Gwendolyn (Wendy) Whiteside is the Producing Artistic Director of American Blues Theater (ABT) in Chicago. On stage, she’s worked with directors: Peter Amster, Meredith McDonough, Eric Rosen, Rick Snyder, James Still, Dennis Zacek, and Mary Zimmerman; she’s worked with playwrights: Kristopher Diaz, Richard Dresser, Jordan Harrison, and Laura Schellhardt.
At ABT, she’s performed in Tobacco Road, It’s a Wonderful Life: Live at the Biograph!, Augusta, St. Scarlet,365 Days/365 Plays, Kid Simple, and Bus Stop. She’s a contributor to RIPPED: the Living Newspaper Project and Big Shoulders Festival. Regional credits include: Emily in Our Town, Belle in A Christmas Carol, Izzy in Rabbit Hole, Mary in Mary’sWedding at Indiana Repertory Theatre, and the solo-performance On the House at L.A.’s Lankershim Arts Center. Chicago credits include: the solo-performance thek of d: an urban legend, Metamorphoses at Lookingglass Theatre Company, Dream Boy at About Face Theatre, and work with Northlight Theatre, Chicago Dramatists, Chicago Humanities Festival, Defiant Theater, and Victory Gardens Theater. Television credits include: Cold Case, Six Feet Under, Dawson’s Creek, Jack & Jill, Cupid, and a recurring role on The Education of Max Bickford. Film credits include: Big Canyon, I, Mary, and Last Word.
For her Chicago stage work, she’s been nominated and received numerous Joseph Jefferson Awards and Citations. She’s also the recipient of After Dark Awards.
Her written work has been produced, published, and read at ABT, Lankershim Arts Center, Mary Arrchie Theatre’s Abbie Hoffman Festival, All-Story: Zoetrope Writers’ Retreat, Waiting Room Magazine, Ink, Edinburgh College of Art, Betty Rymer Gallery, G2 Gallery, and Powell’s Bookstore. She was a fiction finalist for Bomb Magazine’s annual prize (judged by A.M. Homes) and Glimmertrain Press.
She graduated cum laude from Northwestern University (Chicago, IL). Following graduation, she lived in Los Angeles, California. She returned to the midwest to earn her MFA, attending University of Iowa Writers’ Fiction Workshop summer session and The School of the Art Institute in Chicago. She has moderated and appeared on panels for Chicago Dramatists, Chicago Actors’ Congress, Chicago Theater (anti) Conference (Theater Wit), and with Mike Daisey (“How Theater Failed America”at Victory Gardens Biograph Theater).
About
Gwendolyn (Wendy) Whiteside is the Producing Artistic Director of American Blues Theater (ABT) in Chicago. On stage, she’s worked with directors: Peter Amster, Meredith McDonough, Eric Rosen, Rick Snyder, James Still, Dennis Zacek, and Mary Zimmerman; she’s worked with playwrights: Kristopher Diaz, Richard Dresser, Jordan Harrison, and Laura Schellhardt.
At ABT, she’s performed in Tobacco Road, It’s a Wonderful Life: Live at the Biograph!, Augusta, St. Scarlet, 365 Days/365 Plays, Kid Simple, and Bus Stop. She’s a contributor to RIPPED: the Living Newspaper Project and Big Shoulders Festival. Regional credits include: Emily in Our Town, Belle in A Christmas Carol, Izzy in Rabbit Hole, Mary in Mary’s Wedding at Indiana Repertory Theatre, and the solo-performance On the House at L.A.’s Lankershim Arts Center. Chicago credits include: the solo-performance the k of d: an urban legend, Metamorphoses at Lookingglass Theatre Company, Dream Boy at About Face Theatre, and work with Northlight Theatre, Chicago Dramatists, Chicago Humanities Festival, Defiant Theater, and Victory Gardens Theater. Television credits include: Cold Case, Six Feet Under, Dawson’s Creek, Jack & Jill, Cupid, and a recurring role on The Education of Max Bickford. Film credits include: Big Canyon, I, Mary, and Last Word.
For her Chicago stage work, she’s been nominated and received numerous Joseph Jefferson Awards and Citations. She’s also the recipient of After Dark Awards.
Her written work has been produced, published, and read at ABT, Lankershim Arts Center, Mary Arrchie Theatre’s Abbie Hoffman Festival, All-Story: Zoetrope Writers’ Retreat, Waiting Room Magazine, Ink, Edinburgh College of Art, Betty Rymer Gallery, G2 Gallery, and Powell’s Bookstore. She was a fiction finalist for Bomb Magazine’s annual prize (judged by A.M. Homes) and Glimmertrain Press.
She graduated cum laude from Northwestern University (Chicago, IL). Following graduation, she lived in Los Angeles, California. She returned to the midwest to earn her MFA, attending University of Iowa Writers’ Fiction Workshop summer session and The School of the Art Institute in Chicago. She has moderated and appeared on panels for Chicago Dramatists, Chicago Actors’ Congress, Chicago Theater (anti) Conference (Theater Wit), and with Mike Daisey (“How Theater Failed America” at Victory Gardens Biograph Theater).