Jami-Leigh Bartschi (Writer) is a Central Florida-based music educator and the creator of My Dear Watson. She holds a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree from Rollins College. She has composed for a wide variety of ensembles, though My Dear Watson is her first theatrical work.  She serves as a music director to several theaters in the Central Florida area, and she has served in this capacity for shows such as West Side Story, Young Frankenstein, Cinderella, Little Shop of Horrors, Pirates of Penzance, Cabaret, Jekyll and Hyde, and many more.  She is proud to bring My Dear Watson to the Chicago Musical Theatre Festival.  This is the fifth production of My Dear Watson, including the 2017 New York Musical Festival.

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Mark Bartschi (Producer)

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Sklyar Grieco (Director) is a Chicago based theatre artist primarily focused in directing and education. He received his bachelor's degree is theatre from Middle Tennessee State University and has spent the last year creating new plays for Young Audiences with Improv Playhouse. Most recently Skylar partnered with the Chicago Public Library system to bring an original play based on National Parks to nineteen branches this summer, coinciding with Chicago's summer learning challenge. He is excited to be working on CMTF again this year, but this time with a production instead of the festival as a whole. For more info please visit SkylarGrieco.com.

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Alexander Tom (Music Director) Visiting Assistant Professor of Musical Theatre at North Central College, holds his MM from Shenandoah Conservatory in conducting and an honors BMUS from Arizona State University in composition. An accomplished educator, vocal coach, composer and music director, Alexander has held appointments with Shenandoah Summer Music Theatre, Interlakes Summer Theatre, Creede Repertory Theatre, Arizona Broadway Theatre and Valley Youth Theatre. Musicals include: Of Leto, Til Death, Bodyguard! Protector of Anatomy. Production credits: Guys and Dolls, Hairspray, Beauty and the Beast, Newsies, The Last Five Years, West Side Story, Oklahoma!, La Cage aux Folles, Sweeney Todd, Evita, Lysistrata Jones, Spring Awakening.

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Austyn Davis (Stage Manager) is a Chicago-based theatre artist and is thrilled to be a part of My Dear Watson. She has previously worked as a choreographer, director, and teaching artist at Florida Repertory Theatre, Lexington Children’s Theatre, and Improv Playhouse. After graduating from the University of Mississippi (Hotty Toddy!) she made the move to the Windy City to complete a year of service in Chicago Public Schools with AmeriCorps and Adventure Stage Chicago. Austyn continues a Mentor with the ASC Trailblazers and a stage manager with Mudlark Children’s Theatre.

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Sydney Smith (Lighting Designer) is a lighting designer based in Austin, TX. Some of her previous work has been seen at Davis Shakespeare Festival (On the Twentieth Century), Stagedoor Manor (On the Town, West Side Story, Oliver!, Aida), and Sam Houston State University (As She Sleeps, Co.De De.Co). She holds a Bachelor of Science in Theatre from Middle Tennessee State University, and is currently pursuing her Master of Fine Arts in Lighting Design at Texas State University.

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Hannah Haverkamp (Costume Designer) Hannah is a costume designer and illustrator, a self-professed Sherlock Holmes enthusiast, and a recent transplant to Chicago. She was educated at Beloit College and spent her early professional life in Wisconsin, where she developed a tolerance for cold and enabled her love of cheese. She has designed and assisted on over forty shows for the Eau Claire Children's Theatre, her favorites including Cabaret, James and the Giant Peach, Camelot, and Oliver! You can see her upcoming work in Pride and Prejudice and Gays, a short thesis film by DiDi Rizzo coming out of Columbia College Chicago, and in a self-published collaborative children's book called The Boy Who Was Too Much Trouble coming in 2019, written by Mary Jurmain.

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Cal Walker (ASM/Props Designer) is a writer, director, and maker hailing from the swampy suburbs of Washington, DC. As a performer, they have been seen with Headline Theater, Out On A Whim and UnRehearsed Shakespeare. This past May, Cal graduated Cum Laude from Columbia College and immediately after produced, wrote and performed in Eleven Empty Frames, which premiered at this year’s YippieFest. Cal is fresh off of stage managing the New World Play Festival with Nothing Without A Company, which had 10 Chicago premiers in three weekends. By comparison, a new musical is a walk in the park. In their free time, Cal dresses up as Meat Loaf in front of a screen as part of the Midnight Madness Rocky Horror Shadowcast.  

