Cuyahoga Community CollegeFaculty & Staff
Faculty
Robert Ellis, Faculty/Theatre Coordinator at the Western Campus: Robert.Ellis@tri-c.edu; Office - 216.987.5531
Bob has been the Western Campus Theatre Coordinator and Assistant Professor of Theater for the last 22 years. His directing credits include; the world premiere of Three Generations of Imbeciles, (which was invited to be performed at The American College Theater Festival in Michigan) The Art of Dining, Twelfth Night, Taming of the Shrew, The Crucible, Lone Star/Laundry & Bourbon, American Hero, Crazyface, Macbeth, Fuddy Meers, Blood Wedding and many others. He holds an MFA in Acting from the University of Florida, an MA in Theater History & Criticism from Kent State University and a BA in English and Theater from the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. Bob is also an accomplished professional actor. He is represented by the Docherty Talent Agency, is a member of AEA and SAG-AFTRA, and has performed in numerous television, film, commercial and industrial projects in addition to his stage credits. Local AEA credits include; The Little Foxes, A Carol for Cleveland, Galileo and A Soldier’s Tale at The Cleveland Playhouse, Stone Cold Dead Serious at Cleveland Public Theater, Circle, Mirror, Transformation, Peter and the Starcatcher, The Norwegians & The Late Henry Moss at Dobama Theater, God of Carnage at None Too Fragile, and Annie Get Your Gun, The Foreigner, and Inherit the Wind at Porthouse Theater. Professor Ellis also served as the Ohio State Coordinator for Region 3 of the American College Theater Festival and served on the Region 3 Festival Selection Committee.
Frederick Perry, Ph.D. Professor of Theatre Arts and Television Metro and Western Campuses / Theatre Coordinator at the Metropolitan & Eastern Campuses / College-Wide Faculty Counterparts Chair: Frederick.Perry@tri-c.edu; Metro Office - 216.987.4535, West Office - 216.987.5147
Dr Perry has a Doctorate from the University of Colorado in Stage Directing Analysis, his Master of Arts degree is from the University of Arizona in Playwriting, and his BA degree is from the University of California in Dramatic Criticism. As a playwright he has been produced at The Source Theatre in Washington DC, the University of Colorado, The Invisible Theatre in Tucson, Arizona, Actor's Ensemble Theatre Company in Boulder, Colorado, and with The American Theatre Association in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is the recipient of the Christina Crawford Playwriting Award (Who Is He This Time), the Panowski Playwriting Award (Tip and Rosey O'Connor's Home) and has received state playwrighting awards from Colorado and Arizona. His stage-directing credits include The Lake Effect, Hamlet, The Tooth Of Crime, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Nerd, Fences, Medea, Sylvia, The Hoochy-Choochy Dancer, Suicide in Bflat, and Greater Tuna. He was the recipient of the University of Colorado’s Teacher Excellence Award for his acting classes. He has appeared in The Little House on the Prairie and Father Murphy television shows, and a number of feature-length movies.
Production Management and Technical Direction
Charles Smith, Director, College-Wide Production Management: Charles.Smith@tri-c.edu; Office - 216.987.5611
Charles comes to Tri-C from Denver, where he was Assistant Technical Director at the University of Colorado at Denver. Previously he was at Denver Center Theatre Company in the scene shop. During his tenure there, he worked on over 100 plays including the ten hour epic, Tantalus, directed by Sir Peter Hall. Charles was proud to be part of the DCTC team when they were awarded the 1998 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theater. Charles received his Masters Degree in Technical Direction from Texas Woman’s University. There he met his wife, Julie, who has been the highlight of his life.
Brad Bunn, Manager, College-Wide Technical Production: Brad.Bunn@tri-c.edu; Office - 216.987.4269
Brad has served as Technical Director and Scenic Designer for Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Wisdom Bridge Theater, Remains Theater, and Black Ensemble Theater and many other professional theater companies in Chicago Illinois. Brad was Project Manager at LaBrosse Ltd., one of the leading scenic studios in the U.S, for five years prior to moving back to Ohio. He was Director of Operations at Erie Street Scenic in Cleveland and a Project Manager at Kengraphics in Medina before starting his own renovation company. He served as the Associate Technical Director at the Western Campus since 2009. Brad studied Music and Theater at Wilmington College where he received a B.A., and Technical Direction and Scenic Design at Ohio University where he received an M.F.A. Tri-C scene design projects include “Project Gilgamesh Songbook Unbound II” and “Two Trains Running” at the Metro Campus, “Praying Mantis”, “Taming of the Shrew”, “Almost Maine”, “Three Generations of Imbeciles”, “Twelfth Night”, “Rent”, and the World Premier of “Well Beings” at the Western Campus.
Eastern Campus Theatre Staff
Astrid Jobe, Associate Technical Director: Astrid.Jobe@tri-c.edu; Office - 216.987.0513
Prior to coming to Tri-C, Astrid was the Production Manager, Technical Coordinator, and a Lecturer in Theatre and Dance at Oberlin College for 12 years. She has also worked professionally as a stage manager with Cleveland area dance companies such as VERB Ballets, Ohio Dance Theater, and Dancing Wheels. Astrid holds a B.S. in Speech and Theatre Education from Georgia Southern University and an M.A. in Theatre Production and Design from the University of Pittsburgh, where she also served as Assistant Technical Director.
