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Buzz Center Stage

Wednesday, 20 December 2023 17:06

GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY is On Sale

Broadway In Chicago and Runaway Entertainment are pleased to announce that individual tickets for Girl From The North Country will be on sale tomorrow, Friday, December 15. Ticket prices will range from $35 - $119 with a select number of premium tickets available. Girl From The North Country will perform a strictly limited engagement from Tuesday, February 13 to Sunday, February 25, 2024, at the CIBC Theatre. Additional ticket information and the performance schedule are below.

It's 1934 in Duluth, Minnesota. We meet a group of wayward travelers whose lives intersect in a guesthouse filled with music, life and hope. Experience this 'profoundly beautiful' production (The New York Times) brought to vivid life by an extraordinary company of actors and musicians.

ABOUT GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY

Written and directed by celebrated playwright Conor McPherson and featuring Tony Award-winning orchestrations by Simon Hale, GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY reimagines 20 legendary songs of Bob Dylan as they've never been heard before, including "Forever Young," "All Along The Watchtower," "Hurricane," "Slow Train Coming," and "Like A Rolling Stone." 

The Girl From The North Country acting company includes Alan Ariano (Dr. Walker), David Benoit (Mr. Burke), Ben Biggers (Gene Laine), Paul Blankenship (Offstage Cover), Jennifer Blood (Elizabeth Laine), Ashley D. Brooks (Ensemble), Justin Michael Duval (Ensemble), Rayla Garske (Swing), Matt Manuel (Joe Scott), Kelly McCormick (Ensemble), Sharaé Moultrie (Marianne Laine), Hosea Mundi (Ensemble) Warren Nolan Jr. (Swing), Ali Regan (Swing), Jay Russell (Mr. Perry), John Schiappa (Nick Laine), Chiara Trentalange (Kate Draper), Danny Vaccaro (Swing), Jill Van Velzer (Mrs. Burke), Jeremy Webb (Reverend Marlowe), Aidan Wharton (Elias Burke) and Carla Woods (Mrs. Neilsen). Casting subject to change. 

Girl From The North Country features scenic and costume design by Rae Smith; orchestrations, arrangements, and music supervision by Simon Hale, with additional arrangements by Simon Hale and Conor McPherson; lighting design by Mark Henderson; sound design by Simon Baker; movement direction by Lucy Hind; associate direction by Barbara Rubin; and music direction by Timothy Splain.

Girl From The North Country's Original Broadway Cast Album was a 2022 GRAMMY Award® nominee for "Best Musical Theater Album."

For more information visit www.northcountrytour.com

X: @NorthCountryBwy  ● Facebook: @NorthCountryBroadway  ● Instagram: @northcountrybroadway 

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE

WEEK ONE

Tuesday, Feb. 13 at 7:00 pm

Wednesday, Feb 14 at 7:00 pm

Thursday, Feb 15 at 7:00 pm

Friday, Feb 16 at 7:30 pm

Saturday, Feb 17 at 2 pm

Saturday, Feb 17 at 7:30 pm

Sunday, Feb 18 at 1 pm

Sunday, Feb 18 at 6:30 pm

WEEK TWO

Tuesday, Feb. 20 at 7:00 pm

Wednesday, Feb. 21 at 1 pm

Wednesday, Feb. 21 at 7:00 pm

Thursday, Feb. 22 at 7:00 pm

Friday, Feb. 23 at 7:30 pm

Saturday, Feb. 24 at 2 pm

Saturday, Feb. 24 at 7:30 pm

Sunday, Feb. 25 at 1 pm

TICKET INFORMATION

Ticket prices range from $35 - $119 with a select number of premium tickets available. Individual tickets will be available by visiting www.BroadwayInChicago.com, or going to any Broadway In Chicago venue box office. Tickets are available for groups of 10 or more by calling Broadway In Chicago Group Sales at (312) 977-1710 or emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

ABOUT BROADWAY IN CHICAGO

Broadway In Chicago was created in July 2000 and over the past 23 years has grown to be one of the largest commercial touring homes in the country. A Nederlander Presentation, Broadway In Chicago lights up the Chicago Theater District entertaining up to 1.7 million people annually in five theatres. Broadway In Chicago presents a full range of entertainment, including musicals and plays, on the stages of five of the finest theatres in Chicago's Loop including the Cadillac Palace Theatre, CIBC Theatre, James M. Nederlander Theatre, and just off the Magnificent Mile, the Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place and presenting Broadway shows at the Auditorium Theatre.

For more information, visit www.BroadwayInChicago.com.

Follow @broadwayinchicago on FacebookInstagram, and TikTok 

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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 BookFor Her as a Piano, and Blacula: Young, Black & Undead. At Lifeline, she recently directed From the Mississippi DeltaNeverwhere (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..  

Curious Theatre Branch, currently celebrating its 35th Anniversary Season, announced today that the revival of Hit Me Like a Flower, written and directed by Beau O’Reilly and assistant directed by Chris Zdenek, will now be performed January 12 - February 4, at Facility Theatre, 1138 N. California Ave. Opening night is Friday, Jan. 12 at 7:30 p.m. The performance takes place Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. with the closing performance Sunday, Feb. 4 at 3 p.m. The running time is 90 minutes. Tickets are priced on a “pay what you can” scale, with a suggested price of $20. For more information about Hit Me Like a Flower visit CuriousTheatreBranch.com. NOTE: Hit Me Like a Flower replaces the previously announced The Rose is Off The Bloom.

It’s 2003: Bush's Iraq War is in full swing and in the small east coast town of Little Chicken Mountain, it's been raining hard for weeks, a bear is on the attack, Jackie's therapy office is in full swing, William has had a stroke and even the skateboarding activists are looking for love.

The cast of Hit Me Like a Flower includes Paul Brennan (he/him), Jayita Bhattacharya (she/her), Steve Lehman (he/him), Shaun Rosten (he/him), Allison Gruber, Mike Amandes (he/him), Kristin Garrison, Hannah Johnston and Beau O'Reilly (he/him). 

The production team includes Beau O’Reilly (he/him), playwright and director; Chris Zdenek (he/him), assistant director and Charlotte Lastra (she/her), technical director. 

ABOUT BEAU O’REILLY, PLAYWRIGHT AND DIRECTOR

Beau O’Reilly is a founding member and co-artistic director of the Curious Theatre Branch and the bands Maestro Subgum and the Whole and The Crooked Mouth, as well as a curator of the Rhinoceros Theater Festival for 30 years. His work has appeared at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the Poetry Foundation and on “This American Life.” The author of more than 80 original plays, O’Reilly is also a working actor who teaches playwriting at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His latest solo album, “Thrifty,” was released on Uvulittle Records in 2021.

ABOUT CURIOUS THEATRE BRANCH

Curious has been holding up their end of the Chicago theater scene since 1988, creating new works of the imagination, works focused on language and creatively expressing the difficulties of being human. Curious Theatre Branch is dedicated to the creation of new plays and performances and to the production of its annual Rhinoceros Theater Festival. Curious aims to promote innovative works of the imagination in the performing arts from a broad and inclusive spectrum of artists and are also devoted to mentoring programs that engage emerging artists as a way to enrich and expand our artistic community. Curious is committed to creating and producing new plays and performances in a collaborative manner, encouraging our members as artists to share decision making and responsibilities, while expanding their skills as writers, actors, designers, directors and arts administrators. Curious also is committed to the idea that a pay what you can pricing policy is sustainable and will suffice over the long term as an economic model.

Curious Theatre Branch, currently celebrating its 35th Anniversary Season, announced today that the revival of Hit Me Like a Flower, written and directed by Beau O’Reilly and assistant directed by Chris Zdenek, will now be performed January 12 - February 4, at Facility Theatre, 1138 N. California Ave. Opening night is Friday, Jan. 12 at 7:30 p.m.. The performance takes place Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. with the closing performance Sunday, Feb. 4 at 3 p.m.The running time is 90 minutes. Tickets are priced on a “pay what you can” scale, with a suggested price of $20. For more information about Hit Me Like a Flower visit CuriousTheatreBranch.com. NOTE: Hit Me Like a Flower replaces the previously announced The Rose is Off The Bloom.

'Gypsy' is an excellent musical about a family in Vaudeville. The mother is overbearing trying to make the children, specifically the daughters, create a wildly famous act. It is at Marriott Theater in Lincolnshire, Illinois directed by Amanda Dehnert.

An initial striking character is Rose, played by Lucia Spina. She brings great energy and urgency right from the get-go that captures the audience's attention. Rose intensely rushes and pushes her children, Louise (Lauren Maria Medina) and June (Tori Heinlein), to fulfill bold theater dreams as a family. There are spirited performances at the beginning with Young Louise played by Elin Joy Seiler and Baby June played by Daryn Whitney Harrell.

The production takes an exhilarating turn at the song "Mr. Goldstone," when the family gains the connection to a powerful theater figure Mr. Goldstone played with an idiosyncratic charm by Sawyer Smith. The "Mr. Goldstone" number highlights the epic singing skills of Lucia Spina as Rose. All musical numbers have great choreography.

Another force in Act I is Tulsa, played by J'Kobe Wallace. The budding romance between Tulsa and June (Tori Heinlein) has a more carefree tenderness that is expressed in standout dance choreography. The more relaxed yet gleeful pacing of the number "All I Need Is the Girl" toward the end of Act I contrasts the relentlessness overdrive of the musical numbers starring Rose. This demonstrates the excellent quality of this production of 'Gypsy' that the pacing and sense of speed frequently varies, which makes it highly engaging for viewers.

Set design and lighting shines in Act II, where characters are constantly on tour in different areas. The stage set up demonstrates their changes in location in clear and innovative ways. The joy of many different locations, from Wichita, Kansas to New York City, adds to the charm of the Act II.

The production comes to a captivating emotional climax towards the end of Act II, powered by dialogue expertly directed by Amanda Dehnert. Dialogue between Rose, played by Lucia Spina, Herbie, played by Nathaniel Stampley, and Louise, played by Lauren Maria Medina, is extremely expressive. One of the core narratives of mother-daughter conflict and expectation is made widely resonant to all viewers by the amazing acting.

