Faculty

Rob Chambers has more than twenty-five years of professional theater experience as a director, actor, educator and administrator. He is the founding Artistic Director of Theatre Mir and directed the company's productions of "Beautiful City," "The Arab-Israeli Cookbook," and "The Prisoner's Dilemma. He has taught acting, directing, playwrighting and theatre history and literature courses at The Theatre School at DePaul University. Mr. Chambers is a guest artist faculty member of The Second City Training Center where he was formerly President of Training and Education for The Second City. While at The Second City, he oversaw programs in the United States and Canada, growing the division into one of the largest actor training programs in the world. At Second City, he also served as Producer of The Second City Detroit, Producer of “The Laugh Track” television program, and Board member of The Second City Foundation. He has held staff positions at Hartford Stage Company, Goodman Theatre, League of Chicago Theatres, Melanie Stewart Dance and South Jersey Regional Theatre, and has served as a consultant, board member, and volunteer for numerous arts and service organizations. As a director, he has worked with Common Ground Stage & Film in New York, and with The Second City Educational Touring Company, Silk Road, Circle, Live Bait, City Lit, Bailiwick, Public Trust, Donny's Skybox, Chicago Dramatists, Women's Theatre Alliance The Theatre School at DePaul University, and Barat College in Chicago. He earned an M.F.A. in Directing from The Theatre School at DePaul University, and a B.A. in Radio-TV-Film from Temple University.

Rachel Slavick is in her second year as a teacher in the theatre program at Chiarts. She also teaches acting at The Theatre School of DePaul University. She is the Artistic Director of Theatre Mir. Ms. Slavick was most recently seen in Beautiful City, Arab-Israeli Cookbook and The Prisoners Dilemma and has directed a number of plays including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Exonerated and The Glory of Living.

Lawrence Grimm has been both a freelance and full-time arts educator for over 15 years. A graduate of DePaul University's School of Education, he most recently taught for three years at Stevenson High School as an English and Drama teacher. Other teaching endeavors with young people include co-director and founder of A Red Orchid's Youth Ensemble, the Illinois Arts Council, Urban Gateways, Second City, Piven Theater Workshop, Audition Studio, CAPE, Lookingglass, Steppenwolf for Young Adults and Second CIty. For seven years, Mr. Grimm directed the Thresholds Theatre Arts Project, a program designed to give adults with mental illness a theatrical voice for their personal stories. Currently he is the Director of Erasing The Distance's "What's Behind our Eyes": a high school touring show on mental health issues for young people. He served in a similar capacity with Omni Youth Services' REALITY Troupe in Buffalo Grove. In New York, Mr. Grimm taught at the Lincoln Center Institute, Roundabout Theatre, Arts Connection and Theatre for a New Audience. His acting credits include work with A Red Orchid Theater (co-founder and ensemble member), Steppenwolf, Lookingglass, Raven, Collaboraction, Piven Theatre and Famous Door among many others. He is the recipient of Joseph Jefferson Citation.

Annie Calhoun is a Chicago native who received her undergrad degree in Theatre Arts and English Education from Taylor University in Indiana, then went on to receive her Masters in Fine Arts in Acting from DePaul University's Theatre School. While attending DePaul, she fell in love with improvisation and has since then completed the iO Training Program and performs there with her group Almost ATLANTa. As an actor, Ms. Calhoun was most recently in *Anne Frank* at Metropolis Performing Arts Center. She is an avid writer and has also composed music for Northlight Theatre Academy, where she directs and teaches in the summer. Ms. Calhoun recently had five short pieces she wrote and directed performed in a festival at A Red Orchid Theatre this June. She is thrilled to be coaching the ChiArts Improv Team and feels blessed to teach such amazing students.

Erin Crowley earned her Master of Arts in Teaching from Tufts University in 2003 and her yoga certification at the Temple of Kriya Yoga in 2001. She has been teaching yoga, movement, theatre, and writing to youth for 13 years in the public and private schools of Chicago, Boston, New York, and San Francisco. Her love of invention and creative movement landed her at summer camps in New Hampshire and Colorado, teaching yoga and theatre performance to young people and touring original youth theatre productions along the New England Coast. Ms. Crowley has 10 years experience teaching yoga to adults and, in addition to teaching at ChiArts, teaches yoga for the youth-based organizations Our Common Threads and Mindful Practices. She continues to study yoga with her mentor, Gabriel Halpern, at the Yoga Circle in Chicago.

