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 He then spent several strange years directing in England, writing a naturally unpublished horror novel called The Church of the Twin Souls, and then, with Joao de Sousa, co-writing and directing the short horror film Listen to Your Eyes.

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
• 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, William Gibson's Burning Chrome, and the latest, Arthur Machen's The Great God Pan.

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.

Aaron Christensen

• Ambassador of Horror
• Marketing

Aaron Christensen hails from the small farm town of Mead, Colorado. Years of talking to cows in relative seclusion drove him to pursue a B.A. in Theatre Arts at the University of Northern Colorado, if only to have a more appreciative audience. After graduation, he moved to the Midwest and has been working in and around Chicago since 1991.

Windy City stage credits include: The Philadelphia Story, Power, Some American Abroad, and Holiday with Remy Bumppo; Taming of the Shrew (First Folio); Stories of Carl Sandburg (Steppenwolf); Anna Christie (Apple Tree); Among the Thugs (Next); 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 to Jeff Award-winning ensembles, as wells as receiving an After Dark Award for Outstanding Performance (Broken Spokes, Bailiwick).

As an Associate Artist in 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.

In addition to all that ackty-schmackty stuff, Aaron (aka "Dr. AC") is one of the Midwest's rising authorities on horror films/monster movies, having seen some 1500 creature features (and counting). His first Dr. AC guidebook, Horror 101, was published earlier this year by Midnight Marquee, Inc. and is available wherever tomes of ill repute are sold. Fellow genre aficionados are welcome to join in the fun on MySpace (horror101withdrac) or on the official Dr. AC website - http://www.horror101withdrac.com.

And no, he didn't like Rob Zombie's remake of Halloween and he'll be happy to tell you why.

Paul Foster

• Technical Director
• Production Manager
• Literary Manager
• Company Morlock
• Graphic Design

Paul Foster's very first horror movie was John Carpenter's The Fog. Paul's favorite horror movie is John Carpenter's The Thing. In moments of passion, Paul has been known to call Charley Sherman "John". That last bit is not true.

Back in the day, Paul worked with Charley (and Charlie, in fact) on In The Flesh, for which he was nominated for a Jeff Citation. He did not win. Paul went on to design lights and/or sets for several shows with Charley and for many others (Powertap, Hypocrites, Shakespeare's Motley Crew, European Rep, Organic), but has always resented people named Jeff. That last bit is also not true.

Paul has been more or less gainfully employed as a web programmer for awhile now and used to wonder why he let Charley drag him back into the nerve-racking hamster wheel that is the theater. But now he remembers: it's an important part of a healthy psychological fitness routine to regularly exercise one's imagination and wrestle with one's nightmares as an audience to a live horror show. So us creeping you out is basically doing you a favor. Remember that, Mr. Jeff Whoever-You-Are.

Paul also writes brilliantly and plays bass guitar fabulously, but it's really not about him right now, is it? And incidentally, he really couldn't care less about citations. He's just glad you're here. Enjoy yourself.

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.

© 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.