Shakespeare 400 Chicago
Barbara Gaines and Criss Henderson
Tuesday, Feb 2, 2016
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Shakespeare 400 Chicago
Shakespeare 400 Chicago is a yearlong international arts festival in 2016 celebrating the vibrancy, relevance and reach of Shakespeare. As the world commemorates the four hundred years since Shakespeare’s death in 1616, Shakespeare 400 Chicago brings together our city’s resident world-class institutions across disciplines, and welcomes leading artists from around the globe to make Chicago their stage. Anticipated to be the world’s largest and most comprehensive celebration of Shakespeare’s enduring legacy, Shakespeare 400 Chicago is making “no small plans.”
Barbara Gaines
Barbara Gaines is the founder and artistic director of Chicago Shakespeare Theater, where she has directed more than thirty of Shakespeare’s plays. Honors include: the 2008 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre; the prestigious Honorary OBE (Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) in recognition of her contributions strengthening British-American cultural relations; and Joseph Jefferson Awards for Best Production (Hamlet, Cymbeline, KingLear and The Comedy of Errors), and for Best Director (Cymbeline, King Lear and The Comedy of Errors). At Lyric Opera of Chicago, Ms. Gaines directed Macbeth and The Marriage of Figaro. She received an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of Birmingham (UK), the University Club of Chicago’s Cultural Award, the Public Humanities Award from the Illinois Humanities Council and the Spirit of Loyola Award. Ms. Gaines serves on the Shakespearean Council of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London.
Criss Henderson
As Chicago Shakespeare Theater Executive Director, Criss Henderson has produced CST’s past twenty-six seasons. Under his leadership, CST has become one of the nation’s leading regional theaters and one of Chicago’s most celebrated cultural organizations, honored with the 2008 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre, as well as multiple Laurence Olivier and Joseph Jefferson Awards. Mr. Henderson has garnered multiple honors, including: the 2013 Cultural Innovation Award from the Chicago Innovation Awards; the Arts Administrator of the Year by Arts Management Magazine at the Kennedy Center and the Chevalier de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the Minister of Culture of France. He was named among the top 40 business people under the age of 40 in Crain’s Chicago Business. He serves as president of the Producers’ Association of Chicago-area Theatres and on the Board of Directors of the League of Chicago Theatres. Mr. Henderson is director of the MFA/Arts Leadership Program, a two-year graduate-level curriculum in arts management training created through a joint partnership between Chicago Shakespeare Theater and The Theatre School at DePaul University.
