CHLOE JOHNSTON
Tel: (773) 203-0807
EDUCATION:
Northwestern University, Evanston, IL PhD, Performance Studies, 2011
Northwestern University, Evanston, IL M.A., Performance Studies, 2006
The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL B.A., Art History (with honors), 1999
SELECTED PERFORMANCE WORK:
The Beyond, performer, Northwestern University/Writers Theater, February 2025
Grace, an original solo performance, Northwestern University, October 2024
Grace, an original solo performance, Roman Susan Gallery, Chicago, September 2023
Leave the Light On: An Anthology of Care, April 2023, Lake Forest College
A few graces in the second pandemic spring, Lucky Plush, Chicago, June 2021 (creator/performer)
The Egg Wrench, the Neo-Futurists, Chicago, May 2021 (writer/performer)
45 Plays for America’s First Ladies, the Neo-Futurists, Chicago, October 2020
*Critics Pick in the New York Times (co-writer)
Subsequent productions: Forward Theater, Madison, WI (May 2021); Theater Pro Rata, MN (October 2022)
Grace, an original solo performance, produced by Pivot Arts, Chicago, November 2019 (creator/performer)
45 Plays for America's First Ladies, Ground Floor Workshop at Berkeley Rep, California, June 2018 (co-writer)
Remember the Ladies: A few short plays about our First Ladies, Rhinoceros Theatre Festival, Chicago, January 2018 (co-writer/performer)
Marginalia: An Evening of Performance, Links Hall, Chicago October 2017 (creator/performer)
Table Life, Rhinoceros Theatre Festival, Chicago, February 2017; Pivot Arts Fest, Chicago, June 2017 (co-creator, director)
Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind, The Neo-Futurists, 2001-2016 (writer, performer)
Structural Remains, The Laboratory for the Development of Substitute Materials, Pivot Arts Incubator at Loyola University, Chicago, February 2015 (co-creator and performer)
The Loneliness Project, About Face Theatre, Chicago, January 2015 (artistic consultant)
7 of 101: Zen Stories, Free Street Theater, Chicago, June 2014 (creator and curator)
SELECTED AWARDS, HONORS, FELLOWSHIPS:
The Orchard Project Performance Lab, New York, 2023
Links Hall Co-MISSION Fellowship Residency, Links Hall, Chicago 2020
Mojekwu Award, (Recognizing dedication and work in cultural understanding, awarded to Lake Forest College Department of Theater), May 2020
Humanities 2020 Mellon Faculty Fellow, an initiative to use humanities to study racism in Chicago Lake Forest College, 2019-present
Ground Floor Play Development participant, Berkeley Rep, June 2018
Summer Research Grants, Lake Forest College, 2013-14, 2018-19
The William L. Dunn Award for Outstanding Teaching and Scholarly Promise, Lake Forest College, 2016
PUBLICATIONS:
Books
Ensemble-Made Chicago: A Guide to Devised Theater, co-authored with Coya Paz Brownrigg, Northwestern University Press, November 2018
Reviewed in Theatre Topics (March 2020)
Bare-Knuckled Lit: The Best of Write Club (Hope and Nonthings, 2014), contributor
Scripts
46 Plays for America’s First Ladies, Broadway Publishing (forthcoming in 2024)
45 Plays for 45 Presidents (Broadway Publishing 2017), co-author
200 More Plays from Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind (Hope and Nonthings, 2004), contributor
Neo-Solo: 131 Neo-Futurist Solo Plays from Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind (Hope and Nonthings, 2002), contributor
Journal Articles
“Beautiful Tangles: The Extra-Ordinary Mind Onstage." Theatre Topics 30.1 (2020): 41-50.
“Open Carry: Radical Stillness." TDR/The Drama Review 59.4 (2015): 176-183.
“On not falling: Philippe Petit and his walk between the twin towers." Performance Research 18.4 (2013): 30-35.
“‘The Lovers’: On the Great Wall and beyond." Performance Research 17.5 (2012): 19-23.
