A Red Orchid Theatre

A Red Orchid Theatre is located in the Old Town district of Chicago, founded in 1993. Kirsten Fitzgerald has been the artistic director since 2008.^[1]

A Red Orchid Theatre

Formation	1993
Type	Theatre group
Purpose	Storefront Theatre
Location	Chicago, Illinois
Artistic director(s)	Kirsten Fitzgerald
Notable members	Michael Shannon Natalie West
Website	aredorchidtheatre.org

Notable productions

Notable productions include a revival of Sam Shepard's Simpatico^[2] and Eugène Ionesco's The Killer,^[3] Notable world premieres include Tracy Letts' Bug and Craig Wright's Mistakes Were Made. A Red Orchid is also known for an experimental 1996 production of Arthur Kopit's The Questioning of Nick starring Nick Offerman, Michael Shannon, and Guy Van Swearingen that was performed three times in succession with the actors switching roles each time.^[4][5]

In the summer of 2014, the company took its premiere production of The Opponent by ensemble member Brett Neveu to New York's 59E59 Theaters with the original cast (ensemble members Guy Van Swearingen and Kamal Angelo Bolden), director (ensemble member Karen Kessler) and designers (Joey Wade, Myron Elliott, Joe Court, John Tovar and ensemble member Mike Durst).^[6]

In Fall 2017, McCarter Theatre Center presented A Red Orchid's 2013 production of Simpatico. This production featured much of the original cast and crew including Michael Shannon.

Ensemble members (selection)

• Brett Neveu
• Danny McCarthy
• Levi Holloway
• Michael Shannon
• Natalie West

Awards and nominations

MacArthur Award

In 2016, A Red Orchid Theatre became the recipient of the MacArthur Foundation's MacArthur Award for Creative & Effective Institutions. This MacArthur Award included a $200,000 grant to be used to "establish a cash reserve and implement its audience development plan that includes new marketing and audience engagement strategies."^[7]

Joseph Jefferson Awards

The company has received many Joseph Jefferson Awards, awards honoring Chicago theatre.^[8]

Non-Equity

Year	Work	Category	Artist	Result
1997	Canus Lunis Baloonis	Ensemble		Nominated
		New Work	Christian Stolte	Won

