Displaying items by tag: Kasey Foster

Lookingglass Theatre Company today announced a new leadership structure that brings together four longtime members of its acclaimed ensemble and new Board leadership, marking an exciting next chapter for the Tony Award-winning Chicago theater company.

Ensemble Members Ericka Ratcliff and David Catlin have been elected Co-Artistic Directors. Former Lookingglass Creative Producer Philip R. Smith will become Executive Director and Ensemble Member and co-founder David Schwimmer will serve as Producing Director. Most recently, Ratcliff was Literary Manager at Chicago Shakespeare Theater. David Catlin was the founding co-Artistic Director of Lookingglass, then served as Artistic Director from 2003-2010 and is a tenured Associate Professor and Head of Acting at Northwestern University. Philip R. Smith has been the Associate Director of Advancement at Writers Theatre after decades of working in multiple leadership roles at Lookingglass.

Lookingglass also welcomes new leadership to its Board of Directors, with Marci Masur serving as Board President and Deann Bayless as Board Chair.

The transition comes as Ensemble Member Kasey Foster completes her three-year term as Artistic Director, during which Lookingglass emerged from its post-pandemic pause, returned to producing and laid the groundwork for an ambitious new era for the company. Artistic Directors at Lookingglass are elected by the company's ensemble to three-year terms.

The new leadership structure comes at a moment of renewed artistic and institutional momentum for Lookingglass, building on nearly four decades of boundary-pushing work while setting the stage for an ambitious future. In 2026, Lookingglass celebrated two successful productions in its recently renovated space and hosted the most successful gala in its history. The company also recently signed a new 20-year lease at the Water Tower Water Works, securing its home for the next generation of Lookingglass artists and audiences, while exploring expanded programming, partnerships and earned-revenue opportunities designed to support continued artistic and institutional growth.

Ratcliff and Catlin will share responsibility for the artistic vision and programming of Lookingglass, extending the company's deeply collaborative approach to its artistic leadership. Together, the four leaders bring decades of experience as artists, directors and producers at Lookingglass, pairing deep institutional knowledge with distinct perspectives and a shared commitment to the company's defining values of collaboration, transformation and invention as they build on Lookingglass's artistic legacy and shape what comes next.

"What excites me most about stepping into this role is the sheer range of talent in this Ensemble, and the opportunity to figure out together how we can continue to create the settings for risk, experimentation and ambitious work that might feel impossible anywhere else," comments Ratcliff. "That is the unique power of Lookingglass. The impossible is the point, but the purpose is what makes the risk matter. We want to honor the history and DNA of Lookingglass and continue to push it forward, giving our artists and collaborators room to make work that surprises us, challenges us and feels deeply connected to this city."

"Collaboration is a core value that courses deep in the veins of Lookingglass– nearly four decades deep," says Catlin.  "Kasey, alongside our incredible staff and board, led us through unprecedented challenges so that we can take the baton and steward Lookingglass' signature immersive, transformative, and inventive storytelling, to ignite the imaginations of Chicago audiences in their favorite castle on Michigan Avenue."   

As Producing Director, Schwimmer will build on his renewed involvement with Lookingglass, focusing on producing, partnerships, fundraising and expanding opportunities for the company's work and artists. Earlier this year, the Lookingglass co-founder described his renewed commitment to the company as "doubling down," as he expanded his involvement and efforts to strengthen the theater's long-term sustainability.

"I'm thrilled to join this 'Dream Team' in a more official capacity," notes Schwimmer. "Lookingglass cannot have asked for a more experienced, passionate, fun and tenacious group of go-getters to grab the helm. To quote the White Queen from Through the Looking-Glass, this gang not only believes in 'as many as six impossible things before breakfast' — but DOES them."

As Executive Director, Smith will oversee the company's administrative and organizational operations, working alongside Ratcliff, Catlin and Schwimmer to support Lookingglass's artistic ambitions and long-term institutional growth. Smith has been involved in the artistic leadership of Lookingglass since 2000 and has helped produce more than 70 productions for the company.

