JOANIE SCHULTZ (Director) currently serves as Associate Artistic Director of Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. Her work has been seen in Chicago and regional theaters including The Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, Victory Gardens Theater, Steep Theatre, Remy Bumppo, Portland Center Stage, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, Everyman Theatre, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Studio Theatre, The Cleveland Play House, GEVA Theater Center, Indiana Repertory Theatre, LaJolla Playhouse, and Philadelphia Theatre Company. She has directed and assistant directed opera from the site specific to the grand stage with Chicago Opera Theater, the Bayview Music Festival, the Chicago Cultural Center, and New Millennium Orchestra. In 2017-18, Joanie was Artistic Director of WaterTower Theatre in Dallas, Texas, where she produced new and inclusive programming from community partnerships to world premiere plays. Prior to that, Joanie served as Associate Artistic Producer at Victory Gardens Theater, as part of the TCG/Mellon Foundation Leadership U One-on-One Fellowship. She was also a Drama League Fellow; The Goodman Theatre Michael Maggio Director Fellow; the SDSF Denham Fellow; and member of the Lincoln Center Theatre Directors Lab. She is an ensemble member at Steep Theatre Company and an artistic cabinet member at Studio Theatre in Washington DC. Joanie has taught through her own studio, Steep Theatre, and Steppenwolf Theatre, along with Columbia College Chicago, University of Chicago, Northwestern University, and Roosevelt University. She holds a B.A. in Theater Directing from Columbia College Chicago and an M.F.A. in Theater Directing from Northwestern University. For more information on Joanie’s work, go to www.joanieschultz.com.

JACQUELINE PENROD (Scenic Designer) is very happy to be working with Writers Theater on this production of Frida...A Self Portrait.  She previously designed the set for Frida at Indiana Repertory Theatre, GEVA,  Pittsburgh Public Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Portland Center Stage and Kansas City Rep. She is an Associate Professor at Columbia College Chicago. Jacqueline’s award-winning design work has been seen in Chicago and regionally. Some of her favorite collaborators include, Lookingglass Theatre, Pegasus Players, Northlight Theatre Company, Steppenwolf Theatre, Next Theatre Company, Remy Bumpo Theatre Company. Jacqueline recently designed Big River for The Mercury Theater Chicago, and The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley for Buffalo Theatre Ensemble. She is a member of United Scenic Artists local 829. penroddesign.com

KATHERINE DAVIS (Costume Designer) is a Costume Designer based out of Kansas City. Aside from Frida… A Self Portrait, her recent designs include Picasso at the Lapin Agile (Johnson County Community College), Milking Christmas (Black Box Theatre), Sonnets for an Old Century (TTU-SOTD), Dracula; A Song of Love and Death (UMKC Theatre and KCAT), Brother Toad (OriginKC; New Works Festival) and more. When not designing Katherine has been delving into the world of puppetry with Simple Mischief Studios and playing Roller Derby. For more information visit katherinedavis.org

RACHAEL CADY (Lighting Designer) will be making her Writers Theatre debut with her design of Frida...A Self Portrait. Rachael’s designs have been seen all over the country. At the KCRep: Ms. Holmes and Ms. Watson — Apt 2B, Frankenstein, Frida...A Self Portrait, Of Mice and Men, Brother Toad, Man in Love, Evita, Sunday in the Park with George, Sticky Traps, A Christmas Carol (2010-2018, 2021-2022), When I Come to Die, The Glass Menagerie, Circle Mirror Transformation, Sticky Traps, Incognito, Elsewhere: Frida...A Self Portrait (PCS); Oklahoma! (Theatreworks); The Underpants, A Perfect Wedding, Shake Rattle and Roll, Smokey Joe’s Café (Florida Studio Theatre); Fellowship! (NYMF festival); Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Theatre League); Love Janis (Zach Theatre, Austin). In Kansas City: The Effects of Gamma Rays on Man in the Moon Marigolds, Tally’s Folly, Tally and Son, 5th of July, The Cripple of Inishmaan (Kansas City Actors Theatre). As the resident designer for the Unicorn Theatre (1995-2010) Rachael designed over fifty shows from 1995-2010. Rachael lives in Kansas City with her partner of 19 years, Margaret and their 2 dogs Cassie, and Harley.

THOMAS DIXON (Sound Designer & Original Music) is a Chicago-based theatre artist who previously designed A Number and A Doll's House at Writers. He is an ensemble member at Steep Theatre Company, and his work has been heard at Steppenwolf, Victory Gardens, Jackalope, First Floor, and more. Thomas has designed at theaters across the country, including Kansas City Rep, Portland Center Stage, Cincinnati Playhouse, Pittsburgh Public Theater, Geva Theatre, Indy Rep, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and Jacob’s Pillow Dance. Thomas teaches sound design at DePaul University. thomasdixonsound.com

JANINE VANDERHOFF (Stage Manager) has been a stage manager and production manager for more than 25 years on Broadway, Off-Broadway, regionally, and on tour. Some favorites include The Lion King (Original Broadway Company), The Vagina Monologues, The Graduate (starring Morgan Fairchild), Cats, Jekyll & Hyde, and many more. She has also stage managed over 30 shows in the past nine seasons at Portland Center Stage. Janine has production managed at multiple regional theaters as well as The Daily Show with Jon Stewart “Democalypse 2012 Republican National Convention.” Frida Forever. Proud NYU graduate and AEA member.