The themes of ambition, expectation, family, adventure, and joy are expressed in a thought-provoking and relevant way to all viewers.

'Gypsy' is scheduled to run Wednesdays at 1 pm and 7:30 pm, Thursdays at 7:30 pm, Fridays at 8 pm, Saturdays at 4 pm and 8 pm, and Sundays at 1 pm and 5 pm. To reserve tickets, call the Marriott Theatre Box Office at 847.634.0200 or go to tickets.marriotttheatre.com.

About Face Theatre announces plans for its 29th season. Dedicated to advancing LGBTQ+ equity through community building, education, and performance, About Face will present two regional premiere productions at The Den Theatre in Wicker Parker, as well as the return of its popular workshop reading series Re/Generation Studio and touring performances and workshops.

About Face's 2023-2024 season will begin in October with Re/Generation Studio, a free three-week reading workshop series charting the future of LGBTQ+ theatre. AFT first presented Re/Generation Studio in its 2022-2023 season and featured such plays as Roger Q. Mason's Lavender Men, Steven Strafford's The Model Congressman, and Derek Lee McPhatter's underdrown, among others. Plays and workshops in this season's Re/Generation Studio will be announced in August. The season will continue in 2024 with the Midwest premiere of The Brightest Thing in the World by Leah Nanako Winkler, directed by AFT Artistic Associate Keira Fromm. The Brightest Thing in the World charts the evolution of a lesbian couple's rom-com courtship through struggles with honesty and addiction. The season will conclude with the Midwest premiere of Lavender Men by Roger Q. Mason, directed by Lucky Stiff, starting in April 2024. In Lavender Men, contemporary gender non-conformist Taffeta plays post-mortem matchmaker to Abe Lincoln and his queer legal assistant Elmer Ellsworth, only to realize she is the one who needs real love healing. During the season, About Face will also offer customized touring workshops and performances throughout Chicagoland designed to increase a sense of belonging, invite brave dialogue, and move individuals and groups toward equity and action.

"We are at a fraught moment in history where it is vital that we continue elevating LGBTQ+ stories and amplifying queer voices," says AFT Artistic Director Megan Carney. "About Face's mission is all about advancing LGBTQ+ equity through community building, education, and performance. And this season features some truly unique stories that will bring audiences together and incite our imaginations in the ways that only great theatre can."

ABOUT FACE THEATRE'S 2023-2024 SEASON

The Brightest Thing in the World

Written by Leah Nanako Winkler

Directed by AFT Artistic Associate Keira Fromm

 

March 14 – April 13, 2024 | Press opening: Friday, March 22

Showtimes: Thurs & Fri @ 8:00pm, Sat @ 3:00pm & 8:00pm, Sun @ 3:00pm

All performances will take place at The Den Theatre, 1331 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago

Pay-what-you-can tickets ($5 – $35) on sale September 15, 2023, at The Den Theatre box office or About Face Theatre's website.

Charmingly free-spirited barista Lane is determined to win over her new regular, the reserved and intellectual Steph. Delightful romantic comedy ensues with poetry, homemade desserts, and sparks flying. But both women are carrying life-changing secrets involving addiction, past relationships, and family. What happens when the giddy romance wears off and Lane and Steph must do the work of building a lasting relationship out of honesty, compassion, and courage? The Brightest Thing in the World is a funny, heartfelt new play delving into the people we think we know and the people we know we love.

"I love Leah Nanako Winkler's use of language and the smart, messy, recognizable women at the center of the story," says director Keira Fromm. "She has created a play that manages to be both a funny queer rom-com and a devastating portrait of addiction and the ways we're all constantly in a state of recovery." The Brightest Thing in the World was commissioned by Yale Repertory Theatre in 2019, where it received its world premiere in 2022. About Face's production will be the play's Midwest premiere.

Lavender Men

Written by Roger Q. Mason

Directed by Lucky Stiff

May 9 – June 8, 2024 | Press opening: Friday, May 17

Showtimes: Thurs & Fri @ 8:00pm, Sat @ 3:00pm and 8:00pm, Sun @ 3:00pm

at The Den Theatre, 1331 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago

Pay-what-you-can tickets ($5 – $35) on sale September 15, 2023, at The Den Theatre box office or About Face Theatre's website.

Taffeta is a fat, multi-racial femme with a unique form of queer magic: she can conjure dead historical figures. In this energetic and surreal play, Taffeta invites audiences along as she summons none other than President Abraham Lincoln and his handsome young law clerk Elmer Ellsworth to her stage. Playing every other character in Abe and Elmer's gay narrative, Taffeta uses this fantasia to confront issues of visibility, race, and LGBTQ+ inclusion. But is any of this historically accurate? Sit down, honey, that's not what we're here for. Lavender Men is an embrace to every queer, fat person of color who has been ignored, neglected, or erased for unapologetically being themselves.

Lavender Men was first produced at Skyline Theatre in Los Angeles in 2022 with playwright Roger Q. Mason in the role of Taffeta. About Face Theatre introduced the play to audiences last season through our Re/Generation Studio workshop series, featuring playwright Roger Q. Mason and director Lucky Stiff. Audience reaction was so enthusiastic that About Face is now thrilled to present a full production of this new work in our 29th season.

"Lavender Men was born from my time living and studying in Chicago, almost 10 years ago," says playwright Roger Q. Mason. "The city's vibrant embrace of LGBTQIA+ life liberated me personally and artistically, and I emerged a proud plus-sized, queer, POC playwright in the American Theatre. About Face Theatre is a leader, locally and nationally, in queer storytelling, and I am honored to partner with them to bring Lavender Men home to its birthplace—Chicago."

Re/Generation Studio

An intergenerational workshop series building the future of queer theatre

Nov 30 – Dec 16, 2023

Individual workshop days & times TBD

at The Den Theatre, 1331 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago

All workshops are free and open to the public.

Re/Generation Studio is About Face Theatre's invitation to build the future of queer theatre together. This welcoming series of public workshops is shaped as a collective dreaming space for connecting with each other, learning about new plays, world-building, and exploring new production models. Each workshop will be grounded by staged readings of sections of new plays designed to invite conversation, collaboration, and creation in a shared space. Facilitators will offer key questions and considerations raised by the playwrights and directors and encourage participants to work together to brainstorm and develop creative solutions.

About Face premiered Re/Generation Studio in February 2023 as a vehicle for reconnecting, restoring, and recreating with audiences and artists after the pandemic. The overwhelming response from participants proved to us that these kinds of creative events are necessary to build and rebuild our communities. AFT is thrilled to be bringing the series back to continue engaging audiences and artists directly with up-and-coming new LGBTQ+ plays.

"Re/Generation Studio is all about taking the risk of coming together and sharing experiences," says co-curator Pen Wilder. "The perspective I gained through the workshops as an artist, a playwright, and a person were invaluable. Every great play was once a new play, and being there for so many different beginnings, middles, and ends is something really special. I'm thrilled to be involved and look forward to dreaming bigger this upcoming season."

Touring Workshops and Performances

About Face teaching artists offer fun and accessible workshops for groups throughout the year. In collaboration with schools, churches, workplaces, clubs, and community groups, these sessions can increase a sense of belonging, invite brave dialogue, and move groups toward equity and action goals. The company's facilitators work with group leaders to identify key goals and then present activities in mindfulness, listening, and storytelling. Interested parties can learn more at AboutFaceTheatre.com/education/touring-programs.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Keira Fromm (she/her)The Brightest Thing in the World director

Keira is a Chicago-based, Jeff Award-nominated director. She is also an Artistic Associate with About Face Theatre where she directed Bull in a China ShopSignificant OtherBright Half Life, and A Kid Like Jake. Other directing credits include: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (Milwaukee Chamber Theatre), The MoorsA Phoenix Too Frequent, and A Doll's House (American Players Theatre), The Last Match (Writers Theatre); At the Wedding and Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley (TheatreSquared); Top Girls and hang (Remy Bumppo); The Columnist (American Blues Theater); Charles Ives Take Me Home (Strawdog); The How and the Why (TimeLine Theatre); Broadsword (The Gift Theatre); and Fallow (Steep Theatre.) She received her MFA from DePaul University, her BFA from Boston University, is an alumna of Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab, and a member of SDC, the professional directors union. Keira will be directing The Liar at American Players Theatre this upcoming summer.www.keirafromm.com

Leah Nanako Winkler (she/her)The Brightest Thing in the World playwright

Leah Nanako Winkler is an award-winning playwright and TV Writer from Kamakura, Japan, and Lexington, Kentucky. Her plays include God Said ThisTwo Mile HollowKentuckyHot Asian Doctor Husband, and The Brightest Thing in the World, as well as many short plays all produced Off-Broadway and regionally. Accolades and fellowships: Yale Drama Series Prize, Mark O'Donnell Prize from The Actors Fund and Playwrights Horizons, Audible's Emerging Playwrights Fund, Jerome New York Fellow at the Lark, Francesca Primus Prize, and a 2020 Steinberg Playwright Award. She is published by American Theater Magazine, Nanjing University's Stage and Screen Reviews, Yale University Press, Backstage, Smith and Krauss, Samuel French, and Dramatists Play Service. TV credits include Michael Moore's TV NATIONNew Amsterdam, A24's Ramy on Hulu (where she along with the other writers won a Peabody Award), Love Life on HBO MAX, and currently on projects at Apple, Warner and Amazon.