"What has kept me rooted at Lookingglass for more than three decades is its willingness to imagine what might seem impossible—and then find a way to make it possible," says Smith. "That is what draws so many people to this great theatre. My goal, with this remarkable team in place, is to lift up and bring together their singular imagination, care, and experience around a clear vision: to build a sustainable and thrilling producing model that gives Lookingglass the freedom to do its most ambitious and distinctive work and then to share it with Chicago's unrivaled audiences."

Lookingglass also welcomes new leadership to its Board of Directors, with Marci Masur serving as Board President and Deann Bayless as Board Chair. Masur and Bayless bring extensive experience spanning business, philanthropy, civic engagement and Chicago's arts community and will work alongside the company's new leadership team as Lookingglass continues to strengthen its institutional foundation and expand its reach.

"Lookingglass reflects Chicago at its best: inventive, collaborative and unafraid to try something no one has seen before. That spirit has been part of the company's heartbeat for nearly four decades. This leadership team knows it deeply and has the vision to carry it forward. The more people we bring into that experience, the stronger Chicago's creative future becomes," notes incoming Board President Marci Masur.

ABOUT THE LEADERSHIP TEAM

ERICKA RATCLIFF, Co-Artistic Director
Ericka Ratcliff has performed at Lookingglass in Black Diamond, Around the World in 80 Days and Peter Pan (A Play), as well as assistant-directed and dramaturged Thaddeus and Slocum: A Vaudeville Adventure. Her additional credits include work with The Second City, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Northlight Theatre, Alliance, Milwaukee Rep, Pittsburgh Playwrights Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Congo Square Theatre, The House Theatre of Chicago and others. She most recently served as Coordinating Producer for Goodman Theatre's 100 Free Acts of Theater and as Literary Manager at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, following her time as Artistic Director of Congo Square Theatre.

DAVID CATLIN, Co-Artistic Director
David Catlin is a founding Ensemble Member, actor, writer, director and former Artistic Director, Managing Director, and Director of Artistic Development at Lookingglass. Catlin's extensive directing and acting credits at Lookingglass span the company's history including Lookingglass Alice, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Moby Dick. Catlin is an Artistic Associate with Actors Gymnasium and is Head of Acting at Northwestern University.

DAVID SCHWIMMER, Producing Director
David Schwimmer is a co-founder of Lookingglass and an actor, director and producer in theater, television and film. His Lookingglass directing credits include his adaptations of Studs Terkel's RACE and Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. His television and film credits include Friends, for which he received an Emmy Award nomination; American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson, for which he received a second Emmy nomination; Band of Brothers, Curb Your Enthusiasm, the Madagascar films and, most recently, Goosebumps for Disney+. His extensive directing career spans theater, television and film.

PHILIP R. SMITH, Executive Director
Phil Smith is a longtime Lookingglass Ensemble Member who has been involved in the artistic leadership of the company since 2000 as Casting Director, Artistic Director, Producing Director and Creative Director, helping to produce more than 70 plays. As Creative Producer, he co-served as Casting Director, produced many of the annual galas, and acted as a primary artistic liaison to the Development Department.

Prior to joining this new Lookingglass team, Phil spent two years as Associate Advancement Director at Writers Theatre in Glencoe, where he played a leading role in securing $1.3M in production support for the Jeff Award-winning production of Leopoldstadt.

In his return to Lookingglass in this new leadership role, he is especially energized by working together with this great community to help generate the structure, resources and momentum needed to create and present the bold, inventive, and deeply engaging work that has long been a Lookingglass trademark.

MARCI MASUR, Board President
Marci Masur is a strategic executive and civic leader known for advancing complex, high-impact initiatives at the intersection of business, philanthropy, and Chicago's civic community. Most recently, as a Managing Director at a leading financial services firm, she oversaw a global real estate portfolio and led a significant investment in its Chicago headquarters. Her career has centered on organizational strategy, operational transformation, major capital projects and building partnerships across the corporate, government and nonprofit sectors. A committed advocate for Chicago, Masur has helped strengthen institutions that shape the city's future.

