Writers Theatre, under the leadership of Executive Director Kathryn M. Lipuma and Alexandra C. and John D. Nichols Artistic Director Braden Abraham, continues its 2025/26 Season with a musical adaptation of William Shakespeare’s As You Like It, adapted by Shaina Taub and Laurie Woolery, with music and lyrics by Shaina Taub. This production is directed by Braden Abraham, with music direction by Michael Mahler and choreography by Erin Kilmurray. As You Like It will run October 30 – December 14, 2025 in the Alexandra C. and John D. Nichols Theatre at 325 Tudor Court, Glencoe. The Press Opening is Friday, November 7, 2025 at 7:30pm.
Tickets are on sale at Writers Theatre at 325 Tudor Court, Glencoe; 847-242-6000; www.writerstheatre.org.
Facing exile at home, Orlando, Duke Senior, his daughter Rosalind and niece Celia seek safety and refuge in the Forest of Arden. Lost amidst the trees, these wounded souls end up finding a community of acceptance and transformational love, where all are welcomed and embraced. Featuring an original folk-pop score by Shaina Taub (Tony Award-winning composer of Suffs), this musical adaptation of Shakespeare's classic is an immersive dream-like tale of faithful friends, feuding families and chance encounters.
As You Like It is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals. www.concordtheatricals.com
"This will be a raucous, immersive As You Like It, brought to the stage by a wildly charismatic and daring group of Chicago actors and musicians,” said Braden Abraham. “Laurie Woolery and Shaina Taub’s Arden is a world I want to live in. It’s an invigorating, galvanizing play about the pleasures of falling in love and the necessity of forgiveness.”
The cast includes Janet Ulrich Brooks (Agent/Mama Corin/Martext/Miss Amiens), Elisa Carlson (Ensemble/Ardenite), Matt Edmonds (Ensemble/Announcer/Ardenite), Elliot Esquivel (William/Caveman, Understudy Orlando), Jackson Evans (Touchstone), Phoebe Gonzalez (Rosalind), Torrey Hanson (Adam/Referee/Papa Corin), Dakota Hughes (Phoebe/Hisperia/Frankie Flow), Keith Kupferer (Duke Frederick/Ardenite), Benjamin Mathew (Orlando), Andrea San Miguel (Celia), Anand Nagraj (Oliver/Ardenite, Understudy Duke Senior), Jeff Rodriguez (Andy/Bronco, Understudy Touchstone), Grace Steckler (Silvia/Ensemble), Paul Oakley Stovall (Duke Senior/Ensemble), Matthew C. Yee (Jaques), Patrick Blashill (Understudy Duke Frederick/Ensemble), Eduardo Curley-Carilo (Understudy Oliver/Ensemble), Marielle Issa (Understudy Silvia/Phoebe), Dana Saleh Omar (Understudy Jaques/Ensemble), Esteban Ortiz-Villacorta (Understudy Andy/Ensemble), Tina Muñoz Pandya (Understudy Ensemble) and Aurora Penepacker (Understudy Rosalind/Celia).
The creative team includes: Braden Abraham (Director), Erin Kilmurray (Choreographer), Michael Mahler (Music Director), Sara Ryung Clement (Co-Scenic Designer), Jacelyn Stewart (Co-Scenic Designer), Raquel Adorno (Costume Designer), Eric Southern (Co-Lighting Designer), Daphne Agosin (Co-Lighting Designer), Lindsay Jones (Sound Designer), Max Fabian (Violence & Intimacy Director), Eva Breneman (Text Coach), Katie Galetti (Casting Director), Bobby Kennedy (Dramaturg), Mason Moss (Associate Music Director & Piano/Conductor), Heather Boehm (Music Coordinator), and Kieran McCabe (Percussionist). The stage manager is Miranda Anderson and the assistant stage managers are Natalie Cohen and Zoe Jennings.
Tickets are now on sale at Writers Theatre at 325 Tudor Court, Glencoe; 847-242-6000; www.writerstheatre.org.
Fact Sheet / As You Like It
The Midwest Premiere of
As You Like It
A Musical Adaptation of William Shakespeare’s As You Like It
Adapted by Shaina Taub and Laurie Woolery
Music and Lyrics by Shaina Taub
Directed by Braden Abraham
Music Direction by Michael Mahler
Choreography by Erin Kilmurray
Cast: Janet Ulrich Brooks (Agent/Mama Corin/Martext/Miss Amiens), Elisa Carlson (Ensemble/Ardenite), Matt Edmonds (Ensemble/Announcer/Ardenite), Elliot Esquivel (William/Caveman, Understudy Orlando), Jackson Evans (Touchstone), Phoebe Gonzalez (Rosalind), Torrey Hanson (Adam/Referee/Papa Corin), Dakota Hughes (Phoebe/Hisperia/Frankie Flow), Keith Kupferer (Duke Frederick/Ardenite), Benjamin Mathew (Orlando), Andrea San Miguel (Celia), Anand Nagraj (Oliver/Ardenite, Understudy Duke Senior), Jeff Rodriguez (Andy/Bronco, Understudy Touchstone), Grace Steckler (Silvia/Ensemble), Paul Oakley Stovall (Duke Senior/Ensemble), Matthew C. Yee (Jaques), Patrick Blashill (Understudy Duke Frederick/Ensemble), Eduardo Curley-Carilo (Understudy Oliver/Ensemble), Marielle Issa (Understudy Silvia/Phoebe), Dana Saleh Omar (Understudy Jaques/Ensemble), Esteban Ortiz-Villacorta (Understudy Andy/Ensemble), Tina Muñoz Pandya (Understudy Ensemble) and Aurora Penepacker (Understudy Rosalind/Celia).
