Craig Ester is proud to serve as Break the Chain’s Artistic Director. He is an actor, playwright, and teaching artist from Detroit Michigan. Craig is a proud alumnus of Cass Technical High School, and a “Heart and Soul” alumni of Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit’s Acting ensemble. . He is also an alumnus of the B.F.A Acting Program at Ball State University.. As an actor Craig has performed with Shakespeare Festival St. Louis, Michigan Shakespeare Festival, Shakespeare Royal Oak, Puzzle Piece Theater, and many more. As a playwright he has recently premiered two brand new plays “You Talk White” with Open Book Theatre Company, and “Ernest, Michelle, and the Rainbow” with Penny Seats Theatre. In addition to his work on stage Craig serves as a Teaching Artist for Mosaic Youth Theatre’s Saturday Arts Academy, and Drama Kids of Oakland County, and as Operations Manager for Matrix Theatre Company. His recent professional credits include: The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley (Brian) with Open Book Theatre Company, The Tempest (Prospero), Hastings/Oxford (Richard III), and Othello (Othello) with Hoosier Shakespeare Festival, Macbeth (Macbeth) and The Last Cupcake (Baker) with Shakespeare Festival St. Louis, Othello (Othello) with Little Door Theatre, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Theseus/Oberon), and Much Ado About Nothing (Don Pedro) with Shakespeare Royal Oak, Macbeth/Romeo and Juliet (Macduff/Seyton/Lord Capulet) with Michigan Shakespeare Festival’s Education Tour.

Alexis Grace is humbled and proud to serve as Break The Chain’s General Manager and Marketing Coordinator. She is an actor, director, stage manager, stage combat choreographer, and future intimacy coordinator for Break the Chain.

Alexis Grace has trained in dance, vocal performance, and acting. Dance was her first love, starting ballet at the age of 3 and adding on throughout her education into university (ballet, irish step, jazz, lyrical, hiphip, commercial, and tap). She used to perform professionally as a child and again in university. She now prefers to use movement as a tool in physical work regarding text, voice, and directing to name a few and has shifted gears to Stage Combat, a new passion and love she found while at university. She began vocal performance training at 14 and continues to this day; training in Opera and Musical Theatre styles. She has also been training as an actor for over a decade, earning a BA in Theatre Performance from Oakland University while also earning another BA in Political Science at the same time and graduating with honors from the Honors College.

Alexis Grace has also taught many classes over her career including assistant teaching little pinks ballet classes at her home studio, one on one acting coaching, MSU Community Music School Musical Theatre Summer Camp as a Counselor, assistance choreographer for East Lansing High Schools production of Grease, and as a teaching assistant for Stage Combat at Oakland University after completing all stage combat classes available. Alexis Grace stage managed/assistance stage managed many of these projects along with musicals, concerts, and ballets dating back to her high school days and is always looking for more projects. She is also looking to grow her skills by beginning the process of becoming an intimacy coordinator for stage and screen.

After graduation, Alexis Grace worked as an actor at Monster Box Theatre, Open Book Theatre Company and Little Door Theatre. Some of her favorite credits include Lysistrata(Lysistrata), As You Like It (Phebe), and An Overdramatic Cabaret (soloist) all at Little Door Theatre and Angie and Vera (Angie) with Open Book Theatre Company.

Maurizio is glad to join the team of Break the Chain Theatre Company as Media Manager. He is a Mexican-American actor and filmmaker, owner and founder of Mexicut Films LLC. He got his start doing videography for arts and community outreach organizations in Metro Detroit, including Matrix Theatre Company, Michigan Opera Theatre, and Global Detroit. These opportunities allowed him to build and refine his skills and to pursue filmmaking as his full-time occupation. Maurizio graduated from Specs Howard School of Media Arts in 2020 and started right away on launching his LLC.

In the past year, he’s worked on multiple projects, including the short film New Beginnings and the Once Upon a Rhyme series of filmed performances for Black & Brown Theatre. Maurizio also collaborated with Planet Ant Theatre for their upcoming film The Detroit Musical, a collection of comedy sketches and musical numbers. In addition to directing one of the segments for Detroit Musical, Maurizio also participated as cinematographer and actor in different segments.

Onstage, Maurizio has worked extensively with Black & Brown Theatre, most recently as Cratchit in Blessed - a bilingual stage adaptation of A Christmas Carol. Some of his favorite credits include Philostrate/Starveling (Midsummer Night’s Dream) with Shakespeare Royal Oak, Philurgus (Lysistrata) at Little Door Theatre, Alex Cain (Cain’s Row) with Matrix Theatre, and Pablo (Sister Act) at Riverbank Theatre.

Through his work with Matrix, Maurizio co-directed and edited the short documentary The Way of Art: Making the Diego Rivera Puppet, which received the award for Best Documentary Short at the 2020 I See You Awards and will be featured this January in the 2022 Hispanic Film Festival. Maurizio is thrilled to be joining the team at Break the Chain and he is excited to share new content and opportunities for the artistic community in Metro Detroit.

Maggie Sicilia is a Chicago-based singer and actor specializing in oratorio, classical theatre, and Gregorian chant. She is an alumna of Grand Valley State University and training programs at the University of Michigan, Tanglewood, and Shakespeare and Co.

By day, Maggie also works as a marketing professional with experience in grant administration and is honored to serve as Development Director for Break the Chain. The impact a theatre company can have on its community and constituents often directly results from the partnership opportunities available in that community and Maggie is very excited to facilitate these relationships for Break the Chain and the Detroit actors and audiences. She is incredibly inspired by BTC’s mission of inclusion, representation, and service and education through the arts, and is excited to help further its impact!