DEANN BAYLESS, Board Chair
Deann Bayless is one of the nation's foremost women restaurateurs. Together with her husband, Rick Bayless, she opened Chicago's Frontera Grill in 1987, followed by Topolobampo, with both restaurants earning the James Beard Foundation's Outstanding Restaurant award. Bayless has served on the boards of Chicago Public Media and Women Chefs & Restaurateurs and, with Rick Bayless, established the Bayless Family Foundation to support Chicago's theater community.

THE LOOKINGGLASS ENSEMBLE
The Ensemble includes: Atra Asdou, Kareem Bandealy, Walter Briggs, Mara Blumenfeld, J. Nicole Brooks, David Catlin, Thom Cox, Larry DiStasi, Kevin Douglas, Christine Mary Dunford, Laura Eason, Anthony Fleming III, Raymond Fox, Kasey Foster, Joy Gregory, Doug Hara, David Kersnar, Sylvia Hernandez-DiStasi, Anthony Irons, Louise Lamson, Wendy Mateo, Dan Ostling, Andre Pluess, Ericka Ratcliff, David Schwimmer, Joey Slotnick, Phil Smith, Heidi Stillman, Tracy Walsh, Andy White, Temple Williams III, Matthew C. Yee and Mary Zimmerman.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Lookingglass welcomes David Reifman, Melanie Pickett, Michael Costabile and David Quinn to its Board of Directors. They join current Board members Steve Armstrong, Deann Bayless, Alexandra Bradbury, Chanon DiCarlo, Charlie Frankel, Lee Golub, Mike Harrington, Turiya Luzadder, Marci Masur, Nina Nashif, James Oh, Jennifer O'Neill, Bob Palffy, Carolyn Ravichandran, Abbie Roth, M.D., Yasmeen Soin, Catie Walsh Headtke, Steve Weiss, David Catlin, Ericka Ratcliff and David Schwimmer.

STAFF
The Lookingglass staff includes: Philip Smith (Executive Director), David Catlin (Co-Artistic Director), Ericka Ratcliff (Co-Artistic Director), David Schwimmer (Artistic Producer),  Olivia Tritschler (General Manager), Kasey Foster (Outgoing Artistic Director), Molly Bunder (Director of Education and Engagement), Katie Tuttle (Interim Director of Development), Scott Letscher (Director of Ticketing and Audience Services), Mark Bracken (Director of Production), Kate Sullivan Coombs (Managing Producer), Mantra Radhakrishnan (Grant Manager), Spencer Diedrick (Donor Relations and Data Associate, Front of House Associate), Annaliese Baker (Marketing Manager), Kimberly Lawson (Sales & Partnership Coordinator), Libby Lane (Scene Shop Coordinator), Skate Ehling (Technical Director), Dan Machalinksi (Technical Director), Savana Nix (Costume Director), Ally Perparos (Sound Supervisor), and Aaron Lichamer (Lighting Supervisor). Front of House: Gabriella Ashlin (House Manager Lead),Tamara Becker (Concessions Lead), Spencer Diedrick (Front of House Associate), Ashley Keys (Front of House Associate), Delaney Spielman (Front of House Associate), Ashley Keys (Front of House Associate), Kosi Achife (Front of House Associate), M.J. Krystosek (Front of House Associate), Nathan Short (Front of House Associate), Paulette Maher (Front of House Associate), Sage Peacock (Front of House Associate), Ty Bonneville (Front of House Associate). Teaching Artists: Katy Boza, Isabella Bradley, Melissa Briskman, Molly Bunder, Milo Christner, Claudio Jean Carlos, Fay Florence-Steddum, Larry Grimes, Claribel Gross, Ariya Hawkins, Risha Hill, Juliet Kang Huneke, Louise Lamson, Ellie Levine, Michelle Moe, Laura Murillo Hart, Kelly Nesheim, Edmund O'Brien, Michaelyn Oby, August Petry, Austin Rambo, Ky Rambo, Alyssa Ramos, Sivan Spector, Myra Su, Autumn Thelander, Oskar Westbridge, Scott Westerman and Matthew Yee.