Creative Team: Braden Abraham (Director), Michael Mahler (Music Director), Erin Kilmurray (Choreographer), Sara Ryung Clement (Co-Scenic Designer), Jacelyn Stewart (Co-Scenic Designer), Raquel Adorno (Costume Designer), Eric Southern (Co-Lighting Designer), Daphne Agosin (Co-Lighting Designer), Lindsay Jones (Sound Designer), Max Fabian (Violence & Intimacy Director), Eva Breneman (Text Coach), Katie Galetti (Casting Director), Bobby Kennedy (Dramaturg), Mason Moss (Associate Music Director & Piano/Conductor), Heather Boehm (Music Coordinator), and Kieran McCabe (Percussionist). The stage manager is Miranda Anderson and the assistant stage managers are Natalie Cohen and Zoe Jennings.
Dates: First performance: Thursday, October 30, 2025
Press opening: Friday, November 7, 2025 at 7:30pm
Closing performance: Sunday, December 14, 2025
Performance Schedule:
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Wednesdays: 2:00pm and 7:30pm
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Thursdays: 7:30pm
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Fridays: 7:30pm
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Saturdays: 2:00pm and 7:30pm
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Sundays: 2:00pm and 7:00pm
Open Captioned Performance: Thursday, November 20 at 7:30pm
ASL-Interpreted Performance: Saturday, November 22 at 2:00pm
Pay What You Can Performances: Thursday, October 30 at 7:30pm and Sunday, November 30 at 7:00pm
Location: Alexandra C. and John D. Nichols Theatre, 325 Tudor Court, Glencoe
Prices: $35-$115
Discounts are available for students, educators, theater industry professionals, active military personnel, veterans, police officers, firefighters and their immediate families. Information is available at: https://www.writerstheatre.org/plan-your-visit/box-office-and-theatre-center/pricing--special-offers
Box Office: The Box Office is located at 325 Tudor Court, Glencoe; 847-242-6000; www.writerstheatre.org
NOTES OF INTEREST
· As You Like It marks the professional Midwest premiere of this adaptation.
· As You Like It is directed by Alexandra C. and John D. Nichols Artistic Director Braden Abraham, whose previous Writers Theatre directing credits include Translations and Eurydice.
· As You Like It premiered during the 2017-18 season of The Public Theater’s free Public Works programming. The production ran for five free performances, September 1-5, at the Delacorte Theater. It also featured over 200 actors and community members alongside equity actors. The musical returned to The Delacorte Theater in Central Park in August 2022.
· As part of the 2023 Obie Awards, Laurie Woolery (Director) and Shaina Taub (Music and Lyrics) received a Special Citation for their collaboration on the adaptation of As You Like It at The Public Theater.
· In 2024, Shaina Taub made history by becoming the first woman to win both the Tony Awards for Best Original Score and Best Book of a Musical in the same season for her Broadway debut Suffs. That same year, she also earned the Outer Critics Circle Awards for Outstanding Book of a Musical and Outstanding New Score. Earlier in her career, Taub was recognized with the prestigious Kleban Prize in 2019 for Most Promising Lyricist, the Fred Ebb Award in 2017 for excellence in musical theater songwriting and the Jonathan Larson Grant in 2014 for emerging musical theater writers.
· William Shakespeare’s As You Like It is a pastoral comedy believed to have been written in 1599 and first published in the First Folio in 1623. The play has been adapted for radio, film and musical theatre. Some notable adaptations include the 1936 film adaptation with Laurence Olivier (his first Shakespeare film), a 1978 BBC adaptation with Helen Mirren as Rosalind and a 2006 film directed by Kenneth Branagh, starring Bryce Dallas Howard and Kevin Kline who won a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie for his performance as Jaques.
EVENTS:
Lecture
Saturday, November 22 at 12pm
Join us for a lecture looking at the long history of queer themes in drama and literature that inspired Shakespeare and continue to shape his plays in the present day.
LGBTQ+ Community Event
Saturday, November 22 at 1pm (optional lecture at 12pm)
Members of the LGBTQ+ community are invited to Writers Theatre for an afternoon at the theatre. Grab a discounted ticket and join the WT LGBTQ+ affinity group for a pre-show reception at 1pm. Check out the lecture on queer themes in Shakespeare at 12pm.
Family Matinee
Saturday, December 6 at 2pm
Parents and caregivers can see the matinee of As You Like It and drop their young ones off for an imaginative afternoon at a special onsite theatre class with WT Education’s expert teaching artists.
