UT Committee is the governing body and public face of University Theater. As elected representatives, Committee is responsible for fostering, approving, scheduling and supporting student productions. They relate the needs and concerns of the UT community to TAPS Pro Staff and the Center for Leadership and Involvement, ensuring the stability and continuity of theater and performance on campus. Committee members write and propose new bylaws, striving to accurately reflect the current needs of the community as well as their vision for how UT might change and grow. Often, this work is done in subcommittees dedicated to specific initiatives. Join the UT Discord to learn more about subcommittees and join one if you have a strong interest in working with Committee on an initiative!

Committee is made up of ten elected members, as well as one representative from Off-Off Campus, Tech Staff, Student Staff, and the Dean’s Men. They meet every Monday in Logan 603 at 5pm! Each meeting begins with a Public Portion, where members of the community are encouraged to participate, say hi, and share their thoughts. Make sure to stop by!

Want to run for Committee? Elections are every year, 6th week of Winter Quarter!

How do you contact Committee? Reach all of us at ut-committee@uchicago.edu, or click on the names below to email members individually. Committee also hosts casual office hours during the school year so we can be in touch with the community!

  • Coco Liu (Chair) is a third-year Chemistry and Linguistics major whose previous UT credits include Macbeth in Space (Production Manager), Romeo and Juliet (Production Manager), and The Light (Stage Manager). She delights in spreading chaos and lovingly bullying her friends, one of whom is writing this bio for her, as she is lazy.

  • Eleni Lefakis (Treasurer) is a third-year TAPS major who recently dropped her Data Science double-major (hallelujah, she is free!). Her UT mainstage credits are The Heirs (Stage Manager), The Trail to Oregon! (Assistant Director/Dramaturg), Romeo & Juliet (Co-Production Manager), Marian, or the True Tale of Robin Hood (Assistant Director/Dramaturg), MacBeth in Space (Dramaturg), The Laramie Project (SM Collective™), Be More Chill (Co-Director), Twelfth Night (Pre-Production Manager), The Taming of The Shrew (Stage Manager/Assistant Dramaturg), Falsettos (Dramaturg), Richard III (Assistant Costume Designer), Strings Attached (Co-Director/Dramaturg), and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Dramaturg). She is currently serving her third term on committee and last year she was UT’s inaugural Outreach Chair. She self-identifies as Coco Liu’s bodyguard.

  • Abby Kanes (Secretary) is a third-year TAPS and Business Economics major. In UT she performed in a workshop of The Heirs (Aveline) and the TAPS show Amazons and Their Men (The Frau). Spring 2022 she played bass in the pit orchestra for The Trail to Oregon! and designed props for Scientific Method. She is excited for her year in UT Committee!

  • Emily Curran (Social Chair) is a second year studying Public Policy and Theatre and Performance Studies. Her UT credits include Romeo and Juliet (Assistant Lighting Designer), Macbeth in Space (Lighting Designer), Be More Chill (Assistant Lighting Designer), Twelfth Night (Lighting Designer), Falsettos (Dr. Charlotte), and Strings Attached (Lighting Designer). She is incredibly excited to work with Committee this upcoming year with all of her silly little friends!

  • Joseph DePaula (Co-Outreach Chair) is a second-year Medieval Studies/History major. Primarily an actor, his UT credits (former & upcoming) include Marian, or the True Tale of Robin Hood (Little John), Dead Fun Society (Mark Hellebrand), The Taming of the Shrew (Grumio), and Strings Attached (Walt). This is his first year on UT Committee, however, he is also a board member of both Cup of Theater (Events Manager) and of Attori Senza Paura/UChicago Commedia (Production Manager & coincidentally also Co-Outreach Coordinator)! He is very excited to work with the new Committee as well as with his partner-in-outreach, Giancarlo!

  • Giancarlo Beritela (Co-Outreach Chair) is a student in the College.

  • Nathalie Lam (Dean’s Men Representative) is a student in the College.

  • Ryan Cairns (Student Staff Representative) is a third-year prospective Public Policy and TAPS double major. Her only UT credit thus far is as Assistant Director for Love’s Labour’s Lost, but she is hoping to be further involved in the future. She is very excited to be working with Committee this year.

  • Crystina Windham (Tech Staff Representative) is a student in the College.

  • London Mahaley (Off-Off Representative) is a student in the College.

  • Maya Carlos Doyle is a third-year English and Linguistics major. Her UT credits include Twelfth Night (SM), Macbeth in Space (APM), Marian, or the True Tale of Robin Hood (SM), and she served as the curator for T[24]’s 2022–2023 season. When not looking at spreadsheets and schedules, she can be found peacefully napping or procrastinating on tomorrow’s assigned reading by doing last week’s optional reading.

  • Belle Nahoom is a third-year Theater and Performance Studies and Data Science major. Her previous theatre credits with UT include The Heirs (ASM), Marian, or the True Tale of Robin Hood (ASM), The Intruder Workshop (Costume Designer), Scientific Method (Costume Designer), Macbeth in Space (Hair & Makeup), The Queen of Spades Workshop (SM & PM), The Laramie Project (SM Collective™), the B.A. Thesis, Yivdak (Jared), Twelfth Night (Hair & Makeup), Be More Chill (Costume Designer), The Strings Attached Workshop (Costume/Props/Scenic Designer), Falsettos (Costume Designer), and the upcoming productions of The Play That Goes Wrong (Costume Designer) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Asst. Costume Designer). She is capocomico of the Commedia Dell’Arte improv troupe on campus and participates as a member of teh acapella group Medusa. She also runs this website! She’s probably updating it as we speak!

  • Will Rehmus is a 1st-year Astrophysics major. They have previously worked on Weekend of Workshops: Cassandra (Lighting/Sound Designer), Mainstages: Muscle Memory (Assistant Lighting Designer), and Falsettos (Assistant Stage Manager). They are also currently working on the Mainstages Strings Attached (Co-Sound Designer) and The Play That Goes Wrong (Assistant Lighting Designer). They are looking forward to working with everyone to make UT as good as it can be.

  • Christian Beltran is a student in the College.