Barbara Zahora
Associate Artistic Director
Barbara Zahora first performed at ShawChicago in 2005, playing Leo Bridgenorth in Shaw’s Getting Married. From that time until the company closed in 2018, she performed in over 20 of Shaw’s plays, as well as a number of works by Noel Coward, James Barrie, and other masters of the early 20th century. Favorite roles include Catherine in Arms and the Man, Hesione in Heartbreak House, the title roles in Major Barbara and Candida, Maud and Carlotta in Coward in Two Keys, Nora in John Bull’s Other Island, and Maggie in What Every Woman Knows. Other stage credits include work at American Players Theatre, Colorado Shakespeare Theatre, Writers’ Theatre, Oak Park Festival Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Northlight, the Goodman, Lookingglass and multiple appearances with Shakespeare Project of Chicago, where she served as associate artistic director for eight years. Since 2018 Barbara has served as artistic director for Oak Park Festival Theatre, where she will hopefully be directing The Tempest in the summer of 2021.