Meet the Team
Bitter Jester Music Festival:
Nicolas DeGrazia
Artistic Director
Nicolas DeGrazia is a six-time Emmy award-winning writer, producer, and director. He is the co-founder and Creative Director of Bitter Jester Studios, a television/web content production company with clients including Nike, United Airlines, the American Medical Association, the US Postal Service, and Ravinia.
Nicolas is also a James Beard Award nominee, a sketch comedian with The Comic Thread (Best Group: LA Comedy Festival, Audience Choice: Chicago Fringe Fest), has a sandwich named after him(!), and is the Founder and Producer of the Bitter Jester Music Festival, which he also Co-Emcees.
Daniel D. Drake
Production Manager (Grand Finale)
Daniel began his tenure with the Music Festival when he was the Production Manager for the 2010 Grand Finale Concert. He instantly fell in love with the event and continued acting as Production and Stage Manager for the event until 2016 when he co-founded The Bitter Jester Foundation for the Arts with Nic, where he acted as Executive Director for the Foundation until 2020.
Daniel continues his role as Production Manager for the Music Festival’s Grand Finale. He is a freelance Stage Manager and Production Manager for live theatre in Chicago the Production & Facilities Coordinator at Roosevelt University.
Michael Tseitlin
Director of Education
Bitter Jester Music Festival
A former competitor in the Bitter Jester Music Festival (2012-15) and three-time 3rd Place winner with his band, The Ska-lers, Michael returned to BJMF as a volunteer, then as a judge and Lead Judge, following by our official “Performance Advisor in 2018.” Michael now holds the position of Director of Education for the Bitter Jester Music Festival.
In this role, he records real-time commentary and feedback to the bands as they compete in their preliminary concerts. He then organizes and recaps all of the judges scores and information, providing feedback and data to our competition the bands. He works as a liaison to the preliminary round competition judges and then assumes the role of a judge himself for our July 4 Grand Finale competition.
Christy Knapp
Director of Audience Services
Bitter Jester Music Festival
Christy Knapp began as a volunteer team member of the Bitter Jester Music Festival assisting with audience raffles and various audience-focused tasks. She now serves as our Director of Audience Relations, interfacing with kids and families as well as parents of competing band members.
An educator by trade, Christy is an Engineering teacher at the Bartlett Academy of Math, Science, and Engineering in the Project Lead the Way (PLTW) program. Behind-the-scenes, Christy helps coordinate various aspects the Bitter Jester Music Festival as well as taking on the mantle of designing our band trophies.
Her daughter, Maggie, volunteers for the festival during the summers as well, helping with social media and photography.
Aaron Rabishaw
Production Assistant / Jack of All Trades
Bitter Jester Music Festival
A former competitor in the Bitter Jester Music Festival (2012-15) and three-time 3rd Place winner with his band, The Ska-lers, Aaron returned to BJMF as a volunteer, then as a Production Assistant and Judge. Aaron now acts as Lead Judge for the Grand Finale of the Bitter Jester Music Festival on the 4th of July.
In this role, Aaron assists with many of the “behind the scenes” day-to-day tasks for the Festival. And during the 4th of July Grand Finale competition he assumes the role of Lead Judge, working with our panel of seven judges as they discuss, debate, and ultimately select the winning bands from our eight yearly finalists.
The Comic Thread Sketch Comedy Troupe & The Purple Shirts Live Short Story Readings:
Dr. Matt Birnholz
Writer/Performer
The Comic Thread
Nurse Mark Sheahen
Technical Director/Stage Manager
The Comic Thread
Dr. Charles Turck
Writer/Performer
The Comic Thread
Interested in joining our team? Click here to send us an email!