Rachel Herriges is a Chicago-based playwright and actor who loves to explore the grotesque, the abstract, the metaphysical, and the ironic elements of being human. In her theatre endeavors, she is drawn to crippling family structures, unexpected gods, forbidden lovers, and explorations of the human psyche.

Rachel graduated from Westmont College with a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre in 2023 with a focus on playwriting and acting. Her roots have been laid in Chicago as an ensemble member of A Short Leap Theatre Company, and an Emeritus Ensemble Member of MicroChicago. Recent performance credits include It’s a Wonderful Life (2025, 2024) and Dante 360 at The Athenaeum Center for Thought and Culture, The Subtle Sublime Transformation of Benny V and Intimate Anarchy PlayFest with A Short Leap, Milking the Beast and Going to Hell with Runaways Lab Theatre, Eclectic Full Contact Theatre’s Patchwork Play Festival 3, and many other stages throughout Chicago.

Rachel’s plays are constantly transgressing Microsoft Word to breathe new life on stage. Most recently, The Blood Eagle (a billionaire’s worst tortuous nightmare) debuted at A Short Leap’s PlayFest. Earlier in 2025, the one-act I LOVE CHESS! (parasocial relationships always start with online chess) was workshopped and performed with Freshly Brewed. Both of her plays Heat (global warming meets romantic queer tension), and Hot Yoga for Women’s Bodies (a metaphysical exploration of the postpartum body) showcased in staged readings with the Chicago Dramatists in 2024. The Artery Theatre also featured her work Straw Hats in the Sand (a futuristically ancient tragic romance) in their play festival in the Spring of 2024. While at Westmont College, several of her plays were performed in their annual Fringe Festival. Notable highlights are Liminal, Purgatory, or Whatever (where the afterlife is a farm), celestial bodies (starcrossed lovers who are actually in the stars), and mind(full) (a dystopian interrogation room). Her capstone project, Hysteria (forest nymph meets Twilight meets the end of the world), was performed on Porter Theater’s stage in May 2023.

Her most recent endeavors have led her to producing A Short Leap’s first Intimate Anarchy PlayFest, and stage managing A Short Leap’s inaugural production of Clearing. She is currently diving into the world of Meisner at The Artistic Home after receiving the Thebus Scholarship, and she can’t wait to see where that will take her next!

Projects

For the second year in a row, The Athenaeum Center for Thought and Culture returned with It’s a Wonderful Life! The cast from the previous year was invited back to revamp the magical Christmas tale in a fully staged format. This year came with new challenges of creating something new from something old, and making a brand new show for audiences to enjoy.

Rachel’s role reached new heights in experimentation, distinct characterizations, and moment-to-moment contact, keeping everyone on their toes! The show had a three week run with 20 performances to many sold-out crowds in Chicago, IL.

For A Short Leap’s Inaugural PlayFest, Intimate Anarchy, eight brand new plays written by Chicago Playwrights debuted at Mrs. Murphy and Son’s Irish Bistro to a sold-out crowd! Rachel wore many hats for the production as a playwright, actor, and the executive producer. In collaboration with LocalLab, What About Rooster was born in a two-day workshop. As an anarchist to podcasts, Rachel’s role was powerful, explosive, and downright rebellious. In a one-night only event, A Short Leap’s PlayFest brought in 33 new creatives, and fostered the ongoing excitement for storefront theatre in Chicago.
Photo credit: Griffin Durbin.

In The Athenaeum Center for Thought and Culture’s annual production of It’s a Wonderful Life, we are taken through the Christmas classic with a twist. Actors play in the round with multiple characters, commercial breaks, and a fast-paced exploration of a story we know and love.

Rachel’s role challenged her to play many distinct characters of various ages while constantly reinventing them. Notably, her role as Violet changed the once promiscuous woman into an empowered, assured character that had never been seen before. Throughout the Christmas season, It’s a Wonderful Life, brought Christmas joy to audiences for 13 performances in Chicago, IL.

In the third installment of the Patchwork Play Festival presented by Eclectic Full Contact Theatre, Rachel starred in a leading role in Customs. Based on the real life events of the Mignonette, a ship that was lost at sea in the 17th century, Customs follows a group of stranded sailors that resort to cannibalism to survive. In the Custom of the Sea, sailors must draw lots to see who will live and who must die.

In her role, Rachel embodied the moving tale of sacrificing oneself for the ones they love. For two weekends in person and online, Customs premiered at the Edge on Broadway in Chicago, IL.

Hysteria is a new play by Rachel Herriges that brings the 2010’s back to the stage with a supernatural flair. With odes to One Direction, school dances, and the end of the Mayan calendar, Naomi must navigate what it means to grow up in 2012 with an angry mother. Everything changes when she meets a mysterious boy in the forest, and impending doom becomes divine judgment.

As Naomi, Rachel walked the line of angst and child-like wonder that remains in teenagers. Hysteria was performed on Porter Theater’s stage as Rachel’s Capstone project at Westmont College.

She Kills Monsters brings a comedic, fantastical Dungeons and Dragons story to the stage through the eyes of the cheerleader, Agnes, in an attempt to better understand her geeky younger sister, Tilly. Following an adventure with orges, fairies, and elves, Agnes learns that her sister may not have been exactly who she thought she was.

Playing the role of Tilly, Rachel fought monsters and dragons galore while maintaining the emotional connection of the strong Paladin. With dance numbers, sword wielding, and stage combat, She Kills Monsters premiered on Porter Theater’s stage in Santa Barbara, CA.

mind(full) is a short dystopian, experimental play that was performed in Westmont’s Fringe festival. In an underground bunker, an attorney and defendant engage in mental tug-of-war to to fight this society’s model of “guilty until proven innocent.”

With the execution clock ticking, Lee attempts to unravel the mystery behind the defendant, Elliot. Rachel’s portrayal of Elliot leaned into the defendant’s argumentative nature with nuance and poise. Both actors, Rachel and Ford Sachsenmaier, directed the show while swapping roles multiple times throughout the writing process.

KITTY HAWK OR KILL DEVIL engages in the turf war between Ohio and North Carolina, landing firmly on the side of Ohio, where aviation was born. As the Wright Brothers search for a perfect testing ground, a multi-generational, semi-fictional family of Ohioans wrestle with the Kitty Hawk betrayal.

Meanwhile Michael Collins, the third astronaut on the Apollo 11 mission, waits on the dark side of the Moon as Neil and Buzz walk in the light of all that glory. Kitty Hawk or Kill Devil is a play about our country's obsession with greatness and about those of us (most of us) who live only in proximity to it.

Projects

Its a Wonderful Life

What About Rooster

Its a Wonderful Life

Customs

Hysteria

She Kills Monsters

mind(full)

Kitty Hawk or Kill Devil

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