EPIC TALES IN EPIC FORMS
Meet Sordelet Ink's Authors
GARY ANDREWS
As far as Gary Andrews is concerned, one of the best things to come out of the pandemic was pairing up with Austin to co-present the web series Drawing on Shakespeare and he’s delighted to be teaming up again.
Graduating from art college in 1983, Gary has worked steadily as an animator and illustrator ever since.
This included a spell with Disney Movietoons in the late 1980s and numerous kids TV series. He directed the show Fireman Sam from 2009 to 2019. In 2020 his book Finding Joy was published: a collection taken from his daily sketch diary charting his journey as a widower. He can be found online as @garyscribbler.
SIAH BERLATSKY
Siah Berlatsky is a Chicago based actor, author, and director. Her acting experience includes work with Lookingglass Theatre Company, Actors’ Gymnasium, Cabinet of Curiosity, A Crew of Patches, and various theater throughout Chicago. Notable roles include Malvolio in Twelfth Night, Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing, and Macbeth in Macbeth with Chicago Youth Shakespeare, Benvolio in Romeo & Juliet with A Crew of Patches, and Eugene in Brighton Beach Memoirs in Citadel Theater’s 2021 production.
Malapert Love is her first full length play, its premier at The Den theatre followed a development reading process in The Artistic Home’s Summer on the Patio series. Berlatsky’s work seeks to render the queer subtext of classical texts and structures with a modern context and sensibility. For more information, visit siahberlatsky.com.
ALBERT B BLIXT
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Al Blixt has spent the last 30 years as a developer and practitioner of Whole-Scale® Change, after his early years as a prosecuting attorney, a business owner, and a university professor. As a coach and consultant, Al’s practice includes leadership coaching, organization change, strategic planning and culture change. He has worked with organizations in all sectors from manufacturing and government to higher education and nonprofits.
Al holds a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Michigan and lives in Ann Arbor. He brings experience as an advertising and marketing executive to his consulting work. In his personal life, Al serves on several non-profit boards and works to create independent living communities for persons with developmental disabilities including his youngest son, Andrew. He is also an auto racing historian.
DAVID BLIXT
Author and playwright David Blixt's work is consistently described as "intricate," "taut," and "breathtaking." A writer of Historical Fiction, his novels span the early Roman Empire (the COLOSSUS series, his play EVE OF IDES) to early Renaissance Italy (the STAR-CROSS'D series, including THE MASTER OF VERONA, VOICE OF THE FALCONER, and FORTUNE'S FOOL) through the Elizabethan era (his delightful espionage comedy HER MAJESTY'S WILL, starring Will Shakespeare and Kit Marlowe as inept spies) to Victorian New York with his besteselling Nellie Bly series. His novels combine a love of the theatre with a deep respect for the quirks and passions of history. As the Historical Novel Society said, "Be prepared to burn the midnight oil. It's well worth it."
Living in Chicago with his wife and two children, David describes himself as "actor, author, father, husband. In reverse order."
For more about David and his novels, visit www.davidblixt.com.
JANICE L. BLIXT
The Artistic Director of the Michigan Shakespeare Festival since 2010, Janice L Blixt has become the state’s most award-winning director/producer. In addition to bold stagings of Shakespeare from Hamlet to Measure For Measure, Blixt has challenged herself to produce new versions of classic stories, including adaptations of Chekhov's The Seagull and Aphra Behn's The Rover, Karen Tarjan's adaptation of Michael Shaara's novel The Killer Angels, and award-winning productions of Wilde and Shaw.
A graduate of the Hilberry Theater's MFA program, Blixt is married to long-time MSF Artistic Associate, Author, and Fight Director David Blixt, whom she met at the Festival in 1997 when they played Kate and Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew. They are the parents of Dashiell and Evelyn.
BILAL DARDAI
Bilal Dardai is a playwright, essayist, and performance artist who has been based in the Chicago theatrical community since 2000. He is an emeritus ensemble member and artistic director of The Neo-Futurists and a current ensemble member at Lifeline Theatre.
