Lisa Portes is an award-winning Chicago-based director, educator, leader and advocate whose aim is to define and promote a new American theatre that is driven aesthetically and politically by the world we are becoming rather than the world we’ve been. She is a co-founder of the Latinx Theatre Commons and serves on the board of the Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the executive board of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC) and on the Director’s Circle of The Drama League. Predominantly a director of contemporary plays and musicals, her work has been seen in Chicago at Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf, Victory Gardens, Northlight, Timeline, American Blues, Silk Road Rising, Teatro Vista, Rivendell Ensemble and Next Theatre. Regional credits include projects for Cal Shakes, Cincinnati Playhouse, Denver Center, Guthrie Theatre, McCarter Theatre, Olney Theatre, South Coast Rep and Round House Theatre; and in New York she has directed for Playwrights Horizons, the Flea and Soho Rep. In 2016 she was honored with the SDC Zelda Fichandler Award. Lisa heads the MFA Directing Program at The Theatre School at DePaul University and lives in the Bridgeport neighborhood of Chicago (Go Sox!) with her husband, playwright Carlos Murillo, and their two teenagers, Eva Rose and Carlos Alejandro. lisaportes.com
