Our Ensemble

Emma Chong, Ensemble Member/Stage Manager
Emma is a 2007 graduate of Gettysburg College, where she double majored in English and Theatre Arts with a minor in Classical Studies. While there, she directed, teched, stage managed, and performed in entirely too many theatrical productions, favorites including An Experiment with an Air Pump, Much Ado About Nothing, Metamorphoses, and Lebensraum. Other credits include internships at the Gettysburg Arts Festival and Williamstown Theatre Festival, as well as onstage work at the Actors’ NET of Bucks County and the Renegade Shakespeare troupe. In her time at Touchstone, she has enjoyed hands-on involvement in production, with roles including stage management (Shipwrecked, The Tempest, YPF), lighting design (The Pan Show, The Walden Piece, Fresh Voices), and performance (The Pan Show, Follies, Dr. Horrible). When not immersed in production, Emma manages the space rentals and assists with marketing.

Bill George, Ensemble Member/Co-Founder
Bill received his B.A. in English Literature from Lehigh University and his M.F.A. in Acting/Directing from the Dallas Theatre Centre of Trinity University. He studied mime with Paul Curtis of The American Mime Theatre, founded the People’s Theatre Company in 1977 and later co-founded Touchstone Theatre in 1981 where he was Producing Director until 1990. During a hiatus from Touchstone in 1996, Bill created Little Pond Arts Retreat in Nazareth, Pennsylvania with his wife Bridget–a retreat center dedicated to exploring the art of transcendence–and toured to Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, Britain, and throughout Canada and the United States with his original dramas: The Kingfisher’s Wing and The Marriage of Munirih Khanum. Bill returned to Touchstone as a full-time Ensemble Member in 2003 where he has won numerous awards over the years–including a Fringe First at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland, and a Pennsylvania Solo Theatre Arts Fellowship. Bill has served as a panelist and adjudicator for the National Endowment for the Arts, the Maryland State Arts Council and the Barrymore Awards of Philadelphia.

James P. Jordan, Ensemble Member/Artistic Director
James has worked in theatre professionally for the last 18 years. He began his career as a Stage Manager for illusionist Jeff O’Lear’s anti-drug programs, which toured both nationally and internationally. During this period, James played in multiple music bands, performing to crowds as big as 5000 people. James graduated from Kutztown University majoring in Telecommunication (video production) with a minor in both Theatre and Music. He appeared in a number of Kutztown University’s Theatre productions and played both guitar and trumpet in the University’s Jazz band. Post college, James continued to play in small musical projects but mainly recorded in the studio. At this time, he began work at the newly opened Zoellner Arts Center on Lehigh University’s campus. During his five-year tenure as Zoellner’s Stage Coordinator, James helped in the production of hundreds of events; from lectures to Broadway musicals to some of the best ballets and orchestras in the world. While at Zoellner, James freelanced with many production companies and also began freelancing as both a sound and lighting designer. Now in his 6th year at Touchstone, James has played a crucial part in every production since his arrival, serving in multiple roles including Designer, Composer, Actor, Director and Playwright. James is also in charge of all print and electronic media design for Touchstone.

Lisa Jordan, Ensemble Member/Managing Director
Lisa holds a BA in theatre and minor in music from Kutztown University. After serving as Production/Administrative Intern at Civic Theatre of Allentown for their 2000-01 season, she came to Touchstone to stage manage Christmas City Follies ’01. This initial experience with ensemble-created work opened her eyes to whole new world of theatre creation, and Lisa joined the company as Production Manager. In 2005 she joined the Ensemble, and in 2008 became the Producing Director. Over 50 productions later Lisa has filled many roles, including: stage manager (A Comic Strip, Don Quixote of Bethlehem), lighting designer (Shipwrecked!, Follies), props designer (Hit or Myth), costume designer (The Pan Show, The Tempest) and assistant director (Southside Experience, The Glass Menagerie).

Cathleen O’Malley, Ensemble Member/Education Director
Cathleen trained in Lecoq-based physical theatre at the London International School of Performing Arts (LISPA) and holds an MFA from Naropa University. She was a founding member of all-female grotesque comedy troupe, Relax Your Face (UK) and has performed original solo and ensemble-devised theatre in London, Budapest, Silkeborg (DEN), Washington DC, and various venues across the Pacific Northwest. Onscreen, Cathleen has played principal roles in Canadian director Guy Maddin’s silent feature, Brand Upon the Brain! (2006), and Christy Elton’s The Suit, as well as smaller roles in a handful of other indie features & shorts. In 2010, Cathleen joined Zany Umbrella Circus on tour in Amman, Jordan, where she performed and taught physical theatre/clowning to 150 Jordanian youth. As an educator, Cathleen has facilitated youth arts curricula at the University of Washington, University of Virginia, Goucher College, The Circus Space and others institutions locally and abroad, and was a 2005-2007 teaching artist at the WA State Corrections Center for Women. Cathleen is the Education Director and an Ensemble Associate of Touchstone.