Newcity Stage

Theater, Dance, Comedy and Performance in Chicago

Players 50 2026: The Music Makers

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by Newcity
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Text-heavy graphic with bold, colorful categories: The Music Makers, The Advocates + Changemakers, The Institutions, The Rising Stars + Storefront Stalwarts, The Producers + Places, over a black background.

Design: Dan Streeting

Players 50 2026: Introduction
Players 50 2026: The Advocates and Changemakers
Players 50 2026: The Institutions
Players 50 2026: The Rising Stars and Storefront Stalwarts
Players 50 2026: The Producers and Places

Here are Chicago’s Music Makers.

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Masi Asare/Photo: Joe Mazza | brave lux

Masi Asare
Theatre Department Associate Professor/Artistic Director, American Music Theatre Project, Northwestern University

Musical theater is flourishing at Northwestern University, thanks in no small part to the efforts of Masi Asare. “We have amazing students who love musical theater,” says Asare, “and we teach units that focus on the unique structures and timing of the musical theater format.” As artistic director at the American Music Theatre Project, Asare brings professional musical theater writers and composers to campus, providing students a unique exposure to artists. Non- and part-time students can take advantage of AMTP’s new Chicago Musical Theatre Writers Workshop, a free weekly writers’ lab for Chicago-based composers, lyricists and bookwriters. (Tristan Bruns)

Smiling man with short curly hair and beard wearing a black sweater and a striped tie, posing against a plain light background.

Daryl Brooks/Photo: Joe Mazza | brave lux

Daryl Brooks
Producing Managing Director, Black Ensemble Theater

Daryl Brooks has been a cornerstone of the Black Ensemble Theater for more than two decades, serving as producing managing director for nearly seventeen of those years and directing more than fifty productions. He has received awards including an African American Arts Award, Black Theater Alliance Award and the Joseph Jefferson Award. Last year, he received a Black Excellence Award for Theater. What keeps him inspired is “the ability to create something that can bring people together and make us think of how we can make the world a better place.” That spirit continues to shape his work as BET enters its fiftieth-anniversary season. In addition to his work at BET, he’s directing “Damn Yankees” at Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre, which will run May through July 2026. (Amy Danzer)

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Lawrence Edelson/Photo: Joe Mazza | brave lux

Lawrence Edelson
General Director, Chicago Opera Theater

For Lawrence Edelson, becoming general director of Chicago Opera Theater in 2023 was a serendipitous experience. The group’s mission aligns with my passions,” says Edelson. “We don’t produce the top-ten operas; we do present historically neglected works and contemporary works that champion emerging voices in the world of opera.” As evidence of this, Edelson points out their focus on Chicago premieres, as in the upcoming season with works like Salieri’s “Falstaff” and Weill’s “Der Silbersee.” (Tristan Bruns)

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Derek Van Barham and Scot Kokandy/Photo: Joe Mazza | brave lux

Derek Van Barham and Scot Kokandy
Producing Artistic Director and Executive Producer, Kokandy Productions

For Kokandy Productions, every record-breaking season is a tale from a storybook. “Audiences are hungry for what we do,” says Derek Van Barham. “It’s been wonderful.” One of the city’s few purveyors of storefront musicals, their production of “American Psycho” (2023), at the time the sole presentation of the property in the world, was a must-see. In 2024, musicals like “Alice by Heart” and “Into the Woods” earned fourteen Jeff Award nominations and five wins. The current season is bigger than ever, with their version of “Amélie” extended, and their largest-scale production to date, the adaptation of “Jekyll & Hyde.” (Tristan Bruns)

Music Makers
Hall of Fame

Jackie Taylor
Founder/CEO, Black Ensemble Theater

Michael Weber
Artistic Director, Porchlight Music Theatre