Artist Bio

(Bio as of March 2013)

Joanie Schultz is a Chicago-based freelance director. She previously directed the workshop production of Ask Aunt Susan in the Goodman’s 2011 New Stages series. This season, she directs the Chicago premiere of The Whale at Victory Gardens Theater, Neighborhood 3 at Strawdog Theatre Company, Amadeus at Oak Park Festival Theatre and Luther at Steep Theatre Company, where she is an artistic associate and previously directed The Receptionist, A Brief History of Helen of Troy and the Jeff Award–winning In Arabia We’d All Be Kings. Recent Chicago credits include the world premiere of fml: How Carson McCullers Saved My Life by Sarah Gubbins at Steppenwolf for Young Adults; The Girl in the Yellow Dress by Craig Higginson at Next Theatre Company; the Jeff-nominated production of The Kid Thing by Sarah Gubbins, a co-production with About Face Theatre and Chicago Dramatists; The Metal Children at Next Theatre Company; Wreckage and Many Loves at Caffeine Theatre; Shining City at Redtwist Theatre; The Ring Cycle at the Building Stage; and A Perfect Wedding and Stone Cold Dead Serious at Circle Theatre. Her opera credits include Acis and Galateaat the Chicago Cultural Center, which was the first fully staged opera in the Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park; Suor Angelica at The Italian Operatic Experience in Tuscany and Carmen at the Bay View Music Festival. Ms. Schultz holds an MFA in directing from Northwestern University; was a New York Drama League Fellow; the Goodman’s Michael Maggio Directing Fellow; the SDC Denham Fellow; was a participant in the Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab; and currently teaches directing at Columbia College Chicago. She is also the 2013 co-artistic curator for Theatre on the Lake, Chicago Park District’s summer theater showcase.