The Illusion

CHARLES NEWELL has been Artistic Director of Court Theatre since 1994, where he has directed over 40 productions. He made his Chicago directorial debut in 1993 with The Triumph of Love, which won the Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Production. Directorial highlights at Court include Porgy & Bess, Three Tall Women, The Illusion, The Year of Magical Thinking, The Wild Duck, Caroline, Or Change, Titus Andronicus, Arcadia, Man of La Mancha, Uncle Vanya, Raisin, The Glass Menagerie, Travesties, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Hamlet, The Invention of Love, The Little Foxes, Nora, and The Misanthrope. Charlie has also directed at the Goodman Theatre (Rock ‘n’ Roll), the Guthrie Theater (Resident Director: The History Cycle, Cymbeline), Arena Stage, John Houseman’s The Acting Company (Staff Repertory Director), the California and Alabama Shakespeare Festivals, Juilliard, and New York University. He is the recipient of the 1992 TCG Alan Schneider Director Award and has served on the Board of Theatre Communications Group, as well as on several panels for the National Endowment for the Arts. Opera directing credits include Marc Blitzstein’s Regina at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Rigoletto at Opera Theatre of St. Louis. Charlie is a multiple Joseph Jefferson Award nominee and recipient. His production of Caroline, or Change at Court was the recipient of 4 Joseph Jefferson Awards, including Best Production and Best Director. This spring at Court Theatre, he will direct both parts of Tony Kushner’s Angels in America.

COLLETTE POLLARD returns to Court Theatre where she last worked on The Illusion. Recent design credits include Odradek at The House Theatre, Harriet Jacobs at Kansas City Repertory Theatre, To Kill A Mockingbird at Steppenwolf Theatre, and A Streetcar Named Desire at Writers’ Theatre. Collette earned her MFA from Northwestern University. She is adjunct faculty and teaches at Columbia College. Collette is honored to be this years’ recipient of the Michael Maggio Emerging Designer Award.

JACQUELINE FIRKINS is pleased to return for her seventh season at Court Theatre. She also designed costumes for last season’s production of Porgy and Bess. Design work includes: sets and/or costumes for Victory Gardens Theater, TimeLine Theatre Company, House Theatre of Chicago, Marin Theatre Company, Hartford Stage, Dallas Theater Center, Portland Center Stage, Goodman Theatre, Shakespeare Festival of St. Louis, Idaho Shakespeare Festival, Westport Playhouse, Shakespeare & Company, Shakespeare Festival of Tulane, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Yale Repertory Theater, New Jersey Shakespeare Festival, Brave New Repertory, About Face Theatre, Northlight Theatre, Yale School of Drama, and Dorset Theatre Festival. Jacqueline is a recipient of a 2001 Princess Grace Award and heads the design program at Loyola University Chicago.

JOHN CULBERT recently designed Court Theatre’s productions of Porgy and Bess, The Illusion (for which he received a Joseph Jefferson award), The Year of Magical Thinking, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Caroline, or Change, Man of La Mancha, and Carousel, Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s Romeo and Juliet, Timeline Theatre Company’s The Farnsworth Invention, Northlight Theatre’s Civil War Christmas, and Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Regina. He also designed Lookingglass Theatre Company’s Argonautika, Goodman Theatre’s Rock ‘n’ Roll and Mirror of the Invisible World, and Long Wharf Theatre’s Hughie. He has designed productions for the Singapore Repertory Theatre, Opera National du Rhin, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, McCarter Theatre, and the Shakespeare Theatre. He serves as the dean of The Theatre School at DePaul University.

JOSHUA HORVATH Court: Spunk, Porgy and Bess, The Illusion, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Wait Until Dark, Caroline, or Change, First Breeze of Summer, Carousel, Titus Andronicus, Arcadia, Flyin’ West, Raisin, Lettice and Lovage, Fences, Man of La Mancha, and Endgame.  Chicago credits: Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Northlight Theatre, Next Theater, TimeLine Theatre Company, The House Theatre of Chicago, Eclipse Theatre Company Chicago, Lifeline Theatre, and Shattered Globe Theatre.  Regional: Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Hartford Stage, Long Wharf Theatre (New Haven), Baltimore Center Stage, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, First Stage Children’s Theater (Milwaukee), Milwaukee Shakespeare, Madison Repertory Theatre (WI), Illinois Shakespeare Festival, Great River Shakespeare Festival (MN), California Shakespeare Theater (Berkeley), and Center Theatre Group (LA). Mr. Horvath is a four-time Jeff award winner and eleven-time nominee. He teaches sound design for theatre and film at Northwestern University, and is an artistic associate at Lookingglass Theatre Company. Current and upcoming shows: The Pitmen Players (TimeLine), The Great Fire, Mr. Ricky Calls a Meeting, and Eastland (Lookingglass Theatre Company), Follies (Chicago Shakespeare), and Angels in America (Court Theatre).

NICK KEENAN is delighted to return to Court Theatre after designing last season’s The Piano Lesson.  Designs include Goodman Theatre (Strange Interlude, assistant for Mirror), TUTA (The Wedding), Next (Return to Haifa, End Days), Rivendell (These Shining Lives), BackStage, Collaboraction,  Raven, Apple Tree, A Red Orchid, the Neo-Futurists, the side project, and New Leaf Theatre, where he is a company member.  Nick engineers sound at the Goodman, teaches at Northwestern’s Cherub program, and authors a blog (theaterforthefuture.com) discussing arts sustainability and technology in theater.

DREW DIR is in his third season as the resident dramaturg of Court Theatre and a lecturer of Theater and Performance Studies at the University of Chicago. In the past, Drew has worked as a playwright, dramaturg, director, and puppeteer in Chicago and London. His writing has been called “daring” by the Chicago Tribune and “ballsy” by Time Out Chicago. His short play The Lurker Radio Hour was recently remounted at Chicago’s Sketchbook Reverb. He also creates and performs shadow puppetry for his company, Manual Cinema. Drew holds a master’s degree in Text and Performance Studies from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts.

WILLIAM COLLINS (Stage Manager) Past shows at Court Theatre include: Three Tall Women, The Comedy of Errors, The Year of Magical Thinking, The Illusion, Thyestes, Arcadia, Uncle Vanya, Carousel, and most recently, Porgy and Bess. William has also worked with Redmoon Theater (Sink. Sank. Sunk …, The Cabinet), Peninsula Players Theatre, About Face Theatre, The Neofuturists, Goodman Theatre, and Drury Lane Oakbrook Theatre.

SARA GAMMAGE is delighted to return to Court Theatre. Previous Court Theatre credits include Flyin’ West, What the Butler Saw, The First Breeze of Summer, Wait Until Dark, The Mystery of Irma Vep, The Illusion, Sizwe Banzi is Dead, Home, Orlando, Porgy and Bess, Spunk, and An Iliad. Other Chicago credits include productions with Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Greenhouse Theater, Theatre at the Center, Marriot Theatre, Apple Tree Theatre, and Redmoon Theater. She spent several seasons at Peninsula Players Theatre in Door Country, WI; credits there include A Little Night Music, Comic Potential, Wait Until Dark, Is He Dead?, Rumors, and The Lady’s Not for Burning. Sara is a proud graduate of Northwestern University.