Our People

Justin Oliver Lance is the Artistic Director of Corn Productions. He has been with the company since 2011 and has performed in close to 100 shows here. He lives, breathes, and eats Corn. He even met his wife working here.

Deanna DeMay has been a part of Corn since her first show in 2014, the classic "Death Toll: a drinking game performance". She's loved herself some Corn ever since. It's helped that she officially met her husband there. She stars as Rosie the Riveter in Corn's feminist musical-sketch show, "The Vagina Melodies". She's also ran around and jumped, kicked, used witchcraft all over the Corn stage. Outside of Corn, Deanna practices for the next circus to sweep her away by (barely) riding a unicycle, and is ever training for the impending zombie apocalypse/downfall of civilization by updating her axe throwing and archery skills. 

Michael Brooks has been a Corn company member since 2001. He has designed and painted sets for many productions, including Bat-Hamlet, Spiderman the Musical (the Musical), and Bodily Functions: The Musical. MB is a contributing writer, sometimes an actor, and is often seen painting the sign in front of the building. His first Corn mainstage show was Drunk and Drunker in 2002.

Lyss Dutkanych ( she, her, hers) is a native Chicago actor singer songwriter. She has studied at Second City, The Annoyance, Piven Theatre, and Vagabond. Lyss has been involved in many Corn shows including: Vagina Melodies: Here We Go Again, ReZoned, & Death Toll. Her love languages are coffee and words of affirmation.

Jamie Link was most recently seen in "Death Toll: The Halloween Drinking Game Sketch Show" and was the winner of the most recent Corn Lip-Sync battle. She also directs Corn's annual show "The Vagina Melodies" and leads the marketing team.

Gus Thomas has been a company member since Spring 2019. Originally from a farm town in Oregon, Gus has worked as a bilingual actor, writer, and teaching artist in Seville, Spain as well as Chicago. He has trained as an actor at Whitman College, the American Conservatory Theater, Dos Lunas Teatro, and the iO Theater. At Corn he is an actor, director, and contributing writer.

Deana Velandra was most recently seen at Corn in "Death Toll: The Halloween Drinking Game Sketch Show", "Storefront Theater: The Musical", "Rezoned: Sketches from the Twilight", and "The Vagina Melodies." She is also a contributing writer.

Tom Cannan (he/him) is an actor and writer in Chicago. Joining the Corn company in late 2022, he has been seen in Dazed and Corn-fused, Rosie the Riveter’s Variety Hour, and multiple iterations of Happy Holly-Daze. Most recently, he directed, wrote for, and performed in Drink! S.A.D. Edition. Tom graduated from Shenandoah Conservatory in 2015 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Musical Theatre and still gets nervous singing in front of anyone other than his cat.

Olivia is ecstatic to be a part of the Corn family. She's slowly coming back to performing and writing after dealing with the panini for 2 and a half years. One of her plays has been featured on NPR. If you are a nerd, go check out her TikTok @forgerfamily. It's pretty awesome!

Sydney Hanson (she/her) is a Chicago-based actor and fight choreographer. She studied at the University of Mississippi and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, and she is an advanced actor combatant with the Society of American Fight Directors. When not working on a show, you can find her playing video games poorly, watching anime, and generally avoiding going outside.

Zachary Denmark has not provided a bio. It is what it is. Maybe one day they will.