Rob Lindley (Director) is excited to return to Northlight after directing the Jeff Award-winning Songs for Nobodies in 2021. Other directing credits include Songs for Nobodies (People’s Light Theatre); Far From Heaven, How to Succeed in Business…., Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill (Porchlight Music Theatre); and 50 Shades!: The Music Parody (Off-Broadway and National Tour). Rob also directs many cabaret evenings from intimate club engagements to large-scale galas for many Chicago organizations including Court Theatre, Porchlight Theatre, Northlight Theatre and the Chicago Humanities Festival. As an actor, Northlight audiences might remember Rob from his performances in Andy Warhol in Iran (Jeff Nomination) and Funnyman. Other acting credits include: Monsieur André in the National Tour of Phantom of the Opera; Fun Home (Victory Gardens); The Sound of Music (Marriott Theatre); The Tempermentals (About Face Theatre); Candide (Goodman); Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, The Secret Garden, Angels in America, Caroline or Change, James Joyce’s The Dead, Carousel (Court Theatre); and Oh Coward! (Writers Theatre) for which he won a Jeff Award for Best Actor in a Revue. This summer Rob will curate and host Mancini at 100, his second concert at Ravinia with the CSO, starring Norm Lewis, Karen Mason, and Jessie Mueller. IG: @RobLindley

Hamdi Dehghani is an Iranian director, playwright, and actor. He is proud of his past collaborations with Northlight Theatre, serving as the Artistic Fellow, performing as an actor in Andy Warhol in Iran, and now as a director. Select directing credits: English (upcoming, Goodman Theatre/ Guthrie Theatre); Baba (Amphibian Stage); Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo (WIRTZ Center of Performing Arts); Reportage of a Room, Story in a Box, Picnic (Collectively devised at Grass Studio Theatre), Eurydice, A Moment of Silence (Northwestern University); Sohrab’s Transgression (Entezami Theater/Iran). From the Environs of Milad (Iranshahr Theater/ Iran), Nathan and Tabileth (Khourshid Hall/ Iran). Hamid holds an MFA in Directing from Northwestern University.

Sherry directed the premiere of The Porch on Windy Hill at The Ivoryton Playhouse (Connecticut Critics nomination: Best Director). Off-Broadway and Regional directing and choreography credits include: The Bourgeois Gentleman, The Million Dollar Quartet, Pump Boys and Dinettes, Hank Williams: Lost Highway, Stand By Your Man, Stars in Your Eyes, Almost Heaven, Hopscotch and Anything Goes. In 2009, she directed the first regional theater production of Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash at North Carolina’s Flat Rock Playhouse. She has directed many subsequent productions around the US, as well as internationally — at Vienna’s English Theatre and The Deutsches Theater in Munich. As Associate Director of the critically acclaimed Woody Sez: The Life and Music of Woody Guthrie, Sherry has staged productions of the musical in Chicago at Northlight Theatre (Joseph Jefferson Award nomination: Best Musical Revue), Washington D.C. (Helen Hayes Award nomination: Best Musical), Florida, Pennsylvania, and its first National UK Tour.

BJ JONES is in his 25th season as Artistic Director of Northlight. Mr. Jones is a two-time Joseph Jefferson Award Winning actor and a three-time nominated director. He’s directed the world premieres of Charm (Jeff Award Best New Play), The Outgoing Tide (Jeff Award Best New Play), White Guy on the Bus (Jeff Nominated Best New Play), Chapatti (Nominated Jeff Award Best New Play), Better Late, and Rounding Third. Notably, he has directed productions of Outside Mullingar, Grey Gardens, The Price, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, and The Beauty Queen of Leenane. As a producer he has guided the three world premieres of The Christmas at Pemberley Trilogy (Jeff Award Best New Play), Shining Lives, The Last Five Years, and Studs Terkel’s ‘The Good War’. Additional directorial credits include Pitmen Painters (Timeline, Jeff Award Best Production); 100 Saints You Should Know (Steppenwolf); Glengarry Glen Ross (Alliance Theatre, Atlanta, Suzi Bass nomination Best Director); The Lady with All the Answers (Cherry Lane, New York); Animal Crackers (Baltimore Center Stage); Three Musketeers, The Tempest, Twelfth Night, Much Ado About Nothing (Utah Shakespeare Festival), and four productions at the Galway International Arts Festival. As a performer, he has appeared at Northlight, Goodman, Steppenwolf, Court, and other theatres throughout Chicago. Film/TV credits include The Fugitive, Body Double, Law and Order: Criminal Intent, Early Edition, Cupid, and Turks, among others.

