Our Directors - A Chip & A Chair Films, LLC

Nicholas Gray, Creative Director
				Nicholas’ career in the dramatic arts began in New Mexico, where after dropping out of college, he began performing with the touring company Shakespeare on the Half-Shell, primarily in clown roles. His continued work as an actor and improvist led him on a journey across the country, through various stage roles (plus the occasional film or TV work), eventually landing him in Brooklyn. In New York, Nicholas sought to expand his craft with study at The Stella Adler Studio, The Actors Center (conservatory class of 2000) and Baikal Theatre School in Siberia. As an actor he was privileged to work with The Drilling Company, Innocent Theatre Company, Invisible City Theatre Company and at The Public Theater, among others. His attentions were increasingly drawn to writing, however, and he has received productions at The Sanford Meisner Theater, The Drilling Company, Hypothetical Theatre Company and Lincoln Center Directors Lab. An accomplished fight choreographer, he has worked for, among many others, Lincoln Center Directors Lab, Princeton University, Rochester Shakespeare in the Park and on grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. One of the co-founders of A Chip& A Chair Films, he currently serves as the company’s Creative Director, and worked as writer-director and co-producer for If You Could Say It In Words, his feature film directorial debut.
Katharine Clark Gray, Director of New Media
				Katharine Clark Gray is a 2008 recipient of the Pew Fellowship in the Arts. In 2001 she created Governor's Laundress Productions to produce challenging work for stage, including her own The B Side [music by Chris Blisset] and You see me comin' you better run [a Village Voice Choice]. Other credits include Francis Bacon [Kitchen Theatre Co.]; Wired Shut [Manhattan Theatre Source]; True Dreams of Wichita at People’s Improv Theatre, and numerous collaborations with Raw Impressions at Chashama and LaMama, Etc. Her work has been produced by The Drilling Co., Three Graces, Boomerang, Process Theatre, MTP!, and the internationally acclaimed summer festival NextFest in Edmonton, AB. Her academic revenge romance 516 (five sixteen) premiered at the NY Int’l Fringe Festival, and has become a staple of the curriculum at Syracuse University’s Drama Dept. Locally, Ms. Gray was a writer/performer for Brat Productions’ Barrymore award-winning Three Chord Fiction, and her techno-thriller User 927 concluded Brat’s ’07-’08 season. Her work has been published by Smith & Kraus and EstroPress. Ms. Gray has lately been commissioned to write book & story for The Pestilence is Coming, a new musical for Full Circle Theatre Co., to be presented in 2010. As a reporter for Origivation magazine, Ms. Gray has interviewed such musical luminaries as Perry Farrell, Daniel Johnston, the Skatalites, Motion City Soundtrack and Gogol Bordello’s Eugene Hutz. She is currently enjoying her first year as member of InterAct Theatre Co.’s Playwrights Forum and as a Teaching Artist with Philadelphia Young Playwrights. She has also worked as a muralist and educator for the City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program. Ms. Gray is a co-founder and current New Media Director of A Chip & A Chair Films and acted as Art Director and Line Producer for the company’s first feature If You Could Say It In Words.
Adam Eisenstein, Director of Development
				Previous to working with A Chip & A Chair, Adam founded A Room Full of Strangers Theatre Company in New York City, with whom he directed and produced two productions, the latest being the U.S. Premiere of Caresses at the New York International Fringe Festival. Before this, Adam spent three years in Salt Lake City, where he directed such shows as Where the Golden Apples Grow (a collective collaboration); From Morn to Midnight; Twelfth Night; Family Stories: Belgrade; and Fernando Krapp Wrote Me This Letter. He has also written several plays that have received production, acted professionally, and is working on scripts for film and TV. Adam has an M.F.A. from the University of Utah and a B.A. from the University of Michigan. He has assisted Jonathan Wilson at Hartford Stage, Charles Fee and Drew Barr at the Idaho Shakespeare Festival, and John Lawler and Richard Foreman at the Sundance Institute. Adam is a member of the Lincoln Center Directors Lab (’02). Previous to working with A Chip& A Chair, Adam founded A Room Full of Strangers Theatre Company in New York City, with whom he directed and produced two productions, the latest being the U.S. Premiere of Caresses at the New York International Fringe Festival. Before this, Adam spent three years in Salt Lake City, where he directed such shows as Where the Golden Apples Grow (a collective collaboration); From Morn to Midnight; Twelfth Night; Family Stories: Belgrade; and Fernando Krapp Wrote Me This Letter. He has also written several plays that have received production, acted professionally, and is working on scripts for film and TV. Adam has an M.F.A. from the University of Utah and a B.A. from the University of Michigan. He has assisted Jonathan Wilson at Hartford Stage, Charles Fee and Drew Barr at the Idaho Shakespeare Festival, and John Lawler and Richard Foreman at the Sundance Institute. Adam is a member of the Lincoln Center Directors Lab (’02).
