Strawdog Theatre Company Announces New Staff, Board and Company Members

Co-Artistic Directors Michael Dailey, Heath Hays and Anderson Lawfer are proud to announce the addition of eight new company members to Strawdog Theatre's ensemble including Chelsea Wilson, board president; Leah Barish, managing director; Virginia Head, director of individual giving; Cara Beth Heath, literary manager and Kamille Dawkins, Ashley Ann Woods, Raquel Adorno and Elly Green, ensemble members.

In July of 2016, Strawdog Theatre Company said goodbye to its longtime home in Lakeview and is currently presenting its 2016 - 2017 Season at The Factory Theater in Rogers Park, presenting Cymbeline at The Factory Theatre thorough February 25. "Starting fresh out after leaving Lakeview has helped the Company evaluate who we are as a group and what we can each contribute individually. The injection of new artists and administrators, combined with Strawdog members who have been here for years, helps secure the future and creates an environment for new ideas and new initiatives," said Co-Artistic Director Lawfer.

"It is an honor to have been asked to join Strawdog at such a pivotal and momentous time for the organization," added incoming Managing Director Barish. "I am excited to work towards a future built on our core values of community, connection and challenge with the enormously creative and energized individuals who make up our ensemble, board, staff and audience."

Board President Chelsea Wilson has been a member of the Strawdog Board of Directors since 2015 and has assumed the role as president. "For the last 29 years, Strawdog has been more than a theatre company; it's been a home to audiences and artists alike. As we look ahead to our 30th Season, we are excited to embark on the next chapter in the storied history of a great Chicago institution," staTEd Wilson.

Chelsea Wilson is a junior kindergarten teacher at GEMS World Academy-Chicago and has a multidisciplinary background in theatre arts and early childhood education. After graduating summa cum laude from Texas Christian University with a BFA in Musical Theatre and Arts Administration, Wilson joined the Teach For America-Chicago corps. In addition to teaching, she has worked in fundraising and individual giving at Strawdog Theatre Company and Lookingglass Theater Company in Chicago and Circle Theatre in Fort Worth, TX.

Leah Barish is a theatre producer, fundraiser, and champion of new American theatre making. Before joining Strawdog, Barish was an integral member of the San Francisco Bay Area theater community, working with both regional and storefront theaters. She currently serves on the board of FaultLine Theater Company and as the producer of a small performance ensemble called Affinity Project, both based in San Francisco. She oversaw individual giving at Z Space, stewarding over the essential relationship between artists, lovers of new work and the funds needed to keep them together. She managed the Annual Fund at American Conservatory Theater and played a key role in the opening of its new performance venue, The Strand Theater. She began her professional career at Berkeley Repertory Theater, as the company manager for The Ground Floor's second summer playwriting lab, now in its fifth year.

Virginia Head received her Master's in Arts Management from Columbia College Chicago, and her Bachelor's from the University of Minnesota, her home state. Her main role at Strawdog Theatre Company is building relationships with the board and ensemble and taking their passion and sharing it with donors and patrons bringing this theater company to the next level.

Cara Beth Heath has an MFA in Playwriting from Western Michigan University and a BA in Creative Writing from the College of Charleston. While in Kalamazoo for her MFA, she became a founding member of the Metallic Mannequin Company, an independent theatre group dedicated to producing locally developed art. She's twice visited the Kennedy Center to study dramaturgy and once for directing. Her plays have received readings, workshops and productions in Michigan, Illinois and Indiana. She lives in Chicago and works with various local theatre companies with development, season selection and dramaturgy.

