Staff
Executive Staff
Artistic Director – James D Palmer
Artistic Staff
Associate Artistic Director – John Rooney
Casting Director – Laura Durham
Literary Manager – Molly Mullen
Ensemble Liaison - Carrie Drapac
Administrative Staff
Marketing Director – Myah Shein
Administrative Coordinator – Krista Taylor
Photographer – Austin D Oie (www.austindoiephotography.com)
Graphic Designer – Elissa Shortridge
Company Manager – Emily Guthrie
Production Staff
Production Manager – Jarrod Bainter
Technical and Facilities Director – Jarrod Bainter
Costume Designer – Izumi Inaba
Ensemble Members
Nicholas Combs
Nicholas Combs joined with Red Tape Theatre in 2009. Originally from Plymouth, Massachusetts, Nicholas holds a B.A. in theatre from Westfield State College where he is a co-founder of the Student Theatre Association. Nicholas studied as an Acting Apprentice at the Actors Theatre of Louisville 07′ – 08′. Currently an Artistic Associate for Two Birds Casting. Red Tape credits; Enemy of the People, The Love of the Nightingale, Obscura; A Voyeuristic Love Story as well as numerous Fresh Eyes readings. Other credits; Rhino Fest. 09′, Hanger9′s Boys’ Life, About Face’s XYZ Festival – Man in Love, U/S for ATC’s annual production of It’s a Wonderful Life; The Radio Play, Sketchbook Festivals X, XI. Upcoming projects – The late night Gumshoe Detective show, Egg & Alfie (originated with Red Tape’s Fresh Eyes Project 11′) in collaboration with Aaron Weissman and my partner in crime Carly Ciarrocchi as Ms. Egg.(Aug.27 @ Flat Iron Building). Gingerbread House directed by James Palmer (Winter 12′)
Carrie Drapac
Last seen in Red Tape’s Church/Pullman, WA, Carrie joined the company after her involvement in their 2010 production of The Love of the Nightingale. She has had the pleasure of working on a wide variety of projects ranging from devised theatre to feature length horror films. Carrie’s favorite projects include a musical adaptation of the novel Hotel Sarajevo, silent short films about the Iraq War (Red, White and Blue) and metamorphosis (Tropism), and 1940′s musical fluff Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. She holds a BFA in Theatre from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, having focused on musical theatre in the CAP21 program and film acting at Stonestreet Studios. Carrie is a personal trainer, co-founder/owner of Comfy Fitness, and spent much of the last year developing and producing a kids’ fitness television concept.
Amanda Drinkall
Amanda’s first production with Red Tape Theatre was The Love of the Nightingale, followed by Pullman, WA and The Making of a Modern Folk Hero at CFANN 2011. Chicago credits include; understudying Marie/Stell in Pony at About Face Theatre, The Blessed Child, as part of Halcyon Theatre’s Alcyone Festival and Sex Marks the Spot at the Theatre Building. Regional credits; Michigan Shakespeare Festival’s Comedy of Errors (Luciana) and Romeo & Juliet (Juliet), and North Carolina Shakespeare Festival’s King Lear and Much Ado About Nothing (Ursula). She has studied with Profiles Theatre, and also stage managed their production of The Mercy Seat. Amanda holds a BFA in Acting Performance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Emily Guthrie
Emily joined the Red Tape family in December 2010 after her involvement in The Love of the Nightingale, Obscura and Church/Pullman, WA. Originally from Cincinnati OH, Emily earned a BFA/Scenic Design from The Theatre School at DePaul University and is a graduate of the Properties Apprenticeship Program at Steppenwolf Theatre Company. Emily is a freelance designer and artist in Chicago. Area credits include TimeLine, Redtwist Theatre Company, Highland Park Players, Emerald City Theatre Co, Greenetree Productions, Theatre 7, Harpo Studios, Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Emily is currently the properties overhire at Steppenwolf Theatre Company.
Izumi Inaba
Izumi is very excited to be joining the Red Tape ensemble. She has designed costumes for Obscura,Tragedy: a tragedy, Elephant’s Graveyard, and The Skriker. Earlier this season she was invited to be invited to be Red Tape’s resident costume designer. Chicago credits include works with A Red Orchid, Porchlight, Chicago Shakespeare, Chicago Dramatists and About Face, Griffin, Steep, Building Stage, The Hypocrites, Side Show, Mary-Arrchie, etc. She is a recipient of Jeff Award 2011 for makeup design of Cats (Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre). MFA in Stage Design, Northwestern University.
