Anisha Adusumilli is an Actress/Writer/Creator. Her short film, First Date, that she wrote, directed, produced and acted in, went to multiple festivals and won a Best Short Short award. She has been featured in TV Shows including All American, Lucifer, Days of Our Lives, and more. You can currently catch her playing a leading role in BIFL: The Series - an LGBTQ romantic comedy series recently launched on Youtube with almost 1 million views over season 1 as well as being a regular in the series Bulge Bracket on Amazon Prime.
Alex Alcheh
Alex Alcheh hails from New City, New York with that good ole BFA from Syracuse University. Recent TV/Film credits include Netflix' Dear White People and the Reese Witherspoon led, Home Again. He is so damn excited to be a part of IAMA after numerous incredible experiences acting and directing with them over the last few years.
Tom Amandes
Tom Amandes grew up in the small towns of Richmond and Crystal Lake, Illinois. He began performing at home, with his 10 brothers and sisters, creating puppet shows, short films, music and radio dramas, before moving on to school plays and community theater.
He graduated from The Goodman School of Drama, as it became the Theatre School at DePaul University. His work on the Chicago stage began in the ensemble of the "Body Politic Theatre", where he starred in such memorable productions as "Translations", "The Playboy of the Western World" and "Falstaff & Hal". Other notable stage work includes "What the Butler Saw", "Candida" and "The Mystery Cycle" at the Court Theatre, and "Free Advice from Prague" and "The Courtship of Carl Sandburg" at Northlight.
Tom was head writer and announcer of the NPR musical variety show, "The Flea Market". He directed plays for the Curious Theater, played music with both Balderdash and Jamie O'Reilly & The Rogues, and was artistic director of the Call to Action Theater.
While working on-stage in Chicago, Tom was cast as "Eliot Ness" in the television series, The Untouchables (1993) and spent two years shooting on his home turf. Moving to L.A., Tom starred in the NBC comedy, The Pursuit of Happiness (1995), with Melinda McGraw and Brad Garrett. He's played recurring roles on Big Love (2006), Boston Legal (2004), Eli Stone (2008), The Guardian (2001), Spin City (1996), From the Earth to the Moon (1998) and, most recently, Parenthood (2010). Other favorite TV work include Grey's Anatomy (2005), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000), Just Shoot Me! (1997), ER (1994) and The Larry Sanders Show (1992).
Traveling to the western Rockies, Tom spent four years portraying the beloved "Dr. Harold Abbott" on the family drama, Everwood (2002), opposite Treat Williams. He went on to direct episodes of "Everwood" as well as ABC's Brothers & Sisters (2006) and the new CW series, Hart of Dixie (2011).
Tom's film credits include The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996), opposite Geena Davis, Brokedown Palace (1999) with Claire Danes and Kate Beckinsale, Billboard Dad (1998) with the Olsen twins, Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen', Second Chances (1998), Straight Talk (1992), HBO's Live from Baghdad (2002) and the recent black-comedy, Lucky (2011), with Colin Hanks and Ari Graynor.
His work on the Chicago stage continues at the Victory Gardens Theater, where he's starred, most recently, in "Cynical Weathers" and Edward Albee's "At Home At The Zoo", both directed by Dennis Zacek.
Tom plays "Dr. Peter Pelikan" on the hit NBC series, Parenthood (2010), opposite Ray Romano. He stars as "President Abraham Lincoln" in the Salvador Litvak film, Saving Lincoln (2013), alongside Penelope Ann Miller and Lea Coco. He also appears as "Governor Samuel Reston" on the ABC political thriller, Scandal (2012), opposite Kerry Washington and Tony Goldwyn.
Tom is married to actress Nancy Everhard, who played "Katherine Ness" on The Untouchables (1993). His daughters, Meg O'Reilly Amandes and Nia O'Reilly Amandes make up two-thirds of the Chicago band, "Midnight Moxie". And his son, Ben Amandes, is himself a budding hyphenate.
