BLACK CAT THEATRE
cross paths with us.
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.
current project
Black Cat Theatre is thrilled to announce our next production: a staged reading+ of Hope Springs Internal by Eleanor Evans-Wickberg and directed by Jared Sheldon, taking place April 1st and April 7th, 2025.
About the play:
It’s 2008 and Charlotte, a self-proclaimed “performance artist” is about to get her big break at the Chicago Middle School Arts Festival. Unfortunately for Charlotte, her Mom and her two sisters—Darcy, an ex-ballerina, and Amelia, a precocious violin “prodigy”—just don’t understand her. If only her Dad, who’s busy helping Obama get elected, would show up and rescue her… Part family drama, part wacky comedy, and part coming-of-age story, Hope Springs Internal is an angst-filled journey into girlhood, politics, and what it means to be an artist.
our values
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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.
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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.
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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.
meet the company
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.es here
support black cat
Black Cat Theatre is a 501c3 nonprofit, meaning all your donations are tax deductible! Click on the links below to donate to BCT via PayPal or Venmo. All donations help to offset our initial capacity building costs (incorporation/filing fees, the costs of our first production, etc) as well as support future productions, with a priority on artist compensation.
past projects
the edge off broadway, spring 2024 / playwright: natalie welber / directors: jared sheldon, cee scallen / stage manager: jessica edwards / fight choreographer: kate lass / thanks to Idle Muse Theatre Co. for use of their set
when she went to mantua
two hearted queen, fall 2023 / playwright: cori lang / director: savannah selbach / stage manager: caycelynn hoggard / thanks to Cely Garcia and Cassandra Andrewson for use of their space
the jacaranda tree
meet the black cats
say hello to the feline inspirations behind BCT’s name: Luna and Levi!