“Orlando by the Lake.” The Center for Classic Theatre Review Issue #1 (2011): 32-35.
“Wandering Through Time: Francis Alÿs’s Paseos and the Circulation of Performance.”
Liminalities 6.2 (2010)
“The Built Environment and the Architecture of a Performance: Arcosanti, Chicago, and the Making of Theoretical Isolation: A Post-Atomic Experiment.” co-authored with Ira S. Murfin
Theatre Topics 20.2 (2010): 133-146.
Performance Reviews
“Fannie Lou Hamer, Speak On It! by Cheryl L. West.” Theatre Journal 73.2 (2021): 238-240.
“Hit the Wall by Ike Holter.” Theatre Journal 67.1 (2015): 100-102.
INVITED ACADEMIC TALKS
“Ensemble-Made: An Embodied Workshop on Collaborative, Devised, and Co-Creative Practices,” University of Washington, Seattle, May 2023
“Ensemble-Made Chicago,” Seattle University, February 2020
“Order and Beauty: Ensemble-Made Chicago,” Washington University, October 2019
“Beautiful Tangles: Neo-Futurism, Truth, and the Brain,” The University at Buffalo, October 2018
“ ‘I Hope to Tell Ya’: Voice and Travel in E. Patrick Johnson’s Sweet Tea,” Northwestern University, October 2018
“Performing Theory, Theorizing Performance: Conceptualization, Execution, and Documentation,” Keynote Address, Graduate Student Conference, Interdisciplinary Theatre Studies at University of Wisconsin-Madison, March 2013
PUBLIC PANELS AND PROGRAMS:
“Chicago Theater in the Time of Pandemics,” Dance, Theater, Performance Studies Working Group, University of Illinois, Chicago, November 2020
“Ensemble-Made Chicago,” a series of free workshops, curated in partnership with the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, October 2020
"Humanities Summit 2020: Crisis and Action," University of Illinois, Chicago Humanities Institute, August 2020
“The State of Arts and Culture in Chicago,” Chicago Humanities Festival, September 2019
PAPER PRESENTATIONS:
“ ‘Grow towards freedom’: Three parts of a garden,” (co-authored with Coya Paz Brownrigg) Workgroup paper, American Society for Theatre Research, Seattle, WA, November 2024
“Creative Mutual Aid,” Panel presentation, International Federation for Theatre Research, Reykjavik, Iceland, June 2022
“Care, maintenance, and mutual aid,” Workgroup paper, American Society for Theatre Research, San Diego, CA, October 2021
“Co-performative witnessing as care,” Performance Studies International, Rijeka, Croatia, Co-organizer and presenter (scheduled for July 2020—cancelled)
“ ‘When they go low…’ OR The Activism of Height,” Workgroup paper, American Society for Theatre Research, Arlington, Virginia, November 2019
“From Class to Ensemble: Games for Transformation,” Workshop, Association for Theatre in Higher Education, Orlando, Florida, August 2019
“Ensemble-Made Chicago,” Workshop, Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas Conference, Chicago, June 2019
"Pedagogy Fails and Student Revolt in the Performance Studies Classroom," roundtable discussion. Co-organizer and presenter, Association for Theatre in Higher Education, Boston, August 2018
“Beautiful Tangles: The Extra-Ordinary Mind Onstage,” workgroup paper, The American Society for Theatre Research Conference, Atlanta, Georgia November 2017
“Ensemble-Made Chicago: The Politics of Creating Collaborative Performance,” panel presentation, Association for Theatre in Higher Education, Chicago, August 2016
“Embracing Opportunities, Embracing the City,” panel presentation, National Communication Association Conference, Las Vegas, Nevada, November 2015
“Radical Stillness,” workgroup paper, The American Society for Theatre Research Conference, Baltimore, Maryland, November 2014
“Open Carry: Experimental Guns,” panel presentation, Performance Studies International Conference, Shanghai Theatre Academy, July 2014
“Neo-Futurist Performance Workshop,” praxis session, Performance Studies International Conference, Shanghai Theatre Academy, July 2014