Joanie Friedman Recognized as ABJ Legacy Honoree
We’re thrilled to announce that Joanie Friedman, Director of the Civic Actor Studio (CAS) (formerly a unit of the Office of Engagement, and now officially a unit of Court Theatre) was recently recognized as an ABJ Legacy Honoree from the Annie B. Jones Civic Arts Center.
The connections between the Civic Actor Studio and the Annie B. Jones Civic Arts Center run deep. The center has implemented some of the CAS curriculum in its work with local youth, and Pastor Victora Brady—who distributed the Legacy Honoree Awards—was a participant in the inaugural CAS cohort in 2019.
Upon receiving her recognition, Joanie reflected on leadership and legacy:
“Years ago, I met Dr. Margaret Burroughs, founder of the South Side Community Art Center and the DuSable Museum of African American History. She shook my hand, gave me one of her prints, and asked me directly, ‘What will be your legacy?’
For twenty years, I have had the privilege of exploring that question. Perhaps the answer lies in building spaces where people can trust one another and form real communities through the arts.
The first community was the Southside Arts and Humanities Network, a coalition of about 150 music, theater, and dance organizations, where I met Pastor Victoria Brady. The second was the Civic Leadership Academy, which now has over 300 nonprofit and government graduates. The third was the Civic Actor Studio at Court Theatre, an intensive leadership retreat that uses theater to build trust. Pastor Brady helped shape its inaugural cohort, then nominated Credell Walls, who nominated Senyah Haynes — both of whom are current Civic Actor Studio facilitators and are here in this room tonight. I am delighted to share that the Civic Actor Studio community is now 180 people strong.
Lauren Woods, a participant of both the Civic Actor Studio and the Civic Leadership Academy, pointed out to me that my legacy isn’t simply the programs I’ve built or the number of people who have participated. My legacy lies in creating the conditions for trust, connection, and community through the arts. It’s equipping other people to carry that work forward. Thank you, Pastor Victoria Brady and the Annie B Jones Civic Arts Center, for this distinguished honor. It has been two decades since Dr. Burroughs asked me her thought-provoking question. Today, I leave you with the same question: What will be your legacy?”
Civic Actor Studio (CAS) is a four-day leadership retreat that uses the tools of theatre to develop civic leaders. Each cohort brings together Chicagoans working across nonprofit, government, business, philanthropy, journalism, and the arts—people whose work shapes the city, but who rarely get the chance to step back and examine how they lead. Court has long held that great theatre isn’t separate from civic life—it’s a way of understanding it. Civic Actor Studio makes that belief tangible. It takes the same techniques actors use to build a character and puts them directly in service of the people leading Chicago’s institutions, neighborhoods, and movements.
Since its first cohort in 2019, CAS has convened ten cohorts and reached 180 civic leaders across the city, proof that theatre, at its roots, is a pillar of civic life, and that Court is uniquely positioned to deliver on that idea.
Please join us in wishing Joanie heartfelt congratulations! More information about the Civic Actor Studio and its new role in Court Theatre is forthcoming. Watch this space!