The Final Word Audience Discussion
Sunday, December 14 at 12pm
After you’ve seen the show, join WT Artistic staff and fellow audience members for a conversation about the themes and production elements of the play.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Braden Abraham (Director) Braden Abraham joined Writers Theatre in 2022 as the Alexandra C. and John D. Nichols Artistic Director. In his first two seasons, he directed Translations and Eurydice. Previously, as Artistic Director of Seattle Rep, Braden directed six world premieres and over 20 productions, including True West, Clybourne Park, Photograph 51, Betrayal, Luna Gale, A View from the Bridge, and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. While at Seattle Rep, he revitalized the New Play Program, commissioning and premiering works by playwrights including Anna Zeigler, Samuel D. Hunter, and Cheryl L. West. Many projects developed under his leadership gained acclaim nationwide, including Irene Sankoff and David Hein's Come From Away and the exclusive production of David Byrne's Here Lies Love outside New York and London. His final initiatives at Seattle Rep included 20x30: Reimagine the Anthropocene, commissioning twenty new plays by 2030, and New Directions, a program supporting generative work from directors. Around the country, Braden has developed new work at Ojai, O'Neill, Denver Center, and Perseverance Theatre. He has been a guest artist at Stanford, Gonzaga, and Seattle University. Braden is the co-creator of Sound Place Love, an audio installation about the life and work of Emmy-Award winning sound ecologist Gordon Hempton.
Michael Mahler (Music Director) performed as The Baker in Into the Woods at Writers Theatre. He is an Ensemble member of American Blues and has performed there in It’s a Wonderful Life: Live in Chicago!, Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story (Jeff Award – Best Music Direction), Little Shop of Horrors, Hank Williams: Lost Highway, and Side Man. Other recent roles include The Baker in Into the Woods (Writers); Jim Hardy in Holiday Inn, and Jack Singer in Honeymoon in Vegas (Marriott Theatre). Michael co-wrote the songs for the Netflix movie My Little Pony: A New Generation and contributed additional lyrics to Cameron Mackintosh’s most recent Broadway production of Miss Saigon. Other works as a composer/lyricist include The Secret of My Success, Miracle (Jeff Award – Best New Work), Diary of a Wimpy Kid, October Sky, The Man Who Murdered Sherlock Holmes (Jeff Award – Best New Work), and Hero (Jeff Award – Best New Work). Michael is married to Dara Cameron and proud father to their son Ezra.
Shaina Taub (Adapter/Lyricist/Composer) Two-time Tony Award winner, Obie Award winner, Grammy and Emmy Award nominee Shaina Taub is a songwriter, performer, and artist-in-residence at New York City’s Public Theater.
With the 2024 Broadway opening of her original musical Suffs, she became the first woman in history to win Tony Awards for Best Book and Best Score by herself. Hailed by The New York Times as “belonging to a breed of performers, who, apart from being artists, are gravitational forces around whom others cluster like filings to a magnet,” Taub is a solo artist signed to Atlantic Records, with three acclaimed albums in her catalog. She was named to Time100’s Next List of rising leaders shaping the future.
Hailing from the green mountains of Vermont, Taub began her career performing in the original Off-Broadway casts of Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 and Hadestown. In 2014, she co-starred with Bill Irwin and David Shiner in the Signature Theatre’s Old Hats, a hit production that featured her original songs and prompted SFGate to hail her as “sly and funny, sort of a young Judy Garland meets grown-up Lisa Simpson.” As part of Free Shakespeare in the Park’s community-based program Public Works, Taub created and starred in widely celebrated musical adaptations of Twelfth Night and As You Like It. Both musicals received encore runs at the Delacorte Theater, were preserved on original cast albums, and have now received hundreds of productions worldwide.
First produced in a sold-out, extended run at the Public Theater, where it premiered in 2022, her musical Suffs ran for over three hundred performances at the Music Box Theatre on Broadway in 2024. Nominated for six Tony Awards including Best Musical, Suffs was called “unquestionably the most emotionally stirring musical of the season” by the Chicago Tribune, and a “theatrical masterpiece that demands to be seen” by Forbes. Along with taking home two Tony Awards, Suffs won Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Musical, Best Score and Best Book, and Taub received the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music. Suffs will tour the country in 2025 and 2026, and was filmed on Broadway for PBS Great Performances. The original company became the first Broadway show ever to perform in the United Nations General Assembly Hall, and their original cast album was nominated for a Grammy Award.
A pianist and accordion player, Taub made her debut as a singer/songwriter with her album Visitors in 2015—the same year she made her solo concert debut at Lincoln Center as part of its American Songbook series. Not long after delivering her sophomore LP Die Happy in 2018, she signed with Atlantic Records and released her third full-length effort, Songs of the Great Hill (a 2022 album expanding on the one-of-a-kind sound that NPR/WNYC described as a “playful blend of Billy Joel’s piano-driven pop, Aretha’s soul and Regina Spektor’s whimsy”). Over the years, Taub has performed her music with the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall, and at Joe’s Pub as part of her long-standing concert residency, earning raves from the likes of The New York Times (“There may be no such thing as too much Shaina Taub”) and Huffington Post (“I have seen the near future of the Great American Songbook, and her name is Shaina Taub.”) She returned to Lincoln Center to headline the Appel Room in 2025.
