HER STORY THEATER
staff/production team
MARY BONNETT (Producing Artistic Director) created and cofounded HER STORY THEATER. Mary holds a BFA in Theater Arts, BFA in English Literature, MA in Creative Writing from Bath Spa University, England. Creator and director of GLOSS OVER, SHADOW TOWN, THE JOHNS, MONEY MAKE'M SMILE, MONGERS, INVISIBLE and CIDE SHOW. Her works are based on interveiws and research then fictionalzed for the stage. She has won numerous awards for excellence and outstanding contributions in professional theater, writing, directing, theater education. Her plays and directing have been seen in many Chicago theaters, universities and venues. She speaks regularly to various organizations across Illinois on sex trafficking and the impact the current culture has on our youth. Mary has appeared on television and numerous radio shows, championing the need for change in laws, mores to protect our children and women. Mary created COURT SIDE in partnership with Federal Judge Virginia Kendall. It focused on the trauma based behavior and journey of the trafficked victim. COURT SIDE is part of the SIDE SHOW SERIES for educators, medical staff, judges, lawyers, social workers & therapists. Mary's THE JOHNS premiered in Houton, Texas leading up to the Super Bowl 2017. Mary's MONEY MAKE'M SMILE partnered with the Chicago Teachers Union in developing sex trafficking curriculum and workshop for educators 7th-12th grades. Mary's adult novel, The Quiet..literary fiction set in 1930 Mississippi is in the process of completion. Her children's novel The Adventures of Cleaver and Whizjam On The Isle of Oogle is available on Amazon.com. Mary is a member of SAG-AFTRA, SCBWI, CWIP, International Women's Playwrighting and the American Dramatist Guild.
SUSAN MUNAKER OPPENHEIMER, (Executive Director, Partner, Liaison) Ph.D. retired her business in 2003 after 20 years as a senior organization consultant who partnered with executives and managers to defined and achieve their outcomes. Prior to that she worked for the Bell System for fifteen years in Network Operations, Engineering and Finance where she participated in and led numerous reorganizations and restructuring efforts. Her last position at Ameritech was Manager of Organization Learning where she was responsible for overseeing department change efforts for 8000 employees. In 1995 Susan left Ameritech to complete her Ph.D. in Organization Behavior and Development with a sub-specialty in adult learning. In 1992 she met her future husband, Ted Oppenheimer and shortly after began helping him run the Oppenheimer Family Foundation’s Teacher Incentive Program. Through this work she became involved in education efforts in CPS. In 2016 after 40 years the Teacher Incentive Grant has changed its focus and name to EduOpps. Now rather than supporting individual CPS teachers, EduOpps gives grants to organizations that support teachers to bring creative work to their students. Susan’s joint arts passions are tap dance and jazz music. She has served as a pro-bono consultant to the Jazz Institute of Chicago and to the Chicago Human Rhythm Project whose board she joined and served as its president for two years as they embarked on a strategic planning process. In her spare type she tries to get her feet to perform in some semblance of tap dance. A long-time social activist, Susan was in the first womens’ group in Chicago in 1966 that ushered in the Second Feminist Wave. At the same time she was in the civil rights marchers with Dr. M.L. King, in the anti-Vietnam war movement. She served as Assistant Director of Student Activities at the University of Chicago where she supported the 1960’s student movement. Her activism in social issues continues.In 2012 she learned about sex trafficking of U.S. children within the U.S. A year later she joined Mary Bonnett as a Partner and Liaison in the Her Story Theater just as HST was beginning its cycle plays on sex trafficking. She and Mary joined The Dreamcatcher Foundation on their Advisory Board. Susan’s advice to people looking for a way to help. Start where you are. Share your skills.
IRIS LIEBERMAN (Program Coordinator HST Chicago Writers Exchange) is a Jeff Award winning actress and 4 time nominee, who has appeared in over 175 productions. Most recently, Kiss Me Kate (Marriott Lincolnshire Theatre), Mary Poppins (Drury Lane Oakbrook), Pippin (Venus Cabaret), Billy Elliot, the Musical (Porchlight Music Theatre), Cabaret (Theatre at the Center - Jeff Nomination), Beauty and the Beast (Fireside Theatre), Elegy (Richard Christiansen Theatre), and Fiddler on the Roof (Paramount Theatre). She has spent the pandemic doing play readings on zoom. Iris is proud to join Her Story Theatre in its story telling mission for social change.
