LAURIE ATWOOD (Chairman) is the owner and operator of the Children’s Creative Center. She has appeared in plays and musicals throughout the area since you were very little. Credits include Dimly Perceived Threats to the System, Xmas Carol, The Nerd, I Remember Mama, The Shadow Box, A Little Night Music, and others. Laurie is a marathon runner and mother of three.

DANA SUTTON (Executive Director) recently played the leading role of The Girl in BlackBag's revival of their adaptation of The Rainbow. She directed BlackBag’s Dimly Perceived Threats to the System by Jon Klein in 2004. Serving as BlackBag’s Executive Director since 1998, Dana has appeared in their productions of Xmas Carol as June Cratchit, Women in Love as Gudrun, and in the original EMU production of The Rainbow as the School Mistress. She played Gertrude in BlackBag's gender-bending production of Hamlet which she also conceived and co-directed. Other favorite roles include Catherine in Wuthering Heights (Winner, Ann Arbor News, Best Actress 2000), Bella in Lost in Yonkers, Sarah in Quilters, Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, Sandy in Grease, Olivia in 12th Night, Portia in Merchant of Venice, and the Mistress in Evita. From 1996-1997 Dana served as Assistant Manager of the Manistee Civic Players’ Ramsdell Theatre and Opera House (1996-1997) in Manistee, Michigan. A northern Michigan native, Dana now proudly calls Ypsilanti home along with her partner and husband Bart and her dogs. She holds a degree in Theatre Arts from Eastern Michigan University.

BARTON BUND (Founder, Artistic Director, Writer/Director) is the original founder of BlackBag Productions. Most recently, he adapted and directed BlackBag's revival of The Rainbow. In 2004, he fought the law and won with his new play Margaritaville. As writer/director: Dirt, The Jealous Type, as well as his adaptations of Women in Love by D.H. Lawrence, and Xmas Carol from Charles Dickens. Other directing credits include Hamlet, Battery, and Fiddler on the Roof at Washtenaw Community College. As an actor, Bart was most recently seen in Side Man and The Sins of Sor Juana at the Performance Network. Other roles include Che in Evita, Robert in Betrayal, Polonius in Hamlet, Judas in Godspell, Joey in The Old Neighborhood. Bart is Artist-in-residence at The Children’s Creative Center of Ann Arbor, as well as a Playmaker Playwright at The Purple Rose Theatre, and a nominee for the Williamstown Theatre Festival’s 2001 L. Arnold Weissberger Award in playwriting for his play Norma Peoples.

JOSHUA M. PARKER (Technical Director) holds degrees from Albion College in Philosophy, and from the University of Michigan in Civil Engineering. He will be attending the University of Michigan in the fall for graduate studies in Architecture and Engineering. He has been actively involved with the theatre as actor, carpenter, house technician, designer, and technical director for a number of amateur and professional theatres including Chicago's world famous Steppenwolf Theatre and the Court Theatre. Acting credits include Lucky in Waiting for Godot, Saul in True West, and David in the Blackbird's Grand Opening X-Mas Carol. Previous design credits for BlackBag productions include Margaritaville, The Jealous Type, Women in Love, X-Mas Carol, Side Man, and Dimly Perceived Threats to the System. He would like to thank in advance the generous individuals who will be donating tools to the Blackbird Theatre...like a table saw (hint, hint!)

JOSEPH ZETTELMAIER (Associate Artistic Director) is ecstatic to be throwing his hat in with the Blackbird Theatre. He is a playwright who has seen several of his plays produced, including his latest-The Stillness Between Breaths-which will premiere at the Performance Network in March 2005. He has acted and/or stage managed, choreographed fights at the Purple Rose Theatre, the Gem Theatre, the Planet Ant, and the Performance Network, where he is an Associate Artist. He would like to send his deepest gratitude to Bart and Dana for giving him this opportunity and for helping create a community for local theatre artists.

Associate Artists:
Victoria Gilbert, Actor
Paul Lippens, Musician
Ahmed Muslimani, Actor
Courtney Myers, Actor
William Myers, Actor/Director/Designer
Rebecca Staffend, Actor
Lynch Travis, Actor/Director