Instant Theatre

Christopher De Paola is an Emmy Award nominated actor, as well as a playwright. As a writer, Christopher is a Resident Playwright at Chicago Dramatists, where he also co-produces and co-hosts Instant Theatre, a monthly evening of new work. Most recently, his play THE IMAGINE MAN was presented in the Victory Gardens’ festival Ignition: Emerging Playwrights of Color. He spent all of 2007 as head writer on a television series produced and taped in Chicago. His two plays MORNING TRAFFIC and DREAM WATER were commissioned and published by Pearson Education/Scott Foresman. His plays STREETS COME KNOCKING and RECOVERED were in Chicago Dramatists 2006 & 2007 Many Voices Project. Productions include: WHAT I KNEW THEN (Doppelgang Productions, NYC); THE DIALOGUE BETWEEN MEN & WOMEN (Intar Theater & The Theater Studio, NYC).

Acting Credits include: JON (Collaboraction); EYE OF THE STORM (Vittum Theater); AUTOBIOGRAPHY (Collaboraction: Sketchbook 7); CYNICAL WEATHERS (Victory Gardens); HORTENSIA AND THE MUSEUM OF DREAMS (Victory Gardens); NYC premiere of A.R. Gurney’s THE GUEST LECTURER; BUTTERFLIES ARE FREE; KING JOHN; DON JUAN IN HELL; A CHORUS LINE; CHARLEY’S AUNT; A FEW GOOD MEN; TEN LITTLE INDIANS with Gordon Jump; ONCE UPON A MATRESS; WAIT UNTIL DARK; HARVEY; ROMEO AND JULIET; and the world premiere of Kia Corthron’s CATNAP ALLEGIANCE. On television, you can see Christopher in repeat episodes of his one year stint on a children’s show taped here in Chicago. You can also catch him as a murdering boyfriend on an episode of ANIMAL WITNESS on Animal Planet!

Christopher’s teaching credits include classes at Ohio University, Marietta College, Steppenwolf Theater, After School Matters, John Casablancas and through Chicago Dramatists’ Playwright Residency Program.

Christopher holds a BFA in Acting from Otterbein College, and an MFA in Playwriting from Ohio University.