Displaying items by tag: Pegasus Theatre Chicago

Pegasus Theatre Chicago is proud to announce the authors and plays being presented at the 37th Annual Young Playwrights Festival, January 4 - 28, 2024 at Chicago Dramatists, 798 N. Aberdeen. Previews are Thursday, Jan. 4 - Saturday, Jan. 6 at 7 p.m. with the Opening Ceremony, Sunday, Jan. 7 at 2:30 p.m. The performance schedule is Fridays at 7 p.m. and Saturdays at 2:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.  Tickets are $15 - $30 are on sale now at PegasusTheatreChicago.org. Educators may schedule school group matinees via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..  

For 37 years, the Young Playwrights Festival, the oldest such festival in the United States, has engaged and inspired high school students across Chicago by teaching them to craft one-act plays. Under the auspices of Pegasus Theatre Chicago, the winning teen playwrights’ productions are work-shopped and staged by industry professionals. The competition typically receives more than 300 submissions annually.  

“It’s important that audiences start the year celebrating the work of these young playwrights,” said Executive and Producing Artistic Director ILesa Duncan.”The work from all over Chicago, represents the talent of these teens and offers an artistic outlet for them to mine their world for inspiration while exploring potential careers. We look forward to sharing these four new works.”

The 37th Young Playwrights Festival includes:

Splashes of Paint by Amanda Heckler 

(Taft High School, Teacher: Adrienne Carmona)

Director: Reshmi Hazra Rustebakke 

During the Renaissance period, a young woman is forced to hide her visual art painting which jeopardizes her happiness.

You’re Like, Dead  by Ella Johnson 

(Whitney Young Magnet High School, Teacher: Elizabeth Danesh)

Director: ILesa Duncan 

Richard accidentally dies and befriends Death in the afterlife as they both grapple with their loneliness.

Can’t Sleep by Alexander Loaiza 

(Thomas Kelly High School, Teacher: Chani Buchic)

Director: Enrico Spada

In order to stave off the grief of his dog dying James pretends he's in a happy kids television show.  Can he acknowledge his childhood traumas and awake from his dream?

Listen by Grant Parris 

(Whitney Young Magnet High School, Teacher: Elizabeth Danesh)

Director: ILesa Duncan  

Two friends George and Zach find themselves in a time loop that ends in tragedy. Can they stop the devastating chain reaction from repeating?

The cast of the 37th Annual Young Playwrights Festival includes, in alphabetical order: Seth Hubbard, Evan Morales, Ben Murphy, William A.S. Rose II, AunDria TraNay and Hadar Zusman with understudies Josh Braden, Kyle Johnson and Diego Rivera Rodriquez. 

The production team for the 37th Annual Young Playwrights Festival includes: ILesa Duncan (director, Listen and You’re Like, Dead); Enrico Spada (director, Can’t Sleep); Reshmi Hazra Rustebakke (director, Splashes of Paint); Lindsay Mummert (scenic designer); Josh Wroblewski (lighting designer); Brandon Reed (sound designer); Jessica Gowens (costume designer); Amanda Herrman (props designer); Line Bower (technical director); Avery Spellmeyer (head electrician); Adi Davis (production manager); NaVada Reed (stage manager) and Ben Locke (casting director).

ABOUT THE DIRECTORS

RESHMI HAZRA RUSTEBAKKE, DIRECTOR, Splashes of Paint 

Reshmi Hazra Rustebakke is a multi-faceted film and theater maker who develops work as a creator, director, producer, storyteller and curator. She works creatively developing new work and also directing, producing and production managing many varieties of shoots and plays. She has worked at The Vineyard, Playwrights Horizons Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop, TimeLine Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Free Street and many more. She is the co-director of critically acclaimed “BRUJOS” and director for “8,000,” “FOBia,” “The Haven,” “Ethel and Agnes,” “Geeta’s Guide to Moving On” and several more projects in development. She has her BFA from New York University, Playwrights Horizons Theatre School. During her time in New York, she received the Robert Moss Directing Fellow at Playwrights Horizons Theatre, as well as the Artist of Color Fellowship at New York Theatre Workshop.

ILESA DUNCAN, DIRECTOR, You’re Like, Dead and Listen

ILesa Duncan is the executive and producing artistic director at Pegasus Theatre Chicago and the artistic director and an ensemble member at Lifeline Theatre. She has directed numerous plays for Pegasus’ Young Playwrights Festival as well as Eclipsed (Jeff Nominated), Shakin’ The Mess Outta Misery (Jeff Nominated), Rutherford’s Travels (Jeff Nominated, co-adapter), The Green Book, For Her as a Piano, and Blacula: Young, Black & Undead. At Lifeline, she recently directed From the Mississippi Delta, Neverwhere (Jeff Recommended 2018) and Blue Shadow (2010 KidSeries Premiere). A producer, director, writer, educator and theater-maker, Duncan is an avid collaborator on new work. Duncan has also worked with The Goodman, Writers Theatre, Congo Square, Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, Stage Left and Chicago Dramatists, as well as Contemporary American Theatre Company (Ohio), The Alliance Theatre (Atlanta), Arena Stage (Washington D.C.) and Lincoln Center Theater (New York). As an educator, she has led youth development and arts education programs in Chicago for more than 13 years. She is a past awardee of an NEA/TCG Directing fellowship and a 3 Arts Ragdale’s Fellowship. She is a member of the Lincoln Center Theatre Director’s Lab and the Chicago Director’s Lab and is an associate artist with Chicago Dramatists (where she previously served as education and community engagement director).

ENRICO SPADA, DIRECTOR, Can’t Sleep

Enrico Spada is a freelance director and teaching artist who returns to the Young Playwrights Festival where he directed Dead Boy Walking in 2024. Other credits include: Much Ado About Nothing at Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre; The Light in the Piazza, The Illusion, All's Well That Ends Well and Kimberly Akimbo at Illinois State University and Sleeping Beauty at Illinois Shakespeare Festival. As founder and artistic director of Pittsfield Shakespeare in the Park, Spada directed Twelfth Night, The Tempest, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Romeo and Juliet. He received his MFA candidate from the professional directing program at Illinois State University/Illinois Shakespeare Festival and holds a B.A. in acting and theatre Education from Emerson College in Boston.

ABOUT PEGASUS THEATRE CHICAGO

Pegasus Theatre Chicago has been a mainstay in the Chicago theater community for more than four decades. Its mission is to champion new, authentic voices and produce boldly imaginative theatre primarily by and about black or other people of color. Home of the Young Playwrights Festival, the company promotes cultural equity while celebrating diversity, inclusion and first voice and is committed to initiating important conversations through the arts with strong community engagement and socially relevant programming. The Young Playwrights Festival for high school-age scribes celebrates its 37th year in 2024. Pegasus Theatre Chicago has received 77 Joseph Jefferson Awards since its inception.

Pegasus Theatre Chicago is proud to announce the authors and plays being presented at the 37th Annual Young Playwrights Festival, January 4 - 28, 2024 at Chicago Dramatists, 798 N. Aberdeen. Previews are Thursday, Jan. 4 - Saturday, Jan. 6 at 7 p.m. with the Opening Ceremony, Sunday, Jan. 7 at 2:30 p.m. The performance schedule is Fridays at 7 p.m. and Saturdays at 2:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.  Tickets are $15 - $30 are on sale now at PegasusTheatreChicago.org. Educators may schedule school group matinees via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..