Photo Credit: Liz Stenholt
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J'Nae HowardOriginally from Nashville, TN, J’Nae Howard (she/her) found movement at an early age, participating in Track & Field and Cheerleading. Upon discovering technical dance training in high school, she was set to pursue a BFA in dance at Southeast Missouri State to continue pushing the boundaries of what she thought was attainable for herself and her practice.
She felt limitless, embarking on her professional career, exploring concert dance with South Chicago Dance Theatre and commercial dance with Virgin Voyages Cruise Line. She is grateful to have worked with powerhouse choreographers such as Kia S. Smith, Brandon Coleman, Autumn Eckman, Jennifer Archibald, and Sam Pinkleton. Now, in addition to being an affiliate with Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble, she is a Pilates instructor, freelance dancer, and arts administrator with Little Fire Dance Collective and pursues musical theatre with Talent X Alexander. |
Timothy David ReyPlaywright Cohort/Next Stage Play Development Coordinator
Front-Of-House Staff & Teaching Artists [email protected] Timothy David Rey (he/him) is a poet, playwright, and performer. Notable publications, notices & awards are: PLAYS: Lifeline Theater Finalist 2025 for BIPOC Adaptation Play Series, 2023 Eugene O'Neill Semi-Finalist for his play, Zip!, Survive, and Thrive 2-year grant awardee from Changing Worlds/Arts Work Fund for his original monologues, eta theater finalist for his play, White House. Lambda Literary Fellowship, 2023. POETRY/SPOKEN WORD PERFORMANCE: RHINO Poetry 2026, Obsidian: Literature & Arts of the African Diaspora, 2022, New City Magazine, Black Horse Review, the Poetry Foundation, Steppenwolf Theater Lookout Series, and elsewhere. He is the recipient of the 2025 Gwendolyn Brooks Excellence in Teaching Award from the Chicago Poetry Center. He is the co-curator of the summer poetry reading series, "Poetry at Green," selected by Time Out Chicago as one of the 13 Essential Reading Series in the city. Rey is also a NewCity selected: "50 People Who Book in Chicago" and make literature happen honoree (2025/2026).
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Photo Credit: Kris Krajewski
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Anthony TaylorEnsemble Member
Anthony Taylor-Davis (he/him), originally from Durham, NC, currently holds a BA in Dance from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro.Anthony has served in a number of instructional dance capacities. During the summer of 2014, he served as a dance Teaching Assistant Counselor for the North Carolina Governor’s School East in Raleigh, NC. Additionally, he served for three semesters from 2013 to 2014 as a dance instructor for Dancers Connect. In the spring of 2012, he served as assistant choreographer for the hillside high school marching band auxiliary team. Anthony’s stage experience includes the UNCG art series 2013 choreographed by Larry Keigwin, The National Dance Education Organization annual conference’s “Why Men Dance”, a number of fall and spring concerts produced by UNCG’s Department of Dance, and IDANCE, a UNCG dance company which travels across the state to promote dance awareness and dance education in North Carolina public schools. Anthony was also with JOYEMOVEMENT Dance company,Redance Group as well as a collaborator with digital tapestries here in Chicago. Anthony’s motto is “the art form of dance connects with everyone once the person connects with the steps from within.”
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Austin Rambo
Ensemble Member
Austin (he/him) is a heightened physical theatre actor, with a concentration of clown. Notable training is at The Actor's gymnasium, The Moscow Art Theatre, and Black Box Studio. Working professionally in the city as an actor for about 7 years, Austin has worked at Lookingglass, Lyric Opera, and DanzTheatre.
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Photo Credit: Joe Maza
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Cayla L. Jones
Teaching Artist
Cayla Jones (she/her) is a Chicago-based actor who has also had the joy of being a Teaching Artist for the past seven years. Since graduating with a B.S. in Theatre and minor in Women’s and Gender Studies from Illinois State University, she has had the opportunity to pursue all forms of theater such as Education at Chicago Children’s Theater, Playmakers Laboratory, Catharsis Productions and Once Upon A Time Capsule. She is a company member for Avalanche Theatre and is represented by Lily’s Talent Agency in Chicago. Theater for social change is near to Cayla’s heart and she is passionate about making theatre accessible, inclusive, and just a little bit magical for young artists and audiences of all abilities.
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Christine Marie
Teaching Artist
Christine Marie (she/her) is a performer, puppeteer, playwright, producer, director, and technical director.
