When the City of Chicago Neighborhood Opportunity Fund awarded Definition Theatre $1.6 million to repurpose a former Woodlawn church into a state-of-the-art black box theater, Definition's Executive Director Neel McNeil had her arts administration and leadership skills put to the test.
In addition to helping find and build out a new space, McNeill was tasked with coordinating the company’s ongoing capital campaign while developing crucial new partnerships in the Woodlawn community. At the time, McNeill had recently started the Crown Family School's Master’s Program in Social Sector Leadership and Nonprofit Management (SSL), and it soon became apparent how the complex array of social sector leadership skills she would learn in the SSL program would help her accomplish her company's sizable goals.
“Even if most of my thinking is devoted to the performing arts, I also know that deepening my understanding of the social sector is important for me and the work I do,” she says. “The insights I gained into my own leadership style, and the strategies I use to inspire and motivate those around me apply to all aspects of my life. I'm aware of so much that I was essentially unconscious of before."
McNeill graduated from Howard University with a degree in theater management and business administration. She moved to Chicago in 2012 after winning a fellowship from Steppenwolf Theatre.
"Because I went to Howard, I was used to doing theater with Black people," she says, recalling the early days of her career. "When I moved to Steppenwolf, I was oftentimes the only Black person or young woman of color in the room. A friend of mine started Definition Theatre—the same year I moved here—because there wasn't a place for us in Chicago."
This dislocation was both figurative and literal: the company had no permanent home. Instead, Definition Theatre rented venues to rehearse and stage their productions. While this arrangement suited the young company in some ways, it complicated a central part of their mission.