Roger Q. Mason (they/them)Lavender Men playwright

Roger Q. Mason is a writer and performer who uses the lens of history to disrupt the biases that divide rather than unite us. Their playwriting has been seen on Broadway (Circle in the Square Reading Series); Off and Off-Off-Broadway; and regionally. Mason's world premiere of Lavender Men was lauded by the Los Angeles Times as "evoking the mingled visions of Suzan-Lori Parks, Jeremy O. Harris, and Michael R. Jackson." As a filmmaker, Mason has been recognized by the British Film Institute, Lonely Wolf International Film Festival, SCAD Film Festival, AT&T Film Award, and Atlanta International Film Festival. Their films have been screened in the US, UK, Poland, Brazil, and Asia. Mason holds degrees from Princeton University, Middlebury College, and Northwestern University. They are a member of the Dramatists Guild of America and Ma-Yi's Writing Lab, and are an alum of Page 73's Interstate 73 Writers Group and Primary Stages Writing Cohort. Mason has co-hosted the podcast Sister Roger's Gayborhood and hosted This Way Out Radio's Queerly Yours: Portraits in Courage. They are a lead mentor of The Marsha P. Johnson Institute's Starship Fellowship, the New Visions Fellowship, and the Shay Foundation Fellowship. Instagram: @rogerq.mason

Lucky Stiff (they/them)Lavender Men director

Lucky Stiff is a trans and nonbinary director, writer, and performer working in Chicago and New York. They build original experiences that combine nightclub culture and performance art which have been featured at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Blue Man Group Chicago, Boy Friday Dance Company, and Bushwig Festival of Drag, among many others. They hold an MFA in Directing for Theater from Northwestern University and have lectured in performance and directing at UC Santa Cruz, UC Santa Barbara, Northwestern University, University of Illinois at Chicago, and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.luckystiffdrag.com

Pen Wilder (they/them): Re/Generation Studio co-creator

Pen is a playwright, aspiring dramaturg, and artist with a focus in queer storytelling. They contribute to various literary publications and have been seen in journals such as Mulberry Literary and the ChillFiltr Review. In their free time, they also can be seen performing as part of indie rock group Cowboy Neal. Their play Switch Hitta was featured in last season's Re/Generation Studio, and they are currently working on their next full-length play, Earthshine.

Megan Carney (she/her): AFT Artistic Director, Re/Generation Studio co-curator

Megan's work thrives at the intersection of making theatre and building community. As the Artistic Director for About Face Theatre she combines her love for directing, producing, and teaching. Prior to working with About Face in this role, Megan served as the Director of the Gender and Sexuality Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago and was one of the founders of About Face Youth Theatre. She is a certified mediator with the Center for Conflict Resolution, earned an MFA in Theatre with a focus on Directing and Public Dialogue from Virginia Tech, and a BA from Kalamazoo College, where her ideas about art and activism began to take shape. Recent Chicago directing credits include The Gulf20/20, and Time Is On Our Side (About Face), WinterGrizzly Mama, Danielle Pinnock's Body/CourageAmerican Wee Pie, and The Walls (Rivendell). Plays based on extended oral history projects including Women At War (Rivendell); Open Systems (Goodman Theatre); and Let Them Eat Cake (Dixon Place, NYC). Megan designed and teaches a Queer Theatre class for Columbia College Chicago and has been an adjunct instructor at DePaul University. Her work has been recognized with multiple After Dark Awards, the GLSEN Pathfinder Award, an APA Presidential Citation, induction into Chicago's LGBT Hall of Fame, and a Rockefeller Foundation MAP Grant, among others.

Logan Jones (he/him): AFT Managing Director

Logan is a Chicago-based artist, administrator, and consultant. He has frequently collaborated with multiple theatre companies while utilizing his artistic and technical skills, organizational capabilities, and highly-collaborative working style. Logan has worked with Ensemble Consulting as Facilitator and Project Manager on various leadership transitions and organizational development projects since 2015. As a stage manager and production manager, he has helmed multiple productions for About Face Theatre, American Theater Company, The House Theatre of Chicago, Windy City Playhouse, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, 13Exp, and the American Music Theatre Project, among others. Logan holds a BA in Theatre and BA in Modern Languages from Kansas State University, a certificate in Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in the Workplace from University of South Florida, and is a graduate of the Axelson Center Bootcamp for Nonprofit CEOs at North Park University.

ABOUT FACE THEATRE advances LGBTQ+ equity through community building, education, and performance. Learn more at aboutfacetheatre.com

Founded in 1999, Congo Square Theatre Company (Congo Square), one of the nation's premier African American ensemble theater companies, celebrates its 25th Anniversary in 2023-2024 with a powerful theatrical season honoring the myriad experiences that make up Black culture. Anchored by two live performances, the season begins with the Rolling World Premiere of Inda Craig-Galván's dark comedy about housing inequality in a Chicago suburb, WELCOME TO MATTESON!, and closes with the Chicago Premiere of August Wilson's autobiographical one-man show, How I Learned What I Learned, starring Chicago's own Harry Lennix. Congo Square's popular digital shows continue with the third and final season of the old-fashioned radio melodrama, The Clinic, and the fourth season of the hit online sketch comedy show, The Blackside. Congo Square will officially celebrate its milestone anniversary with a bigger-than-ever 25th Anniversary Homecoming celebration and its annual free Festival on the Square.

 

This season, Congo Square continues its Radical Generosity model for live performances in which, partnering with community organizations throughout the city, up to half of all tickets for each performance are donated or heavily discounted to traditionally underserved groups. To learn more about discounted community partner tickets, or to become a sponsor, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

"We are thrilled to be celebrating our 25th Anniversary with a diverse season that is packed with talent," said Congo Square Artistic Director Ericka Ratcliff. "At Congo Square, we are focused on three things: radical generosity, radical community, and radical expansion. As we've done since 1999, we will continue to uplift, support, and expand our community of artists and audience members through innovation and collaboration this season and for the next 25 years."

"We are also looking back at our roots this season," added Congo Square Executive Director Charlique C. Rolle"August Wilson was not only one of America's most beloved playwrights, he was also one of Congo Square's earliest supporters and mentors. We are proud to honor this impactful early relationship in Congo's history with a production of Wilson's memory play, How I Learned What I Learned, starring Congo Square Board member, the great Harry Lennix. The play will be produced in association with the Goodman Theatre, the first theater in the country to have produced every play in Wilson's American Century cycle. As we look back, we also look forward to Congo Square's future as we continue to build meaningful relationships with the best Black theater-makers in Chicago and the world."

2023-24 Programming in chronological order

The Clinic: Season Three

September 1 – October 6, 2023

Audio series

Congo Square's audio series returns for a third and final season starting September 1 with new episodes dropping weekly until the dramatic series finale on October 6.  In the old-school radio melodrama, The Clinic, Dr. Latisha Bradley's discovery will revolutionize the medical field, but her enemies will stop at nothing to keep things the way they are. Episodes will be released at congosquaretheatre.org/the-clinic. Seasons one and two are available for streaming now.

Rolling World Premiere: WELCOME TO MATTESON!

September 10 – October 1, 2023 (opening night September 29)

Northwestern University Chicago Campus Abbott Hall Wirtz Theatre, 710 N DuSable Lake Shore Dr.

 

A dark comedy by Inda Craig-GalvánWELCOME TO MATTESON! follows two Black couples over the course of a dinner party; one couple has lived in the Chicago suburb of Matteson for years, the other has just moved in after being forcibly relocated from the Cabrini-Green housing projects. A uniquely Chicago story, the play explores universal themes of gentrification, housing justice, and inter-class relationships. Directed by Congo Square Theatre Artistic Director Ericka Ratcliff, the play features Congo Square Ensemble Members Ronald L. Conner,  Anthony L. Irons, and  Alexis J. Roston. Congo Square's production of WELCOME TO MATTESON! is part of the National New Play Network's Rolling World Premiere program in which a new play will be premiered by multiple companies over an 18-month period allowing the playwright to collaborate and make adjustments while working with unique perspectives from each company. WELCOME TO MATTESON! will receive its World Premiere at New Jersey Repertory Company, Long Branch, New Jersey (SuzAnne Barabas, Artistic Director; Gabor Barabas, Executive Producer).  Tickets for WELCOME TO MATTESON! will go on sale August 1, 2023. General admission tickets are $45 and Radical Generosity tickets are $75 - covering the cost of a single ticket and sponsoring a second community member ticket. For tickets, visit congosquaretheatre.org

Pearl Cleage Festival: Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly Gorgeous

October 8, 2023

Location to be announced

The Pearl Cleage Festival is a citywide celebration honoring the work of Atlanta's Poet Laureate, revered poet, activist, playwright, mentor, and educator Pearl Cleage. Festival events will take place across the city in September and October during the run of Cleage's Nacirema Society at the Goodman Theatre. In addition to Congo Square, other participating companies include Black Ensemble Theater, Definition Theatre, ETA Creative Arts Foundation, Ma'at Production Association of Afrikan Centered Theatre (MPAACT), and Remy Bumppo Theatre Company. Congo Square's contribution to the festival is a reading of Cleage's 2019 comedy Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly GorgeousIn Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly Gorgeous, two Black women performers from two different generations must confront assumptions about each other and themselves in time for opening night.

The Blackside: Season Four

October 13 – December 9, 2023

Digital video series

Congo Square's popular online sketch comedy series, The Blackside (formerly Hit 'em on the Blackside), returns for a fourth season this fall. Audiences can expect more of the witty, pitch-perfect, and timely humor that made sketches from the first three seasons like "Black History Game Show" and "Black Survivalist" so funny and poignant.  Episodes will be released weekly on Congo Square Theatre's website, social media, and YouTube channel starting October 13 with the final episode airing on December 9. The first three seasons of The Blackside are available on Congo Square's YouTube channel.

 

Chicago Premiere: How I Learned What I Learned

Spring 2024

Location to be announced

August Wilson's autobiographical play, How I Learned What I Learned, follows Wilson's journey as a young Black writer from Pittsburgh to one of the most celebrated American playwrights of the 20th century. Written three years before his death, the one-man show recounts numerous stories from the author's long career and the lessons they taught about what it means to be a Black artist in America. Congo Square Board Member, and star of stage and screen, Harry Lennix will perform the play. Most recently, Lennix has been seen as Harold Cooper on NBC's acclaimed series Blacklist, and as General Swanwick/Martian Manhunter in numerous films and TV shows in the DC Extended Universe.  How I Learned What I Learned is produced in association with the Goodman Theatre and runs concurrently with Goodman's production of August Wilson's Joe Turner's Come and Gone.

