Rebecca Willingham
Artistic Director

Rebecca Willingham is a Chicago-based director. She is a co-founder of The Sound, where she directed Symphony for Six Jonis, Red Bowl at the Jeffs, For Annie and Seagulls, and co-produced the Independence and Valentine's Plays. Her directing credits include work with Tympanic Theatre, Commission Theatre, Broken Nose Theatre, 20% Theatre, Prologue Theatre, and The Ruckus. Rebecca has assistant directed at The Goodman Theatre, American Theater Company, Griffin Theatre, Theater Wit, Steep Theatre, Route 66 Theatre, and the Irish Theatre of Chicago. She is a member of the Lincoln Center Directors Lab and an alumna of Emerson College and the National Theatre Institute. Rebecca will be pursuing her MFA in Directing at The Theatre School at DePaul this fall. rebeccawillingham.com  

Beth Hyland
Playwright in Residence

Beth Hyland is a playwright living in Chicago. She is a co-founder of The Sound, which produced her plays Red Bowl at the Jeffs, For Annie, and Seagulls. For Annie received its New York debut with The Hearth in December 2016. Beth's play Clearing will receive its world premiere with Commission Theatre in June 2018, and her short play Occupy Gambier will be seen in Broken Nose's Bechdel Fest in July 2018. Her plays and musicals have been seen and developed with Actors Theatre of Louisville, Rabid Bat Theatricals, Valentine's Plays, the Chicago Musical Theatre Festival, 20% Theatre, Stage Left, The Crowd, Potluck Variety Hour, Dixon Place, Plays for One, and in the Philadelphia Fringe Festival. She is a proud alumna of the National Theatre Institute and Kenyon College. She also sings and plays the xylophone in Chicago folk band Friends of the Bog. bethhyland.com

Gregory Culley
Company Member

Gregory Culley is a graphic and set designer based in Chicago, and is currently the Assistant Art Director for the daytime talk show Pickler & Ben. He has worked in the Dublin studio of Annie Atkins (graphic designer of Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel and Spielberg's Bridge of Spies), recreating graphic props for her forthcoming book. Television credits include Pickler & Ben (Seasons 1-2) and Steve Harvey (Seasons 3-5). Gregory's select theatre credits include designs for Coriolanus (Commission Theatre), For Annie (The Sound), Paper City Phoenix (Tympanic Theatre), Year of the Rooster (Red Theatre Chicago), and Seagulls (The Sound/Chicago Musical Theatre Festival). He is an alumnus of Kenyon College, where he studied art history and drama. gregoryculley.com

Georgi McCauley
Company Member

Georgi McCauley is a Chicago-based actress, writer and storyteller. She recently moved to Chicago from Los Angeles, where she acted in various comedy sketches, web series, and other forms of new media. She is a frequent performer at The Moth storytelling events, and recently won The Moth's Storyslam in Chicago. She has appeared in The Sound's Red Bowl at the Jeffs, For Annie, and Valentine's Plays, and her short play The Heart will appear in the upcoming Independence Plays. She studied at the Anthony Meindl Actor Workshop and is an alumni of Ithaca College and The National Theater Institute. georgimccauley.com

Ella Pennington
Company Member

Ella Pennington is a Chicago-based actress originally from the San Francisco Bay Area. Since graduating from Northwestern, she has worked with Griffin Theatre, Fearless Theatre, The Neighborhood Theatre, Theo Ubique (Jeff Award best musical), and Imagination Stage. She appeared in The Sound's production of Seagulls in 2015 as Nina and it has been one of her favorite roles to date. She is also the co-producer of Valentine's Plays and Independence Plays. Most recently, she appeared in the short film Cheese Shop. ellapennington.com

Kasey Trouba
Company Member

Kasey Trouba is a freelance stage manager and production manager based in Chicago. Most recently, Kasey has worked with The Sound, The House Theatre of Chicago, American Theater Company, About Face Theatre, Greenhouse Theater, other theatre, and Pivot Arts. She is a proud company member of The Sound. Kasey is an alumna of Loyola University Chicago where she received a BA in theatre.