Meet Gretel

Learn more about The Gretel Project  the talented people that brought it to life. 

Lauren K. Alleyne, Co-founder, Poet

Lauren K. Alleyne is the author of Difficult Fruit (Peepal Tree Press, 2014). She holds an MFA degree, and a graduate certificate in Feminist, Gender and Sexuality Studies from Cornell University, and an MA in English and Creative Writing from Iowa State University. Alleyne’s fiction, non-fiction, interviews and poetry have been widely published in journals and anthologies such as Women’s Studies Quarterly, Guernica, The Caribbean Writer, Black Arts Quarterly, The Cimarron Review, Crab Orchard Review, Gathering Ground, and Growing Up Girl, among others. Alleyne is a Cave Canem graduate, and is originally from Trinidad and Tobago. She is currently the Poet-in-Residence, and an Assistant Professor of English at the University of Dubuque in Dubuque, IA.

Catherine Chung is the author of Forgotten Country which was an Honorable Mention for the 2013 PEN/Hemingway Award, and included on the Best Books of 2012 lists of The San Francisco Chronicle, Bookpage, and Booklist. Her work has been published by The New York Times, Granta, and The Rumpus, among others. She is the recipient of a 2014 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and a fiction editor at Guernica Magazine. She teaches creative writing at Adelphi University and is currently a visitor in the Interdisciplinary Studies Program at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton as a Director's Visitor. 

Catherine Chung, Co-founder, Writer

Sidney Marquez Boquiren, Composer

Sidney Marquez Boquiren is a composer-performer who grew up in the Philippines and Saudi Arabia but has spent most of his life in the United States. He collaborates with artists on various projects that include opera (Independence Eve with Daniel Neer) and Biblical illumination (folia ligni for Spark and Echo Arts). As a pianist, he performs regularly with Rhymes With Opera and pulsoptional. A MacDowell Fellow, Sidney is the Chair of the Department of Music at Adelphi University in Garden City, New York, where he teaches music theory and composition. He is also a cantor and sings in the choir of The Church of St. Francis Xavier in Manhattan, New York.

Tomiko Jones was born in Los Angeles, California, grew up on the Pacific Rim and currently lives and works in Denver, Colorado. Jones received her Master of Fine Arts in Photography with a Certificate in Museum Studies from the University of Arizona in Tucson.  She is the recipient of awards including the 2013 En Foco New Works Fellowship. Recent projects You Get What You Pay For, a multimedia collaboration with Chris Dacre and Canal, a site-responsive three-channel outdoor video installation for Scottsdale Public Art. Currently, she is an Assistant Professor of Art and Coordinator of the Photography Program at Metropolitan State University of Denver, Colorado. 

Tomiko Jones, Photographer and Videographer

Learn more about the contributers to The Gretel Project Dubuque

Amy Ressler is director of Theatre & Dance and a professor in the Fine & Performing Arts Department. She has a BA in Drama from Clarke College, an MFA from Arizona State and doctoral coursework in Curriculum and Social Inquiry from National-Louis University. A storyteller, paywright and actor, Amy is the founding artistic director of the Great Midwestern Educational Theatre which produces the annual Imagination Celebration for young children and the Frogwarts School of Wizardry creativity and role-play summer camp.  She has worked at the Kennedy Center, the Smithsonian Discovery Theatre, the Irish-American Heritage Theatre, the Music Institute of Chicago, North Park Opera, Light Opera Works, Northlight Theatre Co., Chicago Opera Theatre, National-Louis University, the Movement Center, CUBE ensemble, and the Kohl/McCormick-Tribune StoryBus.   She was recognized as by the NAACP as a Ruby Sutton Humanitarian. 

Amy Ressler, Director

Nicelle Davis, Tarot Card Designer

Nicelle Davis is a California poet, collaborator, and performance artist who walks the desert with her son J.J. in search of owl pellets and rattlesnake skins. She is the author of three collections of poetry: In the Circus of You, Becoming Judas, and Circe. Her e-chapbook, Studies in Monogamy, can be read (and heard) at A Whale Sound. She is editor-at-large of The Los Angeles Review. She has taught poetry at Youth for Positive Change, and with Volunteers of America in their Homeless Youth Center. She currently teaches at Paraclete and with the Red Hen Press WITS program. 

Debra Alleyne has a decade long background in traditional  Calypso performance, holds a B.A. in Communications in film and broadcasting from St. Francis College in Brooklyn Heights, and a M.A. Communications specific to Organizational Leadership and Strategic Corporate Communications.   Her passion, education and experience  are in arts administration, PR and marketing. She has done arts marketing research for The Nash Gallery, Voices from the Warehouse and The Heritage Center for Fine and Performing Arts at the University of Dubuque.

