Fefu and Her Friends Bios
Charin Alvarez (Christina)
I am Not Your Perfect Mexican daughter; La Ruta; Infidel; Ordinary Yearning; Fermi at Steppenwolf Theatre. Lettie; Mojada; Oedipus El Rey; Anna in the Tropics; A Park in the House at Victory Gardens Theatre. Pedro Paramo; El Nogalar; Dollhouse and Electricidad at Goodman Theatre. In the time of the Butterflies; Our Lady of the Underpass; I put the fear of Mexico in ’em; Dreamlandia; Another Part of the House at Teatro Vista. Ms. Alvarez has also appeared at Chicago Dramatist Theatre; Remy Bumppo Theatre; About Face Theatre; 16th Street Theatre; Chicago Children’s Theatre and others. Film/TV credits include: Easy; Shameless; Chicago Fire; Mob Doctor; Boss; Chicago Code; Approach Alone; Rooftop Wars; Arc of a Bird; Were the World Mine and others.
Sandra Delgado (Cecelia)
is a Colombian-American writer and actor best known for her smash hit play La Havana Madrid, featured in the New York Times and CNN/CNÑ. Also a respected veteran of the stage, her acting highlights include work at Steppenwolf and The Goodman Theatre in Chicago and The Public Theatre in New York. She is a member of Collaboraction and Teatro Vista and is one of the twenty iconic women of Chicago arts and culture honored in Kerry James Marshall’s mural Rushmore on the facade of the Chicago Cultural Center. She is currently writing The Boys and the Nuns, centering on the fight for LGBTQ and women’s rights in 1980s Chicago. www.sandradelgado.net
Lourdes Duarte (Host)
is co-anchor of WGN Evening News at 4pm. Prior to her role on the evening news, Lourdes was co-anchor of the WGN Morning News and a reporter for WGN News at Nine. Lourdes came to WGN-TV in September of 2007 as a general assignment reporter for the WGN Midday News, WGN Evening News and WGN News at Nine. Prior to joining WGN-TV, Lourdes worked for three years as a reporter and fill-in anchor for WJBK-TV in Detroit, Michigan. She also spent two years as a reporter for WXIN-TV in Indianapolis. While there, she launched and hosted the station’s public affairs program, “Hoy en Dia,” and anchored daily news cut-ins in Spanish for radio station WEDJ-FM. Lourdes was a reporter in Peoria at WHOI-TV and at Metro Networks in Miami, Florida for radio stations WLRN-FM and WTMI-FM. She got her start here in Chicago, working as a freelance reporter for Telemundo. Lourdes is a four time Emmy Award winner. She also received an Emmy nomination for a story on deportation. Lourdes and a WGN photographer where aboard a plane that transported undocumented immigrants to their home country. Lourdes also hosts “Adelante Chicago” on WGN which highlights the growing Latino community. In 2009, she was picked as one of DePaul University’s 14 Under 40 and later served on DePaul’s Deans Advisory Board for the College of Communication. Lourdes received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication from DePaul University.
Anne García-Romero’s (Dramaturg)
plays include Lorca in New York, Staging the Daffy Dame, Provenance, Paloma, Mary Domingo, Juanita’s Statue, Earthquake Chica, and Santa Concepción. Her plays have been developed and produced most notably at the Public Theatre, Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, Goodman Theatre, Denver Center Theater, and South Coast Repertory. Her book, The Fornes Frame: Contemporary Latina Playwrights and the Legacy of Maria Irene Fornes (University of Arizona, 2016), explores the work of six award-winning Latina playwrights. She’s a founding member of the Fornés Institute and an Associate Professor of Theatre at the University of Notre Dame. www.annegarciaromero.com
Mary Beth Fisher (Co-Producer)
has worked as an actor, director, acting teacher, and coach in Chicago, NYC, and in theatres all over the country. Her TV/Film credits include Saint Frances, Senses, Chicago Fire, Chicago Justice, Without a Trace, Numb3rs; Prison Break, NYPD Blue; Profiler and others. Ms. Fisher has received two Joseph Jefferson Awards, Drama Desk, Lucile Lortel and Bay Area Critics Circle nominations, the L.A. Drama Critics Circle Award and Chicago’s Leading Lady Award from the Sarah Siddons Society. She was a Beinecke Fellow at Yale University and an Inaugural Lunt-Fontanne Fellow at the Ten Chinmey’s Foundation. She has been a proud member of AEA since 1978.
Ora Jones (Fefu)
is a member of Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company ensemble. At Steppenwolf: The Children; Familiar; The Roommate; The Doppelgänger; Wheel; Middletown; The Brother/Sister Plays; Three Sisters; The Unmentionables; The Violet Hour; Carter’s Way; and Morning Star. Locally she has also appeared on the stages of Chicago Shakespeare Theater; Goodman Theatre; Rivendell Theatre; Timeline Theatre; Writers Theatre; About Face Theatre and others. Her Broadway roles include Madame de Volanges in Les Liaisons Dangereuses at the Booth, and Mrs. Phelps in Matilda the Musical, both at the Shubert and in the first national tour. Regional and other New York credits include performances at Long Wharf Theatre, Yale Repertory, Manhattan Theatre Club, Public Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory, Next Act, and a particular favorite, the role of Mrs. Muller in Doubt for The Weston Playhouse in Weston, VT, directed by Malcolm Ewen.
