Tinka Jonakova

A Chicago native, Tinka Jonakova has been on the stage since age 6 when a boy cast as the lead started crying, leading her first grade teacher to give the part to her. Within three years, she was writing/performing plays that toured classroom by classroom while at catholic school, including a "West Side Story" ode, accompanied by her baby brother on tambourine.

Despite her parents warnings, she blew off school to daydream, and pursued a B.F.A. in theatre and french studies, where she realized that she loved both, just not together, and thus alternating turns between french life and artistic performance.

Whilst in Seattle, she worked with Creative Theatre Artists, Dan Savage, and 14/48 before creating her burlesque persona/producer, Pepper Grind, a quirky bird of off-kilter storytelling, who was last seen losing a pasty at the Can-Can. Shortly thereafter, she found herself back on the stage as Belly in Macha Monkey's We Are Not These Hands, followed by her role as Gabrielle in Franklin & Figaro.