Meet The Team

CHRISTOPHER CHASE CARTER

Artistic Director Christopher Chase Carter returns to Mercury Theater Chicago where he collaborated on the hit productions of Little Shop of Horrors and the Jeff Award-nominated musical Hair. Before moving to Chicago, Chris studied in Michigan, where he began his theater career performing, directing, and choreographing award-winning community and college productions. He is also a graduate from Grand Valley State University achieving his bachelor of arts degree while on scholarship.
Recently, Chris choreographed “SKATES” a new original musical planned to open in 2021. In 2019, Chris directed and choreographed the pilot production of “Scottsboro Boys'' working closely with Musical Theater International (MTI) and Susan Stroman at the International Thespian Festival. He followed that up by directing a historical, record-breaking production of “Legally Blonde” at Northwestern University.
Chris has been honored with many scholarships throughout his career. In 2005, he moved to Los Angeles where he was awarded a full scholarship to the Debbie Allen Dance Academy. After training at DADA, he returned to Michigan to finish his degree. He was one of four dancers chosen for a scholarship to study abroad in Kingston, Jamaica to further his training and education at The Edna Manley School. After graduating, he was inspired to start his own scholarship, The Christopher Carter Arts Scholarship, to help underprivileged artists pursue their dreams.
Having received a total of 21 nominations throughout his career from the Chicago Joseph Jefferson Awards, Black Theater Alliance Awards, BroadwayWorld, Black Excellence Awards, and the Grand Rapids Grand Awards. Chris has won two BTAA’s including “Best Choreography”, four Grand Awards including “Outstanding Direction of a College Production”, one BroadwayWorld Award for “Choreography” and two JEFF awards including “Best Production”.
With a true passion for creativity and art, Chris is excited about the future of theater and looks forward to being part of the evolution of performance and artistry.

KRISTI J. MARTENS

Managing Director is excited to be starting a new adventure at Mercury Theater Chicago and Venus Cabaret. Kristi has been the Equity Production Stage Manager at Mercury Theater Chicago for the past 10 years. Some other theaters that she has worked at: Drury Lane Theater (Oakbrook Terrace), Northlight Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Goodman Theatre, The Royal George Theater, Drury Lane Evergreen Park, Drury Lane Water Tower, Fox Valley Repertory, Oak Park Festival Theater, Fulton Opera House (Lancaster, PA), Maine State Music Theater (Brunswick, ME), Theater At the Center (Munster, IN), WYO Theater (Sheridan, WY), Carousel Dinner Playhouse (Akron, OH), Dallas Theater Center (Dallas, TX). A proud Equity member for over 32 years, Kristi started stage managing with children’s theater.

L. WALTER STEARNS

Executive Producer L. Walter Stearns is a champion for Chicago artists and has overseen the physical and cultural revival of the beautiful Mercury Theater Chicago. He has directed over 40 musicals including his Jeff Award-winning productions of Spamalot, The Addams Family and Ragtime as well as the Jeff Award nominated productions of Mary Poppins, The Producers, The Addams Family, Avenue Q, The Color Purple, Barnum-The Circus Musical, The Christmas Schooner, Nine the Musical, Ragtime, Gypsy, The Secret Garden, Sweeney Todd, Company, A New Brain, Into the Woods, Merrily We Roll Along and Falsettos. He was pleased to produce The Man Who Murdered Sherlock Holmes, which was awarded the Jeff Award for New Work. He opened the new Venus Cabaret Theater with Stephen Sondheim’s Company and Stephen Schwartz’s Pippin. Walter has received Jeff Awards, BroadwayWorld Awards, After Dark Awards, the Larry Sloan Advocate Award (for his support of Season of Concern), the first Guy Adkins award for his contributions to the art of musical theatre and the Franny Award as a distinguished alumnus of the University of Illinois at Chicago.

