Luther Goins Is Appointed ShawChicago's New Managing Director

ShawChicago has announced Luther Goins as the company's new Managing Director, effective July 1, 2018. He succeeds Tony Courier who is retiring after having served as Managing Director for 16 years.

Recently retired from Actors' Equity Association, where he worked as a Central Region Business Representative, he brings 41 years of theatrical experience to ShawChicago.

Mr. Goins will oversee all administrative, marketing, development, fundraising, and financial management of the theater. His other responsibilities will include: the execution of the current strategic plan, public relations initiatives, outreach programming, and the negotiation of artists, staff, and vendor contracts.

Before returning to Chicago in 1990, Luther worked extensively in the mid-west as a producer, director, playwright, and acting instructor. Between 1990 and 1995, he worked as the Assistant to the Producer at the Skokie-based Northlight Theatre and held the position of Resident Artistic Director at the African-American based Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre in Evanston, IL. In 1995, he accepted the Managing Director position at the Chicago Theatre Company, a professional African-American company on Chicago's south side.

LOVE CHILD, his first play, made its debut in January 2001 at Chicago's Live Bait Theatre. This highly successful production received numerous awards, including a Joseph Jefferson Award for "Best New Work"; and Chicago After Dark Awards "Best New Work" and "Best Ensemble".

ShawChicago was established in 1994 as a program of the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs by the legendary Commissioner Lois Weisberg. Performing in the Studio Theater and occasionally in the Claudia Cassidy Theater at the Cultural Center, ShawChicago refined its concert reading style under the leadership of Artistic Director Robert Scogin. Operating under a special staged reading contract with Actor's Equity, it soon began attracting the finest actors in Chicago who wanted to be part of the casts.

In 2000 ShawChicago became an independent theater company with a Board of Directors, and received its 501 (c)(3) not-for-profit status. The company became an in-residence company at The Ruth Page Center for the Arts in 2001, and continues its mission of performing the plays of George Bernard Shaw and his contemporaries. In addition to the mainstage productions, ShawChicago offers outreach performances across the city and its suburbs, providing theater to libraries, retirement living communities and schools.

2018/19 is ShawChicago's 25th Anniversary Season. The season theme is "ALL SHAW, ALL THE TIME" featuring productions of Shaw's Candida, Arms and the Man, and The Doctor's Dilemma. Full information, subscriptions and individual tickets are available at www.shawchicago.org.

ShawChicago is a 501-(c)-3 not-for-profit organization, and all contributions are tax deductible to the full extent of the law.

ShawChicago is an Artist In-Residence at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts.

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