Walkabout Theater Company Announces Leadership Changes

Walkabout Theater Company announced today that Kendra Miller will step down from her role as co-artistic director and Walkabout ensemble member.

Miller, who became Artistic Director in 2013 and has served as Co-Artistic Director since 2014, will stay on as an artistic associate to the company as she continues her directing and dramaturgy work in Chicago. Thom Pasculli, who has served as Co-Artistic director with Miller, will become Walkabout's sole Artistic Director.

Miller played a crucial role in the Walkabout Theater Company's transition into its current ensemble and laboratory theater practice. She co-produced, dramaturged and originated her role in The Wild at the Steppenwolf Garage in 2014 and performed with the show through its tour to India in 2016. Miller produced STORM at Links Hall in collaboration with visiting UK company Moon Fool, and conceived Rent Party, Walkabout's community fundraising event. Beginning in 2014 with performances in 2016, Miller conceived of and directed The Cure, a four-week performance installation on the top floor of the Chicago Cultural Center presented in residency with the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events.

Additionally, Walkabout is pleased to announce Alex Rodriguez as a new ensemble member and marketing manager, and Kelly Nesheim and Claire Bauman as new company members. Rodriguez has been performing with the company since 2014 and will be featured this March in Walkabout and Red Tape's co-production, Mother of Smoke. Nesheim has collaborated with the ensemble on three previous summer performances, including 2016's Tall Girl and the Lightning Parade and Bauman has been working with the ensemble this past year.

Walkabout Theater Company is an ensemble of artists dedicated to a unique practice of theater-making in Chicago. Walkabout produces world-premiere, touring performances created by the ensemble; original site-specific events motivated by developing new forms of public engagement and artistic collaborations; and actor training workshops investigating performance technique, individual research, and artistic exchange. Walkabout strives to create an encounter through its work that explores new ways of existing together. Upcoming performances includes Mother of Smoke, an epic performance of remembering, coming together, and picking up the pieces, presented in partnership with Red Tape Theatre March 23 -April 15 at the Pride Arts Center. Recent highlights include Tall Girl and the Lightning Parade (2016), a bilingual summer spectacle performance presented with Chicago's Night Out in the Parks in Little Village, Washington Park and on the 606; The Cure (2016), a month-long performance installation at the Chicago Cultural Center's Yates Gallery; The Wild (2014-16), a deconstruction of Dionysian rituals with text from playwright Charles L. Mee, performed at the Steppenwolf Garage Rep, Physical Festival Chicago, Garfield Park Conservatory, and the Bharat Rang Mahotsav Festival in Delhi, India; STORM (2015), an international collaboration with the Moon Fool collective at Links Hall; and Beach Party at the End of the World (2014), a guerrilla dance spectacle that appeared on eight different Chicago beaches between Edgewater and Hyde Park.