SHEA LEAVIS (They/Them) is a Chicago-based Theater Director and Performer, working in Chicago and New York City. Most recently they directed The Regulars, by Eliza Bent, in a premiere production at Barron Mind Gallery. Since moving to Chicago they have also directed Animal Play (Jake Flum/Steak Richardson), This Music Should Not Be (Wendy Schmidt), and I’M NOT HERE TO MAKE FRIENDS (Elaine Schiff). In 2022 Shea created an original Performance-Installation, Absence, at Coffey Street Studios in New York. They served as Movement Director for two plays by Kallan Dana, The Great Hunger (The Tank) and Playdate (Dixon Place) . Shea has created and performed with Royal Osiris Karaoke Ensemble in The Art of Luv Part 5: ROKÉ CUPID (The Bushwick Starr) and The Art of Luv Part 6: Awesome Grotto! (Abrons Arts Center), the latter of which was nominated for two Bessie Awards (Outstanding Production and Outstanding Visual Design). They also acted in Kallan Dana’s Basement (virtually via Dixon Place), Annie Dorsen’s The Slow Room (Performance Space New York), and Dylan Guerra’s Let’s Have A Seance (HERE Arts). Assistant directing credits include Joe Diebes’s original opera Oyster, at Roulette Intermedium (dir. Phil Soltanoff), and Who Will Carry the Word by Charlotte Delbo, at Skidmore College (dir. Rebecca Marzalek-Kelly). Shea has also worked on productions at Drop Forge & Tool, The Tank, The Flea, The PIT, Mass Live Arts, and Soho Playhouse. They trained at the Moscow Art Theatre School through the National Theater Institute, and hold a B.S. in Directing and Acting from Skidmore College.

Shea is also a certified Mindfulness Meditation instructor via Tibet House NYC.