About Thornton Square Productions
Founded in 2017, Thornton Square Productions is a Chicago-based media production company with a focus on stories around mental health issues, telling the stories that need to be told. Our name is from George Kukor's 1944 film Gaslight, where a jewel thief at 9 Thornton Square tries to convince Ingrid Bergman's character that she's going mad by "gaslighting" her.
By reclaiming the name of the place where that cruelty occurred, we're also reclaiming the stories of those who've suffered and struggled to be believed. Through narrative and documentary films, books and plays and multi-media projects, we create and support work that focuses on mental health issues.
Pat Price - Founder and Executive Producer
Pat Price has been a long-time advocate for mental health issues. She is a donor to NAMI Chicago and funded “Honest, Open, Proud,” to erase the stigma of mental illness, a project founded by Patrick Corrigan, Distinguished Professor of Psychology at IIT. Pat has a blog devoted to mental health issues, #9 Thornton Square. Other advocacy work includes working for the Nuclear Weapon Freeze Movement in Dallas, TX, in the 1980s.
Pat’s creative professional life began at the ABC affiliate in Dallas, and she has worked in theatre and film. She was a freelance writer for the Chicago Tribune and created the newsletter for “Connections for the Homeless.” She is the past president of The Writers in Glencoe, IL and presently a member of The Plumbs, a poetry group in the Chicago area. Pat was a winner of the Evanston Public Library Hirshfield Memorial Poetry Award in 2016.
Pat is a lover of animals, from Saving the Seals as a little girl, to now being a major donor to Save the Elephants‘ Elephant Crisis Fund through the Wildlife Conservation Network. She is also a birdwatcher and donor to Audubon and International Crane Foundation. Pat's an equestrian and a world traveler who loves exploring other cultures.
Susan Hope Engel - Producer
Susan Hope Engel is an award-winning filmmaker with her film company Hope Productions. Based in Chicago since 1987, Susan writes, directs and edits social justice documentaries. She did her graduate studies in theatre and worked professionally in Chicago theatre for many years, which has informed her approach to dramatic documentaries.
Unforgettable, Susan’s documentary about the segregated black YMCA in Evanston, IL, was featured in the NY Times and won the 2010 Blackbaud TV’s “Inspire Award” and the Alliance for Community Media “Making a Difference Award.” Her film for Literature for All of Us about how literacy transformed the lives of 5 teen mothers was aired on “Voice of America,” in over 40 countries. Her work took her to the former Yugoslavia as part of a peace effort sponsored by the Soros Humanitarian Foundation. She has mentored young filmmakers with documentaries that have been recognized nationally at film festivals. Susan has been honored by her community with a Leadership Evanston Award as well as the “Those Who Make a Difference Award.”
She is a founding board member of Women in Film Chicago.
