Do Process
was created in 2023 by Kost and Genevieve Swanson.
Generation Z artists are the key to engaging future generations of theatre makers and pushing forward the possibilities of the stage. Do Process encourages a high standard of artistic and administrative risk taking, and are less concerned about whether something is presentable. We pivot rehearsal structures, actively collect and implement feedback, and support the passions of our ensemble members. Below are the Do Process ensemble.
Kost
Artistic Director, Co-Founder
Kost (they/she) is a director, deviser, performer, and producer who creates experiences bringing audiences out of their routine viewing. Her devised directing credits include The Wonder Project, Are You With Me? and Soul.Net. Directing credits include Barbeque by Robert O'Hara, Long Away The Tree by Bryan Kashon, A Dream Play by Caryl Churchill, and How to clean your room (and remember all your trauma) by j. Chavez. She has toured across the United States with Missoula Children Theatre bringing theatre to rural communities, specifically young people. She currently producers giggle hour at The Lincoln Lodge. They hold a BFA from The Theatre School at DePaul University. jtkost.com
Genevieve Swanson
Executive Director, Co- Founder
Genevieve (she/her) is a director, writer, and administrator currently working in Chicago, Illinois. Originally from Southern California, she moved to Chicago to pursue a degree in Theatre Arts Directing from The Theatre School at DePaul University. She loves to incorporate her experience in education, economics, and dance into her work. In addition to her work with Do Process, she is currently the Literary Manager at Pocket Theatre VR and an Event Manager at the Athenaeum Center. Learn more about Genevieve and her work on her website.
Bridgett Martinez
Co-Director of Development, Ensemble
Bridgett (she/her) is a Chicago-based actor, director, and teaching artist from Cleveland, Ohio. As a Puerto Rican theatre artist, her work is largely inspired by her identity as a Latina and other Latiné experiences. She is passionate about uplifting new works written by historically underrepresented voices and redefining the classics. Past directing credits include: Innocent (workshop - Pocket Theatre VR), Like Me (Julia de Burgos Cultural Arts Center), The River Bride (Cleveland Public Theatre), The Devil Made Me Do It (Dobama Theatre). Acting credits: Peter Malmö (Akvavit Theatre/Colectivo El Pozo), Hair (MadKap Productions), Refuge (Theo). Bridgett earned her BFA in Musical Theatre from Kent State University. www.bridgett-martinez.com
Rowen Nowlan
Production Coordinator, Ensemble
Rowen Bond Nowlan is a director, producer, and performer based in Chicago, Illinois. Graduating in 2024 with a BFA in Theatre arts, she produces new works as the Director of Publicity for Prototypes at The Theatre School. Her directing credits include Do You Remember? by Emily Townley, Three Antarcticas by Kristin Idaszak, and the upcoming Ascension, by Jeffrey Luke Baker. She has a passion for new plays, making art accessible, and coming to work with a smile.
CJ Willette
Co-Director of Development, Ensemble
CJ Willette (She/Her) is a Chicago-based Playwright from St. Louis, Missouri who’s work centers around the intertwining of black experiences through concepts of dystopia, whimsy, and grandeur. Her play May 32nd is a semifinalist for the 2024 Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference. She is a member of the Cody Renard Richard Cohort and an alumni of the Broadway Coalition Advocacy. She currently serves as a Development Director for Do Process Theatre. Her plays Highly Unlikely, Runner’s Digest, and May 32nd have been developed through the Wrights of Spring New Play festival with The Theatre School at DePaul University. CJ is pursuing a BFA in Playwriting from The Theatre School at DePaul University, expected 2024. Her play May 32nd will receive a public workshop through DePaul University's 2024 Wrights of Spring festival. For more information about her work, please visit: https://newplayexchange.org/users/84697/cj-willette.
Grace Griego
Audience Services and General Manager, Ensemble
Grace Griego (she/her) is an actor, comedian, and writer. She graduated from Swarthmore College in 2022 and spent a year teaching English abroad in Japan. She is a co-founder of Strong Branch Productions and stars as the voice of Stella Thomas in the sci-fi comedy podcast The Stench of Adventure. She also writes queer speculative fiction and her work can be found in Interstellar Flight Magazine, Ensemble Arts Exchange Podcast, and Tales from the Radiator. When she’s not writing or acting, you can find Grace working on knitting the same sweater she’s been working on for the past 6 months.
Dylan Cohen
Marketing and Community Engagement
Dylan (they/them) is a Chicago-based immersive artist and adjunct professor, whose work is characterized by using both media scholarship and artistry to explore modalities of expression, promotion, and connection. Often drawing from a comedic, chronically online perspective, Dylan strives to combine their media and theatre training to connect concepts to practice, people to community, and audiences to opportunity. They have also amassed millions of views on TikTok both personally and through freelance content creation. Notable works include Graduation Simulator (VR Exhibit), Empathy Labs (immersive theatre), and V.I.P. by Molly Rosen (digital dramaturgy). More at dycosmic.com.
Maday Favela
Technical Director
Maday Favela (She/They) is a lighting technician, carpenter, and theatre artist born in Mexico, and raised in both Mexico and Chicago. Their start in theatre was in lighting crew at Whitney M. Young Magnet High School. Since then they've dabbled a bit in sound, stage management, and scenic carpentry. Maday attended The Theatre School at DePaul, where they graduated with a BFA in Theatre Arts and Minors in Sociology and Performance Art. While studying at DePaul, Maday ultimately discovered that although they enjoyed their time as a director and playwright, their heart lied in the technician side of theatre. Ultimately, she returns to her roots in Lighting. When she's not working in theatre, or touring. You can find her reading books, playing video games, and hanging out with her pets.
Emily Nicholas
Administrative Assistant
Emily Nicholas (She/Her) is a freelance stage manager and arts administrator based in Chicago, IL. She has dabbled in various areas of theatre, including production management, box office, and audition coordination. Recent stage management credits include: The Unseen (Tin Drum Theatre Company), Ugly Lies the Bone, A Tale of Two Cities (Shattered Globe Theatre); The Stranger, Million Dollar Quartet, I Ought To Be In Pictures (Peninsula Players Theatre); Macbeth (Pipe Dreams Studio Theatre). She holds a BFA in Stage Management and Arts Administration from Millikin University in Decatur, IL.
Kai Reeves
Fundraising Coordinator
Kai Reeves (they/them) is an actor, director, and playwright based in Chicago, Illinois. Kai graduated with a BA in Theatre Performance and Psychology in 2024 and has since been a part of projects like Bunker Play, Technicolor Play Festival, Chicago Fire, and Poe Tales. Kai helps out in the grant writing and fundraising department, working to make theatre more accessible and cost effective while also supporting artists and collectives. Outside of the arts, Kai works as an EMT. In their free time, they are almost always working on a script or poetry.
Emma Burkey
Literary Manager
Emma Burkey (she/her) is a playwright-director-deviser-actor from Dallas, TX based in Chicago, IL. She graduated from The Theatre School at DePaul University with a Theatre Arts BFA and a minor in Peace, Justice and Conflict Studies. Emma is thrilled to be directing Do Process’ production of (out), and to have her play, Freddie, staged by the company in the fall of 2026! Emma served as the assistant director on A Lie of the Mind at Raven Theatre (2025) directed by Azar Kazemi. She studied with the Prague Shakespeare Company in the summer of 2024 where she played Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Emma is passionate about devising and new work, and how theatre can be used as a tool for change.
Board of Directors
Genevieve Swanson (President), Jordan Kost (Vice President), Maday Favela (Treasurer)
*Do Process is an unincorporated 501(c)(3) that plans to expand its board beyond its members in the near future