Todd has designed 28 productions for Steppenwolf. Broadway credits include August Osage County (Tony Award), The Motherfucker with the Hat (Tony nomination), Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Of Mice and Men (Filmed by National Theatre Live), This is Our Youth and Fish in the Dark. Upcoming Broadway: Straight White Men. Off-Broadway credits include Red Light Winter (Barrow Street), Domesticated (Lincoln Center) and Qualms (Playwrights Horizons). Designer for six years for Big Apple Circus. International credits: August Osage County (London & Australia), The Beauty Queen of Leenane (Ireland), Nice Fish, (London). Regional includes: Goodman (artistic partner), Guthrie, Berkeley Rep and many others. Museum exhibitions include “Mythbusters: The Explosive Exhibition” and “The International Exhibition of Sherlock Holmes.” Awards include Olivier, Helen Hayes, Ovation, Garland, Jefferson, Bay Area Outer Critics Circle, and Michael Merritt. He is a professor at Northwestern University and a graduate of Yale Drama.

Izumi Inaba (Costume Designer). Off-Broadway: How To Defend Yourself (New York Theatre Workshop). Selected Regional Works: King of the Yees (Goodman, Kirk Douglas); Animal Farm (Milwaukee Rep, Baltimore Center Stage); Dishwasher Dreams (Writers, Old Globe, Merrimack Repartory); An American Dream (Lyric Opera, Kentucky Opera); Clue (Indiana Repartory, Syracuse Stage). Tour: Million Dollar Quartet Christmas (Evan Bernardin Productions). A member of United Scenic Artists Local USA 829.

Heather returns to Northlight where she previously designed You Can’t Take It With You, Mothers and Sons and Faceless. Ms. Gilbert’s lighting designs have been seen on many Chicago stages including Hypocrites, Goodman, Court, Steppenwolf, Steep, Victory Gardens, Remy Bumppo, Chicago Children’s Theatre, Writers, Timeline, About Face and countless storefronts. Regional credits include Oregon Shakespeare, American Repertory, Kansas City Repertory, Milwaukee Repertory, Huntington, Williamstown, Alley, Berkeley Repertory and Actors Theatre of Louisville. International credits include Almeida in London and Singapore Repertory. Heather was a recipient of the NEA/TCG Career Development Grant and the 3Arts Award. Heather serves as the Head of Lighting Design at Columbia College Chicago, and received her MFA at the Theatre School at DePaul. She is a member of The Hypocrites community.

Andre has designed the Broadway productions of Metamorphoses, I Am My Own Wife and 33 Variations (Drama Desk Award nomination) as well as the world premiere of The Clean House at Yale Repertory and Lincoln Center. Based in Chicago, his work has appeared on most of the city’s stages including Northlight (Shining Lives with Amanda Dehnert), Goodman, Steppenwolf, Court, and Lookingglass where he is an associate artist. He has composed music and designed sound for theaters around the U.S., most frequently at the Oregon and California Shakespeare Festivals, Berkeley Repertory, Arena Stage, American Conservatory Theater, Seattle Repertory, La Jolla Playhouse and Center Theater Group. Choral works include: Winesburg, Ohio,Eastland, Whitman, Undone (with Ben Sussman), and Paris By Night (with Amy Warren).

Forrest Gregor is thrilled to be making his Northlight debut! Recent design credits include: Tiger Style! (Writers Theatre), Campaigns, Inc. and The Chinese Lady (TimeLine Theatre); Eurydice, Top Girls, Peerless, Bajo Las Estrellas (DePaul University). Other credits include Sanctuaries: A New Jazz Chamber Opera (Assoc. designer/A2) at Third Angle New Music in Portland, OR where he is also an assistant audio engineer at Open Field Recording. Forrest is currently pursuing a BFA in Sound Design from The Theatre School at DePaul University where he will be graduating in June. Visit forrestgregor.com.

Mike Tutaj has designed projections and sound for theatre since 2002. In Chicago, his work has been seen on the stages of TimeLine, The Goodman, Steppenwolf, Chicago Shakespeare, Victory Gardens, Court, American Theater Company, Teatro Vista, The Hypocrites, Silk Road Theatre Project, and many more. Off-Broadway and Regional credits include The York Theatre, Madison Repertory Theatre Company, and Theatre Squared. Mike is an Artistic Associate with TimeLine Theatre Company and Company Member of Barrel of Monkeys Productions.

Rita Vreeland has been a frequent stage manager at Northlight since 2007, with Birthday Candles marking her 42nd production here. Other favorite recent projects include Ernest Shackleton Loves Me at Porchlight Music Theatre, A Christmas Carol at Drury Lane, The Luckiest at Raven Theatre, three years of The Polar Express Train Ride, and productions at Mercury Theatre, Victory Gardens, Route 66 Theatre Company, Theatre at the Center, and The Galway International Arts Festival in Galway, Ireland. She is the proud wife of actor Tom Hickey and mom to ten-year-old Charlie, and this year she celebrated her 22nd anniversary as a member of Actors’ Equity Association. Thank you for supporting live theatre!