Interview: Nick Freed Announces Plans for Glass Elevator's Inaugural Season in 2025

Multi-talented actor, writer, and director Nick Freed has made quite a splash since moving to St. Louis recently from Chicago. In 2023, Freed starred in Harold Pinter’s THE BIRTHDAY PARTY and Anthony Horowitz’s MINDGAME at Albion Theatre. He was recognized with a St. Louis Theater Circle Award nomination for his role as a mysterious henchman in THE BIRTHDAY PARTY. 

It was in that same season that Freed produced and directed one of The Plagiarists’ AMERICAN STAGE SESSIONS at the St. Louis Fringe Festival. AMERICAN STAGE SESSIONS was the inaugural production for Freed’s emerging theatrical company, Glass Elevator. In its review of the Fringe offering, Broadway World called Freed’s direction “crisp” and said, “the artistic voice of this new company needs further exploration.” 

Freed grew up in nearby Farmington, Missouri and attended college at Truman University in Kirksville, Missouri. Following graduation, he moved to Chicago and became a fixture in the theatrical community. For 13-years, Freed worked with storefront theater companies creating plays that had an experimental anarchic vibe and appealed to unrepresented audiences. Freed called Chicago’s storefront theater “one of the most robust, experimental, and forward-thinking theater worlds in the country.” 

His favorite project was a play, SEASON PASS, that he co-wrote, co-directed, and starred in with The Plagiarists. Freed called SEASON PASS a “choose your own adventure” play that was wildly successful with the Chicago audience. It was an original work that took the audience into an early realm of virtual reality technology. 

Freed has moved back to St. Louis and is now ready to embark on Glass Elevator’s first full season. He says that Glass Elevator’s mission is “to tell stories that topple the status quo through satire, absurdity, and a dash of anarchy.” Freed is bringing what he learned working in scrappy, do-it-yourself theater that will challenge the ideas of the St. Louis audiences.  

Since returning he has had the luxury to work with many of the area's theatrical artists. Freed says, “there is an immense amount of talent in St. Louis theater.” He is joining artistic forces with Kay Ailee Bush, Summer Baer, and Kayla Lindsay to create Glass Elevator’s first full season. Freed shared that there are richly gifted professionals in St. Louis who are eager to experiment and create cool new things.  

Glass Elevator will open its season in July with a new play development series called their “Ground Floor Series” that will feature a play that is 90-minutes or less. They will begin accepting script submissions in February from emerging St. Louis playwrights.  

Following their summer production, Glass Elevator will stage VAMPIRE DATING SHOW in the fall. He calls his artistic peers “a group of horror movie lovers,” so their fall productions will be centered around Halloween. Freed says, “VAMPIRE DATING SHOW is the working title for the play.” He says it a devised production that is based around a captivating vampire mistress in a macabre dating show parody set in a surreal gothic style studio. In the play, three suitors who are artists will vie for her affection while revealing their deepest fears, obsessions, and what they are willing to sacrifice for their art.  

Freed and the artistic staff at Glass Elevator are confident St. Louis audiences will embrace their unexpected brand of theater. Feed says, “I hope St. Louis audiences and critics alike will take a chance and see something that they would not normally go see.”  

The first order of business for Glass Elevator is their fundraiser on February 21, 2025, at Greenfinch Theater and Dive Bar. Tickets for the Glass Elevator Dance-a-Thon 2005: A Dance Party Fundraiser are available on their website. Freed called it a fun night of rug cutting, partying, and celebrating St. Louis’ newest performing arts company.  

For more information about Glass Elevator visit their website at glasselevatorstl.com.  

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