Equity

Year	Work	Category	Artist	Result
1999	The Cut	Scenic Design	Stephanie Nelson	Won
		Sound Design	Joseph Fosco	Nominated
2000	Mr. Bundy	Actress in a Supporting Role	Kirsten Fitzgerald	Nominated
2002	Bug	Actor in a Principal Role	Michael Shannon	Nominated
		Actress in a Principal Role	Kate Buddeke	Nominated
		Sound Design	Joseph Fosco	Nominated
2006	The Sea Horse	Actor in a Principal Role - Play	Guy Van Swearingen	Nominated
		Actress in a Principal Role - Play	Kirsten Fitzgerald	Won
		Scenic Design	Grant Sabin	Nominated
	Kimberly Akimbo	Actor in a Supporting Role - Play	Steve Haggard	Nominated
2008	Fatboy	Costume Design - Midsize	Karen Kawa	Nominated
2009	Pumpgirl	Actress in a Principal Role - Play	Kirsten Fitzgerald	Nominated
	The Unseen	Lighting Design - Midsize	Matthew Gawryk	Nominated
		Sound Design - Midsize	Joe Court	Nominated
2010	Abigail's Party	Production Play - Midsize		Nominated
		Ensemble		Nominated
		Director - Play	Shade Murray	Nominated
		Actress in a Principal Role - Play	Kirsten Fitzgerald	Nominated
		Actress in a Supporting Role - Play	Natalie West	Won
	Mistakes Were Made	New Work	Craig Wright	Nominated
		Actor in a Principal Role	Michael Shannon	Nominated
2011	The New Electric Ballroom	Sound Design - Midsize	Joseph Fosco	Nominated
2012	The Butcher of Baraboo	Actress in a Supporting Role - Play	Natalie West	Won
	Megacosm	Projections/ Media Design	Seth Henrikson & Oddmachine	Nominated
2013	In A Garden	Actor in a Principal Role - Play	Rom Barkhordar	Nominated
	Simpatico	Production Play - Midsize		Nominated
		Actor in a Principal Role - Play	Michael Shannon	Won
		Actor in a Principal Role - Play	Guy Van Swearingen	Nominated
	The Opponent	Actor in a Principal Role - Play	Kamal Angelo Bolden	Nominated
		Fight / Movement Direction	John Tovar	Won
2014	Trevor	Actor in a Principal Role - Play	Lawrence Grimm	Nominated
2015	Accidentally Like A Martyr	Scenic Design - Midsize	John Holt	Won
2016	Pilgrim's Progress	Production Play - Midsize		Nominated
	The Mutilated	Production Play - Midsize		Nominated
		Actress in a Principal Role - Play	Jennifer Engstrom	Nominated
		Original Music in a Play	Brando Triantafillou	Nominated
2017	The Room	Sound Design - Midsize	Heath Hays	Nominated
2018	Traitor	Production Play - Midsize		Won
		Ensemble - Play		Nominated
		New Adaptation	Brett Neveu	Won
		Director - Play - Midsize	Michael Shannon	Won
2019	Small Mouth Sounds	Ensemble - Play		Nominated
		Sound Design - Midsize	Jeffrey Levin	Nominated
2020	Grey House	Production - Play - Midsize		Nominated
		Ensemble - Play		Nominated
		New Work	Levi Holloway	Won
		Director - Play - Midsize	Shade Murray	Nominated
		Scenic Design - Midsize	Kurtis Boetcher	Nominated
		Sound Design - Midsize	Jeffrey Levin	Won
		Lighting Design - Midsize	Mike Durst	Won
	Do You Feel Anger?	Performer in a Supporting Role - Play	Sadieh Rifai	Nominated
2022	The Moors	Production - Play - Midsize		Won
		Ensemble - Play		Nominated
		Director - Play - Midsize	Kirsten Fitzgerald	Won
		Performer in a Supporting Role - Play	Jennifer Engstrom	Nominated
		Costume Design - Midsize	Myron Elliott-Cisneros	Won
		Sound Design - Midsize	Jeffrey Levin	Won
		Lighting Design - Midsize	K Story	Won
	Last Hermanos	Fight Choreography	Dave Gonzalez	Nominated
2023	Is God Is	Production - Play - Midsize		Nominated
		Director - Play - Midsize	Marti Gobel	Nominated
		Performer in a Supporting Role - Play	Karen Aldridge	Won
		Lighting Design - Midsize	Levi Wilkins	Nominated
		Fight Choreography	Jyreika Guest	Nominated
2024	Revolution	New Work	Brett Neveu	Nominated
		Performer in a Supporting Role - Play	Natalie West	Nominated
	In Quietness	Performer in a Supporting Role - Play	Alexandra Chopson	Won
	Turret	Production - Play - Midsize		Won
		New Work	Levi Holloway	Nominated
		Director - Play - Midsize	Levi Holloway	Nominated
		Performer in a Principal Role - Play	Travis A. Knight	Nominated
		Performer in a Principal Role - Play	Michael Shannon	Nominated
		Scenic Design - Midsize	Grant Sabin	Won
		Sound Design - Midsize	Jeffrey Levin	Nominated
		Lighting Design - Midsize	Mike Durst	Won
		Original Music in a Play	Jeffrey Levin	Won
2025	The Cave	New Work	Sadieh Rifai	Nominated
	Six Men Dressed Like Joseph Stalin	Sound Design - Midsize	Angela Joy Baldasare	Nominated
		Lighting Design - Midsize	Levi J. Wilkins	Nominated