ABOUT THE LOOKINGGLASS 2026/27 SEASON
Lookingglass Theatre's 2026/2027 Season is currently underway with the Chicago presentation of Kowalski, featuring Johnny Galecki and Jacob Moskivitz, followed by two signature Lookingglass world premieres: Ensemble Member and Tony Award winner Mary Zimmerman's adaptation of The Yearling and Ensemble Member J. Nicole Brooks' second play in a planned trilogy about Chicago mayors, Prince Hal.  Subscription and Memberships are available now for purchase at lookingglasstheatre.org or by phone at 312.337.0665. The Lookingglass box office is located at Water Tower Water Works, 163 E Pearson St at Michigan Ave.

Subscribers unlock special discounted tickets, priority seating, and a range of additional benefits. Lookingglass three show Subscription Series pricing starts at $224.00.  Lookingglass Memberships offer exclusive perks, including access to Premium Center Seats, VIP ticketing, priority access to limited-run experiences, invitations to exclusive rehearsal events as well as many other benefits. Pricing and details of benefits for both Members and Subscribers can be found at https://lookingglasstheatre.org/join-us/membership/.

ABOUT LOOKINGGLASS THEATRE COMPANY
Founded in 1988 by graduates of Northwestern University, Lookingglass Theatre Company is a nationwide leader in the creation and presentation of new, cutting-edge theatrical works and in sharing its ensemble-based theatrical techniques with Chicago-area students, teachers and organizations through Education and Community Programs. Guided by an artistic vision centered on the core values of collaboration, transformation and invention, Lookingglass seeks to capture audiences' imaginations, leaving them changed, charged and empowered.

Recipient of the 2011 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre, Lookingglass has built a national reputation for artistic excellence and ensemble-based theatrical innovation. Notable world premieres include Mary Zimmerman's Tony Award-winning Metamorphoses and The Odyssey, J. Nicole Brooks' Her Honor Jane Byrne, David Schwimmer's adaptation of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle and Studs Terkel's Race: How Blacks and Whites Think and Feel about the American Obsession, Matthew C. Yee's Lucy and Charlie's Honeymoon, Heidi Stillman's Cascabel, created in collaboration with renowned Chef Rick Bayless, and David Catlin's Moby Dick and Lookingglass Alice.

The Oscars might be over, but this “Best Actress” is just getting started. Welcome to the weird world of the Grelley Duvall Show, or Alex Grelle. His unique approach to cabaret has amassed quite a fanbase over the years. Suffice it to say, there’s nothing else quite like it. In two acts, Grelle and his team blend his favorite female performances with highly choreographed musical numbers set to toe-tappin’ hits performed by a live band. 

Directed by Kasey Foster, “Best Actress” tells the origin story of the Grelley Duvall Show and what inspired a young Alex Grelle and his creative partner Jesse Morgan Young. Their obsessive knowledge of pop culture as seen through the lens of queer millennials is unmatched. They throw anything from a given day on cable TV in the 1990s into the blender and it’s up to the audience to keep up. The irreverent humor, costumes, and slickly produced video segments add up to an evening of hilarious deep cuts and surprise cameos.

To be honest, not all experimental cabaret style theatre is good. Rest assured Best Actress is not that. Rather it’s a 2-hour musical extravaganza with solid gold choreography by Erin Kilmurray and Kasey Alfonso and a kick-ass band led by (and featuring the vocals of) Aunt Kelly. Alex Grelle is a certified triple threat: he can sing, he can dance and he can kick. The team he’s assembled for this production has made something really special for anyone really, but especially for the pop culture obsessed, vintage shopping community.