Taub’s accolades include winning the Kleban Prize, the Fred Ebb Award, the ASCAP Foundation’s Richard Rodgers New Horizon Award, and the Jonathan Larson Grant. She has also composed songs for a number of television shows (including Sesame Street, Central Park, and Julie’s Greenroom starring Julie Andrews), joined forces with Sara Bareilles and Josh Groban to co-write the Emmy-nominated opening number for the 2018 Tony Awards, and collaborated on songs with such eclectic artists as Sir Elton John (for the lyrics to the West End musical The Devil Wears Prada), Rachel Bloom, Ingrid Michaelson, and Benj Pasek.
A longtime activist and winner of the NYCLU’s Michael Friedman Freedom Award, Taub also co-chairs the NYCLU Artist Ambassadors program, sits on the Working Families Party’s Artist Council, and sings with the Resistance Revival Chorus. She has been honored for her advocacy efforts by organizations including the Workers Circle, the League of Women Voters, Girls Inc, and Project Kesher. She holds an honorary doctorate from the Manhattan School of Music.
Laurie Woolery (Adapter) is a director, playwright, educator, facilitator and producer. She has worked at the Public Theater, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Yale Repertory, Trinity Repertory, Goodman Theatre, Cornerstone Theater Company, South Coast Repertory, Mark Taper Forum, Denver Center, Los Angeles Philharmonic, East West Players, Los Angeles Theatre Center, Inge Center for the Arts, Plaza de la Raza/RedCAT, Ricardo Montalban Theatre, Deaf-West Theatre, Highways Performance Space and Sundance Playwrights Lab as well as the Sundance Children's Theater. Currently, Woolery is the Director of Public Works at The Public Theater, an initiative that seeks to engage the people of New York by making them creators and not just spectators. In 2015, Woolery launched a new Public Works program called ACTivate (Artist, Citizen, Theater maker) that takes an ensemble of community members and puts them in the “artistic driver’s seat.” By partnering with a professional playwright, this ensemble of citizen artists devised an original play directed by Woolery. In the summer of 2017, Woolery directed the new musical adaptation of As You Like It at the Delacorte Theater with 200 New Yorkers. That production was named as one of “The Best Theater in 2017” by the New York Times.
Woolery has developed and directed new works with diverse communities ranging from incarcerated women to residents of a small Kansas town devastated by a tornado. Woolery creates site-specific work and has worked with communities in locations such as a working sawmill in Eureka, California, parking lots, prisons and the banks of the Los Angeles River. Woolery curated and produced a two-week festival in Los Angeles that explored issues of hunger that brought artists, activists, community and thought leaders together. In keeping with her lifelong commitment to community engagement, Woolery partnered with Trinity Repertory Theater to deepen their artistic work with the Latinx community in the larger Rhode Island area. This partnership launched Teatro en El Verano, a program that tours bi-lingual Shakespeare plays back into community. As a playwright, Woolery’s plays have been produced around the country. Her solo play "Salvadorian Moon/African Sky" was commissioned by Cornerstone Theater Company and performed in their citywide Festival of Faith.
Prior to her work at The Public, Woolery was the Associate Artistic Director of Cornerstone Theater Company, Conservatory Director at South Coast Repertory and artist-in-residence at Hollygrove Children’s Home in Los Angeles. Woolery teaches at Princeton, NYU, Brown, USC, Cal Arts, Citrus College, California State University at Northridge and California State University at Los Angeles. She serves on the Board of the Latinx Producers Action Network, Latinx Commons and is a founding member of The Sol Project in New York. Woolery is a proud recipient of the Fuller Road Fellowship for Women Directors of Color. Woolery is a graduate from University of California, Los Angeles
Erin Kilmurray (Choreographer) Her choreographic credits include theatrical productions with Court Theatre, Milwaukee Rep, Chicago Shakespeare Theater and About Face Theater, among others. Her original dance work has been presented and platformed by The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Thalia Hall, Steppenwolf 1700, Links Hall, artTheater-Kobe (Japan), Lollapalooza, DCASE / Chicago Cultural Center, Lucky Plush Productions and is recognized with a 2024 United States Artist Fellowship (Dance) and 2023 Illinois Arts Council Agency Fellowship (Choreography). Erin is the director/choreographer of The Fly Honey Show.
Janet Ulrich Brooks (Agent/Mama Corin/Martext/Miss Amiens) Credits include: Prayer For The French Republic (Northlight Theatre), The Audience, Fiddler On The Roof, Murder On The Orient Express, Steel Magnolias (Drury Lane Theatre). Beautiful, The Music Man (Marriott Lincolnshire Theatre). The Cherry Orchard, 2666, Vanya Sonya Masha & Spike, Seagull (Goodman Theatre). The Children (Steppenwolf). Plantation (Lookingglass). Over 15 productions with TimeLine Theatre Company (Company Member) including Master Class (Jeff Award Principal Actor) and several shows with Victory Gardens. Regional work with Woolly Mammoth in DC, Milwaukee Rep, Kennedy Center, Theatre Squared in Fayetteville AR, Peninsula Players in Door County. Films: Divergent, Conviction, One Small Hitch, Fools. TV: Work In Progress, Fargo, Sense8, Proven Innocent, Boss, Chicago Med, Fire & Justice.
