EIGHTH ANNUAL CHICAGO WOMEN’S FUNNY FESTIVAL IS HERE August 22 through August 25 at Stage 773

ChiIL Live Shows on our radar

THE NATION’S LARGEST CELEBRATION OF WOMEN IN COMEDY

CHICAGO WOMEN’S FUNNY FESTIVAL

Join over 400 queens of comedy from all around the world for one of the biggest funny festivals in the country, now with their first ever all-Spanish speaking set, August 22-25

Chicago knows funny, and we're ready to launch some laughs again, with four days of fem fun. This year, for the first time ever, the Chicago Women’s Funny Festival will also feature an all-Spanish speaking slot showcasing a stand up show, a sketch group, and two improv groups! 

Check it out. The 8th Annual Chicago Women’s Funny Festival is taking place August 22 through August 25 at Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont. The Chicago Women’s Funny Festival is the largest celebration of women in comedy in the country and offers talented, and funny individuals the opportunity to learn, teach, and empower each other and audiences who all love to laugh. Featuring a spectrum of comedic genius ranging from ‘relatable stand up’ to ‘highbrow musical improv’, the Chicago Women’s Funny Festival has something for everyone. 

Blending long term veterans with fresh newcomers, the fest packs over 80 shows into four funny-filled days, making it easier than ever to discover new groups to love. 

The full schedule and searchable calendar for the 8th Annual Chicago Women’s Funny Festival can be viewed at www.stage773.com/cwff-lineup.  

“Chicago is home to one of the biggest comedy scenes in the world, and with that comes an immeasurable number of very funny and highly talented women who are constantly re-defining the industry and setting the stage for what it means to be a comedian,” said Valentine. “We are honored to have the opportunity to unite these women and deliver a festival that is full of fun laughs, inclusion, and empowerment.”

Featuring an array of veteran talent and newcomers, highlights for the 2019 festival include stand up acts like longtime favorite, Patti Vasquez, whose solo show will take audiences on a journey of awkward dates, embarrassing moments and other funny stories of personal humiliation that will make you think “Wow, I guess my life isn’t so bad after all”, Dina Nina Martinez, who the Late Late Show’s James Corden hails as “…very funny”, longtime couple and dynamic comedy duo Anna Vocino and Loren Tarquinio of Married AF with their special part stand up, party storytelling, part improv set, and ventriloquist Hannah Leskosky with her magical mouth moving and substance abusing puppet unicorn, Marzipan Lavender Sparkles.

The brand new all-Spanish speaking set of shows will feature standup comedian, Eliana La Casa, an Argentinian comedian living in Chicago who blends personal stories and opinions into laugh out loud relatable moments, La Carne Asada #2: The Seasoning, a hilarious sketch show re-living all that a Latinx family dinner has to offer, Las Tinas Improv, creating a one night only audience based telenovela, and Ratas De Dos Patas, who will translate suggestions into Spanish to create hilarious streetwise teaching moments for the audience.

Other lineup highlights include the marvelous talent of improv group Bosses in Bonnetts with their “Black Girl Magic” Sketch Revue offering lots of laughs and real thoughts on the black female experience, the Chicago Reader’s 2016 Best Improv Troupe, Hitch* Cocktails, with their Alfred Hitchcock style improv fueled by audience suggestions, and the Super Tasty variety show featuring frank and funny talks about sex, performances, demos and more.

Chicago Women’s Funny Festival was founded in 2012 when producers Jill Valentine and Liz McArthur wanted to build a comedy festival where women could come together and celebrate all art forms of comedy under one roof. The first festival boasted 66 shows and 400 performers in five days. Women’s Fest also hosted events throughout the week where women from across the country could network with each other and more importantly, celebrate one another’s work. The response from comedians and audience members was overwhelmingly positive – which is why the festival is coming back for an eighth year.

Jill Valentine is a Chicago Southside native who has been the Executive Director of the Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival (the largest of its kind in the nation) since the festival’s inception in 2000. She is also Stage 773’s Executive Director and a founding principal of the building. Jill performs in several popular and critically acclaimed groups in Chicago, including The Cupid Players, Off Off Broadzway and Feminine Gentleman who have performed all over the country.

