Cat Dean
Core DancerCat is a professional actor by trade, as well as a stilts dancer, clown and aerialist. Cat's first gig with AMEBA was dancing (and clowning around) on stilts-on the ground, on her "feet" and in the air-at the University of Chicago's Lab School. She appears most frequently, however, in an acrobatic stilts trio act called Tetsuo. As part of The Actor's Gymnasium ensemble, the trio has performed at the Millennium Park opening ceremonies, the City of Chicago's Halloween and Winter Delights celebrations at the Cultural Center, and at the Park West. Indeed, stilting has jumpstarted Cat's long-defunct runway modeling career: don't miss the School of the Art Institute's annual fashion show where Cat will be modeling the latest fashions-on stilts!
Cat's aerial, acrobatic and stilting stylings have also been regularly featured in aurorArts Alliance's Vaudeville Underground shows and as part of the Evanston Arts Festival (at the Actor's Gym). In fact, Cat came to aerial and circus arts by way of The Actor's Gymnasium
Cat's nascent professional dance debut was as an acrobatic dancer in Solestance 5 (produced by Jamie Horban) at the Ruth Page Theatre in September 2004, shortly after she joined AMEBA. Cat has danced all her life, though formal study came to an abrupt end at age 8 when her ballet teacher reprimanded her (one too many times) for talking in class. She then took up ice-skating, which she was able to continue despite her family's move back to the Middle East. The crowning achievement of her ever-so-brief competitive skating career was earning the (unofficial) junior national championship of Kuwait in 1983. (Really.)
On the acting side, Cat performs regularly on theatre stages around town, including among others, at Circle Theatre, Chicago Dramatists, American Theatre Company, Griffin Theatre, Northbrook Theatre, in the National New Play Network's New Plays Showcase and for the Playwright's Collective at the Chicago Cultural Center. She works most frequently at her beloved Stage Left Theatre