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 & MANAGING DIRECTOR

Carla Stillwell (she/her)

Carla Stillwell has been an award-winning actor, playwright, producer, artistic director and teacher for three decades. Currently, she is Collaboraction’s Managing Director, where she won a Regional Emmy for her work as producer on The Lost Story of Emmett Till: Trial in the Delta, a collaboration with NBCUniversal/Chicago. Stillwell began as a theatre artist at age 10 in Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood, continued her studies in high school with the Chicago Park District’s after-school programming, and went on to attend Columbia College as a Theatre-Music double major. In 1995, she was cast in a show with an Afrikan Centered theater company new to Chicago called MPAACT, which became her artistic home for 22 seasons, serving both as resident playwright and artistic director. In 2019 she founded The Stillwell Institute for Contemporary Black Arts, 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. In 2021, she joined the adjunct staff at The Theatre School at DePaul University.

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.

ASSOCIATE PRODUCER

Zachary Crewse (They/Them)

Zachary has worked with Collaboraction since 2021, notably managing all scheduling and production elements for the Emmy Award-winning TRIAL IN THE DELTA. As a theatre practitioner, stage manager, and production manager, they have worked with Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Writers Theatre, Lookingglass Theatre, A Red Orchid Theatre, Redtwist Theatre, Chicago Opera Theatre, Chicago Dramatists, and many more. Before joining staff at Collaboraction, they coordinated and managed 700 weekly hours of studio space for the Joffrey Ballet, including managing the introduction of educational programming to the Joffrey’s new building at 1920 S Wabash and overseeing logistics for the creation of the new Contemporary Ballet Trainee Program. Zachary is a proud member of SOUL (Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation). BFA, DePaul University.