The Beauty Project

Now six years in the making, The Beauty Project began because my own hair stylist, Antje Kastner kindly opened her studio in Lincoln Square to bring in a group of writers to find inspiration. As social media has become such a big part of setting beauty standards, our dream is that The Beauty Project will give an audience the opportunity to experience stories about beauty in real life. We want to create a space that can hold an intersectional group of artists and creators to gain understanding of others and also feel seen themselves. It’s important to us that our collaborators come from different identities, industries, and communities to reflect this. In collaboration with Rachel Dubose, four Chicago beauty practitioners, and many writers, we aim to bring joy, community, and conversation to audiences through this project.

We operate from an abundance mindset through a process we like to call collaborative maximalism. While slots in traditional theatre seasons celebrate a single writer, our project offers an opportunity for multiple writers, sometimes in different genres, in a single slot. Rather than centering one storyline, audiences will experience multiple stories at once, inspiring conversation across different communities. Artists who will be part of this collaboration include Kirsten Baity, Rachel DuBose, Kylie Ramirez, and Kezia Waters. Beauty practitioners who will be part of this collaboration include Mo Drennon (Make Up Artist), Antje Kastner (Antje Kastner Studio), Jamie Marshall and Olivia Hatch (Love U Collective). Guest hosts to be announced. In The Beauty Project, we are in conversation with beauty and self-care small businesses in addition to our group of artists. Through our method of collaborative maximalism, audience members will have a choice in what they view and the way they engage with it rather than the one-size-fits-all experience of traditional theatre. 

Our first workshop took place in 2019 at Antje Kastner’s Salon. That workshop resulted in incredibly rich pieces, so much so that Rachel DuBose and I kept in touch about the idea years later, returning to it in 2024. Last year, we were able to secure grant funding for a workshop performance that began with a conversation at my home with writers and beauty practitioners. We discussed questions like: 

• What is one of your beauty rituals? Did you learn this or create it yourself?
• What are your memories of watching your mother or caregiver get ready?
• How can we take beauty back from Instagram and social media?
• How can we disentangle beauty from capitalism?

In May 2025, we invited 40 audience members to a workshop performance (with music stand readings) that took place at Fulton Street Collective. Audience members were divided into two groups and led through an affirmation prompt, beauty demos, and four short plays. The demos and plays covered many topics including gender affirming make-up, self-defense, self-worth, hair care, and nails. At the end of the performance, audience members were given the opportunity to share their affirmations. Each writer was paired with a beauty practitioner to create a piece that spoke to a particular beauty practice or self-care ritual specific to their identity. This performance, rather than focusing on a single narrative, is able to tell a story through multiple lenses where audience members can both feel seen, and gain understanding from the stories of others.

In spring of 2026, we plan to create a full production of this concept. We are planning for six performances over the course of two weeks for an audience of forty each evening. A core value of our collective Second Site is to devote our resources first and foremost to compensating artists. For this reason, we create in locations with minimal to no rental fees with inherently theatrical spaces to minimize design costs. The proceeds of this campaign will go towards paying a director, actors, beauty practitioners and other production support staff. Please join us in making The Beauty Project come to life!