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Shattered Globe’s 35th Season Launches With
Ugly Lies the Bone
October 3-November 15, 2025
Shattered Globe’s 35th season launches next month with the Midwest Premiere of Lindsey Ferrentino’s poignant comedy Ugly Lies the Bone, a darkly funny, heartfelt story of a military veteran using virtual reality to piece her life back together.
Shattered Globe’s Midwest Premiere of Lindsey Ferrentino’s Ugly Lies the Bone features (from left) Christina Gorman as Jess, Christopher Acevedo as Stevie, Cyd Blakewell as Kacie, Barbara Figgins as voice/Mom and Eddie Martinez as Kelvin.
Previews start October 3. I'll be out for the press opening, October 9th so check back shortly after for my rull review. Performances run through November 15 at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave. in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood. Tickets, Pay-What-You-Can through $60, go on sale Friday, September 12. For tickets and information, visit sgtheatre.org.
Shattered Globe’s 35th season opener, the Midwest Premiere of Lindsey Ferrentino’s Ugly Lies the Bone, directed by Jonathan Berry, finds humor in unexpected places, October 3-November 15
After three tours in Afghanistan, Jess has returned home to a changed world, and body. With biting dark humor and virtual reality therapy, Jess begins to rebuild her life one puzzle piece at a time, confronting scars both seen and unseen. In Ugly Lies the Bone, humor and heart ultimately combine for a powerful, funny story of how beauty endures beneath the surface.
Shattered Globe’s 35th season launches with Lindsey Ferrentino’s Ugly Lies the Bone, a poignant, darkly funny story of a military veteran using virtual reality to piece her life back together.
Shattered Globe’s Midwest Premiere of Ugly Lies the Bone features Ensemble Member Christina Gorman as Jess, who has returned home after three tours in Afghanistan to a changed world, and body.
Credit: Jeffrey Kurysz
SGT's Midwest Premiere of Ugly Lies the Bone marks the welcome return of director Jonathan Berry to Chicago.
Ugly Lies the Bone marks the welcome return of director Jonathan Berry to Chicago. An ensemble member of Steep and Griffin theaters and former artistic producer at Steppenwolf, Berry is home after three years as artistic director of Penobscot Theatre in Maine.
"I am so very excited to mark my return to Chicago with this production of Ugly Lies the Bone,” said Berry. “This is a play that is made for Chicago and a talented ensemble like Shattered Globe, offering a compelling look at a wounded veteran's challenging return to a life she barely recognizes, told with compassion, humor and ultimately hope."
Whether writing about a female burn survivor or the first leading role for a person with Down syndrome, Variety called Linda Ferrentino “a brave playwright of dauntless conviction, whose unflinching portraits are hard to come by outside of journalism.” Coinciding with SGT’s introduction of her play Ugly Lies the Bone to Chicago this fall, Ferrentino also will be making her Broadway debut writing the book for The Queen of Versailles, Stephen Schwartz’s new musical starring Kristin Chenoweth and F. Murray Abraham.
Shattered Globe’s cast for Ugly Lies the Bone features Ensemble Member Christina Gorman as Jess, with Christopher Acevedo as Stevie, Cyd Blakewell as Kacie, Barbara Figgins as voice/Mom and Eddie Martinez as Kelvin.
The production team includes Lindsay Mummert (set designer), Kotryna Hilko (costume designer), Brandon Wardell (lighting designer), Erin Pleake (projections designer), Saskia Bakker (props designer), Christopher Kriz (original music and sound designer), SGT Ensemble member Tina Jach (stage manager) and SGT Ensemble Member Adam Schulmerich (production manager).
(right) Christina Gorman plays Jess in Shattered Globe’s Ugly Lies the Bone. (left) Christina Gorman as Jess and Christopher Acevedo as Jess’s former boyfriend, Stevie, in Ugly Lies the Bone.
Credit: Jeffrey Kurysz
(left) Cyd Blakewell plays Jess’s sister, Kacie, and Eddie Martinez is Kacie’s boyfriend, Kelvin. (right) The cast for Ugly Lies the Bone includes (from left) Christopher Acevedo as Stevie, Christina Gorman as Jess, Barbara Figgins as voice/Mom, Cyd Blakewell as Kacie and Eddie Martinez as Kelvin.
Credit: Jeffrey Kurysz
Ticket information for Ugly Lies the Bone
The first preview of Ugly Lies the Bone on Friday, October 3 at 7:30 p.m. is Pay-What-You-Can. Previews continue Saturday, October 4 at 7:30 p.m., Sunday, October 5 at 3 p.m., and Wednesday, October 8 at 7:30 p.m. Press opening is Thursday, October 9 at 7:30 p.m. Performances run through November 15: Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m., Sunday at 3 p.m. No show Friday, October 10 or Thursday October 30. There’s an added 3 p.m. matinee on Saturday November 1, as well as closing day, Saturday, November 15.
