Allison Sokolowski (Artistic Director/Founder/Conductor/Ensemble) is an actor, storyteller, and proud Chicagoland native with a B.S. in Acting and English from Illinois State University represented by Lori Lins Ltd, and she is grateful to to practice Playback Theatre in this great city. She was a founding member of the Illinois State Playback Theatre Ensemble where, for over two years, she performed in shows and helped lead outreach workshops with the local Boys and Girls Club. She has also studied at the Centre for Playback Theatre in New York and with several leading Playback Theatre teachers worldwide, including the founders of Playback Theatre. Allison is most interested in imaginative, innovative, and socially rooted productions and projects, and you can learn more about her and her work at http://allisonsokolowski.wixsite.com/allisonsokolowski
Dawn M. Pirani Brumfield (Managing Director/Ensemble) is a daughter, sister, spouse and mom. She is deeply committed to mental health advocacy, awareness and education. Dr. Dawnn graduated from the Vanderbilt Divinity School and the Chicago Theological Seminary with advanced degrees in Counseling and Pastoral Care. She founded the Trifocus Counseling & Consulting Services, a community clinical practice dedicated to meeting folks right where they are. In her rare spare time, she loves spending time with her family and friends, writing and watching sports with her parents.
Jamie Redwood (Financial Coordinator/Ensemble/Musician) is a Chicago performer who focuses on bringing radical kindness to the stage and rehearsal room. Jamie is the keyboardist for local “y’allternative” band, The Kantors. She is a proud ensemble member of the Chicago Playback Theatre Ensemble, Theatre Above the Law and Idle Muse Theatre Company. When she’s not performing, Jamie spends her time working with Piano Power, offering private and group piano/voice/guitar lessons to people of all ages. Check out her Instagram for more information on performances and life updates @jamie.rdwd
Lindsey Chidester (Company Stage Manager) is a Chicago administrative assistant by day, Chicago storefront stage manager by night. Her goal is to always lend an empathetic ear to those who need it, as well as be supportive help for the ensembles she’s involved in. She is a grateful member of the Chicago Playback Theatre Company and Idle Muse Theatre Company. When Lindsey isn’t working, you can find her bopping to music, reading and hanging out with her two cats Oliver and Lyra.
Chase Nuerge (they/them) (Ensemble) is a Chicago-based actor whose passion is making relevant and political theater, especially normalizing gender non-conformity. Previous roles include Zhey in [Trans]formation (The Living Canvas and Nothing Without a Company), Zelazny in Down the Rocky Road and All the Way to Bedlam (Otherworld Theater), and Sad Boy in Wasteland Hero (Reutan Collective).
Sophia Pietrkowski (Guest Artist) is a Calarts BFA Acting graduate and Chicago native. Most recently, she performed in 1214 at Lily at the Kentucky Mex Theater (Shpiel), Rulli’s Accidental Election of an Anarchist as Contessina Demedici (Atheneum Theater), and Chagall in School as Berta Chagall (Shpiel. She is an guest artist with CPTE and excited for our next season!
Gayle Starr (Guest Artist) majored in performance studies at Northwestern University and received her MFA in theater for youth at UT Austin, before getting her Masters of Social Work at UIC. She currently works as a school social worker during the day and teaches and directs you and adults at Devonshire Playhouse in Skokie during the evening. Gayle also acts and directs around the Chicago. She also enjoys, singing, and story telling. She is excited to begin her third season with Chicago Playback and would like to thank her husband and daughters for their love and support.
Luke Wallens (Teaching Artist/Ensemble) is an actor, improviser, move, shaker, puppeteer, and singer in Chicago, IL. He workers in drama therapy with different populatons within the Chicagoland area. When not doing theatrical things, he enjoys adventures in the outdoor, gardening, and walking his dog…oh, and jigsaw puzzles.
Darrick Jackson (Curriculum Consultant) is thrilled to be helping the Chicago Playback Theatre Company. Darrick was involved with South End Playback in Boston several years ago. Professionally, he works with ministers and seminarians and sometimes incorporates playback in his trainings. He thanks his husband Jim, and cats, Merlin and Morgana, for all of their love and support.
Lisa Roth (Guest Artist) has a BFA in acting and a lifelong love of the theater. Before moving to Chicago in 2021, Lisa has acted and directed with theater companies in Hood River and Eugene, Oregon. Most notably the Oregon Contemporary Theater, The Very Little Theater, Plays for Non-profit ad the Columbia Arts Stage. Some of her favorite acing roles have included Hattie in Laundry & Bourbon, Catherine in In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play), Jenny in Go Home Jenny Sutter, and Robyn in The Roommate. She is currently a guest artist with Chicago Playback Theatre Ensemble. When not dabbling in her artistry, Lisa works as a psychologist, attempts to keep her four house plants alive, and is under the dictatorship of her lovable and neurotic dog, Dashiell.
Armando Brigham (Guest Artist) loves spaghetti. When he is not preparing, eating, and thinking of spaghetti, he writes satire, works at a comedy club, and reads ginormous books that takes him months to finish.
Sarah Schmitt (Ensemble/Musician) is a Chicago based actor and musician. She received her undergraduate degree in elementary education and Spanish at Monmouth College while also participating in theatre, improv, and gospel groups. After college, she spent a few years living abroad in Granada, Spain and Queretaro, Mexico where she performed in bands and taught theatre. Sarah has always appreciated the act of listening and storytelling and feels lucky to share this passion with the Playback team and its audiences.