Debra Alleyne, Website Designer and Social Media Coordinator

Cast 

Kirsten Anderson is from Peosta, IA, and a sophomore at the University of Dubuque. She has performed in the “Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre,”  “Dr. Horrible’s At Home Sing-Along Blog,” “The Forgiving and Forgetting,” and “The Pirates of Penzance.” 

Gwen Beatty is an editor at the online literary journal 'First Stop Fiction,' and is currently working on her first collection of short fiction entitled 'Kill Us on the Way Home.' Her website is the ridiculously convenient www.gwenbeatty.com.​"

Janelle Haines graduated from the University of Iowa in 2013 with a degree in Biomedical Engineering and a minor in Vocal Performance. She works at John Deere as the Ergonomic Analyst for manufacturing processes and resides in Dubuque with her husband, John. You may also see Janelle performing in community theater productions or singing the National Anthem for the Fighting Saints.

Ruth Kimball is from Marengo, Illinois. Ruth has played numerous roles in both dramatic and musical production. She came to the University of Dubuque as junior level transfer student, she is seeking a degree in the Fine and Performing Arts with an emphasis in Theatre. 

Lily McKinlay will be graduating with English and Sociology degrees this Spring. She has appeared in numerous plays and musicals throughout the Dubuque community. She would like to dedicate her performance to her Grandma.

Kelly Mitchell is a student in the Art Department at Metropolitan State University of Denver, with an emphasis in photography. Since fall of 2014, Kelly has been a Studio Assistant  for Professor Tomiko Jones, working on production aspects of The Gretel Project, including playing "Gretel " in photographs and videos, and assisting in the developing, scanning and printing of the still photographs. 

Savannah Ropp is from Strawn, Illinois, and is a freshman at the University of Dubuque. She was a tap dancer in a production of “Celebrate America,” and a swing dancer in Bloomington’s “The Pantagraph’s Holiday Spectacular.” 

Elissa Jo Smith is from Dubuque, Iowa. She is a sophomore and has been performing since the age of three and has been performed in “Chicago” and “Legally Blonde,” and Dubuque’s Rising Star Theatre Company’s “Pinocchio.” Elissa Jo also instructs and choreographs for Studio 5678 here in Dubuque.

Carmen Turnbough is from St. Louis, Missouri, and is a senior at the University of Dubuque. Carmen has appeared in “Twelve Angry Jurors,” “El Muerte,” “A Mid-Summer Nights Dream,” and “The Laramie Project.” 

Christine Ann Verhoeven is a mixed media artist working primarily in photography and jewelry metals, as well as alternative processes in photography, installation art, and electronic art. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a concentration in photography, and an emphasis in jewelry metals and art history from Metropolitan State University. 

Micaela Williams is from Danville, Iowa. Micaela is currently in her junior year. She has performed with the Danville Junior/Senior High school’s Show Choir and performed in “Walt Disney World,” “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,” and “You Can’t Take it With You.” 

Voices in recordings 
Debra Alleyne, Lauren K. Alleyne, Michelle M. Boquiren, Sidney M. Boquiren, Catherine Chung, Tomiko Jones, Gladys Ressler, and Ruth 
Videos and photographs:
Taylor Barbosa, Jazzmyn Barbosa, Eloise Cullen, Lucia Cullen, Kelly Mitchell, Karen Takatani, Tomiko Jones, Justine Gilbert, Ursula Gilbert.

Crew

Marc Muehleip (set designer and master carpenter) has been a professional theatre artist for over 30 years, having worked as an actor in television, film, and the theatre.  In addition to his broad-ranging experience as an actor, Marc is also an award-winning scenic designer.  He has served as technical director, master carpenter or master electrician for many professional performing companies including Chicago Opera Theatre, Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre, Light Opera Works, Chicago Theatre Company, National-Louis University, Roosevelt University, Northwestern University and is the resident scenic designer for the Great Midwestern Educational Theatre Company.  Marc also teaches World View, Stagecraft, Theatre Appreciation, Scene Design & Stage Lighting, and Production Techniques.

Gladys Ressler: Set painter, stone mason, all-around badass.
Nathan: video Gretel
Cowgirl Pearl
Chris Dacre
Joshua Daisy
Ruth
David

All images, captures, music, and literary art are the intellectual property of the artists credited. Unauthorized use or reproductions are not permitted.