Chris Fields
Chris Fields is a Los Angeles-based director, teacher, and actor who is currently the Artistic Director of the award-winning Echo Theater Company, which he founded in 1996. Most recently, he produced How It's Gon' Be, Crabs in a Bucket, and The Thin Place as well as directing the critically acclaimed world premieres of Jessica Goldberg's Babe and Erik Patterson’s Handjob as well as Branden Jacob-Jenkins’ Gloria, for which he won the Stage Raw Award. He won the Los Angeles Drama Critics Award for Best Direction for the world premiere production of Tommy Smith’s Firemen as well as winning the LA Weekly Award for best Comedy Direction for his production of Gary Lennon’s A Family Thing. He also appeared in the critically acclaimed and Ovation nominated Los Angeles premiere of Marc Schultz’ Everything Will Be Different and produced the world premiere production of Wirehead for The Echo which was nominated for seven LA Weekly Awards. Before that he directed the world premiere of Kate Robin’s What They Have at South Coast Repertory, the Los Angeles premiere of Jessica Goldberg’s Body Politic, which received four Ovation nominations, and the world premiere of Eat Me by Jacqueline Wright, which was nominated for six LA Weekly Awards including Best Director.
Of the 104 Los Angeles premieres he’s produced, there have been Poor Clare by Chiara Atik, which won the LADCC and Steinberg/ATCA awards, Cry It Out by Mary Smith Metzer, which won the LADCC, Ovation, and Stage Raw awards for best production and play, as well as Bekah Brunstetter’s The Cake, which transferred to the Geffen Playhouse and Bryan Davidson's War Music at the Los Angeles Theater Center, which won three Ovation Awards, and also moved to The Geffen. Chris founded and was Artistic Director of the Ojai Playwrights Conference. Additionally, as a director, he's worked with and staged plays by Adam Rapp, David Lindsay-Abaire Christopher Durang, Paul Zimmerman, Padraic Duffy, Ellen McLaughlin, Napoleon Ellsworth, Bernardo Solano, Deborah Prior, Neal Bell, Kira Obolensky, Herman Daniel Farrell III, and Quincy Long, among many others. His work in film includes his adaptation of Neal Bell’s Out the Window, which he produced and directed, and his short Sunnyslope, which was awarded Best New York Film at the New York Film and Video Festival and nominated for Best in Fest at the Great Lakes Film Festival. As an actor, he has appeared on Broadway in James Duff’s Homefront with Carroll O’Connor and Frances Sternhagen directed by Michael Attenborough, off Broadway in Gary Sinise’s original Steppenwolf production of Orphans, Michael Greif’s Machinal at both Naked Angels and The Public and the world premiere of David Ives’ Words Words Words at The Manhattan Punchline, to name just a few. Regionally, he’s worked at The Actor’s Theatre of Louisville, The Philadelphia Drama Guild, The Rep Theatre of St. Louis, The Missouri Repertory Theatre His credits in film and television include Zodiac, Fight Club, Apollo 13, The Game, Jurassic Park, Stargate, Alien 3, and Jacobs Ladder, as well as appearances on The Closer, Sleepercell (recurring), ER (recurring), NYPD Blue and Ally MacBeal to name a few. Additionally, he was a proud member of the acting ensemble of the Eugene O’Neill Playwrights Conference at the National Theater Center under Lloyd Richards.. |
Jeanne Syquia
Jeanne is an actor, teaching artist and a native Angeleno. Theatre credits include work at the Kirk Douglas Theatre, LA Theatre Works, Center Theatre Group, La Jolla Playhouse, Geffen Playhouse, and several smaller theaters across Los Angeles, including Antaeus, Sacred Fools, the Odyssey and the Echo. TV and film work includes Grey’s Anatomy, The Mentalist, Brothers & Sisters and the upcoming feature Honey Buddies. As a teaching artist, Jeanne worked for several years with the Virginia Avenue Project, a non-profit that provided long-term arts education to LAUSD students. She has studied vocal technique with Natsuko Ohama and Scott Levy, and her voice class is based on the work of Kristin Linklater, Chuck Jones and Patsy Rodenburg.
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