What is the Chicago Physical Theater Festival?
Physical Theater Festival Chicago brings to our city audience-beloved, virtuosic live performances from around
the world that inspire theatergoers and local artists to reimagine what a live theater experience can be and do across
cultures, languages, and genres.
For the last 11 years, the Chicago Physical Theater Festival has built a loyal, returning audiences that include:
•Audiences that may not traditionally go to the theater, including immigrant communities, and new Chicagoans.
•Chicago theater-makers and students interested in international leading acts that bring to us the future of what theater can be.
•In 2024, our most popular year so far, the festival welcomed 18 international artists and 1500+ ticket buyers.
PTF began at Links Hall in the summer of 2014 and has happened annually since then. The 12th edition of the festival will happen from June 2 to 8 2025.
What will I see at Physical Theater Festival?
Award winning and critically acclaimed new dramas, comedies and dramedies from around the world that are ensemble-created and innovate in one or more of the following theater traditions:
Clown, Mime, Improv, Puppet and Object Theater, Circus, Dance and Street Theater
Our Story
In 2014, Alice da Cunha and Marc Frost launched the inaugural Physical Theater Festival through the Artistic Associate program at Links Hall. The inspiration for the Festival drew upon their combined experience in London as physical theater students at the London International School for the Performing Arts (LISPA). Moving from London to Chicago, they were inspired to start a new festival to promote a more progressive, fresh and physical approach to theater-making in Chicago.
2024 Producer's Board
The Producer’s Board supports Physical Theater Festival Chicago (PTFC) in its mission to make Chicago a home for local, national and international physical theater. Members of the Producer’s Board are tasked with raising funds through a “give or get” model to support the annual summer Festival. Board members enjoy a close relationship with the Festival’s curators.
Elise and Ira Frost
Josh and Jess Frost
Maggie Kast
Lauren Schrero and Adam Levy
Pat Yuzawa-Rubin and Jack Rubin
Laura and Michael Werner
2024 Festival Team
Staff
Co-Founders & Co-Artistic Directors
ALICE DA CUNHA
Alice is a Chicago-based Brazilian and Portuguese actress, director and producer. She co-directed with Sandra Marquez the multi-award winning Teatro Vista show The Dream King. Acting credits include Steppenwolf Theatre, Remy Bumppo, Theater 503, as well as House Theater for which she received a Jeff Award for Best Ensemble for United Flight 232.
She is Artistic Director and Co-founder of Chicago’s Physical Theater Festival, an annual festival committed to present in our city international acts that represent the future of what theater can be and do. She has extensive experience in the international theater festival sector and has worked, among other festivals at CASA (UK), Shortcutz London, TODOS (Portugal), and the Chicago Latino Film Festival.
Alice is an Artistic Consultant to Theater Unspeakable and an Adjunct Professor at Loyola University.
MARC FROST is an actor, deviser, educator and Chicago native who has performed and produced work in Brazil, Ireland, Spain, the United States and the United Kingdom. He created Theater Unspeakable as a platform for original works of devised, physical theater. Based in Chicago, the award-winning company has toured nationally, performing at venues including Lincoln Center Education (NY) and Kennedy Center (DC). He currently teaches at Columbia College Chicago and Roosevelt University. Frost is also a proud graduate of the Commercial Theatre Institute’s 14-Week Training Program for Commercial Theatre Producers in New York City.
Technical Team
NOAH ELMAN is a director, designer, and theatre maker based out of Chicago. Prior to moving to Chicago, he served as the Lead Audience Interaction Designer at the Kitchen Theatre and the General Manager for The Cherry Arts. Since arriving, he has had the opportunity to work with Boho Theatre, Music Theater Works, and Mudlark Theatre among others and currently works as a stage manager at Second City. He most recently directed Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins with Strawdog Theatre. He holds a BFA from the State University of New York at Fredonia and trained under Anne Bogart and the SITI Company.
ANDREW NOGADA Andrew Nagoda (Asst. Technical Director) is a multi-disciplinary film and theater maker. Originally from Forestburgh, NY, Andrew is now a Chicago based Camera Operator, Focus Puller, Sound Recordist, Grip, and Producer. His two creative worlds have led him to work in a vast range of venues, including Grant Park’s Sueños Festival 2024 (1st AC), North Park University’s Yeast Nation! (ME), The Atheneum Center (ATD), and even found spaces for his short film MYGDA(Producer & AC) & music video WEIGHT (AC). When not hunting for his next production opportunity, Andrew enjoys cooking, reading, and cheering on the Buffalo Bills.
