), The 9/11 Report: A Bipartisian Musical Fantasia, 48 Hour Musicals: Famous Last Words (Champagne) and What u Will (Heaven). Broadway Tour: Mamma Mia! Regional credits include: Annie Get Your Gun and Gypsy (Agnes) at the Ravinia Festival, The Hundred Dresses (Cecile) with Chicago Childrens’ Theatre, Romeo and Juliet (Juliet) at the Human Race Theatre, High School Musical (Sharpay) at the Marriott Lincolnshire and Drury Lane Oakbrook, How Can You Run With a Shell on your Back? (Riley) at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre,  The Red Herring (Lynn) with Fox Valley Repertory Theatre, The Tempest (Miranda) with First Folio Shakespeare, Bye, Bye Birdie (Ursula) at the Marriott Lincolnshire. A professional voiceover artist, Elana can be heard on your television and radio. Proud member of AEA, SAG and AFTRA. Proud grad of CCM, and proud to be a member of this unique collective! 

ROB HANCOCK National Tour: Mamma Mia! (Sky) New York: COLLEGE The Musical (NYMF), Summer Play Festival Regional: James Joyce’s The Dead (Court Theatre Chicago), The Fantasticks (Utah Shakespearean Festival), Hair (Hangar Theatre), Route 66 -original cast (Milwaukee Repertory Theater), Forever Plaid - Barrymore nomination (Delaware Theatre Company), Muscle -world premiere by Lapine/Finn (Pegasus Players Chicago), A Christmas Carol (Westport Country Playhouse), Fiddler on the Roof (Rubicon Theatre Company), also Madison Repertory Theatre, Skylight Opera Theatre, Drury Lane Theatre, American Folklore Theatre, and Clarence Brown Theatre. TV/Film: "Guiding Light," "The Liver," Soloist with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra. Upcoming: John Caird and Paul Gordonʼs Daddy Long Legs. Education: University of Tennessee www.robhancock.com

KEITH HARRISON is proud to be a part of the The Music Theatre Company. Born and raised in Springfield, NJ, Keith moved to the Midwest to attend Northwestern University. Since migrating, he has earned a reputation as one of Chicago's top performer/music directors, having shaped the scores of dozens of shows, and collaborating with some of the industry's most respected talent. He recently completed a stint with the Chicago company of the new Broadway hit, Million Dollar Quartet. Keith is also a prolific singer/songwriter/producer, whose music can be heard at www.keithmakesmusic.com.

LAURA HARRISON is thrilled to be included on this list of incredible friends and collaborators.  She was seen in The Music Theatre Company's productions of Erika's Wall, The 9/11 Report, and two years of 48 Hour Musicals.  Since making her professional acting debut in The Secret Garden at Apple Tree Theatre in 1995, Laura has performed at The Goodman, Victory Gardens Theater, Court Theatre, The Marriott Theater, Drury Lane Oakbrook, Long Wharf Theatre, Ravinia Festival, Roadworks, and The Ford Center for the Performing Arts.  Since moving to Los Angeles in 2010, she performed in the workshop of a new play called Oblivion at Center Theater Group, produced and starred in a short film called Seaglass that has been an official selection at multiple film festivals across the US, and played a feisty Jersey girl named D'Angela in Jersey Shore Shark Attack, which will air on SyFy in June 2012.  Also an accomplished choreographer, her Chicago choreography credits include I Do! I Do! at American Theatre Company, It’s a Wonderful Life at Porchlight, Gilbert and Sullivan’s Princess Ida with The Savoyaires, and at Northwestern University: The Rocky Horror Show, A Perfect Relationship, 5 to 9, and the 2007 Waa-Mu Show.  Her choreography is currently being seen in the 2012 LA premiere of Nerve at The El Centro Theatre and in the highly-anticipated LA production of Spring Awakening from Over the Moon Productions. She is a proud graduate of Northwestern University.  www.thisislaura.com

LIZ KIMBALL is honored to join this extraordinary group of artists, having been a believer in Jessica Redish and her work for the past seven years. Recent credits include Hairspray (Penny, Walnut Street Theatre, and, Amber, Weston Playhouse), Kiss Me Kate (Paper Mill Playhouse), Dream a Little Dream (Florida Stage), and World Goes ‘Round (ABT, Zoni Nomination, Best Actress). Additional credits include the McCarter Theatre, York Theatre, La MaMa ETC, and NYMF, among others. Liz graduated Summa cum Laude with a BS in English and Theatre from Northwestern University, class of ’06, and is a member of AEA. Namaste.

