INFORMATION
 

Jason Loewith (Artistic Director) is a Jeff-nominated, After Dark award-winning director and producer. He has served as Artistic Director of Next Theatre Company since 2002, where he has directed the Chicago-area premieres of Christopher Durang's Miss Witherspoon, Lynn Nottage’s Fabulation, Paula Vogel’s The Long Christmas Ride Home, Theresa Rebeck & Alexandra Gersten-Vassilaros’ Omnium Gatherum, Martin Crimp’s version of The Misanthrope, and revivals of Entertaining Mr. Sloane and Measure for Measure. He helms the productions of Defiance and The American Dream Songbook for the 2007-08 Season.

Jason is proud to serve in an advisory capacity to several emerging and established theater institutions. He sits on Advisory Boards for New York’s Red Bull Theatre and Synapse Productions (where he was a founding Board Member), Philadelphia’s Flashpoint Theater, and has planned conferences and events for the League of Chicago Theatres and ART/New York. He established the Boeing-funded North Shore Theatre Alliance, which launched its cooperative marketing venture North Shore Live! in October 2004, and currently serves as chair of the producing council for Chicago’s participation in the nationwide festival, 365 Days/365 Plays by Suzan-Lori Parks.

Prior to joining the Next, Jason spent two seasons at Court Theatre serving as Artistic Administrator and Casting Director under the mentorship of Artistic Director Charles Newell. While at Court, he was among the first group of recipients of the prestigious Theatre Communications Group’s New Generations grant, funded by the Mellon Foundation and the Doris Duke Charitable Trust. Prior to joining the staff at Court, Jason spent five years with New York’s off-Broadway Classic Stage Company as General Manager and Dramaturg, under the leadership of David Esbjornson, and later Barry Edelstein. While at Classic Stage, he worked closely with some of the country’s finest theater artists, including JoAnne Akalaitis, Jennifer Tipton, John Turturro and Brian Murray.

Other directing credits include off-Broadway work (Bert Brecht Before the House UnAmerican Activities Committee for HERE Arts Center and Lashings of Whipped Cream with the New York International Fringe Festival), the Midwest premiere of Moira Buffini’s Silence for Rivendell Theatre Ensemble and The Boys Next Door and Picasso at the Lapin Agile for the Timber Lake Playhouse. Los Angeles credits include the Long Beach Opera (A Night-full of Falstaff) and Los Angeles’ Odyssey Theatre Ensemble (Grimm’s Fairytales).

As an adaptor, Jason has created theater works based on transcripts (Bert Brecht – HERE Arts Center) diaries (Talking With…Ben Jonson and A Better Class of Person: The Diaries of John Osborne – Classic Stage Company), and other found materials (An Evening With the Society for Real Art – Classic Stage Company, Grimm’s Fairytales – Odyssey Theatre Ensemble, the world-premiere workshop, Voices from Jerusalem, directed by Steppenwolf Artistic Associate Jessica Thebus), and the upcoming chamber opera, The Adding Machine, with music by Joshua Schmidt, which will receive its world premiere at Next Theatre Company under the direction of David Cromer (Orson’s Shadow) in February 2007.

Other artistic affiliations over the years have included New York’s The Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival, Second Stage, Target Margin Theatre, and New Dramatists, as well as Los Angeles’ Mark Taper Forum and Odyssey Theatre Ensemble. He is an adjunct faculty member with the University of Chicago’s Graham School, and at Columbia College of Fine Arts.

A contributor to both local and national magazines, Jason is putting the finishing touches on The Director’s Voice, a series of interviews with 20 legendary American directors, to be published by Theatre Communications Group. Jason holds an MA in Theater Arts from the University of California at Santa Barbara, and an AB from Brown University.

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.
Melanie Esplin (Interim General Manager) An import to Chicago, in 1999 Melanie Esplin was listed as one of the 25 Young Achievers from New Zealand. She holds a BA in Theatre and a Masters in Music from Roosevelt University. Here in Chicago, she served for several years as Managing Director HealthWorks Theatre. She was proud to serve as Regional Coordinator for the national 365 Days/365 Plays Festival founded by Pulitzer Prize winner Suzan-Lori Parks. In addition to her post at Next she is also a Market Center Administrator for Keller Williams and a working actress in Chicago, working with diverse local companies including Provision Theatre, Lifeline Theatre, and City Lit.
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.

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.

 

Artistic Support:
Julie Ganey, Outreach Director

Administrative Support:
Paczolt Financial Group, Insurance
Hugh Smith, Brook Weiner & Assoc., Accountants
Shawn Kavon, Webmaster

Production Support:
Jim Davis, Production Manager

Richard Lundy, Resident Stage Manager
Erin Diener & Jennifer McInnis, Assistant Stage Managers
Properties Master, Daniel Katz
Mac Vaughey, Master Electrician
Sound Engineer, Matthew J. Hallock

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
Susan T. Bart, Secretary
Robert Andalman
Muriel Chalem
Linda Dillman
Juile Fahey
Ra Joy
Irene Kogan
Jason Loewith
Coni Lyman
Jordan Nerenberg
Greg Rothman
David Saunders
Adrienne Voltattorni
John Wertymer
Ann Zastrow

 
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