Lisa Dillman

LISA DILLMAN’s produced plays include Detail of a Larger Work (Steppenwolf Theatre); Ground (Humana Festival/Actors Theatre of Louisville); The Walls (Rivendell Theatre Ensemble/Steppenwolf Visiting Company Initiative); Half of Plenty (American Theatre Company; Summer Play Festival-SPF; Rogue Machine); and Flung (American Theatre Company). Rock Shore was presented in the 2003 O’Neill Playwrights Conference. American Wee-Pie was developed in the Goodman Theatre’s inaugural Playwrights Unit, and workshopped in the 2011 PlayPenn Conference and at the William Inge Center. Dillman has developed her plays at theatres across the U.S., including ACT (A Contemporary Theatre), Victory Gardens, Huntington Theatre Company, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Philadelphia Theatre Company, The Women’s Project, and many others. She has received commissions from Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Northlight Theatre, the Chicago Humanities Festival, Imagination Theatre, and Dramatic Publishing Company. She has received two Illinois Arts Council fellowships, the Sprenger-Lang New History Play Prize, the Morton R. Sarett National Playwriting Award, and the Julie Harris–Beverly Hills Theatre Guild Playwright Award. Her plays are published by Samuel French and Dramatic Publishing and anthologized in collections from Smith & Kraus, Heinemann, Playscripts Inc., and New Issues Press. In addition to being a member of Rivendell’s ensemble, she is also an artistic associate with Route 66 Theatre Company. She was recently selected for the Women Playwrights Festival and granted a Hedgebrook fellowship.


Now Showing

Crooked, by Catherine Trieschmann

Crooked, by Catherine Trieschmann

May 17-June 23

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Our Mission

Rivendell Theatre Ensemble is a professional theatre company committed to recognizing and cultivating the talents of women in theatre — from playwrights and actors to set designers and costume artists. Rivendell productions explore the unique female perspectives of everyday stories in an intimate, salon environment.

Who We Are

Over the past fifteen years, Rivendell has grown to fill an important role in the Chicago theatre community as the only Equity Theatre in Chicago committed to producing works that integrate and promote the essential female experience.