Alicia Adams | Artistic Director

Is the founder of Bootleg Theater, The Evidence Room Theater Project, and the RampArt Youth Theater Project. She is an actress, a producer, a set designer and a mother. During her tenure as executive director of the Evidence Room, that company won 24 Back Stage Garland Awards, 16 LA Weekly Theater Awards (among 54 nominations), and many Critic’s Pick’s and year-end Top Tens. She has personally won three LA Weekly awards. RampArt is an At-Risk Youth theater program that has been operating for four years. She co-founded Bootleg Theater in 2006. Since then the theater has produced PAGEANT OF THE 4 SEASONS, A 99CENT ONLY MODERN SOMETHING!, Roger Guenveur Smith's solo show WHO KILLED BOB MARLEY, Lauren Weedman's solo show BUST, Eva Anderson's WILDBOY '74 (also at the NY Fringe in August '08), Hilario Saavedra in ADRAMALECH’S MONOLOGUE in the Speakeasy space, 99CENT ONLY CALENDAR GIRL COMPETITION, STRANGER and PROJECT: WONDERLAND. At present Bootleg has 11 LA Weekly Award Nominations for 2009, as well as several Ovation nominations. Bootleg Theater has been awarded grants from the Irvine Foundation, The Cissy Patterson Foundation, the Cultural Affairs Department of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles County Arts Comission.

Jessica Hanna | Managing & Producing Director

Ms. Hanna moved to Los Angeles in 1996 from Chicago, where she had worked as an actor, playwright, dancer and stage combat choreographer after receiving her BFA in Acting from DePaul University's Theatre School. In Los Angeles, as an actor, she has appeared in: Zach Helm's Chapters On American Artistry, Chuck Mee's Songs of Joy & Destitution at Open Fist, Padraic Duffy's The Mechanical Rabbit and Tell The Bees at Sacred Fools, played Widow/Kate in Taming Of The Shrew for Zoo District at the Orpheum Theatre. In addition she has been in many Orphean Circus Productions, including Splendor: A 99Cent Only Wonderama, Growing With Ghosts (also ass't choreographer) & Peace Squad goes 99 (also ass't choreographer).

In 2004 she and her husband, Michael Dunn, formed Mr. & Mrs. Kickass Productions and produced Stuck In The Groovebucket by Todd Schrank at Abundant Sugar at the Brewery, which Ms. Hanna also directed. Later that year, Mr. & Mrs. Kickass produced Route 99: Orange Star Dinner Show at the Evidence Room, where she was a member in '05/06, and she Assoc. Produced, Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said (Winner LA Weekly Award: Best Revival).

In 2006 she co-founded Bootleg Theater with Alicia Hoge-Adams & Jason Adams, a non-profit theater space. She is the Managing and Producing Director at Bootleg, where she has produced and performed in Pageant of the 4 Seasons, A 99Cent Only Modern Something!, produced Roger Guenveur Smith's Who Killed Bob Marley?, Eva Anderson's Wildboy '74 (again at the NY Fringe in August '08) and Lauren Weedman's Bust. She co-produced, co-directed and performed in Week 17 of 365Days/365Plays, a joint Bootleg and Mr. & Mrs. Kickass event. In 2008 she produced the newest 99¢ Only Show: Ken Roht's Calendar Girl Competition (Ovation Award Winner: Best Costume Design). In 2009 at Bootleg she was an actor in Doomsday Kiss and produced Stranger, a spaghetti western with live music. Most recently she produced and performed in Project Wonderland. She oversees the production of all main stage events at Bootleg, as well as many of the late-night lobby happenings and dance events. Including most recently, Ryan Heffington's Sweaty Sundays Recital (for which she created the lighting design and also appeared as a dancer).

As an independent producer she produced with Dan Freidman: Glen Roven's Norman's Ark at the Ford Amphitheater in May/June '08, which featured a cast of 200. And for Greenway Arts Alliance was Assoc. Producer for Good Bobby when it moved to NYC in 2009. She is a founding member of the new ensemble theater group Teatro de Facto, a company of LA based artists that work on new plays or creates their own devised theatrical pieces. Ms. Hanna has directed at Occidental College for 3 years in the New Playwrights Festival. For the past 9 years she has trained in Suzuki/Viewpoints with Ann Bogart, The SITI Company and Burning Wheel. Her movement choreography was featured in Furious Theater's US Drag, for which she won an LA Weekly Award for Production Design.

Jon Stoner | Technical Director

Jon Stoner was born and raised on a farm in rural Mount Vernon Iowa where tools, chores and driving large machinery were daily occurrences. At an early age his mother introduced him to acting singing and the violin. It was the fusion of performance art and a strong work ethic that lead him to venture out to Los Angeles the minute he graduated from high school.

Arriving in Los Angeles in 2004 he spent two years studying Theater Arts at Whittier College and his final two years at Occidental where he graduated with a B.A. in Theater. In 2007 he had the opportunity to spend a summer at the nationally renowned Williamstown Theater Festival in Williamstown, Massachusetts as a member of their internship program. It was here where he had the opportunity to act in two internship productions, A Midsummer Nights Dream(Demetrius) and the Cabaret Night under the instruction of Malcolm Gets. As well, he worked on numerous sets and prop constructions, light hangs, line set riggings, spot operation (Party Come Here) and other production support functions for all the summer’s shows.

After graduating in 2008, he joined the cast of Loves Old Sweet Song and began taking classes at Bang Studios for improvisation. In the winter of 2008 he received his first Assistant Lighting Design credit for Bootleg Theaters, 99 cent Only Show: Ken Roht’s Calendar Girls Competition. It was here where he found his theater community and passion for Technical Theater.

Since 2008, he has worked as a grip, Assistant Stage Manager, Assistant Technical Director, Carpenter, Lighting Designer and is the current Technical Director of Bootleg Theater. His credits for Assistant Technical Direction include, Anton’s Uncles, and The Good Boy and helped over see the instillation of new seats into the main space. His credits for Technical Direction include Same-O; 99 Cent Only Show, The Bootleg Dance Festival, Transformacion, The Adam-O Show, Awake, and Chanteuse and the Devils Muse. As an independent Lighting and Set Designer he as credits for Box, Window, Door, (Ice Cream Palace Productions) and Transformacion (Hee-Kyung Lee Dance Company).

When he isn’t working at Bootleg as the Technical Director, you’ll find him welding at Alumina Design in Atwater Village, working for Kinetic Lighting and Air Dimensional Design in Los Angeles and performing improvisation at Bang Studios in West Hollywood. He also had the opportunity to perform in Top That! Part of the 2011 Hollywood Fringe Festival.