Tim Kennedy, Lead Theatre Technician: Tim.Kennedy@tri-c.edu; Office - 216.987.2480
Tim has been in the live entertainment field for more than 25 years. Starting out performing live on stage to eventually working live productions with local event companies as a sound engineer. Some of his live sound credits consists of George Clinton and P-Funk, Kenny Chesney along with corporate events with President Bill Clinton/Vice President Al Gore, and the Football Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonies. Tim joined the Metro Theatre staff in 1999 as a technician specializing in sound. Throughout his time at Cuyahoga Community College, he has operated and maintained the sound systems in the four theatre spaces and designed and implemented new sound systems in the Auditorium, Studio Theatre and Black Box Theatre. Other work consists of; on field audio for the Cleveland Browns for 9 years, sound design of “Lake Effect”, “Buried Child” and “Tempest” (Tri-C Metro), “The Gamblers” and “Masterpieces of Russian Drama” (Cleveland Museum of Art). Tim is also an adjunct faculty in Tri-C’s Recording Arts and Technology department, teaching Live Sound Reinforcement.
Rob Wachala, Lead Theatre Technician: Robert.Wachala@tri-c.edu; Office - 216.987.2438
Rob has been a freelance lighting technician in and around the Cleveland area working in a variety of roles in Entertainment. Recent credits include Lighting Designer for Art of Dining, Well Beings by Greg Vovos and Video designer for Skin of Our Teeth with Tri-C West. He has been resident lighting designer with Near west theatre for the past 7 seasons including design for the following productions: Assassins, Showboat, The Snow Queen, Hair, Shrek the Musical, and Jesus Christ Superstar, and many more. He is grateful for the opportunity to move from Part-time to Full-time employment with Tri-C.
Metropolitan Campus Staff
Josh Caraballo, Lead Theatre Technician: Joshua.Caraballo@tri-c.edu; Office - 216.987.5254
A graduate of Tri-C's very own Recording Arts and Technology Program, Josh transitioned from working an internship in the RAT program to working as a technician in Tri-C Metro's Theatre Department in early 2006. As a sound engineer his work includes designs for the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra, freelance work for the Cleveland Museum of Art, and reinforcing live bands with the Cleveland Music Group. His work in Musical Theatre began over ten years ago with Near West Theatre where he designed audio for productions such as "A Christmas Story the Musical", "Shrek the Musical", and "Move On". Other Musical Theatre designs include work with groups such as Oberlin College's Little Theatre, the Creative Licensing Group, North Pointe Ballet, and Olmsted Performing Arts.
Thomas Jeffries, Lead Theatre Technician: Thomas.Jeffries@tri-c.edu; Office - 216.987.0526
Terrii Wachala, Lead Theatre Technician: Teresa.Wachala@tri-c.edu; Office - 216.987.4210
A graduate of Kent State University, Terrii received her Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Theatrical Design and Technology. Following college, she moved to the Greater Cleveland area and began working as a Freelance Lighting Designer and Stagehand in several venues around town. She began working for Tri-C in 2009 on a part time basis where she was shared primarily between the Eastern and Western Campuses but is not College-wide and house primarily at Metro.
Western Campus Theatre Staff
Richard E. Simna, Associate Technical Director: Richard.Simna@tri-c.edu; Office - 216.987.5262
Richard (or Eric as he likes to be called) graduated with a BA in Communication and Theatre Arts from John Carroll Univeristy in 2008. He began his career at Tri-C as a part-time Lead Theatre Technician in August of 2009. Eric was promoted to Stage Tech II (Associate Technical Director) in August of 2016. Eric has also worked around the Cleveland area: Lakeland Community College, John Carroll University, Lorain Community College, Mercury Theatre Company, The Musical Theatre Project, Heights Youth Theatre. He is also the proud owner of A440 Sound.
Kristen Gressock, Lead Theatre Technician: Kristen.Gressock@tri-c.edu; Office - 216.987.0567
Kristen has been involved with Tri-C since the Fall of 2002 when she enrolled as a student. After finding the theatre department in Fall of 2003, she began her career path in theatre. Working as a student assistant she fell in love with the craft. After completing her B.A. in Theatre Studies from Kent State University, she returned to Tri-C to work part-time. She joined the staff as a full-time employee in August of 2016. Credits include: four season with Porthouse Theatre, two seasons with The Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Company, three seasons with the Idaho Shakespeare Festival, and four seasons with Great Lakes Theater. Kristen has also worked with Cleveland Public Theatre, Ballet in Cleveland, VERB Ballet, and Convergence-Continuum. She wouldn’t have been able to do any of this without the love and support of those closest to her.
Dan Mayer, Lead Theatre Technician: Daniel.Mayer@tri-c.edu; Office - 216.987.0566
Dan received his formal theatre training at Ohio State University where he graduated in 2010. After spending a season with Cleveland Play House as a stagehand, Dan continued his theatrical profession in Chicago, Illinois where he worked as the 2nd shift Assistant Technical Director at Northeastern Illinois University. To make ends meet and spice up his résumé, he also worked as the Head A/V Engineer for Chicago's flagship children's theater company, Emerald City Theatre and freelanced as a Sound Designer and Technical Director/Carpenter. He then moved his talents for a short time to Miami, Florida where he worked as an I.A.T.S.E. A/V Engineer at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County. But with the arrival of his first child, he moved back to Northeast Ohio and has been working with Tri-C as a Full-Time Lead Theatre Technician since April of 2018.