About Stage 773

Mission, Programming, Sponsors, Staff & Jobs

• Past, Present & Future

  Brian Posen, Stage 773’s artistic director, had a vision. It was to create a multi-complex theater that is welcoming, nurturing and collaborative. People have witnessed Brian’s vision on a smaller scale through the Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival, which he has produced annually since 2000 and has grown to be the largest festival in the nation. This vision became reality after years of working with the Stage 773 board to locate quality space on the north side of Chicago. In June of 2010 the Stage 773 opened its doors as the new off-loop theater on Belmont Avenue. With this opening came new friendly faces, a fresh new outlook on off-loop theater and a plan to proliferate theater culture throughout Chicago. Having just undergone a massive renovation (website included!) in mid-2011 Stage 773 is now proud to open our doors as a four-theater complex with the ability to host everything from low-budget black-box productions to the largest sketch comedy festival in the nation. As if that wasn't enough, we have even more up our sleeves for the not-too-distant future. Come check out our new space and play with us!

• Our Programming

  Just because we're spending our 9-5 running a beautiful theater complex doesn't mean that we don't like to play (pun intended) in our spare time! We also have our fare share of creative outlets housed mainly here at Stage 773.

  The Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival - The Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival, or "Sketchfest" for those in the know, is the nation's largest sketch comedy festival which features over 150 performances by more than 120 local, national and international sketch comedy groups over just two weekends in January of every year since 2001. For more information on Sketchfest please visit www.chicagosketchfest.com.

  Liminality - Liminality Theatre is the threshold between Columbia College productions and the professional Chicago Theater community. By engaging new talent with seasoned professionals, Liminality gives the next generation of theater makers a forum for which to begin articulating their craft.

  About Liminality Theatre: [lim-uh-nal-i-tee] (n) phonetic thing is a psychological, neurological, or metaphysical subjective state, conscious or unconscious, of being on the "threshold" of or between two different existential planes.The best way to learn is to do. Liminality Theatre engages recent graduates of Columbia College Theater by giving them the space and resources to make theater. Stage 773's focus is to nurture young artists and offer work experience right out of college. www.liminalitytheatre.org
  Click here to apply.

  The Cupid Players – Now in its 9th year and selling out every weekend The Cupid Players, an all musical sketch comedy troupe is what Chicago Sketch is all about. “Directed by Brian Posen (who also bangs away on a keyboard) and populated by a very young cast, Cupid Has a Heart On: A Musical Guide to Relationships is an all-original collection of funny songs about that most hackneyed of improv subjects: relationships. Sung with gusto and multipart harmony. And when you add some very clever lyrics and a veritable plethora of catchy melodies, that makes for a show well worth watching." - Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune. For more information on the Cupid Players visit
  www.cupidplayers.com.

  SMUSH! - Only Stage773 can take Chicago’s funniest performers and SMUSH! them together onto one stage. SMUSH! is a monthly orgy of sketch comedy, improvisation, stand-up and variety acts, brought to you by the producers of the Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival. Get ready to get SMUSHED!
  www.stage773.com/smush

  Bri-Ko - In a Briko performance, the simplest tasks become inventive adventures of clowning, gags and gadgetry. The three performers enact silent scenes in which easy processes are made as difficult and elaborate as possible. The performances combine sketch, acting and clowning. Briko’s appeal is universal. Anyone of almost any age, speaking any language, with any cultural background can understand and appreciate the show. The silence breaks down any and all barriers. There are no tricks, sarcasm, or secret messages – just fun! During the creation and rehearsal process, the ensemble enjoys a sense of play. Their sense of adventure, discovery and fun comes through to the audience. Though the scenes are structured, they are jam-packed with silliness.

• Sponsors:

  Sponsors are a very vital part of theater and Stage 773 is glad to honor our amazing sponsors:

• Our Staff:

  Administrative

  Brian Posen - Artistic Director - PerformInk has called Brian Posen one of the most influential people in the Chicago theater scene & New City named Brian as one of the top 30 Players who really perform in Chicago.

  Brian is the Artistic Director of Stage 773, Street Tempo Theatre & Liminality Theatre. He in the founder and Executive Producer of The Annual Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival ("A raging Lakeview comedic beast" -Chicago Tribune), as well as the founder and director of The Cupid Players ("Best Sketch Comedy Group in Chicago"-Chicago Reader). Posen has been active in the Chicago theater scene for over 20 years as an actor, producer, director, and teacher.

  Brian’s past theater company has received several awards including ‘Jeff’ and ‘After Dark’ awards. He is program head at the Second City Training Center, where he has been teaching improvisation since 1993, as well as teaching at Columbia College Chicago since 1994. Brian has also taught in countless number of institutions, including Actors Theater in Louisville and Steppenwolf Theater. He has performed in and directed hundreds of productions. Brian received his MFA in Acting from the University of Illinois. He is a member of SAG and AFTRA. Brian is also an ordained Minister.