25th Anniversary Homecoming

June 21, 2024

Location to be announced

Congo Square's annual Homecoming benefit is the not-to-be-missed party of the season. In celebration of 25 years of unapologetic Black theater-making, the 2024 Homecoming benefit promises to be even bigger, Blacker, and more bodacious than ever before. Featuring food and drink, live entertainment, and one of the biggest gatherings of Chicago's Black theater artists, the evening will also include an awards ceremony honoring three artists who've impacted Chicago's theater scene.

Festival on the Square

June 2024

Various locations to be announced

Congo Square's annual Festival on the Square honors the original Congo Square marketplace in New Orleans, where people of color have built community through music, dance, art, and commerce for centuries. These FREE events feature elevated play readings – including readings from plays by the outgoing and incoming Next Up Fellows – performed in community hubs across the city.

Congo Square Industry Training Institute

Congo Square's ensemble-led Congo Square Industry Training Institute (CITI) workshops are affordable classes designed for working and aspiring artists to enhance their knowledge of the industry as well as their acting skills. Upcoming courses include Self-Tape for the Working Actor with Tracey N. BonnerMy Big Break: Breaking into the Industry with Javon JohnsonHow to Write for TV/Film with Javon Johnson; Secure the Bag: Grant Writing for Individual Artists with Ann J. DouglasClassical Interpretation with Allen Gilmore and Classical (Re)interpretation with Al Goldfarb. Each four-week workshop is $50.00 for the general public, and free for currently enrolled high school, college, or graduate school students.

 

About Congo Square Theatre Company

Congo Square Theatre Company is an ensemble dedicated to producing transformative work rooted in the African Diaspora. Congo Square is a haven for artists of color to challenge and redefine the theatrical canon by amplifying and creating stories that reflect the reach and complexities of Black Culture and is one of only two African American Actors' Equity theater companies in Chicago. Founded in 1999 with a mission to provide a platform for Black artists to present work that exemplified the majesty, diversity, and intersectionality of stories from the African Diaspora, Congo Square's guiding principles are radical generosity, radical community, and radical expansion.

Congo Square has risen to become one of the most well-respected African American theaters in the nation. Previously mentored by two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson, Congo Square's August Wilson New Play Initiative has cultivated talents such as playwright Chadwick Boseman (Marvel Studio's Black Panther), who penned the 2006 Jeff nominated play Deep AzureLisa Langford who's play How Blood Go was premiered by Congo Square in 2023, and playwright Lydia Diamond, who penned the massively successful Stick Fly, a critically acclaimed play that explores race, class, and familial friction. Stick Fly ultimately ran on Broadway and is currently being developed into a full-length series for HBO with Alicia Keys serving as a producer. Congo Square also produced the widely praised Seven Guitars, which won top honors for best ensemble, best direction, and best production at the 2005 Joseph Jefferson Awards. This would earn the theater company the distinction of being the first African American theater company to receive such an honor.

Congo Square's Samuel G. Roberson Next Up Fellowship celebrates young playwrights by providing resources for college and high school aged students to enhance their writing and identity as a playwright. Each selected fellow not only has their ten-minute play workshopped into a full-length play with Congo Square, but they also receive a yearlong writing mentorship with founding ensemble member and playwright, Aaron Todd Douglas. The 2023-24 Fellow is Maria D. Smith. Outgoing 2022-23 Next Up Fellows are Helaina Coggs and Bair Warburton-Brown.

Congo Square's Community Engagement and Education programs bring the impact of theater to young audiences. Its outreach programs, CORE (Curriculum Objectives Residency Enrichment), and CAST (Congo After School Theater), present and teach theater arts by providing classroom and after-school residencies that provide Teaching Artists to build upon already established Chicago Public Schools literature and art curriculums. CORE and CAST impact students, schools, and community organizations located on the South and West sides of Chicago.

About Goodman Theatre

Chicago's theater since 1925, Goodman Theatre (Artistic Director Susan V. Booth and Executive Director/CEO Roche Schulfer) is a not-for-profit arts and community organization in the heart of the Loop, distinguished by the excellence and scope of its artistic programming and community engagement. The theater's artistic priorities include new play development (more than 150 world or American premieres), large scale musical theater works and reimagined classics. Artists and productions have earned two Pulitzer Prizes, 22 Tony Awards and more than 160 Jeff Awards, among other accolades. Its longtime annual holiday tradition A Christmas Carol, now in its fifth decade, has created a new generation of theatergoers in Chicago. The Goodman also frequently serves as a production and program partner with national and international companies and Chicago's Off-Loop theaters. Using the tools of the theatrical profession, the Goodman's Education and Engagement programs aim to develop generations of citizens who understand the cultures and stories of diverse voices.

For more information on Congo Square's 2023-24 Season, visit www.congosquaretheatre.org.

Buffalo Theatre Ensemble (BTE), the professional Equity theater company in residence at the McAninch Arts Center (MAC), announced its 2023-2024 three-play season today. The season will open with “Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley” by Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon, directed by BTE Associate Artistic Director Amelia Barrett (Nov. 16 - Dec. 17). It will be followed by Bruce Graham’s “The Outgoing Tide” directed by guest director Steve Scott (Feb. 1 - March 3). The world premiere of Brian Watkins’ Into the Earth with You” by Brian Watkins, directed by BTE Member Kurt Naebig completes the season (May 2 - June 2).

BTE Managing Artistic Director Connie Canaday Howard remarked, “At BTE we understand the important cathartic experience live theater offers. It provides the chance to be part of an event that is special as it is ephemeral, offering a way to step out of our world for a couple of hours to gain new perspectives on what it means to be human and recharge our spirit. Each play has been chosen with that in mind while also offering BTE a chance to grow. We thank everyone who will be joining us on this new season adventure.”

BTE’s 2023-2024 three-play season includes the following:

“Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley”
By Lauren Gunderson & Margot Melcon
Directed by Amelia Barrett+*
Nov. 16 - Dec. 17
Preview: Thursday, Nov. 16
Performances: 8 p.m. Thursday - Saturday
and 3 p.m. Sunday
(No performance Thanksgiving Nov. 23. Two performances Saturday Nov. 25 at 3 & 8 p.m.)
Tickets: $44

In this charming “sequel” to “Pride and Prejudice,” Mary Bennet, the bookish, unmarried middle sister yearns for more in life when an expected guest joins the Christmas festivities at Pemberley. The Chicago Tribune hails “Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley” as “unstuffy, highly entertaining and warm-spirited work, the kind of thing multiple generations can enjoy together;” and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel calls it, “a smart and moving comedy for women and the people who love them."

There will be a free pre-show discussion Thursday, Nov. 16 and a post-show discussion Friday, Nov. 24.

“The Outgoing Tide”
By Bruce Graham
Directed by Steve Scott
Feb. 1 - March 3
Preview: Thursday, Feb. 1
Performances: 8 p.m. Thursday - Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday
Tickets: $44

Set on the bank of Chesapeake Bay, Gunner has created a plan to safeguard his family’s future, surprising his wife and son, who have other plans. Weaving both humor and powerful emotion, this highly relatable story poses thoughtful questions about personal choice, and what it means to truly love someone. The Chicago Tribune says, “Graham zeroes in on recognizable truths;” and The New York Times says, “Its poignant conclusion will have resonance for many in the audience.”

There will be a free pre-show discussion Thursday, Feb. 1 and a post-show discussion Friday, Feb. 8.

“Into the Earth with You” – WORLD PREMIERE
By Brian Watkins
Directed by Kurt Naebig+*
May 2 - June 2
Preview: Thursday, May 2
Performances: 8 p.m. Thursday - Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday
Tickets: $44

Granddad is gone. No elegies. No dirges. But his three granddaughters cannot forget what is buried.When an impossible discovery upends their notions of loss, it has them asking, “who among us has been digging?” This new play, penned by the creator of the Amazon Studios’ television series “Outer Range,” was a 2016 O’Neill Finalist.

There will be a free pre-show discussion Thursday, May 2 and a post-show discussion Friday, May 10.

Tickets

BTE’s 2023-2024 Season performances will take place in the Playhouse Theatre of the McAninch Arts Center located at 425 Fawell Blvd. on the campus of College of DuPage. Subscriptions are now on sale. Those subscribing by May 31 save 25% off single show ticket prices. Subscribers after that date receive 20% off single show ticket prices. A Season Flex-Pass is also available redeemable for each production during BTE’s 2023-2024 Season. Subscriber benefits include free ticket exchanges, invitations to subscriber nights, a subscription to the SuBTExt newsletter, free subscription to West Suburban Living, 10% discount at the MAC Gift Shop and two complimentary tickets to a COD student performance. Single show tickets go on sale July 27.

About Buffalo Theatre Ensemble  

The mission of Buffalo Theatre Ensemble is to provide a forum in which artists, scholars, writers, students and community members explore new ideas and provocative issues through the production of quality theater for the enjoyment of its audiences. Since 1986 BTE has staged more than 120 productions.  

The Ensemble members are Aly Renee Amidei, Robert Jordan Bailey*, Amelia Barrett* (Associate Artistic Director), Bryan Burke* (Business Manager), Robyn Coffin, Rebecca Cox, Lisa Dawn, Nick DuFloth, Jon Gantt, Connie Canaday Howard* (Managing Artistic Director), Christopher Kriz^, Laura Leonardo Ownby, Michael W. Moon, Kurt Naebig*, Galen G. Ramsey*, William “Sandy” Smillie, Kelli Walker and Norm Woodel. For more information about BTE, visit btechicago.com.

*Denotes member of Actors’ Equity; +Denotes member of Buffalo Theatre Ensemble; ^Denotes member of United Scenic Artists

Buffalo Theatre Ensemble is partially supported and funded by generous grants from Arts DuPage, Choose DuPage, College of DuPage Foundation, The Norm Woodel Inspiration Fund, the DuPage Foundation, Benevity, Illinois Arts Council Agency and the generous support of the College of DuPage Trustees and the McAninch Arts Center Staff.

BTE’s 2023-2024 Season is dedicated to the memory of BTE friends Loretta Hauser and Michael J. McCoy, with deep appreciation.

