Lifeline Theatre Welcomes Four New Ensemble Members

Lifeline Theatre is proud to announce four new members of its artistic ensemble: Heather Currie, Amanda Delheimer Dimond,Amanda Link, and Maren Robinson. Lifeline's ensemble determines the company's artistic programming and provides leadership, support and counsel in the play development process.

Now in its 31st season, Lifeline Theatre specializes in original literary adaptations. Its ensemble of artists uses imaginative, unconventional staging to portray sprawling stories in an intimate space. Lifeline is committed to promoting the arts in its Rogers Park neighborhood and is an anchor of the Glenwood Avenue Arts District.

Founded by five Northwestern graduates in 1982, the theatre now employs over 150 artists per year. In addition to the four new members listed above, Lifeline's artistic ensemble is led by Artistic Director Dorothy Milne, and consists of Aly Renee Amidei, Patrick Blashill, Christina Calvit, Victoria DeIorio, Alan Donahue, Kevin D. Gawley, Peter Greenberg, James E. Grote, Chris Hainsworth, John Hildreth, Paul S. Holmquist, Elise Kauzlaric, Robert Kauzlaric, Frances Limoncelli, Katie McLean Hainsworth, Shole Milos, SAndy Snyder Pietz, Suzanne Plunkett, Phil Timberlake, Jenifer Tyler, Christopher M. Walsh, and Elizabeth Wislar.

Lifeline's artistic ensemble has developed more than a hundred world premiere literary adaptations and thirteen original plays, two dozen of which have had a life beyond their Lifeline debuts, with over one hundred and fifty subsequent productions spread across forty U.S. states, four Canadian provinces, England, and Ireland. Additionally, three scripts developed at Lifeline Theatre have gone on to U.S. national tours, and nine have been published. Lifeline Theatre has garnered a total of forty-seven Jeff Awards (Equity and Non-Equity) and twenty-one After Dark Awards.

Heather Currie teaches screenwriting and script analysis at Columbia College Chicago, as well as screenwriting and film aesthetics at the College of DuPage. She holds an M.F.A. in Acting from the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film at The University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Before moving to Chicago in 2004, Currie was the head of the acting program at Clemson University, where she taught acting, voice and movement. While at Clemson she directed many productions, including The Fantasticks, South Pacific, Schoolhouse Rock Live!, and Baby With the Bathwater. At Lifeline, Currie has appeared in the KidSeries productions of Duck For President; Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type; Dooby Dooby Moo; and How To Survive a Fairy Tale; and will appear in the upcoming Click, Clack, Boo! A Tricky Treat. Around Chicago, she has worked with Circle Theatre, American Blues Theatre, Chicago Dramatists, Stage Left, Whiskey Rebellion Theatre, Abbie Fest, and Handbag Productions, where she appeared as Robin Black in the long-running Sexy Baby. Currie has also been writing, directing, and performing as a cabaret artist for many years, and can be heard singing in The Nitz and Howe Experience every Saturday night at Davenport's Piano Bar and Cabaret.

Amanda Delheimer Dimond serves as the Artistic Director of 2nd Story, a position she has held since 2007. After completing her Master's in Theater and Spanish at the University of Chicago in 1999, Amanda worked for a number of years in Los Angeles and Mexico before returning home to the Windy City. As a director, choreographer, and teaching artist, Dimond has had the pleasure of working with Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Goodman Theatre, Court Theatre, Next Theatre Company, Redmoon, Collaboraction, Strawdog Theatre, Teatro Vista, and Adventure Stage Chicago, among others. Lifeline directing credits include The 13 Clocks (2011) for the KidSeries and The Three Musketeers (2013) for the MainStage. Dimond is a participant in the Leadership U: One-on-One Fellowship program, funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and administered by the Theatre Communications Group, which places her in residence at Lookingglass Theatre Company, working with their Artistic and Executive Leadership on visioning and long-term planning.

Amanda Link has been working as an actor, director, improviser, and choreographer in Chicago since 2004. She holds a B.F.A. in Acting from the Conservatory of Theatre Arts at Webster University and is a graduate of the Conservatory Program at the Second City Training Center. At Lifeline, Link has appeared in the KidSeries production of Half Magic, Duck For President (2008 and 2012); Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle; Dooby Dooby Moo; and How To Survive A Fairy Tale; and will appear in the upcoming Click, Clack, Boo! A Tricky Treat. Also at Lifeline, she choreographed and assistant directed The Emperor's New Threads, assistant directed and movement designed The City & The City, assistant directed Pride and Prejudice, and she makes her Lifeline directing debut with the upcoming The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs! Other Chicago acting credits include work with Griffin Theatre, the side project, Inconceivable Theatre, HealthWorks Theatre, and Theatre-Hikes, as well as sketch comedy shows with various groups at Donny's Skybox and numerous experimental, devised, and site-specific Theatre Projects with The Mill (formerly Experimental Theatre Chicago), The Anatomy Collective, and Sandbox Theatre Project. Directing work in Chicago includes N.U.F.A.N. Ensemble's Table and Chairs festival and The Naked Lady and Gently Killing Grandma for the Abbie Hoffman Festival. Link is also a proud member of the Lifeline Storytelling Project and performed in the 2011 and 2013 Fillet of Solo Festival.

Maren Robinson is the Associate Director of the Master of Arts Program in the Humanities at the University of Chicago and has been a freelance dramaturg in Chicago for 10 years, having worked on over 40 productions, readings, or dance pieces, including eleven new works or adaptations. She holds a Master's degree in Humanities from the University of Chicago, where she received the Catherine Ham Memorial Award for her play Anonymous and accompanying thesis, and has taught or guest lectured on dramaturgy, script analysis, and Chicago theaters at Loyola University, Columbia College, the Newberry Library, Chicago Public Library, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and DePaul University, where she is an adjunct instructor. At Lifeline, Robinson has been the dramaturg for Neverwhere, The Moonstone, Hunger, Pride and Prejudice, and The Woman in White. Other Chicago credits include Court Theatre, Camenae, Caffeine Theater, Greasy Joan & Co., Eclipse Theatre Company, Strawdog Theatre, The Plagiarists, Chicago Dancemaker's Forum, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, and TimeLine Theatre, where she is a company member. She has been published in The Center for Classic Theater Review and has been a panelist or panel presenter at Chicago Theater Conference at Columbia College and the Chicago Theater (un)Conference. Robinson is a member of the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas.

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