  Jill Valentine - Director of Operations - Jill served as Executive Director of Lukaba Productions since 2004 before taking the position of Director of Operations for STAGE 773. She manages and performs in The Cupid Players, an all musical sketch comedy troupe that lays claim to the longest running sketch comedy show in iO' Theater’s (formerly Improv Olympic) 25-year history. She also co-runs the Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival, the largest sketch comedy festival in the nation. Prior to joining STAGE 773, Jill spent 5 years working in inside and outside sales in Chicago. She can also be seen doing musical improv with iO's Deltones, vamping it up with her burlesque inspired sketch comedy group Off Off Broadzway or directing/producing new sketch comedy projects throughout the city. Jill is thrilled to have a home at STAGE 773.

  Brian Peterlin - Director of Facilities - Brian Peterlin, a graduate of Devry, has been technical director for productions all around Chicago for the last 11 years. Brian is a self-taught genius in the booth. You can see him in a variety of theaters hanging from ladders or air guitaring his beer to Dr. Feelgood. You can also see Brian in the silent sketch comedy group Bri-Ko, which is quietly kicking ass. Brian has been the technical director of Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival for ten years - where he has teched over 1000 shows. He would like to thank his wife Jill and partner-in-crime Posen. Stand back I'm about to do Science!

  Jack Short – Director of Grant and Tenant Services - Jack oversees all tenant services, including marketing, subscriptions, business and ticketing. Jack also is the grant writer for Stage 773. Previously Jack ran the development and customer service office at Apple Tree Theater in Highland Park. Jack has served on the board at Redtwist Theatre in Chicago, and a Stage Left Company member emeritus. An accomplished musician Jack can be found playing at Stage 773 or various other theaters in the Chicago area. Jack delights in being part of the Stage 773 family.

  Melissa McNeal - Director of Business Development - The newest member of the Stage 773 staff, Melissa previously served as the Director of the White House Internship Program, where she helped 700 bright, young minds from across the country hitch their wagons to their dreams in seventeen offices throughout the Executive Office of the President. Her responsibilities included recruiting and evaluating thousands of internship applicants per year; coordinating programs and curricula with 100 White House staffers; overseeing 2,000 hours of service projects; and developing programs for interns’ enrichment, mentorship and professional development. She initially served as Assistant Director in the Office of Presidential Correspondence, recruiting 1,400 volunteers and managing their 78,000 hours of work in support of many daily operations of President Obama's administration in its first year. She also supervised the White House Comment Line, an outlet for 500,000 phone calls annually. Melissa was drawn back to the Midwest, settling in Chicago to nourish her creative side and cultivate the arts--a passion she began 12 years ago as a public school music teacher. A native of Wisconsin whose heart belongs to Chicago, she loves both cheese curds and Walter Payton in equal measure.

  Emily Claibourne - Resident Stage Manager/Tech Assistant - Emily Claibourne is the Resident Stage Manager/Tech Assistant at Stage 773. She has also been a stage manager for the Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival for the past 6 years and counting and performed for four. You can see her around the city folkin' it up with her comedy partner in crime in Gretchen and Regina: A Novelty Folk Band. And at 25 she can proudly say thanks to Stage 773, "I found my dream job!"

  Nancy Farnand - Box Office Assistant and Ticket Donation Coordinator - Nancy assists in the customer service and reporting areas of the Stage 773 box office. Nancy also handles all ticket donation requests. Nancy is happy to be home, at Stage 773.

• Board of Directors:

  Laura Michaud - Chair - Laura Michaud, the owner of The Michaud Group, is one of the country’s leading business experts specializing in family - owned businesses. She works with clients on succession and transition phases for privately held corporations. As a third generation family member, Laura spent 20 years at Beltone Electronics Corporation (the hearing aid company) prior to starting her own firm. At Beltone she held the title of Executive VP of Sales and Marketing where she was responsible for international and domestic sales, customer service, marketing and ran their in-house advertising agency. Beltone was sold in 1997 after which Laura served on its board of directors. Laura holds a Bachelor of Arts from Washington University in mathematics and a Masters in Business from Loyola University. Her not-for-profit activity includes serving as Chairman of the Board for Lukaba Productions, Vice President on the board of Elmhurst Children’s Theater and membership chairman for Standing Room Only (a not for profit theater support group for York High School Drama). In addition, she is on multiple committees for Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and is secretary/treasurer for the Posen Foundation.

