MEET COLLABORACTION’S GROUP FOR SOCIAL CHANGE

To create work that incites knowledge, empathy, dialogue and action it takes a diverse community of changemakers

TO CREATE, PROMOTE AND SUSTAIN INNOVATIVE, DYNAMIC AND ENGAGING WORK IT TRULY TAKES A VILLAGE

Meet our team of incredibly talented, intelligent and passionate individuals and community organizations committed to art that sparks conversations and incites change.

STAFF

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

Anthony Moseley (he/him)

Anthony has been the Artistic Director of Collaboraction since 1999, using theater as a tool of knowledge, empathy, dialogue and action. Through this work, Moseley has commissioned and collaborated with thousands of artists to build a more equitable future for Chicago through projects including Sketchbook Festival, Peacebook, Encounter and The Light youth theater festival. As a writer/director he created Crime Scene: a Chicago Anthology and its four sequels, This is Not a Cure For Cancer, Connected and A Blue Island in the Red Sea. In 2018, Collaboraction was honored with a Comcast/Ovation Stand for the Arts Award and an Otto Award for “ground-breaking political theater.”

PRODUCER & INTERIM MANAGING DIRECTOR

Carla Stillwell (she/her)

Carla has been an award-winning actor, playwright, producer, artistic director and teacher for three decades. Ms. Stillwell is a teaching artist with Victory Gardens Theatre and will be joining the Loyola University theatre department’s adjunct staff in Spring 2022. Ms. Stillwell has founded The Stillwell Institute for Contemporary Black Arts. This organization moves with a mission to recruit, develop and support contemporary Black artists and to teach art making in the Black community as a healing practice, a vehicle for social change and a viable career opportunity. Most recently, she has joined the staff of Collaboraction as the company's first full-time producer.

PUBLIC RELATIONS REPRESENTATIVE

Jay Kelly, (He/Him)

Jay is a Chicago PR specialist with more than 30 years of experience representing non-profit performing arts organizations including theaters, dance companies, music organizations and festivals. He has proudly represented Collaboraction since 2011. Other clients include Chicago Children’s Theatre, Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival, Chicago Latino Theater Alliance (CLATA), Lucky Plush Productions, Manual Cinema, Paramount Theatre, Physical Theater Festival Chicago, Season of Concern, Teatro Vista, Theater Wit and TimeLine Theatre Company. He launched Jay Kelly PR in July 2017 after seven years as Vice President of Arts and Culture at a mid-sized PR firm. He also served three years as an adjunct marketing professor at The Theatre School at DePaul University in the performing arts management program. For more, visit jaykellypr.com.

CREATIVE MARKETING MANAGER

Willow James, (He/Him)

Willow James is a Chicago-based artist and educator dedicated to new works, telling Black stories, and theatre as activism. He is Co-Artistic Director and Resident Sound Designer at Artemisia Theatre, a Teaching Artist at Chicago High School for the Arts, and is represented by Dream Team Talent Agency. Chicago: Title X (Artemisia Theatre), Botticelli in the Fire (First Floor Theater), WHITE (Definition Theatre). Regional: Magnolia Ballet (Alleyway Theatre/Phoenix Theatre Indianapolis). willow-james.org