For tickets and information, visit sgtheatre.org, call the Theater Wit box office, (773) 975-8150, or purchase in person at Theater Wit. Take advantage of early-bird discounts. Otherwise, previews are $25. Performances are $20-$60 ($20 for students, veterans, active military, teachers, and under 30; $40 general admission; $60 for those who want to support accessible theater). For group discounts, email groupsales@shatteredglobe.org or call (773) 770-0333.
Access Services
Audio Description and a Touch Tour for patrons who are blind or have low vision will be offered on Friday, November 7. The Touch Tour begins at 6:15 p.m., show at 7:30 p.m.
Shattered Globe will offer a captioned performance on Sunday, November 9 at 3 p.m. for patrons with hearing loss. Assisted Listening Devices are available for all performances.
Theater Wit is wheelchair accessible, and all patrons with disability needs are invited to purchase $20 access tickets with the code “ACCESS20” at Theater Wit’s checkout page. Please email boxoffice@theaterwit.org to ensure the theater can reserve the right seat for your needs.
Shattered Globe’s 35th Season:
Finding Humor in Unexpected Places
Support Chicago’s live theater scene and save with a Shattered Globe Season Traveler Membership. Shattered Globe’s 2025-26 season boasts one World Premiere and two Midwest Premieres that find humor in unexpected places and offer a fresh lens on our ever-evolving world. Following Ugly Lies the Bone is the Midwest premiere of Kirsten Greenidge’s Morning, Noon, and Night, a tale about social media, magic realism and moms and daughters, directed by Shattered Globe Associate Artistic Director AmBer Montgomery. Next April, man up for Shattered Globe’s World Premiere of Eelpout!, Paul W. Kruse’s hilarious new fantasia on Midwest masculinity, directed by Jeremy Ohringer.
“Shattered Globe is on a roll, particularly as we’re coming off a highly successful season marked by the most Jeff Award nominations in company history, 14 in all, including best production, director, cast, ensemble, and design nominations,” said Shattered Globe Producing Director Artistic Director Sandy Shinner. “The entire ensemble is buzzing with anticipation as we encourage audiences to join us for a wild ride to three unexpected places, with three unexpected outcomes, during our 35th season.”
Two- and three-play memberships range from $55 to $115 and are on sale now at sgtheatre.org/memberships. All three Shattered Globe productions will be presented at the company’s resident home, Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave. in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood. Visit SGTheatre.org for more information, including photos and video clips, news of special events, accessible and waived ticket programs and show content warnings. Find and follow the company on social media @shatteredglobe on Facebook and Instagram.
Coinciding with SGT's Ugly Lies the Bone in Chicago, Ferrentino is making her Broadway debut writing the book for The Queen of Versailles, Stephen Schwartz’s new musical starring Kristin Chenoweth and F. Murray Abraham.
Ugly Lies the Bone : Meet the playwright and director
Lindsey Ferrentino (playwright, Ugly Lies the Bone) is a playwright whose work includes The Fear of 13 (Donmar Warehouse; Olivier Award nominations for Best New Play and Best Actor, starring Adrien Brody), The Queen of Versailles (Broadway; The Emerson Colonial Theatre), Ugly Lies the Bone (Roundabout Theatre Company; The National Theatre, UK; NYT Critic’s Pick), Amy and the Orphans (Roundabout Theatre Company), This Flat Earth (Playwrights Horizons), The Year to Come (La Jolla Playhouse), The Artist (Theatre Royal Plymouth). According to The New York Times, Ferrentino writes with, “a muscular empathy, which seeks to enter the minds of people for whom life is often a struggle of heroic proportions.” Whether writing about a female burn survivor or the first leading role for a person with Down syndrome, she has been called, “a brave playwright of dauntless conviction, whose unflinching portraits are hard to come by outside of journalism,” and she possesses, “a moral compass second to none among her generation of playwrights” (Variety). Ferrentino is also an accomplished screenwriter with various projects in development. Most recently announced, she is writing and directing a film adaptation of her celebrated play Amy and the Orphans (Aggregate Pictures), writing a project based on Hugh Hefner’s Playboy empire (Sony), and adapting Rebecca Yarros’ beloved novel In the Likely Event (Netflix). She is the recipient of the 2016 Kesselring Prize, a Laurents/Hatcher Citation of Excellence, the ASCAP Cole Porter Playwriting Prize, the Catalyst Award for Entertainment Industry Excellence, the Paul Newman Drama Award, the NYU Distinguished Young Alumna Award. BFA, NYU; MFA, Hunter; and the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale. lindseyferrentino.com
