Omer Abbas Salem is a Chicago actor and playwright. As an actor, he's worked with The Goodman, The New Coordinates, Jackalope Theatre, Steep Theatre, Silk Road Rising, Griffin Theatre, The House, Bailiwick Chicago, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Roundabout Theater, and The Atlantic Theater. His play Mosque4Mosque was developed through the National Queer Theater and then chosen for further development through Steppenwolf Theatre's SCOUT Program. It received it’s world premiere with About Face Theater in 2022. The Secretaries was workshopped through The New Coordinates, a semi-finalist in Definition Theatre's Amplify Commission, and developed through the Goodman Theatre's Future Labs. It received it’s world premiere in 2022 with First Floor Theatre. Pretty Shahid was commissioned as part of Jackalope Theatre's 2020/21 New Frontier Series and will receive it’s world premiere as
part of Jackalope’s 2023 season. Love in the Time of Jonestown was produced as a radio play by The New Coordinates. His play Modern Women was commissioned by The Goodman Theater and written in their Writers Room. It will have a second public reading as part of the New Stages 2022 New Play Festival at The Goodman. He is a member of the 2021/22 Goodman Playwrights Unit and is the recipient of the 2021 Cunningham Commission through DePaul University. He will also receive First Floor Theatre’s Blueprint Commission in 2022. He is the winner of the 3Arts award in Theater for 2023 and was named Who's Got Next by Chicago Magazine for theater in 2023. He was an apprentice of the Actors Theatre of Louisville (17/18) and a proud ensemble member with Steep Theatre, First Floor Theater, Jackalope Theatre, and The New Coordinates. He is represented by DDO Artist Agency and the Gersh Agency.