Bio.
Ian Forester was raised by two poets in Reading, Pennsylvania in a house where every wall was filled with books.
Wanting some peace and quiet, his mother noticed her son’s fascination with the one wall reserved for plays and took him to a local audition to begin his career in the theater. After his junior year at The Hill School Ian was accepted to the Pennsylvania Governor’s School for the Arts, where his teachers encouraged him to head west to Northwestern University.
After graduating with a degree in Performance Studies Ian moved south into the city and entrenched himself in the Chicago theater scene. There he worked on countless plays and projects, often wearing multiple hats, while supporting himself with a freelance production career. Highlights include acting in and producing General Desdemona for the Edinburgh Fringe, developing and directing new work as the Associate Artistic Director of Collaboraction Theater Company, and receiving critical praise for his performances in several notable Chicago premieres, including The Last Days of Judas Iscariot by Stephen Adly Guirgis and The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow by Rolin Jones. He also co-created, produced, and starred in the independent pilot The Reynolds Influence, and worked in the production design department of The Oprah Winfrey Show. Recently Ian returned to Chicago to lead the independent feature In Memoriam.
Upon his arrival to LA, Ian broke into the theater scene by winning the LA
Weekly’s Best Director/Comedy Award for his work on the west coast premiere of
Fatboy, by John Clancy. As a co-founder and Associate Artistic Director of
needtheater, Ian has programmed, directed, and produced two seasons of plays that
have put the company “at the tip of the spear,” according to a recent profile in
the LA Weekly’s 2010 annual theater issue. This fall Ian will lead needtheater’s
world premiere of The Web, by Cornerstone Artistic Director Michael John Garces.
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