Displaying items by tag: Ian Frank

Tuesday, 19 May 2026 15:15

Ian Frank named Shattered Globe Theatre’s new Producing Artistic Director

Chicago’s Shattered Globe Theatre announced today that Ian Frank has been selected, following a national search, to be the company’s new Producing Artistic Director.

Frank comes to Shattered Globe from Mudlark Theater in Evanston, where he has been the Executive Director since 2023.

“On behalf of the Shattered Globe Theatre Board of Directors and Ensemble, I am delighted to welcome Ian back to the ‘rehearsal room’ after honing his administrative skills over the past few years,” said Sara Mushlitz, Shattered Globe Board President and Search Committee Chair. “Ian has a profound respect for Shattered Globe’s history, its storefront performance landscape and most of all a commitment to Ensemble-led theater and the Shattered Globe community that has thrived as an Ensemble for 35 years. With a strong artistic voice and experience in Chicago theater, a collaborative perspective and a passion to create meaningful work, Ian will help steward Shattered Globe into its next chapter.”

“From a large pool of highly qualified candidates enthusiastic to contribute to this new chapter of Shattered Globe, Ian Frank rose to the top,” added Shattered Globe Ensemble Member Leslie Ann Sheppard. “We are excited to have him join the team and legacy of SGT."

"I’m deeply honored to be entrusted with Shattered Globe’s remarkable legacy, embodied by Sandy Shinner’s leadership and the commitment to uplifting the art by uplifting the artists who make it,” said Frank.

Frank is an award-winning stage director, adapter, and arts leader. Frank directed Frankenstein (Jeff Awards — Best Production, Best Director) for Remy Bumppo Theatre where he helped produce more than 15 mainstage productions as the Associate Artistic Director from 2015-2021. Other Chicago directing credits include Private Lives (Raven Theatre), Incident at Vichy (Jeff Nomination - Best Ensemble), Another Bone and Shipwrecked! (Redtwist), and Bob: A Life in Five Acts (LiveWire). Regionally, Frank directed Remix 38 at the Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville where he has a long history of collaboration, starting as an Acting Apprentice in 2004. His work has also taken him to Milwaukee Rep, The Kennedy Center, and Chicago Shakespeare Theater. Frank holds an MFA in Directing from The Theatre School at DePaul University and has returned to direct several times. He has also directed at his undergraduate alma mater, Centre College, and at the University of South Carolina. His adaptation of The Call of the Wild was produced at the University of Montana in 2022. Frank has extensive experience on both the artistic and producing side of theater, including working in the Chicago office of Actors’ Equity Association. He came to Chicago in 2008, and now lives in Chicago’s North Center neighborhood with his wife, actor Emily Tate, their son, Baxter, and their dog, Alba.

Frank’s predecessor, Chicago theater veteran Sandy Shinner, announced she was stepping down after 13 years serving as Shattered Globe’s first-ever Producing Artistic Director. Shinner will remain a Shattered Globe Ensemble Member and looks forward to continuing working with SGT as a director and advisor on future projects.

"Collaborating with the multi-talented SGT Ensemble has been a highlight of my career,” said Shinner. “I’m extremely proud of everything we have accomplished together, including creating nearly 30 memorable productions, increasing salaries for artists, building a staff and relationships with new playwrights, directors, actors and designers, growing our unique Protégé training program, and launching SGT’s new play development program, our Global Playwrights Series.”

Currently, Shattered Globe is presenting its 35th season finale, Eelpout!, a world premiere comedy by Paul W. Kruse, directed by Jeremy Ohringer. When best friends Sven and Ole come together to celebrate at an ice-fishing bachelor party on a frozen lake in Minnesota, an unexpected confession hooks into deeper truths, along with a talking fish. Performances run through May 30 at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave. in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood. Tickets are $20-$60. For tickets and information, visit sgtheatre.org.

About Shattered Globe Theatre

Shattered Globe Theatre seeks to redefine what it means to be an ensemble theatre, discover new connections between story, artist and audience, and explore drama from bold, challenging perspectives.

Shattered Globe Theatre was born in a storefront space on Halsted Street in 1991. Since then, SGT has produced more than 80 plays, including nine American and world premieres, and garnered an impressive 53 Jeff Awards and 132 Jeff Award nominations, as well as the acclaim of critics and audiences alike.

Guided by Producing Artistic Director Sandy Shinner since 2013, Shattered Globe’s values are rooted in a commitment to racial equity, respect for all artists and support for the ensemble, while creating new opportunities to amplify traditionally marginalized voices and collaborate in all aspects of its work. Through initiatives such as the Protégé Program, Shattered Globe creates a space which allows emerging artists to grow and share in the ensemble experience.

Shattered Globe Theatre’s Ensemble includes Judy Anderson, Louis Contey, David Dastmalchian, Demetra Dee, Ellie Fey, Joe Forbrich, Christina Gorman, Daria Harper, Kotryna Hilko, Tina M. Jach, Rebecca Jordan, Steve Kleinedler, Vivian Knouse, AmBer Montgomery, Tina Muñoz Pandya, Eileen Niccolai, Jazzma Pryor, Deanna Reed-Foster, Linda Reiter, Jeff Rodriguez, Drew Schad, Adam Schulmerich, Leslie Ann Sheppard, Sandy Shinner, Joe Sikora, Shelley Strasser, Devonte E. Washington, Sarah Jo White, Joseph Wiens and Brad Woodard.