Delia Kropp (Cindy)
has enjoyed storytelling at LGBT events, and for Fresh Meat. She’s worked over 40 years as an actor and stage director, and since gender transitioning she’s been an advocate for trans people in the entertainment industry. Delia serves as Artistic Associate and Board Member of About Face Theatre Company, and her new initiative “Brave Conversations” looks at the significance of personal identity, and ways to constructively talk about gender. She stars in the film Landlocked, debuting on the Indy festival circuit in 2021.
Sadieh Rifai (Emma)
is an ensemble member at A Red Orchid Theatre. At A Red Orchid: Do You Feel Anger; An Evening at The Talk House; and Grey House. Her credits include, Short Shakes Macbeth, the world premiere of The Humans (Jeff Award nomination for Best Ensemble) at American Theatre Company. Other Chicago credits include Support Group for Men and A Christmas Carol at Goodman Theatre. Film credits include The Wise Kids, Nate and Margaret and Olympia. Television credits include Chicago Med, Netflix’s Easy, CBS The Red Line and Amazon’s Patriot in which she plays the recurring role of Mahtma El-Mashad. Sadieh is a graduate of the School at Steppenwolf and received the Princess Grace Award in 2011.
April Sigman-Marx (Assistant Director) is an actor, director, writer, educator, cat mom and Founding Artistic Director of Thumbprint Studios Chicago. Specializing in new work development, April has created/written, directed, produced and performed in several original solo shows, web series, films and plays–Many of which focus on social justice issues. Select projects include: Rover the Bear (playwright/director, Cal Rep. Affinity Series), Sheepdog world premiere (assistant director to Leah C Gardiner, South Coast Rep.), Antigone X (Assistant Director to Jeff Janisheski, Cal Rep.), Permed (playwright/director/performer, Tower Theatre & Uptown Theatre). April is grateful for the opportunity to contribute this cheeky and distinctly human production of Fefu and Her Friends benefiting such an important organization, Season of Concern!
Stacy Stoltz (Director)
is so happy for this opportunity to share her favorite play and to help raise funds for this wonderful organization. Last fall, she directed a reading of Fefu and her Friends for The Fornes Festival at The University of Notre Dame. With Erasing The Distance, she has created, directed and performed documentary plays including her solo show, Walk a Mile. Acting credits include: Hatfield and McCoy (The House Theatre) Stupid Fucking Bird (Sideshow Theatre) Marjorie Prime and A Streetcar Named Desire (Writers Theatre). Love and gratitude to Mary Beth Fisher for making this happen.
Lisa Tejero (Julia)
Lisa most recently opened then was furloughed in an all-female production of Henry the 6th titled Bring down the House at Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Where she last performed in White Snake. Other credits include The Agitators at Upstream Theatre; Metamorphoses in the Broadway production at Circle in the Square Theatre; Anything Goes at Arena State She is an artistic associate of Lookingglass Theatre where she has appeared in 1984, Argonautika, Curiosity Shop, Ethan Frome, Fedra, and S/M. She has also appeared on the stages of Goodman Theatre; Steppenwolf Theatre; Iowa Repertory Theatre, Oak Park Festival Theatre, Court Theatre, Victory Gardens and many others. Lisa is a recipient of two After Dark Awards; a Drama League Distinguished Performance nomination and a Jeff award nomination for her portrayal of Vivian Bearing in The Hypocrite Theatre’s production of Wit.
Janet Ulrich Brooks (Sue)
Chicago theatre: TimeLine Theatre (Company Member), Goodman, Steppenwolf, Lookingglass, Victory Gardens, Northlight, Drury Lane, Theatre at the Center and others – She received the Joseph Jefferson award for principal role as Maria Callas in TimeLine’s production of Master Class. Television: Fargo S4 (FX), Sense8 (Netflix), Proven Innocent (FoxTV), Boss (STARZ) & NBC’s Playboy Club & Chicago Fire/Med/Justice. Film: Divergent, Conviction, M.O.M., One Small Hitch, Fools, Polish Bar, Market Value and several Shorts. Ed See Outstanding Theatre Alumnus Award (University of Central Missouri.) A proud union member of SAG/AFTRA and AEA, Janet is represented by Gray Talent Group.
Penelope Walker (Paula)
A Christmas Carol, The Story, Crowns and Wit at Goodman Theatre. Don DeLillo’s Love Lies Bleeding at Steppenwolf Theatre and at The Kennedy Center. Mother Of The Maid, Into The Breeches, Curve Of Departure, Eclipsed, Gee’s Bend at Northlight Theatre. The House That Will Not Stand & No One As Nasty at Victory Gardens Theatre. Ms. Walker has also appeared on many Chicago area theatre stages including: Lookingglass Theatre; Theater Wit; Remy Bumppo Theatre; American Theater; Chicago Dramatists; Next Theatre Company; Rivendell Theatre; Chicago Theatre Company; among others. Ms. Walker also created and starred in her own solo piece, How I Jack Master Funked the Sugar in My Knee Caps! She has appeared regionally with the Alliance Theatre, Arena Stage, Hartford Stage and the Alley Theatre.