Who's Who

Alexis M. Hadsall (Artistic & Technical Director)
Alexis started doing theatre in Michigan 27 years ago and hasn't stopped to breathe since... currently she lives in NYC and directs, produces, designs, and stage manages for both TheatreRats and other companies around the city (ie: Manhattan TheatreSource, ICTC, Guy Pride Productions, etc.). She moved here from SC, where she had been teaching high school and running a theatre company called Avante-Garde Productions (won Best Director Award here in NYC for this company’s performance in the 1998 Grassroots Play Festival), in 2002 and took the reins of TheatreRats in 2004 when the originators of the company (Paul and Anna VanEtten) moved to L.A. Alexis holds a BA from Winthrop University in Secondary Education and Theatre Performance and Directing with a minor in Creative Writing and Shakespeare. Alexis is also a certified/licensed teacher and is available for one on one monologue/audition tutoring. If interested in that or just getting involved with TheatreRats in any capacity (technical or performance) please contact her at alexis@theatrerats.com.


Rachel Grundy (Associate Artistic Director)
A native of London, Rachel has been working in theatre in New York since 2003, moving here permanently in 2005. She graduated with honors from the University of East Anglia in the UK with a Bachelor's in English Literature and Drama, and has always pursued acting as a career choice (at least, since 1993 when she failed a biology test and realised she'd never make it as a veterinarian). However, her varied experience includes lighting, sound, set building, props, stage managing and theatre administration as well as her performances as an actor and musician. She has been with TheatreRats since her move in 2005, as Secretary of the Board and recently as Associate Artistic Director. Rachel's acting credits include work with TheatreRats (with whom she has won three audience awards in the Annual Chester Horn Short Play Festival), Native Aliens Theatre Collective, Zombie Joe's Underground Theatre, Medicine Show Theatre and Dysfunctional Theatre Company (again winning two audience awards with a recently co-written show). She also plays in Coyote Love, a funk rock band, and drinks for the Greenwich Village Literary Pub Crawl.

Michael Ruby (Associate Artistic Director)
A writer, director and performer, Michael oversees TheatreRats’ Annual Chester Horn Short Play Festival (which is named in honor of his grandfather) and has aided in the production of nearly all of TheatreRats’ productions. He is the winner of the 2009 American Harmony Prize for his musical LOVE, NY, co-written with composer/lyricist Robert Rokicki. Michael's other musicals/plays include: ETHAN FROME (Adam Gwon, music/lyrics:); SWING FOR VICTORY!; THE GREATEST HOLIDAY MUSICAL…EVER! and DRINKING THE HEMLOCK (at Boston University). Outside the theater, Michael is Associate Creative Director at the advertising agency Stein Rogan + Partners. Michael studied playwriting and screenwriting at the undergraduate and graduate levels with Slaughterhouse Five adapter Stephen Geller and Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott at Boston University. Member of the Dramatists Guild and Actors Equity Association.