Laila Ayad
Deanna Barillari
Stefanie Black
Michelle Bossy
Michelle Bossy is a Mexican-American award-winning film, television, and theater director. Recent films Michelle directed include Under the Lantern Lit Sky (feature); klutz. by Elizabeth Narciso; Early Retirement by Pete Sabri and Susan-Kate Heaney; Chance of Showers by Julie Craig and Alex Ellis; The Trespassed by Raul Garza; Incurable by Josephine Cashman; Miracle Baby by Steven Fechter; Friendly Neighborhood Coven by Caroline V. McGraw; Ladies Lounge by Caroline V. McGraw; 18 written by Courtney Baron; She Grinds Her Own Coffee, written by Cheri Magid; and The New 35 written by Leslie Korein. Michelle’s films have premiered at the Austin Film Festival, St. Louis International Film Festival, Dances with Films, LA Shorts International Film Festival, and the Female Eye Film Festival, among dozens of others. Michelle directed the series The Broadway Babies Show by Nicole Mangi and Leah Sprecher, and There’s a Special Place in Hell for Fashion Bloggers, written by Amelia Alvarez. She has directed music videos for the band Yassou, and the singer/songwriter Brooke Josephson. Her next two features Nobody’s Home and Copy Cat will shoot in 2022. Recently, Michelle directed a new project for Disney.
Theater projects Michelle has directed include The Oxy Complex by Anna Lamadrid, Melissa Center is… Marrying Jake Gyllenhaal by Melissa Center, Lady MacBeth and Her Lover by Richard Vetere, Sex with Strangers by Laura Eason, Every Good Girl Deserves Fun by Heidi Armbruster, Sex of the Baby by Matthew-Lee Erlbach, Cloven Tongues by Victor Lesniewski, Un Plugged In by Brian Pracht, South Beach Rapture by David Caudle, and Sarajevo’s Child by Katie Simon, amongst many other new plays. She created the musical High School Confidential for Primary Stages with writers Janet Reed, Dan Ahearn, Sara Wordsworth and Russ Kaplan. Some developmental readings she has directed include The Peterson Show by Janine Nabers (CTG, Echo Theater Company), Smile by Melissa Jane Osborne (IAMA), EL by Raul Garza (at Two River Theater), Miller, Mississippi by Boo Killebrew, The Infinity Pond by Maria Alexandria Beech and Eat Your Heart Out by Courtney Baron (all at Perry Mansfield New Works Festival), Bicycle Girl by Rogelio Martinez (at Repertory Theater of St. Louis), Gloria by Maria Alexandria Beech (EST), Mercy by Adam Szymkowicz, and May Day by Molly Smith Metzler.
Michelle was the Associate Artistic Director of the off-Broadway theater company Primary Stages, where she worked for thirteen years. While there, she ran the Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group, where she worked with over twenty-five emerging writers on the creation of new plays. Michelle holds the first undergraduate directing degree from Webster University’s Conservatory of Theatre Arts. She teaches acting and playwriting for the Einhorn School of Performing Arts (ESPA), playwriting and acting for NYU, acting for UCLA, and directing for Syracuse University’s Tepper Semester. Michelle is the recipient of the Denham Fellowship awarded by the Society of Directors and Choreographers for her work on There and Back in San Miguel de Allende, MX, and Los Angeles, CA. Michelle was a semifinalist for the HBO Access Program, and a finalist for the AFI Conservatory Directing Workshop for Women.
Member: Lincoln Center Director’s Lab and SDC.
R.S. Buck
R. S. Buck is an international lighting designer for theatre, dance, and opera, and a multimedia artist in immersive and interactive experiences.
In LA, they have designed at the Kirk Douglas (postponed due to COVID), The Broad Stage, and The Ford, among others. They designed CAGES by Woolf and the Wondershow, a critically acclaimed experiential spectacle in DTLA. Buck is a Collaborating Artist with the In[HEIR]itance Project, as a Production Designer and Manager. Internationally, they have designed in Japan, Israel, China, and Mexico.
Buck holds an MFA from California Institute of the Arts in Experience Design and Production.
