Staff

Heather Currie is the Managing Producer at Lifeline Theatre and a proud member of the artistic ensemble since 2013. Most recently directing War of the Worlds, by John Hildreth as well as John Hildreth’s Jeff Award winning adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle (Jeff nomination for direction). Other Lifeline directing credits include: Sense and Sensibility: Audio Drama, The Time Warp Trio, Fableous, Lester’s Dreadful Sweaters. Heather co-adapted and directed You Think It’s Easy Being the Tooth Fairy? for Lifeline’s KidSeries. Heather has appeared in many Lifeline productions including: Jane Eyre(2014), One Came Home, Duck For President (2008 and 2012); Click, Clack, Moo; Cows That Type; Dooby, Dooby Moo; How To Survive a Fairy Tale; and Click, Clack, Boo! A Tricky Treat and Lyle, Lyle Crocodile. Outside of Lifeline, favorite directing credits include: Into the Woods, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, Always Plenty of Light at the All Night Starlight Diner, Spring Awakening, South Pacific, Schoolhouse Rock Live!, Spamalot, Steel Magnolias. Ms. Currie has worked as an actor for 45 years, most notably playing Sarah Jane Moore in Assassins at The Studio Theatre at Tierra Del Sol, the Wicked Witch in WOZ: A Wizard of Oz Rock Cabaret in Chicago featuring Andre De Shields, and Robin Black in the long running Sexy Baby with Hell in a Handbag Productions. Ms. Currie holds an M.F.A. in Acting from the Johnny Carson School of Theater and Film at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She has been teaching theatre and film in higher education for 30 years and currently teaches in the department of Cinema and Television Arts at Columbia College Chicago.

Derek Czaplewski is a seasoned arts administrator and longtime member of Chicago’s theater community. Before joining Lifeline Theatre as Business Manager, he held leadership roles as Associate Artistic Director at Imagination Theater and Artistic Director at HealthWorks Theatre, where he combined creative direction with administrative oversight. Derek brings a strong foundation in operations, event planning, and organizational logistics, along with a collaborative, mission-driven mindset. At Lifeline, he co-adapted You Think It’s Easy Being the Tooth Fairy? and portrayed “Farmer Brown” in Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type, Duck for President, and Click, Clack, Boo! A Tricky Treat. He also appeared in How to Survive a Fairy Tale. Derek is proud to support Lifeline’s mission of presenting stories that move audiences beyond the margins of their own lives.

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.”

Ashley Laverty (she/her) is a theatre maker originally from Worcester, Massachusetts. She is the founding Artistic Director of Kerfuffle, a theatre and dance company for children ages 0-6 that shares plays in nontraditional theatre spaces like libraries, parks, and museums. She has over 10 years of teaching artist experience, specializing in drama in the early childhood classroom. In Chicago, Ashley is proud to be a teaching artist with Lifeline Theatre, Imagine Performing Arts, Writer’s Theater and The Stage School. She holds an MFA in Theatre for Youth from Arizona State University.

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Andrés is proud to have been on both the MainStage and the KidSeries stage for Lifeline, having understudied The Velveteen Rabbit and Soon I Will Be Invincible, then appearing in Sparky!, Northanger Abbey, and most recently, Sylvester. Other notable productions in the Chicagoland area include Forever Plaid (Fox Valley Repertory), The Life and Death Of Madame Barker (Red Tape Theatre), Love and Information (Remy Bumppo), The Adding Machine (The Hypocrites), and In The Heights(Porchlight Music Theater). He has also worked with such great Chicago companies as Underscore Theater Company, Strawdog Theatre, 16th Street Theater, and Theater at the Center in Munster, IN. Andrés received his B.A. from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and his M.F.A. in Acting from the University of Iowa in 2012. Andrés is also the Music Director of No Big Deal, a Chicago a cappella quartet, and a proud company member of Barrel of Monkeys.

Harrison was born and raised on the north side of Chicago. After graduating from Columbia College in 2015 Harrison has been Technical Directing for theater all over the city including Akvavit, Redtwist Theatre, Strawdog Theatre Co., Silkroad Rising, A Red Orchid, UrbanTheater, Red Tape Theater, Theater Wit, and Shattered Globe, just to name a few. He has also been the on staff TD for the past three seasons at Theater on the Lake. Harrison is thrilled to now be working with Lifeline and is excited for his inaugural show with the company, u003cemu003eu003cstrongu003eWhose Body?u003c/strongu003eu003c/emu003e. Harrison is always looking for his next collaboration and creative challenge wherever his skills are needed.

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