Production Team
Jenna Banko (Stage Manager) relocated from Michigan to Los Angeles to pursue her career in the entertainment industry. Jenna received her B.A. in theatre and broadcasting from Central Michigan University. Her most recent stage managing endeavor was The Holy Mother of Hadely New York at Theatre of NOTE in Hollywood. Previous stage managing credits include such fine NOTE productions as: He Asked For It (nominated for Ovation, LA Weekly, LA Drama Critics Circle and GLAAD awards), Eye Mouth Graffiti Body Shop, Wreck of the Unfathomable (nominated for LA Weekly Awards), and The Bomba Trilogy (LA Weekly award winner--best one act ensemble). Jenna also serves as the secretary on Artistic Management Committee for Theatre of Note in Hollywood. She can currently be seen on stage in the Late Night 10 Minute Plays at Theatre of NOTE.
Jamie Hebert (Costume Design), a Louisiana native, was raised in California’s San Joaquin Valley where he started performing, directing and designing costumes and sets very seriously at age 5. He attended California State University, Fullerton and received a BA in Theatrical Production with an emphasis in Costume Design. Recent costume design projects have included the film The Invincible Scripture, styling for the band Velvet Monkey, Alec Mapa’s live shows and currently for The Muscles In Our Toes. Along with costuming, Jamie performs on film and TV and in theater in NY and LA.
Lisa Kenner (Producer) is an LA-based producer and playwright. She recently produced the world premiere of He Asked For It at Hollywood’s Theatre of NOTE (nominated for Ovation, LA Weekly, LA Drama Critics Circle and GLAAD awards). Additional LA theatre producing credits include Red Light, Green Light (Ovation nominated); The Maids (4 NAACP nominations); and the Los Angeles History Project 2003-04. As a writer, two of Lisa’s short films, Have I Told You Lately and The Ring, were produced by the National University Digital Cinema Residency in 2008-09. Her short play A Terminal Affair has been produced in several 10-minute play festivals in Southern California. Lisa’s full-length play Shelter was a semi-finalist for the 2009 PlayPenn New Play Conference. She is a member of Theatre of NOTE and The Robey Theatre Company Playwrights Lab. A native of Boston and a graduate of Wesleyan University, Lisa lives in Eagle Rock with her husband, actor Chet Grissom.
Jeff McLaughlin (Set Design) has been designing sets for film, television, corporate events and theatre in and around Los Angeles for over a decade. His work has been seen at the Jewel Box Theatre Center, the Group Repertory Theatre, the Gascon, the Comedy Store, the Complex and all three spaces at the Elephant StageWorks (the Lillian) to name a few. Corporate clients include Washington Mutual, Infiniti and Wella-Sebastian. Television credits include Interior Motives and The Carol Duvall Show. Recent notable works include A Skull in Connemara and Recent Tragic Events at Theatre Tribe and he was nominated for an Ovation Award for the set design of A Long Christmas Ride Home (which did win best overall production). He is very excited to be working with a great new set of people in a space new to him.
Cricket S. Myers (Sound Design) Off-Broadway: Marvelous Wonderettes (Westside Arts Upstairs). Regional: School of Night, Nightingale (Mark Taper Forum); Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, The Little Dog Laughed, Two Unrelated Plays, Come Back Little Sheba (Kirk Douglas Theater); Some Girl(s) and Emergency (Geffen Playhouse); Crowns, Orson’s Shadow (Pasadena Playhouse); Marvelous Wonderettes (Laguna Playhouse); Crowns (Ebony Rep) Cricket has designed over 200 productions in Los Angeles, in theaters such as the Colony Theater, Furious Theater, Celebration Theater, Circle X and West Coast Ensemble. In 2008, she was nominated for four Ovation Awards, and in 2007, Cricket won a Garland Award (three Honorable Mentions) and was nominated for two Ovation Awards, an LADCC and an NAACP Award. She named a “Young Designer to Watch” by Live Design Magazine, April ’07 and an “Artist to Watch” by LA Stage Magazine, Sept 07. www.cricketsmyers.com
Tom Ontiveros (Projection Design) has focused on visual design for new and premier works by composers including Paul Dresher, Mark Grey, the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music (Santa Cruz Civic); playwrights Naomi Iizuka, Charles Mee and Jessica Hagedorn; choreographers Allyson Green, Yolande Snaith, Mark Haim, and Scott Wells. Touring work includes productions in The Holland Festival, The International Festival of Arts & Ideas, and The International Theatre Festival in Cluj, Romania as well as national tours with The Paul Dresher Ensemble for Ravenshead, Slow Fire, and Soundstage. Other collaborations include projects with Michael Grief, Bob Balaban, Campo Santo, and Erin Mee. Recent work includes Production Design for Schick Machine with composer Paul Dresher and Writer/Director Rinde Eckert. Other design credits include: Most Wanted (La Jolla Playhouse); The Exonerated (Culture Project-New York Premiere); The Tyrant (Paul Dresher Ensemble); Enemy Slayer (Phoenix Symphony); Unstoppable (St. Joseph Ballet); Garden of Lila, Garden of Deadly Sound, Garden of Forbidden Loves, Iman (IMAGOmoves); Sweet 15 (San Diego Rep); My Old Lady, Visions of Kerouac, Indiscretions, Candida (Marin Theatre Company); Miss Julie, Women Center Stage (Culture Project); Full Circle (Danspace); A Dance Party (Joyce SOHO); Veils, Vestiges… (Ontological-Hysteric); First Love, Schrodinger's Girlfriend (Dean Goodman Award), Summertime (Magic Theatre); Contagion, Funny House of a Negro (Dean Goodman Award), The Language of Angels (Intersection for The Arts); Tattoo Girl (Sledgehammer). Tom is an Asst. Professor of Design at the University of Southern California.
Erik Patterson (Writer) is proud to be a native Southern Californian who writes for the theater. Plays include Tonseisha; Yellow Flesh / Alabaster Rose (winner, Backstage West Garland Award, Best Play); Red Light, Green Light (2004 Ovation Award nomination, World Premiere Play); The Making of Mary Kelly; He Asked For It (2008 Ovation Award nomination, World Premiere Play, GLAAD award nomination for Outstanding Theater); and Sick, which will have its World Premiere at Playwrights Arena in the fall. His plays have been produced by Theatre of NOTE, Evidence Room, and The Actors' Gang, and developed through the Lark Play Development Center, Moving Arts, Black Dahlia, Naked Angels, and the Mark Taper Forum. Erik has written film and TV projects for Warner Bros., ABC Family, Universal, Vh1, Mandalay Films, and others.
Neil H. Weiss (Director) is an award-winning writer/director in film and theater. He recently produced and directed his first feature, The Hanged Man. His most current short film, Leah, can be seen at a variety of festivals this year. He wrote and sold the coming-of-age, feature script Boundary Waters and his screenplay, Modoc, was a finalist for the 2002 Sundance Filmmaker Lab. His teen thriller, The Quarry, and his science fiction thriller, Dendral, are currently in development. Neil recently spent several years in post-production sound at Paramount Pictures and currently works at Discovery Studios (for Discovery Communications) in Los Angeles. His work in the theater ranges from the critically acclaimed Chicago-based Cactus Theatre to a variety of productions in Los Angeles. Last summer he directed Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf for the Citrus Summer Theater as well as the world premiere of He Asked for It at Theater of NOTE. He is thrilled to be collaborating with Lisa Kenner, Erik Patterson, and Joe Egender again, directing this new production of He Asked for It.