The Chicago Theater-Makers Podcast

John Michael Coppola
  • 5.0 (12)
  • Performing Arts
  • Daily

Welcome to The Chicago Theater-Makers Podcast; The show where we go behind the curtain with the actors, playwrights, directors, choreographer, designers, creatives and producers shaping Chicago’s one-of-a-kind theater scene. Every episode we sit down with the folks who make this city’s stages come alive. Whether you’re a theater pro, a curious audience member, or just love a good backstage story...This podcast is for you!

  1. 4d ago

    "SHE LOVES ME" at Northwestern University's Wirtz Center!

    Starting this weekend, November 13th, the musical “SHE LOVES ME” is being presented by Northwestern University’s Wirtz Center for the Performing Arts. I am honored to say that I am the choreographer of this production. It is a show I absolutely love and have a history with performing in twice before. This week’s episode is a special double episode where we chat with the director, scenic designer and two of the stars of the production. Jeff Award-winning director, Elizabeth Margolius most recently received the award for Director of a Musical for Shattered Globe Theatre’s “LONDON ROAD”. A five-time Joseph Jefferson Award nominee, Elizabeth’s selected directorial credits also include: “MAYBE WE’LL FLY” for Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, “THE DA VINCI CODE” and “FIDDLER ON THE ROOF” for Drury Lane Theatre, “THE FLYING LOVERS OF VITEBSK” for Northlight Theatre and “CRIMES OF THE HEART” at American Stage among others. Elizabeth has been a guest director, principal artist, and adjunct professor at numerous colleges and universities including Longy School of Music, DePaul University, Viterbo University, University of Northern Iowa, University of Nebraska, South Carolina’s Converse School of Music, SUNY Albany, and Skidmore College. She also has a degree in classical flute and has trained in movement techniques from around the world including Qigong, the Frantic Method, Axis Syllabus, and Fighting Monkey. She is the Co-Founder and Artistic Director Emerita of DirectorsLabChicago, and currently an Artistic Associate with Shattered Globe Theatre. Elizabeth is a proud member of the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA) and the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC). Scenic designer Nick Schons is currently pursuing his MFA in Stage Design at Northwestern. His work has been seen at theaters and opera companies across the country, including Santa Fe Opera, Westport Country Playhouse, Utah Shakespeare Festival, TheatreSquared, Laguna Playhouse, Music Theatre Connecticut, Florida Studio Theatre, Cherry Lane Theatre, Theatre Aspen, Broadway Method Academy, and The City College of New York.  Part 2 of today’s episode features the two stars of SHE LOVES ME: Playing the role of Amalia Balash is Anna Rigo. Anna was born and raised in Houston, Texas and is currently a senior at Northwestern pursuing her Bachelors in Theater with certificates in Musical Theatre and Management of Creative Services. Past roles include Gertrude McFuzz in “SEUSSICAL THE MUSICAL”, Ella in R&H’s “CINDERELLA” and Ariel in “FOOTLOOSE”. The role of Georg Nowack is played by Rowan Sharma. An Indian-American artist studying Theatre and Cognitive Science, pursuing the Music Theatre Certificate, some of his favorite professional credits include the Steward in “ANYTHING GOES”, Gabe in “NEXT TO NORMAL”, and Bobby Child in “CRAZY FOR YOU”.  “SHE LOVES ME” runs November 13th through November 22nd. For tickets, please visit this link. I hope you enjoy today’s double episode with guests Elizabeth Margolius, Nick Shons, Anna Rigo and Rowan Sharma. Now let’s go to the top of the show!

  2. Nov 2

    Mexodus with guest Brian Quijada!

