Casting Announced for Broken Nose Theatre's AFTER THE BLAST - May 13 – June 11, 2022

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 Broken Nose Theatre

Announces Casting for Chicago Premiere of

AFTER THE BLAST

Written by Zoe Kazan

Directed by Ensemble Member JD Caudill

May 13 – June 11, 2022 at The Den Theatre

 

PHOTO CREDIT: The cast of Broken Nose Theatre’s Chicago premiere of After The Blast includes (top, l to r) Kim Boler, Ruben Carrazana and Teresa Kuruvilla (bottom, l to r) Arielle Leverett, David W. Lipschutz and Ana Ortiz-Monasterio Draa.

Broken Nose Theatre, one of Chicago’s premier Pay-What-You-Can theatre companies, is pleased to announce casting for its Chicago premiere of Zoe Kazan’s smart and incisive sci-fi drama After The Blast, directed by ensemble member JD Caudill.

The cast includes ensemble members Kim Boler*, Teresa Kuruvilla* and Arielle Leverett* with Ruben Carrazana, David W. Lipschutz and Ana Ortiz-Monasterio Draa.

After The Blast, will play May 13 – June 11, 2022 at BNT’s resident home, The Den Theatre (2A), 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood. Tickets are currently available at brokennosetheatre.com and thedentheatre.com. Tickets for all Broken Nose Theatre performances are “Pay-What-You-Can,” allowing patrons to set their own price. I'll be out for the press performance May 15th, so check back then for my full review. 

Generations after a global disaster has driven humankind into underground cities, partners Anna and Oliver are hoping to have a child – even though Anna's struggles with depression may prevent them from gaining the government approval needed to become parents. But when Oliver brings home a small robot – a new companion they name "Arthur" – their lives are changed forever. Zoe Kazan's smart and incisive play asks, "When the future seems bleak, how do we form bonds and build lives in the face of uncertainty?"

BNT Artistic Director E.M. Davis and Managing Director Rose Hamill comment, "Our ensemble immediately took to this story when we read it two years ago – but after everything we've all been through in that intervening time, what playwright Zoe Kazan has to say about isolation, connection through technology, climate change and pursuing parenthood in an uncertain future has only deepened our appreciation for this excellent play. Bringing puppetry to the BNT stage for the very first time to depict our protagonist's robotic companion, ensemble member JD Caudill and the fantastic production team will bring to life this story that begs the question, 'When outside circumstances have driven us underground and apart, how far will we go to maintain the well-being of our closest loved ones?’” 

The production team includes Therese Ritchie* (scenic design), Jessica Van Winkle (costume design), Cat Davis* (lighting design), Rae Delali (sound design), Andrew "AJ" Morley (props design), Jabberwocky Marionettes (puppet design), Jen Mickleson (intimacy consultant), Rose Hamill* (production manager), Evan Sposato (technical director), Adriana Rodriguez (stage manager) and Jacob Shaffer (assistant stage manager).

 

COVID guidelines: In the interest of keeping patrons and staff safe, and in accordance with the League of Chicago Theatres, The Den will continue to require proof of vaccination to attend any event for the indefinite future. While masking is no longer required, The Den strongly encourages patrons to continue wearing a mask when not eating or drinking. For the most current information on The Den’s COVID guidelines, visit thedentheatre.com/covid19-policy.

 

Cast (in alphabetical order): Kim Boler* (Anna), Ruben Carrazana (Oliver), Teresa Kuruvilla* (Carrie), Arielle Leverett* (Arthur, Sam), David W. Lipschutz (Patrick, Lowes) and Ana Ortiz-Monasterio Draa (Margarita).

 *Denotes Broken Nose Theatre ensemble members

Understudies: Taylor B. Hill, Julie Mitre, Christian Siebert, Faiz Siddique and Carlos Wagener-Sobrero.

 

Location: The Den Theatre (2A), 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago

Dates: Previews: Friday, May 13 at 7:30 pm and Saturday, May 14 at 7:30 pm

Press Opening: Sunday, May 15 at 3 pm

Opening: Monday, May 16 at 7:30 pm

Regular run: Thursday, May 19 – Saturday, June 11, 2011

Curtain Times: Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm; Sundays at 3 pm

Industry night: Monday, May 30 at 7:30 pm

Understudy night: Wednesday, June 8 at 7:30 pm

Tickets: Pay-what-you-can. Tickets are currently available at brokennosetheatre.com and thedentheatre.com.