He is a regular fixture in Chicago's thriving "live lit" scene, performing essays at The Paper Machete, Write Club, and Salonathon; and he is a contributing scriptwriter to the audio dramas "PleasureTown" and "Unwell." Bilal has been nominated for three Joseph Jefferson Awards and is a past recipient of an Illinois Arts Council Fellowship in Scriptworks.
JOE FOUST
Joe Foust is a sexy beast. A writer, actor, director, and fight director based in Chicago, Joe has acted at The Goodman, Steppenwolf, Wisdom Bridge, Remy Bumppo, Next, TheaterWit, Court, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, First Folio, Penninsula Players, Cleveland Playhouse, Syracuse Stage, New Victory on Broadway, Maltz Jupiter, Milwaukee Shakespeare and is a founding member of Defiant Theater, where his credits include directing and either writing or co-writing Action Movie: The Play, Sci-Fi Action Movie in Space Prison, Horror Movie: The Play, and Ubu Raw. He is currently penning a Robin Hood play with John Maclay.
As Nick Offerman said about Joe on Late Night With David Letterman, “When I saw him, I said to myself, ‘I wanna hang with this guy. He knows just the kind of trouble I want to get into.’”
SEAN GRANEY
Sean Graney was the Founder and Artistic Director of the Hypocrites, a defunct Chicago theater company. He was the recipient of a Radcliffe Fellowship at Harvard University, a NEA/TCG Career Development Fellowship, a Creative Capital Grant and the Meier Achievement Award. Sean's work has been seen across the country including Oregon Shakespeare Festival, American Repertory Theatre, Berkeley Rep, and Actors Theater of Louisville. Sean received six Joseph Jefferson Awards for his directing and adaptation work. He currently lives in San Diego. He wants to thank you for your interest.
RICHARD HESTER
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Richard Hester’s career as a stage manager and production supervisor spans forty years. His credits include everything from the off-Broadway premiere of Harold Pinter’s Mountain Language to the hit Broadway musical Jersey Boys. For the latter after serving as its original Production Stage Manager in La Jolla, CA, and in New York, he spent sixteen years staging and maintaining productions of it both in the US as well as all over the world. After more than two decades, he continues to tour with Patti LuPone as well as with Mandy Patinkin for their concerts, both nationally and internationally. Twenty-three years ago, with Bernadette Peters and Mary Tyler Moore, he helped found and produce Broadway Barks! an annual animal adoption event that ever since then, has helped thousands of dogs and cats find forever homes. HOLD, PLEASE is his first book.
JOSEPH GALLO
His play My Italy Story, which had its New York debut Off-Broadway at the 47th Street Theatre, and was nominated for the Gay Talese Literary Prize, was recently revived at Mile Square Theatre. His full-length plays include Two-Man Kidnapping Rule (New Ohio Theatre), Warning: Adult Content (Theatre 54) and Staten Island (Circle Rep Lab), while his solo shows include Whizzy and The Jealousy Piece, both of which premiered in the American Living Room festival at HERE. He co-created, and wrote the text for two dance/theater pieces Tannhauser: A Dance Play and 80% of Love, both of which debuted in New York at the Obie award-winning Ice Factory Festival at the Ohio Theatre; the latter done in collaboration with company Rindfleisch, and subsequently transferred to the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. He holds an MFA in playwriting from Ohio University, and is a current member of the Actors Studio Playwrights and Directors Workshop.
ROBERT KAUZLARIC
Robert Kauzlaric has written more than a dozen theatrical adaptations which have been performed in nearly forty states across the U.S., as well as in Ireland, England, and Canada.
The New York Times called his adaptation of The True Story Of The 3 Little Pigs! “One of the best children’s shows of the year.” His version of H.G. Wells’ The Island Of Dr. Moreau received five of Chicago’s Non-Equity Jeff Awards, including New Adaptation and Best Production; his adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere received the Non-Equity Jeff Award for New Adaptation; and his version of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture Of Dorian Gray was nominated for New Adaptation. He was commissioned by the Illinois Shakespeare Festival in 2010 to produce a new adaptation of Dumas’ The Three Musketeers, and two of his plays have been published by Playscripts, Inc. For more, visit www.robertkauzlaric.com.
