Gwydion Theatre’s “Ghost” with Ellie Thomson/Photo: Sam Bessler
Traditionally—and regrettably, if understandably—the flow of theater talent has been away from Chicago and the Midwest toward the West Coast, home of sunshine, seashore and the siren song of Hollywood. But Gwydion Theatre Company—a feisty, politically oriented, artistically ambitious troupe—has migrated in the opposite direction. The group took shape in Los Angeles and then trekked eastward, establishing itself in Chicago. These recent transplants represent a new generation of theater artists who have chosen this city based on its reputation as a place open to brash, bright young thespians willing to do their own thing on their own terms. And they are doing their part to reinvigorate the local storefront scene.
Gwydion’s ensemble boasts fifteen performers, backstage designers and administrators, led by a two-headed leadership team consisting of Grayson Kennedy and Tommy Thams. Both native Michiganders and friends since first grade, Kennedy and Thams split decision-making duties, with Kennedy serving as artistic director and Thams as managing director. (A third member of the ensemble, tech person Morgan Wilson, is another childhood pal.) I spoke to the pair about Gwydion’s origins, recent history and aspirations, and also how they’ve managed to keep it going and growing in a post-pandemic, tech-mediated moment that has many wondering just how bright a future live theater has.
The two come off as complementary opposites with a shared dedication to live theater and a parallel vision of its nature and purpose. Describing their relationship in terms of the grant-writing process, Thams says that Kennedy “writes with fire in his heart—I write with ice in my veins. We know what the other is going to say before he says it, and it’s always something contrary.”
In his late teens, Kennedy left his suburban Detroit hometown for Los Angeles to pursue his showbiz dreams. During his four years there, between 2019 and 2023, he studied acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, interned at the Mark Taper Forum, did some small-scale film work and basically got serious about theater. For several months during that period, he was joined by Thams, who was taking a gap year during the pandemic and ended up crashing on his couch. “It was a one-bedroom apartment with five guys total living there,” recalls Thams.
Gwydion Theatre’s “This Is Our Youth,” with Kason Chesky and Grayson Kennedy/Photo: Sam Bessler
It was during this period that the core of what would become Gwydion coalesced. “We had all done acting classes together,” says Kennedy of he, Thams and eight of their friends. “Then we started to perform informally, in people’s homes and outdoors. In the summer of 2022, we did a play, directed by me, called ‘Ascension Day,’ by Timothy Mason. It was the surprise hit of the Hollywood Fringe Festival.”
Despite this success, the group had become aware of just how hard it would be to survive and do theater in a city as dominated by the film industry as Los Angeles. “I was working three jobs, but we couldn’t raise enough money to put on the Shakespeare play we wanted to do,” says Kennedy. “Eventually, we just had enough of L.A.”
That was 2023. By that time, Kennedy and his crew, after some debate, had come up with a name for the nascent company.
Why Gwydion? “He’s a Welsh god,” Kennedy informs me. “Sort of a Loki figure—a trickster,” who figures in multiple myths where he changes shapes to accomplish his goals. As a sort of actor who uses his performance skills to interact with the real world, Gwydion seemed the perfect emblem of what Kennedy and his compeers wished to create: “a theater for tangible change.”
But where to go? Los Angeles had proven too expensive and star-focused, while New York seemed too commercial and individualistic. Chicago was the obvious choice for Kennedy, who grew up going to see Chicago plays. “Chicago had an allure in terms of the theater I like,” he says, meaning the pared-down, ensemble-oriented, physically intense work that has come to be associated with local storefront companies.
Gwydion Theatre’s “Lower Depths,” wiith Nastia Goddard and Tommy Thams/Photo: Sam Bessler
Three years ago, Kennedy made the move, along with Wilson, Caleb Petre and Ellie Thomson, all of whom are still part of the ensemble. Thams followed along in a part-time role, first heading back to Ohio to finish his college degree in musical theater. He has since settled permanently in Chicago, co-managing Gwydion while also performing elsewhere.
In addition to choosing a name and a destination, the troupe was developing its philosophy. Says Thams: “We pick plays in the zeitgeist of people our age”—i.e., twentysomethings. “It’s stuff that speaks to us. If there’s a throughline in the work we do, it’s that a lot of it has to do with class and inequality.”
