Chi, IL Live Shows on our Radar:
From the Tony Award-winning author of The Band's Visit comes a provocative new play about identity, loyalty, and the complexities of unity.
The Ally
at Theater Wit March 20-May 2, 2026
Mira Kessler (from left) as Rachel, Jordan Lane Shappell as Asaf, DeVaughn Asante Loman as Baron, Eliyah Arman Ghaeini as Farid and Sharyon Culberson as Nakia inTheater Wit's Midwest Premiere of The Ally. Credit: Charles Osgood
REVIEW
By Bonnie Kenaz-Mara
When I walked into the world of The Ally I could almost smell centuries of bound volumes in the library. This set by Joe Schermoly is next level gorgeous and made me want to curl up with a novel or break out a stack of academic textbooks and do a deep dive into human psychology. Add in tense current events, good intentions, an intense ex girlfriend, and a struggling professor and you have the makings of a hit! Itamar Moses is a talented playwright and it's easy to see why The Ally was a 2025 Pulitzer Prize finalist. It's also quite the score that Theater WIT has the rights to present the Midwest Premiere.
DeVaughn Asante Loman (left) as Baron and Jordan Lane Shappell as Asaf. Credit: Charles Osgood.
Like most of my favorite productions, The Ally is complicated, multilayered, and thought provoking. Theater WIT is self described as a "smart art theater" with a mission to produce humorous, challenging, and intelligent plays that speak with a vibrant and contemporary theatrical voice. The Ally does all that with panache. This show sparked fabulous post show discussions and I was still mulling this one over well into the night.
Evan Ozer ( left) as Reuven and Jordan Lane Shappell as Asaf in Theater Wit's Midwest Premiere of The Ally. Credit: Charles Osgood
The entire cast was exceptional and the scenario is deliciously complex and all too timely. Special shout out to Jordan Lane Shappell, who does a compelling job as Asaf. Don't miss this! The Ally is one of spring's definite must sees. ChiIL Live Shows on our radar. Highly recommended. Four out of Four Stars. ★★★★
Bonnie is a Chicago based writer, theatre critic, photographer, artist, and empty nester. She owns two websites where she publishes frequently: ChiILLiveShows.com (adult) & ChiILMama.com (family friendly).
A well-meaning professor finds himself in a firestorm in The Ally, the 2025 Pulitzer Prize-nominated new play by Itamar Moses, March 20-May 2 at Theater Wit
Moses’ newest play, about a well-meaning professor who finds himself in a firestorm, is a darkly funny and deeply human new work that asks: just whose side are you on?
“Important…Itamar Moses’ play offers eloquent arguments on all sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
- The New York Times
From the Tony Award-winning author of The Band's Visit comes a provocative new play about identity, loyalty, and the complexities of unity.
A finalist for the 2025 Pulitzer Prize, The Ally, written by Itamar Moses (Completeness, Dead Outlaw), directed by Jeremy Wechsler (Prayer for the French Republic), will receive its Midwest Premiere at Chicago’s Theater Wit in March. Moses’ newest play is a darkly funny and deeply human new play that asks: just whose side are you on?
Performances run through May 2: Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m.; Sunday at 2 p.m. Exception: No show Thursday, April 2. Tickets are $18-$44. Run time is two hours with intermission. Purchase tickets at theaterwit.org, by calling (773) 975-8150, or in person at the Theater Wit box office.
A student manifesto forces questions about identity and faith in
The Ally
When Asaf’s student asks him to sign a petition condemning police brutality, he wants to do the right thing — until he realizes the manifesto turns out to be broader than he imagined, and every choice feels like betrayal. As the debate roars through his Midwestern campus and his ex-girlfriend takes the lead, Asaf is pulled into a political storm that tests his convictions and his sense of self. Will his fumbling entrée into activism help or hurt the cause? Who’s side is Asaf – and the audience – really on?
The Ally premiered off-Broadway at the Public Theater in February 2024. The New York Times called it “Important…Itamar Moses’ play offers eloquent arguments on all sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” New York Stage Review wrote “The Ally will most certainly give you the tools to wage a cogent, forceful argument, no matter what side you’re on.”
"I recognized myself in Asaf the moment I read this play," said Jeremy Wechsler, Theater Wit Artistic Director and director of The Ally. " Before October 7th, I — like a lot of American Jews on the left — held two ideas at once: that Israel was a haven and that the occupation was wrong. Itamar Moses saw, honestly before I did, that those two ideas were becoming impossible to hold simultaneously. But there are always two ways to answer the question ‘What do I believe?': what do I think, and what do I feel? Where we land on that spectrum is a constant negotiation between ourselves and the world around us. What The Ally asks — what it really demands — is that we face that negotiation honestly. Can we be good people when our hearts and our heads aren't aligned?”