Jon Caren
JON CAREN (Playwright) – Plays include NEED TO KNOW (Colt Coeur Play Hotel 2015, Rogue Machine World Premiere, Fall 2015) THE RECOMMENDATION (Ground Rising 2015, IAMA 2014, The Flea 2013, Old Globe 2012, Craig Noel Award, Best New Play, 2014 Ovation, Best Play, NAACP nomination), THE MORNING THE SUN FELL DOWN (MTC 7@7 2013), LET ME GO (2013 Rattlestick Fest, JPP), CATCH THE FISH (Most Outstanding Play, NY Fringe) and THE VENERABLE RAMAN GUPTA (Flea First Look Series, Sundance Finalist, New Group 2014 New Works Lab).
His work has been developed at theaters across the country including MTC, The Roundabout Underground, EST, The Rattlestick, New Group, Williamstown, Ars Nova, Pasadena Playhouse, Keen Company, Colt Coeur, Woodshed, Berkshire Playwright’s Lab, Rogue Machine, The Elephant as well as developmentally at The Lark, New York Stage and Film, The Jewish Plays Project, Partial Comfort and in The Samuel French OOB Festival and The Old Vic in London.
He is a MacDowell Colony Fellow, a Dramatist Guild Fellow, A NYSAF Award Winner, a two time recipient of a Fellowship to SPACE @ Ryder Farm, a two-time Lecomte du Nouy award winner and a recipient of the Theater Publicus Prize for Dramatic Fiction. Additionally, he was a finalist for the Laurents/Hatcher Award, a nominee for the Otis Guerney New American Playwright’s Award.
In TV, Jonathan has written pilots for FOX and CBS amongst others. He is a graduate of The Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwright’s Program at The Juilliard School and Vassar College where he studied mythology and religion. He’s a member of Partial Comfort and originally hails from Los Angeles.
Dean Chekvala
DEAN CHEKVALA is a graduate of Wayne State University and The School at Steppenwolf and appeared on stages in Chicago, Detroit, and LA, including the Steppenwolf Theatre and Southern Colorado Repertory Theatre. With IAMA he has appeared in A Dog's House, Do Like the Kid’s Do, The Accidental Blonde. Other theatre credits include: Hamlet, Il Bidone, Noises Off, A Flea in Her Ear, Over the River and Through the Woods, House of Yes, Romeo and Juliet, The Altruists, Ashes to Ashes, Twelfth Night, The Mound Builders, All in the Timing, Hippies Heartaches and Hairloss, Little Women. Some TV/Film credits include: Harper’s Island, Justified, Lie to Me, ER, Without a Trace, 13 Graves, Numb3rs, Grimm, NCIS LA, Breakout Kings, True Blood, People Like Us, The Resident, Mulligan, What Remains, and others.
Parvesh Cheena
Parvesh Cheena is a native of Chicago, Illinois. He has worked onstage regionally at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Lifeline Theatre and in Los Angeles at East West Players, The Blank Theatre, Artists at Play, and Open Fist. He recently was in IAMA Theatre’s first musical production, FOUND based on Found Magazine. He recently starred on NBC’s CONNECTING. Other TV credits include OUTSOURCED, CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND, and THE GOLDBERGS and voiceover work on Disney’s T.O.T.S. and MIRA ROYAL DETECTIVE along his fellow IAMA member and collaborator, Sonal Shah. Parvesh is proud to be an IAMA member. @parvesh - twitter, @parvey - instagram
Sheila Carrasco
Sheila Carrasco is from the South Side of Chicago. She has a BFA from NYU and a MFA from Harvard. She has performed at the American Repertory Theatre, Steppenwolf Garage, Court Theatre Chicago, Moscow Art Theatre, and for the last year and a half in the Groundlings Sunday Company. TV credits include: CBS The Odd Couple, CBS Life in Pieces, YouTube Red's Me & My Grandma, and recurs as Detective Dana Peruzzi on the CW's Jane the Virgin. She is also an actress/writer/producer for Más Mejor- Broadway Video's premium comedy studio for latino voices. She is over the moon to be on this webpage.
