Porchlight Sings the Season

BRENDA DIDIER (CO-DIRECTOR/CHOREOGRAPHY)

Previously at Porchlight: Cabaret, Spring Awakening, A Chorus Line and others

Brenda Didier is thrilled to be back at Porchlight and collaborate with Michael and David. CHICAGO: Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, The Goodman, Marriott, Paramount, Second City, City Lit, Theatre Wit, Porchlight Music Theatre, Mercury Theater Chicago, Theo, Kokandy and many others. Didier is a multiple Jeff Award recipient in both direction and choreography and the artistic director/founder of Lincolnshire Academy of Dance, currently celebrating its 28th season.

MICHAEL WEBER (CO-DIRECTOR)

Previously at Porchlight: Titanique,  Anything Goes, Cabaret and others

Michael Weber is a nationally recognized, award-winning director, producer, actor and educator. Previous Porchlight shows include Titanique, Anything Goes, Cabaret, Sunset Boulevard, Gypsy and Merrily We Roll Along. He recently directed the Off-Broadway and European premieres of both Shake it Away: The Ann Miller Story and Call Me Elizabeth, written by and starring Kayla Boye. Under his artistic leadership, Porchlight Music Theatre was awarded Chicago’s Jeff Award for “Best Production” six times. He previously served as artistic director for the inaugural season of Chicago’s Drury Lane Theatre Water Tower Place (now Broadway in Chicago’s Broadway Playhouse) and at Theatre at the Center in Munster, Indiana. The recipient of two Joseph Jefferson Awards, he has been nominated for nine awards and he wrote and directed 14 Joseph Jefferson Awards ceremonies (2006-2018). Weber’s regional acting credits include The Merry Widow (starring Renée Fleming) at Lyric Opera, Annie Get Your Gun and Gypsy (both starring Patti LuPone) at Ravinia Festival, The Winter’s Tale and Henry V at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre and more. He is author of the play WAR of the WELLeS (about Orson Welles’ infamous radio broadcast) and he is a longtime pledge host for PBS station WTTW channel 11.

DAVID FIORELLO (MUSIC DIRECTOR)

Previously at Porchlight: Blues in the Night, Gypsy, Porchlight in Concert Sunday in the Park with George, Porchlight Revisits and others

David Fiorello is an Equity Jeff award-winning music director, director, performer, orchestrator and playwright that’s had his work featured across the globe. His most recent Porchlight credits include serving as music director for Porchlight in Concert: Sunday in the Park With George, Blues in the Night (starring Tony-Nominee Felicia P. Fields), Gypsy (starring E. Faye Butler), Woman of the Year, Do Re Mi, The Apple Tree, the New Faces Sing Broadway series, as well as several editions of Chicago Sings, and the upcoming mainstage production of The Irish … and How They Got That Way. He served as music director for the John Doyle Sweeney Todd national tour, as well as Off-Broadway’s Danny & Sylvia: The Danny Kaye Musical. Internationally, he’s the head of the Musical Theatre Program as part of the International Lyric Academy in Vicenza, Italy. Fiorello is also the founder of The Beautiful City Project and CEO of Fiorello Studios. He is continually inspired by the love of his life.

ADRIAN AQUILAR

Previously seen at Porchlight: Titanique, Broadway in your Backyard, Pal Joey, Double Trouble and others

Adrian Aguilar has performed on stages and screens all over the country in his 20 year career, but he will always call Chicago his home. Born and raised in the burbs, he chose to stay in the midwest to start his career and family, rather than the typical path to New York City. He has been married to the woman of his dreams, Brianna Borger, for 15 years, and they live a quiet life in Evanston with their big, handsome, hilarious son, Ian, and their chonky little pittie, Ahsoka Doggo. Adrian considers himself to be the luckiest person on the planet.

NEALA BARRON 

Previously seen at Porchlight: Fun Home, Porchlight in Concert Sunday in the Park with George, Cabaret and others  

Neala Barron is grateful to call Porchlight an artistic home, having appeared in productions of Fun Home, Porchlight in Concert Sunday in the Park with George, Cabaret, Merrily We Roll Along, A Funny Thing.. and many editions of Chicago Sings. Other Chicago credits include: 1776 (Marriott Theatre); Assassins – Jeff Nomination (“John Wilkes Booth”), Hello Again (Theo); Botticelli in the Fire (First Floor); 110 In the Shade – Jeff Nomination (“Lizzie Curry”), Marie Christine (Boho); 25th Annual… (Music Theatre Works); Queen of the Mist (Firebrand); Ragtime, Titanic (Griffin Theatre); Adding Machine (The Hypocrites); Assassins, The Full Monty (Kokandy Productions), The Fly Honey Show and other projects with Chicago Shakespeare, Circle Theatre, BPB Co., Raven, GRSF and more. TV: “Chicago Med” (NBC), “Night Sky” (Amazon). BFA Acting: UIUC. Represented by DDO Chicago!

SHARRIESE HAMILTON 

Previously seen at Porchlight: A Gentleman’s Guide To Love and Murder, How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying , Pal Joey, Ain’t Misbehavin’ and others

Sharriese Hamilton’s credits include: Big White Fog, Falsettos (Court Theatre); The Color Purple, The Nacirema Society, Wonderful Town (Goodman Theatre);  It Came from Outer Space, Pericles (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre); Emmet Otter’s Jug-band Christmas (Studebaker Theater); Ain’t Misbehavin’, Rock of Ages, James and The Giant Peach (Drury Lane); A Gentleman’s Guide To Love and Murder, How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying , Pal Joey, Ain’t Misbehavin’, A Class Act (Porchlight Music Theatre); Thaddeus and Slocum (Lookingglass Theatre); Rock of Ages (Mercury Theatre); Passing Strange, The Wild Party (Bailiwick Chicago); Come from Away (Broadway National/Australian Tour); The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Spamalot, Working (Timberlake Playhouse) and on television, “Chicago Fire” and “Empire.”

GEORGE KEATING

Porchlight Debut

George Keating is a proud longtime member of Actors’ Equity Association and appears on Chicago’s vibrant stages, including Paramount, Goodman, Northlight, Drury Lane, Chicago Shakespeare, Court, and most recently as “Jacob/Potiphar” in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and “First Officer William Murdoch” in Titanic at Marriott Theatre. You might also spot him in a few cute commercials and Chicago-based TV shows. A graduate of the Acting Program at The Theatre School at DePaul University, George is passionate about arts education. He teaches and directs BFA, MFA and Theatre Studies students and serves as studio artistic director at The Theatre School. He’s known as a “double agent” for also leading the Theatre Arts Division of the Cherubs program at Northwestern University. George is co-founder of Theatrebam Chicago and co-creator of the musical Schoolhouse Rock Live!, based on the beloved cartoon series and licensed through Music Theatre International. He’s so pleased to make his first appearance with Porchlight.