Professor Nominated for Chicago Theatre ‘Jeff Award’

A Chicago production of Dennis Kelly’s play, “Girls & Boys,” directed by Professor of Theatre Robin Witt, has received four nominations for Joseph Jefferson (Jeff) Awards honoring non-Equity Chicago theatre. The 52nd Non-Equity Jeff Award nominations were announced Feb. 4.

“Girls & Boys,” which was produced by the Griffin Theatre Company last summer, was nominated in the categories of director, production, actor and scenic design. The award ceremony will be held March 23.

Witt received praise for her direction of “Girls & Boys” when it opened in July.

“Griffin’s Midwest premiere of this 2018 play is directed by Robin Witt, who excels at the helm of intimate dramas, as recently demonstrated by the moving two-handers ‘A Case for the Existence of God’ and ‘A Slow Air’ at Steep Theatre,” wrote Emily McClanathan in the Chicago Tribune. “Her knack for shaping exquisitely paced, quietly devastating emotional arcs works equally well in ‘Girls & Boys.’”

Witt’s research is the directing of new plays from the United Kingdon as well as the resurrection of lost and forgotten plays from the years between World War I and II. She is a fixture in the Chicago theatre scene and has directed numerous productions for the Griffin Theatre Company, as well as the Steep Theatre, Goodman, A Red Orchid Theatre and Steppenwolf Theatre. She has both received Jeff Award nominations and won Jeff Awards for several of those productions.

Last fall, Witt received an Artist Support Grant from the Arts & Science Council to prepare to direct a world premier by a prominent British playwright at Chicago’s Steep Theatre. The funds support a dramaturg, travel to and from Chicago and rehearsal/research costs.

Photo by Michael Brosilow: Cynthia Marker in “Girls & Boys” by Griffin Theatre Company at Bramble Arts Loft.