Actors
Eliza Huberth
NTI Fall '06
Actor: Vulnerable, 7 Short Pieces
Eliza Huberth just graduated from Kenyon College with a B.A. in Drama and a minor in Music. There she's performed in And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little (Catherine), Travesties (Cecily), Pirates of Penzance (Kate), Gospel of Colonus, and Twelfth Night (Viola). This past summer she was a Little Old Lady in The Producers, and Renee in M.Butterfly at Forestburgh Playhouse. She's so happy to be working with her fellow classmates from NTI '06 again and thanks everyone who's come out to participate and support.
Alex Balestrieri
Chicago Artist
Wingman/Actor: Vulnerable/Director: 7 Short Pieces
Alex Balestrieri is a Chicago-based theater artist currently performing with THE HYPOCRITES in Brecht's THREEPENNEY OPERA at the Steppenwolf Garage. He was recently seen as MARTIN in the 'bun raku hobo opera' BONEYARD PRAYER with REDMOON THEATER where he has been a consistent collaborator on spectacle and installation theatre in recent years. He is the opera singer in the award-winning LAIKA'S COFFIN, which was recently seen in the Great Small Works Festival in NYC. Alex is a COLLABORACTION ARTISTIC ASSOCIATE. Alex has also spent the better part of the last two years touring symphony orchestras across North America with two-man shows about the lives of Beethoven and Mozart.
Adam Mack
Chicago Artist
Actor: Qualified
Adam Mack is excited to work with Element Theatre on Qualified! He graduated from Roosevelt University's Theatre Conservatory and has been active since. Adam has worked with Redmoon Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Tympanic Theatre, New Millennium Theatre and Heartlande Theatre (Detroit). Be sure to see him this fall in NMT's TEXAS CHAINSAW MUSICAL at National Pastime Theatre. Aside from acting, Adam is very active in film production having cast the award winning feature film Farewell Darkness, as well as other films. He recently made his film directorial debut on the TV pilot Assissted Living. Thanks to Taylor and Alexis for organizing the festival
Charlie S. Jensen
Chicago Artist
Actor: Spark
Charlie S. Jensen is excited to be a part of Element. Recent and future ventures include Alice in War at Stage Left, The Giver at Appletree TYA (x2), short films with Caren Evers, Ravensfilm and Thomas Castillo, appearances on Animal Planet, The Weather Channel and The Discovery Channel. For the whole story see www.charliejensen.com.
Anna Stevens
NTI Fall '06 and Chicago Artist
Actor: Qualified/Fundraising
Anna Stevens recently graduated from Kenyon College with a BA in
Drama. She also studied at the National Theatre Institute at the
Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, CT. Having grown up just
north of the city, she returned to Chicago to pursue a theatre career
as an actor, director, and theatre educator. She is currently working
as a kindergarten drama teacher (are 6 year-olds too young to learn
elements of kabuki???) Favorite acting projects have included How I
Learned to Drive, Blood: of Brothers and Sisters. and The Importance
of Being Earnest. She will be performing in Premiere Theatre &
Performance's U.S. premiere of Seven Doors by Botho Strauss this
October. She is thrilled to be working again with her NTI family!
Clarissa Gregg
Chicago Artist
Actor: Ida et al
Clarissa Gregg has been in and around Chicago since 2000. She has worked in Chicago with Circle Theatre, Light Opera Works, Chicago Scriptworks Hell In a Handbag Productions, Rubicon Theatre Project, Halcyon Theatre, American Girl Theatre and Infamous Commonwealth Theatre. She is a company member of Infamous Commonwealth. She graduated from Millikin University with a BFA in Music Theatre. She will be performing in The Grapes of Wrath, with Infamous in the Spring.
Janeane Bowlware
Chicago Artist
Actor: 7 Short Pieces, Ida et al
Janeane Bowlware is brand new to the Chicago area. She is a recent graduate of the acting program at Oklahoma State University, appearing in Romeo and Juliet (Juliet), Kimberly Akimbo (Kimberly), I Hate Hamlet (Deirdre), and Sweet Charity (Good Fairy/Ensemble) among other productions. She has also been seen with the OKC Theatre Company in The Philadelphia Story (Dinah).