    Today’s guest is a playwright, actor, and composer, who started his career acting in Off-Broadway and Regional Theaters including The Public Theater, Roundabout Theatre Company, Playwright’s Realm, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Victory Gardens, and Actors Theatre of Louisville. He is also a member of Lucille Lortel winning group, The Pack.  As a playwright & composer, his plays and musicals have been developed at such distinguished organizations such as Pittsburgh CLO’s Spark Festival, Victory Garden’s Ignition Festival, Ars Nova’s Ant Fest, The O’Neill’s National Musical Theatre Conference and from there, have gone on to be produced all across the country. His live-looped, hip hop solo show “Where Did We Sit on the Bus?” has been produced at Teatro Vista, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Geva Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville and many more garnering awards and nominations along the way. His play “Kid Prince and Pablo”, received its World Premiere at The Kennedy Center in the Fall of 2019. His Cumbia Hip Hop musical “Somewhere Over the Border” made its rolling World Premiere at Syracuse Stage, Geva Theatre, and Teatro Vista, garnering 6 Jeff Award nominations including Best New Work and Best Musical. He is a four-time Jeff Award winner, two-time Drama Desk winner, a two-time Lucile Lortel winner, a Helen Hayes Award winner and a proud member of The Ensemble Studio Theatre. Currently, his live-looped hip-hop musical “MEXODUS” is on tour, playing to sold-out crowds across the country and this week, arrives at Chicago’s Studebaker Theater from November 7th through 21st. For tickets you can visit this link. To hear the single, "Two Bodies" on Spotify, use this link. To listen to the entire "Mexodus" album on Audible, use this link. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Brian Quijada. Now let’s go to the top of the show!

  3. Oct 26

    Remy Bumppo Theatre with guests Marti Lyons and Margaret McCloskey!

    Today’s guests are the Executive Director and Artistic Director, at Remy Bumppo Theatre. Artistic Director Marti Lyons received her BFA in Performance from Illinois Wesleyan University, and an MFA in Theatre from University of Idaho. As an educator, she has taught at University of Chicago, Northwestern, and University of Illinois at Chicago.Marti is as at ease directing Shakespeare as she is with new works. She has directed throughout the Chicagoland area and the country, including several world premieres such as JOHN PROCTOR IS THE VILLAIN at Studio Theatre, HOW TO DEFEND YOURSELF at Actors Theatre of Louisville and Victory Gardens Theatre, WIFE OF A SALESMAN at Milwaukee Rep; and GEORGIANA AND KITTY: CHRISTMAS AT PEMBERLEY at Northlight Theatre. She was a 2015 Maggio Directing Fellow at The Goodman Theatre and in 2019, won the LA Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Direction and Production of Geffen Playhouse’s WITCH. She is also an ensemble member and is a proud member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. Margaret McCloskey has been with Remy Bumppo Theatre Company since 2014, serving as Director of Development and Managing Director before becoming Executive Director in 2020.Previously, Margaret was a fundraising consultant with Aaron Consulting in New York City, managing major fundraising campaigns for nonprofit organizations, and served in the Office of Communications at the Ford Foundation. She began her career in Chicago, holding positions at Chicago Opera Theater​ and the League of Chicago Theatres.Margaret holds an MFA in Playwriting from The New School for Drama in New York City and a BFA in Theatre Studies from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Her work has been produced in New York at the Bank Street Theater and The Producers Club, in Pittsburgh at Open Stage Theatre’s New Works Festival, and in Chicago at Chicago Dramatists and Bailiwick Repertory Theatre. Her play OLD HEAD received the Arts & Letters Prize in Drama, and she was a finalist for the Montblanc Young Writers Project for The 24 Hour Plays. Remy Bumppo's MUD ROW is running now through November 15th at TheaterWit. For special industry night performances, you can use the code INDUSTRY (all CAPS) for $20 tickets and visit this link. Non-industry tickets can be purchased here. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Marti Lyons and Margaret McCloskey. Now let’s go to the top of the show!

  4. Season 4 Trailer

    Season Four Preview!