KATE NAGORSKI (Assistant Stage Manager) is thrilled to return to Writers Theatre! ASM credits include Every Brilliant Thing, Eurydice, Pearl’s Rollin’ with the Blues (Writers Theatre); Carmela Full of Wishes (Chicago Children’s Theatre); Sundown Yellow Moon (Raven Theatre). Other Chicago backstage credits include Stokely: The Unfinished Revolution, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead, Antigone, The Gospel at Colonus, Fen (Court Theatre); Georgiana & Kitty: Christmas at Pemberley (Northlight Theatre); The Hot Wing King, A Distinct Society, Tiger Style!, Wife of a Salesman (Writers Theatre); and Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, Beehive: The 60’s Musical, Kiss Me Kate (Marriott Theatre).

BRADEN ABRAHAM (Artistic Director) joined Writers Theatre as Artistic Director in 2023. He comes to Writers from Seattle Rep, the largest resident theatre in the Pacific Northwest, where he advanced the organization as a director and producer, including the development and premiere of many new plays. He directed six world premieres for Seattle Rep and over 20 productions including: True West, Clybourne Park, Photograph 51, Ibsen in Chicago, Betrayal, Luna Gale, A View from the Bridge, A Great Wilderness, Breakin’ Hearts and Takin’ Names, and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. Among his initiatives as Artistic Director, Braden committed Seattle Rep as one of the first partner theaters to bring the Public Theater’s model for the Public Works program across the country. Seattle Rep’s Public Works strengthens community connection through making ambitious productions of participatory theater. Braden also re-envisioned the New Play Program, commissioning and premiering plays by Anna Zeigler, Samuel D. Hunter, David Grimm, Justin Huertas, Samantha Silva, Cheryl L. West, and Karen Hartman, and supported the work of dozens of playwrights and directors through premieres and the Other Season development lab. Many projects developed through this program went on to acclaimed runs at Seattle Rep and around the country including Irene Sankoff and David Hein’s Come From Away, Cheryl L. West’s Shout Sister Shout!, Erica Schmidt’s Mac Beth, and Kate Hamill’s Pride and Prejudice.  Under his leadership, Seattle Rep was the only theater outside New York and London to present David Byrne’s Here Lies Love. Most recently, Braden initiated 20x30: Reimagine the Anthropocene, to commission twenty new plays by the year 2030, and New Directions, a unique commissioning program designed to support generative work from directors. Around the country, Braden has developed new work at Ojai, O’Neill, Denver Center, and Perseverance Theatre. He has been a guest artist at Stanford, Gonzaga, Seattle University, and the University of Idaho. He conceived and developed Way Stations, a series of interactive walking tours in Seattle for the Northwest New Works Festival at On the Boards and is the co-creator of Gordon Hempton: Let it Happen, an audio installation about the life and work of Emmy-Award winning sound ecologist Gordon Hempton. He is married to Cheyenne Casebier and the proud papa of Phoenix Faye Abraham.

KATHRYN M. LIPUMA (Executive Director) joined Writers Theatre as Executive Director in 2007, where she serves as lead producer, overseeing all management, administration, and operations for the company. She led the fundraising, planning and construction of Writers Theatre's new $34 million performing arts center, designed by internationally renowned architect Jeanne Gang of Studio Gang Architects.  Prior to Writers, Kate spent nine seasons as Executive Director at the Tony Award-winning Signature Theatre Company in New York. At Signature, she worked with and produced plays and programs from such acclaimed writers as Edward Albee, Lee Blessing, Horton Foote, Maria Irene Fornés, John Guare, Bill Irwin, Romulus Linney, Arthur Miller, Paula Vogel, August Wilson and Lanford Wilson. During her tenure, she helped create and launch Signature’s groundbreaking $15 Ticket Program. Prior to her time at Signature, she spent six years with Chicago’s Goodman Theatre. Kate currently is the President of the Producers’ Association of Chicago Area Theatres (PACT), an association of Chicago area theatres operating under the Chicago Area Theatre contract; is on the Board of Directors for Arts Alliance Illinois, the statewide advocacy coalition; and the Board of Directors and Past Chair of the League of Chicago Theatres, an alliance representing more than 200 Chicago-area theater companies and producers. She is also the Past Chair of the Board of Directors of Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for the American theatre.  She is also the co-creator of DoNorth, an umbrella organization joining four cultural neighbors—Chicago Botanic Garden, Kohl Children’s Museum, Ravinia Festival and Writers Theatre—to attract new audiences to the cultural, environmental and community activities of Chicago’s North Shore. She was born and raised in the West Suburbs of Chicago and is a graduate of The George Washington University in Washington, D.C.