New Executive Leadership Takes The Reins At BoHo Theatre

BoHo Theatre, now in its 12th season, announced today the appointment of BoHo company member Meg Love as the company’s new Executive Director. Love has been part of the company since 2012, serving as producer, production manager, and stage manager prior to accepting the new position.

Love assumes the Executive Director position from Kaela Altman, who held the position since 2012. Altman oversaw a period of exciting growth at BoHo, helping to expand the company’s board of directors and staff. She also spearheaded a partnership with the Arts & Business Council of Chicago resulting in a multi-faceted five-year strategic plan. Under her executive leadership, the company produced such hits as Pygmalion (co-produced with Stage Left Theatre), Hauptmann, Veronica's Room, Parade, Ordinary Days, and Dogfight, and was recognized with 26 Jeff Award nominations. Altman will remain a company member with BoHo.

“Kaela’s contributions to this company over the past several years have been, in short, remarkable,” Artistic Director Peter Sullivan says. “She has worked tirelessly to promote company growth through fundraising and personnel, and has continually nurtured a safe and collaborative creative atmosphere. I am proud and honored to have worked alongside her.”

“Kaela is leaving some very large shoes to fill,” Love confides. “And while I am both extremely excited and a bit scared to assume this incredibly important position, I know that I will succeed. I am inheriting a very healthy company. She has fostered an active board of passionate individuals, she has molded an organized company and a near-seamless production process, and we are the most financially stable we have ever been as an organization.”

Over the years, Altman and Love have worked closely together at BoHo. “Meg has technically been a part of the BoHo family longer than Peter Sullivan and I combined,” Altman says. “Her institutional knowledge as well as her stage management expertise will be an asset as BoHo works to advance into the future. She knows what's worked and what hasn't, and she carries within her a strong representation of the founding mission and vision.”

“Meg brings an immense amount of knowledge, talent, patience and drive to help continue our forward momentum,” Sullivan says. “I have yet to meet someone that isn’t a fan of her both personally and professionally, and I am excited to take the next step in growth with her as Executive Director.”

Meg Love has worked with BoHo for a total of eight years, including four years as a company member. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with an emphasis in Stage Management from the Conservatory of Theatre Arts at Webster University. Before coming to BoHo, she was the Production Stage Manager at the Okoboji Summer Theatre for four years and worked with The Old Globe in San Diego on the Broadway-bound production of Chita Rivera: A Dancer's Life. She has also worked with the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis as Production Assistant and Season Planning Associate, as well as stage managing for the Chicago Gay Men's Chorus and Noble Fool Theatricals.

BoHo Theatre’s 2016 season continues with Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice, directed by company member Charles Riffenburg, opening at the Heartland Studio May 12th, and Next To Normal, directed by Theatre at the Center Artistic Director Linda Fortunato, opening at Theater Wit August 20th.

New Executive Director Meg Love on Leadership and Friendship

In the spring of 2012, I attended my first BoHo company meeting. I had already worked for BoHo for four years and had finally agreed to join the company as Production Coordinator. At that time, I had no idea how much my life was about to change.

There was someone else joining the company the same day as me. Her name was Kaela. I was told that she was a board member who was becoming a company member in order to take over for Peter Blair as Executive Director. We bonded that night on the Robels' porch while the company inside voted on our membership status – both of us the new kids – both of us anticipating our upcoming adventures.

The first of these was Floyd Collins. I was the Stage Manager. Kaela was assisting Peter Blair as Producer in preparation of assuming his position in a matter of weeks. They say that those who experience a crisis together bond quickly. Even with the passing of time, I still believe it fair to call Floyd Collins' tech a crisis. It was the largest undertaking we had ever mounted at BoHo. There were dozens of sound cues to be crafted, including live echoes, a massive set to construct (and then repair when an actor fell through the stage), a multitude of costumes and props in a narrow dressing room, a pit anchored by a keyboard running on a computer program that kept crashing, and hundreds of light cues (which were still being added for the first time, live, as the show was happening, on preview night with the Wall Street Journal in the house). It was indeed a crisis-- the result of which was an absolutely beautiful piece that was critically acclaimed and a very personal, proud moment in my time as a stage manager, proving that the work is worth it!

While it has now become a blur, I fondly remember how quickly Kaela and I bonded during that week. I remember her intimating how very excited and nervous she was to take on the position of Executive Director and occasionally exclaiming that there were things that she simply “didn’t know how to do.” “But I do,” I said, “and you have me.” And since that day where we vowed to be there for each other almost like two kids at camp promising to be best friends forever. I have been lucky enough to have the most special relationship I could ever expect to have with a supervisor, a colleague and a friend.

It became very apparent over the years that there was, in actuality, nothing she “didn’t know how to do,” only that which she had not done yet.

Kaela is fierce. She is a passionate leader. She advocates for our company like no one I’ve seen. She supports our members and artists alike.

The position of Executive Director is not easy. It’s actually really, really hard-– and also pretty thankless. You’re relied upon to make business decisions in a creative world. Those decisions aren’t always popular-– and can often be met with friction. You’re relied upon to keep all the balls in the air. Way more balls than anyone in the company can fathom. To quantify all the ongoing projects Kaela was juggling at any given time would be a never ending list of licensing, accounting, party planning, providing therapy, and worrying about toilet paper. The varying scope of required talent is unreasonable. It’s like being a mother. Everyone needs you and no one knows exactly how you make the magic happen.

