The Theater Musicians Association (TMA) is an official player conference of the American Federation of Musicians (AFM), formed by musicians in order to unite theater players throughout the United States and Canada (full-time, part-time, local and traveling), so that we will be better equipped to address concerns that affect our industry. These issues include collective bargaining agreements, working conditions, virtual replacement by recordings and electronics, and non-union musicians/theatre productions.
The Chicago Area Chapter was formed in 1996 to organize local theater musicians to actively engage in addressing the professional needs of pit musicians in accordance with the standards of the industry and to assist the Chicago Federation of Musicians (CFM). The TMA Chicago Area Chapter works in collaboration with the CFM to create systems, structures, and collective bargaining agreements that support the professional needs and concerns of local theatre musicians.
Through this website we inform our membership (and other interested musical theater enthusiasts) of local theater news, links to our current and upcoming productions, glimpses into our world through our social media feed, opportunities to network and connect with our members, and important articles of interest. We invite you to join us in solidarity for a better future for theater musicians!
TMA Executive Board
Below you will find our dedicated board members who are excited to serve the needs of our local Chicago Chapter. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to reach out. You can email and connect with our local board members by clicking on the icons at the end of the biographies.
Heather Boehm
PRESIDENT
Heather is honored to have the opportunity to serve the membership of TMA as President. She has also served on the Board as Secretary-Treasurer and Director. As a violinist, she has played in and contracted pits for numerous theatre productions in downtown and suburban theaters. Heather lives in Chicago where she is an active freelancer and looks forward to working with everyone to advance the goals of Chicago Theatre Musicians.
Valerie Maze
VICE PRESIDENT
Valerie is honored to serve as Vice President. She currently is on the First National Tour with Six: The Musical. Valerie is a pianist, conductor, music director, vocal coach, and an active music theatre educator. She has had the opportunity to play in theatres and opera houses across the country, including Chicagoland theatres such as Drury Lane Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Writers Theatre, Marriott Theatre, and Music Theater Works. At Lyric Opera of Chicago, in addition to serving as Assistant Conductor and Dance Pianist for numerous operas over the past 15 years, Valerie has served as Assistant Conductor for Lyric’s Music Theatre Initiative on My Fair Lady, The King and I, Carousel, The Sound of Music, Oklahoma! and Showboat. Active a recitalist, she has had the opportunity to perform on WFMT as part of the Dame Myra Hess Series and on WGN TV, playing for artists such as Kate Baldwin, Paolo Montalban, Billy Zane, and Steven Pasqual. Valerie is grateful to be serving the theatre community in this way.
Trevor Jones
SECRETARY / TREASURER
Trevor Jones is the house bassist and orchestra contractor at the Marriott Theatre located outside Lincolnshire, IL, an NW suburb of Chicago. In addition to playing dozens of productions at the Marriott Theatre, Trevor’s Broadway in Chicago credits include Hamilton, The Music Man, and White Christmas. Trevor’s group Molehill has toured the country and, over the past decade, has compiled a body of work featured in the Chicago Tribune and the international press. Trevor is 1/2 of the creative force behind the double bass podcast Contrabass Conversations and Jason Heath’s Double Bass Blog. His compositions are licensed exclusively through Deep Sounds.
Paul Mutzabaugh
DIRECTOR
Based in Chicago, Paul Mutzabaugh has worked for over 20 years in both live and studio settings, enjoying a variety of genres and disciplines. Versatile in a myriad of keyboard instruments – acoustic & electric pianos, Hammond B3 organ, synthesizers, and accordion – he has also developed a unique voice on the electric bass. Additional doublings include acoustic & electric guitars, as well as auxiliary percussion.
Paul also works consistently as a producer and audio engineer in service of a wide range of artists. Assisting others to realize their creative vision in recorded form is a particularly fulfilling aspect of his music-making.
Paul is grateful and honoured to be on the TMA executive board and looks forward to serving its membership.
Chuck Webb
DIRECTOR
Bassist, writer, producer and educator Chuck Webb has toured the world many times performing with such notable artists as Aretha Franklin, Grover Washington Jr., Ramsey Lewis, Bill Withers, David Sanborn, Al DiMeola and many others.
As a first call studio musician with over 30 years experience in the Chicago area, Chuck has performed on hundreds of records, commercial jingles, sound tracks and theater productions including Hamilton, Wicked, Jersey Boys and Motown the Musical.
Chuck is an adjunct professor at Columbia College Chicago and the owner of Earth Tone Enterprises production company through which he has produced and composed scores for motion pictures, educational programs, popular music CDs and his own solo and band projects.
Chuck is excited to join the TMA executive board and looks forward to working with members and the larger Chicago music community.