About The MAC

McAninch Arts Center at College of DuPage is located 25 miles west of Chicago near I-88 and I-355. It houses three indoor performance spaces (the 780-seat proscenium Belushi Performance Hall; the 186-seat soft-thrust Playhouse Theatre; and the versatile black box Studio Theatre), the outdoor Lakeside Pavilion, plus the Cleve Carney Museum of Art and classrooms for the college’s academic programming. The MAC has presented theater, music, dance and visual art to more than 1.5 million people since its opening in 1986 and typically welcomes more than 100,000 patrons from the greater Chicago area to more than 230 performances each season. For more information visit AtTheMAC.org.

City Lit Producer and Artistic Director Terry McCabe announced today that the theatre’s 2023-2024 season—its forty-third—will be his last on its staff.  He has been City Lit’s artistic director since February 2005 and its producer since July 2016.  He will retire at the end of June 2024 following the close of both the season and the theatre’s fiscal year.
 
His final season at City Lit will comprise three world premieres—a play, a literary adaptation, and a short musical—as well as the Chicago premiere of a play by its resident playwright and the first local full production in over seventy years of a modern classic. “I love working at City Lit, and I am jazzed about the new season” McCabe said, “but I look forward to being home for dinner every night.”  An announcement concerning McCabe’s successor will be made soon.

City Lit’s forty-third season will open with the world premiere of The Innocence of Seduction by Chicago playwright Mark Pracht, the second play in his projected “Four-Color Trilogy” of plays set during the early years of the comic book industry.  The first play in the trilogy, The Mark of Kane, opened City Lit’s forty-second season.  The Innocence of Seduction examines the 1950s Congressional investigation into the supposed link between comic books and juvenile delinquency, and the effect of the investigation on the careers of three persons:  William Gaines, the originator of the horror genre of comic books; Matt Baker, a Black closeted gay artist of romance comics; and Janice Valleau, creator of a pioneering comics feature starring a woman detective.  Pracht will direct.  The Innocence of Seduction will run from August 25 through October 8, 2023.  Press opening will be September 3, 2023.
 
The season’s second production will be a world premiere stage adaptation of the noir novel The Night of the Hunter by Davis Grubb, adapted by Chicago adaptor Shawna Tucker. Inspired by the crimes of West Virginia serial killer Harry Powers, who was executed in Grubb’s hometown in 1932 for the murders of two widows and three children, The Night of the Hunter is about Henry “Preacher” Powell, who has LOVE tattooed on the knuckles of his right hand and HATE on those of his left, and preys on widows in Depression-era West Virginia.  Having killed Willa Harper, he zeroes in on her two children, John and Pearl, who he is convinced know where their late father has hidden ten thousand dollars.  City Lit’s resident director, Brian Pastor, will direct.  The Night of the Hunter will run from October 20 through December 3, 2023.  Press opening will be October 29, 2023.
 
The third production of the season will be Two Nights in a Bar, a double bill of one-acts comprising the Chicago stage premiere of Waiting for Tina Meyer by Kristine Thatcher (with material by Larry Shue) and the world premiere of Text Me, a musical written and composed by Kingsley Day.  Waiting for Tina Meyer is the only collaboration between Thatcher, City Lit's resident playwright, and Shue, the late playwright of the farces The Nerd and The Foreigner.  Written while they were best friends and resident actors at Milwaukee Repertory Theater in the 1980s, it concerns a pair of best-friend actors--a man and a woman--sitting in a bar because the man is expecting to be met there by Tina Meyer, a woman he doesn't know who sent him a note backstage earlier that evening.  Day's musical, Text Me, commissioned by City Lit as a companion piece to Thatcher and Shue's play, is a 21st Century look at the problem of meeting people.  In this version of the bar, a group of people come to try to make connections--on their phones.  Fittingly for our fractured times, all the songs in the show are solos.  McCabe will direct both pieces.  Two Nights in a Bar will run from March 8 through April 21, 2024.  Press opening will be March 17, 2024.
 
The season will close with the first full production in Chicago since the early 1950s (though there have been concert readings from time to time) of Murder in the Cathedral by T.S. Eliot, author of Cats and a series of letters to Groucho Marx, among other works.  The play dramatizes the martyrdom of Archbishop Thomas Becket at the hands of knights loyal to Henry II in 1170.  Eliot wrote it on commission to be performed in the sanctuary at Canterbury Cathedral, the room where Becket was murdered; his depiction of the killing draws from the eye-witness account of Edward Grim, a monk who was wounded trying to protect the Archbishop.  City Lit’s production will be staged in the sanctuary of Edgewater Presbyterian Church, the building in which City Lit resides.  McCabe will direct.  Murder in the Cathedral will run from May 3 through June 16, 2024.  
 
City Lit Season 43 subscriptions are available at $99.00, good for all performances, or $77.00 for preview performances. Subscriptions may be ordered online at www.citylit.org or purchased over the phone by calling 773-293-3682. Single tickets for the Season 43 are priced at $30 for previews and $34 for regular performances and will be on sale soon. Senior prices are $25 for previews and $29 for regular performances. Students and military are $12.00 for all performances.
 
McCABE BIO
 
Terry McCabe has worked in Chicago theatre since 1980, when he assisted director Michael Maggio on a production of Moss Hart’s Light Up the Sky at Northlight, at the time called North Light Repertory Theatre.  He joined the staff at the Body Politic Theatre in 1981 as assistant to artistic director James O’Reilly; two years later he used the money he made there to found Stormfield Theatre Company.  Stormfield specialized in new plays by Chicago writers.  Of its thirteen productions, eleven were world premieres, including the first three plays by future Tony-winning playwright and Oscar-nominated screenwriter John Logan.  Stormfield’s production of Logan’s Hauptmann was the first Chicago theatre production to play by invitation at the Edinburgh International Arts Festival, where it won a Fringe First award.  When McCabe closed Stormfield in 1988, it had just won its second consecutive non-Equity Jeff for Best Production and was entirely debt-free.
 
From then until 2005, McCabe directed around Chicago on a free-lance basis at many theatres, including Victory Gardens Theater (where he forged a professional relationship with playwright Kristine Thatcher, now City Lit’s resident playwright, and from where his revival of Hauptmann transferred to off-Broadway), Court Theatre, National Jewish Theater, Body Politic (where he directed the Off-Loop movement’s first King Lear, with his former employer O’Reilly in the lead), Next Theatre, and Oak Park Festival Theatre.  Among the many great Chicago actors he was privileged to work with during this period were William J. Norris, Barbara Robertson, Tom Mula, Thatcher, Nicholas Rudall, Stormfield alums Ann Whitney and Denis O’Hare, Linda Emond, Roger Mueller, Pauline Brailsford, Ernest Perry Jr, Alexandra Billings, and Gary Houston.  He was also resident director at Wisdom Bridge Theatre for four years in the early 1990s, where he directed Hollis Resnik and Steve Carell in the world premiere of Tour de Farce, a comedy by Kingsley Day and Philip LaZebnik (creators of City Lit’s current show, the world premiere musical Aztec Human Sacrifice) that has since been produced across the country and in several European cities, and the Chicago premiere production of My Children! My Africa! by Athol Fugard, which transferred to Vienna’s English Theatre, thereby becoming the play’s Austrian premiere as well.
 
When he became City Lit’s artistic director in 2005, midway through its Season 25, it was a part-time theatre, dark for more than six months of each year.  The board at the time had considered closing up shop altogether.  Instead, they hired McCabe, who expanded the season and added ancillary programming (including the anti-censorship outreach program Books on the Chopping Block, now in its eighteenth year); to date he has either directed or overseen seventy-five City Lit productions, most of them world premieres of either plays or literary adaptations.  Among these premieres have been Frank Galati’s adaptation of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Thatcher’s plays The Safe House and The Bloodhound Law (part of City Lit’s five-year commemoration of the Civil War Sesquicentennial), Paul Edwards’s adaptations of Peyton Place and a trio of Shirley Jackson novels, L.C. Bernadine and Spencer Huffman’s adaptation of the cowboy novel The Virginian, Mark Pracht’s The Mark of Kane, the first in his trilogy of plays about the history of the comic book industry, Nicholas Rudall’s final translation of a Greek tragedy, Prometheus Bound, McCabe and Marissa McKown’s adaptation of surfing culture’s founding document, the novel Gidget, Douglas Post’s plays Somebody Foreign and Thirty-Two Stories, and a handful of Sherlock Holmes adaptations by McCabe. 
 
Mixed in with the world premieres have been revivals equally eclectic:  Thatcher’s Voice of Good Hope, about pioneering Black congresswoman Barbara Jordan; the first Chicago production in 120 years of Dion Boucicault’s London Assurance; Post’s musical adaptation of The Wind in the WillowsDashiell Hamlet, a film noir/Shakespeare mashup from 1980s Chicago, co-written (and directed at City Lit) by Mike Nussbaum; Oh Boy!, an almost forgotten Jerome Kern musical from 1917; Lope de Vega’s Fuente Ovejuna, from the Golden Age of Spanish drama; and Harold Pinter’s Old Times and The Birthday Party, among many others.  Since 2016 he has also served as City Lit’s producer.
 
ABOUT CITY LIT THEATER COMPANY:
 
City Lit is the seventh oldest theatre company in Chicago, behind only Goodman, Court, Northlight, Oak Park Festival, Steppenwolf, and Pegasus theatres.  It was founded in 1979 with $210 pooled by Arnold Aprill, David Dillon, and Lorell Wyatt.  For its current season, its 42nd, it operates with a budget slightly over $260,000.  It was the first theatre in the nation devoted to stage adaptations of literary material.  There were so few theatres in Chicago at the time of its founding that at City Lit’s launch event, the founders were able to read a congratulatory letter they had received from Tennessee Williams.
 