Marketing Director
ALEX MIRANDA is a marketing specialist with several years of experience in creative advertising and digital marketing in Brazil and the US. For the past four years, Alex has volunteered for Partners of the Americas coordinating the communications of the Brazilian Film Festival in Chicago, an annual event that shows "Brazilian films with a social conscience." Currently, He is pursuing his Master's Degree in Integrated Marketing Communications at Roosevelt University Chicago.
communications@physicalfestival.com
Communication Manager
KIM CAMPBELL is a communication specialist copywriter, editor, and arts writer. Kim served as a copywriter for Paramount and Copley Theatre, and as chief editor at CircusTalk and American Circus Educators. With a background in arts criticism, editing, and marketing, Kim has worked with publications like The Chicago Reader and Third Coast Review. Although they write extensively for and about the performing arts, Kim’s specialty is writing about circus arts, physical theater, puppetry and other variety arts. Kim is a member of the American Theater Critics Association.
VOLUNTEERS:
Volunteer Coordinator
TARA BOULDREY (they/she/xe) is a dedicated theatre artist and seasoned arts administrator with over 15 years of experience in physical theatre & immersive events design and production. Tara is deeply grateful for the Physical Festival community, and cherishes the catharsis, inspiration, and growth that volunteering for the festival nearly every year since 2016 has granted them. Tara's extensive background in arts administration includes roles such as Co-founder & Director of Development for The (Beat) Theatre Collective, and Company Member & Business Development Officer for What A Do Theatre. They also currently manage special events and general operations for Rough Magic Games and have been involved in various levels of production at festivals and large-scale events of all shapes and sizes, including ArtPrize, the Electric Forest Festival, Sum of Us Festival, and C2E2. Tara has been a Chicago Saint since May 2023, and is also the Founder and Executive Director of 3rd Contact Immersive, an organization dedicated to creating immersive experiences that inspire empathy and social responsibility in audiences and artists alike. For more, please visit 3rdcontactimmersive.org
Scratch Night Curators
Scratch Night Summer
SCOTT RAY MERCHANT is a performance artist and theatre maker celebrating over a decade in the Chicago theatre community. A graduate of the Theatre Conservatory at Roosevelt University, Scott has had the privilege to perform at the Goodman Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, New Leaf Theatre, Red Twist, Abraham Werewolf, Dog & Pony and is a proud company member of Collaboraction. Scott was Co-director of "TOLLBOOTH: A Clown Show" for First Floor Theatre and a former member of the cult-hit Bouffon troupe Les Enfants Terribles. Over the last several years, he has trained with Eric Davis in Bouffon, Sue Morrison in Pochinko clown in Toronto and with Steve Wasson and Corine Soum in Decroux mime.
KEVIN MICHAEL WESSON (he/they) is a proudly unrepresented puppeteer/deviser based in Chicago, originally from Tampa, FL (B.A. theatre arts, University of South Florida). Recent credits as a physical theatre performer include: Leonardo! & Christmas Carol (Manual Cinema), “Where we go together” or The Flashlight Play (Theatre Nobody), Dog or Cats; Augmented Body (Steppenwolf LOOKOUT), House of the Exquisite Corpse I-III (Rough House Theater), All is Blue & Yellow (Collective Summ), Elements of Style (The Neo-Futurists),The Dr. Seuss Experience (Kilburn Live). His works have been mentioned in American Theatre Magazine, No Proscenium, The Puppetry Journal, NPR, and nomination for the National Puppet Slam. A firm believer in DIY ethos, they currently organize works-in-progress & community programming for the Chicago-based puppet theatre company, Rough House Theater, the performance art company, Stop Motion Plant, and the experimental free theatre outfit, Theatre Nobody.
RAQUEL TORRE (she/her & ella) is a creator/performer from Puerto Rico with a background in physical theatre and devised performance. Since moving to Chicago in 2016, she’s collaborated with UrbanTheater Company, Filament Theatre, Shattered Globe Theatre, The Gift Theatre, Opera-Matic, Playmakers Lab, among others, as a director, movement coach, and actor. In 2013, she co-founded La Vuelta Ensemble (formerly Circo La Vuelta) with Jean Claudio, now a minority-led ensemble with a focus on high physicality and delightful absurdity. Raquel holds a BA in theatre from the Universidad de Sagrado Corazón (Puerto Rico), a certificate in Devised and Movement Theatre from Cabuia Teatro (Argentina), and an MFA in Devised Performance Practice from LISPA/Columbia College Chicago (Berlin/Chicago).
ROCIO "CHIO" CABRERA is a Mexican-American artist creating new Latina stories through puppetry. Rocio builds, directs, and performs in her own shows for families and for theaters across the city of Chicago. Her recent puppetry credits include MITOTE Fall Equinox (CHI), Nasty Brutish & Short (CHI), The Worm Show (NYC), and Juana and the Missing Mayan Book (CHI). She is a current Artist in Residence at Free Street Theater. She is an artist associate of Rough House Theater. When she’s educating children with puppets, she focuses on the empathy, joy, and creativity that puppets bring.
Board of Directors
EMILIO WILLIAMS is a bilingual (Spanish/English) award-winning writer and educator. His critically acclaimed plays have been produced in Argentina, Estonia, France, Mexico, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States, including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Washington DC.
