The Chicago Theater-Makers Podcast
The Chicago Theater-Makers Podcast
Podcast Description
Welcome to The Chicago Theater-Makers Podcast; The show where we go behind the curtain with the actors, playwrights, directors, choreographer, designers, creatives and producers shaping Chicago’s one-of-a-kind theater scene.
Every episode we sit down with the folks who make this city’s stages come alive. Whether you’re a theater pro, a curious audience member, or just love a good backstage story...this podcast is for you!
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
This podcast primarily focuses on the Chicago theater scene, covering a wide range of topics such as the creative processes of theater-making, challenges in the industry, and the impact of community engagement. For example, episodes may delve into the journey of a playwright whose works have achieved global recognition or the collaborative efforts of a husband and wife directing duo, showcasing the personal stories and insights behind the performances.
Welcome to The Chicago Theater-Makers Podcast; The show where we go behind the curtain with the actors, playwrights, directors, choreographer, designers, creatives and producers shaping Chicago’s one-of-a-kind theater scene.
Every episode we sit down with the folks who make this city’s stages come alive. Whether you’re a theater pro, a curious audience member, or just love a good backstage story…This podcast is for you!
Today’s guests are the writer and one of the stars of Dead Girl’ s Quinceañera currently running at the Goodman Theater. The Goodman is the second stop of the play’s triple collective world premiere, where it began at Barrington Stage earlier this summer and from here will debut at Hartford Stage in Spring of 2027.
Writer Phanésia Pharel is a Haitian-American playwright and screenwriter from a dragon fruit farm in Miami and the daughter of an immigrant teacher and farmer.
Her plays have been developed at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Playwrights Conference, New Harmony Project, Playwrights’ Center, New York Stage and Film, SolFest, Shattered Globe, and Echo Theater Company.
Phanésia is the Playwriting Fellow (2025–2027) at Emory University, where she serves as a visiting professor and will have a new play produced by the university’s repertory company. She is also member of the Obie Award-winning EST/Youngblood group and The Wish Collective. As a screenwriter, she is an alumna of Lena Waithe’s Hillman Grad Screenwriting Lab.
Most recently, she recently made her Off-Broadway debut at the WP Theater with her play The Waterfall, which was co-produced by Thrown Stone.
Actress Ariana Burks, is a born and bred Chicago Native whose credits span across the country.
Her very first theatrical credit was as Little Inez in Drury Lane Theatre’s production of Hairspray! Since then she has been seen on area stages including 8 years in the Goodman’s perennial favorite, A Christmas Carol, at Steppenwolf in both The Compass and Dance Nation, in Paramount’s Hairspray and Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, Gospel at Colonus and Antigone at Court Theatre,Porchlight’s Spring Awakening and Urinetown at BoHo Theatre. From there, she appeared in The Muny’s In The Heights, Broadway’s Real Women Have Curves and most recently the 1st National Tour of Suffs. Her Film and TV credits include Beats, South Side, Chicago Med, Chicago Fire and Neon Galaxy.
Dead Girl’s Quinceanera is playing in the Goodman’s Owen Theatre now through November 1st. For tickets visit this link.
I hope you enjoy my conversation with Ariana Burks and Phanesia Pharel. Now let’s go to the top of the show!
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