Award-winning international nonbinary theater production professional Elizabeth Swanson named Chicago’s BoHo Theatre’s new artistic director
by Heather Cassell
Chicago’s BoHo Theatre announced the appointment of Elizabeth Swanson as the theater company’s new artistic director earlier this month.
“While producing theater looks different these days, I am reassured knowing we have Elizabeth as our new artistic director to help further Stephen Schellhardt’s vision of inclusivity, while bringing their own ideas of how we can continue to grow and hold onto what makes us special,” said BoHo’s Executive Director Sana Selemon in the company’s January 14 press release.
Jeff-nominated director Elizabeth succeeds Stephen Schellhardt. Stephen announced his intentions to leave BoHo after three-year tenure in the position and six years with the company in September 2021, reported and the Chicago Tribune.
The Jeff Awards, named after actor Joseph Jefferson, was established in 1968 to celebrate excellence in Chicago’s theater. The award is a tribute to Joseph, a 19th-century American theater star who, as a child, was a player in Chicago’s first theater company, according to the award’s website.
Elizabeth recalled her first meeting with Stephen who came to a production of the Jeff-nominated “I Know My Own Heart” they directed for PrideArts’s 2018/2019 season after a long-staged matchmaking attempt by their friend, Eleanor “Eli” Katz, who was at the time an outgoing member of BoHo.
“Eli was absolutely determined that the company and I should meet each other,” she/they recalled. “Eli spent half of the rehearsal process trying to set me up with BoHo.”
Stephen attended a performance of that show. It was the first time they met.
“He just had this wonderfully warm energy that enveloped you in a hug,” she/they said. “That warm welcome was my first impression of BoHo.
“I am excited to continue the company’s ingrained mission of working together as a family: of spreading love, kindness, and thoughtfulness through every production and story we take on,” Elizabeth said about taking on her/their new role at the theater company.
Elizabeth’s first production will also be a first for BoHo Theatre. It will be the company’s first commissioned production, “National Merit,” by Valen-Marie Santos.
Elizabeth’s recent Chicago directing projects include the Jeff Award-winning “Head Over Heels” for Kokandy Productions, which also earned Elizabeth a nomination for direction. She/they also worked on the afore-mentioned Jeff-nominated “I Know My Own Heart” for PrideArts, and “Where All The White Sneakers At?” for Second City. Elizabeth also worked with About Face Theatre, Underscore Theatre, American Theater Company, Victory Gardens Theater, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, and Princeton University’s Lewis Center for the Arts.
Other projects included Artist’s Lab 2016 (Stage 773) as well as staged readings for Chicago Dramatists, Irish Theatre of Chicago, The Jades, and Chicago Theatre Marathon. Elizabeth earned her MFA from the Lir National Academy of Dramatic Arts at Trinity College, Dublin.
BoHo was founded as the off-Loop Bohemian Theatre Ensemble in 2003. The company has produced both classic musicals and original works. It recently won five Non-Equity Jeff Awards including best musical for “Big Fish,” directed by Stephen in the fall of 2019 at the Greenhouse Theater Center.
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