Starting off as small, casual get-togethers on Monday nights, our “Winnemac Workshop” series helped us grow our community and develop our vision for a new company to join the Chicago theatre scene. Jeremy and Genevieve collaborated on No Dogs’ inaugural production, Charlotte Jones’ Airswimming. With some sweat, tears, and… we don’t recall any blood…our first show was a success, and the dream began to take shape. The Monday night play-readings continue, and we have added substantially to our production history. We are lucky to have so many talented and dedicated artists in our core staff, and have been thrilled to welcome so many new collaborators over the past three years. This is a brief summary of our “start,” but truthfully, we are still at our beginning. As we look towards the future, we are overjoyed with all that we have accomplished, and excited to realize our full potential with many, many more productions to come.

Joining the robust, proud tradition of Chicago storefront theatre so late in the game is no mean feat. Luckily, there is no “too late” in the theatre. In an art form that is constantly changing and growing, the conversation never concludes. We hope to assert our unique vision for what live performance can and should be, which stories and voices deserve to be highlighted, and what meaningful change we can effect with our work. While developing our artistic direction and focus, we explore texts that are political, absurd, controversial, and thought-provoking. We seek out obscure or rarely produced texts that we believe should be well known, new texts that we can develop in unprecedented ways, and old texts that we can revive with some creative reimagining to speak to the current moment. In the ephemeral, ever-threatened and endlessly evolving performing arts, we believe it is important to draw from our rich roots, consciously engage with our present reality, and work towards shaping a more inclusive and sustainable future.

No Dogs in the Kitchen wants our work, both on and off the stage, to reflect our commitment to diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion. We condemn racism, sexism and misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, and all systems of violence and oppression. Our goal is to empower and liberate diverse voices, and we cannot do this without recognizing the systemic barriers in place that work to silence these voices. We promise to work towards building a community where artists and audiences feel welcome and respected.

We promise to evaluate our company’s policies and procedures  on a regular basis to hold ourselves accountable to these values and our progress. We recognize that our efforts will not be perfect, and we will always strive to learn, grow, and address harm when it is done.