The Chicago Theater-Makers Podcast

I am so excited to bring you this episode with today’s guest, who is currently the Co-Artistic director for Chicago’s famed Steppenwolf Theatre. Part of the company’s ensemble since 2017, she has directed their productions of You Will Get Sick during the 2024/25 season and POTUS in their 2023/24 season. On stage there she has been seen in Noises Off, The Thanksgiving Play, The Herd, Between Rivers...

Our pride month concludes with clips of guests within the LGBTQ community, whom we were honored to have on the podcast during our first season.  We’re including these clips of previous guests because when we launched the podcast last July, we had just missed Pride Month and therefore they weren’t included in such an acknowledgement. And with that, let’s go, to the top of the show and our first loo...

Our pride month celebration continues with today’s guests the director and a one of the cast members of the current local tour of ‘The Revolutionists’. Iris Sowlat holds an MFA in Theatre Directing from University of Massachusetts Amherst. In 2018, Iris was named one of Windy City Times’ “30 Under 30" LGBT Chicagoans making a difference, and in 2019 founded Violet Surprise Theatre, with Allis...

Today’s episode continues our Pride Month Celebration with today’s guest known here in the Chicagoland area as a cast member and understudy to the title role of Alexander Hamilton in the Chicago production of Hamilton , which he toured with for six years.  Born in Long Island, New York he received his BFA in acting from Marymount Manhattan College and shortly thereafter, made his Broadway debut as...

Today episode continues our Celebration of Pride Month and today’s guest is a trans actor from the southwest suburbs of Chicago, now living in the Edgewater neighborhood.  He has been working professionally in Chicago and the surrounding areas ever since graduating with a degree in Musical Theatre from Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University in 2021. He was recently seen in &quo...

Todays’ guests kick off our series celebrating Pride Month. They are a couple here in town who have been part of the Chicagoland theater scene for over 10 years. Devin DeSantis is a Jeff Award nominated artist who is regarded as one of Chicago’s leading theatrical vocalists, who has been honored to work with theatre companies and symphonies around the country and the world. A graduate of Northwest...

Hi everyone! I hope you’re enjoying a restful and reflective Memorial Day Holiday. I just wanted to take a few moments to first thank all of our fans and followers for all of your support over the last 2 seasons!  Next week we Launch Season 3 by celebrating “Pride Month”, where each episode the month we’ll feature members of the LGBTQ Theater-Making community. In July we’re back to our regular wee...

Today’s guest was born and raised in suburban Detroit where he attended the Creative and performing Arts magnet program at Churchill High School. Moving on from there, he received his BA in Theatre Performance from Western Michigan University, and then his MFA in Acting from UC San Diego.  He spent 13 years in Los Angeles in guest starring roles in such shows as Modern Family, New Girl, Vegas and...

Today’s guest grew up in Milwaukee got his first training in theater and visual art at Milwaukee High School of the Arts. Moving to NYC in 2004, he worked as an art department assistant for TV shows and rehearsal accompanist on the original Broadway production of The Color Purple before getting a taste of writing and composing. Upon joining the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop, he met Kellen Blair, an...

Today’s guest was born in Puerto Rico and raised in Utah. She caught the love of moving people through song and storytelling after singing a solo at a multicultural assembly in junior high school.  After attending Southern Utah University, she worked for several seasons at the Utah Shakespearean Festival and then moved to Chicago in 2012 to star as Tracy Turnblad in Drury Lane Theatre’s Hairspray...

Today’s episode is part of our ongoing Out of The Loop Series, which features conversations with artists who may not have any ties to Chicago. But today’s guest had a long history here before we lost them to Film, TV  and Broadway, so their inclusion in this series is well warranted! He began his theatre career at the age of 15 in a suburb of Detroit, Michigan, playing the off-stage role of Voice...

Today’s guest is a Chicago-based theatre artist, producer, and administrator, and the Founder and Executive Artistic Director of Glendenning Theatre Company. He studied Theatre and Public Relations at Indiana University and began his career in arts communications working for Cathy Taylor Public Relations, where he supported press campaigns for over 10 major Chicagoland theatres. As a performer, he...