Desi Dennis-Dylan
Desi is beyond thrilled to join the IAMA family after being part of the West Coast premiere of Found. She has traveled all over the globe as a performer, master teacher, and featured musician and has had the privilege of sharing the stage with such artists as Kelli O'Hara, Brian Stokes Mitchell and the legendary Dick Van Dyke to name a few. She is an alumna of the CBS Diversity Sketch Comedy Showcase and her TV credits include: Superior Donuts, Modern Family, Henry Danger, Good Girls, NCIS and Perfect Harmony. You can find her on Instagram and Twitter at @desidennisdylan
James Eckhouse
James has performed in dozens of productions On and Off Broadway as well as at many of the country’s regional theaters. Most recently he starred opposite Bryan Cranston in the Tony award winning hit, ‘All The Way’, He stars in the PBS drama, ‘Murder of a President’ and as arch villain Doctor Ralph Knotts in the new Warner Brothers web series, High and Mighty, premiering this fall.
Notable film credits include: The Avengers, S.W.A.T., Guess Who, One True Thing, Junior, Defending Your Life, 84 Charing Cross Road, Fat Man and Little Boy, Fatal Attraction, Cocktail, Big, Leaving Normal, and the voice of ‘Potiphar’ in the Dreamworks animated film, Joseph - King of Dreams.
Best known to TV audiences as ‘Jim Walsh’ on the original ‘Beverly Hills 90210’, James has starred in over 50 episodes on shows including: Major Crimes, NCIS: New Orleans The Good Wife, Southland, Criminal Minds, Nip/Tuck, Medium, Boston Legal, CSI, West Wing, Once and Again, Without A Trace, andAlly McBeal.
James directed IAMA member Jaimie Wollrab in Tryptich Theatre’s production of Nocturne and the first IAMA 23 hour play festival. He directed the world premiere of IAMA member Keliher Walsh’s play, The Year of the Rabbit. Television directing credits include episodes of ABC’s award winning series, Once and Again and Beverly Hills 90210.
James began his training at Chicago’s Second City and went on to receive a BFA in Drama at the Juilliard School in NYC.
Ryan W. Garcia
Ryan has been acting professionally since he was a child in Miami, FL. He's been on stage at the Orlando Shakespeare Theatre, in RENT and Man of La Mancha at the Hangar Theatre in New York, in LA with 30 Minute Musicals, Ravenswood Manor at the Celebration Theatre, and the new musical FOUND with IAMA. He was featured as Domingo on Community, and most recently in Darren Criss's new show Royalties on Quibi. He voiced a lead role in the upcoming animated movie Fireheart, and is currently recurring as multiple roles in the new animated Nickelodeon series Big Nate.
Josh Epstein
Josh Epstein is a lighting designer for theater, opera and dance as well as environmental and event spaces.
He has designed at the Guthrie Theater, Mark Taper Forum, Goodman Theater, Geffen Playhouse. Kirk Douglas Theater, Pasadena Playhouse, Philadelphia Theater Company, Baltimore Center Stage, Trinity Rep, Geva Theatre Center, Playmakers Rep, Paper Mill Playhouse, Long Wharf Theater, Lyric Theater, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Actor's Theater of Louisville, Juilliard School of Drama and The Alliance Theater, to name a few.
Opera and dance work include productions at Minnesota Opera, Ft. Worth Opera, Opera Saratoga, The Joyce Theater, Opera Santa Barbara, Wolf Trap, Danspace at St. Marks, The Duke Theater, Berkshire Opera festival and the Manhattan School of Music.
In addition to his design work, Josh is also the creator of an innovative, digital collaboration application for live events called Cuelist.
Josh received his BA from the University of Chicago and his MFA from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. He has served as a visiting faculty member at Sarah Lawrence College and currently teaches at UCLA's School of Theater, Film and Television.
