The Plagiarists

New Members! (bios coming soon)

Jessica Wright Buha
Jack Dugan Carpenter
Sara McCarthy
Jessica Saxvik

Chad Brown, Events Coordinator

Chad Brown has been living in Chicago since January 1, 2007. Since moving here he has gotten a job, which he still has (thank goodness), been a box office manager for The Plagiarists first show, Living the Dream, stage managed Sharps, Flats, and Other Alterations, had a cat, lost a cat, made some money, spent some money, went home, came back, toured as stage manager for the Drama Desk nominated Horizon, by Rinde Eckert, gone to the signature room at the Hancock building, not the sky deck at the Sears Tower, tried to learn as much as possible about Chicago (it drives him crazy not to know where he's going), started dating a great young woman (hi Meredith), hung out with the actors of Batman (as an extra, he's not that cool), enjoyed being Christmas Kissinger's assistant, Sven, played the roles of Danny, Narrator, and boy in the Plagiarists flagship show Promiscuous Stories, missed his family dearly, and decided to join a company started by some of the most talented people he knows, his friends, peers, and family away from home, The Plagiarists. He's glad he did.

James Dunn (co-founder)

James Moved to Chicago in 2002 after recieving his B.A. in theatre performance from the University of Nebraska Lincoln. Since moving to Chicago he has written works for the Rhino Festival, improvised for The Playground and Improv Olympic and acted for several theatre companies. James is a proud ensemble member of Infamous Commonwealth Theatre Company, and has garnished a Jeff Citation and a After dark award for his work with them. James is a co founder of the Plagiarists, and looks foreward to a lifetime of subversion with them. He also likes music a lot…..a lot.

Paul Kastner

You are Paul Kastner. You grew up in St. Louis and subsequently attended Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri. While there you studied Theatre and Literature and feel like you developed a very strong love/hate relationship with the town of Kirksville and its outlying areas. Regardless, you recall it fondly. You moved to Chicago in 2005 and have since worked for Steppenwolf, Remy Bumppo, Chicago Shakespeare, the first national tour of Xanadu and the Drury Lane Organization, where you served as Technical Director for over two years. In the past 5 years you have lived in five different apartments, two houses and several hotel rooms, played multiple games of Magic the Gathering via USPS, and hidden dozens of empty beer bottles in private dwellings across the Midwest. You are a Plagiarist.

Layne Manzer, Managing Director (co-founder)

Layne Manzer most recently was seen in Hit The Wall with The Inconvenience as part of Steppenwolf's 2012 Garage Rep. Other Chicago credits include Assisted Living with Profiles Theatre, The Lady's Not for Burning with Theo Ubique, Our Bad Magent with Mary-Arrchie as well as working as a commercial and film actor in Chicago seen in commericals for Blue Rhino, White Castle, Lind-Waldoc, Green Dream Group, and will be in the soon to be released feature film In Between Engagements. For The Plagiarists Layne has performed in many productions, co-written a few plays, and production managed more than a few productions. Layne earned his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Kim Miller

Kim Miller hails from the wild west of Las Vegas, NV. Over the past ten years she has lived in seven states and two counties outside of the US. She is thrilled to 'stay put' in Chicago for awhile, and even more thrilled to be invited to become a Plagiarist. The Plagiarists have welcomed her into the windy city with open arms, warm hearts, and cold beers--for this there are not enough thank yous in the world.
In addition to working with The Plagiarists, she currently works with or has worked with Catharsis Productions, Theatre Seven of Chicago, A Red Orchid Theatre, Dropping Knowledge, Blue Man Group, Yara Arts Group, Wind Dancer Films, La Mama E.T.C., Hope Summer Repertory Theatre, the New Harmony Project, and SLANT Theatre Project.

Gregory Peters, Aristic Director (co-founder)

Gregory Peters is proud to be part of The Plagiarists, for whom he writes, directs, and makes annual appearances as The Professor. He's an Air Force brat, which means he has trouble answering even basic questions like "Where are you from?" without essay-length explanations and qualifications. Suffice to say, he is from Albuquerque, New Mexico (you know, where Bugs Bunny should've taken the left); Ramstein AFB in Germany; Springfield, Virginia; Omaha and Lincoln, Nebraska; and now Chicago. He graduated from The University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2000. As Artistic Director of Lincoln's Rough Magic Productions, he directed Fool for Love, Sick: A Love Story, Lobster Alice, Tape, Private Eyes, Touch, Matt & Ben, and number of shorter pieces. He directed Death and the Maiden, Ti Jean Blues, and Alice in Wonderland for UNL, and As You Like It, Murder in the Cathedral, and The Baltimore Waltz for other local companies. Since arriving in Chicago in 2006, he has directed Girl in the Goldfish Bowl for New Leaf Theatre and Living the Dream and Promiscuous Stories for The Plagiarists. Favorite acting roles include Rosencrantz in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Thomas in Grace, The Amanuensis in The Illusion, The Narrator in KID-SIMPLE, and Ezra Chater in Arcadia. As a playwright, he wrote K., The Epic of Gilgamesh, as Told By Mr. George Smith, Associate Curator For The British Museum (Deceased), and co-wrote Pure Anima all for Rough Magic Productions, and adapted The One About the Green Detective and parts of Promiscuous Stories for The Plagiarists.

Jack Tamburri

Jack Tamburri was an American comic book artist, writer and editor. Growing up poor in New York City, Tamburri entered the nascent comics industry in the 1930s. In 1941, Tamburri and writer Joe Simon created the highly successful superhero character Captain America for Timely Comics. During the 1940s, Tamburri would create a number of comics for various publishers, often teamed with Simon.

After serving in World War II, Tamburri returned to comics and worked in a variety of genres. He contributed to a number of publishers, including Archie Comics and DC Comics, but ultimately found himself at Timely's 1950s iteration, Atlas Comics. In the 1960s, Tamburri co-created many of Marvel Comics' major characters including the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, and the Hulk along with writer-editor Stan Lee. Despite the high sales and critical acclaim of the titles, Tamburri felt treated unfairly, and left the company in 1970 for rival DC Comics.

While working for DC, Tamburri created his Fourth World saga, which spanned several comics titles. While these and other titles proved commercially unsuccessful and were canceled, several of their characters and the Fourth World mythos have continued as a significant part of the DC Comics universe. In his later years, Tamburri received great recognition for his career accomplishments, and is regarded by historians and fans as one of the major innovators and most influential creators in the comic-book medium.

Member History

Casey Adams
Kaitlin Byrd (co-founder)
Ian Miller (image and branding creator)
Justine Turner (co-founder)
Lindsay Verstegen (co-founder)

The Plagiarists' Board of Directors

Cat DeMerode, President
Gregory Peters,Secretary
Layne Manzer, Treasurer

The Plagiarists' Advisory Board

David Cromer
Larry Neumann Jr
Jennifer Shook
Bill Siegel

Artwork and Design by Ian Miller | Winter 2007- Spring 2011

Contact: PO Box 578545 Chicago, IL 60657-8545 Email

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