RONALD KEATON
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A native Hoosier, Keaton is an actor/writer/singer based in Chicago. He has extensive professional experience in the city’s theatres, as well as in regional theatre. His versatility as a performer extends from Shakespeare (TWELFTH NIGHT, AS YOU LIKE IT, JULIUS CAESAR, THE MERCHANT OF VENICE, among others) to musical theatre (1776, GUYS AND DOLLS, THE MUSIC MAN, BIG RIVER, et al) and much inbetween.
Mr. Keaton offers television, voiceover and narration work, recently completing an acclaimed documentary on the Indiana poet James Whitcomb Riley. He also has two other solo pieces, IN HEAVENLY PEACE and WHISPERS FROM THE MOON, a solo musical with composer William Underwood.
CORRBETTE PASKO
Corrbette Pasko is a Chicago native who hates the cold, so she's already self tortured enough to be a writer and an actor. She now does both of those things full time and therefore consumes the most coffee. She is an ensemble member with The Factory Theater, a wonderfully ridiculous place that process all original work, including plays written by her and her swell writing partner, Sara Sevigny. She has a web series in the works, because it's required of all citizens now, called "Corri and Sara Are Famous." You can follow her and Sara as they Jew Guilt members of congress and other elected officials at @corriandsara. She writes copy for corporations, monologues for actors, and plays for everyone else.
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For more, visit www.corrbette.com.
SHAWN PFAUTSCH
When he was in Fourth Grade, Shawn Pfautsch decided he would impress the students in his new school by writing a hilarious parody of popular science fiction films beginning with “Star __”. Several years later, with a degree in Theatre Studies, Playwriting Emphasis, in hand, he moved to the shores of Lake Michigan and helped to found The House Theatre of Chicago, where three of his full-length plays have premiered. Along with his short plays and one-acts, his work has been seen on stages from his base in Chicago to Texas, Florida, Iowa and beyond. What’s beyond Iowa? No one really knows...
As an actor and musician, he has been clapped at with The House Theatre of Chicago, The Hypocrites, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, American Repertory Theater, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Dallas Theater Center, Chicago Shakespeare, Lakeside Shakespeare and Michigan Shakespeare.
MARK PRACHT
Mark Pracht was raised in the mountains near Colorado Springs, Colorado. He is Alumni of the University of Nebraska, Kearney, and was a company member of the Sheleterbelt Theatre in Omaha, Nebraska. During that time, he helped develop and produce seven world premiere productions, including his own full-length play, NEON.
He’s worked as an actor, director and playwright in the Chicago theatre community since 2001, and received the 2019 Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Performance in a Principal Role for his portrayal of Harlan “Mountain” McClintock in Rod Serling’s Requiem for a Heavyweight at The Artist Home theatre.
His work has been produced in Chicago by Brown Couch Theatre company, where he served as Artistic Director, and Strangeloop theatre.
DAVID RICE
David Rice is Co-Founder (with his late wife Alison C. Vesely) of First Folio Theatre, where he has produced over 70 productions which have earned 40 Jeff Nominations and 7 Joseph Jefferson Awards for Excellence in Chicago Theater.
As a playwright, David specializes in adaptations. His plays include Shrew’d!; Cymbeline: A Musical Folk Tale (Joseph Jefferson Awards – Original Adaptation and Original Music); The Madness of Edgar Allan Poe: A Love Story (Jeff Nomination – Original Adaptation); The Castle of Otranto; and Dean Monti’s Why Dogs Don’t Talk. Trivia lovers may be interested to know that David was a four-time winner on Jeopardy! He is a proud member of both the Dramatists Guild and Actors Equity Association.
RAFAEL SABATINI
An Italian born novelist. Born to an English mother and an Italian father, he was educated in Italy, Portugal, and Switzerland, before moving to Liverpool at the age of 17. He began his writing career at the age of 20, and by 1899 was selling short works to first-class national magazines like Pearson's Magazine, London Magazine, and Royal Magazine. His true fame did not come about, however, until 1920, with the publication of Scaramouche followed in 1921 by Captain Blood. The success of those works led to a greater interest in one of his earlier novels, The Sea Hawk.
