Collaboraction is a Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

-based theater company and a member of the Theatre Communications Group

Theatre Communications Group

Theatre Communications Group is an organization dedicated to the promotion of non-profit professional theatre in the United States. TCG has over 450 member theatres located in 47 states; 17,000 individual members; and a growing number of University, Funder, Business and Trustee Affiliates...

. Founded in 1997, the company has created over 35 productions, representing a wide variety of genres, that have garnered 14 Joseph Jefferson nominations and four Joseph Jefferson Awards

Joseph Jefferson Awards

The Joseph Jefferson Awards are given annually by a volunteer non-profit committee to acknowledge excellence in theatre in the Chicago area. Founded in 1968, the awards are given in tribute to actor Joseph Jefferson...

 ("Jeffs"). Collaboraction has worked with over 2,500 artists and volunteers in dozens of venues in the Chicago area. In the 12 years since its inception, Collaboraction has established itself as a reputable non-profit arts organization that has performed for over 60,000 audience participants, and as an artistic force with a distinct, 21st-century voice in Chicago.

Sketchbook has been produced in past years at the Garage at Steppenwolf Theatre, Chopin Theatre

Chopin Theatre

Chopin Theatre is an American for-profit cultural organization located along Polonia Triangle in Wicker Park within the West Town community area of Chicago...

, and the Viaduct Theatre. The 2009 Sketchbook will be produced in April 2009 at The Building Stage.

Past company members include John Cabrera

John Cabrera

John Cabrera is an American actor and director best known for his role as Brian Fuller on the television show Gilmore Girls on The WB...

.

In 2008, Collaboraction produced a stage adaptation by Seth Bockley of Jon, a short story by George Saunders

George Saunders

George Saunders is a New York Times bestselling American writer of short stories, essays, novellas and children's books. His writing has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's, McSweeney's and GQ, among other publications...

, and in January 2009 premiered Goldbrick, a musical based on the songs of Jon Langford

Jon Langford

Jon Langford born October 11, 1957, Newport, Monmouthshire is a Welsh-born musician and artist who is presently based in Chicago. He is the younger brother of science-fiction author and critic David Langford...

.

Sketchbook

Since 2000, Collaboraction has annually produced Sketchbook, a festival of short plays performed in collaboration with visual artists, musicians, and designers.

Playwrights produced at Sketchbook include Rebecca Gilman

Rebecca Gilman

Rebecca Gilman is an American playwright. She attended Middlebury College, graduated from Birmingham-Southern College, and earned a Master of Fine Arts from the Iowa Playwrights Workshop at the University of Iowa...

, Sean Graney, Wendy MacLeod

Wendy MacLeod

Wendy MacLeod is an American playwright.MacLeod received a BA from Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, where she now teaches and is a playwright-in-residence. She received a MFA from the Yale School of Drama....

, Itamar Moses

Itamar Moses

Itamar Moses is an American playwright, author, and television writer.Moses grew up in Berkeley, California, earned his bachelor's degree at Yale University, and his Master of Fine Arts degree in dramatic writing from New York University...

, Brett Neveu, Adam Rapp

Adam Rapp

Adam Rapp is a novelist, playwright, screenwriter, musician and film director. His play Red Light Winter was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2006.-Early life:...

, Jose Rivera

Jose Rivera

Jose Rivera may refer to:*José Antonio Primo de Rivera , Spanish politician*José Eustasio Rivera , Colombian politician and writer*José Rivera , American playwright...

, and Regina Taylor

Regina Taylor

Regina Taylor is an American actress and playwright. She has won several awards throughout her career, including a Golden Globe Award and NAACP Image Award.-Biography:...

.

Actors at Sketchbook have included Michael Shannon

Michael Shannon (actor)

Michael Corbett Shannon is an American stage, film, and television actor. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Revolutionary Road...

.

Artists participating in Sketchbook have included Krista Peel, Wesley Kimler

Wesley Kimler

Wesley Kimler an American artist based in Chicago, Illinois, is known for his colossal paintings, up to 15 feet high and 27 feet wide...

, and Tony Fitzpatrick.

Production history

• El Grito del Bronx (2009) - co-production with Teatro Vista at the Goodman theatre
• Goldbrick (2009) - co-production with Walkabout Theater Company
• Jon (2008)
• Heroes and Villains (2008)
• The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow
  The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow
  The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow is a play written by Rolin Jones. The play had its world premiere at South Coast Repertory in 2003.Set in Calabasas, California, it tells the story of Jennifer Marcus, a 22-year-old genius with obsessive compulsive disorder and agoraphobia...
  
   (2007)
• The Siddhartha Project: A Down Home, Apocalyptic, Avalanche of Beauty (2007)
• Tone Clusters (2007)
• 365 Days/365 Plays (2007)
• Trueblinka (2006)
• The Pull Toy (and His Paisan) (2006)
• Casanova (2005)
• Guinea Pig Solo (2005)
• Apocalyptic Butterflies (2003)
• The Cosmonaut's Last Message To The Woman He Once Loved In The Former Soviet Union
  The Cosmonaut's Last Message To The Woman He Once Loved In The Former Soviet Union
  The Cosmonaut's Last Message To The Woman He Once Loved In The Former Soviet Union is a 2005 play by David Greig set during the collapse of the Soviet Union.-External links:...
  
  (2003)
• Suffering City (2003)
• The Joy of Going Somewhere Definite (2002)
• The Life and Times of Tulsa Lovechild (2001–2002)
• Refuge (2000)
• Trojan Women (1999)
• Chicks (1999)
• Lone Star/Laundry and Bourbon (1999)
• When You Comin’ Back, Red Ryder? (1999)
• The Dreamer Examines His Pillow (1999)
• Three Sisters (1998)
• Aria Da Capo (1998)
• Mud (1998)