RENTALS
BOARD MEMBERS
Allen Turner
Board President • He/Him/His
Allen Turner is a multi-disciplinary creator who combines many art forms and game design into opportunities for play, introspection, social and personal transformation. His most recent work can be found in the award winning “When Rivers Were Trails” focusing on the Anishinaabe experience during the Dawes Act in 1890. He is faculty at the DePaul University School of Design teaching game design and directing the DePaul Originals Game Studio. As owner of Council Of Fools, he published “Ehdrigohr: The Roleplaying Game.” an indigenous themed RPG exploring issues of community, depression, identity and erasure. His work centers human issues and building ecologies.
SUSAN DAWN
Board Member • She/Her/Hers
Born and raised in Chicago, my parents instilled in their children a sense of wonder and appreciation by starting us travelling when we were very young. By learning new cultures, religions and customs, we do not fear what seems different, enjoy adventure and trying new things, and learned patience and respect. Professionally, I am a practicing attorney who enjoys time with friends and family, travel, live artistic performances of all kind, and feeding my curiosity.
FAVORITE SCI-FI OR FANTASY BOOK?
The Hobbit. Nothing stokes the imagination like a fantasy book. I also loved the Andromeda Strain if that is sci fi because any medical fiction before its time seems to come true.
FAVORITE OTHERWORLD SHOW
The Rogue Aviator
RYAN BOND
Board Member • He/Him/His
Ryan Bond is a life long geek who is very active in Chicago's genre-based performance and experience community. In the past has served in leadership positions for Wildclaw Theatre, EDGE of Orion Theatre, Hartlife & Our Fair City. Ryan has helped to create Guardians of History (a family friendly voice-activated immersive educational game for Alexa/Google enabled speakers & screens), leads as a Cub Scout Master and Eagle Scout, been an SxSW panelist, appears on podcasts as a gaming/geek expert, an infrequent theater performer, a 3x NaNoWriMo winner, a marketing director for a Firefly-based board game and even opened a geek-themed bar!
FAVORITE SCI-FI OR FANTASY BOOK?
The Lord of the Rings (and other Tolkien novels) were some of the earliest novels that I read and the only books that I have re-read. The world building, lore and history made the books so incredibly lived in. The archetypal characters worked well to understand a complex culture and made immersion easy. After this - basically anything by Brandon Sanderson.
FAVORITE OTHERWORLD SHOW
Queen Amarantha
GIL MATAR
Board Member • He/Him/His
A one paragraph bio? Where does a 54 year old -- who happens to be a financial advisor, father, husband, BBQ pitmaster, Philadelphia Eagles fan, Ordained Dudeist Priest, whiskey enthusiast, former president of both a homeless shelter and a chamber of commerce -- start? Should I start with the fact that I grew up watching the original Trek with my father, and that I had nightmares about the Salt Monster in the Man Trap? How many times I've read all 6 Dune novels or the Foundation Trilogy? That I've seen every episode of every series of Trek? That I go to midnight shows of Total Recall, Alien, 2001, the Shining, etc... That I loved taking my daughter to Klingon Christmas Carol -- multiple times. How many times I've watched Excalibur, Galaxy Quest, and even that horrible Disney sci-fi failure The Black Hole? That I was excited when I won a copy of the script to Altered States? And don't get me started on the Alien series. Shall I go on?
FAVORITE SCI-FI OR FANTASY BOOK?
Dune -- I saw the movie when it came out and realized that the story behind it was pretty cool, even though the movie itself was very flawed. I read the book in just a few days and then went to see the movie again. Over the next few months I read the rest of the Dune books that were already out, and waited impatiently for the series to conclude. I was totally hooked.
FAVORITE OTHERWORLD SHOW
Medusa Undone -- After my wife and I saw this show I decided that I wanted to get more involved in the theater. The production was moving, creative and beautifully executed by all involved.
ALEXANDER WAYNE
Board Member • He/Him/His
Al is the owner of Alexander J Wayne & Associates, Inc. an insurance firm he founded 32 years ago located in Lincoln Park. He is a life long hard sci-fi fan who also happens to love live theater. Otherworld Theatre checks all the boxes in Al's world and what luck it's right in his own back yard.
FAVORITE SCI-FI OR FANTASY BOOK?
Pivot in Time - Doug Richards - Near future plausible science and tech, good story and profound message
FAVORITE OTHERWORLD SHOW
The Cabal