VICKI QUADE

Vicki Quade is a Chicago writer.

She grew up in the southwest suburbs of Chicago and found her creative outlet in high school, working in various theater productions, and writing for the school newspaper.

This lead to her career in journalism. She has worked for daily newspapers, national magazines, and spent 10 years as a correspondent for Newsweek. She did a long stint as an editor at the American Bar Association. As a journalist, Vicki has received dozens of awards for writing, editing, and photography.

In 1993, she worked with Chicago actress Maripat Donovan to create a one-woman theater piece they called Late Nite Catechism. The show, which they produced themselves, became an instant hit and went on to national and international fame.

In addition to being one of the creators and playwrights of Late Nite Catechism, Vicki is the producer of the show in Chicago. She and Donovan have their own theater production company called Quade/Donovan Entertainment, Inc., and are also the producers of the show in Los Angeles and produced the show in Milwaukee.

She also created the comedy Room for Advancement, which had its world premiere in 1994 in Chicago.

In 1995, she finished writing More Late Nite Catechism. The sequel has yet to be produced.

Vicki also wrote and produced the comedy, Mr. Nanny, which had its world premiere in Chicago in 1997 and had a successful nine-month run.

In 1998, she wrote the book to a musical, Lost in Wonderland. It has had staged readings in Chicago.

In 1999, she contributed to the Chicago Sun-Times millennium series, which was later published as the book, 20th Century Chicago: 100 Years, 100 Voices. The newspaper nominated that series for a Pulitzer Prize.

Vicki’s next project was a biography of the WGN-Radio legend, Bob Collins, who was killed in a plane crash in February 2000. The Bannon Multimedia Group, who published the Sun-Times book, is also the publisher of Vicki’s tribute book, I Remember Bob Collins, which has received rave reviews.

In 2001, her bluegrass musical comedy, Here Come the Famous Brothers, which she wrote with Darren Stephens, Will Clinger, and Rick Vamos, had its world premiere at the Royal George Theater in Chicago and ran for six months.

In 2002, she produced Christopher Carter Messes With Your Mind, a one-man show by famed mentalist, Christopher Carter, at the Live Bait Theater in Chicago. Later in 2002, she opened Crossroads Theater in downtown Naperville, that city’s first professional theater space, with a production of Late Nite Catechism.

In 2003, she produced a series of cabaret nights at Crossroads Theater. And she brought back Christopher Carter for a triumphant summer return in 2003, at the Theatre Building in Chicago.

She was also one of the producers of Forever Plaid, which ran in the fall of 2003 at the Marcus Performing Arts Center in Milwaukee.

In 2004, she has produced Late Nite Catechism in Milwaukee, first at the Miramar Theater and then at Melanecs Wheelhouse Dinner Theater. She also produced Cast on a Hot Tin Roof, a parody of Tennessee Williams, at the Noble Fool Theater, in Chicago. In the summer and fall of 2004, she produced Christopher Carter’s new show, Christopher Carter Keeps Messing With Your Mind, at the Royal George. In the fall of 2004, she reopened Cast on a Hot Tin Roof at the Royal George, and opened the first commercial production of Verbatim Verboten, a play where transcripts of secretly recorded conversations of the rich and famous are "performed" for the audience.

Also in 2004, Vicki opened her own group sales business as an adjuct to her production company. The new business, Chicago Group Sales, offers small to medium-sized theater companies a chance to promote their shows. This is the only group sales business in Chicago catering to the small and mid-sized theater.

In 2005, Vicki produced the U.S. premiere of Drapes by Australian playwright Stephen House, at Victory Gardens Theatre, Chicago.

In the summer of 2005, she opened the comedy, Put the Nuns in Charge!, as a sequel to Late Nite Catechism. The Chicago Tribune calls the show, "sharp, funny, and richly humane." It has been running weekly at the Royal George Theatre, Chicago, since June 2005, and is now in its third year.

In 2007, Vicki's third "Sister" comedy opened, Sunday School Cinema. Sister takes on Hollywood! Check out all three shows on Vicki's new web site: www.nuns4fun.com.

For her work in Late Nite Catechism, Vicki was nominated in 2000 for a Los Angeles Critics Circle Award.

In 2003, she was honored with the Spirit of Benedict Award by the Benedictine Sisters of Chicago and in 2005, she was given a Partners in Mission Award by the Sisters of the Living Word. Both orders of nuns honored Vicki for her work helping to raise public awareness of the retirement needs of nuns. Since her show began, Late Nite Catechism has raised more than $2 million for retired Sisters nationwide.

Vicki has three children, Michael, David, and Catherine, who all have attended Catholic schools in Chicago.

Contact Vicki Quade at vickiq@aol.com.