Mitera: Cast and Crew Bios

Cast

Olga Sheridan:             Allison McCorkle+
Nitsa Sheridan:            Holly Robison^
Dimitra Sheridan:         Lilly Apostolou
Sharon Kaskalis:          Patricia Tinsley+
Dimitris Kokkinakis:      Michael Wagman^

Production Team

Playwright:                   Maria Burnham^
Director:                       Letitia Guillaud^
Production Manager:   Keith Gatchel^
Stage Manager:           Lisa Uhlig^
Production Designer:   Brad Gunter^
Dialect Coach:             Kate Jordan*
Costume Design:         Molly Mason
Marketing:                   Jean Burr+, Maria Burnham^
Graphic Design:           Mike Wozniak
Photographs:               Austin D. Oie

^Denotes a Strangeloop Company Member
+Denotes a Strangeloop Associate Company Member 
*Member of Actors Equity Association.

Mitera Bio: Allison McCorkle

Allison McCorkle (Olga) studied theatre at Texas Wesleyan University and stuck around the Fort Worth/Dallas theatre scene for years before being lured to Chicago in 2007. Her credits include Piccolo Theatre, Black Ensemble Theatre, Polarity, Red Tape and GreatWorks Theatre, among others. Allison has joined Strangeloop onstage for The Robbers, Loopshop, Nutcracker Nightmare, Christmas Clueseau and Krampus! Much love to her newly bound theatre widow.

McCorkle plays the long game in her latest role — onstage and off

It’s rare that an actress gets to spend years developing a character, but Edgewater actress Allison McCorkle has done just that in her latest role as Olga in Strangeloop Theatre’s Mitera.

“I am so excited to take part in the sharing of this wonderful story,” McCorkle said. “I've watched this script develop for a while and it has been really cool to watch it evolve.”

Read more about Allison and her character development in the Lincoln Park Patch.

Thinking Caps Testimonial: Carly Williams

Thanks to those who attended the reading of Mitera!

Thanks to everyone who came out to the staged reading of Mitera on Monday evening. We had an engaged crowd that gave us some valuable feedback, which will help as we continue to develop this script with an eye toward production.

The reading, which took place at Celtic Crown on Western Avenue, was directed by Breahan Eve Pautsch and stared Allison McCorkle as Olga Sheridan, Holly Robison as Nitsa Sheridan, Cyra K. Polizzi as Dimitra Sheridan, Lona Livingston as Sharon Kaskalis and Tim Lee as Dimitris Kokkinakis.

Mitera, a new work written by Strangeloop Company Member Maria Burnham, centers around three, single sisters have their lives turned upside down when they find out their Greek mother is still micromanaging their lives from beyond the grave. Mitera pokes and prods the boundaries of family loyalty and examines the idea that sometimes the people we’ve known our entire lives are the people we know the least.

Mitera is part of Strangeloop Theatre's development series. A scene from Mitera was originally featured in our short play and new works development series, Loopshop, in 2013.

French With Me: Married Bliss

A woman finds herself unable to cheat on her husband even in her dreams — even when the other man is George Clooney. The less-than-satisfactory dream leads to a less-than-satisfactory answer to the real question of "do you think you could be unfaithful?"

Married Bliss stars Strangeloop Associate Company Member Allison McCorkle as Sylvia and Ben Campana as Ryan. The play was written by Jean Koppen and is directed by James Sparling.

The piece is part of French With Me: A Classic Affaire. The gala event begins at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 10, at the The Charnel House in Logan Square, 3421 W Fullerton Ave., with a reception and silent auction. The performances begin at 8 p.m. with live music from Hollywood's golden age and dessert to follow.

Tickets are $25 and available at the door or in advance at Brown Paper Tickets.

Hack/Slash Bio: Allison McCorkle

Allison McCorkle (Marketing/Events) is an actor who also really enjoys seeing theatre, dancing Bollywood and getting caught up in the latest story or classic that she missed as a child. A performer since the age of 8, she studied theatre at Texas Wesleyan University and stuck around the Fort Worth/Dallas theatre scene for awhile. Then the allure of public transit and beautiful weather beckoned her to Chicago, where her credits include Piccolo Theatre, Black Ensemble Theatre, Halcyon, Chicago dell’Arte, Polarity, Red Tape and GreatWorks Theatre. Allison was thrilled to work on The Robbers, Loopshop and Nutcracker Nightmare with Strangelop and looks forward to the next great adventure! During the day, she is an administrative assistant for a meat marketing company. That’s right, that’s what it says.

Strangeloop welcomes three new Artistic Associates

Strangeloop Theatre is thrilled to announce the addition of Artistic Associates to our company with three veterans of past and current productions comprising the initial members.

The new members are:

Miona Lee is originally from St. Louis, Missouri, and received her BFA in Theatre Performance from Missouri State University. While in Springfield, she worked with the Skinny Improv, Vandivort Theater, the Springfield Shakespeare Festival and Springfield Children's Playhouse. While in Chicago, she has worked with Geopolis Theater, National Pastime Theater and has been performing and writing with The Living Canvas for several seasons. In addition to acting, she toured the United States with the Glassmen Drum and Bugle Corps and performed with National Avenue and The Pride of Missouri State Winterguards. Miona is currently playing Snug/Cobweb in A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Tim Lee is an actor who originally comes from Springfield, Missouri. He stayed in his hometown to attend Evangel University where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre. After college, he traveled, performed and brought the funny across the country with The Skinny Improv. He has been living and performing in Chicago for the past several years, and has had the pleasure of performing with companies like Prologue Theatre, Living Canvas and Bootstraps Theatre. He is very excited to be a part of Strangeloop Theatre. While his first love is being on the stage, he loves being in the shop, building and painting from scratch. Tim was last seen as the Mime in French With Me and Truncheon in Nutcracker Nightmare.

Allison McCorkle is an actor who also really enjoys seeing theatre, dancing Bollywood and getting caught up in the latest story or classic that she missed as a child. A performer since the age of 8, she studied theatre at Texas Wesleyan University and stuck around the Fort Worth/Dallas theatre scene for awhile. Then the allure of public transit and beautiful weather beckoned her to Chicago, where her credits include Piccolo Theatre, Black Ensemble Theatre, Haylcon, Chicago dell'Arte, Polarity, Red Tape and GreatWorks Theatre. Allison was thrilled to work on The Robbers, Loopshop and Nutcracker Nightmare with Strangeloop and looks forward to the next great adventure! During the day, she is an administrative assistant for a meat marketing company. That's right, that's what it says. Allison McCorkle was last seen as Dora/The Doll Queen in Nutcracker Nightmare.

Currently, there are 10 Company Members in Strangeloop.

"The idea of adding an Associate level of membership comes from a sense that there are more people we'd like to work with under the umbrella of the company, and this offers both the Associate and the company a chance to get to know each other in a more formal way without the full commitment of being a Company Member," said Brad Gunter, co-artistic director. "Miona, Tim and Allison are all talented actors who have worked with Strangeloop on multiple projects and have expressed an interest in developing a closer relationship with the company. Their talents onstage and off will be a tremendous addition to Strangeloop."