EUGENE DIZON

Executive Producer Eugene Dizon has worked in Human Resources and Accounting at a number of Chicago firms including HFR, Navteq, Jenner and Block, and Hunter Douglas; recently he opened his own Human Resources consulting firm, Dizon HR Consulting, LLC.
In theater, Eugene has been musical directing for over two decades garnering 6 Jeff Awards (Ragtime, Sweeney Todd, Amadeus, Company, Into the Woods, Merrily We Roll Along), as well as Jeff nominations for A Grand Night for Singing, Candide, Nine the Musical, Closer Than Ever, A Little Night Music, Passion, Colette Collage, and Falsettos; 4 After Dark Awards (Ragtime, Sweeney Todd, A New Brain, Merrily We Roll Along), a BroadwayWorld Award for Mercury’s Avenue Q and a BroadwayWorld nominations for Little Shop of Horrors, Hair, Mary Poppins, and The Color Purple. Additionally, he has musical directed Monty Python’s Spamalot, Pippin, Company, The Producers, and Barnum. Eugene is honored to have been inducted into the Chicago Filipino Hall of Fame and has co-produced 6 “Season of Carols” CDs, the most recent CD “Second City Divas Live in Concert at Mercury Theater Chicago”, for which Season of Concern awarded him the 2013 Larry Sloan Advocate Award and the Season of Concern 2018 Larry Sloan Legacy Award for “consistently and passionately being a trailblazer on behalf of Season of Concern.” He is excited to start this new chapter of Mercury Theater Chicago with this amazing team of theater professionals.

Sarah Wurz.jpeg — SARAH WURZ

Beverage Director Sarah Wurz is originally from Michigan. Sarah studied theater at Central Michigan University. Fourteen years ago she moved to Chicago to use her theater degree to study bartending. She has worked for some great restaurants while here, most recently at Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak, and Stone Crab with Lettuce Entertain You. In her spare time, she has been working toward her Court of Master Sommeliers Certified Pin and singing karaoke. She is pleased as punch to join the team at The Venus Cabaret and Mercury Theater, and finally, combine her beverage knowledge with her love of theater.

ALlie disanto

Marketing Coordinator Originally from the Mitten, Allie DiSanto studied Arts Management and Administration at Western Michigan University. She has a passion for all the elements of live performance, which has led to her working in everything from scenic painting to development. Allie moved to Chicago in the fall of 2019 after finishing her Bachelor in Arts and has since worked for the League of Chicago Theatres, The House Theatre of Chicago, and the Metropolis Performing Arts Centre

Johnnie Schleyer

Production & Facilities Manager Johnnie Schleyer has been working in the Chicago Theatre community since he moved to the big city in 2016 from a little town called Boerne, TX. He joined the team at Mercury Theater Chicago in June of 2022, although his first production with the company was HAIR in 2017. He has primarily worked as a freelance Technical Director with Porchlight Music Theatre, Windy City Playhouse, TimeLine Theatre, and other midsize companies. He graduated from Abilene Christian University in Abilene TX with a BFA in Theatre (Focus in both Acting and Directing) and has performed in numerous Shakespeare, Musicals, and Shakespeare Musicals. Johnnie is also thankful for the company to give Johnnie a shot at his first professional scenic design of LADY DAY.

Lindsey Smith

Audience Services Manger Lindsey Smith is originally from Miamisburg, Ohio. She found a love for working in the theater at Children's Performing Arts of Miamisburg and other local community theatres. Later, she moved to Chicago in 2018 to attend the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University where she earned a Bachelor's of Fine Arts in Acting. After graduating, she came to work as an Audience Services Associate and House Manager at Mercury Theater Chicago. She is grateful to be a part of such a wonderful team and is excited to begin her journey into Arts Administration.

Keely Vasquez

Casting Associate Keely Vasquez is primarily an actor, but has loved working with Mercury Theater Chicago as their casting associate for the last two seasons. Recent credits include: Dear Evan Hansen (1st National tour), Spamalot (Mercury Theater Chicago) and Next to Normal (Writers Theatre). Other Chicago theatrical credits include shows at Porchlight Music Theatre, Drury Lane Oakbrook Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Paramount Theatre, Marriott Lincolnshire Theatre, and The Broadway Playhouse. For nearly a decade, she toured the world singing with Barry Manilow.