{"id":208,"date":"2025-09-18T21:25:06","date_gmt":"2025-09-18T21:25:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/richardengling.com\/blog\/?p=208"},"modified":"2025-09-27T00:20:16","modified_gmt":"2025-09-27T00:20:16","slug":"celebrate-live-theatre-with-chicagos-leading-visionaries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/richardengling.com\/blog\/2025\/09\/18\/celebrate-live-theatre-with-chicagos-leading-visionaries\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrate Live Theatre with Chicago’s Leading Visionaries"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"TheJoin us for TAKING THE LEAP: A Conversation on Bold Moves in Chicago Theater<\/em> at Bramble Arts Loft, 5545 North Clark Street, 2nd Floor, Chicago. Thursday, October 2, 2025, 7:00 pm. <\/p>\n

This panel discussion celebrates the release of The Very Last Production of King Lear<\/em> by Richard Engling. A book signing will follow. Beverages and cocktails will be available. Admission is free and advance reservations are not necessary.<\/p>\n

In the new comedic novel, struggling storefront theater director Dwayne Finnegan finally gets his crack at the big time\u2014directing Lear <\/em>at the Goodman Theatre. Author Engling will be joined for a conversation led by Mark Larson, author of Ensemble: An Oral History of Chicago Theater<\/em>, with Chicago theater visionaries who\u2019ve made a huge leap in real life. They include: <\/p>\n

\u2022\tTyrone Phillips<\/strong>, who founded Definition Theatre and recently directed its acclaimed production of Fat Ham<\/em> at the Goodman.
\n\u2022\tGwendolyn Whiteside<\/strong>, who took American Blues Theater\u2019s budget from zero to a million and built its first permanent home.
\n\u2022\tElizabeth K. Auman<\/strong>, who boosted the fortunes of Victory Gardens and TimeLine and is now overseeing the building of TimeLine\u2019s new home.
\n\u2022\tKarissa Murrell Myers<\/strong>, who co-founded Bramble Theatre Company in its gorgeous new Bramble Arts Loft space. <\/p>\n

About the Participants<\/strong>
\nTyrone Phillips<\/strong> is the founding Artistic Director of Chicago\u2019s Definition Theatre. Named one of Newcity’s Players<\/em>\u2014the 50 leaders of Chicago\u2019s performance culture of 2022. He recently directed Fat Ham<\/em> as a co-production with the Goodman Theatre on its Owen Stage. He serves on the Board of Directors for the League of Chicago Theaters and received the Arts Midwest Inaugural Peter Capell Award for Midwestern Creativity and Entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n

Artistic Director Gwendolyn Whiteside<\/strong> led American Blues Theater through its reorganization in 2009 and built its annual operational budget from zero to $1 million. She secured the company\u2019s first-ever operating reserve, endowment, and permanent home. Whiteside served on the National Endowment for the Arts panels and a Board member for Network of Ensemble Theaters and League of Chicago Theatres.<\/p>\n

Elizabeth K. Auman<\/strong> joined TimeLine Theatre as Managing Director in 2007. She oversaw a tripling of TimeLine\u2019s budget; the expansion of TimeLine\u2019s programming to venues such as the Goodman and the Broadway Playhouse; and multiple awards, including the 2016 MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions. Since 2021, she has focused on managing TimeLine\u2019s project to build its new home in Uptown as Director of New Home Development. <\/p>\n

Karissa Murrell Myers<\/strong> is the Artistic Director and co-founder of Bramble Theatre Company. An award-winning Filipino American theatre artist, she was featured in American Theatre Magazine\u2019s<\/em> \u201cTheatre Workers You Should Know\u201d in 2020 for her advocacy work in casting. Her plays have been produced and\/or developed at Goodman Theatre, Alleyway Theatre, Paramount Theatre, Strawdog Theatre, Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, American Blues Theater, and many others. <\/p>\n

Moderator Mark Larson<\/strong> is the author of Ensemble: An Oral History of Chicago Theater<\/em>, for which he conducted over 300 interviews with Chicago theater artists. His new book, Working in the 21st Century: An Oral History of American Work in a Time of Social and Economic Transformation<\/em>, was released in 2024 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Studs Terkel\u2019s Working<\/em>. Larson is currently working on a series of interviews with the iconic Broadway composer, John Kander (Cabaret<\/em>, Chicago<\/em>, New York, New York<\/em>).<\/p>\n

Richard Engling<\/strong> founded Polarity Ensemble Theatre in 2004 and served as its Artistic Director for twelve years, developing and producing new plays by local playwrights and creating innovative productions of classics. He is the author of six books. His Dwayne Finnegan novels represent the world\u2019s first trilogy for fiction readers interested in the live-theatre world.<\/p>\n

About The Very Last Production of King Lear<\/em><\/strong>
\nAfter brilliant but ill-fated productions of Shakespeare\u2019s Titus Andronicus<\/em> and Romeo and Juliet<\/em>, struggling director Dwayne Finnegan finally gets his golden opportunity. He will direct his highly talented (but definitely dysfunctional) actors in King Lear<\/em> at Chicago\u2019s prestigious Goodman Theatre. However, his lead actor succumbs to terminal confusion, his set designer plans a huge, illegal fire effect on stage, his actors fall in and out of love, his wife Angela consorts with a mysterious curandera, and Dwayne must set everyone straight before opening night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Join us for TAKING THE LEAP: A Conversation on Bold Moves in Chicago Theater at Bramble Arts Loft, 5545 North Clark Street, 2nd Floor, Chicago. Thursday, October 2, 2025, 7:00 pm. This panel discussion celebrates the release of The Very Last Production of King Lear by Richard Engling. A book signing will follow. Beverages and … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Celebrate Live Theatre with Chicago’s Leading Visionaries”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/richardengling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/richardengling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/richardengling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/richardengling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/richardengling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/richardengling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":225,"href":"https:\/\/richardengling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208\/revisions\/225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/richardengling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/richardengling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/richardengling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}