His experimental prose has appeared most recently in Brevity Magazine, Writing Disorder, Hinterland Magazine, Imagined Theatres, and the anthology Beyond Queer Words 2021.
Emilio has lectured around the world, and taught at several U.S. universities, including DePaul University, Columbia College Chicago, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and Georgia State University. He holds a BA in Film and Video and an MFA in Writing. He is a resident playwright at Chicago Dramatists where he is also a faculty member. He divides his time between Chicago and Paris.
AMRITA DHALIWAL (she/her) is an award-winning Punjabi American comedian, arts leader, educator and devising artist based in Los Angeles, whose work spans multiple mediums, from stage to TV & Film. Her work explores the core themes of humanity, like death and love, through a lens of the current social-political climate. A few highlights include The Living Room, a comedy about death and grief, which one Best Comedy at the 2019 Melbourne Fringe Festival, she was the creator and producer of the hit LA show, Indian Wedding, featured in LA Weekly as “Top 15 Things to do in LA”, and more. Beyond the stage, Amrita co-authored and curated an essay series for HowlRound about clown and activism. For more, go to www.amritadhaliwal.com.
YOLANDA CESTA CURSACH
Yolanda (she/ella), is an immigrant from Spain and native of Italy, and degreed in Political
Science and Romance Languages. She is a curator and producer of interdisciplinary arts with
25+ years of programming, production management and executive experience. She is founder of Galileo Arts Provisions, with current projects including residencies and new works by Renée Clark Baker, Mariia Plotnikova, Lional Brother El Freeman, and the collective Unfolding Disability Futures. She is North American tour producer for the companies Anywhere (Chicago, USA) and Silencio Blanco (Santiago, Chile). Networks include Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival, Physical Theater Festival Chicago, South Side Artists in Sacred Spaces, Chicago Latino Theater Alliance, National Performance Network (NPN), and Creative Independent Producers Alliance (CIPA). Her artist service and research extend to Canada, Mexico, Ibero-Latin America, France, South Asia, Sub-Sahara Africa, Japan, and Australasia. She is Artistic Advisor for Monira Foundation and Arts Midwest. Her most recent advisor and panel service includes for Villa Albertine, Creative Capital, MAP Fund, USArtists International at the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, FACE Foundation’s French US Exchange in Dance (FUSED) and Contemporary Theater, Illinois Arts Council, and City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. She served twice as Curator and Producer of Southern Exposure Performing Americas for the NEA, as a Facilitator of Moving Forward Dialogues Residency for the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography (MANCC) at Florida State-Tallahassee, and as Hub Site for National Dance Project of the New England Foundation for the Arts. She was Curator of Performance at Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (1997-2019), where she originated the New Works Development commissioning program and co-created the MCA Stage presenting series, and most recently Artistic Director at High Concept Lab. She is a Practitioner with Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation, and recipient of the Paul Harris Fellow Lifetime Award for Humanitarian Work by Rotary International.
SHAWN DOUGLASS is a director, actor, adapter, and Northwestern University Professor of Instruction. An Artistic Associate for 18 seasons with Remy Bumppo Theatre Company, he received an After Dark award for his portrayal of John Tanner in Man and Superman. Shawn has also performed at Northlight Theatre, Court Theatre, Apple Tree Theatre, Writers’ Theatre and Chicago Shakespeare. He has played in over twenty Shakespearean productions in Chicago, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Montana, Iowa and during three seasons with Wisconsin’s American Players Theatre.
Directing credits at Remy Bumppo include Chesapeake, The Philadelphia Story and The Importance of Being Earnest, all of which were nominated for the Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Production. Also for Remy Bumppo: Usman Ally’s Public Enemy, part of Remy Bumppo’s thinkTank, an annual project he created and produced to present works addressing pressing social issues such as immigration and national securtiy.
Other directing credits include Three Views of the Same Object, Ten Questions to ask Your Biology Teacher About Evolution (Next Act Theatre, Milwaukee); Julius Caesar, The Diary of Anne Frank (Theatre at the Center); Love’s Labour’s Lost, Romeo and Juliet (Montana Shakespeare in the Parks); Jimmie Blues and the Strange Case of the Accidental Dancer (Jump Rhythm Jazz Project); Tintypes (Open Door Rep); William Saroyan’s The Beautiful People (Edge of the Wood Theatre); and Holiday (Northwestern).
Douglass’ adaptation of immigrant oral histories, An Immigrant Class, was staged for Remy Bumppo’s thinkTank. His adaptation of Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court was read at the Chicago Humanities Festival, and later staged at Northwestern University. In 2021 Shawn created the YouTube and Apple Podcast series An Actor’s Arc tracing the artistic journey of working actors over the course of their professional careers.
ALICE DA CUNHA (see bio in staff section)
MARC FROST (see bio in staff section)