Staff
Photo by Bill Frederking.
SK Kerastas
sk@linkshall.org
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SK Kerastas (they/them) is a justice-driven arts leader, community organizer, and artist rerooted back home in Chicago after 8+ years in the SF Bay Area. While on the West Coast, they served as the Creative Producer of Neon Was Never Brighter: A Glimpse Into the Future, Chinatown SF’s first-ever contemporary public arts festival. They were the Artistic Producer at Cal Shakes where they produced for the mainstage, drove the equity, diversity, inclusion, and access initiatives; and created community-centered programming with the Artistic Engagement team. They were the Artistic Associate at Berkeley Repertory Theatre through Theatre Communications Group’s Leadership U grant funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. In Chicago, they worked as the Education Director at About Face Theatre directing the queer and trans youth theater and all outreach programs. Most recently, they have been working as a cultural strategist, facilitator, and coach with the social impact firm Create Forward and the arts activist group artEquity. They have organized with the Bay Area Transformative Justice Collective, East Bay Meditation Center, and Dhamma Dena Meditation Center. As an artist, SK writes, performs, and dances for both solo and group performance. They received their B.A. in English-Theatre & Women’s Studies from McGill University in Montreal.
Mario LaMothe
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Mario LaMothe (he/they) oversees Links Hall’s business operations, contracts and accounts, and rentals program. Born in Brooklyn, New York and raised in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, LaMothe is a performance artist, scholar, and curator. He has served as the assistant general manager for the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), company manager for the Limón Dance Company, a company manager for the U.S. State Department’s Center Stage international exchange program, and public health program manager for Population Services International in Haiti. He is Assistant Professor of Black Studies and Anthropology at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and was a 2021-22 Links Hall Co-MISSION resident artist.
Dana Pepowski
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Dana Pepowski (she/her) is a dramaturg, performer, and administrator excited by new work and the rehearsal process. She joined the Links Hall team in 2023 as the Project Manager for the inaugural Co-MISSION Curatorial Residency.
Dana’s performance credits include work with Paramount Theatre, [producing body], Oil Lamp Theater, Blank Theatre Company, and more. As a dramaturg, Dana has collaborated with Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, American Players Theatre (Spring Green, WI), and Northwestern University. She is a company member with the experimental group Runaways Lab Theatre.
Prior to joining Links Hall, Dana worked as the Program Director of Meals on Wheels Northeastern Illinois, where she facilitated holistic support for over 200 homebound individuals. She graduated from Northwestern University in 2020 with double majors in Theatre and History.
Dana loves ghost stories, learning languages, and seeing as much theatre as possible.
For all press inquiries, please contact Dana Pepowski: dana@linkshall.org.
Board
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Amy Chavasse (she/her/they) choreographer, performer, educator, improviser, and Artistic Director of ChavasseDance&Performance is currently a Professor at the University of Michigan, located on the land of Odawa, Ojibwe, Boodewadomi and Wyandot peoples. Current collaborations include a co-curated project, with colleague, Charli Brissey, “What Democracy Means To Me”, and How to Stay in a Dream, (or) Ratas de dos Platas, with Luciana Acuña and Luis Biasotto of Grupo Krapp (Buenos Aires), Austin Selden, Nola Smith (Brooklyn) and Paty Solorzano (Puebla, Mexico). Her choreography and collaborations have been presented across the U.S., Beijing, Shanghai, Italy, Costa Rica, and Uppsala, Sweden with a wildly diverse group of artists. www.chavassedanceandperformance.com
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BOARD SECRETARY
Kim Davis (she/her/hers) is an artist, educator, and researcher with more than 25 years of experience in arts and culture performance, education, and administration for nonprofit and municipal organizations. Most recently, she served as Senior Director of Education at Old Town School of Folk Music, where she developed and implemented the Creative Dance Residency, producing and presenting artists and companies such as Nejla Yatkin, Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre, Deeply Rooted Dance Theater, Jump Rhythm Jazz Project, Valerie Alpert Dance Company, and The Cambrians. She also has given lectures and presentations and facilitated discussions at a variety of conferences, municipal departments, and universities. She has experience curating programs for festivals, conferences, artist residencies, and workshop presentations