Elisa Carlson, (Ensemble/Ardenite) is thrilled to be returning to Writers Theatre! She holds a bachelor’s degree in piano performance and theater from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. Regional credits: The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk (Northlight Theatre), Almost Heaven (Clinton Showboat Theatre), Once (Writers Theatre and Paramount Theatre), Ernest Shackleton Loves Me (Porchlight Music Theatre), Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story (American Blues Theater), One Man, Two Guvnors (Court Theatre), Pop Waits (Neo-Futurists) and American Idiot (The Hypocrites). Elisa is also a choreographer for young performers with GingerSnap Performing Arts, as well as a 20-year veteran of the solo and dueling piano bar scene around the world.
Matt Edmonds (Ensemble/Announcer/Ardenite) returns to Writers Theatre for some more accordioning, where he was last seen in Once as Billy. Matt’s been performing in Chicago for 17 years. Recent/favorite work includes: The Little Mermaid (Drury Lane Oakbrook), The Music Man (Marriott Lincolnshire), Murder For Two (Marriott Lincolnshire & Milwaukee Repertory Theatre), Ragtime (Griffin Theatre, Jeff Award for Best Musical), Death of a Salesman, All-American (Redtwist Theatre, Jeff Nominations for Best Supporting - Play), Rent (Theo Ubique, Jeff for Best Musical), The Last Five Years (Metropolis Performing Arts Center) and Twelfth Night (Notre Dame Shakespeare).
Elliot Esquivel (William/Caveman, Understudy Orlando) is pumped to be making his Writers Theatre debut. He was recently seen in Shattered Globe Theaters production of Lobby Hero where he received a Jeff Award nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role. Other credits: Alice By Heart (Kokandy Productions) and Manic Monologues (WaterTower Theatre).
Jackson Evans (Touchstone) is making his Writers debut. Chicago credits: Falsettos (Court/Timeline, Jeff Nomination); Titanique, Anything Goes (Porchlight, Jeff Nomination); Waitress, The Full Monty, School of Rock, Beauty and the Beast (Paramount, Jeff Nomination); Guys and Dolls, Matilda, Spamalot (Drury Lane); Ride the Cyclone (Chicago Shakespeare); Fiddler on the Roof, My Fair Lady (Lyric Opera); Boys in the Band (Windy City Playhouse); Singin' in the Rain, A Christmas Story, (Marriott); Avenue Q, Bunny Bunny (Mercury Theater). Touring: The Realish Housewives (Second City). Film: Christmas is Canceled. TV: "Paper Girls" "Chicago PD" "Sirens”.
Phoebe Gonzalez (Rosalind) is delighted to return to Writers Theatre, where she last understudied Quixote. She is a Mexican-Irish performer who proudly hails from Washington Heights and lives wherever the work takes her. She has performed at such Chicago institutions as Paramount Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Steppenwolf, the Marriott, Teatro Vista and The Hypocrites. Regionally, she has toured with the Kennedy Center and performed at American Shakespeare Center, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Forward Theater and just completed her seventh season with American Players Theatre (her second as a core company member).
Torrey Hanson (Adam/Referee/Papa Corin) has performed in over 160 theater productions, regionally at Milwaukee Rep (seventeen seasons), Oregon Shakespeare Festival (five seasons), Alley Theater, Cleveland Play House, Seattle Rep, Intiman Theatre, A Contemporary Theatre, Empty Space Theatre, Indiana Rep and Utah Shakespeare Festival; in Chicago at Steppenwolf, Goodman, Chicago Shakespeare, Writers Theatre, Drury Lane, Silk Road, The House, Profiles, Provision and Piven. He's had regular, recurring, guest and co-star roles in Emperor Of Ocean Park (MGM+), Fargo (Netflix), Somebody Somewhere (Hulu), The Exorcist, Empire (FOX), Shining Girls (Apple+), South Side, Detroiters (HBO), Crisis, Chicago Med/Fire/PD, Cheers, Wings (NBC). He played Jack Hyde in Jordan Peele's remake of Candyman. Upcoming: Monsters: The Ed Gien Story (Netflix) and The Chair Company (HBO).
Dakota Hughes (Phoebe/Hisperia/Frankie Flow) (They/Them) is thrilled to be making their Writers debut. Recent Chicago credits; Queen for a Day, Poor People, Frankenstreisand *Jeff Award Winner (Hell in a Handbag), Fun Home (Porchlight), Secret Garden *Jeff Award Nominee (Theo Ubique), Charlotte’s Web, Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus (Young People’s Theatre), Billy Elliot, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, School of Rock, Into the Woods, Cinderella, Kinky Boots (Paramount), Queer Eye: The Parody Musical! (Second City). BFA Musical Theater Performance, Columbia College Chicago.
