• Kellee Van Aken is leaving City Theatre, where she has worked, she reckons, "for more than half my life," starting as an assistant stage manager as a Pitt sophomore and rising to be artistic associate to artistic director Tracy Brigden.
Replacing her will be Chicago-based director Stuart Carden, with the title associate artistic director. Carden is well known here from his years earning an M.F.A. in directing at CMU, from the four shows he has directed for City ("A Picasso," "The Moonlight Room," 2003 and 2004 Young Playwrights Festivals) and even more from the shows he's directed for Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre ("The Lieutenant of Inishmore," "The Pillowman," "The False Servant," "Stones in his Pockets"). He also directed "Big Love" for No Name Players and has been on the Post-Gazette's annual list of best directors the past three years.
Currently, Carden is associate artistic director of Chicago's Silk Road Theatre Project, where he received raves for "Merchant on Venice," Shishir Kurup's polycultural deconstruction in blank verse of "The Merchant of Venice." Along with many classical productions, he's helped develop more than 20 new plays. He has taught at a half-dozen colleges and is an expert in several influential acting styles. Brigden points out his contributions to City will include a knowledge of the Chicago acting pool. He starts at City the last week in December.
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