Joining Grelle onstage is a powerhouse ensemble - Kara Brody, Madigan Burke, Lolly Extract, Darling Shear, Patrick Stengle, and Mary Williamson - plus a handful of puppets that feel like characters in their own right. And make no mistake: Grelle isn’t the only one throwing kicks. This cast matches his energy beat for beat, putting on quite a show. Again, Killmurray and Alfonso’s choreography is killer.

Grelley Duvall Best Actress is one of those shows it’s almost best to not know much about going in. It’s also one of those shows that should just run open-ended for a while, because once you see it, you’ll be trying to explain to people for weeks what exactly it was. 

Through April 12 at the Chopin Theatre. 1543 W Division St. 773-278-1500

This review is proudly shared with our friends at www.TheatreInChicago.com. 

Jules Verne wrote one of the first science fiction novels in 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas, the story of three travelers who find themselves imprisoned on the Nautilus, a submarine captained by the megalomaniacal Captain Nemo. The novel was light on political detail, though Captain Nemo occasionally claimed to use his supremacy in the seas to right wrongs committed on land, especially those perpetrated by colonial powers. Nemo’s reasons were more fully articulated in Verne’s follow-up, The Mysterious Island, elements of which become the framing device for this Lookingglass Production, adapted by David Kersnar, who also directs, and Althos Low (aka Steve Pickering). Ensemble member Kersnar shows a deft hand and strong familiarity with the resources he can muster to bring the undersea world of the novels spectacularly to life, though the attempt to explain Nemo’s vengeful politics weighs the production down.

At its heart, 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas is an entertaining yarn, filled with hair-raising encounters with monsters, encounters made more terrifying by the fact that they take place in the unforgiving confines of the world’s oceans, with their more ordinary terrors. Kersnar and Low have done a remarkable job of bringing this world to the stage, staying true to Verne’s vision while making updates that make the story more accessible to contemporary audiences. One of these is changing the gender of the marine biologist who recounts Nemo’s travels and scientific discoveries. Pierre Aronnax and his aide-de-camp, Conseil, are recast as Morgan Aronnax and Brigette Conseil. This proves to be a strong choice in terms of storytelling, as it makes a little sense of Aronnax’s initial sympathy for Nemo, as both have felt the sting of being underestimated by those in power. The creators have assembled a team of artists and designers who are up to the task of bringing the tour of the seas to the stage. Todd Rosenthal’s set contains a toy-theater proscenium for the wide-angle shots of the ocean, from the sinking of ships to the horrors of the drowning sailors to the view from the windows of the Nautilus. The Nautilus itself is realized as an exterior platform that rises and tilts precipitously as the story demands, and hints at the confinement of the underwater craft that can be accessed only through a small hatch. Costume designer Sully Ratke combines story-telling and function, creating designs that capture the altered states of the characters as their journeys unwind, as well as their backgrounds and social stations. Props by Amanda Hermann avoid getting too steampunk, but capture the Victorian aesthetic of the novel, reminiscent of the original illustrations. However, it is the more ephemeral design elements that really transport the audience to the depths: sound designer Ric Sims and lighting designer Christine Binder immerse the audience in locations from New York City, the decks of various water crafts, to the depths of the seven seas. Floating in this aural and visual landscape are the puppets designed by Blair Thomas, Tom Lee, and Chris Wooten and athletic actors performing Sylvia Hernandez Di-Stasi’s brilliant aerial choreography, which allows the characters to float and dive beneath the waves. The puppets themselves are worth the price of admission: lifelike and magical at once, they float behind and off the stage to invite audience and characters fully into the terrors and wonders of the oceans.

