City Lit Names Brian Pastor Executive Artistic Director

Producer and Artistic Director Terry McCabe will retire on June 30, 2024.

By: Jun. 02, 2023
City Lit Names Brian Pastor Executive Artistic Director

City Lit Board President Daniel Robinson announced that Brian Pastor (they/them), City Lit’s current Resident Director and for nine years its Managing Director, will succeed City Lit’s Producer and Artistic Director Terry McCabe, who will retire on June 30, 2024, following the conclusion of City Lit’s recently announced 43rd season. Pastor will take the new title of Executive Artistic Director.

“Brian has a long and highly successful history with City Lit,” said Robinson, “and as sorry as we are to see Terry go, we look forward to a productive and happy association with Brian.”

Pastor was first hired at City Lit in February 2005 as Business Manager, one week after McCabe was hired as Artistic Director. In 2006 Pastor was promoted to managing director, a position in which they served through June 2015. In 2019 they became City Lit’s Resident Director, and it was Pastor’s production of their own adaptation of Robert Kennedy’s Cuban missile crisis memoir Thirteen Days that was forced to close during previews in March 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic; it reopened in September 2021 to critical acclaim. They also directed City Lit’s productions of John Millington Synge’s The Playboy of the Western World in 2022, Bernard Shaw’s Arms and the Man in 2018, and Archibald MacLeish’s J. B. in 2017. With McCabe, they co-adapted Mark Twain’s Pudd’nhead Wilson for City Lit’s 2008 season. This coming season, Brian will direct City Lit’s world premiere adaptation of Davis Grubb’s gothic thriller The Night of the Hunter, adapted by Shawna Tucker.

As an actor, Pastor has been seen at City Lit in over a dozen productions, including Hauptmann, The Body Snatchers, their own co-adaptation (with Stephen Murray) of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and The Play’s the Thing, in which they acted alongside McCabe’s predecessor, the late Page Hearn.

“I am incredibly honored to follow in the footsteps of my longtime mentors Page Hearn and Terry McCabe,” Pastor said. “City Lit wouldn’t exist without them. I am grateful for the faith in me shown by Daniel Robinson and the Board, and I look forward to building on the rich foundation laid by my predecessors. For me, City Lit has always felt like home.”

A Founder and long-time Artistic Director of Chicago’s Promethean Theatre Ensemble, Pastor is excited to return to producing stories of vital interest to modern audiences. “As a trans/nonbinary artist, I am committed to telling stories of inclusion, utilizing the rich diversity of the theatrical community to put fresh perspectives to well-known stories. Rest assured, City Lit will continue to be a place to awaken your senses and explore the literary imagination. I’m excited to revisit favorite characters, reimagine timeless classics, and introduce everyone to new worlds, both fantastically different and surprisingly familiar.”



RELATED STORIES - Chicago

1
PlayGround-Chicago Season 2 Monday Night PlayGround Blasts Off Next Month with ORIGIN STOR Photo
PlayGround-Chicago Season 2 Monday Night PlayGround Blasts Off Next Month with ORIGIN STORY

Join PlayGround-Chicago for the start of their 2nd season with the Monday Night PlayGround series, featuring original short plays inspired by the prompt 'Origin Story.' The event will be held in-person and simulcast online on October 30th at 7pm CT.

2
Deeply Rooted Dance Theater Kicks Off Auditorium Theatres 2023-24 MADE IN CHICAGO Dance Se Photo
Deeply Rooted Dance Theater Kicks Off Auditorium Theatre's 2023-24 MADE IN CHICAGO Dance Series

The Auditorium Theatre presents Deeply Rooted Dance Theater—a Chicago-based contemporary dance company rooted in traditions of American and African-American dance—in a one-night-only performance Friday, November 3 at 7:30 p.m. as part of the theatre's Made In Chicago Dance Series.

3
Black Arts Month Programs Announced October 9-23 Across Chicago Photo
Black Arts Month Programs Announced October 9-23 Across Chicago

Celebrate Black Arts Month with a series of free public events across Chicago from October 9-23. Presented by the African American Arts Alliance of Chicago, this programming showcases the richness and diversity of African American arts.

4
The Jeff Awards to Honor Robert Falls With Special Equity Theater Award Photo
The Jeff Awards to Honor Robert Falls With Special Equity Theater Award

Learn more about the upcoming Jeff Awards ceremony where renowned director Robert Falls will be honored with the Special Equity Theater Award. Find out the date and venue for the event and get all the details about this prestigious award and Falls' well-deserved recognition.

More Hot Stories For You

Videos


#repshow# in #getregions.name[i]# Saturday's Children
First Flight Theatre Company (9/30-10/01)Tracker PHOTOS
#repshow# in #getregions.name[i]# Intimate Evening with D.C. Anderson
Jekot Theater @ Mrs Murphy and Sons (10/22-10/22)Tracker
#repshow# in #getregions.name[i]# The Color Purple
Fine Arts Building - Studebaker Theater (9/29-10/01)Tracker
#repshow# in #getregions.name[i]# Fright: The Improvised Horror Movie
The iO Theater (9/17-11/05)Tracker PHOTOS
#repshow# in #getregions.name[i]# Midwest Magic Circus
Raue Center For The Arts (2/14-2/14)
#repshow# in #getregions.name[i]# Night Watch
Raven Theatre (10/05-11/12)
#repshow# in #getregions.name[i]# Music of the Baroque: Viva Vivaldi!
Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Millennium Park (10/16-10/16)
#repshow# in #getregions.name[i]# Island Party Hut's Fall Fest on The Riverwalk: Hayrides on the River & More
Island Party Hut (between Lake Shore Drive and Columbus on the Riverwalk) (9/30-10/28)
#repshow# in #getregions.name[i]# American Psycho: The Musical
Chopin Theatre (9/14-11/26)
#repshow# in #getregions.name[i]# The Second City's Late Night Date Night
UP Comedy Club (5/12-11/18)
VIEW ALL SHOWS  ADD A SHOW  

Recommended For You