Karen Olivo, Sandra Delgado & More Join Collaboraction Theatre Company Board

Collaboraction Theatre Company is ringing in the New Year with today's announcement of five new, heavy-hitter board members. Each is wholly committed to supporting Collaboraction's mission to use theater and performance to incite social change on Chicago's most critical issues.

"In the brave new world of post-pandemic theater and social equity, we are honored to welcome in five incredible changemakers whose contributions will impact our culture, work and mission immensely, including a Tony- winner/ theater worker activist, Broadway producer, a pay-equity leader, two EDI experts and a founding company member and nationally recognized artist," said Anthony Moseley, Artistic Director of Collaboraction.

Newly elected to Collaboraction's board are:

Sandra Delgado

is a Colombian-American writer, actor, singer and producer born and raised in Chicago. She is best known for her play La Havana Madrid, which enjoyed sold-out runs at Steppenwolf and Goodman Theatre, and most recently in an enhanced co-production with Teatro Vista and Collaboraction. La Havana Madrid was featured in the New York Times and CNN, received recognition as one of the best plays of 2017 by Newcity Chicago and Time Out Chicago, the Time Out Audience Award for Best New Work, and the Alliance of Latinx Theatre Artists (ALTA) Award for Best Production. Delgado is also a respected veteran of the stage, with a career spanning two decades. In addition to her work at artistic homes, Teatro Vista and Collaboraction, she has been seen on stages across Chicago including Goodman Theatre, Lookingglass Theatre, Victory Gardens and About Face. Recent highlights include the titular role in La Havana Madrid, La Ruta at Steppenwolf and starring off-Broadway in The Public Theatre's production of Oedipus el Rey as Jocasta. She's been awarded a 2021 U.S. Artist Fellowship and is one of 20 Chicago women honored in Kerry James Marshall's public mural "Rushmore" on the facade of the Chicago Cultural Center. Delgado was appointed to the Chicago Public Library Board of Directors in September 2021.

Elsa Hiltner

is co-founder of On Our Team (onourteam.org) and co-creator of the Pay Equity Standards, a certification system that recognizes arts organizations that center fair and equitable pay. She is also Associate Director of Programs at Lawyers for the Creative Arts, Illinois' only pro bono legal services organization for the arts. Hiltner has been a Collaboraction company member since 2009 and is honored to join the board.

Chelsea Jenkins

currently leads the Cultural and Inclusive Marketing Team at Kellogg Company. As a change agent leveraging over 10 years of experience across communications, marketing, training and development, while driving equity, diversity and inclusion throughout, she has a demonstrated history of working with clients and internal stakeholders in global tech, media, education and consumer goods industries. She leverages authentic storytelling and representation to bring consumers joy, build a sense of community and impart connectivity to a mission or brand. She lives her life by the mantra, "For the highest good of all."

Linda Karn

is a film and theater producer. Theater producing credits include Broadway's Mrs. Doubtfire, the spring 2023 revival of Sweeney Todd, and The Adult In The Room in Chicago. TV producing credits include the Emmy Award-winning documentary Matt Shepard is a Friend of Mine, the Netflix documentary series Happy Jail and the PBS documentary Mossville: When Great Trees Fall. Before selling her company in 2006 to pursue ventures that touch her heart, Karn was a successful entrepreneur and a seasoned mentor who spent the bulk of her career in the financial services industry.

Karen Olivo

(KO) is a Tony Award-winning actress known for originating the role of Vanessa in Lin-Manuel Miranda's In the Heights and their TV role as Cassie Reynolds on NBC's Harry's Law. After starring as Mimi in the national tour of Rent and serving as an understudy and swing for the Broadway production, they officially made their Broadway debut as Faith in the 2004 premiere of Brooklyn at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre. They also played Angelica Schuyler in the Chicago production of Hamilton in 2016 and 2017. Today, Olivo, who now goes by "KO," is the Associate Professor, Donald G. Robertson Director of Music Theatre at Northwestern University. Their performance in Collaboraction's 2021 PEACEBOOK Festival marked their return to the stage after departing Broadway's Moulin Rouge in protest of inequitable working conditions.

Sammy Rangel

co-founded Life After Hate, Inc., a unique non-profit organization founded and operated by former violent extremists. He is the author of "FOURBEARS: The Myths of Forgiveness," an autobiography chronicling the physical and sexual abuse he endured as a child which eventually led him down a path of self-destruction, including more than 15 years in prison, and his path of change and recovery. In August 2012, he founded Formers Anonymous (FA), a national self-help group based on a 12-step model for those addicted to street life looking for support and answers about change and recovery. A serial entrepreneur, Sammy led the successful development of many national models in the nonprofit industry and research in fields such as addictions, re-entry, crisis intervention, best practices, and social evolution. As an international speaker, podcaster, coach, and radio personality his messages of healing and transformation are highly sought after and captivating.

Collaboraction: Changing the map and removing barriers within the theater industry

Collaboraction is a 25-year-old, ethno-diverse company that uses theater and performance to incite social change on Chicago's most critical issues. Collaboraction produces live and digital performances, anti-racism workshops, and youth programs that incite change and grow equity in Chicago. Since its founding in 1996, Collaboraction has pushed artistic boundaries working with more than 4,000 artists to bring over 100 productions and events to more than 150,000 unique audience members, and has inspired measurable positive change on social justice in Chicago and beyond.

Collaboraction's work includes SKETCHBOOK, PEACEBOOK, Moonset Sunrise, The Light Youth Ensemble, Crime Scene, Forgotten Future and Gender Breakdown. In addition to live performances, community building and video production, the company centers and presents its work in Chicago neighborhoods historically overlooked like Englewood, Austin and Lawndale. In 2022, Collaboraction was one of the first theaters in the U.S. to be certified by On Our Team, a national trade organization advocating for pay equity and transparency in the live theater industry.

Collaboraction, under the leadership of Artistic Director Anthony Moseley, has been honored for innovation and inclusivity with the Foster Innovation Award from Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, the Multi-Racial Unity Award from the First Unitarian Church-Chicago, a Stand For the Arts Award from Comcast and OvationTV, and an Otto Award from New York's Castillo Theatre.

Up Next: Trial in the Delta: The Murder of Emmett Till, debuts February 9-19 at The DuSable

Next month, Collaboraction will take its Emmy-winning teleplay with NBC5 Chicago, Trial in the Delta: The Murder of Emmett Till, from the screen to the stage with a fully-produced, live theatrical version debuting February 9-19, 2023 at The DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center.

Adapted by Collaboraction company members G. Riley Mills and Willie Round, Trial in the Delta is the first theatrical production drawn directly from the recently unearthed 1955 trial transcript of the two men found not guilty of murdering Emmett Till. The trial will be brought back to life in vivid docu-drama style, with the audience co-mingled "in the courtroom" alongside actors portraying the young boy's mother, other family members, and witnesses for the defense and prosecution. The result will be a powerful, immersive reenactment of what actually occurred in that 1955 rural Mississippi courtroom, site of one of the most monumental injustices of the U.S. legal system in the 20th century.

Anthony Moseley, Artistic Director, Collaboraction co-directs with Collaboraction company member Dana Anderson. Complete cast and design team details are TBA.

Tickets to February's live performances of Trial in the Delta are on sale now at collaboraction.org. Tickets are $30-$55. Email info@collaboraction.org for information on student and group rates, and private event performances.

The DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center is located at 740 E. 56th Place in Chicago's Hyde Park community.

For more information, visit collaboraction.org, or follow the company on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter or YouTube.

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