Liz McArthur hails from St. Louis and has worked with the Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival since 2005. McArthur can be seen with groups such as Off Off Broadzway, OneTwoThree Comedy, and Feminine Gentlemen. McArthur is also part of the hit zombie comedy Musical of the Living Dead.

All performances will take place at Chicago’s home for the city’s most innovative, creative and passionate off-Loop performing artists, Stage 773, located at 1225 W. Belmont. Stage 773 is a non-profit Chicago company that produces produces Bye Bye Liver, The Chicago Nerd Comedy Festival, The Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival, education and program opportunities, as well as offering subsidized theater rental space to the hundreds of Chicago’s itinerant off-Loop companies and performers.

Tickets for the 8th Annual Women’s Funny Festival are $15 each. Nightly and festival passes are also available ranging from $36 to $150. Tickets and information are available online at www.Stage773.com, by phone 773.327.5252, and in person at the Stage 773 box office, located at 1225 W Belmont.



About Stage 773
Stage 773 is a vibrant anchor of the Belmont Theatre District and home to Chicago’s finest off-Loop talent. As a performance and tenant venue, our four stages provide entertainment for everyone: comedy, theatre, dance, musicals and more. We are a not-for-profit, connecting and catalyzing the theater community, while showcasing established artists and incubating up-and-coming talent.

BECHDEL FEST 7: MOMENTUM August 25 – 28, 2019 at Steppenwolf’s 1700 Theatre Via Broken Nose Theatre

ChiIL Live Shows on our radar

Four Performances Only!

Broken Nose Theatre Presents

BECHDEL FEST 7: MOMENTUM

August 25 – 28, 2019 

at Steppenwolf’s 1700 Theatre

Part of Steppenwolf’s LookOut Series

I caught BECHDEL FEST for the first time last year, and it was amazing. For years, I've been a big fan of applying the Bechdel-Wallace Test to film, theatre and other written works. It's a simple formula that seems like a no brainer, yet somehow in 2019, the idea of female centered works STILL remains a rare and elusive achievement. This annual fest tips those scales a bit further toward something like equality. Created by cartoonist Alison Bechdel, the test asks whether a work of entertainment features at least two women in conversation about something other than a man. Check it out. 

(left to right) Taylor Raye and Sophie Hoyt in FOR THE CULTURE, part of Broken Nose Theatre’s BECHDEL FEST 2018. Photo by Spenser Davis. 

Broken Nose Theatre is pleased to present BECHDEL FEST 7: MOMENTUM, the company’s annual festival of new short plays featuring an ensemble of female-identifying and non-binary actors talking about things other than men. Presented as part of Steppenwolf’s LookOut Series, BECHDEL FEST will play four performances only, August 25 – 28, 2019 at Steppenwolf’s 1700 Theatre, 1700 N. Halsted St. in Chicago. Tickets for all BNT productions are available on a “pay-what-you-can” basis, allowing patrons to set their own price and ensuring theatre remains economically accessible for all audiences. Suggested price is $25. Tickets are currently available at www.steppenwolf.org or by calling (312) 335-1650.

All the works in BNT’s perennial feminist festival are inspired by the famous Bechdel-Wallace Test. Since the fest's first iteration in 2013, Broken Nose has worked with some of the most exciting voices in the Chicago theater landscape on over 40 stories that, by design, do not revolve around men. This year's lineup includes both female-identifying and non-binary characters.

Performances: Sunday, August 25 at 7 pm, Monday, August 26 at 7 pm, Tuesday, August 27 at 8 pm and Wednesday, August 28 at 8 pm.

"Political primaries are kicking off on the national stage, the state of Illinois is embracing policies that look toward the future, the Chicago theatre community continues leading the charge to create a better environment for all its artists... and in all of this, we feel a certain sense of momentum, a sense that change is coming and coming fast," comments BNT artistic director Elise Marie Davis. "These nine short plays look at this same concept from a variety of angles. After selling out all three performances at last year's fest, we're thrilled that the Steppenwolf LookOut Series family is not only welcoming us back into their home, but also allowing us to add a fourth performance to account for demand. We cannot wait to be back at the 1700!”

 BechdelFest2018-2 (left to right) Tanikia Carpenter and Brittani Yawn in PROM REBEL, part of Broken Nose Theatre’s BECHDEL FEST 2018. Photo by Spenser Davis. 

