Faculty

Rob Chambers has more than twenty-five years of professional theater experience as a director, actor, educator and administrator. He is the Artistic Director of Theatre Mir and teaches a variety of courses at The Theatre School, DePaul University. Mr. Chambers is a guest artist faculty member of The Second City Training Center where he was formerly President of Training and Education for The Second City. While at The Second City, he oversaw programs in the United States and Canada, growing the division into one of the largest actor training programs in the world. At Second City, he also served as Producer of The Second City Detroit, Producer of “The Laugh Track” television program, and Board member of The Second City Foundation. He has held staff positions at Hartford Stage Company, Goodman Theatre, League of Chicago Theatres, Melanie Stewart Dance and South Jersey Regional Theatre, and has served as a consultant, board member, and volunteer for numerous arts and service organizations. He earned an M.F.A. in Directing from The Theatre School, DePaul University, and a B.A. in Radio-TV-Film from Temple University.

Annie Calhoun is originally from Chicago, then traveled to Indiana and spent her undergraduate years at Taylor University receiving her teaching degree in Theatre and English Education. She then founded a drama program in Upland IN, directing their inaugural production of School House Rock Live!. Annie recently completed her Masters of Fine Arts in Acting from The Theatre School at DePaul; while training there she appeared in The Man From Nebraska, The Bald Soprano, Fefu and Her Friends, The Giver, Hardball, and Flow My Tears. Annie is also an improviser, performing regularly with her teams at The Playground Theatre and Improv Olympic. She is an avid writer and has written and composed music for Northlight Theatre Academy, (directing and teaching classes there as well) and her one-woman show, Oregon Trail: A Musical Review, that she has performed around the city.

Erin Crowley earned her Master of Arts in Teaching from Tufts University in 2003 and her yoga certification at the Temple of Kriya Yoga in 2001. She has been teaching yoga, movement, theatre, and writing to youth for 13 years in the public and private schools of Chicago, Boston, New York, and San Francisco. Her love of invention and creative movement landed her at summer camps in New Hampshire and Colorado, teaching yoga and theatre performance to young people and touring original youth theatre productions along the New England Coast. Ms. Crowley has 10 years experience teaching yoga to adults and, in addition to teaching at ChiArts, teaches yoga for the youth-based organizations Our Common Threads and Mindful Practices. She continues to study yoga with her mentor, Gabriel Halpern, at the Yoga Circle in Chicago.

Laura Fisher has performed with the Goodman, Chicago Shakespeare, Court, Victory Gardens, and many other theatres in Chicago.  She has created original works with Cardiff Giant and Plasticene theatre companies, and was an ensemble member with Famous Door for ten years.   She is the recipient of Joseph Jefferson and After Dark Awards for her performances, and is a member of Actors’ Equity Association.  Ms. Fisher has also performed with The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, NextBook, and WBEZ’s Stories on Stage as a narrative performer. As an educator, Ms. Fisher has taught Voice and Speech all over the country in a variety of environments for nearly 20 years; she is the Voice and Speech teacher of the Conservatory at Act One Studios. Ms. Fisher received her degree in Theatre from Loyola University of Chicago and holds a certificate from the London Shakespeare Studio.

Lawrence Grimm has been both a freelance and full-time arts educator for over 15 years. A graduate of DePaul University's School of Education, he most recently taught for three years at Stevenson High School as an English and Drama teacher. Other teaching endeavors with young people include co-director and founder of A Red Orchid's Youth Ensemble, the Illinois Arts Council, Urban Gateways, Second City, Piven Theater Workshop, Audition Studio, CAPE, Lookingglass, Steppenwolf for Young Adults and Second CIty. For seven years, he directed the Thresholds Theatre Arts Project, a program designed to give adults with mental illness a theatrical voice for their personal stories. Currently he is the Director of Erasing The Distance's "What's Behind our Eyes": a high school touring show on mental health issues for young people. He served in a similar capacity with Omni Youth Services' REALITY Troupe in Buffalo Grove. In New York. Larry taught with Lincoln Center Institute, Roundabout Theatre, Arts Connection and Theatre for a New Audience. His acting credits include work with A Red Orchid Theater (co-founder and ensemble member), Steppenwolf, Lookingglass, Raven, Collaboraction, Piven Theatre and Famous Door among many others. He is the recipient of Joseph Jefferson Citation.

Rachel Slavick is on the acting faculty at The Theatre School at DePaul University, where she received a Masters of Fine Arts in Acting and has directed many plays including The Exonerated, Brutality of Fact, Boy Gets Girl, The Glory of Living and Top Girls. She recently completed the film Petersburg with Split Pillow Productions. She is a founding ensemble member at Theatre Mir, where she has been seen as Floss in The Prisoner's Dilemma and Rena in The Arab-Israeli Cookbook. She is also the company's casting director and grant writer.