    Hi everyone! JMC here with the Chicago Theater-Makers Podcast with a quick message that we’re taking a short break this week to catch up with the content we already have in the can for Season 4!This season we continue with an incredible variety of guests, starting on October 26th with the Artistic and Executive directors of Remy Bumppo Theater, Marti Lyons and Margaret McCloskey.  November is going to be an exciting month of incoming touring productions, starting on November 2nd when we chat with the writer and star of the smash hit “Mexodus”, Brian Quijada, as well as two of the stars of the 20th Anniversary tour of “Jersey Boys”, Peyton Schoenhofer and Coby Oram. On November 8th we drop a two part episode where we interview  director Elizabeth Margolius and set designer Nick Schons, as well as Anna Rigo and Rowan Sharma of Northwestern University’s upcoming of “She Loves Me” (the production for which I am also proudly serving as choreographer).  Later that month, we chat with good friends and recent Jeff Award winners from Drury Lane’s production of “On Your Feet,” winner for choreography, Luis Salgado and winner for supporting role in a musical Claudia Quesada. Rounding out November and the beginning of December are the star of Theater Wit’s annual production of “Who’s Holiday”, Veronica Garza and owner of Wilmette’s Actor’s Training Center, Carole Dibo.  Later in December, we return with two episodes in our Our “Out Of The Loop” series; The first with Broadway veteran George Dvorsky and the second with Broadway and Hollywood director Kenny Leon , about his new book, Direction: Making the Most of the Performance of Your Life. So, while we’re taking a break this week, we welcome you to catch up on any past episodes or revisit some of your old favorites! Finally, we want to thank all of our fans and supporters for taking the time to like, subscribe to and share this podcast with your friends and colleagues who you think would enjoy the conversations we’re having. We greatly appreciate your support in this way so we can bring you many more episodes for years to come.  Thanks again for listening and remember to catch Season 4 starting on October 26th wherever you get your podcasts. We’ll see you on the boards soon!

  5. Oct 12

    Vape the Grease Parody Musical with guests Jack Plotnick and Suzanne Sole!

    Today’s guests are the director and one of the stars of Vape: The Grease Parody Musical now playing at Chicago’s Apollo theater.  Director Jack Plotnick has built a career as an award-winning, actor, director and performance coach. He has performed in countless TV shows, commercials and feature films. You most likely recognize Jack from the series regular and recurring roles on Grace and Frankie, Z Nation, The Mentalist, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Reno 911, Action and drawn together. Jack wrote and directed the Sony pictures feature film Space Station 76 starring Patrick Wilson Lyv Tyler and Matt Bomer. He also wrote and directed the Broadway musical Disaster! which became a NY Times Critic’s Pick.  Suzanne Sole is an actor, comedian, writer and singer who recently relocated back to Chicago. Suzanne’s stage credits include Dolly Tait in Annie Get Your Gun at Ravinia, Muriel Eubanks in the National Tour of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, E. B. Janet on the North American tour of SPANK! The Fifty Shades Parody, and on screen she appeared in Chicago PD, Joey and The New Partridge Family. Her original solo show, Nice to Meet Me - A Comedy Cabaret About Awakening to Yourself blends comedy, cabaret characters, and storytelling. Susanne is also the creator and host of The Spiritual Shit Show with Suzanne Sole; A podcast about navigating the messy, funny deeply human business of being a person. Vape the Musical is playing now through January 3 at Chicago’s Apollo Theatre. For tickets, you can visit the link in our show notes. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Jack Plotnick and Susanne Sole. Now let’s go to the top of the show!

  6. Oct 5

    Dead Girl's Quinceanera with guests Ariana Burks and Phanesia Pharel!

    Today’s guests are the writer and one of the stars of Dead Girl’ s Quinceañera currently running at the Goodman Theater. The Goodman is the second stop of the play’s triple collective world premiere, where it began at Barrington Stage earlier this summer and from here will debut at Hartford Stage in Spring of 2027. Writer Phanésia Pharel is a Haitian-American playwright and screenwriter from a dragon fruit farm in Miami and the daughter of an immigrant teacher and farmer. Her plays have been developed at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Playwrights Conference, New Harmony Project, Playwrights’ Center, New York Stage and Film, SolFest, Shattered Globe, and Echo Theater Company. Phanésia is the Playwriting Fellow (2025–2027) at Emory University, where she serves as a visiting professor and will have a new play produced by the university’s repertory company. She is also member of the Obie Award-winning EST/Youngblood group and The Wish Collective. As a screenwriter, she is an alumna of Lena Waithe’s Hillman Grad Screenwriting Lab. Most recently, she recently made her Off-Broadway debut at the WP Theater with her play The Waterfall, which was co-produced by Thrown Stone. Actress Ariana Burks, is a born and bred Chicago Native whose credits span across the country. Her very first theatrical credit was as Little Inez in Drury Lane Theatre’s production of Hairspray! Since then she has been seen on area stages including 8 years in the Goodman’s perennial favorite, A Christmas Carol, at Steppenwolf in both The Compass and Dance Nation, in Paramount’s Hairspray and Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, Gospel at Colonus and Antigone at Court Theatre, Porchlight’s Spring Awakening and Urinetown at BoHo Theatre. From there, she appeared in The Muny’s In The Heights, Broadway’s Real Women Have Curves and most recently the 1st National Tour of Suffs. Her Film and TV credits include Beats, South Side, Chicago Med, Chicago Fire and Neon Galaxy. Dead Girl's Quinceanera is playing in the Goodman’s Owen Theatre now through November 1st. For tickets visit this link. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Ariana Burks and Phanesia Pharel. Now let’s go to the top of the show!

