WildClaw's Mission: Horror Theatre

WildClaw Theatre will bring the world of horror to the stage. We intend to attract a new kind of audience which does not usually go to the theatre, an audience craving strange journeys of dread, suspense, terror and wonder. In other words - Horror Theatre.

So all the thrills that our imagination, heart and intellect derive from the greatest horror fiction, art, film, games, and poetry - all these thrills, we will provoke alive, in the flesh, breathing and bleeding from the stage, and right in your face. Horror Theatre.

Detail from Francisco de Goya's
Saturn Devouring His Son (1824)

Why "WildClaw"?

The name WildClaw pays homage to the late, great Chicago actor, writer, and raconteur – the much loved and missed Ray Wild, otherwise known as "The Claw."

The WildClaw Blog

Check out what company members are talking about in the world of horror and theater at BLOOD RADIO (our blog and podcasts). We'll have events, interviews and insights into horror that only WildClaw can give you.

WildClaw Company Members

For The European Repertory Company in Chicago, Sherman directed the blood soaked productions of Beaumont and Fletcher's The Maid's Tragedy and Calderon de la Barca's The Mayor of Zalamea. He then spent several strange years directing in England, writing a naturally unpublished horror novel called The Church of the Twin Souls, and then, with Joao de Sousa, co-writing and directing the short horror film Listen to Your Eyes. For WildClaw Theatre, he adapted and directed The Great God Pan and The Dreams in the Witch House.

Sherman has been expressing visions of horror since he was seven years old, when his headmaster at school had to ask his parents if everything was alright with the child, due to his stories of spike wending demons, psychotic mutants and homicidal animal ghosts. Through WildClaw Theatre – a name he created in homage to the inspirational memory of a longtime dead but never forgotten friend, Ray Wild - such imaginative leanings can now be brought to life.

Anne Adams

• Casting Director

Unlike her geeky cohorts, Anne never really got into the horror genre. At the age of seven, she felt more inclined to watch The Sound of Music and Dumbo rather than scary Italian flicks like Suspiria. But now, at the ripe age of 27, anne realizes where she went wrong in life and has decided to be a horror, sci-fi, and overall "fantastique" fan until the end of time.

Chicago acting credits include: the upcoming Carter's Way (Steppenwolf); Orange Lemon Egg Canary (Uma Productions); This Is Our Youth (Pine Box Theatre and Theatre on the Lake); Cherry Orchard (Steppenwolf); Life and Limb (Pine Box Theatre); The House of Bernarda Alba (Greasy Joan & Co.); Somethin' (Pine Box Theatre; and Gertrude Stein Cubed (Theo Unique). Anne made her directing debut last winter with Paul Vogel's Hot N Throbbing for Pine Box Theatre, for which she serves as Co-Artistic Director.

Anne would like to thank the company of WildClaw for teaching her new things every day, caring about excellence, and for letting her be apart of something that is going to set this city on fire!

Brian Amidei

• Managing Director

Brian Amidei is very excited for the opportunity to scare people. After years spent in the non-equity theatre world, performing with such noted companies as Strawdog, Lifeline, European Rep, National Pastime, Lakeside Shakespeare, Crew of Patches, Hypocrites, and Powertap to name a few (not to mention a couple of lost fuzzy years in the Improv Ghetto), he should know better than to get involved with a brand new theatre company as an ensemble member. But one mention of bloody entrails and bloodsucking monsters and sign him up.

He absolutely blames his current predicament on Charley Sherman and would appreciate it if you all would call Mr. Sherman "Mitch" from here on out. He excels at taking direction and is a newcomer to this whole "worrying about the details" stuff. In his spare time, Brian likes to sleep and drink. Ha. Spare time. There is a thing of the past.

Charlie Athanas

• Graphic Design
• Set Design
• Webmaster

Charlie is the Creative Director and Co-Owner of The Devil's Candy Store, Inc. He has been creating graphics for Chicago theater since 1981 for such plays as Clive Barker's In The Flesh and William Gibson's Burning Chrome. For WildClaw Theatre he has created the posters for The Great God Pan, The Dreams in the Witch House, The Revenants, and Deathscribe '09. He also designed the sets for The Dreams in the Witch House and The Revenants.

Highlights from his other careers include:
• Concept design work for the band U2's interactive project U2-i
• Artist on the first computer generated comic book, SHATTER
• Animated John Madden Football II
• Co-designed Shadow President, the first computer game to be reviewed by The Economist
• Built an exact replica of Jimi Hendrix's Stratocaster
• And consulted with Paul Allen's Silicon Valley thinktank, Interval Research Corporation.

Only one of these is not true.

Scott T. Barsotti

• Writer

Scott T. Barsotti is a playwright originally from Pittsburgh, PA. Scott’s plays include The Revenants (directed by Anne Adams for WildClaw in 2009), McMeekin Finds Out, and Brewed, and have played in Chicago, New York, New Orleans, and this fall in his hometown, Pittsburgh; his work has been seen at the New York International Fringe Festival, the Rhinoceros Theater Festival, and Collaboraction’s Sketchbook, and has been produced and/or developed by WildClaw, Curious Theatre Branch, Dramatis Personae, Collision Theatre Company, Chicago Dramatists, Roundelay Theatre Company, Four Humours Theatre Company, and Around the Coyote among others.