JOAN KUFRIN (Social Outreach, Funding Development) Throughout her writing career, including 10 years as VP and director of corporate communications for the Leo Burnett Company, Joan Kufrin has helped turn novices into professional writers. At Burnett, the publications she produced received International Association of Business Communicators, National Addy and Magazine Creativity awards. Previously, her by-line appeared in New York, Saturday Evening Post, Christian Science Monitor, New York News, New Woman, Chicago Tribune magazine, Chicago Sun-Times, and Chicago magazine. Kufrin is also the author of Uncommon Women, interviews with American icons Gwendolyn Brooks, Mary McCarthy, Maria Tallchief, Alice Neel, Julie Harris, Roberta Peters, Mary Lou Williams, Sarah Caldwell and Eugenia Zukerman; Leo Burnett, Star Reacher (biography); and WriteTight, EditTough®, a business writer’s guide to explain how to write less…and say more.
ELAYNE LETRAUNIK (Financial Manager, Grant Writer) is a native Chicagoan and has been involved in the Chicago theatre scene since the 1970s. A graduate of the University of Illinois at Chicago with honors in History and Theatre, she continued her acting studies at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London, England. Elayne has worked extensively both as an actress and a producer and starred in the Chicago premieres of “Nuts” and “Extremities.” She also appeared in “Beyond Therapy” which featured Skipp Sudduth and Carmen Roman. As a producer, she oversaw a number of award winning and critically acclaimed productions including the Chicago premiere of “A Dybbuk” and a revival of “Class Enemy.” Elayne was the auditions columnist for “Performink” newspaper for 15 years and was the founder and Artistic Director of Red Hen Productions and Chicago Jewish Theatre. Elayne was a weekly columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times as well as contributor to Plays and Players Magazine in London. She is the Associate Artistic Director of Genesis Theatrical Productions which most recently produced the US premiere of "Tunnel Rat" by Neil Cole. Elayne is a member of Actor’s Equity, Chicago Women in Philanthropy and the League of Professional Theatre Women. She also acts as Coordinator for the Association for Jewish Theatre and is the Executive Administrator for ShPIeL-Performing Identity. She also works as a Development Director for Writers in the Heartland. www.virtualelayne.com for further information.
JOHN OLSON (Freelance MARKETING, MEDIA & PUBLIC RELATIONS) John is the principal of John Olson Communications, a marketing and PR firm specializing in arts and entertainment, and provides marketing and public relations support to a wide range of Chicago storefront theatre companies. He holds a M.S. in Advertising from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a BA in Journalism and Mass Communications from the University of Wisconsin – Madison.
MELINDA WILSON (Educational Outreach, Choreographer) holds a M.Ed. from DePaul University (Chicago) and an MBA from the University of Illinois with additional course work at Northwestern Illinois University. She has trained at Lou Conte Dance Studios, The Dance Center of Columbia College, the Joel Hall Dance Center, Moming Dance Center, Pineapples (London), The Dance Works (London), Centre de Danse de Paris (Goube of the Paris Opera Ballet), Batsheva Dance Company (Tel-Aviv), and Centre de Danse du Marias (Paris). Melinda has danced locally with David Dorfman, Urban Bush Women and Timothy Buckley. She has choreographed 15 full musicals, created five original musicals, 20 full length dance concerts and over 240 concert dance pieces which have been performed throughout the United States. Her awards include Barcelona Dance Grand Prix First Place in Jazz & Choreography, Golden Apple 2007 recipient, Dance Chicago Choreographer of the Year Award, three consecutive Suave Performance Plus Teacher Awards, Who’s Who Among Teachers, eight Oppenheimer Teacher Incentive Grants, National Honor Roll’s Outstanding American Teachers for Exceptional Performance in the Motivation and Empowerment of Today’s Youth, BP America/A+ For Energy Grant recipient, Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University Scholarship Recipient for Lincoln Center Institute for the Arts in Education Program and the Successful Strategies Award for Dance Curricula (Volume IV). She served as a test writer for the Illinois Board of Education’s Dance Certification section, was a passing score reviewer for the National Evaluation Systems, Inc, a writer for Chicago Dance Magazine and Beginning Youth Division Dance Supervisor with the Joel Hall Dance Center. Currently Wilson is a teacher of Ballet and Jazz at Lou Conte Dance Studios, a board member of the Illinois Dance Festival, a member of Centre for International Danse - UNESCO and Dance Artistic Director at Curie Metropolitan High School for the Performing and Visual Arts.
Button Bonnett (Creative Think Tank Leader)