Kennedy Frazier (She/They) (Guest Artist/Musician) is a Chicago-based actor, writer, and musician. She studied playwriting and Arabic Literature at Kenyon College, where she also worked as a literary associate for the Kenyon Review. In addition to her artistic practice, she serves as a behavioral health instructor and is passionate about using storytelling to build empathy. She believes in the power of the arts to transform how we care for one another.
Rian Sondag (Ensemble) is a Chicago-based comedian and storyteller with a passion for laughter and independent theater. She received her BA in Theater from Miami University. She can be found performing sketch and improv at different venues around the city, and is a dedicated member to the flag football team “The Rum Tum Tuggers”. Check out her Instagram (@therealriansondag) for more info and general silliness.
Nehanda Loiseau Julot (Guest Artist) resides in Evanston, Illinois with her husband and rambunctious toddler. She is a financial planner by day and theatre artist always. Her theatre work has taken many turns: performing, playwriting and producing. Essays highlighting her theatre work have been published in several publications. She is Founder and CEO of Wealth I Am LLC, which teaches financial empowerment through techniques in storytelling. Learn more: wealthiam.net, Instagram: @wealthiam2020, Facebook: @wealthiam.net
Catherine “CC” Councell (she/her/they) (Artistic Associate) is a teaching artist and actor. She has her MFA in Theatre Arts: Acting from the University of Iowa. Catherine is happiest when she co-creates brave, inclusive, silly spaces. An Avid reader, and a lifelong theatre kid, Catherine is interested in the therapeutic effects of storytelling. Catherine is a certified Youth Mental Health First Aider, certified in trauma-informed consent-based practices for the theatre classroom, and is completing a certification in the Nervous System & The Arts for performers. She is currently working as an actor in TYA shows with Greatworks Theatre Co and Chicago’s Children’s Theatre: Red Kite Friendship Tour. Catherine is on staff as CC as a Curriculum Development Associate & Teaching Artist specializing in RAR and Red Kite (Drama time for those on the Autism spectrum), and with Writers Theatre as a Teaching Artist for their Novel Series. www.catherinecouncell.com.
Xavier Dean (He/Him) (Artistic Associate) is an writer/actor that’s been performing in Chicago for four years. Originally from Davenport IA, Xavier moved to Chicago at the end of the pandemic and begin performing in the city’s improv comedy scene just one year later. A fan of all things fun, Xavier is super excited to join the Playback Theatre. You can also catch him performing regularly with Flex Improv at the Annoyance Theater or understudying on the Second City Mainstage. He wishes you great health and wellness!
Teri Talo (Artistic Associate) is a Non-Binary, Boriquen/Mexican Theatre Artist in the Chicagoland Area. They received their BFA in Acting from the University of Illinois-Chicago. Acting, along with divising are their main points of focus but are also a Teaching Artist and have been dipping their toes into Playwriting. They have worked with Chicago Children’s Theatre, About Face, and Explore Theatre, t name a few. Outside of theatre, they are a visual artist, Doggy/Kitty parent and engaged to their beautiful fiance. They are so excited to joining CPTE as an Artistic Artist.
Eric Cho (Artistic Associate) is a licensed clinical professional counselor in IL and owner of IMPROVing Life Counseling Inc. He has been working in the mental health field for 20+ years. He is a graduate of the CIIS Drama Therapy Program ad was bitten by the Playback bug while there. He has performed with various Playback ensembles in the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, Milwaukee, and Chicago, and can currently be seen performing with The Therapy Players, as Chicago based comedy group comprised entirely of mental health professionals. Eric is thrilled and grateful to be returning to the world of Playback Theater with CPTE.
Sasha Vulovic (Artistic Associate) is a performing artist and dancer who first encountered devised theater from the Hinterlands, a physical theater company in Detroit with whom she apprenticed for four years that culminated in a self directed and written shadow and dance theater show. Sasha moved to Chicago in 2018 to pursue more acrobatics and theater through the PTP at the Actor’s Gymnasium. She teaches social circus, breaking, and ballroom dance currently.
Lee Peters (Artistic Associate) is a Creative Arts Professional who specializes in education and storytelling in all its forms. Lee is grateful to have had many opportunities to work with and impact the lives of young people as teacher and director for over 20 years. He is currently a company member wit Playmakers Laboratory, an Artistic Associate with Chicago Playback Theatre, a teacher and director with Ovation Academy, and a teaching artist with Chicago Dantztheatre and Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education.
Maddy Grady (She/Her) (Artistic Associate) is a Chicago-based actor and circus performer. A Northwestern University Theatre graduate, her recent credits include That’s Weird Grandma (Plamakers Laboratory), Death Toll (Corn Productions), and Baked Hamlet (420 Shakespeare). When not onstage, you can catch her as a teaching artist with Playmakers Laboratory, snuggling with her single-braincelled orange cat, or making groan worthy puns.
Evelyn Jane Wohlbier (She/They) (Artistic Associate) is a performance actor new to Chicago from Portland, OR. She thrives on organized chaos and finds constant inspiration in younger generations as the Leadership Seminar Chair of HOBY DC. They are an interview-based theatre maker who intentionally centers real voice at the core of her work.
Carol Pazos (she/her) (Artistic Associate) is a Chicago-based improviser, writer, and producer who believes in the transformative power of storytelling. She began her journey in the Improv for Anxiety program at Second City, where she discovered how improv can be a tool for connection, healing, and growth. A graduate of Second City’s Writing and Conservatory programs, Carol brings warmth, curiosity, and authenticity to every performance. Her work blends humor and heart, embracing he unexpected moments where stories come alive. Through Playback Theatre, she continues to honor shared experiences and create spaces for reflection and connection. Offstage, Carol produces comedy through her company, Your Funny Friend (insta: @itsyourfunnyfriend), always seeking to uplift voices and build community.