Jim Ocasek, President
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James Ocasek is an attorney and avid fan of live theater. He got involved with GreenMan in the beginning on the technical aspects and has stayed ever since. Since he is generally acting during the day, he prefers to work with sets and lights as Technical Director for the Troupe in what is laughingly referred to as his spare time. He delights in helping to make the magic and is constantly amazed at and proud of the collaborative ethic that the Troupe endeavors to provide at each show. He marvels at the creativity of Troupe members in crafting shows in the intimate space at FUMC, but yearns for a ceiling higher than 9' and unlimited electrical power.
As a Board Member and Vice President he hovers in a constant state of readiness to assume control, knowing he is but a heartbeat away from the ultimate responsibility. He is frequently called upon to give legal opinions, sometimes even on things related to the operation of the Troupe (“Whatever.....”). He works on policies and procedures and any other legal issues that arise and is the voice of sanity on the Play Selection Committee as well. |
Carolyn Thomas-Davidoff, Vice President
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Carolyn Thomas-Davidoff is a GreenMan Board Member, a co-founding member of the Fox Valley Storytelling Guild, a co-founding member of the Mirror Image Youth Theatre and former artistic director of the Children’s Theatre of Western Springs. She holds a masters degree from Northwestern University and teaches gifted, drama, and debate in Buffalo Grove.
Carolyn directed GreenMan’s productions of Without a Hitch and Murder: Stage Right and appeared as Lady Bracknell in their production of The Importance of Being Earnest. |
Chuck Erickson, Treasurer
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Chuck’s earliest theatre recollections are from his days as a “theater rat” watching his parents working on shows as founding members of Cameo Players in Mt. Prospect, IL in the 1960’s. He and his sisters used to fall asleep in the aisles, as the work of tech week stretched into the wee hours of the morning. His first show was as a puppeteer in an adaptation of the “Headless Horseman” in junior high school. After a long hiatus, he caught the performing malady when he auditioned for a place in the Time Travelers Impróv Troupe; with whom he still plays. He made his GreenMan acting debut in Shakespeare in Hollywood.
For the past few years, Chuck has been following in the footsteps of his father Carl, who designed many sets for several theater groups in the Northwest suburbs in the 60's & 70's; he has been doing technical direction and set designs for GreenMan and Vex Theater. He did the Set Design of GreenMan’s production of The Guys. His first stint as Technical Director came in GreenMan’s production of The Secret Garden. During the day, Chuck can be found engineering metal shapes for the Metal-Strip Mfg. Co. |
Steven Soria, Secretary |
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Steven Soria is a founding member of the GreenMan Theatre Troupe and is currently serving as the Secretary of the Board of Trustees.
His theatrical adventure began in seventh grade, when he competed for and won a one-year scholarship to the Children’s Theatre of the Theatre of Western Springs. He acted through high school, mostly with the Children’s Theatre of TWS, and was usually “the bad guy.” Among his favorite roles, in Jack & the Beanstalk, he was the mortgage holder of Jack’s mom’s shack, eagerly anticipating throwing her out in the street. While in high school, he also appeared in the regular TWS production of Richard III, with too many roles to remember (pall bearer, messenger, halberd, town crier, guard, and something else). After college (and back home in Western Springs), he worked backstage on several shows at TWS, usually working on lights. Although he tried out for several roles in college, he was never cast. Plus, since for a while his official major was astronomy, there were (ahem) schedule conflicts. In the end, Steven majored in English, and has combined his interest in science with language by working as a technical editor for an engineering company downtown, where he translates from ‘engineeringese’ into English. Since these early days up until the founding of GreenMan Theatre, his theatre activities have been as an audience member. At various times, he and his wife have been season subscribers to the Court Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, and the Theatre of Western Springs. With the creation of GreenMan Theatre, however, he is excited to be playing and working again in theatre. Steven has appeared as Henry, the Old Actor, in GreenMan’s The Fantasticks (February 2005) and as Mayor Otto Balgemann in GreenMan’s Graveside Stories & Walk (October 2007). Usually, though, he is working behind the scenes, editing the program, running sound or lights, or helping on props. |
David Soria, Artistic Director
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David Soria is GreenMan’s Artistic Director and a co-founder of the theatre. Productions he has directed for GreenMan include The Guys, Shakespeare in Hollywood, Pride and Prejudice, Dracula, The Importance of Being Earnest, and The Odd Couple. He directed GreenMan’s first production,The Boardwalk Melody Hour Murders, in 2004. David designed sets and lights for Waiting for Godot and Nevermore: The Dark World of Edgar Allan Poe and has been production manager on several shows.