About the Artists

Zoe Kazan’s (Playwright) first full-length play, Absalom, was performed at the Actor’s Theatre of Louisville as a part of the 2009 Humana Festival, and is now available through Dramatists Play Service. Her second play, This Thing of Darkness, was commissioned by Manhattan Theatre Club. As an actress, Zoe has appeared on Broadway in A Behanding in Spokane, Come Back Little Sheba and The Seagull, which garnered her a Drama Desk Award nomination. Her Off-Broadway acting credits include Angels in America (parts 1 and 2); The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, starring Cynthia Nixon; Things We Want; and 100 Saints You Should Know (Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel nominations). Her film work includes Revolutionary Road; The Private Lives of Pippa Lee; Me and Orson Welles; It’s Complicated; HappyThankYouMorePlease; Meek’s Cutoff; and The Exploding Girl (Best Actress, Tribeca Film Festival). Zoe received a BA from Yale University.

JD Caudill (Director) is a queer director, literary manager and music director whose recent direction includes Southern Comfort (Pride Films and Plays); Bechdel Fests 4-6 + 8, Book of Shadows (Broken Nose Theatre), and other plays at The New Coordinates, Haven, The Runaways Lab Theatre, New American Folk Theatre, Hobo Junction, 20% Theatre, Paragon Theatre, Otherworld Theatre, Arc Theatre, 16th Street Theatre, Stage Left, The Syndicates and Red Theater. They are a proud ensemble member of Hell in a Handbag, where they have music directed countless shows, and literary manager at Broken Nose Theatre.

About Broken Nose Theatre

Broken Nose Theatre is a Pay-What-You-Can theatre company. Founded in 2012, BNT was the 2018 recipient of the Emerging Theater Award, presented by the League of Chicago Theatres and Broadway in Chicago. The company has produced and developed 30 full-length plays (including 12 Chicago or world premieres) and over 60 new short plays through our 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 brokennosetheatre.com. 

 

Pay What You Can World Premiere of THIS IS ONLY A TEST Via Broken Nose Theatre February 11 – March 12, 2022

 

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World Premiere!

Broken Nose Theatre Presents

THIS IS ONLY A TEST

By Eric Reyes Loo

Directed by Toma Tavares Langston 

February 11 – March 12, 2022 at The Den Theatre

Broken Nose Theatre, one of Chicago’s premier Pay-What-You-Can theatre companies, is pleased to welcome back live audiences this winter with the world premiere of Eric Reyes Loo’s drama This Is Only a Test, directed by Toma Tavares Langston. This all-too-prescient view of the future our youth may be inheriting will play February 11 – March 12, 2022 at BNT’s resident home, The Den Theatre (2A), 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood. Tickets are currently available at brokennosetheatre.com and thedentheatre.com. Tickets for all Broken Nose Theatre performances are “Pay-What-You-Can,” allowing patrons to set their own price. I'll be out for the press opening February 13th so check back soon for my full review.

Broken Nose Theatre adheres to all CDC, state and local safety guidelines. Additionally, masking is required for all guests during performances. For the most current information on The Den’s COVID guidelines, visit thedentheatre.com/covid19-policy.

 

The cast includes company members RjW Mays* with Zhanna Albertini, Graham Helfrick, Sophia Vitello, Christopher M. Walsh and Austyn Williamson. Understudies: Maureen Azzun, Jeremiah Davis, Tim Huggenberger, Audrey Michaela, Kiefer Otto and Toma Lynn Smith.

It could happen anywhere, at any time, and the faculty at Washington High have decided to take "being prepared" to a whole new level. Through a series of Active Shooter Drills, their students will be trained on how to fight back against intruders. But as they’re asked to quell violence by responding violently, four teenagers begin to wonder: if we’re so prepared, why do we feel even more unsafe? Directed by rising director Toma Tavares Langston (The Light; Hedwig and the Angry Itch), this brand-new play asks us to consider the moment when preparing for the worst tips over into a whole new breed of violence all its own.

Artistic Director E.M. Davis and Managing Director Rose Hamill comment, “When the ensemble first read Eric's darkly satirical play over three years ago, the terrifying but necessary questions it asked were immediately impossible to shake. And now, as we continue to stare into an uncertain future, the conversations it provokes feel all the more prevalent. What sort of world are we passing down to our children? If they can't even feel safe in their place of learning, what haven can we possibly offer them? And worse, when we place the promise of security in the kids' own ability to retaliate, how soon before we exacerbate the issue and push them to their breaking point? We're proud to be partnering with director Toma Tavares Langston to bring this highly original new play to Chicago audiences for its world premiere.”

