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About The Company

Bobbie Saltzman, bsaltzman@southsuburbancollege.edu, head of the South Suburban College theatre program, served as adjunct faculty of theatre and speech for over 85 courses at colleges and universities between 1987 and 1999, including Drew University, Montclair State College, Kean College of NJ, The College of St. Elizabeth, Bergen Community College, The Delancey Street Foundation, University of California at Davis, Western Career College, and Daley College of the City Colleges of Chicago. In 1999, she was appointed by the mayor of Evanston to the Evanston Arts Council, of which she is an active member on the Committee for Cultural Diversity in the Arts.

Prior to her relocation to Illinois, she earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of California at Davis in Dramatic Art & Performance in 1995. Concurrently, she worked intermittently from 1990 to 2001 as an "independent," for Encore Consultants, a year-2000 Grammy-nominated classical record producer based in San Rafael, California. Bobbie became a member of the Actors' Equity Association in 1988, just following her tenure as Director of the Conservatory of Acting for actor Paul Sorvino's NJ-based LORT theatre, the American Stage Company. (They launched the original productions of Forever Plaid and Other People's Money.) In 1987 she received an M.A. in Theatre with a fellowship in Theatre Management, and in 1982 she received her B.A., magna cum laude, in Theatre & Speech with an emphasis in Acting & Directing, with both degrees granted from New Jersey's Montclair State College (now University).

Bobbie has directed and performed in numerous plays and musicals, covered and co-produced the 1987 Tony Awards for CNN's entertainment program, ShowBiz Today, with producer Cynthia Tornquist, toured in over 20 of the United States for three seasons for the American Greetings Corporation as a performer for children, wrote and produced Fanny Brice: Remembering, a one-woman musical show that toured the NY-metropolitan area for over a year, and was a founding member of "Unexpected Company," a professional improvisation troupe that performed regularly at the 78th Street Playhouse in NYC from 1977 to the troupe's end in 1989.

Ellie Shunko has presided over hundreds of events held in the Kindig Performing Arts Center of South Suburban College where she has been manager since 1986. She began her education at SSC (then Thornton Community College), continued at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, and received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Technical Theatre at Columbia College, Chicago.

Ellie has worked as stage manager, lighting technician, sound technician, and property mistress at many off-Loop theatres including the Court Theatre, Organic Theatre Company, Gilbert and Sullivan Operetta Company, Body Politic and Victory Gardens, and served as production stage manager for the Chatauqua Institute in Chataqua, NY. She has taught basic scenic construction and lighting skills to high school students at Northwestern University's "Cherub" program.

In 1998, Ellie founded The Children's Theatre Company, and began directing children's plays for SSC to bring quality live entertainment to young audiences. Her sold-out shows to bus-loads of Chicagoland students have made The Children's Theatre Company THE place in the south suburbs for quality entertainment for live audiences. Shunko chooses the scripts of double-Shubert Playwriting Award-winner, Michele L. Vacca and production teammate Robert Boburka (the team-talent behind Classics On Stage!) as her vehicles, and then brings her own style to productions, where her rehearsals are often a festive event.

Vernon Schwartz, actor, director, and teacher, has entertained students and audiences alike during his long and distinguished tenure as a Chicagoland theatre artist. For the past 17 years, Vern has offered his talents to SSC, directing countless productions, and designing his signature sets. With his Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Fine Arts degrees from DePaul University, he has taught theatre, stagecraft, speech and movement at DePaul University, Goodman Memorial Theatre, Wright College, Daley College, Moraine Valley Community College, and South Suburban College.

For 22 years, Mr. Schwartz served as resident director of the highly regarded Drury Lane Theatre of Evergreen Park, IL, working with such notables as Gloria Swanson, Gypsy Rose Lee, Pat O'Brien, Shirley Booth, and Tony Randall among others. He has offered his directorial talents to Nevada's Sahara Tahoe Hotel, Florida's, Showboat Dinner Theatre, and Chicago's Apollo, Royal George, and Pheasant Run Theatres as well.

Mr. Schwartz is a member of the Actors' Equity Association, the American Federation of Television & Radio Artists, and the Screen Actors Guild. He has performed roles of distinctions at Chicago's Drury Lane Theatre, Playwrights Theatre Club, and the Studebaker Theatre Company, working with performers including Ed Asner, Mike Nichols, Elaine May, Barbara Harris, Viola Spolin, Geraldine Page, E. G. Marshall, and Sir Cedric Hardwick.

Barbara Pool has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatre from Loyola University in Chicago. She is a professional actress, singer, director, producer, writer, stand-up comedienne, improviser, and poet. She has worked professionally in all mediums in New York and Chicago, and has taught acting, improvisation, and singing in both cities as well.

Barbara's improvisation background began as a student at the famed Second City, where she studied with Paul Sills, Del Close, and Keith Johnstone. In New York, she worked with David Shepherd. She is a founding member of the improvisational comedy group, "Stone Soup." Upon her move to New York, Barbara and her late husband Tom Pool formed the comedy duo, "The Pools," and in worked in venues throughout New York and New Jersey, including The Golden Nugget Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City, NJ.

Barbara currently works as a media liaison for the Taipei Economic & Cultural Office in Chicago, while creating her writing and musical projects. Her passion is discovering and unearthing talent and creativity she finds in all the people with whom she works. In the spring of 2001, Barbara served as guest director for the PAC Rats Theatre Company production of Story Theatre at SSC. You can often find her teaching improvisation at SSC. Barbara has two wonderful children.

Smith Brand, Professor Emeritus, dedicated 33 years of teaching service to SSC. Professor Brand came to SSC with a Bachelor of Arts in Speech/Theatre & English Literature from Knox College, a Master of Arts degree in Theatre from Northwestern University, and doctoral studies in theatre from the University of Minnesota from which he holds a Certificate of Advanced Studies.

During his tenure at SSC, Professor Brand served as chair of the Speech & Theatre Department, and taught courses in theatre, speech, and American Studies. He created the Terrence Wright Memorial Scholarship in Theatre. Some of his distinguished students include Richard Roeper (Sun-Times columnist and movie critic), Marianne McAndrews (former Miss America), and Richard Hoover (Tony Award-winning production designer). He was also teacher to three of SSC's current faculty/staff: David Johnson, Roger Kessinger, and Ellie Shunko.

It is no surprise that Professor Brand is found in the Who's Who Among College and University Professors, Who's Who Among America's Teachers, and that in his name exists the Smith V. Brand Scholarship in the Fine or Performing Arts.