Josh is an LA Stage Alliance Ovation Award Winner and a recipient of the NEA/TCG Career Development Program for Designers. In addition to being an IAMA Theatre Company Ensemble Member, he also currently serves on the O'Neill Playwrights Conference Artistic Council. Josh lives in Los Angeles with his wife and three daughters. www.joshepsteindesign.com
Chris Gardner
Chris Gardner is an award nominated actor (NAACP, Sunset Baby) whose career has spanned theater, television, film, print, and radio. Hailing from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, Chris began his work in television on HBO’s, “Oz” and NBC’s “Law & Order”. Since being in L.A. he’s racked up many guest appearances on shows such as “The Practice”, The West Wing”, “Hart Of Dixie”, and “Pretty Little Liars”. Some of his theater credits include Unbound (IAMA/Hudson Theater), The America Play (Theater @ Boston Court), Sunset Baby (Odyssey Theater). He is also an accomplished voice-over actor “Star Trek: Into Darkness”, the animated feature “Jungle Shuffle”. Many video games including Batman: Arkham Asylum, Arkham City, World of Warcraft.
Adrian Gonzalez
ADRIAN GONZALEZ is an actor from the south Texas border town of Brownsville, Tx & Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico. He is a graduate of Northwestern University’s theater program. After graduating he immersed himself into Chicago’s theater scene and worked with various companies like Teatro Vista, The Artistic Home, Pegasus Players and the Goodman Theater. In 2009 he relocated to Los Angeles to pursue television and film. Television credits include: The Mentalist, The Bold & the Beautiful, NCIS, NCIS: LA, The Bridge, Your Family or Mine, Kevin From Work, and Superstore. Most recently he recurred on Starz’s critically acclaimed series Vida. He also continues to perform in local theater. Past credits include: Colony Collapse (Theater @ Boston Court), Fixed (Echo Theater Co), Tar (Playwright’s Arena), and Othello/Argonautika (A Noise Within).
Jeff Gardner
Jeff Gardner is an award-winning sound designer, foley artist and actor. Jeff has designed for IAMA's productions of Canyon, Mama Metal, A Dog's House, as well as their Ovation award-winning, The Recommendation. Jeff has designed and performed throughout the country including the Geffen Playhouse, The Kirk Douglas Theatre, The Wallis Annenberg Center, A Noise Within, Antaeus Theatre Company, Boston Court Pasadena, Circle X Theatre, Rogue Machine Theatre, Echo Theater Company, Ensemble Theatre Company, The Shakespeare Theatre (DC), Arena Stage, The Kennedy Center, Williamstown Theatre Festival as well as the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland. Jeff can also be seen performing live sound effects for L.A. Theatre Works. Online: jeffthomasgardner.net
Eli Gonda
ELI GONDA was raised (professionally, that is) by David Leveaux and Jack O’Brien, Eli served as Associate/Resident Directing on numerous Broadway and West End productions including: Cyrano de Bergerac, Fiddler on the Roof, Nine, Sinatra, Henry IV, and Nora Ephron’s Imaginary Friends. His stage Directing credits include: The Kid starring Joey McIntyre (Denver Center for Performing Arts), Halley Feiffer’s I Didn’t Want a Mastodon for IAMA Fest 2015, Little Miss Fix-It (Roundabout Underground), The FIFA International World Congress- Opening Ceremony (Atlantis, Bahamas), The Catholic Girl’s Guide to Losing Your Virginity (Pico Playhouse, Ojai Playwrights), The 8 Minute Musicals, The Crow Mill by Andrew Unterberg (The Cherry Pit), Mike Birbiglia’s Sleepwalk With Me (Producer), and My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend (Creative Consultant).
Eli’s TV/FILM credits include: THE OUTFIELD (Fullscreen Films) starring Nash Grier and Cameron Dallas, “HUSBANDS” for CW Seed (nom. Best Director, IAWTV and ISA Awards), the award winning short, THE ROOSTER written by Danny Strong, and producing the award winning documentary, AMERICAN TEEN (Paramount Vantage).
Named one of LA Confidential’s “Artists to Watch,” Eli is a graduate of Georgetown University, where he received the Mitsy Dailey Award for Music. Eli is a proud member of the ABC|Disney Directing Program and the IAMA Theatre Company.