20. From Ensemble to Artistic Director: Kirsten Fitzgerald’s Journey at A Red Orchid Theatre

A Red Orchid Theatre is one of Chicago’s most intimate and fearless stages, with just 60 to 70 seats, no distance between actor and audience, and storytelling that asks you to lean in. This week on DIBS, we sit down with Kirsten Fitzgerald, longtime ensemble member and Artistic Director of A Red Orchid Theatre, to talk about the craft, community, and Chicago spirit that have kept the company pushing artistic boundaries for more than 30 years in the heart of Old Town.Kirsten takes us from growing up in Lake Bluff and discovering theater as a calling, to training in the Midwest, to returning to Chicago in the mid-90s and finding her artistic home at A Red Orchid after seeing a production in 1995 that changed everything. Along the way, she shares the company’s origin story, founded by Guy Van Swearingen, Michael Shannon, and Lawrence Grimm, why the name A Red Orchid carries deeper meaning than most realize, and what it takes to build art that lives right on the edge of something honest.In this episode, we cover:The making of an actor: The first productions that blew Kirsten’s mind, why theater felt like a real calling in high school, and how Midwest training helped shape her craft.Returning to Chicago: Coming home after grad school, building a sustainable acting life, and how her day job at Thresholds turned into theater-driven work through games, interviewing skills, and social practice.How A Red Orchid started: The founding story, the Old Town space, and how a firefighter's schedule, a DIY mindset, and a rented room turned into a company that’s lasted more than 30 years.Why the room matters: What it means to do theater with 60–70 seats, how intimacy changes performance, and why audiences sometimes need time to sit and process before they can even stand up.Choosing a season as an ensemble: How the company reads year-round, votes on plays, balances classics with new work, and builds seasons around urgency, relationships, and what’s “eating at” the group.What’s coming next: Kirsten’s excitement for Birds of North America (which she’s directing), the themes she’s drawn to this season, and why she wants everyone to “just walk in the door.”Purchase tickets to Birds of North America here.Listen now and don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and comment; it helps us continue to bring you the voices behind the institutions, people, and places that make Chicago extraordinary.Connect with the hosts of DIBS on Instagram Nick Sarantos and Mallory Waxman