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Jason Southerland (Artistic Director) is an award-winning director and producer who comes to Next Theatre from Boston, MA. There, he has served as the founding Artistic Director for Boston Theatre Works since 1998. During his tenure, the company produced the world premieres of a dozen plays and developed over sixty scripts through commissions, development agreements and BTW Unbound, an annual festival of new plays. As a director, Jason has staged several award-winning productions including the New England premieres of Homebody/Kabul, Not About Nightingales, Angels in America: Parts I & II and The Laramie Project. Other notable regional premieres include Pulp, The Sweetest Swing in Baseball by Rebecca Gilman, Four Baboons Adoring the Sun and I Am My Own Wife. Jason spent five years in New York City, where his affiliations included BACA Downtown, Circle Rep Laboratory, Lehman/Engel BMI Workshop, Alice's Fourth Floor and the Sanford Meisner Theatre. Regional credits include productions at Long Beach CLO, Albuquerque CLO, Diversionary Theatre and Moxie Theatre (both in San Diego), Foothills Theatre, Stoneham Theatre, University of Kent at Canterbury, Emory University, Cal Berkeley and several others.
Jason studied directing at the American Repertory Theatre/Harvard University Institute for Advanced Theatre Training, working with Ron Daniels, Bob Scanlan, and Robert Brustein. He holds a B.A. cum laude in political science from the University of California at Berkeley. He is a two-time winner of the Joe Hardy Directing Fellowship, received a Drama League Fellowship, was honored with an Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Direction for his 2008 production of Angels in America and was chosen by Boston magazine as #3 on their list of the "40 Bostonians to Watch."
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Jason
(Artistic Director Emeritus) served as Artistic Director of Next Theatre Company from 2002 to 2008, where he conceived, co-wrote and produced Adding Machine: A Musical in 2007. That piece transferred off-Broadway, playing a six-month run to critical and audience acclaim at the Minetta Lane Theater, where it received four Lucille Lortel Awards and two Outer Critic Circle Awards (including awards for Outstanding Musical of the Year), four OBIEs, and nine Drama Desk nominations (including for Best Musical and Lyrics). Loewith has directed the Jeff-Nominated Midwest premieres of Omnium Gatherum, Moliere’s The Misanthrope in a version by Martin Crimp, the Jeff-Recommended American Dream Songbook, Defiance, Miss Witherspoon, Fabulation, Entertaining Mr. Sloane and Measure for Measure as well as The Long Christmas Ride Home for the Next, and the Midwest premiere of Moira Buffini's Silence for Rivendell Theatre Ensemble. A frequent contributor to American Theatre Magazine, he is at work on The Director's Voice, a series of interviews with legendary American directors. In the 2009-10 season, Next will premiere War With the Newts, which Jason is co-adapting and will direct. He is now based in Washington D.C. where he serves as the Executive Director for the National New Play Network.
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Kevin
Heckman (Managing Director) comes
to Next Theatre from Stage Left Theatre, Chicago’s
like-minded storefront venue, where he has served for seven
seasons, initially as the Managing Director and most recently
as the Producing Artistic Director. Under his leadership,
Stage Left has tripled its individual giving, seen unprecedented
board development and modernized its internal infrastructure.
As a theater artist, Heckman has received numerous accolades
for directing, writing, performance and design, including
a total of seven Joseph Jefferson Award nominations for
productions he has helmed. Heckman is an associate artist
at Chicago Dramatists and an ensemble member at Stage Left.
He has taught acting at North Shore Academy in Highland
Park, a school for at-risk youth, and is a contributing
writer for PerformInk newspaper where he edited the first
four editions of The Book: An Actor's Guide to Chicago.
A 1992 graduate of Wesleyan University (Middletown, CT),
Heckman received degrees in theatre and mathematics. He
resides in Evanston with his wife Christine.
