Lili-Anne Brown

Lili-Anne Brown (Director). A native Chicagoan, Brown works as a director, actor and educator, both locally and nationally. In recent years she helmed the world premieres of Ike Holter’s Lottery Day and I Hate It Here at Goodman Theatre and Put Your House in Order at LaJolla Playhouse. She is the former artistic director of Bailiwick Chicago, where she focused programming on Chicago premiere musicals and new plays by resident playwrights, directing and producing several award-winning productions. Select directing credits include FELA! (Olney Theater Center w/Round House Theatre), Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (Huntington Theatre), Ain’t No Mo’ (Woolly Mammoth and Baltimore CenterStage), Cullud Wattah (Victory Gardens), Once on This Island (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), School Girls; or The African Mean Girls Play (Goodman Theatre), The Color Purple (The MUNY and Drury Lane Theatre), Acoustic Rooster’s Barnyard Boogie…(The Kennedy Center), P.Y.G. or the Mis-Edumacation of Dorian Belle (Jackalope Theatre), The Total Bent (Haven Theatre w/About Face), Caroline, or Change (Firebrand Theatre w/TimeLine), Tilikum by Kristiana Colon (world premiere, Sideshow Theatre), Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story (American Blues Theatre), Hairspray (Skylight Music Theatre), The Wolf at the End of the Block (16th Street Theatre), Marie Christine (Boho Theatre), Peter and the Starcatcher (Metropolis Performing Arts), The Wiz (Kokandy Productions; BroadwayWorld Award),  Xanadu (American Theatre Company), Jabari Dreams of Freedom by Nambi E. Kelley (world premiere, Chicago Children’s Theatre), American Idiot (Northwestern University); Dessa Rose, Passing Strange, See What I Wanna See (Steppenwolf Theatre Garage Rep), and the world premiere of Princess Mary Demands Your Attention by Aaron Holland, all at Bailiwick Chicago; the national tour of Jesus Snatched My Edges; and Little Shop of Horrors, Unnecessary Farce, Cabaret, Sweet Charity, and The 25th…Spelling Bee, among others, at Timber Lake Playhouse where she was an Artistic Associate.  She has received 5 Jeff Awards for Best Director and is the 2021 recipient of the 3Arts Award, and an SDCF Zelda Fichandler Finalist. Member of SDC, AEA, SAG-AFTRA, and a graduate of Northwestern University.

Long ago in another life:

Lili-Anne supplemented her Chicago acting career as a talent agent by day for five years, also serving as the Casting Director at two companies, and providing freelance casting for several other theatres.

Onstage, favorite roles include originating the role of Tia in the world premiere of hit play A Twist of Water by Caitlin Parrish, with Route 66 Theatre Co, which she reprised in its successful Off-Broadway run; and Joanne in RENT at American Theatre Company, directed by David Cromer.  She has also performed at Steppenwolf Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Victory Gardens Theatre, Writers’ Theatre, Next Theatre, Ravinia Festival, ShawChicago, Drury Lane Oakbrook & Water Tower, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Theatre at the Center, Peninsula Players, and many more.  She is a local cabaret artist and former member of Chicago Cabaret Professionals; her solo shows Brown & Blue and Same Fool Twice debuted successfully at Davenport’s Cabaret.  She has performed with The Second City, understudying the etc. Stage, appearing in Chicago Live! at the Chicago Theater, and performing in the shows The Second City Guide to the Opera at Lyric Opera; A Girl's Guide to Washington Politics at Woolly Mammoth Theatre in DC and Charmed and Dangerous at CenterStage in Baltimore.  She is the creator and co-author of Blacktacular!, a musical sketch comedy.  Television credits include ABC’s Betrayal, USA's Sirens, and A&E Network's The Beast with Patrick Swayze, as Demarca, “the gangsta queen of the South Side”. It was all a blast.  https://www.lilbrownchicago.com