Alex Kyger
Alex is proud to be a Red Tape company member after joining in August of 2010. Alex served as the Associate Producer of the Provincetown Art House Theatre for two years in Provincetown, Massachusetts before making Chicago his permanent home. He has since been the resident grant writer for A Red Orchid Theatre, Redmoon Theater, and currently works as the Development Associate at American Theater Company. Acting credits include Stray Cats (Theatre Go Round, Saudi Arabia), Shut Up, Sweet Charlotte (Provincetown Art House), No More Dead Dogs, and Letters Home (Griffin Theatre). Alex is a founding ensemble member and the Executive Producer of bouffon troupe Les Enfants Terribles. Alex has performed with Les Enfants at the Chicago Fringe Festival, Redmoon’s Joyous Outdoor Event, the ChiTown Clown Revue, and Prom Night, produced by Red Tape Theatre. Alex received his BFA in Theatre with honors from Roosevelt University’s Chicago College of Performing Arts.
Kyle Land
Kyle is a freelance Director, Designer, Technical Director, Carpenter/Welder/Scenic Painter, and Stagehand. He has been a member of Red Tape Theatre Company since Technical Directing and Lighting Designing Enemy of the People, and has since served as Lighting Designer for Mouse in a Jar, Obscura, Church/Pullman Wa. and Tragedy: A Tragedy, as well as Assistant Directing for The Love of the Nightingale. Area credits include various work with Steppenwolf, Adventure Stage, Fillament, Last Match, Theo Ubique, Metropolis, New World Rep, Side Project, House, and Timeline; along with technical directing for the National High School Institute “Cherubs” Program for the last three years. Kyle came to Chicago by way of Emporia State University where he received a BFA in Theatre Arts and a BA in English, then stayed on to serve as Technical Director for four years after graduation. Back in Kansas, Kyle co-founded both L.I.T.E. and IF Theatre, and directed the inaugural shows for both companies: How I Learned to Drive andFool for Love. He also directed several shows at ESU including A Bright Room Called Day, The Woman in Black, and My Left Breast, as well as, scenic and/or lighting designing numerous productions including Waiting for Godot, Cabaret, and Urinetown.
Lona Livingston
Lona’s participation in Brand marks her 4th production in a Red Tape show. She was featured in Red Tape’s Enemy of the People, The Love of the Nightingale and Obscura. Favorite roles include Picnic, Isn’t it Romantic. Cabaret, and Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, at theatres in Tennessee and Florida. She founded and directed the Theater for Young Audiences in Gainesville, Florida, adapting children’s classics into a participatory form of theater. Lona heads the Government Relations program at Columbia College Chicago and especially enjoys raising money for the arts. Lona is very proud to be an ensemble member and believes in the mission and artistic vision of the theatre.
James Palmer
James directed and adapted Dog in a Manger (2008). Directing credits include Elephant’s Graveyard (2012 Jeff Recommended), The Gingerbread House (2012), Church/Pullman, WA (2011), The Love of the Nightingale (2010 Jeff Award for Best Direction, Nominations for Best Production, Best Choreography, Best Sound, Best Fight Choreography), Enemy of the People (2009), Pugilist Specialist (2008), Endgame (2007), Baden Lehrstuck (2007), FEP: Jesusland (2006), and FEP: Coriolanus (2006). Producing credits at Red Tape include Brand (2011), Tragedy: a tragedy (2011), Obscura: a voyeuristic love story (2010), Mouse in a Jar (2009 Jeff Award for Best Sound Design). Selected readings and workshops with Goodman Theatre, Chicago Dramatists, American Theatre Company, and TUTA Theatre.
He is in his fifth season as Red Tape Theatre Company’s Artistic Director after serving as Managing Director for two years prior. James is a member of the Vestry at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church. James has served on the Board of Directors for the League of Chicago Theatres as well as the TCG 2010 Host Committee. He served for four years as the Executive Assistant at Steppenwolf Theatre Company.
James received his Bachelor’s degree in Theatre Arts from Simpson College and graduated Magna Cum Laude. While at Simpson, he was a member of the Alpha Psi Omega theatre fraternity and served as Secretary in 2004.
