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

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. [https://www.highlandparkplayers.org/] I hope you enjoy my conversation with Anna Marie Abbate and Bradley Rose. Now let’s go, to the top of the show!

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!

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 [http://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!

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!

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 [https://docs.google.com/document/d/10bVF0Q0K6dcIzhtRDTR34gp4DG5uacjM/edit]. 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!