2nd Story: Storytellers: S

Julie Sadowski

Guest Director 2008 // Julie Sadowski, graduate of Columbia College class of 2000, doesn't sleep much these days as she balances her new role of Serendipity's managing director with her long standing role of lead photographer and owner of Grayscale Studios Inc. It is the creativity and passion of her fellow company members that inspire her to keep writing, performing and working hard to ensure that Serendipity has a strong presence in Chicago and around the world. She believes in individuality and expressing herself candidly taking part in everything from improv and stand up to spoken word and sound design. Her latest project of playing sub DJ at a Webster's monthly gave her the opportunity to fullfill a life-long dream and now that she knows what BPM stands for she's ready to give it another go.

Cassandra Sanders

Guest Director 2008 // This is Cassy's first time working with 2nd Story. Cassy has a BFA in Theater from Cornish College of the Arts. Originally from Seattle where she worked with such groups as Implied Violence, The PlaywritingTeam, and The School of Big Ideas. In Chicago Cassy has worked Collaboraction, Lookingglass, In So Many Words and Theater Seven of Chicago. Look for her short play Chicago Summer in this years Sketchbook (May 15 - June 15) presented by Collaboracton at the Steppenwolf Garage. Cassy currently serves as Assistant / Executive Artistic Director at Collaboraction.

Tracie Louise Sellers

Founding Member & Guest Director 2008 // Tracie Louise Sellers is one of the four founding members of Serendipity, and has performed in The Day Maggie Blew Off Her Head, Being 11, Alcatraz and The Outfit, as well as the last four years of 2nd Story. Her directing credits include Beruit; Assistant Director for Steppenwolf's production of Skylight; Assistant Director for The Goodman Theatre's productions of House and Garden; and Director for Serendipity’s debut—A.D.D.: Another Day of Distraction. Tracie Louise also launched Serendipity’s production of Chordless with a staged reading at The Goodman Theatre in 2000, and has worked with inner city children on a production of Romeo and Juliet.

Elizabeth Schwan-Rosenwald

Guest Director 2008 // Elizabeth Schwan-Rosenwald is the Artistic Director for 20% Theatre Company Chicago which she co-founded in 2003. Most recently with the company she directed Top Girls by Caryl Churchill. Other directing credits with 20% include: Women and War: Stories created with co-founder Abigail Boucher, David’s RedHaired Death by Sherry Kramer, How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel, and Jane: Abortion and the Underground by Paula Kamen and as part of 20%’s short play festival Snapshots 2006 & 2007. During the day (and some evenings) she is the Director of Development for The Chicago Chamber Musicians.

Stephanie Shaw

Stephanie Shaw has been an actress around town, a theater critic for the Chicago Reader, an artist in residence in the Columbia College Theater Department, a writer/performer/director/company member at the Neo-Futurarium, a solo performance artist, a director of solo performance artists, an instructor for solo performance artists, a member of BoyGirlBoyGirl (an ensemble of solo performance artists) an occasional director of plays and musicals, an MFA candidate in the Columbia Creative Writing program, a wife, a mother and a closet poet. She is still most of these things and not so much the others.

Timothy C. Simons

Timothy C. Simons is originally from Maine. His favorite book is East of Eden. He has performed with The Hypocrites and still plays on their softball team. He is co-creator of The Big Rock Show, the world’s smallest stadium rock concert, in which he plays his alter-ego Tim the Roadie. He is incredibly excited to be back for his second 2nd story. You may remember his stories last year, but if you don't, one was about getting in a bar fight/riot, and the other was about smoking weed in Minneapolis when he was 20 years old.

Amanda E. Snyder

Amanda E. Snyder is a contributor to the Chicago Tribune’s entertainment website metromix.com. Her writing has appeared in No Touching Magazine, RedEye and on Chicago's National Public Radio station WBEZ. She is also the co-founder of the monthly reading series RUI: Reading Under the Influence at Sheffield’s. Snyder holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia College, where she is the Assistant Artistic Director for the Story Week Festival of Writers. She is a past recipient of the Getz Graduate Award and Weisman Memorial Scholarship and has held a residency at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts.

Kimberlee Soo

Story Development // Kimberlee Soo is an actor whose favorite projects include the west coast premiere of Pacific Overtures (MTO, starring Mako); Words On Fire (Steppenwolf); In The Heart Of America (About Face); Rebecca Gilman’s The Crime Of The Century (Circle); A Christmas Carol (Goodman); original production of Eleven Rooms Of Proust, adapted/directed by Mary Zimmerman (About Face/Lookingglass) and Sean Graney’s The 4th Graders Present an Unnamed Love Suicide (Hypocrites);. Kimberlee’s collaboration with 2nd Story, yielded Covergirl, her first published work (inthefray magazine, one of the 'Best of 2006'). She has read for Featherproof, The Dollar Store, and as part of the MCA’s Literary Gangs of Chicago. Kimberlee travels around the U.S. with Wavelength’s comedy show for educators, and appeared in the mid-west premiere of David Henry Hwang’s Golden Child with Silk Road Theatre Project.

Jonny Stax

Jonny Stax is a performer, musical director, teacher and promoter of the arts dedicated to new and innovative work that inspires progress of thought and hilarity. From piano to puppets, cabaret to street theater, the stage to the internet, his work has frightened and titillated audiences from Seattle to New York with stops along the way in Iowa, California, and Washington, DC. He is thrilled to be settled in Chicago where the magic really happens. The Clark Kent hours in his day are spent organizing communities to improve sex education in their schools, which his Southern Baptist parents love!

Megan Stielstra

Director of Story Development // Megan Stielstra is a writer and storyteller, and has performed for The Chicago Poetry Center’s No Love For Love show featuring Ira Glass, Looptopia at The Goodman, Storyweek Festival of Writers, Neo Solo at the Neo Futurarium, Literary Gangs at The MCA, The Dollar Store, WBEZ’s Writer’s Block Party and 2nd Story, among others; her writing has appeared in Other Voices, Freshyarn, Pindeldyboz, Swink, Perigree, inthefray, Punk Planet and was a 2007 nominee for Dzanc’s Best of the Web print anthology. Currently, she teaches creative writing at Columbia College and the University of Chicago, and is thrilled to serve as 2nd Story’s Director of Story Development where she gets to hear so many kick-ass stories. Most importantly, she’s a brand-new mom, awake at crazy hours watching her son laugh in his sleep.

Shannon Sullivan

Shannon Sullivan makes a point to leave her apartment only when it’s absolutely necessary. And if you see her wearing something other than pajamas, it’s a very special day. In a ‘past life’ she studied acting at Freehold Theater in Seattle and was a founding member of Lipshtick, which is now the city’s longest running all-women’s improv troupe. These days she spends her pajama-clad time writing, making jewelry, studying drawing and doing the dishes while her husband cooks (even though she’s the one with chef’s training).