OTR: Norine & the King of Swatsville at Chance Theater

Helen Madelyn Kim

Helen Madelyn Kim is a Korean American actor based in Los Angeles, CA. She got her BA in Theatre and MFA in Acting before moving to NYC where she performed in Off-Off Broadway plays and improv comedy at the PIT. She blames rats and seasonal affective disorder for prompting her to move back to her hometown of LA. Credits include Station 19, Bosch, Marvel’s Runaways, Modern Family, GLOW, ABC Discovers Talent Showcase (2019 cast member & 2020 shadow director), MFA in Acting from Univ. of Iowa.

MJ Sieber

MJ is thrilled to be a part of The Bed Trick! Some previous theatrical credits include: Gregg in the World Premiere of Keiko Green’s ‘Sharon’ and Vanya in Life Sucks (Cygnet Theatre/San Diego), God of Carnage (Backyard Renaissance) Glengarry Glen Ross, Outside Mullingar, Dry Powder, Photograph 51, What the Constitution Means to Me (Seattle Rep), Oslo, The Crucible, Lt. of Inishmore, Stupid Fucking Bird (ACT Theatre), Native Son (Intiman), Much Ado About Nothing, Midsummer Night’s Dream, She Stoops to Conquor, The Winters Tale (Seattle Shakespeare Co.), Gutenberg the Musical, Prelude to a Kiss, The Elephant Man(StrawShop), Barefoot in the Park, Sleuth, 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Village Theatre). He was a founding member and Associate Artistic Director of New Century Theatre Company appearing in their award winning productions of The Adding Machine, O Lovely Glowworm, Festen and directed the West Coast Premiere of Annie Baker’s Pulitzer Prize winner The Flick. Film and Television: Z Nation (SyFy), Danger Diva, Grassroots, The Gift and News Team 9. Find out more at: mjsieber.com

Jocelyn A. Brown

Jocelyn A. Brown has served as Chance Theater’s Associate Artistic Director since 2011 and a Chance Resident Artist since 2001. Acting highlights include: Diana in Next To Normal (OCTG Award for Outstanding Performance in a Musical, StageScene LA’s Performance of the Year), Leigh Fondakowski in The Laramie Project & Ten Years Later (Ovation Recommended), the Witch in Into The Woods (Back Stage West Critic’s Pick), Cathy in The Last 5 Years (Back Stage Garland Award Honorable Mention for Best Actor), Ann in Goodnight Children Everywhere (OC Weekly Award for Best Actress). Directing highlights include Ride The Cyclone (OCTG Recommended), Lizzie, The Musical (Ovation Award Winner: Best Musical – Intimate Theatre, Ovation nomination Best Direction, OC Weekly Best of OC 2019), Good People (Ovation Recommended), in a word (Best in OC by The Orange Curtain Review), The Big Meal, Never In My Lifetime (Back Stage Critic’s Pick), and The Cherry Orchard (OC Weekly nomination Best Direction). Jocelyn received the OC Board of Supervisors’ award for Women Making a Difference (2023). She teaches at Laguna Hills High School where she was an honoree for the California League of High Schools “Teacher of the Year” for Orange County (2012). M.Ed: Vanguard University, B.A. & B.S.: University of California San Diego.

James Michael McHale

James Michael McHale is an actor, director, writer, and musician. As an actor, he’s had the pleasure to work with Tony Award winning director Kathleen Marshall at The Old Globe in Much Ado About Nothing, play Hamlet at the Lyceum Theater, and Buzz Aldrin in the World Premiere and National Tour of APOLLO 11 for Troika Entertainment. He received a Staged Scene LA Award for Outstanding Performance in a Leading Role for his work in Middletown at Chance Theater. Other theater credits include the musical Once at both California Center for the Arts Escondido and Lamb’s Players Theater (San Diego Critics’ Circle Awards for Best Musical and Best Ensemble). He recently directed the Regional Premiere of American Idiot at Chance Theater, where his directing credits also include the OC Premiere of Edges, and A Charlie Brown Christmas. He has written and directed a number of storytelling concerts for Pacific Symphony and presented at Segerstrom Concert Hall including, Beethoven: Trials to Triumph, A Dream of Tchaikovsky, Pacific Symphony and the Curious Case of the Vanishing Violin, and Music From the Movies and More! Connect with him on IG @jmcnavy, and at jamesmichaelmchale.com

Tezz Yancey

A Vocalist, Dancer, Actor, Musician, Director, Producer, and Writer, Tezz studied Musical Theater and Music at The Boston Conservatory and Berklee College of Music. Broadway, touring, stage, and screen credits include After Midnight, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Starlight Express, Five Guys Named Moe, VEGAS! The Show, Priscilla: Queen of the Desert, Suenos, Weird Romance, Dames at Sea, Doubletyme with Gregory Hines and Savion Glover, DISNEY’S “Mere et Fille” (Film), SHOWTIME’S “Dice” (TV), Victor Crowley (HATCHET FRANCHISE) and Soul Desire, his original musical act that headlined at New York-New York Hotel on the Las Vegas strip. A Multi-instrumentalist, Tezz also starred in and provided the music score and vocals for the independent films “Heroes” and “Malevolence” and is currently producing the soundtrack to his original screenplay “Full circle” at his own Soul Sanctuary studios in Los Angeles, CA.

