Nathan Allen founded The House Theatre of Chicago with friends in the year 2001 and continues to serve as the company’s Artitic Director. He has directed many shows for the house including Death and Harry Houdini (which he also wrote), and The Terrible Tragedy of Peter Pan. Allen’s three-part rock-and-roll opus The Valentine Trilogy as well as his collaborations with writers Chris Mathews and Jake Minton (The Sparrow, Dave DaVinci Saves the Universe, Rose and the Rime) have received praise from the Chicago Tribune, The Chicago Sun-Times, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, NPR and American Theatre Magazine. His directing has been seen on the stages of The House, The Steppenwolf Merle Reskin Garage Theatre, Strawdog Theatre, The Neo-Futurarium, and The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. through the American College Theatre Festival. His work has received acknowledgements from the Joeseph Jefferson Awards, The Orgie Awards, and The American College Theatre Festival. In 2007 he received the Emerging Leader Award from his alma mater Southern Methodist University.