BECHDEL FEST 7: MOMENTUM includes:


ALL I REALLY WANT
By Jillian Leff | Directed by Becca Holloway
Featuring Amy Johnson and Alice Wu

A first-year cadet at West Point decides to share some unexpected news with a military veteran - who also happens to be her mother.


DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI OF THE STANTON SCHOOL 
By Ryan Oliveira | Directed by Alison Dornheggen
Featuring Diana Lee, Vero Maynez and Alison Plott

The annual fundraising dinner for a prestigious all-girls school hits a major speed-bump when one of their "unsuccessful" alumni starts speaking her mind.

harderfasterharderfaster
By Grace McLeod | Directed by Madisen Dempsey
Featuring Rebecca Flores, Sophie Rosado and Shaina Schrooten. Additional casting to be announced.

Alone in her bedroom, a horny teenager journeys deep into her own personal dreamscape in search of satisfaction.


REHEARSAL
By Dolores Diaz | Directed by Ben Locke
Featuring Teresa Kuruvilla, Carmen Liao, Aziza Macklin, Jackie Seijo and Mindy Shore

Five girls on a drum-line consider the terrifying future that awaits them if the current tempo of the nation keeps accelerating.


LAUGH OUT LOUD
By Michael Turrentine | Directed by Alejandro Tey
Featuring Imani Hayes and Maria Stephens

In the unforgiving world of stand-up comedy, two women look behind the jokes to explore what's really on each other's mind.



THE GREAT WHIRLPOOL OF THE NIAGARA 
By Robert Koon^ | Directed by Jen Poulin*
Featuring Jean Marie Koon and Teresa Kuruvilla

A concerned daughter follows her hydrologist mother north of the border in the wake of a family tragedy.



PLANNED SISTERHOOD 
By Michael Allen Harris^ | Directed by Brittney Brown
Featuring RjW Mays and Sarah Rachel Schol

In a deep-South state where abortion has just been outlawed, the wife of a prominent politician seeks help from a woman who runs a clandestine health clinic.



OPERATION MARSHMALLOW FLUFF
By Hallie Palladino | Directed by Taylor Raye
Featuring Renee Denham, Leilanii Mesa Ellis, Kelsey McGrath, Song Marshall, Hallie Palladino and Ann Wiggs

A famed clairvoyant, who claims to speak to the dead, is confronted by a group of outspoken women who are not quite "True Believers."

THROW AWAY
By Jenni Lamb | Directed by Julia Skeggs
Featuring Claire Alpern, Deveon Bromby and Aria Szalai-Raymond

Stationed along the conveyor belt at a recycling sorting center, three employees grapple with questions of idealism, reality, and planning for the future.



^BNT artistic associate/Resident Playwright    *BNT company member

(left to right) Eli Sulkowski-Altman and Allie Weisel in GOLDSTAR, part of Broken Nose Theatre’s BECHDEL FEST 2018. Photo by Spenser Davis.

About Broken Nose Theatre:

Broken Nose Theatre is a Pay-What-You-Can theatre company. Founded in 2012, BNT was last year's recipient of the Emerging Theater Award, presented by the League of Chicago Theatres and Broadway in Chicago. The company has produced and developed 15 full-length plays (including 8 Chicago or World Premieres) and over 40 new womencentric short plays through their annual Bechdel Fest. We strive to spark conversation, cultivate empathy, and amplify underrepresented voices, and are committed to making new, exciting and relevant theatre that is economically accessible to all audiences. For more information, please visit www.brokennosetheatre.com.



About Steppenwolf’s LookOut Series:

LookOut is Steppenwolf’s performance series that presents the work of artists and companies across genre and form, emerging artists and performance legends, quintessential Chicago companies and young aspiring ensembles, familiar Steppenwolf faces and new friends. steppenwolf.org/lookout

SAVE THE DATES: Underscore Theatre Company's 2019-20 Season

ChiIL Live Shows on our radar

Underscore Theatre Company's 2019-20 Season:

PHOTO CREDIT: Underscore Theatre Company’s 2019-20 season will feature musicals by (left to right) Alexander Sage Oyen, Rachel Franco, Austin Regan and Annabelle Revak.

Non-Equity World Premiere!
PROXY
By Alexander Sage Oyen, Rachel Franco and Austin Regan
Directed by Stephanie Rohr


World Premiere!
NOTES & LETTERS
Book, Music & Lyrics by Annabelle Revak

 The 6th Annual
CHICAGO MUSICAL THEATRE FESTIVAL
Full Line-Up Announced!