For four decades and counting, City Lit has explored fiction, non-fiction, poetry, memoirs, songs, essays and drama in performance.  A theatre that specializes in literary work communicates a commitment to certain civilizing influences—tradition imaginatively explored, a life of the mind, trust in an audience’s intelligence—that not every cultural outlet shares.
City Lit is located in the historic Edgewater Presbyterian Church building at 1020 West Bryn Mawr Avenue. Its work is supported in part by the MacArthur Funds for Arts and Culture at the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, the Ivanhoe Theater Foundation, the Illinois Arts Council Agency and is sponsored in part by A.R.T. League.  An Illinois not-for-profit corporation and a 501(c)(3) federal tax-exempt organization, City Lit keeps ticket prices below the actual cost of producing plays and depends on the support of those who share its belief in the beauty and power of the spoken written word.
 
LISTING INFORMATION
 

CITY LIT THEATER'S 2023-2024 SEASON:
 

The Innocence of Seduction

by Mark Pracht
WORLD PREMIERE
Directed by Mark Pracht
August 25- October 8, 2023
Previews August 25- September 2, 2023
Preview ticket prices $30.00, seniors $25.00, students and military $12.00 (all plus applicable fees)
 
Regular run Sunday, September 3 – October 8, 2023
Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm; Sundays at 3 pm; Mondays Sept 25 and Oct 2 at 7:30 pm.
Regular run ticket prices $34.00, seniors $29.00, students and military $12 (all plus applicable fees)
Performances at City Lit Theater, 1020 W. Bryn Mawr Ave. Chicago 60660
Info and tickets at www.citylit.org and by phone at 773-293-3682.
The second play in Mark Pracht’s projected “Four-Color Trilogy” of plays set during the early years of the comic book industry, The Innocence of Seduction examines the 1950s Congressional investigation into the supposed link between comic books and juvenile delinquency, and the effect of the investigation on the careers of three persons:  William Gaines, the originator of the horror genre of comic books; Matt Baker, a Black closeted gay artist of romance comics; and Janice Valleau, creator of a pioneering comics feature starring a woman detective. 
 
The Night of the Hunter
by David Grubb
WORLD PREMIERE ADAPTATION
Adapted by Shawna Tucker
directed by Brian Pastor
 
October 20 - December 3, 2023
Previews October 20 -  28, 2023            
Preview ticket prices $30.00, seniors $25.00, students and military $12.00 (all plus applicable fees)
 
Regular run October 29 – December 3, 2023
Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm, Sundays at 3 pm,. Mondays November 20 and 27 at 7:30 pm.
Regular run ticket prices $34.00, seniors $29.00, students and military $12 (all plus applicable fees)
Performances at City Lit Theater, 1020 W. Bryn Mawr Ave. Chicago 60660
Info and tickets at www.citylit.org and by phone at 773-293-3682.
 
A world premiere stage adaptation of the noir novel The Night of the Hunter by Davis Grubb. Inspired by the crimes of West Virginia serial killer Harry Powers, who was executed in Grubb’s hometown in 1932 for the murders of two widows and three children, The Night of the Hunter is about Henry “Preacher” Powell, who has LOVE tattooed on the knuckles of his right hand and HATE on those of his left, and preys on widows in Depression-era West Virginia. 
 
Two Nights in a Bar
A double bill of one-acts:

Waiting for Tina Meyer 
by Kristine Thatcher (with material by Larry Shue)
CHICAGO PREMIERE
           
Text Me   Music, Lyrics, and Book by Kingsley Day
 WORLD PREMIERE
Directed by Terry McCabe
 
March 8 - April 21, 2024
(No performance Easter Sunday, March 31)
Previews March 8 -16, 2024
Preview ticket prices $30.00, seniors $25.00, students and military $12.00 (all plus applicable fees)
 
Regular run March 17– April 21, 2024
Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm, Sundays at 3 pm. Mondays April 1, 8, 15 at 7:30 pm
No performance Easter Sunday, March 31
Regular run ticket prices $34.00, seniors $29.00, students and military $12 (all plus applicable fees)
Performances at City Lit Theater, 1020 W. Bryn Mawr Ave. Chicago 60660 (Inside Edgewater Presbyterian Church)
Info and tickets at www.citylit.org and by phone at 773-293-3682.
 
A double bill of one-acts. Waiting for Tina Meyer concerns a pair of best-friend actors--a man and a woman--sitting in a bar because the man is expecting to be met there by Tina Meyer, a woman he doesn't know who sent him a note backstage earlier that evening.  The musical Text Me is a 21st Century look at the problem of meeting people.  In this version of the bar, a group of people come to try to make connections--on their phones. 
 
Murder in the Cathedral 
by T.S. Eliot
directed by Terry McCabe
 
May 3 - June 16, 2024
Previews May 3 – May 11, 2024
Preview ticket prices $30.00, seniors $25.00, students and military $12.00 (all plus applicable fees)
 
Regular run May 12 - June 16, 2024
Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm. Sundays at 3 pm.  Mondays June 3 and 10 at 7:30 pm.
Regular run ticket prices $34.00, seniors $29.00, students and military $12 (all plus applicable fees)
Performances at City Lit Theater, 1020 W. Bryn Mawr Ave. Chicago 60660
Info and tickets at www.citylit.org and by phone at 773-293-3682.
 
Murder in the Cathedral dramatizes the martyrdom of Archbishop Thomas Becket at the hands of knights loyal to Henry II in 1170.  Eliot wrote it on commission to be performed in the sanctuary at Canterbury Cathedral, the room where Becket was murdered; his depiction of the killing draws from the eye-witness account of Edward Grim, a monk who was wounded trying to protect the Archbishop.  City Lit’s production will be staged in the sanctuary of Edgewater Presbyterian Church

Monday, 15 May 2023 12:17

A Red Orchid announces 2023-24 season

A Red Orchid Theatre announces its 31st Season, to include the world premiere of Revolution by Ensemble Member Brett Neveu (September 16-October 29), the Chicago premiere of In Quietness by Anna Ouyang Moench (January 11-March 3) and the world premiere of Turret by Ensemble Member Levi Holloway (April 25-June 15), whose play Grey House, which premiered at A Red Orchid Theatre in 2019, is currently playing on Broadway. Additionally, the theater welcomes new Ensemble Members Esteban Andres Cruz, Sherman Edwards, and John Judd, and Resident Stage Manager Kathleen Dickinson.

 

Subscriptions to the 31st Season are on sale now and can be purchased by calling the box office at 312-943-8722 or visiting www.aredorchidtheatre.org.

Artistic Director Kirsten Fitzgerald shares, “I am honored and grateful to see A Red Orchid continuing our artistic growth with three new Ensemble Members, a resident Stage Manager, and three premiere productions for Season 31. Each of these individuals brings new perspectives, passions, and artistic anomalies to our ongoing collaborations. In the 2023-24 Season, we bring you a series of physical, emotional, and spiritual collisions. With two world premieres and a Chicago premiere, we will dig into family, friendship, and faith; challenging and celebrating our humanity in wildly unexpected fashion.”

About Red Orchid Theatre’s New Ensemble Members:

Esteban Andres Cruz was most recently on stage at A Red Orchid in Last Hermanos. They were born in Berwyn and raised in Cicero, IL and are thrilled to be joining this esteemed ensemble. Chicago theater: Steppenwolf, Writers' Theater, Victory Gardens, Factory Theater, 16th Street, Lyric Opera (as Puck), and many others. West Coast: Pasadena Playhouse, Celebration Theater, Cygnet Theater and Sacred Fools. Regionally: T.A.T.C., Peninsula Players, St. Louis Rep, Milwaukee Rep, and Miami New Drama. Off-Broadway: Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven (Drama Desk Award nomination). Other Guirgis plays: Jesus Hopped the A Train (Jeff Award winner) and Motherfucker with the Hat. Esteban also won the prestigious Theatre Communication Group’s National Fox Fellow Actor Award.Select films: Spa Night (Cassavetti Best Feature), Valley of Bones, The Thin Line,A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas and Rattled.  TV credits: Chicago Fire, Awkward, Easy, Idiot Sitter, The Bridge, You're The Worst and South Side. Mad love to the whole AROT ensemble & company.

Sherman Edwards joined the Ensemble in 2023 during AROT's production of Is God Is and has appeared in A Red Orchid’s productions of Killing GameThe Malignant Ampersands, and their audio play American Bottom. In Chicago, Sherman has performed with Hell in a Handbag Productions (Poseidon! An Upside-Down Musical), The Annoyance Theatre, iO Chicago, Second City’s Educational Touring Company and their Diversity and Outreach Ensemble. He was named 2012’s ‘Best Stand-Up Comic in Chicago’ by the Chicago Reader. He tours and performs locally doing stand-up and performing with a few improv and sketch comedy groups, notably BLACKOUT, Sherman and Rob, and Tomato/Tomatoe. TV and Film credits include Southside on HBOmax, FOX’s EmpireChicago PD on NBC, and the independent films Monuments and American Schemers. Sherman holds a bachelor's degree in both Theatre and Mass Communications from Old Dominion University and is the Co-founder of Comedy Plex, a comedy club in Downtown Oak Park. He is represented by Stewart Talent.

John Judd is honored, grateful, and genuinely thrilled to join the ensemble at A Red Orchid Theatre. The invitation to share an artistic home with so many of his favorite artists is both an affirmation and a challenge. He can’t wait to work again with old friends and establish new bonds with those with whom he has yet to collaborate. He has appeared with A Red Orchid Theatre in The Malignant Ampersands (2022), Gagarin Way (2005), and in the remount of Simpatico at McCarter Theatre in 2017. John began his onstage life as part of an improv troupe under the tutelage of Del Close in 1985. Over the last thirty-five years in Chicago, he has been seen on virtually all this city’s stages where singing is not required. He has also appeared Off-Broadway in NYC, at regional venues across the US, and internationally.

Kathleen Dickinson is always thrilled to be back with A Red Orchid Theatre. Past shows include stage managing Is God Is, The Malignant Ampersands, The MoorsAmerican Bottom, and Sick by Seven, and assistant stage managing 3C, Traitor, 33 to Nothing, Victims of Duty, Small Mouth Sounds, Fulfillment Center, Killing Game, and Grey House. Other stage/assistant stage management credits include Steppenwolf Garage Rep, The House Theatre of Chicago, Remy Bumppo, Vitalist Theatre Company, Rasaka Theatre, Eclipse Theatre, and Collaboraction. Kathleen also completed the 2013-2014 Stage Management Apprenticeship at Steppenwolf.  

