Victory Gardens Theater Hires Edward Torres as Interim Artistic Director

Victory Gardens Theater has hired Edward Torres as interim artistic director, The Chicago Tribune reports. Torres is a well-respected Chicago actor and the former artistic director of Chicago’s Teatro Vista Productions. He also served as director of the most recent Victory Gardens production, the Chicago premiere of David Mamet’s “Henry Johnson."

The Chicago theatre has also hired Archana Vaidya as interim executive director. Vaidya has a background in environmental and nonprofit consulting, and has been involved with South Asian theater groups in the Chicago area.

The theatre's new vision is summed up by the tagline "New work. Boldly" with the first work under this new mission being a staged reading of “An Ocean Away” by Andrei Kureichik.

Read more on The Chicago Tribune.

About Victory Gardens Theater

In recognition of this leadership, Victory Gardens was awarded the 2001 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre, cementing its reputation as one of America’s premier incubators for bold, contemporary theater.

To accommodate its growing ambitions, Victory Gardens purchased and renovated the historic Biograph Theater in 2004, reopening it in 2006 as a state-of-the-art facility with a 299-seat mainstage and, later, a 109-seat studio space named the Richard Christiansen Theater. This move not only expanded artistic capacity but also reinforced Victory Gardens’ role as a cornerstone in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood.

Throughout its history, Victory Gardens has been shaped by visionary leaders, from Dennis Začek to Chay Yew, who steered the theater through a transformative period of artistic innovation and community engagement. Even amid the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, the theater continued to experiment with digital platforms and new forms of audience connection, proving its resilience and commitment to access.

Now, under new leadership beginning in 2025, Victory Gardens Theater is charting a bold path forward, building transformative partnerships, shaping a visionary strategic plan, and weaving deeper connections with communities and educational institutions, while reinvigorating the theater as a vital civic and cultural home for Chicago. This next chapter is rooted in the belief that theater has the power not only to entertain but also to convene, to challenge, and to inspire collective action.