Despite all these factors, Kaela charged bravely forward with intelligence, grace and humor. Through these years she has become a best friend and an absolutely indispensable mentor. I have learned volumes from working by her side.

She is leaving some very large shoes to fill. And while I am both extremely excited and a bit scared to assume this incredibly important position, I know that I will succeed. I am inheriting a very healthy company. We have an active board of passionate individuals-– fostered by Kaela. We have an organized company and a near seamless production process-– implemented by Kaela. And we are the most financially stable we have ever been as a company-– stewarded by the unstoppable collaboration of Ryan Guhde and (you guessed it) Kaela.

So, thank you, Kaela. I will miss you dearly as a leader, but I am comforted to know that you have secured our future through your years of service. Your faith in me as your successor means so much and I will do my best to always do you and this company proud.

But, for me, the most important takeaway is that I have found a lifelong friend. And while this part of our adventure is coming to a close, I know that we have so much more to come!

Thank you – for being our leader – and for being my friend.

-Meg Love, Executive Director

Read the press release about our Executive Director transition

Being Bohemian: Meg Love

BoHo Theatre's Production Coordinator Meg Love, on what it means to be bohemian:

Before I even knew anything of BoHo Theatre, I don’t know if I really had an accurate interpretation of what being "Bohemian" meant. What I did know was that it was what I wanted to be. To "high school me," it meant thinking outside of the box, being offbeat, being "alternative," being cool and funky and doing all of this with like-minded individuals. I equated it with modern-day hippies or beatniks— or at least having that kind of style, which I found so very cool. And so, in an effort to be Bohemian, I ended up wearing a lot of paisley.

Fast-forward about 10 years and I happened to work on a show for BoHo Theatre— and I was drawn back to working for the company again and again until I finally became a company member in 2012. The reason I returned for show after show was because it was an environment where all artists are encouraged to flourish. No one was ever told that their ideas were too "out there." In fact, some of the wackiest ideas produce the best work.

This concept is the heart of innovation and BoHo embraces those it. I’m not sure anyone here has ever said that something is impossible. We only say, "Why not? How can we make that work for us?" Given our limited budgets, it would be very easy to rule out hundreds of the ideas our directors, designers, actors and even administrators have had over the years. But, we don’t. We pool our resources. We call on our company, our affiliates and our board to do some creative problem solving. We use objects we have at hand and turn them into something new.

These people, the BoHo family as it were, are cool individuals. They're funky and alternative and I love working with each and every one of them because it is in that spirit of innovation that we are able to create anything we can imagine to touch the hearts and minds of our audiences.

So I guess, after all these years, I was never really that far off with my concept of "Bohemian." Only, it's less about your style and more about how you live. What really makes a Bohemian is the innovative spirit. What truly makes us cool is a can-do attitude that believes that anything is possible and makes something out of nothing. And so I have now found myself exactly where I always wanted to be — thinking outside of the box with like-minded individuals.

Though I still wear a good deal of paisley.

Throughout BoHo Theatre's milestone 10th Season, BoHo company members will be revealing what being "bohemian" means to them. What does Bohemianism and BoHo Theatre mean to you? Let us know in the comments or on Facebook!

BoHo Welcomes New Company Member: Meg Love

At the opening night party for The Rainmaker, Peter Sullivan asked me why I wasn't a company member yet. I remember quickly scanning my brain- Why wasn't I a company member yet? I've been hanging around BoHo so long, I already felt like I was one of the family. I just hadn't made it official.

I started my journey at BoHo with the remount of Songs for a New World at The Theatre Building (now the site of Stage 773) in 2008. When the show remounted at Theatre on the Lake, I was excited to be a part of it. After that, I jumped at the chance to work with BoHo any time I could. After stage managing Bernarda Alba, La Cage Aux Folles, The Glorious Ones, Hello Again, Dirty Blonde, Icarus, and Tartuffe, I accepted The Rainmaker. While I have been very proud of every single production I've been a part of, I have to say that Rainmaker took the cake. Every show has been a step up in some way. Each time, new goals have been set and BoHo continues to exceed them.

So in the midst of the celebration of the opening of the Rainmaker, it dawned on me that this is where I belong. Between the aforementioned artistic integrity and the fact that I adore the company members and others that BoHo surrounds itself with, I knew that I couldn't go wrong. I said yes and I was home.

It is almost needless to mention that the next show was Floyd Collins, which once again went above and beyond the bar that had been set. Gaining national acclaim from critics, I, once more, could not be prouder to be a part of this company and it only cemented my decision to officially hop on board!

Before joining the company, I was only able to work on so many shows per season due to the time demands of stage managing a show. Now, I get to do every show! I'm sure that you'll all see me around - house managing, papering the town or running around at special events, but fear not, you will still see me in the booth. I'll be stage managing The Spitfire Grill and Kiss of the Spider Woman this season and I can't wait to see where another year will take us!

Please join us in welcoming Meg Love to the BoHo Family!