  Alex Meyer - Treasurer - Alex Meyer is Vice President of Global Field Operations for SAP, one of the world’s largest software companies. Previously, Mr. Meyer spent much of his career in management consulting serving major corporations across a broad range of industries and strategic services with multinational management consulting firm, Deloitte and in private practice. He was also previously Director of Operations for Hollywood based House of Blues, Inc. Alex serves as Chairman of the Harvard Business School Alumni Entrepreneurship Council of Chicago and the HBS Alumni New Venture Competition for the U.S. Central Region and sits on the board of the HBS Club of Chicago. He is an officer of the board of Chicago’s Stage 773 Theater, the Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival, and the Cupid Players Theater Company. He has served on the executive board of the National Organization for Business & Engineering (NOBE) and as an advisor to the Board of the Society for Business & Management in Engineering at the University of Illinois (SBME), which he founded. Mr. Meyer also continues to be involved with a variety of entrepreneurship and innovation programs at the University of Chicago, Northwestern University, and the University of Illinois. He holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois, an MBA from the Harvard Business School, and several delightful years of theatrical education from the Second City Conservatory.

  Brian Posen - Secretary - See: Brian Posen: Artistic Director.

  Michael Gellman - Michael Gellman was a Resident Company member of The Second City Chicago for three years and he has directed at The Second City since 1980. He was nominated for Outstanding Director for the national Dora Mavor Moore Award in Canada and the Joseph Jefferson Award in Chicago, and he won the Detroit Free Press Award for Best Comedy. Michael served as Artistic Director of Chicago Theatre Works and Wavelength and as an Artistic Associate of Organic Theater. In addition to The Second City Training Center, Michael has taught at Columbia College, Northern Illinois University and Artistic New Directions.

  Gayle Grindley

  Charles Jesser - As a native of Chicago, Mr. Jesser graduated after liberal arts and business studies from DePaul University and went on to form the accounting firm of Jesser And Farber, LLP which focuses principally on income and estate tax planning, preparation and representation for individuals involved in the securities industry, real estate development and related closely held businesses. In addition, in order to fulfill the needs of clients seeking to structure or restructure their business operations, Mr. Jesser formed Horizon Business Advisors, LLC to serve the needs of both for profit and non profit organizations alike. On the charitable side, Mr. Jesser is currently Chairman of The Board of Arden Shore Child and Family Services which was formed in 1898 and has, under Mr. Jesser's leadership, been reformatted to strengthen its business acumen. Additionally Mr. Jesser is the original organizer and Founding Trustee of the William Guy Forbeck Research Foundation which, since 1984, has established itself a world recognized leader in the fight against childhood oncology.

  Steve Miller - Steven N. Miller is principal and co-founder of the venture capital firm Origin Ventures. He serves on the boards of three companies: VHT, GrubHub, and Shoutlet. In addition to Stage 773, Steve is an active board member with several not-for-profit organizations including: i.c.stars, which provides inner-city young adults with technology training and leadership development; US Empowered, which furnishes urban students with the resources, support and networks that make higher education a reality; Victory Gardens Theater; Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago; and the Better Government Association. He is a member of the Economic Club of Chicago. Steve received a B.S. degree in Business Administration/Marketing from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1987, where he now serves on the Dean's Business Council and the board of the Hillel Foundation. He also provides the funding for the Steven N. Miller Entrepreneurial Scholarships and the Diane & Steven N. Miller Endowed Professorship in Business at the University of Illinois.

  Aditi Patel

  Quinton Snodgrass - Quinton Snodgrass is Vice President, managing the Midwest region for buildOn, a non-profit organization that empowers urban U.S. high school students through intensive after school youth service programs and international partnerships to build schools in developing countries. Prior to his work with buildOn Quinton developed special giving programs for CARE USA and led CARE's Annual Fund response to the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, raising over $4M in contributions and delivering critical emergency and long term aid. During his time in Chicago he also managed roughly $25M in annual campaign funds with the United Way of Metropolitan Chicago, and is proud to have worked with some of Chicago's most committed corporate philanthropists. Personally committed to service and community investment, he now seeks to help Stage 773 develop new support to rapidly meet the needs of emerging artists in Chicago's theatre community. Quinton holds a Bachelor of Science from Butler University in Business and Marketing. When not at work or on stage, he is busy with his wife Abigail, and their soon to arrive baby girl, Briana Posen Snodgrass.

  Jill Valentine - See: Jill Valentine: Director of Operations.

  Brian Walter - Brian Walter is an award winning Senior Project Architect and Project Designer for Amstadter Architects in Chicago. A licensed architect with nearly 25 years of experience he has been involved in the design and construction of projects ranging in cost from $2 million to $100 million dollars. He received a B.S.A.S. from the University of Illinois in Urbana and a M. Arch. from the University of Colorado at Denver. In addition to serving on the Board, he is a board member of the Bucktown Triangle Association, a local community organization and was a founding member of Beyond the Horizon, a not-for-profit dedicated to providing disadvantaged inner city wilderness experiences in Colorado. He is a graduate of the both the Conservatory and sketch comedy writing programs of The Second City..

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