Raquel Adorno is a costume designer living in Chicago. Her credits include D.O.A., Robin Hood and Maid Marian, The Long Christmas Ride Home and Desperate Dolls at Strawdog Theatre Company; We Gotta Bingo at Chicago Theatre Works, The Winter's Tale and Cymbeline at Lakeside Shakespeare Theatre; Motel 666 with WildClaw Theatre, Murder Ballad, Princess Mary Demands Your Attention and CARRIE: The Musical at Bailiwick Chicago; Angry Fags at Steppenwolf Garage, Book of Merman, The Submission, Some Men, Songs from an Unmade Bed and The All-American Genderf*ck Cabaret at Pride Films and Plays; Barefoot in the Park, Crimes of the Heart, Dead Accounts, three productions of HoliDAZE, Darlin' and The BenchMark at Step Up Productions; Dust at Lower Case Theatre, A Number and Scenes from an Execution at Runcible Theatre Company) and Trafford Tanzi and Patria Libre at Prologue Theatre Company.

Kamille Dawkins hails from the island of Jamaica and has been performing in Chicago since 2014. Following her first show, If Scrooge Was A Brother with ETA Creative Arts Foundation, she became a Black Theater Alliance nominee for the 2015 Phylicia Rashad Award for Most Promising Actress. Since then she has been featured as an actor, singer and musician in Filament's Pinocchio, House Theatre's The Revel and Strawdog Theatre's Once In a Lifetime among other shows. Dawkins is currently performing Phillis: American Revolutionary with Redd World Opera and Gender Breakdown with Collaboraction Theatre.

Elly Green is a freelance director, originally from the United Kingdom, who has been working in Chicago since 2012. She is directing The Night Season by Rebecca Lenkiewicz in Strawdog Theatre Company's Season 29 and previously worked with Strawdog on After Miss Julie by Patrick Marber. Other directing credits include: The Distance at Haven Theatre, No More Sad Things at Sideshow Theatre, The Woman Before at Trap Door, Rabbit at Stage Left - Jeff Nominated Best Director, Happy at Redtwist, Unwilling and Hostile Instruments at Theatre Seven and The Tomkat Project at Playground Theatre in Chicago and NY Fringe). Green was assistant-director on Henry V at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre and Proof at Court Theatre. She is also an artistic associate with Sideshow Theatre and Stage Left Theatre. She originally trained in London on the MFA in Theatre Directing from Birkbeck College. Her UK directing credits include: Our Country's Good, My Balloon Beats Your Astronaut, Beyond Therapy, About Tommy, Copenhagen, Skylight and The Zoo Story.

Ashley Ann Woods is a freelance scenic designer and painter in Chicago and the surrounding area. Her designer credits include with Strawdog Theatre Company, Distance and Desperate Dolls), Miss Holmes at Lifeline, Posh at Steep, The Snare and The Raid at Jackelope, The Heathers and The Full Monty at Kokandy and with 20% Theatre Chicago, Collaboraction, Metropolis, Teatro Vista, Piven, The New Colony, The Neo-Futurists and Northbrook Theatre for Young Audiences among others. Woods is also the associate artistic director at 20% Theatre Company Chicago and a company member at Collaboraction, as well as working as the Charge Artist at Means of Production Scene Shop.

Since its founding in 1988, Strawdog Theatre Company has offered Chicagoland the premiere storefront theatre experience and garnered numerous Non-Equity Jeff Awards with its commitment to ensemble acting and an immersive design approach. The celebrated Company develops new work, re-imagines the classics, melds music with theatre, asks provocative questions and delivers their audience the unexpected.
Strawdog Theatre Company recently announced its 2016 - 2017 season will be produced in its itinerant home at the new Factory Theatre in Rogers Park, 1621 W. Howard St. on the Chicago-Evanston border in the historic Howard Theatre building. The theatre space is a newly created 70 seat three-quarters thrust just two blocks from CTA's Howard Red Line terminal. Strawdog's 29th Season may be viewed online at strawdog.org.

Strawdog Theatre Company offers six tickets at a 50% discount one hour before every production. The rush ticket must be purchased in person, exclusively at the Strawdog Box Office. Limit of two tickets per person, not applicable with other discounts, offers or on previously purchased tickets, first come, first served.

Strawdog Theatre Company is supported in part by The Alphawood Foundation, The Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, The Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation, City of Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, and through the generous contributions of businesses and individuals.

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