Gus Gordon  has been the artistic director at the Hoogland Center for the Arts since 2007, and the executive director since 2013. He has produced over 300 plays, musicals, and concerts since starting his career at HCFTA. As a performer, he has been seen at HCFTA as Mushnik in Little Shop of Horrors, Judge Turpin in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Don Kirschner in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, Nostradamus in Something Rotten!, Oscar Madison in The Odd Couple, Gomez in The Addams Family, and Don Quixote in Man of La Mancha. He has also performed at Muni, STC, Theatre in the Park (TIP), and at central Illinois’ premiere professional theatre, The Little Theatre on the Square in Sullivan, Illinois, where he played leading roles in Sugar, She Loves Me, Hello, Dolly!, Hairspray, 42nd Street, Newsies, Beauty and the Beast, and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. He has been named “Best Actor” by Illinois Times 15 times, most recently for his role as Tevye in Muni’s 2023 production of Fiddler on the Roof.