Underscore Theatre Company is pleased to announce its full 2019-20 Season, featuring two fully-produced musicals, plus the 6th annual CHICAGO MUSICAL THEATRE FESTIVAL. The season kicks off this fall with the non-Equity world premiere of PROXY by Alexander Sage Oyen, Rachel Franco and Austin Regan, a story of journalistic and personal integrity set to a punk rock score, directed by Stephanie Rohr.

This winter, Underscore is pleased to present its 6th annual CHICAGO MUSICAL THEATRE FESTIVAL, created to showcase and support the growing field of musical theatre creators from Chicago and beyond. After receiving more than 35 submissions, Underscore has chosen eight new musicals for this year’s Festival to be presented in full productions. (see full line-up below!)

Underscore’s 2019-20 Season will conclude next spring with the world premiere NOTES & LETTERS featuring book, music and lyrics by Annabelle Revak, based on the author's great-great grandfather's letters sent to his family upon his immigration to Chicago. 

PROXY and NOTES & LETTERS will play at Underscore’s new permanent home, The Understudy, 4609 N. Clark St. in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood. The CHICAGO MUSICAL THEATRE FESTIVAL will be performed simultaneously on two stages at The Edge Theater, 5451 N. Broadway (The Broadway stage) and 1133 W. Catalpa Ave. (The Off-Broadway stage) in Chicago Edgewater neighborhood.

Tickets for the mainstage season are currently available at underscoretheatre.org. Tickets for CHICAGO MUSICAL THEATRE FESTIVAL will go on-sale at a later date.

Comments Underscore Theatre Artistic Director Whitney Rhodes, "I am sparked by the theme of ‘choice’ in our shows this season, particularly the two mainstage pieces. It's fascinating to see how two very different shows in sound and style explore the similar idea of how we make choices, especially when we aren't ready yet to make them."



Underscore Theatre Company’s 2019-20 Season includes:

October 18 – November 24, 2019
PROXY – Non-Equity World Premiere!
Book by Austin Regan
Music and Lyrics by Alexander Sage Oyen
Lyrics and additional Book by Rachel Franco
Directed by Stephanie Rohr
at The Understudy, 4609 N. Clark St., Chicago
Press opening: Tuesday, October 22 at 7:30 pm

Fifteen years ago, when she was a kid, Vanessa was almost murdered by her best friend. Now she is an investigative journalist in a bind, and she decides to do what anyone would do – exploit her personal story by disguising herself and interviewing her childhood best friend and attempted murderer. Vanessa must navigate her estranged family and confront her trauma in the age of going viral. Who has the right to tell our story? When we have been traumatized, how do we pass that pain onto others – and can we ever really heal?


April 10 – May 17, 2020
NOTES & LETTERS – World Premiere!
Book, Music and Lyrics by Annabelle Revak
at The Understudy, 4609 N. Clark St., Chicago
Press opening: Tuesday, April 14 at 7:30 pm

NOTES & LETTERS follows Joe’s journey from war-torn Prague to Williams Piano Shop in Chicago in 1917. He quickly befriends the owner Charlie, his girlfriend Nora, and composer Olivia. The foursome become inseparable – until World War I hits the U.S. Businesses, relationships and lives are put to the test. Based on a true story and set to a jazz-contemporary score, four young people struggle to make choices amid complete chaos.


February 3 – 23, 2020
The 6th annual CHICAGO MUSICAL THEATRE FESTIVAL
at The Edge Theater, 5451 N. Broadway (The Broadway stage) and 1133 W. Catalpa Ave. (The Off-Broadway stage).

The full-line up includes:

On the Broadway stage:
WONDER WOMEN THE MUSICAL
Book, Music and Lyrics by Gregory Becker

WONDER WOMEN THE MUSICAL is an inspiring Golden Age-style musical comedy that tells the true story of the birth of the 1941 classic comic book character, Wonder Woman®. This hilarious upbeat show follows three women who lived in a clandestine four-way polyamourous relationship with the scientist who invented the lie detector. We see how this group overcame the discrimination, misogyny, and sexual taboos of the day and eventually became a ‘family’. Working together, they fused their individual passions for reproductive rights, gender psychology, equal rights, and BDSM and gave the world a superhero who would defeat ignorance using the powers of love and acceptance,and ignite humanity’s inner desire for a matriarch.