Scott came to town in 2004 to attend the School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s MFA in Writing Program, where there was no shortage of drama, but sadly, not much horror. While there, he branched out into screenwriting and novelwriting in addition to playwriting, and also began playacting and playdirecting. He’s worked with many of Chicago’s marvelous storefront companies, and was part of the No Danger of the…Spiritual Thing: 100 Years of Beckett ensemble that performed at the Museum of Contemporary Art and won a 2006 ORGIE award for original theatre.

Scott loves him some horror (it influences most of what he writes), and he is thrilled to be counted among WildClaw’s demented denizens. In addition to WildClaw, Scott is also a member of the Curious Theatre Branch ensemble, as well as an Artistic Associate of Illegal Drama and Collaboraction. He and his work can be found in the e-realm at http://scottbarsotti.wordpress.com. He usually wears a hat.

Aaron Christensen

• Ambassador of Horror
• Director of Audience Development
• Fight Choreography

Aaron Christensen (aka “Dr. AC”) served as Master of Ceremonies for WildClaw’s DEATHSCRIBE 2008 and choreographed the zombie violence for The Revenants. He is the editor of the Rondo Award-nominated film guidebook, HORROR 101, published in 2007 to unanimous critical acclaim and available wherever tomes of ill repute are sold. One of the Midwest’s rising enthusiasts of horror films/monster movies, Aaron has seen over 1800 individual fright flick titles (and counting), scouring the mainstream, foreign markets and fringe indies for that next big thrill. Fellow genre aficionados are welcome to join in the fun on MySpace (horror101withdrac) or on the official Dr. AC website,
www.horror101withdrac.com.

A member of the Chicago theatre community since 1990, Aaron’s Windy City acting credits include The Philadelphia Story, Power, Some Americans Abroad, and Holiday with Remy Bumppo, The Quiet Man Tales (Smock Alley at the Chicago Theatre), The Taming of the Shrew (First Folio), Stories of Carl Sandburg (Steppenwolf), Anna Christie (Apple Tree), Among the Thugs (Next, Goodman), King Lear (Chicago Shakespeare), True West (Bailiwick), and Not About Nightingales (Timeline). Regional credits include God’s Man in Texas with Greenbrier Valley Theatre in West Virginia, three years touring with Boston’s Chamber Theatre Productions, and a summer with Nebraska Repertory. He has been a member of two Jeff Award-winning ensembles, as well as receiving an After Dark Award for Outstanding Performance (Broken Spokes, Bailiwick).

As an Associate Artist at Chicago Dramatists, he has participated in oodles of staged readings of new works and is also an active stage combatant/choreographer around town, serving as fight captain and/or designer for productions at Apple Tree, Bailiwick, C.A.S.T., Chicago Shakespeare, Terrapin, First Folio, and others.

Paul Foster

• Company Morlock

Paul Foster's very first film was John Carpenter's The Fog. Paul's very favorite-est film is John Carpenter's The Thing.

In moments of passion, Paul has been known to call Charley Sherman (whom he has know for almost twenty years) John "Hold Me" Carpenter.

That last bit is not true. Paul has no passion.

Paul lights, builds, lifts, carries, stores, programs, designs, writes, and impersonates a daemon. All for the greater glory of WildClaw Theatre.

He also has the pleasure of playing bass guitar in the Deathscribe house band, Seeking Wonderland.

Don't believe the grumpy exterior -- inside he's quite handsome and he absolutely treasures working with the beautiful, gifted, nutty-as-squirrel-poo people of WildClaw.

Allison Greaves

• Costume Mistress
• Podcast Queen
• Grantwriting Guru

At a young age, Aly Renee Greaves decided that she was, indeed, the Incredible Hulk and decided to fingerpaint herself green to fight crime and smash things. Sadly she only got as far as one arm before she was caught, but a lifelong love of comics was born. This love for comics and genre fiction lead an impressionable teenage Aly to get into all things Clive Barker. The very first Chicago play she ever saw was, coincidently, In The Flesh, and it left a lasting impression. Aly got her bachelor's degree in Theatre from Knox College in 1997 and went on to get her MFA in Costume Design from Carnegie Mellon in 2000. She then moved back to Chicago and found employment as the costume designer for the College of Dupage and an ensemble member at Strawdog Theatre. Aly also writes audio dramas and has a popular Buffy podcast called Undead America: Adventures in the Whedon Verse.

Dani Mckensie

• Stage Manager

Danielle McKenzie is very excited to be part of the amazingly blood filled, gut spilling crazy life that is Wildclaw and is loving every minute of it!

Danielle last worked with WildClaw as ASM for Dreams in the Witch House, and before that was the Stage Manager for The Great God Pan. She has also worked with the College of Lake County doing many productions such as “West Side Story,” Jesus Christ Superstar, American Buffalo, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. She works for the James Lumber Center of the Performing Arts as a technical assistant and has worked on show such as Momix and The Golden Dragon Acrobats. She is currently the resident stage manager for the Valerie Alpert Dance Company based in Chicago.

Karen Tarjan

© 2008 WildClaw Theatre

All images and content belong to WildClaw Theatre.
If you want to use something from the site, please ask us or you may find the Hounds of Hell at your door.
And maybe some slimy tentacle demons of the Old Ones.

WildClaw Theatre is dedicated to bringing horror, science fiction, and fantasy works to the live stage.
We believe the fantastique holds intimate power in the realm of live theater and we aim to put it there.