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".