Jonathan Josephson

As a former Literary Director and Company Member, JJ served as a dramaturg for numerous Chance productions from 2007-2009. Over the years, several of his plays have appeared on Chance stages including The Giant and The Pixie (2008), The Legend(s) of Sleepy Hollow (TYA, 2015), and the 2017 Chance-a-thon. He is also the founding Executive Director of Unbound Productions and one of the creators of the multi-award-winning immersive theatre events Wicked Lit, (Mountain View Mausoleum and Cemetery), Mystery Lit (Los Angeles Arboretum), and History Lit (Pasadena Museum of History). Forty of his plays have been produced all over the world including Actors Theatre of Louisville (Humana Festival), Milwaukee Rep (RepLab), and the Sam French Off-Off Broadway Play Festival (Festival Winner). Fifteen of his plays are published by Sam French, Playscripts, Stage Rights, YouthPlays, and others. He is a member of the Antaeus Playwrights Lab, DG, and ALAP. [jonathanjosephson.com]

Oánh Nguyễn

Oánh Nguyễn (Director/Executive Artistic Director) has been serving as Chance Theater’s founding Artistic Director since 1999. Oánh is a recipient of TCG’s New Generations Grant and the TCG Nathan Cummings Young Leaders of Color Fellowship. He was awarded the Outstanding Artist Award by Arts Orange County, profiled in Orange County Register’s “Most Influential People” series and OC Weekly’s People Issue, inducted into Anaheim High School’s Hall of Fame and was a commencement speaker for Chapman University College of Performing Arts. Oánh was Producing Associate at South Coast Repertory where he initiated and programmed the first three seasons of alternative offerings under the banner of StudioSCR. He also served on the advisory board of the Anaheim High School Performing Arts Conservatory, the board of Network of Ensemble Theatres, LA’s 99-seat Transitional Committee, and OC Theatre Guild, as well as panels and committees for Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, Alternative Theatre Los Angeles, National Endowment for the Arts and Theatre Communications Group. His directing credits include productions at Chance Theater, East West Players, the J. Paul Getty Museum, Segerstrom Center for the Arts, South Coast Repertory, Aurora Theatre Company, Oregon Contemporary Theatre, Chapman University, Azusa Pacific University, AMDA, CSU Fullerton, and served as the Associate Director for the international tour of David Henry Hwang’s Chinglish (Berkeley Repertory, South Coast Repertory, Hong Kong Arts Festival). His selected film credits include Two Brothers, directed by Jean-Jacques Annaude, Rush Hour 3, directed by Brett Ratner, and Lonely Boy, directed by Dale Fabrigar (Best First Feature Grand Jury Prize at the 2013 Louisiana International Film Festival and Audience Award Winner at the 2013 BolderLife Festival).

James Michael McHale

James Michael McHale is an actor, director, writer, and musician. As an actor, he’s had the pleasure to work with Tony Award winning director Kathleen Marshall at The Old Globe in Much Ado About Nothing, play Hamlet at the Lyceum Theater, and Buzz Aldrin in the World Premiere and National Tour of APOLLO 11 for Troika Entertainment. He received a Staged Scene LA Award for Outstanding Performance in a Leading Role for his work in Middletown at Chance Theater. Other theater credits include the musical Once at both California Center for the Arts Escondido and Lamb’s Players Theater (San Diego Critics’ Circle Awards for Best Musical and Best Ensemble). He recently directed the Regional Premiere of American Idiot at Chance Theater, where his directing credits also include the OC Premiere of Edges, and A Charlie Brown Christmas. He has written and directed a number of storytelling concerts for Pacific Symphony and presented at Segerstrom Concert Hall including, Beethoven: Trials to Triumph, A Dream of Tchaikovsky, Pacific Symphony and the Curious Case of the Vanishing Violin, and Music From the Movies and More! Connect with him on IG @jmcnavy, and at jamesmichaelmchale.com

Nicole Schlitt

Nicole Schlitt is a proud Resident Artist of the Chance. When not stage managing a main stage production, she loves to spend her time to with our OTR Staged Readings. She was last seen as the stage manager of A Charlie Brown Christmas, Edges, The Story of My Life, Ragtime, The Little Mermaid at Peppertree Park, in a word, The Little Prince, A Chorus Line, Stinky Cheese Man, The Dragon Play and Loch Ness: the Musical at the Chance; assistant stage manager for In the Heights, Laramie Project/Laramie Project: Ten Years Later, Reborning, and the Ovation Award-winning show Jerry Springer: The Opera at the Chance. She also works as an Assistant Stage Manager at the Disneyland Resort making magic behind the scenes for the resort’s live entertainment.