T.J. Anderson (Music Director)

T.J. Anderson is delighted to join Black Button Eyes Productions for the first time. Recent music direction credits include Now. Here. This., [title of show], A New Brain (Brown Paper Box Co.) and Borderlands (Underscore Theater Company). He has also recently been seen onstage as an actor in productions with Brown Paper Box Co., City Lit Theater Company and 20% Theater Company. T.J. is an artistic associate with Brown Paper Box Co. and a trumpet player throughout the city.

Jeremiah Barr (Scenic/Props/Puppets Designer)

Jeremiah is very pleased to be working with the Shockheaded Peter team. Some of Jeremiah's other credits include scenic design for Time Stands Still and Blackslot with Astonrep Theater Company as well as Eurydice and Gross Indecency with Promethean Theater Ensemble. Both companies he is a proud member of. He wishes to thank his wife, Samantha.

Alexa Berkowitz (Stage Manager)

Alexa Berkowitz graduated from the University at Buffalo, SUNY with a B.A. in Dance and a B.A. in Theatre (specializing in technical theatre) in 2010. She has worked with a number of theatres in Chicago including City Lit Theatre, Promethean Theatre Ensemble, Linchpin Theatre, Strawdog Theatre Company, The Factory Theatre, and Black Button Eyes Productions. She was recently made the Executive Director of Promethean Theatre Ensemble.

Liz Cooper (Lighting Designer)

Liz is very excited to be working on Shockheaded Peter. Some of her lighting design credits include Bloodhound Law, Father Ruffian, Peyton Place and We Have Always Lived in the Castle (City Lit), Bard Fiction (Commedia Beauregard), Winter's Tale, A Study in Scarlet and Henry V (Promethean), Anton in Show Business and The Rover (20% Chicago) and After Miss Julie (Focal Point Theatre).

Beth-Laske-Miller (Costume Designer)

Beth's previous costume design work with Black Button Eyes includes Amour, Goblin Market, and Coraline. She also works with Irish Theatre of Chicago (The My Way Residential, Lay Me Down Softly, The Seafarer, In Pigeon House, and Moon for the Misbegotten) MadKap Productions (The Seven Year Itch), Babes with Blades (180 Degree Rule), Midsommer Flight (As You Like It, Macbeth, Much Ado About Nothing), Promethean Theatre Ensemble (A Study in Scarlet, The Caucasian Chalk Circle), and Hell in a Handbag (L’Imitation of Life).

Ed Rutherford (Director)

Ed most recently directed the Jeff-Recommended productions of The Liar with Promethean Theatre Ensemble and Paula Vogel’s The Baltimore Waltz at Brown Paper Box Co. For Black Button Eyes, his latest directing project was the Chicago premiere of Amour, preceded by Goblin Market and the Midwest Premiere of the musical Coraline. A proud graduate of Northwestern’s theater program, he also directed his own adaptation of the Peter S. Beagle fantasy novel The Last Unicorn with Promethean Theatre Ensemble, where he is an artistic associate. In addition for Promethean he has directed Brecht’s The Caucasian Chalk Circle and their inaugural production, Christopher Durang’s Beyond Therapy. As an actor, he has performed with Drury Lane Oakbrook, Porchlight, Theater Wit and many others. He is currently pursuing his MBA at Kellogg.

Jonathan Mathias (Sound Designer)

Jon is a senior RTVF major at Northwestern University. He has a background in music production, sound design, and sound engineering. Jon was the soundboard engineer for Porchlight Music Theater's production of End of the Rainbow, and has sound designed many student productions at Northwestern. Jon loves The Smiths more than anything, but doesn't care for Morrissey's solo work.

Derek Van Barham (Movement Director)

Derek Van Barham is an Artistic Associate with Pride Films & Plays, a member of the Red Tape Theatre ensemble, and a former Artistic Director of The Ruckus. For PFP, he has directed Angry Fags (Steppenwolf Garage Repertory), Songs from an Unmade Bed (Jeff nomination: Best Director of a Musical or Revue), PRISCILLA, Queen of the Desert: The Musical and Terrence Mcnally’s Some Men (co-directed by David Zak). He also wrote, directed and choreographed BITE: A Pucking Queer Cabaret and Kill Your Boyfriends. Other directing credits include Three Days of Rain (Boho Theatre), Miracle! by Dan Savage and Skooby Don't (Hell in a Handbag), Trash (New American Folk Theatre), and From These Fatal Loins (The Ruckus). He has choreographed for Black Button Eyes (Coraline the Musical, Goblin Market, Amour), The Plagiarists, Inappropriate Theatre, and Salonathon. He can currently be seen improvising with Baby Wine (Fridays at The Annoyance). He was recently named one of Windy City Times 30 Under 30, recognizing individuals from Chicago's LGBTQ+ community. MFA: Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University.