The Chicago Theater-Makers Podcast

John Michael Coppola
  • 5.0 (12)
  • Performing Arts
  • Updated 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. 3h ago

    Rose Theatrics' "Jagged Little Pill"

    Today’s guest is the founder of Rose Theatrics, a theatre company dedicated to creating meaningful and diverse opportunities for performers across the Chicagoland area while providing high-caliber and accessible theatre to the surrounding communities. She is a theatre educator, director, producer, and speech coach based in the south suburbs of Chicago and serves as the Director of Speech & Theatre at Marian Catholic High School, where she has spent the past decade helping students discover their voices through performance, storytelling, and public speaking.  As a director, her work extends beyond traditional theatre into competitive performance, where her students have earned multiple top finishes at the Illinois High School Association State Finals, including state championships in Performance in the Round and Group Interpretation. Particularly drawn to theatre that explores human connection, resilience, and personal transformation, through Rose Theatrics, she continues to build spaces where artists can grow, connect, and tell stories that matter.  Whether directing a musical, coaching students for competition, or developing new work, she believes the arts have the power to help people better understand themselves and one another.  Rose Theatrics' production of “Jagged Little Pill” runs July 31st through August 9th. For more information and tickets, please visit this link! I hope you enjoy my conversation with Laura Rose Hilger. Now let’s go, to the top of the show!

  2. Jul 20

    Highland Park Players with guests Anna Marie Abbate and Bradley Rose!

    Today’s guests is are part of Highland Park Players’ current production of Beautiful running through July 26th at the McGrath Performing Arts Center in Wilmette. Anna Marie Abbate plays Carole King in the production. An actress and teacher who grew up in Park Ridge, IL she received her Bachelors in theater and dance from Milliken University. Like many other artists, during the downturn of the Covid 19 pandemic she returned to school to receive a Masters Degree in Special Education and second Bachelors in physical education. This fall she will begin new role as Director of the Theater and Dance Programs at Resurrection High School. On Chicagoland stages, she has been seen in such shows as The Hunchback of Notre Dame, White Christmas, Peter Pan, Brigadoon, Anything Goes and many more shows with Musical Theatre Works. Other companies at which she’s been seen include Porchlight Music Theater, Big Noise Theatre, Arizona Broadway Theater and Theo Cabaret Theater. Bradley Rose has been part of the Highland Park Players family 30 years, and Beautiful marks the 32nd production he’s produced for the company. His HPP story started back in 1996 when he was cast as a pirate in Peter Pan and he’s been hooked on theater ever since. By day, Bradley serves as Senior Vice President of Game Development at IGT, where he leads talented teams across Chicago, Reno, Las Vegas, Austin, and Sydney in creating award-winning casino games enjoyed around the world He has been board president of Highland Park Players since 2000, during which time, he has produced such shows as Gypsy, The Full Monty, Thoroughly Modern Millie, The Prom and Rent. For more information and tickets to Beautiful please visit the link in our show notes. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Anna Marie Abbate and Bradley Rose. Now let’s go, to the top of the show!

  3. Jul 13

    Nervous Breakdown in G Minor with guest Lewis Rawlinson!

    Today’s guest is a Chicago-based cellist and theatre artist, who graduated with Honors from Roosevelt University's Chicago College of Performing Arts with a Bachelor of Musical Arts Degree in Cello Performance and Arts & Public Policy. As an actor, he has appeared in such varied shows as High Fidelity, bare: a pop opera, Fun Home, Triassic Parq, Godspell, The Addams Family, Les Misérables, and Urinetown. As a cellist, he has played with orchestral ensembles and indie/folk artists world-wide, and here in Chicago, has played cello for many productions with companies such as Music Theatre Works, Porchlight Music Theatre, Marriott Theatre and The Goodman Theatre. His solo show, Nervous Breakdown in G Minor, has been seen at The Den Theatre, Theo Cabaret Theatre, and the Winnipeg Fringe Festival. But, this weekend July 17th - 19th, you can catch it as part of at Steppenwolf's LookOut Series. For more information and tickets to Nervous Breakdown in G Minor, please visit the link in our show notes. I hope you enjoy today’s conversation with Lewis Rawlinson. Now let’s go, to the top of the show!

  4. Jul 6

    Catch As Catch Can with guest Audrey Francis!

    I am so excited to bring you this episode with today’s guest, who is currently the Co-Artistic director for Chicago’s famed Steppenwolf Theatre. Part of the company’s ensemble since 2017, she has directed their productions of You Will Get Sick during the 2024/25 season and POTUS in their 2023/24 season. On stage there she has been seen in Noises Off, The Thanksgiving Play, The Herd, Between Riverside and Crazy, The Fundamentals, The Doppelgänger, and Dance Nation. TV and film credits include Justified: City Primeval, Chicago Med, Chicago Fire, Empire, Perpetrator, Knives and Skin and Later Days. She is an acting coach for NBC, Fox, Showtime and Amazon and finally, she is also the co-founder of Black Box Acting and the co-creator of Steppenwolf's corporate training program, Steppenwolf IMPACT. She currently plays the dual roles of Lon & Daniela Lavecchia in Steppenwolf’s current run of Catch As Catch Can, also starring fellow ensemble members Gary Cole and Tim Hopper and directed by ensemble member, Amy Morton. Catch As Catch Can Runs through July 12th at Steppenwolf’s downstairs theatre. For more info and tickets for the show, you can visit Steppenwolf.org or simply click the link in our show notes. I’m so honored to chat with none other than Audrey Francis. Now let’s go, to the top of the show!