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Alex Iacobucci (Sherlock Homes) is a pure-bred Italian who moved to Chicago in 2015 to pursue his career as an Actor and as a Software Engineer, and he is incredibly excited for this opportunity to embody the legendary investigator! Some recent credits include: Featured Dancer/Ensemble in Meet me in St. Louis (Edge of the Wood Theatre), Featured Dancer/Ensemble in On the Town (Highland Park Players), Ensemble in Hildegard of Bingen: The Musical (With a Machete Productions), Brandon/Dancer in F*cking Men (Pride Films and Plays), Dancer/Ensemble in Chicago (Big Noise Theatre), and Seth Rothman in Liberators (Chicago MT Festival 2018). He would like to thank Travis, and all of his friends for their constant support!

 

Travis Shanahan (Watson) is delighted to be playing Watson in the Chicago premiere of My Dear Watson! Since graduating from Wheaton College's Arena Theater in 2016, Travis has been acting and continuing his theatrical education around Chicago. Some of his favorite roles have been Joe in The Spitfire Grill, Lt. Brannigan in Guys & Dolls, and Sebastian in Twelfth Night. When not on stage, Travis can be found obsessing about the NBA, writing love letters to Saoirse Ronan, and leading worship Sunday mornings at his church.

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Hannah Green (Lestrade) is thrilled to be a part of the My Dear Watson family at the Chicago Musical Theatre Festival! Chicago credits: Everybody (Brown Paper Box Co.), The Volitive Effect… (Theatre Evolve), Everleigh Yours (E.D.G.E of Orion), Brick Wall (On The Spot) and The Vagina Melodies (Corn Productions). Favorite credits include Bad Shakespeare (Edinburgh Fringe Festival); Heathers the Musical, Clybourne Park and Stupid F**king Bird (OCU).  Thank you’s to Skylar and Jami as well as this company for welcoming her with open arms. Proud Oklahoma City University grad.

 

Taylor (Moriarty) is stoked beyond belief - not only to portray Moriarty in the Chicago premiere of ‘My Dear Watson’ - but to perform in his first musical in Chicago and for the opportunity to bring a character created by legendary author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to life (especially such a complicated villain!) Previously, Taylor made his Chicago debut as Tony in James Downing Theatre’s ‘Men Are Dogs’ last fall. He has studied at Acting Studio Chicago, The Annoyance Theatre, Profiles Theatre and A Red Orchid Theatre, and has been seen at various bars across the city performing standup comedy. Taylor feels very fortunate to have so many friends and family to thank for their unyielding support and wants them to know how much they mean to him and how he couldn’t have done this alone.

 

Michelle McKenzie-Voigt (Mrs. Hudson) is pleased make her Chicago Musical Theatre Festival debut in this rich, clever, inventive new work. With roles ranging from Shakespeare to Sondheim, her recent credits include The Full Monty (Timber Lake Playhouse), Four by Tenn (AstonRep), Billy Elliot (Porchlight Music Theatre), Coriolanus (Commission Theatre), Mame and Guys and Dolls (Music Theater Works), and the Lady Macbeth of musical theater, Rose in Gypsy (Harper Ensemble Theatre). A five-time Chicago Emmy nominee, she has been a soloist with the Southwest Symphony Orchestra. In April, she will appear as Brabantio in an all-female production of Othello for Babes with Blades. 

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Sean Rhead (Cecil Barker) Sean is thrilled to make his CMTF debut with this wonderful show and amazing company. He has performed in various theatre productions throughout the area; some favorite past roles include Claude Frollo in “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” Caiaphas in “Jesus Christ Superstar,” Lurch in “The Addams Family,” and Orin Scrivello, DDS in “Little Shop of Horrors.” Sean has a Vocal Performance degree from Saint Xavier University. He would like to thank the entire production team for offering him this opportunity. He hopes you all enjoy the show.

 

Brittany Stock (Mrs. Douglas) is excited to be part of this team for the Chicago Musical Theatre Festival! In Chicago, she's worked with About Face Theatre, Kokandy Productions, The Comrades, Broken Nose Theatre, Aston Rep, and Underscore. Brittany also works as a teaching artist and spends her days singing, dancing, and generally being silly.

 

Sam Baum (Mr. Douglas) is so excited to be making his professional Chicago debut in My Dear Watson! Sam is originally from Evanston, Illinois and is a recent graduate from American University in Washington, D.C. where he received a B.A. in Theatre.