LILI-ANNE BROWN is a native Chicagoan director and actor with local, regional and national credits. She is the former Artistic Director of Bailiwick Chicago, where she directed the Chicago premiere of the Ahrens and Flaherty musical Dessa Rose, for which she was awarded the Jeff Award for Direction of a Musical. Also at Bailiwick, she directed the world premiere of Princess Mary Demands Your Attention by Aaron Holland; Michael John LaChiusa’s See What I Wanna See, part of Steppenwolf Theatre’s Garage Rep, and the critically acclaimed Chicago premiere of Passing Strange (for which she was nominated for a Jeff Award and awarded a Black Theatre Alliance Award). Other directing credits include: The Wiz at Kokandy Productions; Xanadu at American Theatre Company; the world premiere of Jabari Dreams of Freedom by Nambi Kelley at Chicago Children’s Theatre; American Idiot at Northwestern University; Hearts of Darkness and On the Boards at Roosevelt University; and Hairspray, Unnecessary Farce, Cabaret, Sweet Charity, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee; and Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story at Timber Lake Playhouse, where she is an Artistic Associate. Offstage, Lili-Anne spent five years working as a talent agent in Chicago. She previously headed casting at Bailiwick Chicago and Bohemian Theatre Ensemble and has done 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 a 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”. Lili-Anne is an Artistic/Technical Team member of the Joseph Jefferson Awards Committee; a Northwestern University graduate (Performance Studies); and a member of Actors’ Equity Association, SAG/AFTRA, and associate of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.