Keith Kupferer (Duke Frederick/Ardenite) can currently be seen in Alex Thompson and Kelly O'Sullivan's Ghostlight which premiered at Sundance in January 2024 to rave reviews and was released by IFC Films nationwide last summer. Keith has received widespread praise for his "powerhouse performance" (Deadline Hollywood) and has garnered multiple prestigious end-of-year nominations from the Gothams and Independent Spirit Awards, was the recipient of Best Actor in a Comedy by the Satellite awards and named the “2025 Chicagoan of the Year In Film” by the Chicago Tribune. A veteran of the stage, Keith has appeared at Chicago's most prestigious theaters including Steppenwolf, The Goodman, Victory Gardens, Writers Theatre, Lookingglass Theatre, Northlight Theatre, A Red Orchid and Chicago Shakespeare Theater. He is a founding member of Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, now celebrating their 30th anniversary and performed in the critically acclaimed premieres of A Mile in the Dark, The Cake, American Wee-Pie and Cal in Camo (Jeff Award for Supporting Actor). Other notable theater credits include Support Group for Men, God of Carnage, and Sweat (Goodman); The Seagull, The Great Leap, The Qualms, Good People, and Middletown (Steppenwolf); Hillary and Clinton, Never the Sinner and Appropriate (Victory Gardens); West Side Story (Lyric Opera) and the world premiere of The Humans (American Theatre Company). Film credits include Ghostlight, Widows, The Dilemma, Dark Knight, Public Enemies, The Express, Stranger Than Fiction, Road to Perdition, Finding Santa, Fred Claus, The Last Rites of Joe May and The Merry Gentleman directed by Michael Keaton. TV credits include The Bear, Emperor of Ocean Park, Better Call Saul, Empire, Chicago P.D., Betrayal, Crisis, Chicago Fire, and Detroit 187. Keith is represented by the Gersh Agency and Fusion Entertainment.
Benjamin Mathew (Orlando) Chicago credits include: Pippin in Lord of the Rings: A Musical Tale, Harvey Beaver in Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas (Studebaker Theatre), U/S Bank Manager, Andrej in Once (Writers Theatre), U/S Imran in Hatefuck (First Floor Theatre), U/S Upton Sinclair in Campaigns, Inc. (TimeLine Theatre). Regional credits include: TheatreSquared, Illinois Shakespeare Festival, St. Louis Shakespeare Festival. Film: Apolitical. BFA in Theater, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Andrea San Miguel (Celia) previously appeared at Writers Theatre in Twelfth Night. Chicago area credits include: Circus Quixote (Lookingglass Theatre), The Penelopiad, The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci (Goodman Theatre), The Thanksgiving Play (Steppenwolf), Romeo & Juliet, Macbeth, Twelfth Night, Comedy of Errors (Chicago Shakespeare Theater), How to Defend Yourself (Victory Gardens Theater), Georgiana & Kitty (Northlight). Select Regional Work: Shakespeare Theatre Company, The Old Globe, Guthrie Theater, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Syracuse Stage, Indiana Repertory Theatre, American Players Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse.
Anand Nagraj (Oliver/Ardenite, Understudy Duke Senior) previously at Writers Theatre in Julius Caesar. Broadway and Tour: Aladdin. Chicago: The Little Mermaid (Drury Lane), The Doppelgänger (Steppenwolf), A Year With Frog & Toad (Chicago Children’s), Titus Andronicus, Harvey and Titanic…1912 (Court), You Can’t Take It With You (Northlight) and two seasons of A Christmas Carol (Goodman). Regional: Milwaukee Rep, Denver Center, Kansas City Rep and the Hudson Valley, Utah, Ohio, Virginia, Idaho and Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festivals. TV: Chicago Fire and Chicago P.D. (NBC), Proven Innocent (FOX) The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (CBS). Voice: Ghee Happy (Netflix), Tony the Tiger. MFA: Delaware/PTTP.
Jeff Rodriguez (Andy/Bronco, Understudy Touchstone) Chicago: Support Group For Men, Revolutions (Goodman Theater); All’s Well That End’s Well, Shakespeare in Love, As You Like It, The Comedy of Errors (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre); Tale of Two Cities, Jump (Shattered Globe Theatre) The Legend of Georgia McBride (Northlight Theatre); 33 to Nothing (Red Orchid); Verboten (The House Theatre); TLDR (Theo Ubique) Zurich (Steep Theatre). Regional: As You Like It (Milwaukee Rep); Richard III, Twelfth Night (Arkansas Shakespeare Festival). TV: Mayor of Kingstown (Paramount+), Chicago Fire, Chicago Med, Crisis (NBC), Proven Innocent (FOX). Graduate of The School at Steppenwolf (2015); Represented by DDO Artists Agency.
Grace Steckler (Silvia/Ensemble) is thrilled to be making her Writers Theatre debut. Recent credits include Chicago Shakespeare Theater (Short Shakes, Shakes In the City), Drunk Shakespeare (Macbeth) and Forest Theatre (Pericles). She is a recent graduate of the BFA Acting program at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.
