Who We Are
Mission Statement: The Story Collective of Cincinnati is an artist-driven professional and authentic company committed to sharing stories and opportunities that connect artists and the surrounding community to meaningful human experiences.
Vision Statement: We strive to blend artistic excellence and fiscal responsibility in creating experiences which honor the past, celebrate the present, and imagine the future.
Our Team
Susan Jung / Co-Founder & Artistic Director
Susan is the Director and Choreographer for the award winning Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy Theatre Department and the director of the CHCA improv team, Off the Cuff. With over 20 years in the business, she has directed over 60 full length productions, taught musical theater dance and acting for CCM prep, led/taught over 30 musical theater camps, and taught acting, musical theatre, and dance at the Tony award winning Playhouse in the Park. Susan was one of the stage directors for the Christmas show “Awaited.” She is also a mentor for the Jumpstart Theatre Program (pioneered in Cincinnati) through EDTA where she works with underserved middle school educators to help them start and maintain a theatre program. She has won a Theatre Educator Acclaim Award and was an Overture Finalist for Theatre Education as well as several local acting and choreography awards. As a playwright, several of her original plays have been produced in Cincinnati, Arizona, and Utah. Susan maintains her professional acting career with regional and national commercials, print ads, and voice-overs while performing nationally and internationally with Friends of the Groom and regionally with Murder and Merriment. Susan has also performed professionally with local theatres, TCTC and WFIT, and holds a B.A. in theatre from Northern Kentucky University.
Gabe Hoyer / Co-Founder & Managing Director
Gabe is thrilled to be serving as Managing Director for The Story Collective. He has been heavily involved in the performing arts his entire life, and finds great inspiration in building a theatre company here in his home town of Cincinnati. Gabe is a 2019 graduate from Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, with a Bachelor's of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre. Professionally, he has had opportunities to perform for companies such as Studio Tenn (Nashville, TN), The Lost Colony (Manteo, NC) and Cedar Point (Sandusky, OH). He is currently working with the Cincinnati local performance company Murder and Merriment. Gabe could not be more excited to bring this community high-quality theatre and looks forward to making The Story Collective one of the premiere arts houses in the Greater Cincinnati area!
Will Ellis / Development Director
Will Ellis is a Cincinnati native who is no stranger to the performing arts. Will has previously served as Program Coordinator for Boston University’s Tanglewood Institute in their Young Artist Vocal Program working with students and faculty from across the nation managing their summer programming, choral performance, opera scenes, masterclasses, and recitals. Before this, he worked as a Teaching Artist with Columbus Children’s Theatre, designing some of their summer theatre camp curriculum. He also served as an intern with Montgomery Community Church in their Children’s Ministry. While attending Miami University, Will served as music educator, theatrical music director, vocal coach, President of Miami Opera, PR Chair of Miami Students NATS, and treasurer of Miami Chamber Singers. Onstage, he has performed professionally with Cincinnati and Columbus theatres including The Carnegie, CATCO is Kids, and Weathervane Playhouse as well as regional community theatre, educational theatre, and opera. Will is a classically trained as a singer and has performed with with orchestras, winning his category at the 2018 Ohio National Association of Teachers of Singing competition. Will has performed in professional masterclasses and studied abroad in Graz, Austria where he performed German lieder, opera, and musical theatre at the American Institute of Musical Studies. Will holds a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Music Education with a minor in Music Theatre from Miami University and currently serves as Development Assistant at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park.
Justin Hanks / Community Engagement Director
Justin is a web developer, writer, and self-proclaimed Pokémon master. His stage credits include Seussical (Horton), Beauty and the Beast (Beast), Wizard of Oz (Cowardly Lion), Children of Eden (Father), Dearly Departed (Royce), Angels in America (Louis), Little Shop of Horrors (Orin), Rumors (Ken Gorman), Picasso at the Lapin Agile (Gaston), and The Great American Trailer Park Musical (Norbert). Outside of The Story Collective, Justin frequents Loveland Stage Company, recently appearing in Curtains (Bobby), Mission: Possible (Maxwell), Company (David), Twelfth Night (Sebastian), and Crushin’ It – the latter of which he wrote and co-directed. Additionally, Justin has performed and written for The Queen City Vaudevillians – a local comedy and variety troupe. Beyond theatre, Justin is a director of product development at Benchmark Gensuite. He holds degrees in Computer Science and Mathematics.
Jenna Schroeder /
Communications Director
Jenna is an accomplished performer that has won multiple awards both for acting and choreography at the Loveland Stage Company. She currently serves on their board as the Development Chair and co-directed the fundraiser Crushin’ It! Professionally, Jenna spent last year performing with the comedic troupe, The Queen City Vaudevillians as well as making cameo appearances and voiceovers in commercials for Dolphin Hat Games. Jenna holds a BAC from Bowling Green State University, after which she spent time serving in Haiti as well as in Baltimore, MD through Americorps. Working to bridge the gap between underserved communities and the fine arts, Jenna has started various dance programs; first a dance camp in Maryland and later, she partnered with Back2Back Ministries to provide a dance camp for orphans in Mexico. Using her skills to raise awareness for causes such as disaster relief, Chron’s disease and advocating for vulnerable children in Haiti have been important to her path. Jenna has also competed in Nests Dancing with the Stars who help under-served children in Loveland. Inspired to create community through dance, she started a women’s dance team that performed locally for over 8 years and recently created a class called Dancemix for adults. She is a writer at heart that loves to bring hope-filled words to the world through her inspirational blog and children’s book that will be published this year. Jenna is over the moon excited to join TSC and bring beautiful stories to life with this incredible team.