The cast for Theater Wit’s Midwest Premiere of The Ally features Sharyon Culberson as Nakia, Eliyah Arman Ghaeini as Farid, Mira Kessler as Rachel, DeVaughn Asante Loman as Baron, Evan Ozer as Reuven, Jordan Lane Shappell as Asaf, and K Chinthana Sotakoun as Gwen.
Designers are Joe Schermoly (set), Matthew Eggers (costumes), Piper Kirchhofer (lights), Jonathan Berg-Einhorn (props), Joe Cerqua (composer and sound designer), Sarah Luse (stage manager), Matthew R. Chase (production manager) and Claire Simon (casting director).
Theater Wit is located at 1229 W. Belmont Ave., in the Belmont Theatre District in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood. Convenient parking is available for $10 across the street from the theater in the lot behind Kubo restaurant (pay at the Theater Wit box office.) Neighborhood street parking is available, as are private paid lots (tip: book ahead and at a discount with Spothero). Theater Wit is also accessible via the CTA 77 Belmont bus, and is three blocks west of the CTA Belmont Red/Brown/Purple line stop.
To learn more, visit theaterwit.org or follow the company on Facebook or Instagram.
Photos courtesy Theater WitAs a production company, Theater Wit is the premier smart art theater in Chicago, producing humorous, challenging, and intelligent plays that speak with a vibrant and contemporary theatrical voice. As an institution, Theater Wit seeks to be the hub of the Chicago neighborhood theater scene. Led by Artistic Director Jeremy Wechsler, Wit brings together Chicago’s best storefront theater companies in its three, 99-seat spaces, where audiences find a smorgasbord of excellent productions, see the work of a parade of talented artists, and mingle with audiences from all over Chicago.
In Fall 2025, Theater Wit received a three-year, $600,000 grant from the Paul M. Angell Foundation in support of Theater Wit’s Shared Spaces program, which empowers the artistic work of independent itinerant theater producers through subsidized, affordable space rentals and tailored production, accessibility and administrative support.
In addition to Theater Wit’s The Ally, productions playing this spring at Theater Wit include resident company Remy Bumppo’s new staging of Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler, now through March 8; visiting company The New Theatre Project’s The Shape of the Bones, now through March 22; resident company Shattered Globe Theatre’s Midwest Premiere of Kirsten Greenidge’s Morning, Noon, and Night, now through March 28; visiting company The Artistic Home’s The Sugar Wife, March 28-May 3; and Shattered Globe’s 35th season finale, Eelpout!, a World Premiere by Paul W. Kruse, April 17-May 30.
A great way to show support for Chicago storefront theater is to purchase a Theater Wit Membership. For a low monthly fee of $35 – often less than the price of a single ticket – $25 for students, and $62 for a dual membership - Theater Wit members see as many shows as they want on the company’s three stages, year round. Sign up at theaterwit.org/boxoffice/membership.
Biographies:
Itamar Moses (playwright, he/him) is the author of the full-length plays Outrage, Bach at Leipzig, Celebrity Row, The Four of Us, Yellowjackets, Back Back Back, Completeness and The Whistleblower, the musicals Nobody Loves You (with Gaby Alter), Fortress of Solitude (with Michael Friedman) and The Band’s Visit (with David Yazbek), and the evening of short plays Love/Stories (or But You Will Get Used to It). Awards for his work include the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical for The Band’s Visit, along with Lucille Lortel, New York Drama Critics Circle, Outer Critics Circle and Obie awards in New York, and from the Portland, San Diego, Dallas and Bay Area Theatre Critics Circles. His work has appeared off-Broadway and elsewhere in New York, at regional theaters across the country and in Canada, Hong Kong, Israel, Venezuela, Turkey and Chile, and is published by Faber & Faber and Samuel French. He’s received new play commissions from The McCarter, Playwrights Horizons, Berkeley Rep, The Wilma Theater, South Coast Rep, Manhattan Theatre Club, Lincoln Center and The Goodman. On television, Moses has written for TNT’s Men of a Certain Age, HBO’s Boardwalk Empire, WGN’S Outsiders and Showtime’s The Affair. He holds an MFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU and has taught playwriting at Yale and NYU. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild and is a New York Theatre Workshop Usual Suspect. Born in Berkeley, CA, he now lives in Brooklyn, NY.
