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Our Mission

Upstream Theater is a professional production company dedicated to bringing a world of theater to St. Louis. We believe that art engages as much as it entertains, and that by feeding the senses we feed the soul. Our goal is to move you, and to move you to think.

World Class Theater For a World Class City

Since 2005, Upstream has introduced St. Louis audiences to new plays from places as far-flung as Argentina and Australia, as well as innovative stagings of classics. Two-thirds of our shows have been U.S. premieres, and all are chosen for local impact. We collaborate with theater artists from around the globe, and our shows continue to spark discourse in and beyond our local community. This international focus is unique in the region and rare in the country. Our innovative productions of classical and contemporary works have attracted consistent local recognition as well as national acclaim, including three grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. We are also the only local company (and first in Missouri) to be awarded a National Theatre Grant from the American Theatre Wing (founder of the Tonys).

St. Louis is a city of great diversity, with a wealth of artistic talent. From the beginning we have put that diversity on stage by deliberately and consistently hiring across lines of race and ethnicity. We have also been committed to professionalism since our first production, and have always operated under a full contract with Actors’ Equity, which assures our actors safe working conditions, regulated wages and benefits.

I.D.E.A. Inclusion. Diversity. Equity. Access.

Upstream Theater remains determined to put diversity on stage, with the plays we produce and the people we hire to produce them. By sharing stories from around the world we celebrate difference while underscoring our common humanity. From the beginning our art has been empowered by deliberate inclusion across race, gender, age, ethnicity, identity, ability, and experience. Just as we make sure no physical barrier impedes accessibility in our venues, we strive to remove unseen barriers that impede progress towards greater equity both within our organization and within our community—and we will continue to look to improve our own approach.

Board Members

Charlie Allen Chair
Philip Boehm (ex-officio)
Susan Nicholson
Jarek Czernikiewicz
Matthias Goeritz
Wendy Greenwood-Leveling
Peter Mayer
Caitlin Mickey (ex-officio)
Mona Sabau
Kathy Sitzer
Julia Walker
Lizi Watt (ex officio)

PHILIP BOEHM
Artistic Director

Upstream Theater’s program is guided by founding Artistic Director Philip Boehm, whose career zigzags across languages and borders, artistic disciplines and cultural divides. As a theater director fluent in several languages he has staged dozens of professional productions at theaters in Poland, Slovakia, and the United States. As a dramatist his produced plays include Mixtitlan, Soul of a Clone, Alma en venta, The Death of Atahualpa, and Return of the Bedbug. For this work he has received awards from the Mexican-American Fund for Culture and the NEA. Locally he has received Kevin Kline Awards both as a director and as a playwright.
He is also the author of more than thirty translations of novels and plays by German and Polish writers, including Nobel laureate Herta Müller, Franz Kafka, Bertolt Brecht, and Hanna Krall. For his work as a translator he has received prizes from a number of institutions including the American Translators Association, the U.K. Society of Authors, the Polish Cultural Institute, the Goethe Institute, PEN USA, the Austrian Ministry of Culture, and the Texas Institute of Letters, as well as fellowships from the NEA and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.

Originally from Texas, Mr. Boehm studied at Wesleyan University (CT), Washington University in St. Louis, and the State Academy of Theater in Warsaw, Poland. He is a frequent invited speaker and has worked as a guest artist at several universities, most recently as a playwriting mentor for the Yale Playwrights Festival. He has served on juries for literary prizes both in the US and abroad, and has published reviews and other articles in various journals including American Theatre and The New York Times.
photo by Joanna Eldredge Morrissey

LIZI WATT
Managing Director

Lizi Watt began her journey Upstream after returning to St. Louis from almost 20 years out in the field working as a performer, director, theater-maker and freelance educator. As Managing Director and Production Manager, Lizi channels her disparate experiences in theater-making to promote and uplift both Upstream’s mission and St. Louis’ many incredible artists and technicians. Her other theater admin ventures have included co-founding Band of Toughs (Boulder/Denver) in 2015, organizing time and space as Production Manager for Naropa University’s MFA program, and working as Managing Director for the Tennessee Williams Festival St. Louis. Some favorite performance work includes multiple projects with Kestrel Leah and Physical Plastic (LA), Copenhagen (STLAS), Daedalus’ Daughter at REDCAT (LA), Hamlet with Prison Performing Arts (featured on This American Life), Weetzie Bat at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and the years touring with Metro Theater Company (US and Taiwan). Since earning her MFA in Theater from Naropa, she has taught acting at NYU’s Experimental Theater Wing, Naropa, Rhodes, Acrobatics of the Heart, the National Alliance of Acting Teachers, Marlborough School (LA), Crossroads and COCA and has regional directing credits across the country, including Hamlet with Anon It Moves in Portland, and Maria est Perdue at the Women On the Edge Festival in SF, and has been privileged to work with Stephen Wangh on The Tempest at Naropa and The Testimony Project at Princeton University. Lizi is also the author/creator of Mama, House of Daughters, and It’s a Girl. Though she has traveled far and wide, lived here and there, and done this and that, Lizi is particularly grateful for her roots as a St. Louisan, as a member of the Wyandot Nation, and as mother of Oliver, Inez and Sabine.

MONA SABAU
Marketing & Communications

Born and raised in Kuwait to a Syrian-Lebanese father and a Romanian mother, Mona speaks three languages: Arabic, English, and Romanian. She performed for three years with the British theater group One World in Kuwait. After moving to the U.S. in 2017, she continued her passion for the arts, performing with the UMSL theater group on the Touhill stage and in various regional independent productions. Since 2021, Mona has been the Marketing Manager at 21c Museum Hotel St. Louis, where she oversees all strategic communications, public relations, and marketing initiatives. Mona has been on the board of Upstream Theater since 2020, contributing her expertise in marketing and her commitment to bringing diverse theatrical works to the St. Louis community.

CAITLIN MICKEY
Patron Services Coordinator


Caitlin Mickey is proud to have been involved with Upstream Theater for over a decade. She began working backstage with Upstream as an assistant stage manager in 2014, and then for the first time onstage in their production of Sweet Revenge in 2017. Caitlin has since appeared in Upstream’s productions of Wittenberg and Don’t Wait for the Marlboro Man, as well as numerous poetry readings and their acclaimed stage reading of Waiting for Lefty. A graduate of the Sargent Conservatory of Theater Arts at Webster University, she holds a BFA in Musical Theater, and has performed with many companies in Saint Louis and all over the country. When not involved in theatrical endeavors, Caitlin works on the property management team at Cushman & Wakefield, volunteers as a National Anthem singer for various organizations, and is a board member for The Mardi Gras Foundation.


SLEEPY KITTY
Graphic Design

Paige Brubeck and Evan Sult first connected with Upstream Theater in 2015 when their band Sleepy Kitty composed, performed and directed the music for Upstream’s production of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, for which they received a nomination for Outstanding Sound Design in the St. Louis Theater Circle Awards. The duo, also known for their screenprinted posters for bands and theater, were named “Best Poster Designer” in 2011 by the Riverfront Times and they have been designing for Upstream since 2018.