Staff & Board
STAFF
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
MANAGING DIRECTOR
LITERARY MANAGER
BOARD
CHAIR
TREASURER
RESOURCE COUNCIL
- Jan Baross
- Charlotte Headrick
- Diana Hennessy
- Adam Liberman
- Brian Ó hAirt
- Matthew Spangler
- Kira Stewart
- George Thorn
- Gemma Whelan
Holly Griffith
Holly Griffith (she/her) has worked as an actor, director, writer, and theatre educator for over a decade. Her career began in Tucson Arizona where she was a resident actor at The Rogue Theatre and an Artistic Associate at Scoundrel & Scamp Theatre. Holly recently recently earned an MFA in Theatre Directing from The Lir Academy in Dublin Ireland, where she collaborated with artists from all over Ireland and Europe. In her new role as Artistic Director, Holly hopes to enrich Corrib’s connections to communities both locally and globally whose stories are represented on our stages, and to use our resources to examine the intersectionality of Irish identity.
Karl Hanover
Originally from Ireland, Karl moved to the U.S. in 1994 to pursue acting, and received his MFA degree from the National Theatre Conservatory in Denver. Theatres at which he has appeared include Cal Shakes, the Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Magic Theatre, Profile Theatre, and Portland Center Stage. In addition, he has voiced characters for the gaming industry, including those of Atlas and Fontaine in Bioshock, Biochock 2 and Bioshock Infinite: Burial as Sea. As a theatre administrator he has worked in various capacities at Portland Playhouse, Profile Theatre, and Artists’ Repertory Theatre.
Pancho Savery
Pancho Savery is Professor of English, Humanities, and American Studies at Reed College, where he teaches courses on modern and contemporary drama, African-American literature, American literature and culture, and American Indian fiction. He has published essays on Ralph Ellison, Saunders Redding, James Baldwin, Adrienne Rich, Robert Creeley, Ezra Pound, and others. He serves on the Board of Directors of Artists Repertory Theatre (vice chair), Boom Arts (chair), Coho Repertory Theatre, Confrontation Theatre, Corrib Theatre, Original Practice Shakespeare, P.E.T.E. (chair), Phame (chair), Portland Playhouse, The Red Door Project, Shaking the Tree Theatre, Third Rail Repertory Theatre, and Our Children Oregon. He has worked as dramaturg at Artists Repertory Theatre, Clackamas Repertory Theatre, Corrib Theatre, Portland Center Stage, Profile Theatre, Shaking the Tree Theatre, and Third Rail Repertory Theatre. Additionally, he is Literary Dramaturg at Artists Repertory Theatre, and Literary Manager at Corrib, Shaking the Tree, and Third Rail. He is a member of the Mercury and DNA:Oxygen theatre companies, and is a member of The Modern Language Association, LMDA, and the Jazz Journalists Association.
Pancho Savery
Pancho Savery is Professor of English, Humanities, and American Studies at Reed College, where he teaches courses on modern and contemporary drama, African-American literature, American literature and culture, and American Indian fiction. He has published essays on Ralph Ellison, Saunders Redding, James Baldwin, Adrienne Rich, Robert Creeley, Ezra Pound, and others. He serves on the Board of Directors of Artists Repertory Theatre (vice chair), Boom Arts (chair), Coho Repertory Theatre, Confrontation Theatre, Corrib Theatre, Original Practice Shakespeare, P.E.T.E. (chair), Phame (chair), Portland Playhouse, The Red Door Project, Shaking the Tree Theatre, Third Rail Repertory Theatre, and Our Children Oregon. He has worked as dramaturg at Artists Repertory Theatre, Clackamas Repertory Theatre, Corrib Theatre, Portland Center Stage, Profile Theatre, Shaking the Tree Theatre, and Third Rail Repertory Theatre. Additionally, he is Literary Dramaturg at Artists Repertory Theatre, and Literary Manager at Corrib, Shaking the Tree, and Third Rail. He is a member of the Mercury and DNA:Oxygen theatre companies, and is a member of The Modern Language Association, LMDA, and the Jazz Journalists Association.
Kathy Heininge
Kathy Heininge is Emeritus Professor from George Fox University in Oregon, where she taught English literature, drama, and women's studies. Irish theater is her field of expertise; her first book was Buffoonery in Irish Drama: Staging Twentieth-Century Post-Colonial Stereotypes. She has also published on Frank McGuinness, James Joyce, Stephen King, Virginia Woolf, Eavan Boland, and Sebastian Barry, among others. Her most recent publication is her memoir, Working in Mysterious Ways: My Life Through the Rosary. She is a past-president of the American Conference for Irish Studies, and leads trips to Ireland and Scotland frequently. She has worked as dramaturg for Corrib Theatre on Hurl, and, now that she has retired, has recently begun trying her hand at acting, which she adores.
Carmel Breathnach
Carmel Breathnach holds a BA degree in English literature and Irish language studies from Maynooth University and a Diploma in Education from St. Patrick’s College, Dublin. She taught elementary school for two years in Ireland prior to moving to Portland in 2005, where she took up a position as lead kindergarten teacher for nine years. Currently, she writes full time on the themes of bereavement, childhood grief, and mother loss. Her work has appeared in The Irish Times, Huffington Post, Upworthy, Scary Mommy, Modern Loss, and other publications. Carmel is working on a memoir titled Briefly I Knew My Mother. She has volunteered for Girls, Inc., Friends of the Library Bookstore, and Oregon Catholic Charities, where she worked with refugee women and children. In her spare time, Carmel enjoys reading, swimming, travelling, attending local events, and listening to rock music.
Rene Denfeld
Matthew Kerrigan
Matthew Kerrigan is an award-winning, multidisciplinary artist from Chicago, IL. His professional body of work includes devised theatre, theatre education & outreach, film & television, photography, jewelry making, installation creation, and training empathic communication in healthcare systems across the United States and abroad. Matthew has worked with all major theatre companies across Portland and has trained thousands of participants across the country and internationally through group workshops to develop and grow a capacity for empathic communication. Matthew’s favorite aspect of this training work is its capacity to support the well-being of the medical staff themselves, and participant feedback often highlights a profound realization of how leading with empathy changes lives. Over the past several years he has been producing work with Historic Alberta House including Red, A Nights at The Cotton Club, Poorlandia, How Did I Grow Up to be so Melodramatic, and more. Matthew received his Bachelor's in performance from Illinois State University and took a deep dive into movement at Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theatre.
Parag Shah
Parag Shah holds a MS degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering and earned double BS degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, all at Oregon State University. Parag has worked for Intel as a microchip circuit design engineer for the past 22 years. He grew up in Portland and graduated from Beaverton High School. In his spare time, he loves to read, run, travel, enjoy local theater, and attend rock shows with his wife, Carmel.
Sharon Bourque
Sharon spent the first half of her life in the Midwest. After attending Mary Manse College and University of Toledo, she pursued a business career which included loan account management at small loan companies, test engineering support and government security custodian in Research and Development at Teledyne CAE. In Detroit Sharon worked in engineering and program management until retirement from General Motors/Cadillac Division. After retiring Sharon moved to Portland where she enjoys indulging her passion for the arts, especially good live theatre. While here she has also served on or chaired various committees of Condo Owners Associations and was elected board treasurer on two boards. This experience has broadened her understanding of the different management and problem-solving requirements of smaller enterprises as compared to large corporations. Serving on a theatre company board she has found to be the most challenging, exciting and rewarding of all.