2023 TMA Members
Frank Babbit
Violin, Viola
Andy Baker
Trombone, Bass Trombone
Amy Barwan
Oboe, English Horn
Dave Belden
Violin, Viola, Mandolin, Concertina
John Blane
Bass Trombone, Tuba
Heather Boehm
Violin, Viola
Chuck Bontrager
Violin, Viola, Electric Violin
Peter Brusen
Bassoon, Saxophone, Clarinet
Alan Bukowiecki
Piano, Keyboards
Madeline Capistran
Violin
Ricardo Castañeda
Oboe, English Horn
William Cernota
Cello, Trombone
Matt Comerford
Trumpet
Paul Dallas
Bass (Electric & Acoustic)
Rich Daniels
Saxophone, Conductor
Jo Ann Daugherty
Piano, Conductor
Jocelyn Davis-Beck
Cello
Randy Deadman
Piano, Keyboards
Carey Deadman
Trumpet
Austin Deadman
Piano, Keyboards, Drums, Percussion
Ethan Deppe
Drums, Percussion
Nicholas Donatelle
Cello
Darlene Drew
Flute
Steven Duncan
Trombone, Bass Trombone
Lisa Fako
Violin
Buddy Fambro, Jr.
Guitar (Electric & Acoustic)
Jed Feder
Drums
John Floeter
Bass (Electric & Acoustic)
Jeremiah Frederick
Horn
Roberta Freier
Violin, Viola
Ron Friedman
Trumpet
Jim Gailloreto
Saxophone, Flute, Clarinet
Karla Galva
Violin, Viola
Bob Garrett
Drums, Percussion
Loretta Gillespie
Viola
Michael Green
Percussion
Jeff Handley
Percussion
Tom Hipskind
Drums, Percussion
Marc Hogan
Bass
Elizabeth Huffman
Violin
Katherine Hughes
Violin
Terry Jares
Violin
Pete Jirousek
French Horn
Trevor Jones
Bass (Electric & Acoustic)
Andy Jones
Drums, Percussion
Sharon Jones
French Horn
Michael Joyce
Trombone
Jill Kaeding
Cello
Jeremy Kahn
Piano, Keyboards
Carmen Kassinger
Violin, Viola
Michael Keefe
Piano, Keyboards, Accordion, Conductor, Orchestrator, Arranger, Synth Programmer, Music Director, Contractor
Kara Kesselring
Piano, Vocal
Sarah Kim
Violin, Viola
Kevin Kizer
Saxophone, Clarinet, Flute
Debbie Katz Knowles
Percussion, Drums
Steve Leinheiser
Saxophone, Clarinet, Flute
Mark Lekas
Cello
Michèle Lekas
Violin, Viola
B.J. Levy
Trumpet
Betty Lewis
Violin, Viola
John Ling
Violin, Viola
Art Linsner
Trombone
Tom Logan
Guitar
Janice MacDonald
Flute, Piccolo
Linda Madonia
Piano, Conductor
Phil Martin
Drums, Percussion
Valerie Maze
Conductor, Piano
Stacy McMichael
Bass
Sean McNeely
Clarinet, Flute, Saxophone, Oboe
Lisa McQueen
Keyboards, Piano
Tom Mendel
Bass
Desiree Miller
Cello
Ryan Miller
Trombone
Jered Montgomery
Trumpet
Karl Montzka
Piano
Nick Moran
Woodwinds
Christian Moreno
Drums, Percussion
Dave Moss
Viola, Violin
Leo Murphy
Drums, Percussion
Paul Mutzabaugh
Piano & Keyboards, Electric Bass, Guitars, Percussion
Susan Nigro
Contrabassoon, Bassoon
Felton Offard
Guitar
Vance Okraszewski
Drums, Percussion
David Orlicz
Saxophone, Clarinet, Flute, Oboe, Bassoon
Talia Pavia
Violin
Howard Pfeifer
Piano, Keyboards
Brandon Podjasek
Drums, Percussion
Robert Reddrick
Drums
Corey Richardson
Guitar, Banjo, Mandolin
Brent Roman
Drums, Percussion
Dean Rolando
Piano
David Saenger
Guitar, Banjo, Mandolin
Greg Sarchet
Bass
Christopher Sargent
Piano
Lerryn Schaefer-Donatelle
Viola
Nick Sednew
Trumpet
Brian Shannon
Saxophone, Flute, Clarinet
Jocelyn Shoulders
Cello
Larry Sidlow
Guitar
Michael Sinclair
Bass
Sara Sitzer
Cello
Audrey Snyder
Cello
Rick Snyder
Piano, Keyboards
Joe Sonnefeldt
Drums, Percussion
Shawn Stengel
Conductor, Piano
Zack Thomas
Trumpet
Richard Trelease
Drums, Percussion
Dominic Trumfio
Flute, Clarinet, Saxophone, Piano
Christie Twillie
Piano, Keyboards, Synths
Linda Van Dyke
Clarinet, Saxophone
Paul Vanderwerf
Violin, Viola
Benton Wedge
Violin, Viola, Mandolin
Neal Wehman
Drums, Percussion
Tahirah Whittington
Cello
Jim Widlowski
Drums, Percussion
Matt Wifler
Saxophone, Clarinet, Flute
Patrick Williams
Bass
Andy Wilmoth
Drums, Percussion