DOUBLE VISION
Book, Music and Lyrics by Olivia Popp

Astrophysics PhD student Luke needs to prove his theory of parallel universes for his dissertation. Rising young filmmaker Sam needs to salvage her latest script for a chance at a big break. When Luke successfully opens a wormhole and finds Sam on the other side, the two discover that they can help each other more than they think. DOUBLE VISION is an original sci-fi comedy musical by Olivia Popp about science (well, sort of), love (okay, kind of), relationships (in more ways than one), and the power of seeking something new.


MOBY DICK – A MUSICAL
Book and Lyrics by Ed Bryan, Music by William Berry

The story of MOBY DICK is a headlong race into the jaws of death. Those on land wait, worry and go about their lives while Captain Ahab and the crew of the Pequod sail inexorably toward a tragic fate.  Honorable Starbuck, carefree Stubb, practical Flask, heroic Queequeg, mysterious Fedallah and the rest of the crew: all are lost to Ahab’s fanatical obsession as he hurls himself against the will of God and the harsh divinity of nature. From the rowdy hijinks of “The Great Leviathan” to the cheeky high spirits of “Nantucket Girls” to the poignant reverie of Ahab’s “What Price I Paid”, the music weaves a haunting spell around a diverse cast of characters who live and die by the dictates of the sea.  Ishmael, alone, lost and adrift on Queequeg’s coffin, survives to tell the tale and turn, at last, towards the comforts of hearth and family.


PAPER SWORDS
Book by Kelsey Tharp, Music and Lyrics by Matt Day

PAPER SWORDS is a romantic comedy musical, focusing on two groups of live action role-players (LARPers) as they navigate adolescence. When the king announces his retirement, the teenagers and the kingdom of Eloren are thrown into shambles. To determine the next ruler of the land, the knights of competing teams Ferndrey and Silvermore must battle one another for the throne. Full of young love, heartbreak, awkwardly-long high fives, nostalgia and wonderfully catchy tunes, PAPER SWORDS will have you in tears (from laughing and/or crying) as you exit the theatre.


BILLY AND THE POTATO POWERED TIME MACHINE
Story and Lyrics by Lawrence Adelson and Keith Gatchel, Music by Alex Chauncy and Nick Davio 

Two kids, Billy and Jamie, have been taken by their mom to live at their grandmother’s house while she starts a divorce with their dad. In the basement, they discover a time machine powered by potatoes. Billy uses it to make honor roll and defeat the school bully. But, when things go wrong, Billy and his mother need to try and find a better way to change the future in this rock and roll fairy tale for kids.


On the Off-Broadway Stage:
BAKED! THE MUSICAL
Book, Music and Lyrics by Jordan Liu and Deepak Kumar

When she doesn’t receive the scholarship that would send her to her dream school, habitual overachiever Jane Huang, with the help of her best friend, joins forces with the class degenerate to build the greatest drug empire ever run by high schoolers. Kept in the dark are Jane’s parents, whose inability to cope with their daughter leaving for college while maintaining a profit at their struggling Chinese bakery drives them pry and potentially unravel Jane’s web of lies.



BAKED! THE MUSICAL is a reflection on perfectionism, self-worth, and the question of what we owe the people we love. It features an all Asian-American cast, and the themes are born out of the writers’ own experiences growing up as the children of immigrants in the US.


VERVE
Book and Lyrics by Fran Zell, Music by Karena Mendoza

Five women at a gym lose the fat fetish and find friendship. Each focuses on her weight and appearance, while harboring a secret she is afraid to share. During the course of a weight loss contest and a rigged game of Truth or Dare, everyone has the opportunity to come clean and test her own capacity for friendship.


ADIRA
Book by Brittany Handler, Music by John Love, Lyrics by Brittany Handler

Adira is a musical satire that tells the story of one princess who must rescue her kingdom. After learning of a terrible curse, Adira runs away to find herself and to break the spell. Along her journey, she encounters a series of new characters, both friend and foe who teach her things that she never knew, including a troll and his bridge, some magic mushrooms and an evil sorcerer. With the help of some dancing dildos and her singing vibrator sidekick, Adira has some big O! moments and learns that she is stronger and more capable than she ever knew.