Devon de Mayo is a director, devisor and teacher. She currently serves as the Director of Education for Northlight Theatre, co-teaches the Agnes Nixon class at Northwestern University and teaches every summer at the National High School Institute. Most recently, she devised and directed "The Twins Would Like To Say" for Dog & Pony Theatre at Steppenwolf Theatre. Ms. de Mayo has taught theatre in London, Sydney (Australia), Albuquerque and Chicago, and is one of the founders and Co-Artistic Director of Dog & Pony Theatre Company. She has also worked at the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, American Conservatory Theatre and South Coast Repertory Theatre. Ms. de Mayo received her MFA in Theatre Directing from Middlesex University in London and her BA in Drama and Political Science from Kenyon College. She did further studies at the Russian Academy of Theatre Arts(GITIS) in Moscow and the Indonesian Institute for the Arts in Bali.

Saffron Henke has worked nonstop as a professional actor, director, and educator since receiving her M.F.A. from the University of Washington's Professional Actor Training Program. Traveling internationally, Ms. Henke has performed in over 60 professional productions, ranging from Taming of the Shrew to Tartuffe to the one person, 24 character show, The Syringa Tree. She is experienced on camera work including commercials, industrials and film, has been profiled in many publications, received rave reviews from critics and audiences alike, and is the recipient of the 2005 Princess Grace Foundation Honorarium for Emerging Artists. As a director, her work has been produced at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the Sacramento Theatre Company (STC) the University of Southern California and the Los Angeles Theatre Ensemble. As a teacher, she has taught ages preschool through adult in a variety of subjects. Her teaching experiences include the Sacramento Theatre Company, where she served as director of the Young Professional's Conservatory, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, University of Iowa, University of Southern California, Center Theatre Group, A Noise Within Theatre, Market Street Theatre School, and the Chicago High School of Performing Arts. Ms. Henke is a proud member of the Actor's Equity Association.

Leslie Buxbaum Danzig is a founding member of 500 Clown, where she has co-created and directed 500 Clown Macbeth, 500 Clown Frankenstein,500 Clown Christmas, and 500 Clown and the Elephant Deal, which have had multiple runs in Chicago at theaters including Steppenwolf and Lookingglass Theatre. Ms. Danzig directed Redmoon Theater's Hunchback and co-directed Blair Thomas & Co.'s The Ox-Herder's Tale at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center in MD. She has toured nationally and internationally with NYC's Elevator Repair Service and was dramaturg with choreographer Molly Shanahan. She trained in physical theater at Ecole Jacques Lecoq and in clown with Philippe Gaulier. Ms. Danzig received her BA from Brown University and PhD in Performance Studies from Northwestern University. She also teaches at the University of Chicago and Northwestern University, and was recently on faculty with the National High School Institute's Theater Arts Program.

Scott Westerman is a Chicago-based actor, director, and teacher. As an actor, he has worked with numerous theatre companies in the Chicago area, including Chicago Shakespeare, Northlight, Apple Tree, Chicago Dramatists, Strawdog, Lifeline, Stage Left, Crew of Patches, Mary Arrchie, Festival Theatre of Oak Park, Pegasis Players, Incognito, Borealis, and Reverie Theatre Company, of which he is a co-founder and co-Artistic Director. Nationally, he has worked with The Shakespeare Theatre Company and Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C.; with Everyman Theatre in Baltimore; with The Warehouse Theatre in Greenville, South Carolina; and with The Barter Theatre in Abingdon, Virginia. Mr. Westerman has done several commercials and has appeared in the television show Prison Break on FOX, as well as a pilot for HBO's The Washingtonienne. He received his MFA from The Shakespeare Theatre Company's Academy for Classical Acting at the George Washington University.

Matthew Gawryk has been producing theater for 14 years. Primarily a lighting designer, he has worked as a scenic designer, master electrician, production manager, and producer for theater, dance, and music. His work has been seen at A Red Orchid, Mary-Archie, Lookingglass, Piven, Lifeline, Gallery 37, Raven, Live Bait, Dog & Pony, Sansculottes and Athenaeum theaters, among others. He has toured with Hubbard Street Dance and the gypsy/punk/marching band Mucca Pazza, as a production electrician and stage manager. He is a co-recipient of an After Dark Award, and a Jeff Award Nominee. Having worked as an educator for 5 years, Mr. Gawryk is glad to be at ChiArts to help guide the maturation of young artists.