Skip to main content

Welcome

To
54 Below


Erin Ortman is a director and teaching artist who recently relocated to Chicago, where she has joined the faculty at Northwestern University. Current New York directing projects include: Jeannette (concert presentation this May at 54 Below) and The Dogs of Pripyat (Aron Accurso and Jill Abramovitz), which had a wildly successful public lab last October. She has directed several heralded off-Broadway plays and musicals by award-winning playwrights, including One Thousand Nights and One Day (Marisa Michelson and Jason Grote) and Real (Rodrigo Nogueira), as well as serving as a guest director for many of the nation’s top conservatories. Her upcoming work in Chicago includes a localized version of Working, incorporating documentary video capture and civic engagement with the local labor force. Erin’s involvement in theatre education, combined with an intentional reimagining of traditional creative team structures and practices in the professional sphere, aligns with her commitment to long-lasting cultural change in the theatre as it relates to the oppression of marginalized artists. She is a proud member of The Lincoln Center Director’s Lab and SDC.