MICHAEL MAHLER is the composer/lyricist of The 9/11 Report: A Bipartisan Musical Fantasia commissioned by The Music Theatre Company, as well as Painted Alice (AMTP), Knute Rockne – All American with David H. Bell (Theatre at the Center) and How Can You Run with a Shell on your Back? with Alan Schmuckler (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre). Shell was featured in the National Alliance for Musical Theatre’s 2009 Festival of New Musicals, as well as the Chicago Humanities Festival. Michael's songs have been sung in reviews across the US, the UK, Japan and Australia. He and Schmuckler, with Jarrod Zimmerman and Blake Silver, are currently working on an original musical series for ABC and Sony Pictures/Television, Boyfred. Michael is a Jeff-nominated music director, and a Jeff Citation and After Dark award-winning actor who most recently appeared in Frank Galati’s 12 Angry Men. He will soon make his Broadway-in-Chicago debut in the sitdown production of Studs Terkel’s Working. Michael is a proud member of ASCAP, AEA, Barrel of Monkeys and Provision Theater. Visit www.michaelmahler.com

JESS McLEOD is an Associate Artist at The Music Theatre Company, where she directed last year's Young Artists’ Program production, a revue of new musical theatre songs entitled YAPbook '11. Chicago credits include: Kin, Griffin Theatre at Theater Wit, and L-Vis Live! at Victory Gardens. Graduate shows at Northwestern University included Venus (co-produced by Steppenwolf), In Trousers, Mourning Becomes Electra and several new plays through "Master Clash," the MFA Writer/Director short play festival she co-created. New York credits include: Joyce Carol Oates's The Corn Maiden (co-adapted with Justin Swain), Mr. Kolpert, Rachel Axler's Kitchen Sink, Joe Keenan's The Times, Harrison David Rivers's Fell and The Last Five Years. From 2005-2008, Jess also served as Director of Programming for The New York Musical Theatre Festival and directed pop/musical theatre fusion concerts including The Unauthorized Musicology of Ben Folds. She has appeared as a guest artist/lecturer at NYU, Yale, NU, Williams College and The Calhoun School in New York, and will return to Timber Lake Playhouse this summer to run their Playwrights' Retreat for the second consecutive year. Upcoming: new plays with The Strange Tree Group and The House Theatre of Chicago and Nickel and Dimed at Northwestern.

ALAN PAUL is the Associate Director of the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, DC. At STC he has directed numerous readings and assistant directed 12 shows for Michael Kahn, Gale Edwards, Jonathan Munby, Rebecca Taichman, Maria Aitken, Mary Zimmerman, and David Muse. This summer he will direct the company's free production of Twelfth Night. Alan recently directed I Am My Own Wife at Signature Theatre in Virginia. Other directing credits include Richard II, Six Degrees of Separation, Ah, Wilderness!, The Downtown Daylight Project, X-Ray Vision, and The Chalky White Substance. Music Directing credits include Black, White, and Gray (Theatre Building Chicago), the premiere of Sarah Ruhl's Dead Man's Cell Phone (Woolly Mammoth), Assasins (conductor, Porchlight Music Theatre), and The Waa-Mu Show (Assistant to Doug Peck). Other regional assisting credits include Cabaret (Arena Stage, dir. Molly Smith), and the workshop of 33 Variations (Arena Stage, dir. Moises Kaufman).

ALAN SCHMUCKLER is a Chicago-based actor, composer/lyricist and singer/songwriter. Credits with TMTC include The Last Five Years, Merrily We Roll Along and two seasons of The 48-Hour Musicals. Three-time Jeff Award nominee: Murder for Two (Chicago Shakespeare Theater); Sugar (Drury Lane Oakbrook Terrace); and A Minister’s Wife (Writers’ Theatre). Other Chicagoland credits include Fiorello! (TimeLine Theatre); Buddy: the Buddy Holly Story (Drury Lane Water Tower Place); Shenandoah and others (Marriott Theater); as well as work with Lookingglass Theatre, Northlight Theatre, Provision Theater and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Regional credits include work at Indiana Repertory Theatre and Wagon Wheel Theatre. Composer/lyricist, The Emperor’s New Clothes (Chicago Shakespeare Theater); with Michael Mahler, co-writer, How Can You Run with a Shell on Your Back? (Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Marriott Theater, Chicago Humanities Festival, the National Alliance for Music Theatre’s 21^st Annual Festival of New Musicals, and theaters and schools nationwide). Alan’s music and lyrics have been featured in the National Alliance for Music Theatre’s 2005 New Works Summit and 2007 Songwriters’ Showcase; in Chicago’s “Monday Nights, New Voices” series; in the York Theatre Company’s NEO6 Benefit Concert; at the Fourth Annual Broadway in South Africa Gala; and most recently at the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage. Proud Northwestern University grad; member of AEA and ASCAP; company member, Barrel of Monkeys.

