Pictured: Brandon Cloyd. Photo by Jennifer Bowser Photography.

Barrel of Monkeys has announced the appointment of Brandon Cloyd as the company’s new Artistic Director, effective September 1. Cloyd, who joined Barrel of Monkeys in 2007, currently serves as the company’s Program Director, overseeing educational programming including teacher training, curriculum development and program evaluation for the company’s residencies in Chicago Public Schools. Cloyd succeeds Joseph Schupbach, who is stepping down at the end of August 2017, after serving as Artistic Director since 2014 and working with the company since 2005.

“I have had the distinct pleasure of working with Brandon in several different capacities during my tenure with BOM, and I have no doubt that with his combination of vision, leadership experience, talent and radical kindness, Barrel of Monkeys is in great hands as we prepare to embark on our third decade,” said Barrel of Monkeys’ Executive Director Corinne Neal. Cloyd added, “I’m thrilled to lead this company of amazingly talented and reverent performers as we continue to serve some of the best authors in Chicago.”

Cloyd graduated from Northwestern University with a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre and a minor in Business Institutions.

Barrel of Monkeys, a Chicago-based arts education theater ensemble now in its 20th season, conducts creative writing workshops with 3rd through 5th-grade students in underserved Chicago Public Schools. The ensemble of actor-educators then turns their stories and words into professionally performed theater, presented both in-school and for the general public through its revues. Barrel of Monkeys annually performs more than 300 student-written stories for the students in their schools and 175 stories on the stage for the general public.