 

 

A Red Orchid Theatre’s 2023-2024 Season is:

The World Premiere of

Revolution

By Ensemble Member Brett Neveu

Directed by Associate Artistic Director Travis A. Knight

Featuring Ensemble Member Natalie West

September 7-October 29, 2023

Previews September 7-September 16 / Regular Run September 21-October 29

Who celebrates their 26th birthday in the alley? Puff, that’s who. With the help of her best friend Jame and the unlikely company of Georgia, Puff rings in her new year with laughter, connection, a dose of danger, and Miller High Life. Revolution interrogates and celebrates the very nature of creating community and building friendships in our ever evolving, ever disconnecting world.

Brett Neveu joined A Red Orchid’s ensemble in 2004. His productions at AROT include The Malignant Ampersands, Traitor, Pilgrim’s Progress, Megacosm, The Meek, The Earl, 4 Murders, and Eric LaRue. Past theatre work includes productions with The Royal Court Theatre and The Royal Shakespeare Company in London; SkyPilot Theatre Company in LA; and The Goodman Theatre, Writers Theatre, The House Theatre, The Inconvenience, The Side Project, TimeLine Theatre Company, American Theatre Company, Greenhouse Theatre, Signal Ensemble, and Strawdog Theatre in Chicago. His film productions include the Shudder original feature film Night’s End, the short film Convo with Breakwall Pictures, and the feature The Earl with Intermission Productions. A Sundance Institute Ucross Fellow, Brett is also a recipient of the Marquee Award from Chicago Dramatists, the Ofner Prize for New Work, the Emerging Artist Award from The League of Chicago Theatres, and an After Dark Award for Outstanding Musical (Old Town). He has developed plays with companies including The Atlantic Theatre Company and The New Group in New York and The Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, and Victory Gardens Theatre in Chicago. Brett is a resident-alum of Chicago Dramatists, a current member of TimeLine Theatre Company’s Writers Collective and an alumni member of the Center Theatre Group’s Playwrights’ Workshop in Los Angeles. He has been commissioned by numerous theaters and has had several of his plays published through Broadway Play Publishing, Dramatic Publishing and Nick Hern Publishing. Brett has taught writing at DePaul University, The Second City Training Center, and Northwestern University.

Travis A. Knight: Revolution will mark Travis’ directing debut at A Red Orchid. Previous acting credits at A Red Orchid include The Malignant Ampersands, Grey House, and Small Mouth Sounds. He is a proud member of the artistic ensemble and serves as the Associate Artistic Director. Other Chicago credits include: The Crucible (Steppenwolf); Toni Stone, Ah, Wilderness!, Christmas Carol, The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window, Measure for Measure, and Camino Real (Goodman); How a Boy Falls (Northlight) and Camelot (Drury Lane). Regional credits include The Brothers Size (Milwaukee Chamber), A Streetcar Named Desire (Uprooted), and Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (Forward Theatre). Selected credits from his five seasons at American Players Theatre are: The Tempest, Glass Menagerie, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Troilus and Cressida, and Richard III. TV and web series: Chicago Fire, Chicago PD, Chicago Med, Mind Games, and Dad Man Walking. Film credits: Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party and Runner.

 

The Chicago Premiere of

In Quietness

By Anna Ouyang Moench

Directed by Ensemble Member dado

Featuring Ensemble Member Sadieh Rifai

January 11-March 3, 2024

Previews January 11 – January 20 / Regular Run January 25 – March 3

A former consultant follows her born-again husband to a Southern Baptist seminary. There, she enrolls as a student at the Homemaking House, the nation's premier training ground for future homemakers and a place where marital bliss means never having to say thank you for cleaning the toilet. In Quietness asks us all to consider how fidelity to self, family, community, and faith coexist as we work to manifest our futures.

Anna Ouyang Moench is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter. Her plays include Mothers, Sin Eaters, Man of God, 100 Days of Darkness, Birds of North America, Hunger, and In Quietness. Her plays have been produced at Williamstown Theatre Festival, NAATCO/The Public Theater, the Geffen Playhouse, the Playwrights Realm, East West Players, InterAct Theater, and many other theaters across the country and around the world. In television and film, Anna has worked with Apple TV+, HBO, Netflix, UCP, eOne, PictureStart, and Universal. She is a Supervising Producer on Severance and a Co-Executive Producer on The White Darkness, both on Apple TV+. Anna was a member of the pilot cohort of the WarnerMedia Access Showrunner Program. Anna lives in Los Angeles with her family.

 

dadois an ensemble member at A Red Orchid Theatre. Her most recent AROT productions were Act Five (director/conceiver), The Moors (in which she played the Moor-Hen), Killing Game by Eugene Ionesco (director), and Grey House, in which she originated the role of The Ancient. Her AROT production of Sam Shepard's Simpatico moved to the McCarter Theatre. Dado portrayed Karla Stock in the world premiere of AROT's production of Traitor by Brett Neveu, directed by Michael Shannon; this adaptation of Ibsen's Enemy of the People won three Joseph Jefferson Awards. Dado is the recipient of the Edes Prize from the University of Chicago and produced David Lang's chamber opera little matchgirl passion (Facility Theatre) with this award. She is also the director of Erik Satie's surrealist Ruse of Medusa (Facility Theatre) and the original Vacuum Cleaner Opera, which was produced at the MCA and Prop Thtr. At A Red Orchid, she has directed The Mutilated, The Unseen, The Room, Megacosm, Fastest Clock in the Universe, The Grey Zone, and others. Dado is currently a professor at Purdue University Northwest and holds an MFA in visual art from the University of Chicago.

 

The World Premiere of

Turret

By Ensemble Member Levi Holloway

Featuring Ensemble Members Michael Shannon and Travis A. Knight

April 25-June 15, 2024

Previews April 25-May 4 / Regular run May 9-June 15

Two men survive in a facility deep underground somewhere in the wild woods of the Pacific Northwest, hiding away from something terrible looming just outside. Ensnared in a relentless loop of endless tomorrows, they discover the wolf isn’t at the door, he’s already inside, waiting in the creeping darkness all around them. Turret is an excavation of masculinity, love, loss and isolation. A claustrophobic carnival of carnage, carrier pigeons, cribbage, whiskey, music, mischief and mayhem.

Levi Holloway is a Chicago-based writer, director, actor and teacher. As a playwright, world premieres include his adaptation of Pinocchio at Chicago Children’s Theatre, Haven Place and Grey House (Jeff Award, Best New Work) at A Red Orchid Theatre, with which he is an ensemble member. The Broadway premiere of Grey House is currently onstage at the Lyceum Theatre, directed by Joe Mantello. Levi is the co-founder of Neverbird Project, a youth based Deaf and hearing theatre company. He spent a decade as head of the Sign/Voice theatre program at Chicago’s Bell Elementary, one of the country’s oldest and most prolific Deaf and hearing integrated schools, founded in 1917. As a stage actor, he’s worked most recently with A Red Orchid Theatre, Steppenwolf, Chicago Children’s Theatre and Northlight. He teaches playwriting with Silk Road Rising, fulfilling residencies throughout Chicago, most recently with Heartland Alliance, helping refugees tell their stories. He is repped by CAA and Anonymous Content.

 

Subscription Information – Guarantee your seat and save %10 off single ticketing by becoming a SUBSCRIBER at A Red Orchid Theatre. Subscriptions will be available for purchase starting on Tuesday May 16 at 12pm.

Subscribers enjoy date flexibility and exchanges, additional ticket discounts, and reserved seating. The Regular Run Subscription is $140 and includes one ticket to each of the 3 productions in our 31st Season, excluding Opening Nights.  The Preview Subscription is $105 and includes one ticket to a preview performance of each of the 3 shows in our 31st season. Each production has 8 preview performances leading up to its opening. 

Subscriptions may be purchased online starting Tuesday May 16 at 12pm at www.aredorchidtheatre.org or by calling the box office at 312-943-8722. A Red Orchid Theatre is located at 5631 N Wells St. in Chicago.

A Red Orchid Theatre remains grateful for the support of our board, donors, and loyal audience who continue to champion our ambitious and powerful storytelling. We are currently looking for season sponsors to foster the development of our work. These sponsors help to create a platform for our talented Ensemble to reach new audiences, and ensure that we remain a source for honest, compassionate, and aesthetically rigorous theatre-making. Interested in sponsoring a production? We view our sponsors as partners, helping to take our work to the next level of artistic excellence while also providing you with deeper access to our artists and the creative process. To learn more, please contact Artistic Director Kirsten Fitzgerald at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 312-943-8722.

 

COVID-19 Policies- as of May 1, 2023

Due to the intimate nature of the venue and to keep all artist and patrons safe, patrons are currently required to wear a mask throughout their time at A Red Orchid Theatre. All protocols are subject to change based on recommendations from WHO and CDC and our unions. Additional safety policies and precautions can be found at: https://aredorchidtheatre.org/covid-updates/.

About A Red Orchid  

A Red Orchid Theatre has served as an artistic focal point in the heart of the Old Town community of Chicago since 1993 and was honored with a 2016 MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions. Over the past 31 years, its Resident Ensemble has welcomed into its fold an impressive array of award-winning actors, playwrights, and theatre artists with the firm belief that live theatre is the greatest sustenance for the human spirit. A Red Orchid is well known and highly acclaimed for its fearless approach to performance and design in the service of unflinchingly intimate stories.    

A Red Orchid Theatre is: Karen Aldridge, Lance Baker, Kamal Angelo Bolden, Esteban Andres Cruz, Dado, Mike Durst, Sherman Edwards, Myron Elliott-Cisneros, Jennifer Engstrom, Kirsten Fitzgerald, Joseph Fosco, Steve Haggard, Levi Holloway, Mierka Girten, Lawrence Grimm, John Judd, Karen Kawa, Karen Kessler, Travis A. Knight, Danny McCarthy, Shade Murray, Brett Neveu, Sadieh Rifai, Grant Sabin, Steve Schine, Michael Shannon, Guy Van Swearingen, Doug Vickers and Natalie West.

