Meade Palidofsky, playwright, lyricist, director, and youth development specialist, is the founding Artistic Director of Storycatchers Theatre (the new name for Music Theatre Workshop) in Chicago. She was a 2010 Chicago Community Trust Experienced Leader Fellow and was a 2009 Exchange Artist between Columbia College Chicago and the Scotland Arts Council. Ms. Palidofsky’s work with girls in prison is the subject of a documentary, Girls on the Wall, that is currently featured at many festivals and on national Public Television.
She is a recipient of the Mercedes Mentor Award, as well as honors from the American Musical Theatre Festival, the John Gassner Memorial Playwriting Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Illinois Arts Council. Humankind, a Boston National Public Radio program, and This American Life (Chicago NPR) have featured her theater work with youth.
Ms. Palidofsky is also a member of the Joseph Jefferson Awards Committee which honors excellence in Chicago theatre.
Jim served as Artistic Director of Redmoon Theater from 1992 to 2009. As artistic director he created numerous original theater and spectacle events ranging from massive public celebrations to formal indoor shows. Originally co-artistic director with founder Blair Thomas, Jim became sole artistic director in 1998 and has been a principal voice in over 30 productions in this capacity. Most recently, Jim created The Princess Club, an exploration of gender, fantasy, and beauty. He also created Redmoon’s large scale spectacle Twilight Orchard in Columbus Park on Chicago’s West Side, attracting 7,500 audience members over seven evenings.
Jim’s other productions include The Golden Truffle, a dessert musical, and Galway’s Shadow, which converted the facade of Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art into a giant shadow screen. The All Hallow’s Eve Ritual Celebration, which he conceived and directed, attracted tens of thousands of people to Logan Square for an evening of community spectacle from 1998 to 2002. He also collaborated on a large scale, site-specific spectacle with an international team in Tasmania, Australia entitled Dream Masons, which opened in March 2007.
Jim designed the Family Center at the Spertus Institute in Chicago. Jim’s work has been commissioned by Chicago’s Field Museum, the City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs, the Mayor’s Office of Special Events, the Pritzker family, and the Zell family.
Jim is a recipient of numerous Jeff citations, an Award for Excellence in Puppetry Arts from the International Puppetry Guild, and he was named an “artist to watch for the next decade” by The Chicago Tribune. He completed his course work for a PhD in Theatre and Drama at Northwestern University, but dodged his dissertation and took a Master’s degree instead.
Called “one of Chicago’s most creative individuals” by City of Chicago’s cultural affairs commissioner Lois Weisberg, in July 2009 he was named Chicago’s first-ever artist in residence.
A native Chicagoan, James served the Artistic Director of Remy Bumppo from his co-founding of the theatre in 1996 until 2012, when he handed the creative reins to fellow Meier Awardee Nick Sandys. Among the many shows he has directed for the company are Hapgood, Some Americans Abroad, Arcadia and Tartuffe. James has directed for many seasons at American Players Theatre in Spring Green, Wisconsin. He came late to the theatre, after spending his twenties teaching history and English in a program for high school dropouts.
Productions with Remy Bumppo
Night and Day, The Seagull, Waiting for Godot, Rockabye, Heartbreak House, Road to Mecca, Man & Superman, Hapgood, No Man’s Land, Top Girls, The Secret Rapture, Holiday, Money, Major Barbara, Some Americans Abroad, Hidden Laughter, A Delicate Balance, Arcadia, Humble Boy, Tartuffe, Power, The Best Man, The Real Thing, Bronte, On the Verge, The Voysey Inheritance, Old Times, Heroes, The Island.
