Meet Our Staff
Jay McAdams, Executive Director
JAY MCADAMS is Executive Director of LA’s 24th STreet Theatre. He is also a producer, having produced dozens of theatrical productions over the last 20 years and won LA Weekly’s 2011 Production of the Year Award.
Jay is a graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and is a 2011 Leadership LA Fellow. Among his other leadership training is LA County Arts Commission’s Arts Leadership Initiative, the Annenberg Leadership Institute, and the prestigious Stanford University Executive Program for Non-Profit Leaders, where Jay won a Center for Social Innovation Fellowship.
Jay has also been selected by the US State Department to serve as a Cultural Envoy to El Salvador, where he has performed and taught on three Central American tours. Jay won the Innovation and Leadership Award from USC’s Rossier School of Education for his work in Arts Education.
Debbie Devine, Artistic Director
DEBBIE DEVINE has been an award-winning theatre director and a respected leader in the field of arts education for over three decades. She has been the Chair of the Drama Dept. of The Colburn School of Performing arts for over 20 years. She is also a theatrical director with the LA Philharmonic and is thrilled to be directing in the gorgeous space that is Disney Hall. Debbie is the co-founder and Artistic Director of L.A.’s 24th STreet Theatre, which has created award-winning professional theatre and model arts education programs for thousands of students and teachers since 1997.
Debbie’s work as an actor has earned her three Drama-Logue Critics Awards, a Robby Award, an L.A. Weekly Award, LA Parent Magazine’s Best Westside Children’s Theatre Award, and the Women In Theatre Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Los Angeles Theatre. Debbie recently earned LA County Arts Commission’s Professional Designation in Arts Education, and is the recipient of the USC Rossier School of Education’s Innovation and Leadership Award, and won LA’s County Music Center’s 2001 Bravo Special Mention for her work in Arts Education. She is also the proud recipient of the 2011 Inspiring Women Award, presented by the LA Sparks and Farmers Insurance.
Jesus Castaños-Chima, Associate Artistic Director
JESUS CASTANOS-CHIMA is a former member of the Autonomous National University of México (UNAM) Theater Company. He started his acting career in Culiacán, Sinaloa, México with DIFOCUR Theater Group, directed by Jorge Cázarez and the Theater Workshop of the Autonomous University of Sinaloa (TATUAS), directed by Oscar Liera. During his 35 year career, he’s worked in plays, TV and films in Mexico and The United States. He has also participated in many international theater festivals. He was an Acting workshop coordinator for the International Latino Theater Festival of Los Angeles (FITLA) and Assistant Curator at Meet Me at Metro Fest.
He is the Director of Latino Theatre Programs at 24th STreet Theatre, where he has directed La Infamia, El Jardín de los Reyes, El Ogrito (The Ogreling, Los Angeles Times Critic’s Choice), and La Víspera, among others. He also appeared in the acclaimed film Quinceañera (Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL 2006), as "Ernesto Chávez".
Jennie McInnis, Operations Manager
JENNIE MCINNIS (she/her) has been with 24th STreet for a decade, currently in the role of Operations Manager. She also serves as Assistant Producer for the theatre's award-winning productions. She was the Associate Producer and Tour Manager for Walking the Tightrope, which won the 2013 LA Drama Critic's Circle Award for Best Production and had a nine city national tour culminating at the Kirk Douglas Theatre. Jennie graduated from Denison University in Granville, Ohio, where she was awarded the Garrett Rounds Most Promising Theatre Graduate Award in 2004. Prior to 24th STreet, she was a freelance stage manager, and the Administrative Assistant at Chicago Shakespeare Theater.
Abel Alvarado, Community Programs Manager
ABEL ALVARADO is a Producing Artistic Director, TNH Productions and award winning Costume Designer. His Design works include theatre production throughout the Los Angeles area including In The Heights, It Happened in Roswell, A Force To Be Reckoned With, An L.A. Journey, Little Red, Drunk Girl, Remembering Boyle Heights, Bad for the Community, Teatro MOZ, Mariela In The Desert, They Shoot Mexicans, Don't They?, Vietgone, Enemy of the Pueblo, Evangeline Queen of the Make Believe and Disney’s Aladdin Dual Language Edition. Video work includes Wardrobe Stylist for Grammy Award nominee Gerardo Ortiz’s music video “Para Que Lastimarme?” and the web-series “Cafe Con Chisme”. In 2019 he was awarded “Best Costume Design” by the NAACP Theater awards for his costumes in Disney's Beauty and the Beast - The Broadway Musical at CASA 0101. In addition, being an Executive Producer of Brown and Out IV & V Theater Festival and designing for Josefina Lopez's Real Women Have Curves at the Pasadena Playhouse have been the highlights of his work. His community work includes being a Research Assistant for Spectrum Community Services at Charles Drew University, Voter Registration Manager with Southwest Voter Registration and Education Project and Health Education Specialist with The Los Angeles LGBT Center.
Tamara Koltes, Arts Education Director
Tamara Koltes holds her BFA in Theater from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle and an MFA in Acting from East 15 Acting School of Loughton, England, where she has performed at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre and Off-West End. Tamara has taught and performed in Seattle, New York, Minnesota, the United Kingdom, and Los Angeles. With many years of experience teaching and directing youth productions in dance and the theater arts, she recently ran the drama program for Walnut Canyon Elementary, enriching student education. She is beyond thrilled to be a part of the 24th Street Theatre team as the Arts Education Director!