ensemble
Jessica Jane Childs (producer/ensemble) Now in her 8th year with the show, Jessica feels Letters/X™ itches like a delightfully naughty rash that just won’t go away. Other Chicago theatre credits include work with Steep, Halcyon, Ex-Pats, and Dream Theatres. She also does sketch/film work with the Lakewood Manor Players, and recently enjoyed portraying “Flora” in the 48 Hour Film festival’s film “Anthem”. A native of the Lone-Star State, Jessica has been crooning around various musical hotspots and honkytonks since 2005, serenading around town most recently with her Bluegrass band, Moonshine and Honeysuckle. Check out where she’ll be pickin’ and a’ grinin’ next, at www.jessicajanechilds.com. Love to the Letters/X™ gang, friends, and family. Many thanks to the exes of yesteryear for providing the show with so much material, and xoxo’s & double-dares to her favorite vegan mariachi, Joey.
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.
Veronica Garza (ensemble) is excited to join Letters/X™ for the tenth anniversary year. Garza has performed in Chicago with Williams Street Rep in IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE-A Radio Play, with The Brown Paper Box Co. in GODSPELL, and with Music on Stage in AVENUE Q. While working with Letters/X™, she also understudies in Lifeline Theatre’s THE MYSTERY OF THE PIRATE GHOST. Follow her on Twitter at @VeeGarza for funny jokes every so often–and to offer knitting lessons in exchange for guitar instruction. Garza earned her bachelor’s degree in Theatre from Penn State. She sends thanks to Mom, Dad, and Auntie Christie.
Jordan Levin (ensemble) is excited to join the cast of Letters/X™ in the tenth anniversary year. Levin recently moved to Chicago, and was last seen as Gil in Hannukatz the Musical with New National Pastime Theatre. Levin earned his bachelor of fine arts degree in theater performance from The University at Buffalo.
Emily Radke (ensemble) is an actress, songwriter, and comedian based in Chicago. Radke has been seen in Chicago working with Forget Me Not Theatre Company, Studio Be Theatre, The State Theatre Project, Athenaeum Theatre, The Bricklayers, Flat Iron, The Den Theatre, Colectif Masque, and many others. Check out her iO house team Dart, various TV commercial spots, or on the Internet singing songs.
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 fifth 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.
