Julia Rhoads is Director of Dance and Senior Instructional Professor in Theater and Performance Studies at University of Chicago. She is also the founding Artistic Director of Lucky Plush Productions, a MacArthur Award-winning ensemble recognized for its unique blend of dance, theater, comedy, and socially relevant themes. Her work with Lucky Plush has toured to 80+ venues worldwide, including the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (DC), Joyce Theater (NYC), Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston, ODC (CA), Wellesley Center (Auckland, NZ), and Teatro Las Carolinas (Havana, Cuba). Other choreography credits include Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Steppenwolf Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre (WI), South Coast Repertory (CA), Lookingglass Theatre (IL), River North Dance Chicago, and she was commissioned to create a work in honor of the Year of Chicago Theater for Art on theMart, the world’s largest digital installation. Julia is the recipient of an Alpert Award in Dance, fellowships from Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography and Chicago Dancemakers Forum, and her work for Lucky Plush has received creation and touring awards from National Endowment for the Arts, National Dance Project, National Theater Project, and National Performance Network. Julia is a former member of the San Francisco Ballet and ensemble member of XSIGHT! Performance Group. She received her BA in History from Northwestern University and her MFA in Performance from the School of the Art Institute Chicago.