Sabatini enjoyed his greatest success during the 1930’s, a period which saw Hollywood embrace his novels as the perfect vehicles for action star Errol Flynn. The last great film based on a Sabatini novel was the 1952 Scaramouche featuring Stewart Granger, which was released two years after Sabatini’s death.
SARA SEVIGNY
Sara Sevigny is a Chicago based actor, singer, improviser, and playwright. A proud member of SAG-AFTRA and Actor's Equity Association, Sara's theater credits include work with Broadway Playhouse, Chicago Children's Theatre, About Face, TimeLine, and The Hypocrites. Sara currently resides as an ensemble member and playwright with The Factory Theater in Chicago. She has written 6 plays with her writing partner Corrbette Pasko, and they're pretty proud of themselves. They've also created a new YouTube series, 'Get In The Car'. You should subscribe. You can here.
Hailing from Evanston, Illinois, Sara graduated with her BA in Theatre/Communications from Curry College, trained at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, and graduated Second City's Conservatory program.She also likes unsweetened green tea lemonade, in case you wanted to get her one. It tastes like sunshine.
RICHARD RAGSDALE
Husband, father, writer, director, mystery man, and science hero, Richard Ragsdale keeps busy. A founding member of Chicago’s Defiant Theatre, Richard wrote, directed, or acted in a majority of the plays presented by that august body. As a founder and teacher at Ham Club, a group that teaches theatre and puts on plays with public schools, Richard takes great delight in passing on his love of theatre in general and shtick and clowning in particular to a new generation of stage nerds.
He likes horror movies, Disneyland, and embroidery, and thinks everyone looks better in a cape.
AUSTIN TICHENOR
Austin Tichenor is an actor, author, and co-Artistic Director of the Reduced Shakespeare Company, for which he’s co-written ten stage comedies he’s performed off-Broadway, in London’s West End, and in venues across the country and around the world.
His published work includes a stage adaptation of Frankenstein; Dancing on the Ceiling, a children’s play inspired by Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis;” the RSC collaborations William Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play (abridged) and The Comedy of Hamlet! (a prequel); and the illustrated children’s book Pop-Up Shakespeare (artwork by Jennie Maizels). He’s thrilled to work with Gary Andrews again after their first collaboration, a web series called Drawing on Shakespeare.
CHRISTOPHER M. WALSH
Christopher M. Walsh is a writer and actor whose work has been produced in the U.S. and Canada. In 2014 he was nominated for a Non-Equity Joseph Jefferson (Jeff) Award for his adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities. Other adaptations include The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, The City & The City by China Miéville, and Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman. Christopher also won the 2014 Deathscribe Festival of Horror Radio Plays, produced by Chicago’s WildClaw Theatre.
As an actor, Christopher has performed with a number of companies in and around the Chicago area. He is a proud member of the artistic ensemble at Lifeline Theatre, based in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood. Lifeline specializes in stage adaptations of literary works.
Originally from Muskegon, MI, he moved to Chicago in 1994 to study acting at Columbia College. He lives in Chicago with his wife and two cats. Follow his adventures online at christophermwalsh.com.
JOSEPH ZETTELMAIER
A Michigan-based playwright, Joseph is a four-time nominee for the Steinberg/American Theatre Critics Association Award for best new play, first in 2006 for All Childish Things, then in 2007 for Language Lessons, in 2010 for It Came From Mars and in 2012 for Dead Man’s Shoes. Other plays include The Gravedigger: A Frankenstein Play, Salvage, Northern Aggression, Dr. Seward’s Dracula, All Childish Things, Invasive Species, Dead Man’s Shoes, The Scullery Maid, Night Blooming and Ebenezer. He co-authored Flyover, USA: Voices From Men of the Midwest at the Williamston Theatre (Winner of the 2009 Thespie Award for Best New Script). He also adapted Christmas Carol’d for the Performance Network. It Came From Mars won 2009’s Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award, and won Best New Script 2010 from the Lansing State Journal. His play Dead Man’s Shoes won the 2011 Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award. He is an Associate Artist at First Folio Theatre, an Artistic Ambassador to the National New Play Network, and an adjunct lecturer at Eastern Michigan University, where he teaches Dramatic Composition. Learn more at www.jzettelmaier.com.