Kimberly Senior, who is among the most productive and successful directors on the Chicago theater scene during a career that has spanned two decades, and whose work also has taken her to Broadway and the West Coast, has been named the recipient of the 2016 Special Jeff Award for the Non-Equity Wing.
According to Jeff Awards Committee Chair David Liesse: “Seventy-three members of the Chicago theater community – artistic directors, directors, actors, designers, and administrators – all co-signed a letter nominating Kimberly to receive the award, noting that she “has spent her career making the kind of theater that defines this community in Chicago…and while she has done important work as a director and producer for non-Equity theatres across Chicago, her most important and most lasting legacy in Chicago is the way she has tirelessly championed and fought for many careers other than her own.”
The Jeff Committee agreed, and Senior will be given the award “in recognition of an outstanding director, whose creative vision and collaboration have inspired countless emerging Chicago theater artists.”
“It’s so exciting,” said Senior, who had no idea the letter had been circulated. “To think that anyone noticed things I’ve been doing for 21 years is really moving for me.”
A native of New Jersey, Senior arrived in Chicago for a temporary summer position at Steppenwolf, but, as she noted: “The city enchanted me…[and] the community has nurtured me so well.” While Senior is perhaps now more often associated with larger, Equity theaters, she was a founder of Collaboraction, spent a decade as an artistic associate at Strawdog, was the first board president of The Hypocrites. And four of her five Jeff nominations – four for best direction and one for scenic design – have been in the Non-Equity Wing.
Her Equity theater associations in Chicago include previous stints as an artistic associate with Chicago Dramatists and Next Theatre, and she is currently an associate artist at Timeline, and a resident director at Writers Theatre. For 10 years she was an administrator and resident artist for Steppenwolf’s Theatre for Young Adults. In addition to directing dozens of acclaimed productions in Chicago and across the country – including the Pulitzer Prize-winning, “Disgraced,” which was produced on Broadway – she has been an educator at numerous Chicago theaters, and is an adjunct faculty member at Columbia College, where she received the 2010 Excellence in Teaching Award. Senior has also taught numerous classes at DePaul and the University of Chicago.
Senior will be formally honored at the Non-Equity Jeff Awards Ceremony, which will be held June 6 at Park West in Chicago. Ticket information for the event can be found at www.jeffawards.org.
