I PRODUCE, direct, teach & do theatre & film in AND AROUND Chicago.
BIO
Scott Westerman is the founding Artistic Director of Go To Productions, a 501©3 nonprofit which develops projects that explore the nexus between live theatre and film. He created and directed the web series Hamlet & Ophelia which won Best Picture at the New York Film Awards, Best Web Series at the LA Film Awards, and Best Mobile Series at the 2022 New Media Film Festival. Scott has directed stage productions for The Artistic Home, Citadel Theatre, ChiArts, City Lit Theatre, Chimera Theatre Company, Beyond This Point, Barter Theatre, Stage Left Theatre, The Smithsonian Institution, American Theatre Company (Bridge), and Reverie Theatre Company. Scott is a member of the Screen Actors Guild, an ensemble member with The Artistic Home, represented by Gray Talent Group, and a teaching artist with Lookingglass Theatre, Writers Theatre, and Filament Theatre. He has an MFA from The Shakespeare Theatre Academy. As an actor, Scott has worked with Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Lookingglass, Northlight, The Shakespeare Theatre Company and Ford’s Theatre in DC, Everyman Theatre in Baltimore, the Warehouse Theatre in South Carolina, and the Barter Theatre in Virginia to name a few. On Camera credits include Chicago Fire, Machine Gun Preacher, and Prison Break.
On Camera Demo Reel
Leaders lead for one of two reasons: to have power or to serve. As a director of any given project, my efforts are in service of the audience, the text, and my collaborators—no one is there to serve me. The success of my productions comes from the agency and genius of those around me. I devote the power of my privilege to taking up more professional and artistic real estate as an ally and advocate. I utilize my most effectual skills to amplify underrepresented voices by way of collaboration. I make every effort to quantify and document practices that make participation more possible for more people. I build community, I respond to the here and now with flexibility and generosity, and I empower expression in those with whom I work.
The work I do is varied but the intersecting aspects feed one another more than they juxtapose. I received my M.F.A. from The Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Academy yet I also have a passion for new works. My love of language and propensity for analyzing text are qualities that benefit the playwrights that entrust me with their work. I particularly relish developmental processes in which writers are involved. I have enjoyed teaching students of all ages from every background, and quality mentorship for under-represented artists is integral to my personal mission. The internet is powerful and should be mined for tangible applications to bring us together. It’s reach can stretch to underserved communities, both urban and rural, to provide arts education and programming. It can capacitate internationalism and multiculturalism in our collaborations. I want to use the connectivity allowed by today’s technology to chart courses to connections long undiscovered. Art will be the envoy of truth in our fractured society. How can I help?