  7. Sep 28

    A Red Orchid Theatre with Artistic Director Kirsten Fitzgerald!

    Today’s guest is a proud member of the Artistic Ensemble at A Red Orchid Theatre and has served as their Artistic Director since 2008.  As an actor she has originated roles in the world premieres of The Cave, Grey House, Traitor, Pilgrim’s Progress and Weapon of Mass Impact (A Red Orchid); at the Goodman in Swing State and I hate It Here ; at Victory Gardens in Lettie and Appropriate; AND at Steppenwolf in Mary Page Marlow and The Qualms. Among some her additional acting favorites, she includes Clybourn Park at Steppenwolf), Sweat at Goodman, Flaming Guns of the Purple Sage at Defiant, and both The Sea Horse and Abigail’s Party at A Red Orchid. On TV she has been seen in Dark Matter, Shining Girls, Somebody Somewhere, The Exorcist, Sirens, The Big Leap, Chicago Med/Fire/Justice, Underemployed, ER and in the films Rain Reign, Widows and Working Man.  Recent directing credits include the world premiere of Gorgeous by Keiko Green for Raven & Rivendell Theatres, Dance Nation at Northwestern University’s Wirtz Center, as well as The Moors and Birds of North America at A Red Orchid. Birds of North America went on to win this year’s Equity Jeff Awards in 4 categories: Best Production of a Play, Best Director a Play, Best Sound Design (all in the Midsize category) and Best Original Music for a Play. A Red Orchid’s production of ‘Birds of North America’ is back by popular demand and running now through October 4th. For tickets, you can visit this link. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Kirsten Fitzgerald. Now let’s go to the top of the show!

  8. Sep 21

    TimeLine Theatre Company with guest, Artistic Director, PJ Powers!

    From its humble beginnings at the Wellington Avenue United Church of Christ where they remained until this year’s grand opening of their new home at 5035 N. Broadway, TimeLine Theatre’s focus has remained unchanged: To present stories inspired by history that connect with today’s social and political issues. Today's guest is one of the co-founders and current Artistic Director of TimeLine.  Since becoming Artistic Director in 1999, he has overseen the production of more than 80 plays, including 12 world premieres and more than 38 Chicago premieres.During his tenure, TimeLine has garnered 60 Jeff Awards, including 11 for Outstanding Production, as well as awards for excellence in arts management, including the 2016 MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions. He was instrumental in establishing TimeLine’s original home on Wellington Avenue; expanding the company’s programming to include productions in numerous other venues, including the Broadway Playhouse; creating the TimePieces play reading series and First Draft Festival of new work; launching the Living History Education Program in Chicago Public Schools under the direction of TimeLine co-founder Juliet Hart; and of course planning for TimeLine’s new home in Uptown. As an actor, he has appeared in 18 productions at TimeLine, including THE APPLE FAMILY PLAYS: THAT HOPEY CHANGEY THING, THE FRONT PAGE, THE FARNSWORTH INVENTION, FIORELLO!, HAUPTMANN and EUREKA DAY. He also has appeared at Writers, Northlight, and Shattered Globe, among others. A graduate of The Theatre School at DePaul University, he has served on the Board of Directors for the League of Chicago Theatres, was awarded the Meier Achievement Award for mid-career artists, and received a Goldman Sachs Senior Fellowship at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.  I hope you enjoy my conversation with PJ Powers. Now let’s go to the top of the show!

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Welcome to The Chicago Theater-Makers Podcast; The show where we go behind the curtain with the actors, playwrights, directors, choreographer, designers, creatives and producers shaping Chicago’s one-of-a-kind theater scene. Every episode we sit down with the folks who make this city’s stages come alive. Whether you’re a theater pro, a curious audience member, or just love a good backstage story...This podcast is for you!

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