  5. Jun 29

    Our Pride Month Finale!

    Our pride month concludes with clips of guests within the LGBTQ community, whom we were honored to have on the podcast during our first season.  We’re including these clips of previous guests because when we launched the podcast last July, we had just missed Pride Month and therefore they weren’t included in such an acknowledgement. And with that, let’s go, to the top of the show and our first look back to our conversation with fellow podcaster Broadway Bob Bullen! In this next clip with Paramount Artistic Director, Jim Corti, we get a glimpse into his training and his time with A Chorus Line, Bob Fosse’s Dancin’ and  Ragtime. Next up, we chat with scenic designer, Spencer Donovan on his process when starting a new project. Before our final clip, we want to thank you for your support of our Pride Month series. As always, it was an extreme honor to amplify these voices and that they chose to share their stories with us here on the Chicago Theater-Makers podcast. And now, here’s our final conversation with Femme Trans Artist, Sawyer Smith!

  6. Jun 22

    The Revolutionists with guests Iris Sowlat and Leslie SR Beebe

    Our pride month celebration continues with today’s guests the director and a one of the cast members of the current local tour of ‘The Revolutionists’. Iris Sowlat holds an MFA in Theatre Directing from University of Massachusetts Amherst. In 2018, Iris was named one of Windy City Times’ “30 Under 30" LGBT Chicagoans making a difference, and in 2019 founded Violet Surprise Theatre, with Allison Fradkin. In 2025, she directed Amy Crider’s "Buddha’s Birthday" at Lucid Theatre, Lauren Gunderson’s “The Book of Will” for Triton College, and “Come Along for the Ride” for Eco Logic. Some of her favorite Chicago directing credits include “Romeo and Juliet” (with Accidental Shakespeare Company), “The Days Are Shorter” (for PrideArts), and “ABCD” at Piven Theatre. She is the director of Violet Surprise’s current tour of “The Revolutionists”. Leslie SR Beebe formally began at Second City in 2016, completing the writing and improv programs, with several of her written sketches performed on the stages there, as well as featured in Sketch Fest 2020 at Stage773. Drawing inspiration from Lucille Ball, Moms Mabley, Robin Williams and other classic comics who made physical comedy and character work into an art-form, she has appeared in the independent short film "Who's Waldo", and is an active member of the Theater of Western Springs where her performances include “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” “Birthday Candles,” “Doubt” and “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels”. She is also member of the group’s playwright’s ensemble. She has performed solo and group improv shows for many private functions, has also toured with Violet Surprise Theatre’s production of “5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche" and currently “The Revolutionists”. Tickets for The Revolutionists can be found using this link. I hope you enjoy my conversation with today’s guests, Iris Sowlat and Leslie SR Beebe. Now let’s go, to the top of the show!

  7. Jun 15

    Breaking Bread with guest Nick Sanchez!

    Today’s episode continues our Pride Month Celebration with today’s guest known here in the Chicagoland area as a cast member and understudy to the title role of Alexander Hamilton in the Chicago production of Hamilton, which he toured with for six years.  Born in Long Island, New York he received his BFA in acting from Marymount Manhattan College and shortly thereafter, made his Broadway debut as Angel in Rent and from there toured in the Off-Broadway hit Altar Boyz.  Since then, he’s been seen on Broadway and National tours such as Tarzan, Mary Poppins, Escape to Margaritaville, and in the Broadway company of Hamilton.  His creativity eventually led him to the Fashion Institute Technology, where he received his degree in interior design, a profession he enjoyed for many years in between his Broadway pursuits.  When he returned to performing and landed the tour of Hamilton like many others during the pandemic, he honed the skills of his third love: baking sourdough bread which be continued  on tour! I hope you enjoy my conversation where we talk about all this and more with today’s guest, Nick Sanchez. Now let’s go, to the top of the show!

  8. Jun 8

    Loki and the End of the World Tour with guest Mack Alexander!

    Today episode continues our Celebration of Pride Month and today’s guest is a trans actor from the southwest suburbs of Chicago, now living in the Edgewater neighborhood.  He has been working professionally in Chicago and the surrounding areas ever since graduating with a degree in Musical Theatre from Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University in 2021. He was recently seen in "Fiddler on the Roof”, “Guys & Dolls" and "The Little Mermaid" (at Drury Lane) and was also a part of Flint Repertory Theatre's New Works Festival in "Laughing, Flexing, Dying" (Jayden). He is also a proud ensemble member of Sing to Cycle, a charity show benefitting the AIDS Lifecycle fundraiser in California, which ran annually for four years before the fundraiser ended. They are currently understudying the title role in “LOKI: The End of the World Tour" at LifeLine Theatre, now running through June 14th.  For tickets to “LOKI: The End of the World Tour”, please visit this link. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Mack Alexander. Now let’s go, to the top of the show!

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About

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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