Paul Oakley Stovall (Duke Senior/Ensemble) makes his Writers Theatre debut. Broadway: A Strange Loop (co-producer;Tony Award. London; Olivier nomination). Hamilton - George Washington (1st national tour), Fat Ham - Rev/Pap (Cleveland Playhouse), Twelfth Night - Malvolio (Chicago Shakes- Jeff nomination). TV/Film: Robert Altman’s The Company, John Cameron Mitchell’s Shortbus, Shameless, Chicago Fire, Empire. Directing: James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room (world premiere, also co-adapter-Barrymore recommended), Gods and Monsters (US premiere- Jeff nomination). Playwright: Immediate Family - Goodman, Mark Taper, Booth Playhouse (dir. Phylicia Rashad - Steinberg, Jeff, GLAAD nominations), Written By Phillis (with Marilyn Campbell Lowe-Barrymore recommended), Ape (dir. Krissy Vanderwarker), Alkebulan,A New Amiercan Musical - book music and lyrics (workshops at Irish Institute of Music and Song, Porchlight Theatre). Paul’s sci-fi web series Tulsa can be seen on Amazon Prime.
Matthew C. Yee (Jaques) Previous Writers Theatre credits include: Natasha Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812, Twelfth Night and Vietgone. Chicago credits include: Lucy And Charlie’s Honeymoon (Lookingglass), Lord of The Rings: A Musical Tale (Chicago Shakespeare), Antigone (Court Theatre), Cambodian Rock Band (Victory Gardens), he has worked regionally at Alliance Theatre, Berkeley Rep, Milwaukee Rep and The Old Globe. Broadway Credits: Almost Famous: The Musical. Film and TV: Ghostlight, The Bear, Empire, 61st Street, Chicago PD/Fire/Justice. He is a Lookingglass Ensemble Member.
Patrick Blashill (Understudy Duke Frederick/Ensemble) Steppenwolf Theatre Company: a home what howls, Choir Boy (U/S). Chicago: Lord of The Rings, Piano Tuner (After Dark Award- Best Actor), Cat’s Cradle, Midnight Cowboy (Lifeline Theatre), Much Ado About Nothing (Oak Park Festival Theater), Long Days Journey into Night (Eclipse Theatre), The Harvest, Journeys End (Griffin Theatre). May the Road Rise Up, The Kelly Girls (Factory Theater). Film: Visiting Friends, The Dancing Monkey. Television: Chicago PD, Chicago Fire, Empire.
Eduardo Curley-Carillo (Understudy Oliver/Ensemble) an award-winning ensembleist, play developer, and music maker. Developmental processes include: Gloria Imseih Petrelli’s The Live In(n) (Rivendell Theatre); Nancy García Loza’s RUST (The Goodman: New Stages), Bull (Paramount); Isaac Gomez’ The Leopard Play, or sad songs for lost boys (Steep Theatre). New media developments include Hamlet (Make-Believe Association); Lake Song (Tribeca Official Selection, Make-Believe Association); Brava (Make-Believe Association); The Last Hermanos (A Red Orchid Theatre). Chicago acting credits include A Year with Frog and Toad (Chicago Children’s Theatre); Anna in the Tropics (Remy Bumppo); and Wit (The Hypocrites). Regional acting credits include Marisela Treviño Orta’s The River Bride (American Players Theatre); Bryna Turner’s At The Wedding (TheatreSquared). Film credits include Station Eleven (HBO Paramount).
Marielle Issa (Understudy Silvia/Phoebe) Writers Theatre: The Band's Visit. Other Chicago credits include: The Princess and the Pea (Marriott Theatre), How to Defend Yourself (Victory Gardens Theatre). Regional: The Band's Visit (TheatreSquared), Little Women (Quintessence Theatre), The Tempest (Quintessence Theatre). Northwestern graduate. For my parents, and Arab artists everywhere. "May we, their descendants, never lose sight of what they taught us."
Dana Saleh Omar (Understudy Jaques/Ensemble) is a proud Palestinian-Jordanian first generation child. She recently produced, co-wrote and starred in her own short titled “Stuck” which is looking for distribution. She is a musician, actor and creator from Chicago. Recently: The Antiquities (Goodman Theatre), Broadway National Tour: The Band's Visit, Off-Broadway: We Live in Cairo (Joe’s Pub). Regional: Once (Writers Theatre) Frankenstein: A Ghost Story (composer/musician, KC Rep.), We Live in Cairo (American Repertory Theatre), Pirates of Penzance (Pasadena Playhouse), HMS Pinafore (Actor's Theatre of Louisville), All Our Tragic (The Hypocrites), The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane (People’s Light), One Hundred Dresses (Chicago Children’s Theatre), TV: Chicago PD.
Esteban Ortiz-Villacorta (Understudy Andy/Ensemble) is thrilled to make his Writers Theatre debut with this fantastic team. Esteban is a Mexican-American actor, songwriter and artist. A recent graduate from Northwestern University, his most recent credit is Cervantes/Don Quixote in Man of La Mancha (The Wirtz Center). Other credits include Shakespeare in the Park (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre) and Kevin J / Ali in Come From Away (Rocky Mountain Rep).
