09/28/2025
TAKING THE LEAP: A Conversation on Bold Moves in Chicago Theater
Celebrate Live Theatre with some of Chicago’s Leading Visionaries! Mark Larson leads a discussion with author Richard Engling and:
• Tyrone Phillips, who directed Definition Theatre's acclaimed production of FAT HAM at the Goodman.
• Gwendolyn Whiteside, who built American Blues Theater’s first permanent home.
• Elizabeth K. Auman, who's building TimeLine’s new home.
• Karissa Murrell Myers, who co-founded Bramble Theatre Company.
TAKING THE LEAP: A Conversation on Bold Moves in Chicago Theater takes place in the gorgeous new Bramble Arts Loft, 5545 North Clark Street, 2nd Floor, Chicago, Thursday, Oct 2nd, 7:00 pm, celebrating the release of THE VERY LAST PRODUCTION OF KING LEAR by Richard Engling. A book signing will follow. Beverages and cocktails will be available. Admission is free.
About the Participants
Tyrone Phillips is the founding Artistic Director of Chicago’s Definition Theatre. Named one of Newcity’s Players—the 50 leaders of Chicago’s performance culture of 2022. He recently directed Fat Ham as a co-production with the Goodman Theatre on its Owen Stage. He serves on the Board of Directors for the League of Chicago Theaters and received the Arts Midwest Inaugural Peter Capell Award for Midwestern Creativity and Entrepreneurship.
Artistic Director Gwendolyn Whiteside led American Blues Theater through its reorganization in 2009 and built its annual operating budget from zero to $1 million. She secured the company’s first-ever operating reserve, endowment, and permanent home. Whiteside served on the National Endowment for the Arts panels and as a Board member for Network of Ensemble Theaters and League of Chicago Theatres.
Elizabeth K. Auman joined TimeLine Theatre as Managing Director in 2007. She oversaw a tripling of TimeLine’s budget; the expansion of TimeLine’s programming to venues such as the Goodman and the Broadway Playhouse; and multiple awards, including the 2016 MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions. Since 2021, she has focused on managing TimeLine’s project to build its new home in Uptown as Director of New Home Development.
Karissa Murrell Myers is the Artistic Director and co-founder of Bramble Theatre Company. An award-winning Filipino American theatre artist, she was featured in American Theatre Magazine’s “Theatre Workers You Should Know” in 2020 for her advocacy work in casting. Her plays have been produced and/or developed at Goodman Theatre, Alleyway Theatre, Paramount Theatre, Strawdog Theatre, Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, American Blues Theater, and many others.
Moderator Mark Larson is the author of Ensemble: An Oral History of Chicago Theater, for which he conducted over 300 interviews with Chicago theater artists. His new book, Working in the 21st Century: An Oral History of American Work in a Time of Social and Economic Transformation, was released in 2024 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Studs Terkel’s Working. Larson is currently working on a series of interviews with the iconic Broadway composer, John Kander (Cabaret, Chicago, New York, New York).
Richard Engling founded Polarity Ensemble Theatre in 2004 and served as its Artistic Director for twelve years, developing and producing new plays by local playwrights and creating innovative productions of classics. He is the author of six books. His Dwayne Finnegan novels represent the world’s first trilogy of novels for fiction readers interested in the live-theatre world.
About THE VERY LAST PRODUCTION OF KING LEAR
After brilliant but ill-fated productions of Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus and Romeo and Juliet, struggling director Dwayne Finnegan finally gets his golden opportunity. He'll direct his highly talented (but definitely dysfunctional) actors in King Lear at Chicago’s prestigious Goodman Theatre. However, his lead actor succumbs to terminal confusion, his set designer plans a huge, illegal fire effect, his actors fall in and out of love, his wife Angela consorts with a mysterious curandera, and Dwayne must set everyone straight before opening night.
"it is a damn good story"
– Third Coast Review
"Brilliant Satire...tremendously entertaining and a joy to read"
– ChicagoOnStage
You made it to the end of the post! Here's your reward: Get the first Dwayne Finnegan novel right now for $.99 at https://amzn.to/42NI1D1.