The production team includes Jessie Baldinger (scenic design), Jessica Van Winkle (costume design), Conchita Avitia (lighting design), Hannah Foerschler (sound design), Charlotte Lastra (props design), Carly Cason (fight director), Sarah Scanlon (intimacy director), David Weiss* (dramaturg), Ben F. Locke* (assistant director), Rose Hamill* (production manager), Evan Sposato (technical director), Liz Gomez* (master electrician), Jac Pytlik (stage manager) and Becca Smith (assistant stage manager).

*Denotes Broken Nose Theatre company members

 

PRODUCTION DETAILS:

Cast (in alphabetical order): Zhanna Albertini (Selma), Graham Helfrick (Kramer), RjW Mays* (Woman), Sophia Vitello (Lenore), Christopher M. Walsh (Man) and Austyn Williamson (Wynn).

Understudies: Maureen Azzun, Jeremiah Davis, Tim Huggenberger, Audrey Michaela, Kiefer Otto and Toma Lynn Smith.

Location: The Den Theatre (2A), 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago

Dates: Previews: Friday, February 11 at 7:30 pm and Saturday, February 12 at 7:30 pm

Opening: Monday, February 14 at 7:30 pm

Regular run: Thursday, February 17 – Saturday, March 12, 2022

Curtain Times: Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm; Sundays at 3 pm

Industry night: Monday, February 28 at 7:30 pm

Understudy night: Wednesday, March 9 a 7:30 pm

Tickets: Pay-what-you-can. Tickets are currently available at brokennosetheatre.com and thedentheatre.com.

About the Artists

Eric Reyes Loo (Playwright) spent his childhood crafting the perfect comeback during his sixteen years of Catholic school education, where his mother sent him to become a priest. He came out a theatre queen and loudmouth jokester instead. All of this gave him plenty of material as he turned to writing and producing theatre in New York and his native Los Angeles. Eric’s critically-acclaimed play Death and Cockroaches was produced by Chalk Repertory Theatre, where Eric is also a member of the Artistic Circle. In addition, Eric is a television writer/producer who has written on Guidance for AwesomenessTV/Hulu and A.J. and the Queen for Netflix. He also has numerous projects in development.

Toma Tavares Langston (Director) is a Chicago freelance theater director. Notable works include Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Theo Ubique – 2020 Jeff Nomination, Production – Musical) and The Light (The New Colony – 2018 Jeff Nomination, Director – Play). Toma was awarded a 2015 Victory Gardens Theater Director Inclusion Initiative fellowship. Other Chicago works include Sucker Punch (Victory Gardens, Assistant Director), 1980 or Why I'm Voting for John Anderson (Jackalope Theatre, Assistant Director), The Last Five Years, The Shadow Box, For Colored Girls Who Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf. He is currently pursuing his MBA in Public Administration at Southern New Hampshire University. Toma would like to give a special thanks to E.M., Rose, Eric and the Broken Nose Theatre crew for the opportunity to tell this impactful story. 

 

About Broken Nose Theatre

Broken Nose Theatre is a Pay-What-You-Can theatre company. Founded in 2012, BNT was the 2018 recipient of the Emerging Theater Award, presented by the League of Chicago Theatres and Broadway in Chicago. The company has produced and developed 30 full-length plays (including 12 Chicago or world premieres) and over 60 new short plays through our 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 brokennosetheatre.com. 

SAVE THE DATES: Broken Nose Theatre Announces Eighth Season, “Change The Rules”

ChiIL Live Shows on our radar

World Premiere!

PEG

By Liam Fitzgerald

Directed by Artistic Director Elise Marie Davis

A Co-Production with The New Colony

U.S. Premiere!

LABYRINTH

By Beth Steel

Directed by Spenser Davis

World Premiere!

THIS IS ONLY A TEST

By Eric Reyes Loo

Directed by Toma Langston

BECHDEL FEST 8

BNT’s Perennial Feminist Play Festival

PHOTO CREDIT: Broken Nose Theatre’s 2019-20 season playwrights and directors include (top, l to r) Liam Fitzgerald, Beth Steel, Eric Reyes Loo and Michael Turrentine with (bottom, l to r) Elise Marie Davis, Spenser Davis, Toma Langston and Cassandra Rose.

Broken Nose Theatre is pleased to announce its Eighth Season, exploring the theme “Change the Rules,” with two world premieres and one U.S. premiere to be presented at BNT’s resident home, The Den Theatre, 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood.

This fall, BNT joins forces with The New Colony to present the world premiere of Liam Fitzgerald’s sexually charged comedy PEG, directed by Broken Nose Artistic Director Elise Marie Davis. PEG will feature Stephanie Shum and Gage Wallace.

Next winter, the 2019-20 season continues with the U.S. premiere of Beth Steel’s propulsive financial drama LABYRINTH, directed by Spenser Davis.