Her mission:accessible, local, community-focused, interactive, performer audience collaborative, fourth-wall-breaking, game show, science lab storytelling. Select credits include: Industrial Gardens’ Saxophone 6, Be Ready, Jay in June, Brandy Loyal; Disposable Pop Star; Illuminati Robot: producer, director, performer, writer. (As seen at Bolingbrook Arts Museum, Bughouse, Facets, Fat Cat Art Gallery, Berger Park Solo Series) Yippiefest 2019-Present: co-producer, technical director, performer. Panthiety Productions’ Goddess of Spring Fest: performer, vendor Bottoms of the Barrel: commentator MicroChicago’s Body Politic, 2026 Writers Residency: ensemble Member, Resident Ghostlight: ensemble member Keith & Margot’s Murder Mysteries: performer She is grateful for the learning opportunities offered to her daily as a teaching artist with ChicagoDanzeTheatre. |
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Frank Pattee DavidTeaching Artist
Frank Pattee David (they/them) is a Chicago-based maker, mover, and educator dedicated to empowering others through their work. In 2018, Frank graduated magna cum laude from Kenyon College with the Dance Prize after studying Dance History, Labanotation, Kinesiology, Pedagogy, and Choreography under the guidance & mentorship of Julie Brodie, Kora Radella, and Balinda Craig-Quijada. David has since worked as a Teaching Artist, Dance Instructor, Paraprofessional, and Therapeutic Assistant aiming to teach self-compassion & self-understanding through expression, discovery, and invention. Frank founded dollop dance theater in 2020, a process-oriented collaborative dance company crafting works rooted in humor, humanity & humility. Since its founding, dollop has created 5 dance films, 8 performance pieces, and performed in Philadelphia, New York City and Chicago. Frank was also a teaching fellow at Smith College while in the MFA program for performance and choreography. They have one publication in The Wiley Handbook of Collaborative Online Learning and Global Engagement as a co-author of Chapter 5, “In between dreaming and insomnia: a cyber-dialogue dance project” (2022).
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Photo Credit: Allison Clarke
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Lex Mann Turner
Co-Camp Director/Teaching Artist
When Lex Mann Turner (he/they) was 6 years old, he attended a local production of Annie. His seats were in the front row. When asked to comment on this Historic Event in Lex’s life, Kris Turner (Lex’s mom) replied : “I thought Lex was going to jump onstage the whole time!” During intermission, when he won the raffle, he did, in fact, jump onstage… Since that day, Lex has held a lifelong passion for the arts. Lex is a performer, director, teaching artist, administrator, and more. Lex Mann Turner has been working with CDE’s Summer and Days-Off Camp programs since 2025, first as Theater Teaching artist, and now as Co-Camp Director. Lex also works with CDE during the school year at Johnson STEAM Elementary, where this year Teaching Artists and students worked together to devise an original musical review - The Rise of Motown Records. When not working with Danztheatre, Lex is also a Substitute Teacher in Chicago Public Schools, and a Company Member of Playmakers Laboratory, where he works as a Teaching Artist in CPS schools teaching creative writing, and as a Director and Performer in shows adapted from stories written by students. Lex enjoys writing silly songs, crafting, and spending time with his two cats - Pinto Bean and Toast!
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Kenneth “MAN Williamz” Reed
Teaching Artist
MAN Williamz (he/him) is an upcoming independent hip-hop/rap artist with a fresh new voice and style, especially for the Black LGBTQ+ community. As a former dancer and choreographer, Williamz wishes to express himself and his experiences visually through artistic music videos and achingly personal lyrics that resonate with queer people on a spiritual level. His debut single, “MAKEUP” has been out since February 2021and has already hit 100,000+ views on YouTube, which is a promising start for this exceptionally bold and unique artist. Williamz’s music preserves a political element while being entertaining and enjoyable for the masses. He is vocal about his goals to inspire young, LGBTQ+ artists of color. In his words, “You never know who may be inspired” and that is what motivates him to keep moving forward. Williamz is driven to ensure that queer and POC creatives get the recognition and platform they deserve to have their stories heard. Williamz doesn't shy away from his queerness. His music, dance, and entire existence are activism. It is quite recently that the Black LGBTQ+ movement has gained accelerated momentum. Even though the music industry has witnessed numerous queer black legends throughout history, their queerness has been swept under the rug and utterly ignored. It is finally time to own diversity in sexuality as part of the identity of black artists. That is what Williamz is striving to achieve with his art. He has embraced his sexuality and turned it into the focal point of his rap music. His lyrics, choreography, and the tone of his music videos all gallantly feature gayness as a critical element. Originally from the South of Chicago, Williamz is aspiring to go global. The 2020s will surely see this passionate musician blossom and bloom into a worldwide sensation. It is exciting to see Williamz fearlessly embark on this new journey. This is just the beginning of a new chapter.
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1650 W FOSTER AVE
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