In regard to form, the Gwydion mission statement cites Jerzy Grotowski’s theory of “poor theater.” Says Thams, “It means a focus on acting-centered theater, rather than spectacle. My long-term hedge is that, as A.I. grows, people will feel more of a need to see humans being humans. I hope that people will gravitate toward live theater as the media become increasingly artificial. There’s a need to feel connection and community.”
Gwydion Theatre Company’s “Zoo Story,” with Bob Webb and Grayson Kennedy/Photo: Caleb Petre
Gwydion made its Chicago debut with a production of “Zoo Story,” Edward Albee’s one-act two-hander, with Kennedy playing the role of Jerry, a lost soul and tragic antihero.
“It was a resounding artistic success,” says Kennedy of the ultra-low-budget production in a tiny upstairs space at the Greenhouse theater complex on Lincoln Avenue. But no one had yet heard of the spanking new troupe, which translated into small crowds. “One night fourteen people showed up—we threw a party afterward,” recalls Kennedy. “Still, the show gave us confidence. We realized we can put up walls, we can move people around on stage, we can do this.” The handful of good notices for “Zoo Story” (including this writer’s) created a bit of buzz and a gradually expanding audience.
Other shows produced during the theater’s first three seasons include “Perfect Pie” by “Crackwalker” writer Judith Thompson and several classic American and European works, including Clifford Odets’ “Waiting for Lefty,” Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman,” Henrik Ibsen’s “Ghosts” and Maxim Gorky’s “The Lower Depths.” On a lighter but still edgy note, the troupe has mounted Italian Nobelist Dario Fo’s antically anti-capitalist farce “Can’t Pay! Won’t Pay!” and—together with the Chopin Theatre—a Theatre of the Absurd Festival, which offered a break from the naturalist style that dominates the local stage.
According to Kennedy, Gwydion’s formula is “something new, a Chicago premiere; something old, a classic; and something borrowed, a collaboration.” While he doesn’t mention “something blue,” it is true that most of the work presented thus far has a seriousness of intention, offering not just juicy roles, but also a bracing dose of social criticism.
Gwydion Theatre Company members Caleb Petre, Morgan Wilson, Grayson Kennedy, Tommy Thams and Ellie Thomson
As for the future, the five-year plan includes finding a dedicated venue somewhere on the North Side, a cozy space of sixty seats or so that Gwydion can call home, and maybe an Actors’ Equity contract further down the road. “We want to be here, doing Chicago theater,” declares Kennedy. “It’s the best city in the world, with an amazing audience that feels a sense of responsibility to the art form. In L.A. people go to plays to see capital-A Actors, so star-based theaters work. In Chicago, people go to the theater to see plays, so there has to be quality in every aspect of the work, including writing and design.”
In some sense, Kennedy wants to move Chicago theater both backward—to what he sees as its dynamic, risk-taking heyday—and forward into honestly confronting the conflicts and pressures of our own fraught moment. The company’s mission statement announces its desire to be a “platform for our ensemble’s generation.” It’s a tall order, but also an inspiring goal, motivating the troupe’s leadership duo to put in grinding sixty-hour weeks during productions on top of their day jobs, other acting gigs and personal lives.
Kennedy admits he’s obsessed by theater: “Look, to be in theater you have to be kind of nutty,” he says. “The minute I get three days off, I start thinking about what’s next. I love theater because it’s the most penetrative art form. You can’t escape its power—you can’t not get something out of it. It’s important—that’s why I feel it’s my responsibility to be part of this community.”
Adds Thams: “We’re both willing to put Gwydion first—we’re serious and will take it as far as it will go. We’re trying to make it an institution.” The fact that these high-energy, big-dreaming young people living in L.A. chose Chicago as their home is testament to the city’s storied theatrical legacy. Their success would help attract others like them, ensuring a bright future.
Published in the print edition of the July-August 2026 issue, with the headline “Youth Movement: Gwydion Reclaims the Risk-Taking Heritage of Chicago Storefront Theater.”
