rec room home

who we are

founders at large:

Della Watson is a co-founder of reconstruction room. She is a graduate of the University of Kentucky and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She has performed her poetry at the Associated Writing Programs annual national conference in Chicago, Hemingway's reading series in Pittsburgh, PA, University of Virgina, and Black Swan Books in Lexington, KY. Della's work has been published in Limestone, The Administrator, Jar, Dossier, Make, eye~rhyme, and word/for word. She has edited, curated, and collaborated on many chicago-based projects including Metra, Preling, Telophase, and Charmship. She has stage lighting experience and has participated in the Pac/Edge festival and the Rhino festival. della has taught creative writing and art appreciation to students of all ages and currently plants vegetables and feeds animals in New Zealand. More about della

eric cressley is a reconstruction room co-founder. He received his BA and MFA degrees from the University of Pittsburgh. He lives, works and writes in Pittsburgh, PA. More about eric

past rec room volunteers:

Miki Howald was co-organizer, webmaster, and blog writer of rec room from 2006 through 2009. Miki earned an MFA in creative writing from the University of Alaska Anchorage and a BA from the University of Pittsburgh. Her essays have been published in Gulf Coast, Like Water Burning, swap/concessions #4, and in several online journals and zines. She has performed her work at the 2009 AWP Conference in Chicago, the University of Alaska Fairbanks, the First Friday Reading Series in Anchorage, AK, and the Quiet Storm café in Pittsburgh, PA. She was a semi-finalist in the 2009 and 2006 Guild Complex of Chicago's non-fiction prose contests. More about Miki

Meg Barboza is a graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago's MFA in writing program. A finalist for the 2005 Ruth Lilly Fellowship of the Poetry Foundation, she previously worked for the Poetry Center of Chicago's Hands-on-Stanzas program as a poet in residence. She currently works for Chicago Public Schools and writes PR for Powell's North reading series. Poems are forthcoming in p-queue. More about Meg

Nicolette Bond is a breadbasket poet with a nose for trouble. She is currently working on earning her MRS degree from some handsome man who has not yet returned her calls. Her poems have appeared in the sparkle of a kid's eye (goat kid) and downwind from the Honey Dipper. When she is not pretending to write, you can find her on the front porch yuckin it up. More about Nicolette

Elizabeth Graettinger (Eli) handled the rec room treasury and acted as the crowd maven. She manages program development for YWCA Metropolitan Chicago, is Vice President of the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation (CAASE) and Development Director for the Apollo Chorus of Chicago. Eli has an MFA in writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and poems forthcoming in RHINO poetry magazine. More about Elizabeth

Megan Martin took pictures for rec room and supplied our shows with props. She holds a BA from the University of Iowa and an MFA in writing from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her short fiction is forthcoming in Conjunctions and has also recently appeared in The Madison Review and Other Voices, where she is a member of the editorial staff. She currently teaches at St. Augustine College. Her other hobbies include insomnia, whiskey, and the occasional round of bocci ball. More about Megan

Scott Francis was the original recroomers.com webmaster. Scott has a BA from Marietta College in Marietta, OH, and an MBA from Xavier University in Cincinnati, OH. He has 10 years' experience in various aspects of information technology management and never seems to get sick of developing web sites. He secretly possesses a literature minor. Scott spends more time behind the scenes than on stage. Most of the time he's cool with that.

Kirk Lanzone was the reconstruction room photo editor. He received his BA and MA degrees from Indiana University and works as a medical writer for a pharmaceutical company in downtown Chicago. More about Kirk

Darrell Jones was the sound bartender for rec room. He is the co-owner of Electric Mayhem Studios and is a Chicago musician, producer, and sound engineer. For more info on Electric Mayhem Studios, contact Darrell at 773-450-3865 or amani_1999@yahoo.com.

Mairead Case helped out on many RecRoom shows. She writes and edits and teaches everywhere from university classrooms to juvenile justice centers to a library that used to be a department store. She's published in featherproof, Pitchfork, Punk Planet, SQUIDproject, Village Voice Media, Vice, and some other places. Mairead is Managing Editor at Literago.org.  More about Mairead

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