Jennifer Chang

Jennifer is a founding member of Chalk Rep and is a director/producer/writer/actor. For the company, she directed The Debate Over Courtney O'Connell of Columbus, Nebraska. Most recently, she appeared on stage in The Language Archive (East West Players, dir by Jessica Kubzansky). Acting credits include: Hell Money and Stray (Chalk Rep), Sun Sisters and Fabric (CoA) The Brand New Kid and Charlotte’s Web (South Coast Rep), Three Sisters (Chalk Rep), The Joy Luck Club (East West Players), Messy Utopia (Mixed Blood Theatre), The King and I (Fulton Opera House), Daughter of a Pacifist Soldier (LaMAMA / Painted Bride Arts Center). With the National Asian American Theatre Company (Off-Broadway): The Dispute (dir: Jean Randich), Air Raid (dir: Stephen Stoudt), House of Bernarda Alba (dir: Chay Yew). UCSD: Blood Wedding (dir: Jerry Ruiz), Moliere: A Cabal of Hypocrites (dir: Barbra Berlovitz), La Dispute (dir: Darko Tresnjak), A Dream Play (dir: West Hyler), Eurydice (dir: Daniel Fish), Full Circle (dir: Meredith McDonough). Baldwin New Play Festival: FILM: Spice It Up! (Hollyshorts Film Festival Audience Award), Three Times Me (Vanity Fair/ NBC); TV: Parenthood, The Paul Reiser Show, Medium, Friends with Benefits, The Pink House, NCIS: Los Angeles, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Hawthorne, Numb3rs, Days of Our Lives. Numerous independent films, shorts, and national commercials. Producing experience includes special events at the Tisch School of the Arts (NYU), UCSD’s First Asian American Theatre Festival. Education: MFA, UCSD/ La Jolla Playhouse, B.F.A., NYU’s Tisch School. Member of SAG/ AEA/ AFTRA.

Amy Ellenberger

Amy Ellenberger is a founding member of Chalk Rep and has performed with various theatre companies on the east and west coast including South Coast Repertory Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, Chautauqua Theatre Company, Contemporary American Theatre Co. in Columbus, OH, and Six Figures Theatre Company in NYC. In Los Angeles she has performed with the improv comedy group the Mutiny, starred in the web series Lost Angeles, and served as a co-host for the internet radio show, The Worst Show on the Web. She was recently featured in the Sega video game Rise of Nightmares and the short film The Callback Machine. Amy also works with underserved youth as a teaching artist through The Unusual Suspects Theatre Company and Art in the Park. She has a B.F.A from Otterbein College and an M.F.A. from UC San Diego.

Larissa Kokernot

Larissa Kokernot been working in the professional theatre for over 25 years, beginning as an actor in Minneapolis with companies such as the Guthrie Theater, The Children’s Theatre, Theatre de la Jeune Lune, Ten Thousand Things and Eye of the Storm Theatre Company and appearing as “Hooker #1” in the Coen Brothers’ Oscar winning Fargo. Larissa served as Artistic Associate for Eye of the Storm Theatre for six years where she directed the work of Bridget Carpenter, Nilo Cruz and David Hare as well as the “Seeds” of many new plays for the company’s annual Seed the Storm Festival. Additional directing credits in Minneapolis include work with Ten Thousand Things Theatre Company, The Children’s Theatre, Guthrie Theater, U of M B.F.A. program and The Playwright’s Center. Regionally, Larissa has worked at the La Jolla Playhouse, Carleton College, New Dramatists, Bay Area Playwright’s Festival and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival where she was the 2007 Phil Killian Directing Fellow. Larissa is a founding member of Chalk Repertory Theatre where she directed the company’s inaugural production, Three Sisters, at Hollywood Forever Cemetery and Family Planning in various homes around Los Angeles. Also in Los Angeles, Larissa directed the world premiere of Karl Gajdusek’s FUBAR for Theatre of Note. She went on to direct FUBAR in New York City at 59e59 as part of the Americas Off Broadway series. Larissa received her B.A. in Theater from Brown University and an M.F.A. in Directing from the University of California, San Diego. She also received a Jerome Travel/Study Grant to train with Anne Bogart and the SITI Company. Larissa lives in Los Angeles with her husband, playwright and Screenwriter Karl Gajdusek, and their sons Kade and Nicholas.

Ruth McKee

Ruth McKee’s work has been produced and developed by Abingdon Theatre, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Six Figures Theatre Company, Alliance Theatre, Atlanta, Working Class Theatre and HB Playwrights Foundation, among others. Her play The Nightshade Family was featured in the Summer Play Festival (SPFNYC), and Hell Money was a runner up for the Yale Drama Series Award. She received the Stanley Drama Award for her play Stray, which was produced in Los Angeles by The Black Dahlia Theatre and Chalk Rep, and in New York as a part of the Cherry Lane Theatre's Mentor Project (mentored by David Henry Hwang). Other productions for Chalk Rep include Full Disclosure and Hell Money. Ruth is a member of the L.A. Playwrights Union and teaches at the California State Summer School for the Arts and Cypress College. She has served as Literary Manager for the Black Dahlia Theatre and Young Playwrights Inc. BFA: NYU, MFA: UCSD. www.ruthmckee.wordpress.com

Teri Reeves

Teri is a proud member of the Chalk Rep artistic circle. She appeared as Natasha in their inaugural production of Three Sisters as well as Olivia in their production of Twelfth Night, and Evie in Slither. She originated the role of Kiki at La Jolla Playhouse's Current Nobody.  She studied acting in the MFA program at UC San Diego and the BFA program at UC Santa Barbara. Some of her favorite roles were as Bride in Blood Wedding and Indra's Daughter in Dream Play. Recent TV credits include Undercovers, Rules Of Engagement, Three Rivers, Numbers, and General Hospital as well as a starring role in Hulu's first original scripted series 'Battleground'  .