Meet Our Coaches
Allison Grischow, Owner
What Brings Me Joy: Exploring places I’ve never been, Fountains, Rice Pudding, and Sunflowers
I Love to Teach: Animation and Commercial Voiceover, On Camera Acting and Scene Study, Piano and Voice, and helping people find the next steps to make their careers their own & follow their joy boldly
Pronouns: She/They
Hi! I'm Allison! I'm an actor, improviser, musician, voiceover artist, and aerialist. (As you can probably tell, I love to be creative in many, many ways.)
I have degrees in Theatre and Music from Valparaiso University as well as Second City’s Music Improv Conservatory. I've studied Contemporary British Theatre in the heart of London and the Stanislavsky tradition at the Moscow Art Theatre School. Recently you may have heard my voice on The Onion's podcast, "The Topical" or singing and running through fake snow in The Lilly Theater's production of The Magic Snowman.
I believe that creating should be a joyful experience. It can absolutely be hard work as well, but I believe that by following our joy as artists, so much more is possible.
Mathias Blake
Mathias Blake is an actor, director, and producer for stage and film, hailing from upstate New York and a graduate from The University of Iowa.
Mathias has worked across multiple disciplines, ranging from clown work to voiceover, improv to stage and film, even video game capture. After spending time as an intern with both O'Connor and PR Casting, he now spends his time working/training in new work, multi-media, and television.
Outside of the art scene, Mathias teaches rock climbing locally and loves to get together with friends to geek out over board games and Dungeons & Dragons.
Chazie Bly
What Brings Me Joy: Yoga/Working Out, Video Games, and Cooking
I Love to Teach: Imaginative Play,
Creative Script writing,
Acting Fundamentals/Lessons,
Character Study,
Script/Text Analysis,
Puppetry Fundamentals,
Intro Voice Acting,
and Improv Fundamentals
Pronouns: He/Him and They/Them
I am a Chicago based teaching artist who loves helping students cultivate their creative skills and unique points of view. I have been teaching Theatre and Arts integration in Chicago public and private schools for the last 9 years. Currently, I work through The Auditorium Theatre’s ArtsXChange and Hearts to Art program. The best reward of this work is when students discover how to use their bodies, voices, and imaginations to better embrace their general education studies, and to build up their empathy.
As a performer, I work as a fashion illustration model at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. I also love to act in theatrical productions throughout the city when the role is right for me! In my spare time I love to write my own scripts/fan fiction, practice yoga, play video games, and relax. I received a double major from Penn State in Theatre and Women’s studies. I also hold my professional educators license as a certified K-12 Diverse Learning Specialist from National Louis University/Teach for America. I’m looking forward to helping students blend arts integration into any activities that bring them joy!
Brenna DiStasio
What Brings Me Joy: Game Nights, Maple Scones, Puzzles, Spooky Movies/All Things Halloween
I Love to Teach: Technique (Stanislavski/Uta Hagen),
Commercial Auditioning,
Exploring Body and Voice with Play, and O
n Camera Technique.
Pronouns: She/Her
Hi, I'm Brenna! I absolutely adore being an actor and a teacher and I take playing pretend very seriously. I'm a full time actor, teacher, and I also run The Story Theatre with an amazing group of artists. I love working on commercial auditions, and digging into text analysis. Playing with the range of sounds our voices can make and exploring how we can tell stories with our bodies are some of my favorite things to do. I like to prescribe a healthy balance of books to help deepen your acting technique, and people watching/imagination to keep the joy in our work. Represented by Gray Talent Group, I work in theatre, television and commercials throughout Chicago.
Denzel Tsopnang
What Brings Me Joy: Reading, Teaching, Hosting Get Togethers
I Love to Teach: Any Audition Prep Classes (general or specific), Voice, Text and Music Analysis
Pronouns: He/Him
Raised in the Chicago suburbs, I’m a graduate of Millikin University with a BFA in Musical Theatre and a minor in Dance. I started off in Chicago with Griffin Theatre's Jeff Nominated Balm in Gilead and since then, have had the pleasure of working with many other regional theatres such as American Blues Theater, Peninsula Players, Chicago Dramatists, Court Theatre, Drury Lane Oakbrook and The Marriott Lincolnshire. I treasure getting to spend time with and cook for my friends and family and I aim to bring that same welcome and open environment into my classes!
Tamsen Glaser
What Brings Me Joy: Houseplants, Movie Nights, Peppermint Tea, Traveling by Train
I Love to Teach: Acting and Music Fundamentals, Beginning Piano and Voice, Commercial Voiceover, On Camera Technique, Shakespeare and Classical Text Analysis, Audition Coaching, Children’s Yoga, and Imaginative Play
Pronouns: She/Her
Hey, I’m Tamsen! I’m an actor, classically trained singer, commercial voiceover actor, writer, and cabaret performer.
I have a BFA in Acting and a BA in Vocal Performance from Western Michigan University, and a MFA in Acting from the University of Washington’s Professional Actor Training Program, and I am represented by DDO Chicago!
I’ve enjoyed working in a ton of different styles and mediums, from puppeteering to opera to a commercial voiceover to network television. I love to incorporate all of my experiences into my teaching to best meet my students where they’re at. Then we build our goals together!
My favorite thing is tailoring my curriculum to each student’s unique needs, incorporating imaginative work with our bodies and voices along with research and exploration into the topics that interest them most. My life’s goal is simply to do great work with great people. I proudly carry that philosophy into my teaching, so let’s do something great - and have some serious fun while we’re at it!