Education Team

Merissa has worked as a curriculum writer and arts educator for over 24 years. She spent the past decade doing freelance work with organizations such as CISC, Ingenuity, Columbia College, Girls in the Game, Sky Arts and the Loft Academy, LA. She started her career as a Teaching Artist through the Arts Bridge program at UCLA, where she earned a BA and MA in Theatre. After serving as an educator and teacher trainer in the Peace Corps, Thailand, she relocated to Chicago from her home state of California. Her first job in Chicago was as a curriculum writer and teaching artist for Silk Road Rising. She served a term on the ITA board as the Theater for Young Audiences Representative, helping plan several Theater in our Schools conferences and is currently a proud Board Member of Edgewater Singers and Playmakers Lab. Merissa also served as the Education Director at Adventure Stage Chicago for 6 seasons, helping bring theater and creative writing to middle school students all over Chicago. She is the co-founder of the Chicago Arts Educator Forum and a proud member of the Arts Ed Chi collective. In her free time, she is a mosaic artist and loves to travel and make art with her two kids. She’s always striving to embody the quote by Lou Holtz: “I never learn anything talking. I only learn things when I ask questions.”

Elizabeth is an actor and teaching artist in Chicago. As a teaching artist she has been proud to work with such great companies as Lifeline Theatre, Free Street Theatre, Dream Big Performing Arts Workshop, Pegasus Players, Lakeside Shakespeare Theatre, Gorilla Tango, and LaSalle Language Academy. As an actor she has performed with Chicago theatres such as Lakeside Shakespeare, Drury Lane Water Tower, Metropolis, and Porchlight Theatre. She has also appeared in several KidsSeries shows at Lifeline, among them Dooby Dooby Moo, Half Magic, and Giggle Giggle Quack.

Ashli’s recent credits include Native Son (Lifeline Theatre), IS GOD IS (Red Orchid), Notes from the Field (Timeline), Stew (Shattered Globe), and Detroit 67 (The Theatre School). Ashli recently received their BFA in Acting and African Diaspora from DePaul University. Her focus is work rooted in anti-imperialist agendas and the decolonization of all bodies through the encouragement of free movement and play.

Jade Gray (she/her) is a Chicago educator and creative, dedicated to collaborative and imaginative theatre-making that explores identity, purpose, grief, and trauma through child-centered play—for adults and youth! She hopes that, through music and theatre, everyone can find their joy and reclaim their voice. Jade works with the Chicago Children’s Theatre & Red Kite Project, Still Point Theatre Collective’s Persephone Project, Skyline Children’s Theater, and Lifeline Theatre. She has also collaborated with Once Upon Our Time Capsule and Auditorium Theatre’s Hearts to Art Camp.

Ashley Laverty (she/her) is a theatre maker originally from Worcester, Massachusetts and the founding Artistic Director of Kerfuffle, a theatre and dance company for children ages 0–6. She has over 10 years of teaching artist experience and specializes in early childhood drama. In Chicago, Ashley works with Lifeline Theatre, Imagine Performing Arts, Writer’s Theatre, and The Stage School. She holds an MFA in Theatre for Youth from Arizona State University.

Mechelle Moe is Co-Artistic Director of The Yard, a company member with TimeLine Theatre, and a founding member of The Hypocrites. She works as an actor, director, and teaching artist and serves as Director of Education at Raven Theatre. A Non-Equity Jeff Award recipient, Mechelle has devised and directed numerous works selected for the Illinois High School Theatre Festival. She holds degrees in Theatre and Anthropology from the University of Illinois Chicago.

Joshua is an actor and teaching artist in Chicago with an MFA in Acting from The Theatre School at DePaul University. He has worked with Remy Bumppo, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Lifeline Theatre. He is currently appearing in Ernani at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

John Wilson is an educator, actor, scenic designer, and painter in Chicago. A longtime collaborator with Lifeline Theatre and Changing Worlds, John won the 2015 Non-Equity Jeff Award for Best Scenic Design for Byhalia, Mississippi. He is a company member with Collaboraction and an artistic associate with WildClaw and The Yard.