In spring 2020, BNT presents the world premiere of Eric Reyes Loo’s terrifyingly timely drama THIS IS ONLY A TEST, directed by Toma Langston.

The season concludes next summer with BECHDEL FEST 8, BNT’s annual feminist festival, featuring a full slate of new short plays with all female-identifying casts. Playwrights, directors and casting will be announced in 2020.

During its eighth season, BNT will also provide institutional support to two outside playwrights through The Paper Trail – its new play development program. This season’s playwrights include Cassandra Rose and Michael Turrentine.

Comments Artistic Director Elise Marie Davis, “As conversations around concepts like gender roles, class divides and gun safety continue on a national scale, the rules regarding how and when we talk about these issues are also changing. With this upcoming season – my second as Artistic Director – the Broken Nose family is thrilled to bring two world premieres and one U.S premiere to Chicago audiences, stories that illustrate the ways in which societal limits are tested and reset, with a variety of outcomes. Along with these three mainstage productions will be our eighth annual Bechdel Fest and two playwrights whose new work we'll be developing over the course of the season, making this one of our most ambitious years yet. We'll see you at the theater!”

Tickets for all Broken Nose Theatre 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. Tickets for all productions will go on sale at a later date. For additional information, visit www.brokennosetheatre.com.

Broken Nose Theatre’s Eight Season includes:

November 13 - December 14, 2019
PEG – World Premiere/Co-Produced with The New Colony
By Liam Fitzgerald
Directed by Artistic Director Elise Marie Davis
Featuring Stephanie Shum and Gage Wallace

Peg is excited. Steve is nervous. Sure, they've opened a nice bottle of wine, dinner smells delicious... but the brand-new strap-on they ordered has just arrived, and tonight's plan is to flip the script. Peg wants to peg Steve. And even though he was all for it initially, his last-minute hesitation will force this ordinary couple to face their kinks, quirks and societal conditioning, as they're quickly reminded that gender politics follow them everywhere - including the bedroom.

January 31 - February 29, 2020
LABYRINTH – U.S Premiere!
By Beth Steel
Directed by Spenser Davis

New York City, 1978. Having just landed his dream job as a Wall Street banker, John Anderson finds himself swept off on luxurious trips to Latin America with only one goal: selling loans to the region’s developing nations eager to borrow. But as the banks’ excessive lending strategy starts pushing whole countries toward the brink of bankruptcy, and the biggest credit bubble in history threatens to burst, John and his colleagues must come to terms with the true price of chasing their fortunes.

May 1 - May 30, 2020
THIS IS ONLY A TEST – World Premiere!
By Eric Reyes Loo
Directed by Toma Langston

Nowadays, it could happen anywhere, at any time, and the faculty at Washington High have decided to take "being prepared" to a whole new level: through a series of cutting-edge Active Shooter Drills, their students will be trained on how to fight back, just in case their school is the next to hit the news cycle. But as they’re asked to quell violence by responding violently, four teenagers begin to wonder: if we’re so prepared, why do we feel even more unsafe?

Summer 2019
BECHDEL FEST 8

BNT'S perennial favorite feminist festival returns! As with the past seven iterations, BECHDEL FEST 8 will feature an ensemble of female-identifying and nonbinary artists performing new short plays written and directed by some of Broken Nose's favorite artists – and all passing the Bechdel-Wallace Test. Created by cartoonist Alison Bechdel, the Bechdel Test asks whether a work of entertainment features two non-male characters talking about something other than men. Playwrights, directors and casting to be announced in 2020.

About the Artists

Liam Fitzgerald (Playwright, Peg) is a Chicago-based writer, director and producer. He holds a BFA from the University of Miami and an MFA from Northwestern University. His work has been performed and developed in Chicago and nationally with theaters including Stage Left, Broken Nose Theatre, Chicago Dramatists, Theatre Masters and the Campfire Theatre Festival. He is a resident designer at Links Hall and has worked for the production departments of Chicago Children’s Theatre, Red Theatre, Theatre Wit, Strawdogs, Pegasus Players, Chicago Dramatists and WildClaw theatre. 

