ARTISTIC STAFF
Lenae Weichel | Associate Artistic Director (she/her)
Lenae Weichel studied Scenic Design at University of Illinois before going on to earn a bachelor’s degree in History there with a focus on Art, Architecture, and Theatre. She received a master’s degree in Education with a Student Affairs emphasis from North Carolina State University before settling in Rockford. Lenae specialized in first-year and non-traditional student programming and student leadership at Rock Valley College, experienced the world of being a primary caregiver, and is now working with her partner to restore the historic 304 Main building in the heart of Rockford.
Lenae developed a passion and appreciation for design and expression during her formative years when she had great access to and encouragement in the arts. Lenae’s return to her first professional love of theatre involved a little bit of kismet when she was cast as mapmaker Andrew Hall in the West Side Show Room’s production Men on Boats in 2019, and went on to design and dress the sets for the Elf-O-Matic Vending Machine in 2020.
Lenae serves the Rockford community as a Girl Scout leader, chair of the League of Women Voters Environmental Issues Committee, Secretary of the Maria Montessori Parent-Teacher Council, and as a board member at Severson Dells Nature Center. In her free time Lenae backpacks, reads, travels, creates art using various media, and shares her love via food.
Epic Jones | Artistic Director (they/them)
Since founding The West Side Show Room in 2013, Epic Jones has produced and directed 12 plays, as well as overseeing the development of the organization and renovation of its new 3000 square foot performing arts venue.
A classically trained actor, filmmaker, and animator, Epic draws on a broad range of multidisciplinary experiences when crafting new works for the theater.
Epic completed both the Foundation Acting Program and BFA Character Animation program at California Institute of the Arts and went on to receive an MFA in Film Production from University of Texas at Austin.
With a mastery of animation and film, Epic worked as a previsualization animator on Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life (Palme d'Or, Cannes Film Festival, 2011), and worked with Lana and Lilly Wachowski on the sci-fi epic Jupiter Ascending. Other credits include The Matrix Reloaded, Superman Returns, Live Free or Die Hard, I Am Legend, Tropic Thunder, Green Lantern, Machete, and Predators.
In the video game industry, Epic wrote and storyboarded the animated sequences for Beavis and Butt-head: Virtual Stupidity, produced and directed the animated film Last Cleric of Gildenrift for the landmark Dungeons & Dragons: Core Rules game, and pioneered the use of 3D animation techniques in the highly acclaimed games Hexen II, Heretic II and Rune.
Never far from theater, Epic served on the planning committee for the Cohen New Works Theater Festival at University of Texas at Austin, and directed Lucy Dies In Fives by Abi Basch, a multi-media play with video which was awarded "Best Of Fest" at Austin's Fronterafest.
A Rockford native, Epic was in the first class of fourth graders in RPS’s Creative and Performing Arts (CAPA) program, acted at YAT, Starlight Theatre, and Guilford High School, and was in the Kantorei Choir.