Judy Klingner - Second Vice-President
Ms. Klingner holds a B.A. in Communication Studies from Northern Illinois University and an M.A. in Theatre from Roosevelt University.  In her 25th year at William Fremd High School in Palatine, she teaches drama, speech, and English; directs the musical and drama/group interpretation; choreographs for the show choir; and is the Auditorium Manager.  Judy is a long-time member of ITA and has served on the Board as the Division Representative for Secondary Education from 2006-present.  She has served on the Illinois High School Theatre Festival Committee as the Associate Director for College and University Auditions and Exhibits.  She choreographed the 2002 All-State production of The Pirates of Penzance, she was a producer for auditions and casting for the 2008 All-State production of Parade, and directed the 2010 All-State production of Urinetown.

Rachel Jamieson - Secretary
Ms. Jamieson is a K-8 Drama Teacher at Franklin Fine Arts Center, a CPS Magnet School. She has directed, stage managed, performed and taught students of all ages in the Chicago area, New York City, and Cork, Ireland.  Rachel was a Founder and the Artistic Director of the High School Repertory Company at the Children’s Theatre of Western Springs, and was Associate Education Director at Metropolis School of the Performing Arts. Other highlights include work with Lifeline Theater, Steppenwolf Theatre, Cork Shakespearean Company, University College of Cork and the world-renowned Gaiety School of Acting.  Rachel is an Illinois state certified theatre, speech and English teacher, has been a middle school music teacher and a high school speech coach.  She holds a B.A. in Secondary Education from Concordia University Chicago and an M.A. in Educational Theatre from New York University. Rachel previously served on the Illinois Theatre Association Board 2005-2007 as a Creative Dramatics Representative.  

Steve Leaver - Children's Theatre
Mr. Leaver is the Artistic Director of Imagination Theater where he has worked since 1997.  He oversees and manages all aspects of the company from programming, to development, financials, and marketing.  Steve also leads staff development workshops and customized programming for schools and corporations.  In addition to Imagination Theater, Steve teaches acting courses and serves as the Drama Department Chair for the School of Performing Arts at the Metropolis Performing Arts Center in Arlington Heights IL, which he has been doing since 2002.  Steve continues to serve on the board of directors as the Children's Theater rep with the Illionis Theatre Association, a position he has held since 2008.  He holds a BS in theater from Illinois State University.

Penny Choice - Community Theatre
Ms. Choice is retired Staff Development Coordinator for the Lake County Regional Office of Education in Grayslake, IL.  She is a specialist in Gifted Education and drama-in-education.  She received her Bachelor's degree in Speech and Drama from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, an M Ed in Gifted Education from National-Louis University, Evanston, IL and an MA in Educational Administration from Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago.  Her areas of expertise include fine arts education with a focus in integrating the arts and the use of process drama, a classroom instructional tool.  She is co-author of the 2010 book, The New RtI:  Response to Intelligence, published by Pieces of Learning.

Currently, she is adjunct professor in developing creativity in the graduate education for Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago.  An international consultant Penny has spoken extensively and conducted workshops for groups of teachers, administrators, counselors, and parents since 1985.

She has been active in theatre since she was a child in Manitowoc, Wisconsin where her entire family was active with the local community theatre.  She has been an active member of the Theatre of Western Springs in Illinois since 1970 where she also taught and directed for the Children’s Theatre of Western Springs until 1981.  She was Producing Director for Mirror Image Youth Theatre in Hinsdale from 1986-88 and has been active in her own company, Choice Dramatics, from 1976-1990.  She has represented both Children’s Theatre and Creative Dramatics on the Illinois Theatre Association Board of Directors.

