ensemble
Bergen Anderson (ensemble) was raised in Iowa, lived in Sweden, was schooled in Minnesota, and now calls Chicago home. She is excited to be a part of Letters/X™ as this is the first show in Chicago that she has appeared onstage with a guitar. Bergen is a co-founder and Managing Artistic Director of Akvavit Theatre, and is proud to have worked with the folks over at Black Sheep Productions, Steep Theatre, Griffin Theatre, Stage Left, Raven Theatre, Tin-Fish, and Steppenwolf. She enjoys drinking Kopparberg pear cider and will most certainly speak Swedish with you if you ask her.
Jessica Jane Childs (producer/ensemble) just tingles all over for her seventh year of the Letters/X™ melee ! Other Chicago credits include work with Steep, Halcyon, and Dream Theatre. Jessica is one of the only females to break through the glass ceiling of that ol’ boys club, The Lakewood Manor Players. An un-politically correct vegetarian from Texas, Jessica is a blues vocalist, and has been heard crooning around town at various musical hotspots and honkytonks. Check out where she’ll be serenading next at www.jessicajanechilds.com. Hugs and smooches to the Letters/X™ gang, her amazing friends near and far, and the enchanting Jeanne Tripplehorn.
Stephanie Clark (stage manager) is thrilled to be on board with Letters/X™ again! An Appalachian State graduate from North Carolina, she moved to Chicago to follow her passion for the performing arts. As a former ASM for Sweeney Todd, Rabbit Hole, Darwin in Malibu, and Glengarry Glen Ross at Tennessee Rep Theatre in Nashville, TN, she is so excited to have another opportunity to pursue her love for theatre. Chicago is like a second home for her, after workingwith the Lyric Opera, Harpo Studios, and Ravinia. She is delighted to be working with such a talented and hilarious group of people! She would like to thank her friends for being a second family while her adventure continues in Chicago.
Matthew Isler (ensemble) is originally from Pittsburgh and a graduate of Indiana University undergraduate theatre program, Matthew migrated to Chicago in 2005 to pursue his passion in the theatre. Since then he has performed in Purple Bench Production’s Romeo and Juliet as Mercutio as well as graduated from the Second City Conservatory program. He currently makes a living saving the world as a 10th grade writing teacher for a charter school on the South-side of the city. Matthew would like to thank his wonderful lady Krystal for being so supportive.
Tom McGrath (ensemble) has worked with LiveWire Chicago Theatre (Hideous Progeny), Circle Theatre (A Perfect Wedding), and Right Brain Project (The Modern Prometheus). A Northwestern graduate and Chicago native, Tom knows his expressways. Tom also has been known to take pictures from time to time – see www.tcmcgphotography.com for more details, if you’re into that sort of thing. Many thanks to the usual suspects.
Anthony Roberts (producer/adaptor & composer/ensemble) is silly, a trait that has served him will as the adaptor and composer of Letters/X™ since the show’s inception in 2004. He is a Chicago-based playwright, composer, singer, guitarist, and actor whose writing and acting have seen at many theaters, including American Blues Theater, Chicago Dramatists, GroundUp, Serendipity, and American Theater Company, where he served as Managing Director and an Associate Artist. He has performed around the Midwest for nearly ten years with the award-winning vocal band Vocal Chaos, for which he sang bass and baritone and also arranged and composed music. His solo performances as a guitar-slinging singer-songwriter have been seen across Chicago and even internationally, if you count photos on the internet as “international.” When not writing or performing, Anthony keeps busy with a career in arts management, and he thanks the Ravinia Festival for sending him paychecks while he pursues his extracurricular artistic interests. He serves on the Advisory Board of the Midwest Independent Film Festival and is an alumnus of Northwestern University’s Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences and likes to wear purple. Anthony is grateful to the many talented collaborators who have worked on Letters/X™ over the years, especially Sabrina Lloyd and Molly Neylan, who hatched the brilliant idea for the show and offered him the chance to write it. He is also grateful to his wonderful wife, who strangely still thinks that his silliness is endearing after several years of marriage; if you see her at a Letters/X™ performance, please don’t tell her that he’s really just a big dork.
Jessica Roberts (lighting design) is excited to once again be a part of the Letters/X team. After studying lighting design at Northwestern she has worked on a few Chicago productions including Northwestern Law’s Wigmore Follies but has spent most of her time saving the world through Teach for America and various other pursuits, including her current quest for a Ph.D. in Learning Sciences from UIC. Huge thanks to Matty for agreeing to this nepotistic hire and to the cast for making breakups so funny year after year. And of course a shout out to Young Master Quentin, who thinks that every place is a place where crying is okay.
Matthew Zaradich (producer/director) is pleased to return as director in his fourth (and sexiest) year with Letters/X™. As Artistic Director and co-founder of Purple Bench Productions in Chicago, Matthew produced John Patrick Shanley’s The Big Funk, directed Phyllis Nagy’s Disappeared, and assistant directed the Chicago premiere of My Name is Rachel Corrie. With Friends of the Parks and Purple Bench, Matthew’s production of Romeo and Juliet toured through seven Chicago parks in summer 2009, delivering accessible Shakespeare to underserved audiences throughout the city. As an actor in Chicago, Matthew was previously seen as Larry in Burn This and Sorin in The Seagull, both critically acclaimed productions of GroundUp Theatre. In his Indiana years, Matthew was seen in numerous productions, including The Grey Zone, Our Country’s Good, A Moon for the Misbegotten, and Richard III, as well as directing Gilman’s Boy Gets Girl. Matthew is also very active in grassroots activism for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBTQ) community as a volunteer with many organizations. He is a proud member of All Saints’ Episcopal Church. An extremely proud graduate of Indiana University, Matthew is a rabid Hoosiers basketball fan and will sing the fight song anytime, anywhere.
