Meet the Creative Team
JAYME McGHAN
Playwright
JAYME McGHAN’s plays have been produced and developed across the country at such theatres as Irish Repertory Theatre, The Kennedy Center, Washington Shakespeare Company, Chicago Dramatists, Stage Left Theatre, Mortar Theatre, Cleveland Public Theatre, Hot City Theatre, Yellow Tree Theatre, Cockroach Theatre, New Light Theater Project, Nevada Conservatory Theatre, Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre, Chased by an Elephant Theatre and many more. His full-length plays include Red Rock, The Fisherman, Mother Bear, Hellfire, Autonomy, Jest, Damn the River Deep, The Methuselah Tree, and The Sweet Stuff. Four of his plays are published. Jayme is a Resident Playwright at Chicago Dramatists and an Artistic Associate with Stage Left Theatre. He is the former Regional Representative of the Dramatists Guild to the Twin Cities. He is as an Associate Professor of Theatre at Concordia University, Chicago as well as the Artistic Director of the Theatre Program. Jayme is also an accomplished director, set and lighting designer, and technician. He holds an MFA in Playwriting from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He lives with his Wife and Son in Chicago.
ANDY PEDERSON
Playwright
ANDY PEDERSON’s plays have been produced in Chicago, Atlanta, Memphis, and Vermont. His full-length plays include YELLOW LIGHT, JUNE FIRST, and THE TENACITY OF JUST SEEMING. Andy has also written several plays for young audiences including CHIVALRY ME TIMBERS!, DOUGLY THE UCKLING, and the EMPEROR'S DISAPPEARING PANTS. He is member of the Dramatists’ Guild and an alumnus of the Kennedy Center Playwriting Intensive. Andy holds an MFA in playwriting from Goddard College and is resident playwright of The Saltbox Theatre Collective. Andy has also delivered several presentations on the craft of playwriting at national conferences such as The Dramatist Guild National Conference, Association of Writers and Writing Programs National Conference, the Mid-America Theatre Conference, and the Southwestern Theatre Conference. Andy teaches in the English and Creative Writing Program at Concordia University Chicago where he also directs plays for Theatre Department. He lives with his wife and three small, energetic children.
SARAH NORRIS
Director
Sarah is the Artistic Director of New Light Theater Project. Her work has been seen both around the country (New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Fresno, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Maine & Alaska) and around the world (Australia, England, & Ireland). Select New York companies: Playwrights Horizons, LAByrinth Theater Company, Disney Theatrical Productions, BAMA Theatre Company, The Flea Theater, The Gallery Players, Fresh Produce’d, Boomerang Theatre. She has an MFA in Directing from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and a BA in Theatre from the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa. For more information, please visit her website: www.SarahNorris.org.
YURIY PAVLISH
Projections Designer
Yuriy is an Actor, Director, Playwright, Singer/Songwriter, and producer of both theater and music. His first experience in Marketing and Public Relations was in College, when his dance company, SC, leveraged their loyal following to negotiate an exclusive performance contract at the school’s Mainstage Theater, generating a profit margin large enough to donate up to $6000 a year to local and global charities. An actor and director at La Petite Morgue Theater Company, and a producer for several music acts in New York City, Yuriy is dedicated to innovation and driven by creativity.
MICHAEL O'CONNOR
Lighting Designer
GENEVIEVE BELLER
Costume Designer
Genevieve V. Beller is a New York based designer specializing in the art of "Making Theatre Happen." A graduate of both the University of Florida (BFA) and the University of Missouri - Kansas City (MFA), Genevieve's work has been seen on stages across the globe. Her costume design credits include: If the Saints Arrive in Germany (Healthy Oysters Collective, NYC), M. Butterfly (Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre, Kansas City), Long Days Journey Into Night (Kansas City Actors Theatre), and Dead On Her Feet (The Arcola, London). Genevieve has a passion for new work (half of the above credits are world premiers) and when not designing, she is the Producing Artistic Director for Play On...Productions; an organization devoted to producing new, local work in Kansas City. Upcoming productions include Into The Woods (Assistant Costume Design, Roundabout Theatre Company) and Hair (Whitman College).
Michael’s recent work includes: Oxbow (BAM), Douglas Carter Beane’s Fairycakes (Lester Martin), While Chasing the Fantastic (AADA), Last Days of Cleopatra (Urban Stages), Mary Poppins (Forestburgh Playhouse), Bleed (BAM), Morgan James CD Release (Le Poisson Rouge), The Tunnel Play (Kraine Theater), Beauty of the Father (AADA), The Turn (City Center), Fruits Unheard Of (Chashama), Who’s Your Daddy? (Irish Rep), Blue Room (NYLA), The Morons (Cell Theater), Red Valley (New 45th Street), Next to Normal (CAP 21), A Celebration of Harold Pinter (Irish Rep), American Clock (AADA), Jimmy Titanic (Drilling Company), Lend Me A Tenor (Gallery Players). Michael is the resident Lighting Designer for the American Academy of Dramatic Arts NYC and Tere O’Connor Dance.