Jungalbook Company Bios

 

Dennis Christilles (Director/Scenic, Costume and Sound Designer) is associate professor of theatre and film and a resident designer for The University Theatre. In recent seasons, Dennis has designed the productions of Othello, Blithe Spirit and Angels in America, Part I: Millennium Approaches. Although Jungalbook is his first directing assignment in several seasons, he has previously directed productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Imaginary Invalid, The Glass Menagerie, The Cherry Orchard, Tango, Jumpers, Blithe Spirit, Mass Appeal, Crimes of the Heart, and The Real Inspector Hound. Last winter, Dennis led a group of KU design students on a tour of the Czech Republic. During the summers of 2000 and 2002, he organized and directed a troupe of KU students for a four-week stay in Katohi, Greece, where they staged productions of classical Greek dramas in the ancient Greek theatre near Katohi.

Jennifer Luck (Lighting Designer) is a first-year scenography graduate student. She is a recent graduate of Birmingham-Southern College in her hometown of Birmingham, AL, where some her favorite productions were Sondheim's Company and Sweeney Todd, as well as Godspell.

Hannah Ballou (Choreographer and Sound Designer) is a senior theatre major from Topeka. Earlier this season she was the choreographer and a member of the Chorus for Iphigenia at Aulis in the Inge Theatre. Last summer she appeared as Maggy Fulton in the Kansas Summer Theatre production of Prairie Fire. Hannah has previously performed in Tomato Plant Girl, Butterfly Kiss, The Bartered Bride, and Fen. She has also taught and choreographed at the Camellot Academy. A National Merit Scholar, Hannah is a Loren Kennedy Trainee and holds the Charles "Buddy" Rogers Scholarship. She was also KU's Jack Kent Cooke Scholarship nominee. This year Hannah is an office assistant for The University Theatre.

Paul Meier (Voice and Dialect Coach) is professor of theatre and film and has worked as the department’s voice, speech, and dialects specialist for over a decade. Last spring he directed Othello for the "Main Stage" series. He has dialect-coached scores of productions at KU and elsewhere, including Ang Lee’s film Ride with the Devil, Tim Robbins’ Arlington Road, and Billy Baldwin’s Elmer Gantry. Meier was trained in his native London at the Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama.

Elisabeth Ahrens (Akela) is a sophomore theatre major from Topeka. Earlier this season she was a member of the Chorus for Iphigenia at Aulis in the Inge Theatre. Last summer she performed in the Topeka Civic Theater production of Hello, Dolly!

Alvaro Berg (Puppet Master) is a senior honors student from Santiago, Chile, majoring in biology, film, and French. Jungalbook is his first production for The University Theatre.

Theresa Buchheister (Grey) is a junior from Manhattan, majoring in theatre. She was last seen this fall as Lucetta and Sylvia in The Two Gentlemen of Verona. Earlier she appeared in our productions of Othello, Six Degrees of Separation, Dinosaurus, and Temptation. Theresa has also performed in 28 Scenes of Halloween, Big Dildo/Vaudeville Show, and A Midsummer Night's Dream. She is a 2002-03 Loren Kennedy Trainee for The University Theatre.

Erin Evangeline Burns (Grab) is a sophomore theatre major from Kansas City, MO. A National Hispanic Merit Scholar, Erin performed earlier this fall as a member of the Chorus for Iphigenia at Aulis in the Inge Theatre. Last season she was seen as Hillary in Afternoon of the Elves and Pamela Whitmore in South Pacific. She has also appeared in The Wizard of Oz at the Gladstone Theater in the Park.

Wendy Lynn Casebier (Sherakahn) is a senior theatre major from Tecumseh. Previously Wendy was seen in the KU-TYP production of Afternoon of the Elves. Her other production credits include War Day, As You Like It, God's Favorite, Oklahoma!, Romeo and Juliet, and Oliver. Wendy was a member of the International Thespian Society in high school and sang with the KU Selected Voices Choir at Carnegie Hall. She is a member of the competitive dance team, "Swingsters," which won second place in the Camellot Ballroom Competition.

Erika Danielle Crane (Mowgli) is a junior theatre major from Tokyo, Japan. She was seen last spring as Forgiveness in The Waiting Room in the Inge Theatre. Erika has been performing since she was 11 months old in television commercials, print ads, fashion shows and magazines in Japan. She performed selections from Shakespeare, musicals and opera for a music video done at the International School of the Sacred Heart in Japan, and was featured in the KU student film Abused. Erika is a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars and the Japan Student Association. She holds the Andrew and Lilly Tsubaki Award at KU and is an office assistant for The University Theatre.

Summer Eglinski (Baloo) is a sophomore theatre major from Lawrence. She was last seen this fall as Antonia in The Two Gentlemen of Verona. Last season she was heard in the Theatre for Young People’s production of Tomato Plant Girl and seen as Desdemona's Attendant in Othello. Summer previously appeared in A Midsummer Night's Dream; Hello, Dolly; Tony 'n Tina's Wedding; and The Children's Hour.

Julia Elise Hardin (Bagheera) is a junior from Lawrence, majoring in theatre and voice. This fall she was seen as Césarine in the KU-TYP production of Where to, Turelu? Last season she appeared in The Cherry Orchard and Lear's Daughters. She has also performed in several productions for EAT. Last summer Julia was part of the KU Summer Theatre in Greece program. She holds a KU voice scholarship as well as a Claire Reinhold Scholarship in theatre, and is the student representative on the Friends of the Theatre Board.