Our Team
Tell Well is a collaboration between ANA-Illinois, Kathryn Kruse and Rebecca Singer.
ANA-Illinois is the professional association for registered nurses in Illinois. For more information about ANA-Illinois please visit http://ana-illinois.org
Kathryn Kruse is Tell Well's artistic director, workshop facilitator and curriculum designer. She makes the magic happen during the workshops and showcases. Kathryn is an educator, curriculum developer and writer. Coming out of a background in violence intervention and community organizing, much of her work focuses on communication, especially with health care providers. She has over 12 years of experience in adult education and excels in creating collaborative, supportive, student-centered learning spaces that foster growth and confidence. Kathryn received her BA from University of Wisconsin-Madison in English and History and holds a master’s degree in Writing from UNLV. You can find out more at kathrynkruse.com
Rebecca Singer is Tell Well's program director. She works behind the scenes to get the workshops and showcases in place. She also drives the evaluation process. Rebecca is a doctorally-trained nurse and faculty member at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Nursing where she teaches population and community health courses. She spends her summers working with Doctors Without Borders, a medical humanitarian organization with which she has worked since 2005. As a nurse, Rebecca has provided care in a variety of settings with a focus on engaging communities to promote health. Before becoming a nurse, she worked in community relations, advocacy, publishing, education, and community development all of which inform her nursing practice.
Many other people contribute to make Tell Well a success.
Caity-Shea Violette is a playwright, actor and nonprofit development professional based in Chicago, IL. Her work has been seen in Washington D.C., Las Vegas, Minneapolis, NYC, Toronto, Denver, and Chicago. She is passionate about exploring trauma, invisible disabilities, and gender-based violence by creating new work for women on the stage and page. Caity-Shea is also an active advocate for accessibility in the arts. You can learn more about her at www.caitysheaviolette.com
Ira S. Murfin is a theatre artist, writer, and scholar based in Chicago. His research and interdisciplinary performance work concern the relationship between talk, text, and the performance event. He holds an Interdisciplinary PhD in Theatre & Drama from Northwestern University and an MFA in Writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His performance work has been presented by the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago Cultural Center, Links Hall, Sector 2337, Block Museum of Art, Tritriangle, and the Rhinoceros Theater Festival, among other places. He also makes work as a founding member of the devised theatre collective The Laboratory for the Development of Substitute Materials. Critical and creative writing has appeared or is forthcoming in Performance Research, Theatre Topics, Theatre Journal, Theatre Research International, Studies in Theatre & Performance, Review of Contemporary Fiction, Chicago Arts Journal, Present Tense Pamphlets, the MCA Chicago Magazine, the Ransom Center’s Cultural Compass, the book and website Shakespeare 400 Chicago, and Requited, where he is also Performance Editor.