Theatre & New Media

Our new addition to the curriculum is designed to help you develop your theatre and art with the use of new technology and media. Streaming, podcasting, and self-recording have not only become necessary to create theatre in quarantine, but they have become staples of the modern artist. Help theatre enter a new stage in its evolution at Chicago Dramatists.


Financing and Fundraising for Theatre and Indie Film (Online)
Saturday & Sunday 1:00pm – 4:00pm CT
Apr 01 – 02
Instructor: Olivia Lilley

This is a two day crash course on everything you need to know if you are looking to fundraise or finance a project in either the independent film or theatre world. We’ll cover types of funding, building realistic timelines, managing communication, and creating budgets.

Class Description

This is a two day intensive workshop to give students a crash course in everything they must consider when responsibly financing their work, whether it is in the independent film or theatre world. I will cover all of the various types of ways you can acquire funding and build partnerships for your projects. I will also cover a wide variety of scales of projects such as staged readings, workshops, and productions and how to properly budget for them.

Teacher Bio

Olivia Lilley is a screenwriter/playwright, director, and producer based in Chicago and New Orleans. She came up in Chicago’s Storefront Scene and is Artistic Director of Prop Thtr. She’s the founding Artistic Director of “The Runaways Lab Theatre” (Voted Best New Theatre Company in the Chicago Reader 2014) and was named one of NewCity Mag’s Chicago’s 50 Players Who Play 2019 Edition. She teaches at The Playwright’s Center, DePaul Theatre School, Phoenix Theatre in Indianapolis, and Chicago Dramatists. 
She holds a BFA in Directing from Carnegie Mellon School of Drama. She’s an MFA Candidate in Screenwriting at The University of Nebraska at Omaha’s Writer’s Workshop. 

Course Details

Session DatesSaturday April 1st
Sunday April 2nd
Experience LevelBeginner, Intermediate, Advanced
Applicable Discounts

Chicago Dramatists Class Fee Policies 

  • If you cancel your registration more than ten days in advance of the class start date, you will be entitled to either a full refund of your money or a full credit applied to your account for future CD classes. 
  • If you cancel your registration fewer than ten days but more than three days before the class start date, you will be entitled to 50% of your class fee (minus a $20 administrative fee) applied to your account as a credit. 
  • If you cancel your registration less than three days before the class start date, there is unfortunately neither a credit nor refund option available.
  • Classes that fail to meet the 50% minimum registrant requirement within 48 hours of class start time will be cancelled. In this case, registrants will receive a 100% refund.
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