Newcity Stage

Theater, Dance, Comedy and Performance in Chicago

Players 50 2026: The Producers and Places

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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 Music Makers
Players 50 2026: The Advocates and Changemakers
Players 50 2026: The Institutions
Players 50 2026: The Rising Stars and Storefront Stalwarts

Here are Chicago’s Producers and Places.

A middle-aged woman with curly brown hair, light skin, and blue eyes wears a white blouse with a lace collar. She is looking slightly to the side and smiling softly against a plain beige background.

LC Bernadine/Photo: Joe Mazza | brave lux

LC Bernadine

Playwright, producer, fundraiser extraordinaire, LC Bernadine is a visionary and a doer, a theatrical sparkplug who wills her ideas into concrete results. Her writing and producing achievements—she’s had several scripts staged locally, including “The Virginian” (co-written with Spencer Huffman) at City Lit and “The Whole Seamus Thing” (co-written with Ben Auxier) at Bramble Arts Loft, while managing the freewheeling New Theatre Project, which mounted its first three shows in a functioning factory—would be more than enough for most. But the project Bernadine is most caught up in is the Independent Productions Initiative, a bold effort to support theater artists operating outside of a conventional company. In one year, the initiatve—aided by Redtwist Theatre, its fiscal agent—has raised almost $140,000, enough to offer twenty-three grants ranging from $500 to $5,000. Bernadine remains committed to her ventures in the coming year, including New Theatre Project’s production of a new play by Huffman. And she continues to raise money for the initiative and channel it directly to artists and their work. “Writers are driven to write, actors to act and directors to direct, and all of that creates connections and ideas in this wonderful city,” says Bernadine. “I love that Chicago can now make so many brilliant shows happen, even if they are independent of ongoing organizations.” At a time of widespread retrenchment and uncertainty for live theater, the still-young IPI is evolving into a key source of sustenance and hope. (Hugh Iglarsh)

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Alice da Cunha and Marc Frost/Photo: Joe Mazza | brave lux

Alice da Cunha and Marc Frost
Artistic Director and Executive Director, Physical Theater Festival

Physical Theater Festival is dedicated to the art of physical theater—puppetry, dance, mime, circus—forms of storytelling that bring the body to the center of the work. “We’ve made Chicago a hub for physical theater in the U.S.,” says Alice da Cunha, “by bringing in small- and mid-size international companies and fostering local artists to develop original work.” This year, the festival is as grand as ever, with over 250 applications from over forty countries. “It’s a beautiful cultural exchange,” says Marc Frost, “and everyone goes back home saying, ‘We love Chicago!’” (Tristan Bruns)

A man wearing glasses and a brown plaid blazer over a tan sweater and white shirt, smiling slightly, stands against a plain, light-colored background.

Lawrence Daufenbach/Photo: Joe Mazza | brave lux

Lawrence Daufenbach
Executive Director, Athenaeum Center for Thought and Culture

The Athenaeum Center for Thought and Culture is one of Chicago’s landmark theaters, one that was almost turned into a parking lot. Lawrence Daufenbach is one of those who beat developers to save the edifice and now spearheads its rehabilitation and revitalization. “Its history is impressive,” says Daufenbach. “We’ve brought it back to the original mission by creating a place for those seeking an intellectual, physical and spiritual connection point.” Ten million dollars into their $50 million renovation plan, “The Ath” also launched its own in-house production wing and continues to host big-name acts while remaining accessible to local artists. (Tristan Bruns)

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Lori Dimun/Photo: Joe Mazza | brave lux

Lori Dimun
President/CEO, Harris Theater for Music and Dance

The Harris Theater stands at the north end of Millennium Park, a modernist beacon of the best in Chicago arts and culture. Under Lori Dimun’s leadership, the theater presents a breadth of vibrant performances each season, from international stars like Akram Khan to dozens of local dance and music organizations in residence. In 2024, the theater turned twenty and celebrated with an all-day festival of free performances by Chicago artists that filled the abutting Pritzker Pavilion and Millennium Park. Later that year, New York City Ballet returned to the Harris stage for their first Chicago appearance in eighteen years. Dimun has also expanded the theater’s presence as a venue partner with the Jeff Awards, TEDx and MSNow. (Sharon Hoyer)

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Jennifer Estlin/Photo: Joe Mazza | brave lux

Jennifer Estlin
Executive Producer, Annoyance Theatre

As owner and executive producer of The Annoyance Theatre, Jennifer Estlin has balanced passion with practicality. Joining the company as an actor in 1988, Estlin took her current role during a time of transition, helping the company build two new theaters and persist through the pandemic, ensuring the continuation of their unique brand of improvisation-based and ensemble-driven work. Estlin says that her job is equal parts “paying the bills and helping people realize their artistic dreams. That’s the part that keeps me going,” says Estlin, “the joy of watching the evolution of new artists, from taking classes to producing their own work.” (Tristan Bruns)

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Mark Geary and Christian Borkey/Photo: Joe Mazza | brave lux