Wednesday, 03 May 2023 15:45

Writers Theatre announces 2023-24 season

Writers Theatre announces the inaugural season for Artistic Director Braden Abraham, in partnership with Executive Director Kathryn M. Lipuma, to include award winning plays and audience favorites. Abraham joined Writers Theatre in February 2023 and this marks his first full season at Writers Theatre.

The company’s 2023/24 season launches with Tony and Pulitzer nominated playwright and Chicago/North Shore native Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice, directed by Braden Abraham in his Writers Theatre directorial debut. Coming off the heels of the acclaimed and sold-out success of Once is the Tony Award winning musicalThe Band’s Visit, in a co-production with TheatreSquared,directed by Zi Alikhan. Next Spring will usher in Hershey Felder’s tour de force performancein an original piece he wrote with Chopin’s music, Monsieur Chopin, A Play with Music. Director Lili-Anne Brown will then bring her talents to Writers with Katori Hall's Pulitzer Prize winning play The Hot Wing King.

 

A highlight of the season includes a subscription add-on with the return of the stunningly beautiful new holiday tradition Manual Cinema’s Christmas Carol with the company’s groundbreaking creativity and powerful storytelling. The 2023/24 season introduces an expansion of Writers Theatre impactful educational programs and community offerings withTheatre for Young Audiences. The program begins this fall with FORTS: Build Your Own Adventure, a collaboration with Chicago’s Filament Theatre, which celebrates and amplifies the perspectives and experiences of young people through the performing arts. Details will be available at a later date.

Season Packages are available online at www.writerstheatre.org, and at the Box Office by calling 847-242-6000.

Writers Theatre Artistic Director Braden Abraham comments, “This season aims to strengthen the bonds between our community and Chicagoland artists. The plays presented this year serve as a reminder of how a chance encounter could lead to a life-altering moment, how love appears and endures in unexpected ways, and how music and language have the power to reach across the boundaries of culture, space, and time. We hope these plays will help us connect more deeply with one another through exceptional artistry within our uniquely intimate theatre spaces.

Productions will be presented in the 255-seat Alexandra C. and John D. Nichols Theatre and the intimate Gillian Theatre in the in the award-winning building at 325 Tudor Court in Glencoe, designed by Studio Gang Architects.

Writers Theatre is pleased to welcome back BMO Harris Bank as the distinguished 2023/24 Season Sponsor, marking the Bank’s ninth consecutive year as season sponsor.

The Writers Theatre 2023/24 Season includes:

 

Eurydice

Written by Sarah Ruhl

Directed by Artistic Director Braden Abraham

September 21 – October 22, 2023

Opening Night: Friday, September 29, 2023

The season launches with Braden Abraham’s directorial debut at WT, and it’s even more thrilling that he begins with the acclaimed play by Sarah Ruhl—who was raised practically next door to Glencoe.

The newlywed and newly dead Eurydice arrives in the underworld without memories or language and struggles to recover her humanity with the aid of the father she lost years ago. When Orpheus arrives to rescue her, Eurydice must choose between staying with her father or escaping with her husband—between life and death. Pulitzer and Tony nominated playwright and North Shore native Sarah Ruhl infuses the ancient myth with humor, poetry, and hope as this classic heroine finds her voice.

 

The Band’s Visit

Music and Lyrics by David Yazbek

Book by Itamar Moses

Based on the screenplay by Eran Kolirin

Directed by Zi Alikhan

February 8 – March 17, 2024

Opening Night: Friday, February 16, 2024

 

Following the blockbuster success of Once, Writers Theatre ventures into another immersive and engaging musical production. For this co-production with TheatreSquared, Writers welcomes director Zi Alikhan, previously the Associate Director for the First National Tour of The Band’s Visit and the Resident Director for the National Tour of Hamilton. 

In a small Israeli desert town where every day feels the same, a lost bus arrives carrying an Egyptian Police Band. With no hotel and no buses until morning, the musicians are taken in for the night by the locals. Under the spell of the desert sky, these misplaced musicians bring everyone together in the way that only music can. Winner of ten Tony Awards, including Best Musical, The Band’s Visit is a beautifully intimate show, perfectly suited for the Nichols Theatre, about the unifying power of music. 

Hershey Felder as

Monsieur Chopin

A Play with Music

Music of Fryderyk Chopin

Book by Hershey Felder

Directed by Joel Zwick

April 10 – May 12, 2024

Opening Night: Friday, April 12, 2024

Storyteller, musician and Chicago favorite Hershey Felder makes his Writers debut with his original script and live performance of Chopin’s gorgeous masterpieces.

Days after the February 1848 revolution, Fryderyk Chopin is teaching a piano lesson in Paris. Set in the Polish pianist-composer’s intimate salon, Chopin shares with his students secrets about the piano and secrets about himself—as well as playing some of his most beautiful and enduring compositions. In a tour de force performance, the beloved virtuoso actor/pianist, Hershey Felder brings to life the romantic story and music of the man once called the “Poet of the Piano.” 

The Hot Wing King

Written by Katori Hall

Directed by Lili-Anne Brown

June 20-July 21, 2024

Opening Night: Friday, June 28, 2024

Lili-Anne Brown, a Chicago native and a veteran of stages in Chicago and across the country, comes to Writers to direct this hot, new play by celebrated writer Katori Hall (P-Valley, Broadway’s Tina: The Tina Turner Musical).

When it comes to wings, Cordell is king! Supported by his beau Dwayne and the best friends who serve as his fry crew, the group embarks on a fun night of pre-competition prep for Memphis’ Annual “Hot Wang Festival.” But when Dwayne’s troubled nephew unexpectedly needs a place to stay, it quickly becomes a recipe for disaster. Winner of the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, The Hot Wing King is a fierce comedy about the risks and rewards of celebrating who you are. 

Manual Cinema’s Christmas Carol

Adapted from the Novel by Charles Dickens

Devised by Manual Cinema

Additional Writing by Nate Marshall

November 16 – December 24, 2023

Performances start November 16, 2023

An avowed holiday skeptic, Aunt Trudy has been recruited to channel her late husband Joe’s Christmas cheer in a family Zoom call turned puppet show. But as Trudy becomes more absorbed in her own version of the Ebenezer Scrooge story, the puppets take on a life of their own, and the family’s call transforms into a stunningly cinematic adaptation of this beloved ghost story. Named one of Chicago Tribune’s Top Shows of 2022, the awe-inspiring, one-of-a-kind rendition of the Dickens classic returns this holiday season.

Subscribers will have exclusive first access to this limited run holiday performance and can purchase up to six tickets.

Theatre for Young Audiences

Writers is expanding its renowned educational programs and community offerings for young people and families—including the launch of an annual Theatre for Young Audiences production. The program begins this fall with FORTS: Build Your Own Adventure, a collaboration with Chicago’s Filament Theatre, which celebrates and amplifies the perspectives and experiences of young people through the performing arts. Details will be available at a later date.

SEASON PACKAGES

This season, Writers Theatre is offering five subscriptions with an option for every theatregoer. Each subscription includes a deeply discounted ticket price for one ticket to the 4-play series, subscriber-only perks and an exclusive first purchase option for the limited run of Manual Cinema’s Christmas Carol

PREMIERE SUBSCRIPTION—$240

Reserved seats and fixed dates for Friday nights, Saturday matinees and nights, and Sunday matinees.

FLEXIBLE SUBSCRIPTION—$240

First choice of seats and dates, before tickets go on sale to the public. We’ll send you reminders throughout

the season to give you the opportunity to select your dates, times and seats.

STANDARD SUBSCRIPTION—$212

Reserved seats and fixed dates for Wednesday matinees and nights, Thursday nights, and Sunday nights.

PREVIEW SUBSCRIPTION—$172

Reserved seats and fixed dates for preview performances.

NEW FLEXIBLE SAVER—$120

Claim select seats to Wednesday matinees and nights, Sunday nights, and preview performances before

tickets go on sale to the public.

 

Season package subscribers receive exclusive benefits including complimentary ticket exchanges by phone and mail (upgrade fees may apply), access to special play readings and lectures, special “subscriber-rate” prices on additional tickets, discounts at the bar, on Writers Theatre merchandise, event rentals, and more. For a complete list of benefits visit writerstheatre.org.

Season Packages are available online at www.writerstheatre.org, and at the Box Office by calling 847-242-6000.

AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT OPPORTUNITIES:

WT offers Open Captioning on select dates for each production. Please visit writerstheatre.org/accessibility for more information.

Writers Theatre is working with Erika Walker and Maylene Peña of the Walker Thomas Group on workplace culture and equity, diversity and inclusion initiatives. Additional information about this important and ongoing work can be found at writerstheatre.org/working-at-wt.

ABOUT WRITERS THEATRE 

Writers Theatre boldly looks to the future as it concludes its 31st season. Having captivated audiences for years with its dedication to creating the most intimate theatrical experience possible, the theatre is now a major Chicagoland cultural destination with a national reputation for excellence, being called “America’s finest regional theater company” by The Wall Street Journal.

Since 1992, Writers Theatre has stayed true to its core values: valuing the power of the written word and uplifting the artists who bring that word to life. The company has produced over 120 productions—everything from inventive interpretations of classics to groundbreaking new work. In 2016, Writers Theatre opened a new, state-of-the-art facility designed by the internationally renowned Studio Gang Architects. The new facility has allowed the Theatre to accommodate its growing audience, while maintaining its trademark intimacy.

Writers Theatre now welcomes more than 60,000 patrons each season and has helped establish the North

Shore of Chicago as a premier cultural destination. Through its Literary Development Initiative, which has been responsible for the nurturing and premiering of over two dozen world premieres, the theatre has established itself as a major originator of new theatrical works. Serving as an extension of the Writers Theatre mission, WT Education programs engage an average 10,000 students each year with active learning opportunities centered around the written word.

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