Today’s guest was born and raised in the Southwest suburbs of Chicago. After graduating from Columbia College Chicago in 2009 with a B.A. in Acting, she worked with various storefront theatres here in town until 2011.​ From there, she moved to Dublin, Ireland and pursued a her Masters in Theatre and Performance from Trinity College.  After taking a few years off to travel and explore Europe, she r...

On today’s episode we are joined by company members from Fat Theater Project’s production of “Kassandra at the Top of the World”. Eileen Tull is a Chicago-based storyteller, theater-maker, poet, educator, solo-show performer and founding artistic director of Fat Theater Project. She has performed throughout the country, from San Francisco to New York City, including in the New Seeds Festival, Unit...

Today’s guest is a Chicago-based theatre maker known for her work as a director, teaching artist, private audition coach, and college audition coach. She launched her professional career over two decades ago in St. Louis, where she earned her BFA in Musical Theatre from Webster University's Sargent Conservatory of Theatre Arts. In the early years of her career, she performed at renowned venues...

Today's guest started his directing career in college and has been directing in Chicago since 1986. He has since gone on to direct plays, musicals and symphony concerts from Broadway to London and everywhere in between. For a time, he was the co-artistic director for the Apple Tree Theater in Highland Park, and was the artistic director of Drury Lane Oakbrook from 1993 to 1998. His two piano s...

I first met today’s guests when I was 17 ears old, while they were singing with The New Rochelle Opera Company, which my mom ran for 40 years. When I moved to Chicago in 2007, they hadn’t yet returned to the city. But ever since they have, it has been my extreme pleasure to become as close as family, which is why it is such a thrill to have them on today’s episode. Hailed as “absolutely fearless”,...

Those of you who follow me on social media are aware that in January of this year I began rehearsal for my first book musical in 14 years! That show is On Your Feet at Drury Lane Theatre in Oak Brook. It’s been an incredible experience and I’ve fallen in love with the entire cast! We’ve become such a close knit family which, believe me when I tell you, is a very rare thing. Well, today’s episode I...

March is National Cabaret Month and today's episode is part of our series celebrating some of Chicago’s amazing cabaret artists! Today’s guest are a married couple known for innovative vocal jazz arrangements paired with the immediacy and intimacy of cabaret-style storytelling.  Anne Burnell is a vocalist and songwriter whose work has been presented at jazz clubs, concert halls, and festivals incl...

Today's guests are from Chicago’s 50 year old, South Side theater-making institution, Free Street Theatre. Katrina Dion is a Chicago based director and producer, known for her radical youth work at Free Street Theater where she acts as Producing Artistic Director. In her 10 years at Free Street, Katrina has directed over 11 original plays, mentored over 200 youth, and produced over 40 shows. Recen...

Today's guest started his theater-making career as a member of Chicago's Second City. Born and raised on the South Side of Chicago. He has worked on stage and backstage throughout the area as an actor, improv performer, storyteller, director, head of marketing, and Executive Director. He is currently the Chief Marketing and programing officer for the Aurora Civic Center Authority, which includes t...

Today’s guest is a composer, sound designer, musician and educator. Select Credits as Composer/Co-Author include ADDING MACHINE at Next Theatre, Evanston (a shows he’s held that position for 2 additional times); A MINISTER'S WIFE  at Writers Theatre, Glencoe and Lincoln Center, GIFT OF THE MAGI at American Players Theatre, WI). Select incidental music credits in NY and on Broadway include WHEN THE...

Today’s guest has lived and worked in Chicago as an award-winning playwright, composer and lyricist for 45 years. Much of his work has been seen world-wide. In summer of 2025, Dramatic Publishing Company released his stage adaptation of Aldous Huxley's classic novel Brave New World , which is his 13th script in print.  He has received the L. Arnold Weissberger Playwriting Award, the Midwestern Pla...

Today’s episode launches a new series that will be dipping in and out of over the course of the podcast that we’re calling our "Out of the Loop" series.  In general, the guests on these episodes are those who may or may not necessarily have ties to Chicago, but who’s work at the highest level in the world of theatre-making and even TV & film is renowned to fellow artists and audience...

Today's guest gracefully balances multiple careers as an actress, college professor and casting director. Originally from San Francisco, she received her BFA at Boston Conservatory. After working for many years as a performer, she was then recruited by renowned casting director Jay Binder to join his office as his assistant and fellow casting director. She eventually left New York to return to San...