Mark Geary and Christian Borkey
Co-Founder/Director of Operations and Venue Manager, The Lincoln Lodge

Mark Geary and Tom Lawler started The Lincoln Lodge comedy show in 2000 in the back room of the Lincoln Restaurant, a Greek diner on Lincoln Avenue—a wood-paneled throwback that looked like something out of a David Lynch film. Over the years, tons of comics performed in the unlikely space, including Sarah Sherman (SNL), Molly Kearney (SNL) and Meg Stalter (“Hacks,” “Too Much”). When the restaurant closed in 2013, it sent the comedy show into vagabond mode, operating out of a few venues until they finally built their own space and opened doors in 2020. Three weeks later COVID hit. Geary says, “Comedy is timing, right?” But they pushed through and their facility is now a bustling mecca for comedy, with three theaters, two classrooms, a podcast studio and a bar, with programming nearly every night of the week. Geary calls Christian Borkey “the key component in the Lodge’s current and future success” while Borkey praises Geary’s commitment to raising industry-standard pay and expanding opportunities for comedians. Their flagship show, “The Lincoln Lodge,” runs every Friday and Saturday night showcasing national and international headliners, local legends and alumni. Their Lincoln Lodge Training Center offers comedy classes and workshops—and they host all sorts of other fun stuff, including “Sex in the City” trivia, Dungeons and Dragons night, a poetry comedy show, open mic for films. Geary says he tries “to give people the framework we had to fight for.” They’ve also been working with the Embarc program to bring CPS students into the space and teach them about the world of comedy—extending comedy culture to the next generation. (Amy Danzer)

A smiling man wearing glasses, a black cap, a black jacket with Loyola Chicago embroidered on it, and a purple polo shirt, standing against a plain white background.

Luther Goins/Photo: Joe Mazza | brave lux

Luther Goins
Executive Director, Black Arts & Culture Alliance Chicago

In 2016, Luther Goins was set to retire, but looked at the arts landscape and said, “Not yet.” As executive director of Black Arts & Culture Alliance Chicago, Goins helps independent artists and small and midsize companies manage the harsh realities of the arts industry. “With the government as it is now, it’s even more important to keep Chicago’s Black art alive, honored and preserved. We don’t want to be erased.” Goins and BACA fulfill their mission by offering programs and events that showcase Black arts and culture and through the Black Arts Directory, an essential guide to discovering Black performing arts in Chicago and beyond. (Tristan Bruns)

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Jacob Harvey/Photo: Joe Mazza | brave lux

Jacob Harvey
Managing Artistic Director, Fine Arts Building and Studebaker Theater

The Studebaker Theater in the Fine Arts Building was out of commission for many years until 2016 when a multimillion-dollar renovation modernized its technical systems and renovated its opulent nineteenth-century architecture. “Since reopening in 2022, I truly believe that we are experiencing a new renaissance,” says Jacob Harvey. The effort has been rewarded with bookings of popular plays, including this year’s “Ava: The Secret Conversations,” written by and starring Elizabeth McGovern, and “44: The Obama Musical,” but also novel productions, like “The Empire Strips Back,” the “Star Wars” burlesque parody and the mega-popular NPR weekly news quiz show, “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!” (Tristan Bruns)

A middle-aged man with short, light brown hair wearing a grey blazer over a light-colored shirt, standing against a plain, light-colored background, looking and smiling slightly at the camera.

Rich Regan/Photo: Joe Mazza | brave lux

Rich Regan
CEO, Auditorium Theatre

As CEO of the Auditorium Theatre, Rich Regan has two goals: the restoration of the 136-year-old landmark building and the commission of diverse programming. “It’s theater for the people, and that means all people, and a variety of entertainment brings the theater to its highest utilization,” says Regan, who stresses the theater’s commitment to making art accessible to all Chicagoans. Under Regan’s direction, the theater is under constant restoration, like an upcoming major renovation of the grand, stained-glass atrium above the main balcony, which promises to reveal new aspects of the building that have not been seen by the public for generations. (Tristan Bruns)

A man with short dark hair wearing a blue suit jacket and a light pink collared shirt looks directly at the camera against a plain light background.

Jorge Valdivia/Photo: Joe Mazza | brave lux

Jorge Valdivia
Executive Director, Chicago Latino Theater Alliance

“We are an advocacy organization working toward a more equitable theater landscape,” says Jorge Valdivia, “by increasing representation, amplifying and archiving the work of Latino artists and supporting small theaters.” The success of their Destinos Chicago International Latino Theater Festival has been an economic boon to participating artists, venues and neighborhoods and is proof that productions by and about Latinos are an essential part of Chicago culture. (Tristan Bruns)

The Producers and Places
Hall of Fame

Carol Cohen and Ryan Martin
Co-Owner and Founder/CEO, The Den Theatre

Jim Corti and Tim Rater
Artistic Director and President/CEO, Paramount Theatre

Ginger Farley
Former Executive Director, Chicago Dancemakers Forum

Mick Napier
Artistic Director/Founder, Annoyance Theatre

Jeremy Wechsler
Artistic Director, Theater Wit