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Chelsea
Keenan (Marketing Director and Artistic Administrator)
comes to Chicago after having completed the two-year Actor
Training program at the Pacific Conservatory for the Performing
Arts and the BFA degree in Theatre at the University of
California Santa Barbara. While in Santa Barbara, she worked
as the Box Office Manager for Center Stage Theater, a busy
community rental space, and as the Assistant Director for
Speaking of Stories, a literary arts organization with theatrical
and educational arms. She is a founding member of and serves
on the Board of Directors for Sandbox
Theatre Project, and is an Ensemble Member
with The Building Stage. In addition to her roles in arts
administration, Chelsea also contributes to Chicago-area
theatre as a performer. |
| Amber
Bel’cher (Audience and Donor Services Manager)
comes to Next Theatre from the Sofitel Chicago
Water Tower, where she served as the Guest Services Manager.
Originally from Texas, Amber received her BA in Theatre
from Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas.
While there she worked in PR, marketing and outreach for
the Theatre Department while also leading projects for
student directors, Alpha Psi Omega and working with Habitat
for Humanity. Graduate school then led her to Chicago
where she attained her MFA in Performance at Roosevelt
University. Amber is absolutely thrilled to be back in
the land of theatre and to be working at Next.
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| Jim
Davis (Production Manager) is a proud Evanston
resident and member of the Next Theatre staff, where he
has production managed the past two seasons. In addition,
Jim was the production manager for the Next in the mid-1990s
before he and his family were temporally transferred to
the St. Louis area. While there Jim worked as the Production
Manager for St. Louis Shakespeare for several seasons. Jim
is especially proud of his work in St. Louis on the hit
production of Mary Zimmerman’s Metamorphoses
for SLS, which received five Kevin Kline Award nominations
as well as From Door To Door at the New Jewish
Theatre which received two Kline nominations and for which
he was the Production Stage Manager. Also while in St. Louis
Jim produced and managed several special events, including
serving for a decade as Managing Director and then the Executive
Producer of the St. Charles Christmas Traditions Festival
as well as several seasons as the Entertainment Producer
and Production Manager for the Working Women’s Survival
Show. Also an accomplished designer, Jim served as a scenic
and lighting designer for St. Louis Shakespeare, Off The
Cuff Productions, Timberlake Playhouse and The Goldenrod
Showboat. Jim also currently serves the leadership board
of the McDonald’s Thanksgiving Parade in downtown
Chicago where he works as chairman of the Block Marshal
committee. Jim has over 125 credits on his theatrical resume
from theatres here in Chicago, St. Louis and New York City,
working as a production and stage manager, scenic designer
and lighting designer. |
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Artistic
Support:
Julie Ganey,
Outreach Director
Administrative
Support:
Paczolt Financial Group, Insurance
Hugh Smith, Brook Weiner & Assoc., Accountants
Lee Keenan, Webmaster
Production Staff:
Jim Davis, Production Manager
Nancy Staiger, Production Stage Manager
Patrick Fries, Properties Master
Mac Vaughey, Master Electrician
Grant Sabin, Charge Scenic Artist
Front of House Staff:
Amanda Bulow
Alfia Ohemeng
Reanna Pritchard
Elise Swinford
Artistic
Associates:
Jennifer Avery
David Cromer
Toy DiOrio
Diane Fairchild
Laura T. Fisher
Jennifer Gadda
Allen Gilmore
Cindy Gold
Sarah Gubbins
Tim Hendrickson
Scotty Iseri
Celise Kalke
Carson Kreitzer
Richard Lundy
Bill McGough
Michael Montenegro
Bill O’Connor
Justin D.M. Palmer
Keith Parham
Lisa Portes
Wendy Robie
Joshua Schmidt
Kimberly Senior
Michelle Tesdall
Penelope Walker
Natalie West
Jacqueline Williams
Joseph Wycoff
Matthew J. York
Board
of Directors:
Judy Kemp, President
David Hart, Vice President
Neal Robinson, Vice President
Jeff Emrich, Treasurer
Ann Zastrow, Secretary
Robert Andalman
Muriel Chalem
Linda Dillman
Ra
Joy
Arnold Kanter
Jason Loewith
Coni Lyman
Jordan Nerenberg
Greg Rothman
David Saunders
Adrienne Voltattorni
John Wertymer
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