About Face Names New Artistic Director

BY Jonathan Abarbanel

Bonnie Metzgar

Following a six-month national search, Bonnie Metzgar has been named artistic director of the About Face Theatre effective immediately. A producer, director, playwright and dramaturg, Metzgar may be best known as producer and co-creator of the 365 Festival. Metzgar’s first order of business at About Face will be to assemble a 2008-2009 season, expected to be announced next month. For a second year, About Face will be a resident company at the Center on Halsted’s Hoover-Leppen Theatre,

A nationally known theatre artist with more than 20 years of experience, Metzgar leaves her post as a professor and director of the graduate playwriting program at Brown University. She was also artistic director of Brown’s New Plays Festival for the past three years, with Paula Vogel. Previous to that, Metzgar served as associate artistic director of Denver’s Curious Theatre Company (2004-2007), where she also participated in the work of the National New Play Network.

Metzgar served as associate producer of the Joseph Papp Public Theatre/New York Shakespeare Festival from 1995 to 2003 and was founder of the Joe’s Pub cabaret venue. She also worked with Suzan-Lori Parks to develop and present the year-long 365 Festival, based on Parks’ play cycle 365 Days/365 Plays, which was produced internationally from November 2006 until November 2007. Locally, some 52 Chicago companies each produced a week’s worth of the cycle.

Metzgar, who was educated at Brown University and the University of Iowa, replaces About Face co-founder Eric Rosen, who has left Chicago to become artistic director of Missouri’s Kansas City Repertory Theatre (although he’ll have an ongoing artistic relationship with About Face).

Metzgar is the third About Face Theatre artistic director, following Rosen and Kyle Hall who served as co-artistic directors until Hall’s permanent move to New York City. Rosen and Hall founded About Face in 1995 to produce works—many of them self-developed new works—exploring gender and sexual identity, which is a fancy way to say LGBTYQ issues. Like Rosen and Hall, the 40-something Metzgar herself is a member of the LGBTYQ community.

Metzgar was in Chicago for the announcement of her appointment, but then returned almost immediately to Providence to complete the academic year at Brown. She’ll be back in Chicago May 15 for the Wonka Ball, the About Face annual fundraising gala. The company’s current budget is just over $1 million.