About the Artists

Alexander Sage Oyen (Music and Lyrics, Proxy) is an NYC songwriter with over five million plays on Spotify. He is the recipient of the 2017 Lotos Foundation Prize in Arts and Sciences for his lyrics and the 2014 ASCAP Foundation’s Lucille and Jack Yellen award for lyricists. His musicals include DIVA: Live From Hell (available for licensing through DPS- Director Daniel Goldstein, Book and Characters S.P. Monahan), Tethered (Book by Rachel Franco), Proxy (Book by Austin Regan, Co-lyrics and additional book by Rachel Franco), Discount Ghost Stories (world premiere 2019 Local Theatre Co., Boulder, CO. Directed by Austin Regan book by Pesha Rudnick and Rob Wright), Outlaws (Goodspeed Fest. New Musicals 2015- book by James Presson, dir. Noah Himmelstein), Archie’s Final Project (Book by James Presson and David Lee Miller), and Moment by Moment (Production at Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand 2015. Available on Spotify/Apple Music). He was awarded the 2013-14 Dramatist Guild Fellowship and his musical Outlaws was featured in the 2014 ASCAP Workshop. He’s been named one of Playbill’s “Contemporary Musical Theatre Writers You Should Know,” and was selected for the 2014 Johnny Mercer Songwriter’s Project. Additionally, he was a 2017 Jonathan Larson Grant Finalist. His music has been heard at Lincoln Center, Goodspeed Opera House, Symphony Space, 54 Below, Joe’s Pub, Playwrights Horizons, The Signature Theatre, New World Stages, The Laurie Beechman Theatre and venues in Thailand, London, The Netherlands and all across the world. Proud member of ASCAP and The Dramatists Guild. 

Rachel Franco (Lyrics and Additional Book, Proxy) is an actor/writer in NYC. She’s written two musicals, the book for Tethered (SCRT Writing Retreat, 2018. Music and Lyrics by Alexander Sage Oyen) and co-lyrics and additional book for Proxy (Book by Austin Regan, Music and Co-Lyrics by Alexander Sage Oyen). As an actor she has been seen Off-Broadway in Nibbler (The Amoralists, Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre) and F**k Marry Kill (Less Than Rent, The New Ohio Theatre). BFA Tisch at NYU.

Austin Regan (Book, Proxy) is a NYC-based writer and director. His other writing includes The Adventures of Pericles, adapted from Shakespeare, as co-composer and lyricist with Christy Altomare. He is currently developing The Valley, a new musical, with composer/lyricist Peter Lerman. As director: Rigoletto at Minnesota Opera ("a scorching take on politics, patriarchy, and power" – Minneapolis Star Tribune), Discount Ghost Stories at Local Theatre Company in Boulder, CO ("hauntingly beautiful" – Boulder Daily Camera), The Trojan Women (The Hangar Theatre), Mad Libs (New World Stages); Well Worn Words (Ars Nova), The Blind (The Flea Theater), Three Decembers (FM Opera). As assistant/associate director: four Broadway shows and the Metropolitan Opera. Drama League Fellow, LCT Directors Lab, MTF Founding Member, and former Resident Director at the Flea Theater. 

Annabelle Revak (Book, Music and Lyrics, Notes & Letters) is a composer, music director, arranger, and pianist. Cabaret: Antithesis (The Understudy); Keeper of the Keys (Davenport’s), TSCS (The Understudy). Arrangements/Orchestrations: Take Me (Strawdog Theatre), Wife Material (Underscore Theatre), Make Me Bad (Columbia College Chicago). MD: The Last Five Years (JPAC), The Ballad of Lefty and Crabbe (asst., Underscore Theatre), The Incredible 6,000-ft. Ladder, Something Blue, The Bone Harp (CMTF 2019), High Fidelity (Columbia College Chicago). BA in Music Composition & BA in Musical Theatre at CCC. 

About Underscore Theatre Company
Founded in 2011, Underscore Theatre Company is a team of producing artists dedicated to exploring stories of power and resonance through a musical lens; fostering the development of new musicals; and bolstering Chicago’s role as a national leader in musical theatre. Since its creation, Underscore has produced or co-produced 65 new mainstage and workshop musicals in Chicago. Underscore is proud to be Chicago's home for new musicals.