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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. |
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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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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. |
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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
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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