Alison C. Vesely | Artistic Director

Alison C. Vesely is the Co-Founder (with her husband David Rice) of First Folio Theatre, where this season she will be directing Blithe Spirit and The Woman in Black. She is currently directing Richard III at the Hilberry Repertory Theater of Wayne State University. In 2009 she was nominated for a Jeff Award for her direction of A Moon for the Misbegotten, which was also nominated for Best Production. Previous First Folio directing credits on the indoor stage include the world premieres of Will Rogers: An American Original and The Castle of Otranto, as the Chicago premieres of Jeeves in Bloom and Jeeves Intervenes, Design for Living, The Passion of Dracula, Driving Miss Daisy, Jeeves Intervenes, The Madness of Edgar Allan Poe, Angel Street, Private Lives, A Connecticut Yankee…, and The Importance of Being Earnest. On the outdoor summer stage Alison has directed Richard III, The Tempest (1997 & 2006), The Taming of the Shrew (1999 & 2005), Hamlet, The Comedy of Errors, Twelfth Night, Antigone, As You Like It, Macbeth (2001), Much Ado About Nothing (2000), Romeo and Juliet, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1998). Before founding First Folio, Alison was the Classics Project Director for Footsteps Theatre, a women’s theater company specializing in all-female productions of Shakespeare’s plays. Alison worked as the Folio Director and Dramaturge on many productions at Footsteps, including Romeo and Juliet, A Midsommer Night’s Dreame, and Macbeth. She also performed in these productions, earning an After Dark Award for the title role in their production of Macbeth. Alison has also served as an adjudicator for the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival and the Irene Ryan Awards and just completed a three-year term on the Theater Program Grants Panel for the Illinois Arts Council. She is a proud graduate of Illinois Wesleyan University.