and she served as an Art of Rehearsal mentor for six years at Chicago’s famed Links Hall. She participated in the New England for the Arts’ National Dance Project - 2016 Regional Dance Development Initiative’s Presenter Showcase and she also served as a task force member of Chicago Dancemakers Forum’s inaugural Elevate Chicago Dance 2017 festival. Her background includes program design, workshop and curriculum development, individual mentorship and group facilitation, project management, strategic planning, and executive leadership. She is passionate about using the arts as a gateway to communication and the dismantling of systemic racism and injustice in communities. Davis is completing an EdD in Leadership and Innovation from Arizona State University and holds an MS from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, a BA from Columbia College of Missouri, and has completed training in caucus facilitation, and certificates in Ethical Leadership and DEI in the Workplace. Her research investigates the attrition/retention and success of Black womxn in leadership positions within the arts and culture sector in predominantly white institutions. She currently serves on the Executive Committee of Links Hall, a performing arts organization in Chicago, IL.
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BOARD VICE PRESIDENT
Ross Stanton Jordan is a curator interested in the confluence of politics, history, and visual culture. As Curatorial Manager at the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum, Ross supports the production of exhibitions and programs that connect the social justice issues of the past to the present via collaboration with artists who work with community. He holds dual master’s degrees in art history and arts administration and policy from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
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BOARD TREASURER
Jon Pagac has worked for JPMorgan in affordable housing investments for the past 15 years and has been a big fan of Links Hall for nearly as long. In his free time, he can be found racing sailboats on Lake Michigan, biking, running and catching up on too many unread books.
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BOARD CO-PRESIDENT
Tina Post is an assistant professor of English and Theater and Performance Studies at the University of Chicago, where she is also an affiliate of the Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture. Her scholarship focuses on racial performativity. She is a writer of creative nonfiction (see, for example, this).
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Doreen Sayegh is a Producer/General Manager with Pemberley Productions, which collaborate with overseas companies and US-based productions to book tours across North America as well as internationally. Previously, Doreen was Manager of International & Special Projects at Chicago Shakespeare and Managing Director of the Satori Group (Seattle). Doreen is the Board Vice President of the League of Chicago Theatres.
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Michael Tokoph is a digital and marketing strategy consultant based in Chicago. He has experience advising clients on how they can better connect with their customers and communities, as well as how to grow in meaningful ways that create value for all stakeholders. He holds a BS in applied economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Advisory Board
Cheryl Lynn Bruce
Bob Eisen
E. Aaron Greven
Tracie D. Hall
Maggie Kast
Meida McNeal
Eva Silverman
Claire Sutton
Blair Thomas
Michael Zerang
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BOARD CO-PRESIDENT
Patrick Zakem is a director, producer, and presenter of performance across form. He is the Creative Producer at Steppenwolf, where he produces the LookOut Series, which presents hundreds of performances each year from Chicago artists. His producing and presenting work includes many productions at Steppenwolf, as well as Ars Nova, Future Tenant and bubble:PGH.
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Jane Beachy is a producer and curator of performances, exhibitions, public programs, and intentional initiatives. As the Artistic Director of Illinois Humanities, she helms signature programming and is part of the senior leadership team. Among the projects she has developed, directed, and produced at IH are the Elective Studies Series, Rapid Response Series, the statewide Envisioning Justice initiative, and a national convening entitled “Inside & Out: The Humanities and Mass Incarceration”. She is also the founder and director of Salonathon, “a home for underground, emerging, and genre-defying art” that existed as a bustling weekly performance series and community gathering space from 2011 to 2018 and manifested again as a digital series in 2020. Independently, Jane produces artist residencies, retreats, unique events and partnerships, and full productions. Jane also has a background in arts education and has taught courses and workshops in arts leadership and curatorial practice at Northwestern University, University of Chicago, and Beloit College.