EMILY THOMPSON is proud to be working alongside this brilliant group of artists.  Emily was recently seen as Tessa in The Music Theatre Company's staged reading of Summertime.  Previous readings Include: The Boys are Coming Home at the Goodman Theatre (Helen) and Saved! at Theatre Building Chicago (Hilary Faye).  Theatrical credits include productions of: The Nutcracker, Little Women, and Les Miserables at the Marriott, and The Boys from Syracuse at Drury Lane Oakbrook. Last fall, Emily appeared as Kat in the premiere production of Tomorrow Morning at the Victory Gardens Greenhouse Theatre.  She is a proud member of Actors' Equity Association, and will be performing in the Marriott's production of My Fair Lady this winter.  Thank you to Jessica for giving important new works the voice they deserve.

ALEX WEISMAN has been a Company Member of The Music Theater Company since September 2010, where he appeared in STATUS: The 48-Hour Musicals.  Alex's Chicago credits include A Christmas Carol and Mary (The Goodman Theatre), The Madness of King George III (Chicago Shakespeare Theater), Peter Pan (A Play) (Lookingglass Theatre Company) The 2010 Ignition Festival (Victory Gardens) and The History Boys (TimeLine Theatre- Jeff Award - Supporting Actor in a Play).  A graduate of Northwestern University, Alex appeared in A Midsummer Night's Dream, You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown, Peter Pan, Amadeus, and AMTP's In The Bubble among others.  He is originally from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

CHRIS YONAN is proud to be an original member of The Music Theatre Company, where he has been seen in Erika's Wall and The 9/11 Report: A Bipartisan Musical Fantasia.  NYC Credits: Maccabeat, Fairy Tale (NYMF); The 5 Borough Plays (Milk Can); Henri Gabler (Exigent); concert appearances at The Knitting Factory, Hudson Theater, Minskoff Theater. Chicago credits: Homebody/Kabul, Cherry Orchard (Steppenwolf); Sunday in the Park... (Ravinia); Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Fiddler on the Roof (Drury Lane), Camelot (Light Opera Works), The Ballad of Baby Doe (Chicago Opera Theater), the world premiere of Stephen Flaherty and Frank Galati's Loving Repeating (NU), among others. Chris was also David Bell's assistant director for The Three Musketeers at the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre. Chris' one-man show, The Idiot's Guide to Dating, has been performed in Chicago at the Gorilla Tango Theatre, and is currently in an open run at the Duplex in NYC. All my love to Jess and The Company, fellow Northwestern alums, my friends and family, and God.

ZACH ZUBE is humbled to be working with the talented artists of The Music Theatre Company. He first performed with TMTC in 2009 for The 9/11 Report and The 48-hour Musicals: Famous Last Words. In 2010, he received the opportunity to spread his artistic wings as associate director and choreographer for our Young Artist Program production HappyFoods and TMTC's Erika's Wall, in which he will also perform. Chicago credits include Gideon in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (upcoming), Thoroughly Modern Millie, Funny Girl, High School Musical at Drury Lane Oakbrook;High School Musical, The Bowery Boys, and Seussical at Marriott Theatre; Hello Dolly! (Barnaby), La Cage Aux Folles, Man of La Mancha, and Cats (Munkustrap) at Theatre at the Center. Zach's choreographic work has appeared on stage for Steel Beam Theatre (Pump Boys and Dinettes), Encore Theatre (Spelling Bee, Grease), and Marian Catholic HS (Godspell, Grease, 42nd Street). Zach danced professionally with Chicago’s Hedwig Dances (2008) and Madison, WI-based Li Chiao-Ping Dance (2007). The process of creating new work is the ultimate passion and excitement for Zach and he is incredibly grateful to Jessica for allowing space for this work in Chicago. Aside from theatre, he shares his love for holistic living as a yoga instructor (www.zachdoesyoga.com). Zach holds a BFA in Music Theatre from Illinois Wesleyan and is a proud member of Actor’s Equity. Much gratitude and love to his wonderfully supportive family and friends and fellow associate artists, without whom he would be lost. Peace.