Jonathan Berry (director, Ugly Lies the Bone) is excited to be back in Chicago, after three years of serving as Artistic Director of The Penobscot Theatre Company in Bangor, Maine. He is a proud ensemble member of both Steep Theatre and Griffin Theatre and a former Artistic Producer at Steppenwolf Theatre Company. He directed the Steppenwolf productions of: Lindiwe, The Children, You Got Older, Constellations, and the SYA productions of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, The Crucible, and A Separate Peace. Steep Theatre Company: Paris, Red Rex, Earthquakes in London, Posh, The Life and Sort of Death of Eric Argyle, If There Is I Haven’t Found it Yet, The Knowledge, Festen, Moment, The Hollow Lands and The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui. At Griffin, productions include: The North American premiers of Simon Stephens Punk Rock (Jeff award Director, Lead Actor, and Ensemble) Port, and On the Shore of the Wide World, as well as The Harvest, Winterset, Pocatello, Balm in Gilead, Golden Boy, The Burnt Part Boys, Spring Awakening, Company, Picnic, Time and the Conways, Dead End, The Hostage and Journey’s End. He was the Assistant Director for Anna D Shapiro’s Broadway productions of Of Mice and Men and This is our Youth. Gift Theatre: Obliteration (second production) The world premiers of both Dirty and Suicide, Incorporated, as well as Othello. Goodman Theatre: The Solid Sand Below and The World of Extreme Happiness for their New Stages Festival. Other work includes: American Theatre Company: Kill Floor, American Blues: Little Shop of Horrors and Sideman; Redtwist: Look Back in Anger and Reverb, Chicago Dramatists: I am Going to Change the World, Jackalope Theatre: The Casuals, Strawdog: Conversations on a Homecoming, Remy Bumpo: The Marriage of Figaro, Theatre Mir: The Sea and Caucasian Chalk Circle, Lifeline Theater: The Piano Tuner (Afterdark award – Best Production) He pursued his MFA in directing from Northwestern University. He has taught acting, directing, and viewpoints at University of Michigan, Northwestern University, University of Chicago, Act One Studios, Columbia College and served as the director for the ensemble training program The School at Steppenwolf. johnathanberry101.com
About Shattered Globe Theatre
Shattered Globe Theatre seeks to redefine what it means to be an ensemble theatre, discover new connections between story, artist and audience, and explore drama from bold, challenging perspectives.
Shattered Globe Theatre was born in a storefront space on Halsted Street in 1991. Since then, SGT has produced more than 80 plays, including nine American and world premieres, and garnered an impressive 44 Jeff Awards and 132 Jeff Award nominations, as well as the acclaim of critics and audiences alike. Guided by Producing Artistic Director Sandy Shinner, Shattered Globe’s values are rooted in a commitment to racial equity, respect for all artists and support for the ensemble, while creating new opportunities to amplify traditionally marginalized voices and collaborate in all aspects of its work. Through initiatives such as the Protégé Program, Shattered Globe creates a space which allows emerging artists to grow and share in the ensemble experience.
Shattered Globe Theatre’s Ensemble has 29 members: Judy Anderson, Louis Contey, David Dastmalchian,Demetra Dee, Joe Forbrich, Christina Gorman, Daria Harper, Tina M. Jach, Rebecca Jordan, Steve Kleinedler, Vivian Knouse, AmBer Montgomery, Tina Muñoz Pandya, Eileen Niccolai, Jazzma Pryor, Hailey Rakowiecki, Deanna Reed-Foster, Linda Reiter, Nate Santana, Drew Schad, Adam Schulmerich, Leslie Ann Sheppard, Sandy Shinner, Joe Sikora, Shelley Strasser, Devonte E. Washington, Sarah Jo White, Joseph Wiens and Brad Woodard.
SGT’s Artistic Associates now number 20 including Daniela Colucci, Mikey Gray, Lawrence Grimm, Darren Jones, Christopher Kriz, Jason Lynch, Elizabeth Margolius, Kelsey Melvin, Tim Newell, Jane Nix, Aila Peck, Steve Peebles, David Antonio Reed, Jasmine Cheri Rush, Angie Shriner, Abbey Smith, Becca Smith, Michael Trudeau, Ayanna Wimberley and Austin Winter.
SGT is supported by generous grants from the Shulman- Rochambeau Charitable Foundation, Brenda and James Grusecki, The Bayless Family Foundation, the Paul M. Angell Family Foundation, Carol P. Eastin, The Shubert Foundation, Judith & David Sensibar, The Gaylord & Dorothy Donnelley Foundation and Barbara and Randy Thomas.
Visit sgtheatre.org for subscriptions, tickets and information, and follow the company @shatteredglobe on Facebook and Instagram.
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