Joshua Wallenstein, Director of Legal and Compliance
				Josh Wallenstein is Director of Legal for A Chip & A Chair, LLC. After graduating from Stanford Law School, he worked for a number of years at Linklaters, a global law firm. There, he quickly developed a friendship with Creative Director Nicholas Gray, and, upon learning about its first film project, immediately joined the team. Josh later moved to Washington DC, and to his current role as Research Director for the Legal & Compliance Practices of The Corporate Executive Board. He is a Member of the New York and District of Columbia Bars.
J.R. Reaux, Director of Information Technologies
				Jerrod "J.R." Reaux attended Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana - home of the Fighting Tigers - from 1985 to 1989 where he studied Computer Science. In late 1989, J.R. spent the next year and a half in the United States Air Force finishing his obligation to Uncle Sam. After completing his tour, J.R. (as his friends affectionately call him) returned to Baton Rouge to begin his life in the civilian sector. The first job J.R. landed after leaving the service, was in the customer support department of Capital City Press (the state newspaper for Louisiana). Having held this position and another for about 3 years, J.R. finally got an opportunity to prove his chops in the MIS department. For his remaining 3 years, J.R. spent his time managing the various computer networks / softwares used by the company to produced the daily rag. In late 1995, he was asked to step into the role of Web Master for the new online division. In this capacity, he helped move the company into an online presence where you can still read the Louisiana state news to this day at http://www.theadvocate.com/. From here, J.R. found a new position in the IS department of United Companies... a well-established mortgage finance company in Baton Rouge. Here he worked as a software analyst... helping to create an automated credit scoring system to be used by the company in its various application approvals. Not one to ever be satisfied with where he was in his career, J.R. decided to shift gears a little and gained a position in the same department as a Database Administrator. He wanted to learn the other-side-of-the-coin, so to speak. Using this position, he acquired new knowledge and, most importantly, new insights into design. Being viewed as a perfect fit for development, the powers-that-be decided he was a good for a new project and management concept they wanted to pursue. Things worked out well... but the company began to have major problems. As a result, J.R. decided it was time to move on. At the encouragement of friends and loved ones, J.R. decided it was time to take the big plunge and dove head first into the Hollywood of the cyberworld... Microsoft. J.R. was interviewed for several positions all on the same day and was made offers for each. He chose to work with the one group that gave the greatest challenge and the greatest reward in knowledge. He became part of the Windows server team. Currently in this position and having been for six years now, J.R. has acquired a great deal of knowledge about software design, project management, network support, and various other tenets important for the role of IT Manager. As the future unfolds, he hopes to continue to learn and leverage the knowledge in pushing this company to ever higher levels through expertise.
Ryan Johnson, Director of Operations
				Ryan Johnson was born and raised in Central Pennsylvania. Following college and a stint in the US Army Reserves, he began a career in retail management. Throughout his career, Ryan has been responsible for several aspects of efficiency analysis, process improvement, and training/development of staff. Ryan was brought into A Chip and A Chair as a consultant late in 2005, in an effort to help the company establish a corporate infrastructure that was both efficient and proactive. At the start of 2006, the board offered him the position of Director of Operations, which he has served in ever since. Ryan lives in Houston, Texas with his wife and three daughters.