mission

A black cat

Throughout history, crossing paths with a black cat has symbolized different things: good luck, bad luck, prosperity, harbingers of misfortune, witchcraft, weather predictions—the list goes on and all depends on your context, culture, mythology, and location. Similarly, the reception of and attitudes around queerness have varied greatly throughout history, culture, and context.

At Black Cat Theatre, we are reclaiming both black cats and queerness: we cross paths with theatre by queering it. We focus on:

  • queer stories and playwrights

  • queering casting and relationships on stage

  • queering form by playing with language that is heightened, poetic, or otherwise pushes bounds of traditional theatrical structure

Make your own luck. Choose your own destiny. Defy superstition. What does theatre mean to you? We invite you to cross paths with us and find out.

values

  • Author and activist bell hooks describes queerness as follows: “Queer' not as being about who you're having sex with (that can be a dimension of it); but 'queer' as being about the self that is at odds with everything around it and that has to invent and create and find a place to speak and to thrive and to live.” At BCT, we apply this meaning of queer to theatre. We use theatre as a means to invent, create, and find a place for queer folx to speak, thrive, and live by:

    • Producing works that center queer stories and/or are by queer playwrights

    • Centering queerness in casting and the relational dynamics on stage

    • Queering the form of theatre itself by gravitating towards works that engage with language via a sense of play, be that utilizing heightened language, poetics, adaptations, etc.

  • Making art under capitalism is difficult, to state the obvious. In order to honor and protect the work of everyone involved in making our art, we believe in full-spectrum budget clarity for all involved artists, as well as clear expectations of each artists' duties and roles within the project. We will establish non-arbitrary ticket prices and share pertinent budget info with patrons for expense clarity.

  • At BCT, we believe that the best theatre artists are well-rounded ones, and that theatre is beautiful because it is an inherently communal process. We center these beliefs by aiming to have education, training, and ensemble-building structured into our rehearsal processes. We want to prioritize growing and learning as a community by giving teaching hours and leadership opportunities to artists looking to build their craft, be that in our rehearsal processes or through community-open workshops.

company

  • Cori Lang is a theatrical jack-of-all-trades and aspiring master of all things literary adjacent. As the literary manager of Black Cat, she strives to support both productions and playwrights with integrity and grace. Chicago dramaturgy credits include work with the Goodman Theatre as the Literary & Dramaturgy Intern, Remy Bumppo Theatre Company, and Idle Muse Theatre Company. Cori’s short play, the jacaranda tree, was produced by Black Cat Theatre as the company’s inaugural project. They have also served in various administrative positions for companies like Midsommer Flight and the choir La Caccina. When Cori is not in the theater, they can be found working as a barista at a local coffee shop or swinging around a longsword in the Italian tradition—incidentally two activities that are more or less theatrical.

  • Kelly Jacqueline (she/her) is a Chicago-based actor, technician, teaching artist, and proud member of Black Cat Theatre! After graduating from Illinois State University in 2020, she has worked with various companies throughout the Chicagoland area, including Metropolis Performing Arts Center, Surging Films and Theatrics, Highland Park Players, and Big Noise Theatre. When not performing herself, you can find her teaching and directing children’s theatre to students aged 3-14 with Skyline Children’s Theatre. Kelly is passionate about finding new life in known works, exploring queer art and stories, and giving opportunities to artists to learn and grow through new experiences here.

  • Jessica Edwards (she/her) is a stage manager and event producer who has been happily based in Chicago since 2023. She graduated with a BA in Theatrical Design and Production from Elon University, and completed a Master's Degree in Sport and Entertainment Venue Management from North Carolina State University. She is passionate about health and safety in the arts, and finding ways to empower artists- both onstage and backstage- to achieve their best work. She is proud to have been working with BCT since its inception, and is thrilled to join the company as the Director of Operations. Select stage management experience includes Wicked (Broadway), Waitress (Broadway), The Gabriels, Wild Goose Dreams (The Public Theatre). Event production experience includes New York Comic-Con, the American Heart Association Fashion Show and Gala, and partnerships with brands like Schick, Home Depot, and Bumble. When she isn't seeing or doing theatre (which is rare), you can find her with her cat, Percy, watching Dropout content, or playing Dungeons and Dragons. Thank you for supporting storefront theatre!

  • Anthony Doyle loves all things technical theatre. He recently moved to Chicago from south Louisiana where he studied theatre tech at Louisiana State University.  He can most frequently be found stage managing or working on a set in some capacity and has the most fun with a paintbrush or power tool in hand. Anthony is excited to bring his knowledge and enthusiasm to Black Cat Theatre to ensure smooth technical operations and help tell queer stories. When not in a theatre, he can usually be found baking, watching movies, or attempting a new craft.

  • Say hello to the feline inspirations behind BCT’s name: Luna and Levi!

  • Cee Scallen is a proudly queer-sapphic theatre artist, arts educator, and Black Cat Theatre co-founder. They have a decade of performance experience and theatrical training from the Guthrie Theater, Carleton College, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, National Theatre Institute, and Moscow Art Theatre. Cee’s artistic passions lie in centering queer stories, art as activism, and making theatre more accessible to all artists. When not doing BCT shenanigans, you can find Cee teaching early theatre education and sexual abuse prevention/consent education to students across Chicagoland, performing as an actor and dancer, and bothering their feline daughters at home.

  • Jared has been an actor, director, technician, and theatre maker in the Chicagoland area since 2017. He is enamored with the power and romanticism of language. Simply put, he believes words are like food: the basics will do and are important, but why simply bake a potato when you can make latkes (ironically, he is a mediocre cook who hates grocery shopping). In his time before founding Black Cat Theatre he worked with a plethora of theatres and ensembles in the area in various capacities: Third Eye Ensemble, Victory Gardens, Oil Lamp Theatre, Court Theatre, The Artistic Home, Towle Theatre, A Crew of Patches, First Folio, Big Noise Theatre, Three Brothers Theatre, and Janus Theatre, to name a few. He firmly believes that an artist should be well rounded and work at many different levels in the theatre to foster empathy and insight in such a collaborative field. In his free time he hosts a Survivor themed podcast, game masters a dungeons and dragons group, and plays beach volleyball.

  • Sara BenBella (They/Them/Any) is a queer director, actor, and playwright. They received their BA in Theatre Studies Performance from Kent State University in 2018. After which, they moved and worked in Chicago for 5 years before deciding to return to academia. They are set to earn their MFA in Acting from Western Illinois University in the spring of 2026. Over the years, they've had the opportunity to act and direct with many different theaters, including Big Noise Theatre, Stone Soup Shakespeare, The Plagiarists, Three Brothers, Chicago Dramatists, and Eclectic Full Contact. They recently completed their MFA Thesis project, performing the part of Coriolanus in Shakespeare's Coriolanus. They are dedicated to creating spaces for queer artists to infuse representation via new work, as well as carving out space for queer artists to play within the existing theatre canon. They are so excited to be working with Black Cat Theatre!

  • Riley Doerner (she/her) is a theatre artist and the Black Cat Theatre Marketing Director. She is a graduate of Illinois State University, where she received a BA in Theatre-Acting and a minor in stage combat. Since starting her career in Chicago, she has performed with Black Cat Theatre, Idle Muse Theatre, and Theatre Above The Law. Riley is passionate about sharing stories that have been left untold and finding new perspectives in those we’ve heard before. When not in a theater, she can be found annoying her cat (and vice versa), using Canva for literally anything, and crafting to her heart’s content.