Other productions he has directed include As You Like It, South Pacific, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Working at Moraine Valley Community College; Fifth of July, The Conduct of Life, and Anything Goes at Illinois Wesleyan University; Modigliani at Citadel Theatre and Old Times at Heartland Theatre. He has also directed Oliver, Annie, and The Sound of Music for Elmhurst Children's Theatre. David has designed sets, lights and sound at various theatres, worked as a stage manager for the Illinois Shakespeare Festival and as assistant technical director for Oakton Community College. David did his undergraduate work at Wesleyan University and has an MFA in Theatre from Illinois State University. He has taught at Illinois Wesleyan, Moraine Valley, and the Children’s Theatre of Western Springs. David is also an actor and has appeared on stage as Mozart in Amadeus, Orgon in Tartuffe, and Van Helsing in Dracula. |
Marilyn Connolly, Board Member
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Marilyn Connolly has been a member of GreenMan Theatre since its inception. She has an avid interest in being a part of everything about our Troupe including acting in our Murder Mysteries, storytelling, House Management and anything backstage she is able to learn. She is also an active member of the Board of Trustees and the Membership Chairperson. The first ten years have flown by so quickly it will be exciting to explore what is in store for GreenMan as we proceed into our next season.
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Becca Easley, Board Member
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Becca grew up attending theatre and other performing arts events with her family in Louisville, Kentucky. She began ushering in high school. While studying at Lake Forest College she dove in head first as a backstage crew member and never looked back. She graduated college with a minor in theatre and a major in Computer Science.
Becca's theatre experiences continued in Raleigh, North Carolina with Raleigh Little Theatre. While there, she stage managed several shows, helped out backstage and faced her fear of acting. At RLT, Becca also learned how to design sound, embraced it with enthusiasm and designed countless shows for the youth series and main stage. Becca also designed sound for Raleigh Ensemble Players, Burning Coal Theatre, and Deep Dish Theatre Company. Favorites include Charlotte's Web, Peter Pan, Urinetown the Musical, and Really Rosie. Upon moving back to Illinois in 2013, Becca found GreenMan Theatre and felt immediately welcomed to the community with her first show: Secret Garden. Becca has helped as backstage crew, sound crew, sound designer, assistant director, and even actor! Her first sound design credit was in 2014 and favorites include A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Laramie Project, Urinetown the Musical, and Arabian Nights. Becca is a software engineer for J.P. Morgan Chase in Chicago and she spends any leftover time doing quilting for charities, family and friends. |
Cassy Beach, Board Member
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Cassy Beach has loved theater ever since she could remember, but never thought she could be a part of it. Then, in 2005, she found out about GreenMan Theater and realized that it wasn’t too late to follow a dream. She started by helping to build and paint sets, did set design for Ravenscroft, moved into running the light board, and, despite her stage fright, has even gotten up on stage for the Spooky Stories program.
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Debbie Proska, Board Member
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Debbie started at GreenMan as a fill in for the Prop coordinator for a Murder Mystery, and never left. She loves watching characters come alive with just the right costume, or making unusual props. (Ask her about the no spill glass of milk, or the edible rotten meat!) She has been bitten by the Storytelling bug and loves creating characters to make stories come alive. When she's not making costumes or props, she works as an elementary school secretary.
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Donna Miller, Board Member
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Donna has a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education, and her Master’s Degree +46 credit hours in Curriculum & Instruction. This is her 30th year teaching in an elementary school, the last 23.5 years in a school in North Berwyn. She has taught several grades, but she enjoys 4th grade the most. She's very active in the NBEA Union, where she is the Vice President. When she is not at school, she is at home with her husband of 30 years. They have four grown children, two girls and two boys. Donna's love for theatre is evident with her participation with GreenMan. She's been in two of our Murder Mysteries, The Government Inspector, and many of our Storytelling programs. She actively participates in Front of House activities and promotes the theatre whenever possible.
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Mary-Carol Riehs, Board Member
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Mary-Carol is the Reference and Instruction Librarian at Concordia University Chicago. Prior to earning her MLIS from Dominican University, she earned an MA with a focus on creative drama and children’s theatre, and a BS, with a concentration in acting, from the Theatre Department at Northwestern University. Mary-Carol was a company member and the manager of youth programs at the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum in Los Angeles. Mary-Carol serves on an advisory committee for The Silk Road Theatre Project, in Chicago. With GreenMan she has performed in several plays and musicals as well as storytelling and spoken word presentations. Mary-Carol is also a resource for dramaturgy and production research.
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Katie Lahey
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Katie is a CPA with a bachelor’s degree in accounting with an internal audit concentration from DePaul University. Katie has enjoyed theater for as long as she can remember, but usually remained backstage working on props, lighting, or set construction. Katie finally decided to confront her stage fright when she found Greenman and took part in one of their Murder Mystery shows. Since then, Katie has taken part in a few other shows and spoken word programs and has found a special niche in the storytelling group for Greenman. She really enjoys bringing each new character to life in a story.
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