Direct Address @ The Goodman

This program brings early-career directors face-to-face with established industry professionals in a structured, supportive environment. Each session provides:

Practical Directing Experience: Selected participants direct actors through 5-minute scenes.

Professional Feedback: Receive direct notes and guidance from an accomplished director.

Community Building: Connect with fellow directors and industry professionals.

Career Insights: Learn about pathways to assistant directing opportunities with Chicago institutions.

Director Application Form is available through ticket purchase confirmation page

Why is there a ticket price? Direct Address is a brand new artistic initiative. The ticket price attached to the event, in sliding scale format, will allow for the continuation of events like this one, solely aimed to provide more visibility, mentorship and connections for early career artists, to exist. The goal for Direct Address is to not just stop at The Goodman, but to continue around the Chicago theatre network, connecting more and more artists to refutable organizations and established artists, providing an access point for real work and opportunity.

Featured Director: Lucky Stiff

Lucky Stiff (they/he) is a director, writer, and performer working in Chicago and New York. Their work in new play and musical development and performance art has been featured at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Goodman Theatre, Blue Man Group Chicago, Boy Friday Dance Company, and the McKittrick Hotel (home of Sleep No More) among many others. They hold an MFA in Directing for Theater from Northwestern University, where they received a grant from the Center for Interdisciplinary Research in the Arts for their original site-specific production BELOW: An Underworld Story. In 2024 they were a Fellow in the Leon Levy Foundation Director’s Group in residence at Roundabout Theatre Company.

Host or Publisher Pocket Theatre VR