The Hypocrites Announce First Logan Fellow, Regina Victoria Fields

The Hypocrites is pleased to announce Regina Victoria Fields has been named the company's first Logan Fellow, as part of a multi-year fellowship program established by the Logan Foundation. Fields was chosen following a national search focused on finding a qualified woman of color interested in artistic leadership, while maintaining an individual career as a writer or director.

In her role as Logan Fellow, Fields will serve as Associate Artistic Director during the company's 2016-17 Season, participating in the daily activities of an Artistic Director including season planning, interviewing and hiring artistic personnel, new work cultivation, functioning as a resource to the season's directors, fundraising activities and collaborating with the Executive Director, Production Manager and Marketing Manager on administrative tasks requiring artistic input. Ms. Fields will also serve as Assistant Director to Artistic Director Sean Graney on a production during the season; sit on the eight-person advisory Artistic Council; attend rehearsals and develop an original adaptation of a classic text with support from The Hypocrites in the form of workshops and artistic mentorship from the Artistic Director. The Logan Fellowship is a full-time, salaried position.

Comments Richard Logan, President of The Reva and David Logan Foundation, "When Sean Graney came to us with the idea of a fellowship based on his stellar directing/adapting techniques, we were skeptical whether The Hypocrites could find an individual to match their unique artistic needs. We needn't have worried; Regina V. Fields is clearly a star from the same galaxy and we look forward to her take on Sean's imprint."

Comments Artistic Director Sean Graney, "I am thrilled to be working with Regina as our first Logan Fellow. Her experience in classic theater and community outreach makes her a perfect Associate Artistic Director. I cannot wait to start hanging out and learning all I can from her."

Regina Victoria Fields is an Oakland, California native, who graduated from Santa Clara University cum laude with a double major in Theatre Arts and Religious Studies. She is a multidisciplinary artist with a passion for theatre as a tool of community building and social change. She is an internationally trained actress, having attended both the Gaiety School of Acting and the British American Drama Academy. As an actress Ms. Fields has worked with companies including Berkeley Repertory Theater, California Shakespeare Theater and African American Shakespeare Company. Directing credits include Going to St. Ives with Aluminous, Rose in America (world premiere) with AlterTheater, and assisting various productions at California Shakespeare Theater, Marin Theatre Company and others.

The Logan Foundation is dedicated to lasting support for the founders' powerful and eclectic mix of grants, our directors contribute their own unique interests to our granting range. Directors include: Daniel J. Logan, Richard E. Logan, Jonathan C. Logan, Cecelia Simmons, Michael H. Levine, Richard Alden Feldon and Leslie M. Savickas. Within the breadth of interests and important outcomes enabled by our founders, you'll find the arts, support for innovative approaches to teaching and delivering excellence in journalism, community organizing and programs to promote social justice.

Artistic Director Sean Graney created The Hypocrites in 1997. The company is currently run by Graney and Executive Director Kelli Strickland. One of Chicago's premier off-Loop theater companies, The Hypocrites specializes in mounting bold productions that challenge preconceptions and redefining the role of the audience. The company has a reputation in Chicago for creating exciting, surprising and deeply engaging theater as it re-interprets classics and tackles ambitious new works.

Their recent production of Graney's All Our Tragic, a twelve-hour adaptation combining all 32 surviving Greek Tragedies, garnered the company six 2015 Equity Jeff Awards in its first year of eligibility. Graney's musical adaptations of Gilbert & Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance, The Mikado and H.M.S. Pinafore have become audience and critic favorites, being remounted numerous times in Chicago as well as going on tour to American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.), Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville and Olney Theater Center. The company has grown significantly in the past few years, receiving acclaim for productions at the Steppenwolf Garage, Goodman Theatre, Museum of Contemporary Art, DCASE Storefront, Chopin Theater and nationally at American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.), Berkeley Repertory Theatre and Actors Theatre of Louisville.

The American Theatre Wing, best known as the creator of the Tony Awards, presented The Hypocrites with one of the 2013 National Theatre Company awards. The company's smash-hit production of Our Town, directed by David Cromer, transferred in 2009 to Off-Broadway, Los Angeles and Boston. Since the company's founding, The Hypocrites have produced over sixty mainstage productions and a dozen festival pieces, securing thirty-one Non-Equity Joseph Jefferson awards, six Equity Joseph Jefferson awards and two After Dark Awards.

For more information, visit www.the-hypocrites.com.