ABOUT FACE THEATRE COLLECTIVE
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Mission Statement
About Face Theatre (AFT) was founded in 1995 to create exceptional, innovative, and adventurous plays that advance the national dialogue on gender and sexual identity, and to challenge and entertain audiences in Chicago, across the country, and around the world. AFT is committed to artistic excellence, community transformation and social change, and sustains its core values through our award-winning artistic work and nationally renowned educational programming.
About This Cause
About Face Theatre is recognized both locally and nationally for its record of developing significant works for the American theatrical canon. The company’s commitment to providing development resources to new, emerging, and established artists has helped AFT successfully evolve from its storefront origins into a national center for major new plays showcasing the broad spectrum of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and allied (LGBTQIA) community. This commitment dates to our first season, when we produced an adaptation of the Jim Grimsley novel DREAM BOY. Written by AFT founder Eric Rosen, DREAM BOY went on to enjoy productions in Atlanta, Chapel Hill, and San Francisco. In 2002, Moises Kaufman and Doug Wright approached AFT for assistance in developing I AM MY OWN WIFE prior to its future as a Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning production. This partnership was instrumental as it thrust AFT into the spotlight on a national level. WIFE has gone on to international acclaim, having played in London, Melbourne, Athens, Vancouver, Prague, and Stockholm among other cities. Pat Kane’s lesbian musical PULP, has been seen in San Diego, Boston, Cleveland, and Los Angeles since it premiered at AFT in 2003. In 2004, Tectonic Theater Project and Steppenwolf Theatre Company formed a collaborative partnership with AFT to produce an adaptation of Tennessee Williams' ONE ARM, which went on to have a brief run Off-Broadway. 2005 saw the premiere of LOVING REPEATING: A MUSICAL OF GERTRUDE STEIN at AFT by the Tony Award-winning team of Frank Galati and Stephen Flaherty, and went on to have a production in Los Angeles. More recently, our world premiere production of Philip Dawkins' THE HOMOSEXUALS in 2011 smashed box office records here in Chicago and has since gone on to entertain audiences in Michigan, North Carolina, New York, Pennsylvania, and California. AFT also recently co-produced Paul Oakley Stovall's IMMEDIATE FAMILY in 2012, which has generated significant Broadway interest. Directed by Phylicia Rashad, IMMEDIATE FAMILY's Chicago run was followed by a run in Houston and an expected run this spring at Los Angeles' Mark Taper Forum. Plays developed by AFT have been seen across the country to critical acclaim and major recognition, including the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the Tony Award for Best Play, 15 Joseph Jefferson Awards, 14 After Dark Awards, 3 Black Theatre Alliance Awards, the 2011 Illinois Theatre Association Award, and was one of 10 American theatre companies selected in 2010 to receive an American Theatre Wing National Theatre Company Grant. Other community honors include the GLSEN Pathfinder Award, a Presidential Citation from the American Psychological Association, the Cook County Community Empowerment Award, induction into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame, the 2007 Equality Award from the Human Rights Campaign, a 2012 honor from Parents, Family, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), and a 2014 PrideIndex.com Esteem Award. Founded in 1999 in response to the murder of Matthew Shepard, AFT’s Education & Outreach Department including About Face Youth Theatre (AFYT), provides an innovative and rigorous arts-based series of programs that increase the safety, empowerment, and leadership capacity of LGBTQIA youth in Chicago. Having served countless, often at-risk youth in its 15 year history, AFYT programs have resulted in 11 critically acclaimed, youth-created productions tackling important issues in our community. Our 2005-2006 AFYT production of THE HOME PROJECT, toured nationally for two years, and our most recent production, 2014's CHECKING BOXES, was performed free of charge in five different Chicago park districts thanks to a fortuitous partnership with Mayor Emanuel's Night Out In the Parks program. Accomplishments of the education program include 12 mainstage productions (two of which were produced at The Goodman Theatre), touring productions across the Midwest, Northeast, and California, and civic honors at the local, regional, and national levels. The education program is a recipient of the prestigious Human First Award by Horizon's Community Services (now Center on Halsted) and was one of just five organizations in the United States to receive a major capacity-building grant from The Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Fund (U.S.).