Northlight: Lonely Planet (world premiere). Recent Chicago: Bloomsday (Remy Bumppo), On Clover Road (American Blues), Mad Beat Hip & Gone (Promethean). Recent Premieres: This Random World, Dracula: Mina’s Quest, The Great Beyond and The Ghost of Splinter Cove. Off-Broadway: Fiction (Roundabout Theatre Company). Regional: Thirty-plus plays and adaptations produced at America’s most prominent resident theatres. International: Productions in over twenty foreign countries. Translated into a dozen languages. Awards: Steinberg New Play Citation (Bloomsday); Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays Award (Fiction, Still Life with Iris); PEN USA West Award in Drama (Lonely Planet); Edgar Award® for Best Mystery Play (Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure). Other: In 2019, Dietz was once again named one of the 20 most-produced playwrights in America. He currently serves as a Dramatists Guild “Traveling Master” – teaching workshops in playwriting, story-making and collaboration around the country. He and his wife, playwright Allison Gregory, divide their time between Seattle and Austin.

Select Chicago credits include: Endgame, Ivywild, Six Characters in Search of an Author (The Hypocrites); The Magic Play, Feast as part of a collaborative directing effort with The Albany Park Theatre Project (Goodman); Lord of the Flies (Steppenwolf); On Clover Road (American Blues Theater). Halena is an Artistic Associate with the Neo-Futurists where she directed Comfortable Shoes, Pop/Waits, 44 Plays for 44 Presidents, Burning Bluebeard, Daredevils, Daredevils Hamlet and Fake Lake. Regional: The Magic Play (The Olney Theater Center, Actor’s Theater of Louisville, Portland Center Stage and Syracuse Stage), Love Song (Nashville Story Garden), and Secretary (Nashville Rep’s Ingram New Works Festival). Halena has been nominated for Jefferson awards for Best Supporting Actress, Best Direction, and Best Production and is a recipient of the prestigious 3Arts award. She is an assistant professor at Northwestern University and proud member of SDC.

Lizzie is delighted to be designing at Northlight for the first time. Chicago Credits include The Magic Play (Goodman); Lord of the Flies, The Book Thief, Blacktop Sky, and See What I Wanna See (Steppenwolf); Burning Bluebeard (The Ruffians); On Clover Road (American Blues); Endgame, Ivywild and Six Characters in Search of an Author (The Hypocrites); PopWaits and 44 plays for 44 Presidents (The Neo-Futurists). Regional Credits include Breath of Life (Portland Center Stage); The Magic Play (Actors Theatre of Louisville, Portland Center Stage, and Olney Theatre Center). Lizzie received her Bachelors of Architecture from the University of Notre Dame, and MFA in Theatrical Design from The University of Texas and Austin.

Northlight: The Mousetrap, You Can’t Take It With You, Charm, Faceless, The Mother of the Maid, Mansfield Park, How A Boy Falls. Regional: Dishwasher Dreams (Writers Theatre, Hartford Stage), Fahrenheit 451 (Indiana Repartory Theatre); Million Dollar Quartet Christmas (Evan Bernardin Productions, The Phoenix Theatre Company); Pride and Prejudice (Long Wharf Theatre); King of The Yees (Goodman Theatre, Kirk Douglas Theatre); Cambodian Rock Band (Victory Gardens Theater, City Theatre Company, Merrimack Repertory); The Who And The What (Milwaukee Rep); Animal Farm (Milwaukee Rep, Baltimore Center Stage); Other credits: Animal Farm, The Crucible, We Are Proud To Present…, The Constellations, A Doll’s House, Part 2 (Steppenwolf Theatre Company); An Issue Of Blood, The House That Will Not Stand, A Wonder In My Soul, If I Forget (Victory Gardens Theater); Smart People, A Doll’s House (Writers Theatre); Harvey, Titanic (Court Theatre). Affiliations: United Scenic Artists USA-829. Educa­tion: M.F.A. in Stage Design, Northwestern University.

Rick has composed and designed sound for numerous Chicago-area theaters, including Steppenwolf, Lookingglass, Northlight, Congo Square, Writers, Lifeline, Griffin, Chicago Children’s Theatre, Court, American Blues, Victory Gardens and Steep. Regional credits include Arena Stage and Roundhouse Theatre in Washington D.C., Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, South Coast Rep in Southern California, The Getty, Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, Arden Theatre Company in Philadelphia, 2nd Stage and Playwrights Horizons in New York City, Actors Theatre of Louisville and Portland Playhouse. He is an artistic associate of Lookingglass, an artistic affiliate with American Blues and is currently composing music for The Thanksgiving Play at 2nd Stage Theatre on Broadway. Sims won a Jeff Award for sound design for Lookingglass’ Moby Dick, Frankenstein, and Hepheastus, and a BTA award for Congo Squares Brothers In the Dust. Sims also wrote the book, music and lyrics for Lookingglass Hillbilly Antigone.

Tanya is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Theatre, Drama and Contemporary Dance at Indiana University. Prior to joining the faculty at IU, she was the Director of New Play Development at the Goodman Theatre where she curated and produced New Stages, the theatre’s annual new play festival, and served as the production dramaturg on a number of world premieres including Dana H. by Lucas Hnath; an original adaptation of Roberto Bolaño’s 2666 written and directed by Seth Bockley and Robert Falls;  and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Ruined by Lynn Nottage. Originally from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, she holds an MFA in Playwriting from York University in Toronto.

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!