I am so proud to be the Strategic Director* of Free Street Theater, which has been making experimental theater designed to move across social boundaries since 1969! That's 55 YEARS! That's before I was BORN! I became Artistic Director in 2013, and joined a humbling legacy: Free Street was the first racially integrated theater in Chicago. It was one of the first to offer arts programming for youth. It was definitely the first company to move into Cabrini Green to spend months making a musical with the residents there, on the theory that it isn't enough to just make theater ABOUT an issue. It's important to participate, to include the people most affected by an issue, and to acknowledge that we all have things to offer to each other. Today, Free Street follows this simple mission: we make performance that uplifts and celebrates communities with a history of systemic divestment, and we collaborate with local organizers to connect our work to ongoing change efforts, particularly environmental justice efforts. Our work is multiracial, multigenerational, and often site-specific. We believe that theater should travel to its audience, not the other way around, and that theater gives us an important opportunity to be together in live space, to talk about urgent social issues in ways that are provocative, funny, and deeply human. "My work" is often "our work," but check out these short documentaries, then and now(ish).

*What is a “Strategic Director?” Honestly, we just made it up! In 2023, Free Street moved to a non-hierarchical leadership model that includes a Producing Artistic Director (Katrina Dion), a Managing Director (Bella Pelz), an Engagement Manager (Elizabeth Nungaray), and me. I support all areas of the company with long-term strategy, facilitate community engaged workshops and training, direct shows, and spend a lot of time with Free Street Talks, the for-hire arm of our company.