Connie Blick

CHAIR

Connie Blick is a wife, mother, and lover of vintage. She’s a true midwestern girl, “ope”ing her way through adventures big and small. A graduate from Illinois State University’s School of Theatre and Dance, Connie planted roots in Normal, IL in 2007 and with the guidance of an

immensely supportive husband, Connie found her way back into the local theatre scene once her children reached school age. Armed with the acting itch, she found a home within the local theatre community, most visibly at Heartland Theatre Company, where her credits include Grand Horizons, A Doll’s House, Pinter’s The Homecoming, and Tribes. She has also acted and directed for Heartland’s popular Ten- Minute Play Festival.

Connie’s other local credits include August Osage County and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime at Community Players Theatre where she also Assistant Directed The Wedding Singer and has been a featured actor in the Evergreen Cemetery Walk and a performer in the SHEPersisted festival with Coalescence Theatre.

In 2014, Connie co-produced and directed for the short lived, ever popular, Sticky in the Sticks, site-specific pop-up theatre that took place in a bar. After a successful three-year season, she hung up Sticky for good. Now her education, experience, and passion to make theatre more accessible to audiences and to create & support artistic opportunities for actors and artists in our community, is the driving force behind her commitment to Nomad Theatre.

Connie has had a hand in producing every Nomad production since its inception with Raising the Bar and The Art Show, and with Cristen kept the pedal pushed guiding Nomad through the pandemic and producing works like The Front Porch Plays, The Patio Plays, The Ghostlight Project, and a COVID Christmas Carol.

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Cristen Monson

VICE CHAIR

Cristen Monson earned her BA in Acting from The University of Texas at El Paso and her MA in Theatre Studies from Illinois State University.

New York Credits: Jaques Brel, Hallzapoppin, Tycoon New Musical Festival, cabaret at Don’t Tell Mama, Theatre Works and Rose’s Turn. Mid-Atlantic Region: The Maryland Arts Festival The World Goes Round(Woman 2), Rags (Bella) World premiere of Lindbergh Baby Kidnapped (Mrs. Lindbergh) at The Baltimore Theatre Project, Into The Woods (Witch) at Delaware Theatre Company and Das Barbeque (Woman 2) at Fells Point Corner Theatre.

Local theatre credits include Bright Star (Mama Murphy), The Holiday Spectacular (Carol Scrooge), The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Rona), Urinetown (Pennywise ), Boeing Boeing, (Gretchen) Gypsy (Mama Rose), A Little Night Music (Desiree ) Time Stands Still (Sarah), Tribes (Beth) Circle, Mirror, Transformation, (Theresa) Floyd Collins, (Miss Jane) and The Electric Baby (Helen).

Cristen appeared in the 2018 Evergreen Cemetery Walk as Emily Vecchi Noble and Susan B Anthony and has written for the walk for the last two years.

Directing credits include A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime (Community Players) The Secret Garden, Oklahoma R2K and Pirates of Penzance Jr. for Prairie Fire Theatre, Heartland Theatre 10-Minute Play Festival, High School Musical for Normal Summer Theatre and for Nomad Theatre The Art Show plays.

Cristen works at Illinois State University as the Academic Advisor and coordinates summer theatre camps for The Illinois Shakespeare Festival. She is married to local actor and director Dave Krostal and her two children Eli and Eden are her pride and joy!

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Lauren Palmer

Treasurer

Lauren Palmer is a mezzo soprano and performer living in the Bloomington-Normal area. She received her Bachelors at Illinois State University School of Music in 2018.

Lauren has been a chief financial officer at Illinois State University for over a decade, and currently holds the position of Finance and Communications Manager for the Illinois Shakespeare Festival.

Lauren has an incredible passion for fine arts and fostering a creative community of individuals. Her cohesion of administration and student mentorship is evident throughout the Wonsook Kim College of Fine Arts at Illinois State University.

Lauren was raised in Springfield, Illinois where she was an active member of the community theatre. Central Illinois stage credits include Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, Ms. Honey in Matilda, as well as HONK!, Les Miserables, Children of Eden, Peter Pan, four productions of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Ragtime, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, and Bye Bye Birdie.

Costume, makeup, stage design, and crew work include 42nd Street, West Side Story, Peter Pan, Fiddler on the Roof, Big, and much more.

Lauren is married to Stuart Palmer and a proud mamma to a sassy future thespian, Miss Ainslee Rose!

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Pamela Morgan

Secretary

Pamela Morgan is an emerging playwright and author from the Midwest, whose work often explores themes of gender, social justice, and feminism. Her plays have been produced across the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and India. Pamela received the KCACTF Region V Rosa Parks Playwriting Award, the KCACFT Full-Length Play Award, and the Renaissance Theatre / Theatre 166 Emerging Playwright Award. She was a finalist for the Judith Royer Excellence in Playwriting Award and the Jane Chambers Excellence in Feminist Playwriting Award.

Her publications include Simply Skye (Amicus, 2023), Hungry (Smith & Kraus Publishers, 2022), Straight and Perfect (Smith & Kraus Publishers, 2022), All Kids Lie (Chicago Story Press, 2022), Love is a Battlefield (Chicago Story Press, 2020), Shapes in the Cloud (220 Publishing, 2016), and Mostly Me (HerStories Project Press, 2016).

She is the proud parent of two incredible human beings, as well as a member of the Dramatists Guild and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. Pamela holds a Bachelor in Elementary and Special Education from Trinity Christian College and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Augsburg University.

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Ariele Jones

Ex Officio

Board Member

Ariele Jones is an alumna of Illinois State University. She enjoys many creative endeavors from photography to podcasting and many things in between.

And speaking of creative endeavors, working with Nomad Theatre in the past during the Front Porch Plays has been a treasured experience. Having any chance to be involved with “theatre that moves,” she’s there.

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