Ann Filmer creates and performs music with her band Mrs Smith and the Present. She also sings and performs with the bands Vinto Van Go and Planet Claire.
Contact Ann for more info.
As a Theater Director, Adaptor and Producer,
Filmer has directed for The Kennedy Center, Goodman Theatre, Victory Gardens, Emerald City at Broadway in Chicago, Chicago Dramatists as well as adapting and directing works by Tony Fitzpatrick and Natalie Y. Moore.
As founder and Artistic Director of 16th Street Theater in Berwyn, Illinois on Chicagoland’s West Side, Filmer amplified the voices of women and playwrights of color, focusing on Illinois artists. During her tenure, out of 61 productions plus 19 free Pop Up Readings for the community, 55 were written by female-identifying playwrights and 37 by writers of color.
Under her leadership, 16th Street created co-producing partnerships with Teatro Luna, Teatro Vista, Victory Gardens, Jedlicka, Lewis University, Tellin’ Tales, Goodman and Steppenwolf, including Filmer’s adaptation and direction of Tony Fitzpatrick’s This Train and Nickel History. Creating relationships with The Lark in New York and National New Play Network, Filmer produced rolling world premieres of Andrea Thome’s Pinkolandia, Karen Zacarias’ Into the Beautiful North adapted from Luis Alberto Urrea’s novel, Sean Lewis’ Dogs of Rwanda, Maya Malan-Gonzalez’ A Xmas Cuento Remix, and Audrey Cefaly’s Alabaster.
As a producer, director and dramaturg, Filmer has been a fierce advocate for playwrights being in command of their own work. For 14 years 16th Street provided space and resources for writers to develop and present their new plays in the way that best serves the playwright’s voice, including writers such as Rohina Malik (Unveiled and Yasmina’s Necklace), Aline Lathrop (Merchild and The Hero’s Wife) EM Lewis (The Gun Show), Loy Webb (His Shadow), and Natalie Y. Moore (The Billboard).