Mariah Conover Keko - Creative Dramatics
Ms. Keko is originally from Minnesota. She earned her BFA in Theatre Education from Drake University in 2001, and MFA in Theatre for Youth from Arizona State University in 2008. Her primary interests in theatre are educationally-driven; she has taught ages 3-94 in areas such as acting, directing, puppetry, and improvisation. Currently, she is the drama teacher at Rowe Elementary, a new Chicago charter school of which she was a founding staff member in 2009 where she has developed a process-oriented, exploratory curriculum, which highlights the theatre elements creative drama, storytelling, and puppetry. Additional public school credits include teaching high school English, English as a Second Language, and speech/communications in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Ms. Keko's further theatre interests include improvisation, and forum and play-back theatre as a way to both entertain and explore social issues. She also enjoys collaborative devising of new theatre pieces such as “TXT Me a Story,” a play she co-wrote, devised, directed, and performed in, which explored issues of manipulation and internet predation geared towards young adolescents. This new work toured to schools in the Phoenix, Arizona area during the spring of 2007.  She has worked with Chicago-area theatres, including Adventure Stage, First Folio Theatre, and Silk Road Theatre Project.

Colin Douglas - Professinal Theatre
Mr. Douglas is an equity actor currently living up north in the shadow of Great America's roller coasters.  He's a freelance director and works part-time as an audition monitor for Actor's Equity in Chicago and part-time as a bookseller at Barnes & Noble in Vernon Hills.  Recently Mr. Douglas completed a two-year post as Artistic Director at CTM Madison Family Theatre, in Madison, Wisconsin. He enjoys spending time traveling, cooking, discovering new restaurants, losing himself in unusual bookstores, and viewing great plays and musicals in Chicago, New York and London.

A native of Michigan, Mr. Douglas earned a Bachelor of Science in English & Theatre and a Master of Theater Arts from Western Michigan University.  Colin studied theatre at The University of London, Edinburgh University and Loughborough Teachers' College as part of the program.  He also has a Master of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre Performance from Roosevelt University in Chicago, IL.   He taught theatre and directed for 14 summers at the Interlochen Center for the Arts and has taught third grade, high school English and theatre, taught college seminars in acting and directed productions with all age groups throughout the country.  As an actor, he has performed such diverse roles as Benjamin Franklin in 1776, Norman in On Golden Pond, Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, Sancho in Man of La Mancha, Leonato in Much Ado About Nothing, Judge Turpin in Sweeney Todd, both Selsdon Lloyd in Noises Off, the Major-General in Pirates of Penzance and Herr Schultz in Cabaret.  For Colin theatre is the element of life that keeps him young.

Karen Hall - Secondary Eduction Theatre
Ms. Hall has been a high school theatre teacher and director for the past 21 years.  Currently she teaches speech and drama at Maine East High School.  She also directs the fall play, directs and choreographs the musical and is the choreographer for their show choir, The Demonaires.  She holds a BFA in Musical Theatre from Syracuse University and an MA in Theatre Education from Emerson College.  She has had a long history with the Illinois High School Theatre Festival, having attended her first one 16 years ago.  She has been a workshop presenter, directed a number of Full-Length and Showcase productions, has served on the Festival Committee and loves to work the swap desk.  Ms. Hall was proud to have served as the Executive Director of the 2010 Illinois High School Theatre Festival.  Of the many productions she has directed and/or choreographed, her favorite Maine East shows include Metamorphoses, Disney's Beauty and the Beast, and the Illinois High School premiere of CATS.

I would be honored to serve as a Secondary School representative to the ITA and have the opportunity to participate in the dialogue about how we can continue the great work the ITA has done.  I am particularly interested in focusing on how the ITA and the ITHSF can improve their communications and organization.  I would enjoy the chance to serve as a voice for my fellow secondary school members and would welcome any suggestions they might have for how the ITA can continue to support their efforts as teachers and directors.

Janeve West - College/University Theatre
Ms. West holds an M.F.A. in both Acting and Directing from Texas Tech University and has been a part of the Monmouth College Theatre faculty since August of 2006.  She currently teaches all areas of acting and directing, as well as Children’s Theatre and Creative Dramatics, Theatre History and Theatre for Social Change.   Prior to joining the faculty at Monmouth, she served as a Drama Instructor/Director of Youth Productions for The Omaha Theatre Company.  There she taught a wide array of classes and served as Education Coordinator for the Advanced Conservatory Program and Coordinator for the Youth Internship Program.  Her professional interests include movement based training, Womyn’s Theatre, Brecht, Boal  and new script development.