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J’Sun Howard (he/him/his) is a dancemaker, writer, educator, and is currently an Adjunct Professor at Northwestern University. Currently, he is a U.S.-Japan Friendship Commission Creative Fellow, where he is developing a new work for the 2025 World Expo in Osaka. Other works in progress include The Righteous Beauty of the Things Never Accounted For and take carefully (or the world shatters when you don't find your loved ones). His work has been presented across the U.S., Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea.
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Susan Manning is a historian of modern dance and Bergen Evans Professor in the Humanities at Northwestern. Dancing on the Fault Lines of History: Selected Essays is her most recent book, and her current book project is a two-volume anthology coedited with Lizzie Leopold, titled Dancing on the Third Coast: Chicago Dance Histories. She was the founding board chair of the Chicago Dance History Project (2015-2019) and is convenor of the Chicago Dance Studies Working Group.
Links Hall was founded in 1978 by choreographers Bob Eisen, Carol Bobrow, and Charlie Vernon.
Extended Family
Yvonne P. Afable
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Yvonne P. Afable is the Managing Partner of Accounting Services for Afable Consulting LLC. For the past 21 years, her team of 20 associates have supported over 130 organization in telling their financial stories. She enjoys teaching Zumba at LA Fitness & Evolve. Yvonne and her partner have 3 amazing children, 2 energetic dogs and LOVE Chicago!
Giau Minh Truong
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Giau Minh Truong (he/him) was born in Vietnam and lived in a refugee camp with his family for two years in Indonesia before arriving in the USA in 1982. Giau oversees Links Hall’s production and technical needs for artists and performances, maintains Studio A performance space, and does curatorial work focusing on developing use of tech in performance.
Cristina Garza
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Cristina Garza (she/her) helps progressive nonprofits raise the funds necessary to support and grow their missions. Prior to becoming a consultant, she was the Executive Director at AVANCE-Austin, leading the organization to double in size and achieve financial sustainability. Prior to that, she served as Director of Social Impact for the Mission Economic Development Corporation where she curated and led all education, arts, and entrepreneurship initiatives for this EDC. Before her career in economic development, Cristina worked in museum education and outreach in New York City working in institutions such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Historical Society, and the Brooklyn Museum. She holds a BA from New York University, an MA from Syracuse University. She is originally from Mexico and now lives in Austin with her two cats.
www.giantsquidgroup.com
Aaliyah Christina
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Born in Ruston, Louisiana and raised across Louisiana, Maryland, and Texas, Aaliyah Christina creates and supports performance work as an administrator, curator, movement artist, and writer. She improvises dances and writes poetry/prose about relationships, mental health, and Blackness as a resident on the South side of Chicago.
As Associate Curator & Artist Programs Manager at Links Hall, she ensures the voices of artists are centered through programming & creating new works. Aaliyah consistently collaborates & supports Chicago's community artists/organizations including, but not limited to Keyierra Collins, Darling Shear, Assata's Daughters, The Fly Honeys, and Chicago Dancemakers Forum. Alongside working at Links Hall, she’s a Co-Organizer for Performance Response Journal. In 2021, Aaliyah received the 3Arts Make-A-Wave grant.
Teresa Tristan
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Teresa Tristan is an Accounting Associate with a Bachelor of Business in Accounting and has 8+ years’ experience in corporate, nonprofit, and individual accounting. She resides in Laredo, TX where she enjoys carne asada tacos and a good prickly pear margarita. Teresa takes pride in providing excellent client service with integrity and positivity. In her free time she is writing a book of poetry.
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Trevor Martin is a Chicago-based artist, educator, and administrator. He currently serves as the Executive Director of Exhibitions and Exhibition Studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) and is a Senior Lecturer in SAIC's Performance Department.