Marie Goodkin
Chicago Artist
Actor: One Stockinged Foot
MARIE GOODKIN (Joan in “One Stockinged Foot”) is delighted to be participating in Elements. Having appeared in theatres and concert halls throughout the Chicago are for many years, recent seasons have found her onstage at Village Players, Lincoln Square Theatre, Circle Theatre, Darknight Theatrical Productions, Open Door Rep, Theatre Building Chicago, and numerous other venues. Favorite roles include Clairee in “Steel Magnolias”; Ruth Steiner in “Collected Stories”; Fraulein Schneider in “Cabaret”; Sara in “Company”; and Edna in “The Oldest Profession.” Watch for her as Aunt Juliana in “Hedda Gabler” with A Room of One’s Own at Elsewhere Theatre in October.
Joanna Jacobs
Chicago Artist
Actor: 7 Short Pieces
Joanna Jacobs is excited to be making her Chicago debut with Element Theater. After living in Boston and San Francisco, she finally made the move back to join the expansive Chicago theater scene. She recently finished studying at the American Conservatory Theater's Summer Training Congress and has also studied acting at the British American Drama Academy in London. She can be seen next in the stage premier of "Making Art" (Gorilla Tango Theatre) in mid-October. Favorite performances have included the debut of "Partners" in the SLAMBoston Play Festival (Val), King Lear at the Oval Theater in London (Cordelia), Once On This Island (Erzulie) and member of "All Sorts of Trouble For the Boy in the Bubble" sketch comedy group while at Indiana University, singing a cappella at a White House holiday party, and performing the National Anthem at a White Sox baseball game. Joanna thanks Element for this opportunity and her family and friends that support her!
Adam Shalzi
Chicago Artist
Actor: Retarded
Adam Shalzi is a recent graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and holds a B.F.A. in Acting. His credits at the University include An Imaginary Invalid, Shakespeare's R & J, and Fugitive Kind, among many more. Adam is currently playing Dr. Egg in Dr. Egg and the Man with No Ear at Redmoon Theater. He is the creator and performer of a silent one-man play, Blank Notes, and had the privilege of reviving it at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. Adam was an acting company member for the 2007 Illinois Shakespeare Festival. You can also see Adam performing with his improv troupe, K.C. Redheart, at The Playground Theater.
Amanda Cowper
Chicago Artist
Actor: Retarded
Amanda Cowper is a recent transplant to Chicago after graduating from Western Michigan University this spring. At WMU she was seen in CRIMES OF THE HEART, DEAD MAN WALKING and ON THE TOWN amongst others. Amanda will be assistant directing SHADOWLANDS at Redtwist Theatre this fall. She is thrilled to be apart of the inaugural Element Festival!
Michael Kessler
Chicago Artist
Actor: Ida et al, Vulnerable, We Three
Michael Kessler is a Chicago native and current senior at Northwestern University majoring in Theatre. Northwestern credits include In a Dark Dark House, The Shape of Things, Some Girl(s), The Bacchae, and Brooklyn Boy. Chicago credits include Flat Danny (RhinoFest) and numerous readings and development workshops with Chicago Dramatists, Stage Left, and Around the Coyote. Film credits include The Rockville Slayer, and the NU student film Hero. He has studied improvisation at iO and is a graduate of the School at Steppenwolf and an associate artist with Chicago Dramatists. This summer, Michael apprenticed at the Williamstown Theatre Festival.
Taylor Bibat
NTI Fall '06 and Chicago Artist
Producer/Actor: We Three
In 2007, TAYLOR BIBAT (Chicago) graduated from Oberlin College with a BA in Theater where she concentrated in acting and directing. Upon graduation she was presented with the Nash Drama Award and an award for activism from the Psychology department. She immediately moved back to her native Chicago to pursue a theater career and fell in love with the city and especially the energizing theater scene she found there. As an actor, Taylor has worked with companies such as Circle Theatre (where she was also a Junior Associate Company member), Redmoon Theater, Thresholds Theater Arts Project, Victory Gardens, and Blair Thomas and Company and trained at NTI, CAP21 in NYC for musical theater, Gallery 37, and Chicago Academy for the Arts. In addition to theater she enjoys making things with her hands, teaching Filipino street kids, and working with adults with developmental disabilities and with mental illness.