Paige Sawin
Paige is a graduate of Denison University with a BFA in Theatre Performance. After coming to Chicago in the fall of 2007, Paige was the casting intern at Collaboraction Theatre Company and the Casting Apprentice at Steppenwolf Theatre Company in 2008. Casting credits include, Collaboraction’s Stonehenge by Stephen Cone, Project 891 Theatre’s The Last Night of Ballyhoo, Red Tape’s Enemy of the People adaptation by Robert Oakes and Mouse in a Jar by Martyna Majok. Upon joining Red Tape as their cast director and a company member in Fall 2009, she has cast The Love of the Nightingale by Timberlake Wertenbaker, Obscura by Jennifer Barclay, and Church and Pullman, WA by Young Jean Lee. Among her non-casting credits, she was seen most recently playing the role of Constance in Red Tape’s Tragedy: A Tragedy by Will Eno and has been seen on stage at American Theatre Company’s 10X10 festival and Appetite Theatre’s Bruschetta Festival. Current projects include playing the role of Angela in an online series called Rob has to Leave by Elephantville Productions and casting this year’s fall, winter and spring productions at Red Tape Theatre.
Meghan Reardon
Meghan Reardon is an actor, native Kansan and proud Red Tape company member. She has made RT her artistic home since joining the ensemble in the Spring of 2010, and has since been lucky to play Philomele in The Love of the Nightingale, Saliva in Obscura and Tory in Church/Pullman, WA. She has worked around town in parts 1 and 2 of The Nine, The (a)Symmetry Cycle as well as with The Building Stage, Redmoon, Signal Ensemble, and Chicago dell’Arte, among others. Most recently, she has had the opportunity to workshop two new scripts by Chicago playwrights at 16th Street Theatre and The Goodman. Meghan is a graduate of Knox College, where she received the Colton Prize in Performance and Karger Award in Theatre Arts. She was also the recipient of a 2009 CAAP Grant and is now a member of the advisory panel for that award. She is represented by the hard-working women of Paonessa Talent.
Myah Shein
Myah joined Red Tape in 2005 and served as interim Managing Director for the 2007-2008 season before taking on her current position. Myah holds a degree from the University of Illinois, Urbana- Champaign in International Studies with a minor in French and a post-bac degree from Columbia College in Dance with an emphasis in Dance Studies. Red Tape credits include: Church/Pullman, Wa (Choreographer), The Love of the Nightingale (Choreographer- Jeff Nomination, Itys), Pugilist Specialist (Stage Manager), Endgame (Stage Manager), Merchant of Venice (Choreographer, Assistant Director), and many others. As a dancer, Myah has had the privilege of studying with Carrie Hanson, Paige Cunningham, Dardi McGinley-Gallivan, Margi Cole, Becca Lemme and Kyle Seguin. Outside of Red Tape, she has appeared in works by John Leonard, Ariel Cisneros, Sarah Wattles, Krista Juderjahn, Trista Greco and The Laboratory Dancers. Dramaturgy credits include Fragile (staged reading for TUTA Theatre Company) and The Work (Choreographed by Raquel Monroe). As a scholar, her work focuses on dance and gender economies. Myah is also a makeup artist and has designed for various productions and print work.
Johnard Washington
Recently moved to Chicago by way of Houston, Texas. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Southern Methodist University studying theatre. There, he was seen in a variety of roles: La Discreta Enamorada (Hernando); The Laramie Project (Greg Pierotti, et al.); Trouble in Mind (John Nevins); Our Lady of 121st Street (Flip Johnson); An Ideal Husband (Lord Goring) and many independent projects. Mr. Washington also worked closely with Kitchen Dog Theatre and the Orchestra of New Spain under the direction of Tina Parker, Gustavo Tambascio and Grover Wilkins III. In Chicago, Mr. Washington has worked primarily with Red Tape Theatre. He was Hungry Townsperson inElephant’s Graveyard directed by James Palmer and now can be seen in Churchill’s The Skriker where he plays Yallery Brown directed by Eric Hoff. Mr. Washington is happy that Red Tape has been so welcoming to him and looks forward to growing as an artist doing cutting edge theatre.
Emeritus
William J. Davis
Robbie Hankins
Vic May
Mackenzie May Brown
Errol McLendon
Kathleen Rommond