The play begins with a group of refugees from the American Civil War meeting the man who enabled them to survive their escape, Captain Nemo, now older, alone and questioning his prior life as a terror of the seas. It then flashes back to where the book begins, introducing French professor of natural history Morgan Aronnax, who receives a last-minute invitation to join the crew of the USS Bainbridge, under Captain Farragut, who is commissioned to seek and destroy whatever is terrorizing the seas—be it craft or creature. Aronnax postulates a giant narwhal in a scene that brilliantly establishes her character and her position vis-à-vis her male colleagues. Kasey Foster does an admirable job of injecting charm into the generally no-nonsense and humorless professor, who is almost as single-minded in her pursuit of knowledge as Nemo in his pursuit of vengeance and domination. Kareem Bandealy is hampered by a script that does not allow him to fully realize the zealous evil of Nemo—despite his powerful presence and overbearing bluster, he gets bogged down in the scenes that switch to introspection and long-winded revelation. Scenes that allow him to do this while perpetrating acts of terror (the sinking of a naval vessel, for example) serve the plot much better than dinner time polemics and elegiac remembrances of his role in the Great Mutiny of 1847, which led to the losses that spurred his vengeance against imperialism. Rounding out the quartet that forms the center of the narrative are Walter Briggs as the cheeky Ned Land, a harpooner brought on board the Bainbridge to help destroy the monster responsible for the deaths of so many sailors, and Lanise Antoine Shelley as Conseil. Briggs brings the right balance of swagger and empathy to his role, and Shelley makes a good audience foil for the occasionally delusional professor, pointedly and humorously reminding her of the realities of their positions as women in a male world, and then as prisoners (not guests) of the mad Captain Nemo. Nemo’s “guests” also prove themselves to be up to the physical challenges of taking on human and cephalopod foes (Shelley has a brilliant and harrowing encounter with the latter). The rest of the cast—Thomas J. Cox, Joe Dempsey, Micah Figueroa, Edwin Lee Gibson and Glenn-Dale Obrero--provide some of the most striking moments of the evening and fill the stage with a multitude of supporting characters. Cox anchors the crew of Civil War wanderers and helps flesh out the alternate narrative. Joe Dempsey makes an impression as Pencroff, whose gratitude towards Nemo fuels his understanding and as the surprisingly open-minded and humorous Captain Farragut. Edwin Lee Gibson brings stalwart nobility to Cyrus Smith, one of the men who encounters Nemo in the first scene, and a roguish pragmatism to the self-serving constable who allows Ned Land to board the U.S.S. Bainbridge with a little persuasion from the Captain. Micah Figueroa and Glenn-Dale Obrero also fill the ranks of the Civil War escapees (with a humorous turn from Figueroa as the naïve Harbert), as well as handling the bulk of the fighting and diving, including an amazing sequence of pearl diving that captures the best of Lookingglass’s take on Verne’s novel—providing spectacle and social commentary in a seamless melding of physical theater, puppetry and characterization.

It’s not perfect, but 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas has enough to satisfy young (tweens and up) and old. Though it tries valiantly and not always successfully to engage with the political themes of human rights and colonization, ultimately it is buoyed by a strong sense of good old-fashioned story-telling. The breathtaking special effects, aerial dance, puppet magic, and a committed and capable cast who can match the acting and physical demands of the spectacle more than make up for some ponderous philosophical ballast. There is enough food for thought to inspire conversation, but the focus, as it should, remains mostly on the undersea journeys of the Nautilus and its willing and unwilling crew members’ battles with Kareem Bandealy’s power-hungry Nemo and the natural perils of the seas. It is well worth hopping on board to witness the sea battles, sea spiders, fish, squid and other undersea wonders dreamed up by Lookingglass’s team, under the assured direction of David Kersnar.

20,000 Leagues Under the Seas runs through August 19, 2018, at Lookingglass Theater, 821 N. Michigan. Performances are Wednesdays-Sundays at 7:30 pm, and Sundays at 2:00 pm. For tickets and more information, visit www.lookingglasstheatre.org or call 312-337-0665.

*Extended through August 26th