Maggie Speer is artistic director of Azusa Productions, which is best known for its popular and critically acclaimed adaptations of Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction (featuring Richard Gordon) and Reservoir Dogs, and many of the works of Sam Shepard.  Maggie most recently directed the world premiere of David Alex’s new play, Adrift, and David Hammond’s adaptation of Fielding’s Tom Jones for Polarity Ensemble Theater. Earlier she served as artistic director of Waukegan’s Bowen Park Theater. For ten years, Maggie taught theater classes at Lake Forest College, where her favorite among them was “Shakespeare to Tarantino: Why violence endures and flourishes in theater, film, and literature.”  As an actor, Maggie was recently seen in Polarity’s adaptation of Peer Gynt, adapted by Robert Bly. Her favorite past roles include Bernarda, in The House of Bernarda Alba; Bessie, in The Plough and the Stars; Marie Antoinette, in French Gray; and Margaret, in Richard III.