Jeremy Wechsler (director, he/him) is the founding Artistic Director of Theater Wit. Under Wechsler’s leadership over the last 15 years, Theater Wit has emerged as the go to destination for cutting edge contemporary work, gaining national recognition for excellence. His Theater Wit directing credits include, most recently, the 2025 smash hit co-production with Northlight Theatre, Prayers for the French Republic, along with the Chicago premieres of The Whistleblower, Hurricane Diane, Admissions, The Realistic Joneses, The Antelope Party, 10 Out of 12, Naperville (Jeff Award), This Way out of Santaland, The New Sincerity, The (curious case of the) Watson Intelligence(Best of 2015, Chicago SunTimes), Bad Jews (Best of 2015, Newcity), Mr. Burns: a post electric play (Time Out Peoples’ Choice Award for Direction, Best of 2015), Seven Homeless Mammoths Wander New England (Sun-Times Best of 2014), Completeness, Tigers Be Still, The Four of Us, Feydeau-Si-Deau, Men of Steel, Thom Pain (Based on Nothing) (Jeff Award, Best Solo Peformance), Two for the Show and many, many productions of The Santaland Diaries. He has directed over 60 shows in the last 20 years at various theaters, including Tragedy A Tragedy, The Flu Season, A Taste of Honey (U.S. Best of 2008, Wall Street Journal), Now Then Again (Jeff Award, Best New Work), The Play about the Squirrel, The White Devil, This is Not a Play about Cancer, Peer Gynt, The Real Thing, Shinhaz, The Duchess of Malfi, Titus Andronicus, The Roaring Girl, Flight, The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told, This is the Fill Speaking, Hay Fever, A Month in the Country, Europe, Henry VI: Blood of a Nation, The Promise, Spin, Un Robot, Horror Academy, Kind Lady, Playing by the Rules, The Marriage of Bette and Boo, Solitaire, The Coarse Acting Show, Life is a Dream, The Prisoner’s Dilemma, Cabaret and The Threepenny Opera. His productions have been nominated for and won multiple awards for design, performance, adaptation and best new work.
Sharyon Culberson (she/her, Nakia Clark) has appeared in The Chi(Showtime), Chicago PD and Chicago Fire (NBC), and The Big Leap and Proven Innocent (FOX). She also starred in the short films Mama’s Boy and Daughters. On stage, Culberson has performed in regional and national productions and she was a performing artist-in-residence with Arts + Public Life.
Eliyah Arman Ghaeini’s (he/him, Farid) regional credits include Whitelistedand A Year with Frog and Toad (Salt Lake Acting Company); Shakespeare in Love, West Side Story, The Odd Couple: Female Version and In the Heights(West Valley Theatre); and Twelfth Night (Creekside Theatre Festival). TV/film credits include The Chosen (CW), High School Musical: The Series (Disney+) and Amber Brown (AppleTV).
Mira Kessler (she/her, Rachel) grew up in Durham, North Carolina and comes to Chicago by way of New York, where she was a member of The New Yiddish Rep Theater Company, performing with them in God of Vengeance and Awake and Sing! Other credits include Netflix's Unorthodox, The Band’s Visit at Writers Theatre (u/s) and Goodbye Marianne at Goodman Theater (reading). Kessler graduated with an MFA in acting from The Theatre School at DePaul University.
DeVaughn Asante Loman (he/him, Baron) most recently played Kenneth in Eboni Booth’s Primary Trust at Farmers Alley Theatre. Other credits include Movement Revisited (Muhammad Ali) at Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Jive Records (Bobby Womack, Bob Marley, Ensemble) for Black Ensemble Theatre, A Drop in the Bucket (Sumwea) at Jackalope Theatre, and Cult Showat The Neo-Futurists.
Evan Ozer (he/him, Reuven) is a Chicago-based actor, originally from New York. After graduating from The Theater School at DePaul University in Spring 2025, he played Duke Orsino in Twelfth Night at Oak Park Festival Theater.
Jordan Lane Shappell’s (he/him, Asaf) most recent credits include King James, for which he won a San Francisco Bay Area Theater Critics Award for Best Actor. Credits also include Georgiana & Kitty: Christmas at Pemberley(TheatreWorks), The Real Thing (Writers Theatre), Be a Good Little Widow(NoHo Theater), How to Quit (Meta Theatre), Henry V (Meta Theatre), Journeys of Identity (National Theatre of the Deaf), Dancing at Lughnasa(Merle Reskin Theatre), and Day in the Death of Joe Egg (dir. Larry Moss). Film and TV credits include Monkey Bread, Abigail Before Beatrice, Scream: Fan Favorite, Patient and The Orville (Fox) Shappell earned his BFA from The Theater School at DePaul University.
K Chinthana Sotakoun (they/them, Gwen), making her Chicago theater debut, recently appeared in the indie folk rock musical Hundred Days as Abigail and in the streaming series Heavy Hitters. Other roles include Yitzhak in Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Neary/Sothea in Cambodian Rock Band, Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet, and Jessica/Jolene in Hand to God.