SGT’s Artistic Associates includes Daniela Colucci, Elliot Esquivel, Mikey Gray, Lawrence Grimm, Ronald Hale, Darren Jones, Christopher Kriz, Jason Lynch, Elizabeth Margolius, Kelsey Melvin, Lydia Moss, Tim Newell, Jane Nix, Winter Olamina, Aila Peck, Steve Peebles, Cage Sebastian Pierre, David Antonio Reed, Jasmine Cheri Rush, Angie Shriner, Abbey Smith, Becca Smith, Hershey Suri, Michael Trudeau and Ayanna Wimberley.

SGT is supported in part by generous grants from the Shulman-Rochambeau Charitable Foundation, Brenda and James Grusecki, The Paul M. Angell Family Foundation, Carol P. Eastin, The Shubert Foundation, Judith and David Sensibar, the Illinois Arts Council, The Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation and Americans for the Arts.

Visit SGTheatre.org for subscriptions, tickets and information, and follow the company @shatteredglobe on Facebook and Instagram.

Published in Theatre Buzz

Review: Remy Bummpo's 'Frankenstein’ at Theater Wit

You may be wondering why four of the city’s most formidable houses are each mounting productions of ‘Frankenstein’ this season. You may be also asking yourself which, if any, to see. It appears that Lifeline, Remy Bumppo, Court Theatre and Lookingglass have all included unique adaptations of the sci-fi classic. More than likely it is because 2018 marks 200 years since a young Mary Shelley published her seminal work. Of course, October is a pretty great time to stage any sort of Halloween theatre, but there’s something about the production running at Remy Bummpo that doesn’t quite feel like a horror story.

From an adaptation by Nick Dear and directed by Ian Frank, Remy Bummpo brings a great deal of humanity to this stage production. Dear’s adaptation was a success when it premiered at the Royal National Theatre in London back in 2011. It went on to be live broadcast in American movie theaters in 2012. This particular script comes with fanfare. The RNT production was directed by Danny Boyle and starred a then fledgling Benedict Cumberbatch. Something interesting Ian Frank borrowed from the London staging was the interchangeable casting of the Creature and Victor, played here by Nick Sandys and Greg Matthew Anderson. The two switch roles every other night. Sandys portrayed the Creature in Tuesday night’s opening.

Dear’s swift moving script begins at the creation scene, arguably the most dynamic moment of Shelley’s source material. Not too many frills here but the device saves quite a bit of exposition, because honestly who doesn’t already know the basics of the story? For those unfamiliar with Shelley’s original text, this is where the plot might diverge from popular memory. Dear’s script maintains a great faithfulness to the novel rather than the Boris Karloff monster movie.

Sandys performance as the Creature is more tragic than scary. Though, Kristy Leigh Hall’s special effect makeup makes Sandys unrecognizable and very menacing. The Creature, like a baby, begins naked and ignorant of the world around. Over the course of the 90-minute play, we watch a cruel world educate the outcast Creature into becoming a monster bent on revenge. Sandys eventual monologues about the desire for love are as haunting as the murder scenes. The script intellectualizes the Creature in a way that makes the audience pity him instead of fear him.

Ian Frank’s production is intimate and minimal. A sleek stage design by Joe Schermoly gives this production a disorienting effect. It’s almost to say, forget what you think you know about ‘Frankenstein’. In fact, this ‘Frankenstein’ may not even be a true horror story. Unlike Stoker’s ‘Dracula’ or Gaston Leroux’s ‘Phantom of the Opera’ – ‘Frankenstein’ sets itself aside as a story of scientific failure and the condition of humans to fear what we do not understand. It’s a story about the human need for love and this production tugs at the heart more often than it curdles the blood. Mary Shelley would appreciate the depth this adaptation gives to her most important contribution to literature.

Through November 11 at Remy Bummpo. Theatre Wit 1229 W Belmont Ave. 773-975-8150

Published in Theatre in Review

Review: Redtwist's "Incident at Vichy"

In a cramped police station in Southern France, a handful of men argue about why they were picked up for questioning. During the Nazi occupation of France in WWII, Germany left Vichy to be governed by France. This didn't exempt the zone from mass deportation of Jews living on false papers. Arthur Miller's "Incident at Vichy" explores the dark themes of a region living in fear, holding a mirror up to our own time.

With direction by Ian Frank, Redtwist gives a faithful production of Miller's under-produced 1964 one-act. Redtwist's best asset from show to show is the intimacy of their performance space. For a claustrophobic play like this, a better space couldn't be found. There are almost as many cast members as audience members and when the room is full, there's an inherent sense of panic.

White men arguing is pretty often seen in mid-century theatre. Usually it's a vehicle for expressing the playwright's world views. "Incident at Vichy" is a play of its time period. That's not to say Arthur Miller's words aren't chillingly relevant. As each character in question slowly divulges the reasons they may be sent away, they prioritize their own right to life over their neighbor's. In those passionate monologues, Miller cuts right to the heart of human nature, which is sometimes primal.

With a large cast and a short play, it's unusual to have so much character development. The ensemble distinguishes themselves well. The play hangs on a stand-out performance by Jeremy Trager as Von Berg (an Austrian nobleman). His character is the only one who seems to express empathy and guilt about what's happening to the people around him. David Giannini and Tim Parker balance out the cast as Bayard and Leduc and turn in strong performances as well.

"Incident at Vichy" is a story of people living in fear. It's a cautionary tale of what can happen when people are apathetic. With all this history, it's shocking in America that some would-be politicians are touting mass deportations of minority groups. To that end, Miller's play has never been more essential.

Through January 10th at Redtwist Theatre. 1044 W Bryn Mawr. 773-728-75329

Published in Theatre in Review

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