Tina Muñoz Pandya (Understudy Ensemble) is pumped to be back at Writers after appearing in Dhaba on Devon Ave last season. Other Chicago credits include: The Matchbox Magic Flute (Goodman Theatre); London Road and The Tall Girls (Shattered Globe Theatre); The Secretaries (First Floor Theater); Frederick and X-Marks the Spot (Chicago Children's Theatre); Mr. Burns (Theater Wit); The Mousetrap (Court Theatre); Anna in the Tropics (Remy Bumppo Theatre); and Octagon (Jackalope Theatre). Regional and touring credits include: The Matchbox Magic Flute (Shakespeare Theatre DC, Berkeley Rep); As You Like It and The Old Man and the Old Moon (Door Shakespeare); Matt and Ben (Penobscot Theatre); House of Joy (St. Louis Rep); The Merry Wives of Windsor and Henry IV Pt 1 (Montana Shakespeare in the Parks); and HMS Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado (The Hypocrites). You can also hear her on the Chicago-based audio dramas The Vanishing Act and Fawx and Stallion. Tina is an ensemble member with Shattered Globe Theatre
Aurora Penepacker (Understudy Rosalind/Celia) is delighted to return to Writers Theatre after performing as Natasha in last season’s Great Comet. Rory is a first-generation mixed Filipina-American singer and actor from Chicago with a B.F.A. in Musical Theatre from the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. Chicago credits include Amélie (Amélie) at Kokandy Productions, A Christmas Carol (Martha Cratchit) at Drury Lane and Seagulls (Nina) at Oak Park Festival Theatre.
WRITERS THEATRE 2025/26 SEASON
The 2025-26 Season launched with the new musical play Hershey Felder’s Rachmaninoff and the Tsar, followed by a musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s As You Like It by Tony Award winner Shaina Taub (Suffs, Broadway), directed by Alexandra C. and John D. Artistic Director Braden Abraham with music direction by Michael Mahler. Celebrated Chicago director Lisa Portes joins Writers for the first time to direct Two Sisters and a Piano, by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Nilo Cruz, followed by the Midwest Premiere of the off-Broadway/Broadway hit Job by Max Wolf Friedlich, directed by David Esbjornson. The subscription season caps off with the Midwest and Chicago Premiere of Tom Stoppard’s epic, Tony Award-winning play Leopoldstadt, directed by Carey Perloff.
Writers Theatre is offering a variety of subscription packages designed to fit every theatregoer’s schedule. Flexible subscriptions make saving on tickets simple and stress free, with options for four tickets ($280) or five tickets ($350) that can be used for any show, any time. The “Choose Your Own Season” subscription ($280) lets patrons lock in preferred dates and seating sections for each production, ensuring priority seating and maximum flexibility.
Subscribers enjoy complimentary ticket exchanges up to 24 hours before showtime (upgrade fees may apply), access to extra tickets for select shows at subscriber rates, early access to special events, discounts at the WT bar and shop, savings on event space rentals and support from the Writers Theatre Concierge Service for ticket questions and exchanges.
Season packages are available online at www.writerstheatre.org and at the Box Office by calling 847-242-6000. Single tickets for As You Like It are on sale now, starting at $35, with remaining season shows going on sale approximately two months prior to first preview.
AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT OPPORTUNITIES
Writers Theatre offers Open Captioning and ASL-interpretation on select dates for each production. Please visit writerstheatre.org/accessibility for more information.
Throughout the season, Writers Theatre offers a variety of audience enrichment and special programming. This includes regularly occurring offerings like the Family Matinee Series, The Green Room artist interview series and podcast and The Final Word Audience Discussion Series. Please visit writerstheatre.org for a full listing of upcoming offerings.
ABOUT WRITERS THEATRE
Writers Theatre is proud to continue its 34th season. Having captivated audiences for years with its dedication to creating the most intimate theatrical experience possible, the theatre is now a major Chicagoland cultural destination with a national reputation for excellence, being called “America’s finest regional theater company” by The Wall Street Journal. Under the leadership of Alexandra C. and John D. Nichols Artistic Director Braden Abraham and Executive Director Kathryn M. Lipuma, the company is charting a path forward for the next 30 years.
Since its founding in 1992, Writers Theatre has stayed true to its core values: valuing the power of the written word and uplifting the artists who bring that word to life. The company has produced over 140 productions—everything from inventive interpretations of classics to groundbreaking new work. In 2016, Writers Theatre opened a new, state-of-the-art facility designed by the internationally renowned Studio Gang Architects.
Writers Theatre now welcomes more than 60,000 patrons each season and has helped establish the North Shore of Chicago as a premier cultural destination. Through its Literary Development Initiative, which has been responsible for the nurturing and premiering of over 30 world premieres, the theatre has established itself as a major originator of new theatrical works. Serving as an extension of the Writers Theatre mission, WT Education programs engage an average of 10,000 students each year with active learning opportunities centered around the written word.