Elise Marie Davis (Director, Peg) is entering her second year as Artistic Director of Broken Nose Theatre, where she has performed in the award-winning productions of Girl in the Red Corner, Plainclothes and At The Table, as well as My First Time, several iterations of Bechdel Fest, and her own play A Phase. She is also an ensemble member with The Factory Theater, where she was onstage for the world premieres of Adventures of Spirit Force Five and Zombie Broads. Other Chicago acting credits include Blue Stockings (Promethean Theatre), Baby With the Bathwater (Eclipse Theatre), Pine (Uncommon Ground), Hot Pink (New American Folk Theatre), Kin Folk and Here After (The New Colony), A Funny Thing… (Route 66, u/s), Speech & Debate (Brown Paper Box), as well as work with Lyric Opera, Strawdog, Artemisia, Midsommer Flight, American Blues and Pride Films and Plays, among others. She recently appeared in Squid, a short-form comedy series now released on Amazon Prime. As a playwright, she has had her work performed at Steppenwolf 1700, First Floor Theater, Broken Nose and Arc Theatre, while her play A Phase has been taught at the University of Chicago. She is represented by Big Mouth Talent Agency.

Beth Steel (Playwright, Labyrinth) is U.K.-based playwright. She was awarded the Charles Wintour Award for Most Promising Playwright at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards. Her first play Ditch premiered at the HighTide Festival, transferred to the Old Vic Tunnels and was shortlisted for the John Whiting Award. Wonderland, Steel's critically acclaimed second play, was directed at Hampstead Theatre by Edward Hall; it was broadcast live worldwide through the Guardian website and was a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, an award for best new play in the English language by a female playwright. Labyrinth is her third play; it had its world premiere at Hampstead Theatre in 2016, with Anna Ledwich directing. This marks the play's U.S. premiere.

Spenser Davis (Director, Labyrinth) is Director of Programming for Broken Nose Theatre, where his directorial credits include At The Table (Jeff Awards – Best Director, Production, Ensemble), his own play Plainclothes (Jeff Award – Best Ensemble), A Phase, From White Plains and several iterations of Bechdel Fest. Other credits include Blue Stockings (Promethean Theatre); May the Road Rise Up and Adventures of Spirit Force Five (The Factory Theater, ensemble member); Bachelorette (Level 11); the upcoming world premiere of Under The Tree with The New Colony; as well as readings, workshops and festivals with American Blues Theater, A Red Orchid, Hell in a Handbag, ATC, Strawdog, Otherworld, First Floor and Pride Films and Plays, to name a few. As a playwright, his play Plainclothes received the 2019 M. Elizabeth Osborn Award from the American Theatre Critics Association and was named a finalist for the 2019 Harold and Mimi Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award. He is currently adapting his first play Merge as a pilot for television. He is a series writer-director on Squid, a short-form comedy series on Amazon Prime. He is proud to be represented by William Morris Endeavor.

Eric Reyes Loo (Playwright, This is Only a Test) is a Los Angeles-based playwright and television writer. He writes for the upcoming Netflix series A.J. & the Queen. Eric’s plays have been developed at LA theatres including Rogue Machine, Moving Arts and East West Players. Eric helps run new play development at Chalk Repertory Theatre, where he is also a company member. His play, Death and Cockroaches was produced by Chalk Rep in Fall 2018. Eric received an MFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and attended undergrad at Santa Clara University. His mother would want you to know that he’s a product of a prestigious Jesuit education. 

Toma Langston (Director, This is Only a Test) is a freelance theater director. Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre: Hedwig and The Angry Inch. The New Colony: The Light (2018 Joseph Jefferson Nomination for Director – Play). Victory Gardens: 2015 Directors Inclusion Initiative Director Fellowship (Assistant Director) Sucker Punch. Jackalope Theatre: (Assistant Director) 1980 (or Why I’m Voting for John Anderson). Sideshow Theatre: (Assistant Director) truth and reconciliation and Give It All Back. Other directorial credits include The Last Five Years, The Shadow Box, For Colored Girls Who Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf. 



About Broken Nose Theatre:

Broken Nose Theatre is a Pay-What-You-Can theatre company. Founded in 2012, BNT was the 2018 recipient of the Emerging Theater Award, presented by the League of Chicago Theatres and Broadway in Chicago. The company has produced and developed 20 full-length plays (including 12 Chicago or world premieres) and over 50 new short plays through our 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.

REVIEW: Midwest Premiere of LANGUAGE ROOMS Via Broken Nose Theatre

ChiIL Live Shows on our radar

All Performances Pay-What-You-Can!

Midwest Premiere!

Broken Nose Theatre Presents

LANGUAGE ROOMS

(left to right) Salar Ardebili and Bilal Dardai 

All Photos by Austin D. Oie.

By Yussef El Guindi

Directed by Kaiser Zaki Ahmed

April 19 – May 18, 2019 at The Den Theatre

Review
by bonnie kenaz-mara

I spent last night in a cinder block institution, where disorientation, deprivation, intimidation, bullying, embarrassment and lactose intolerance were used as weapons against suspected terrorist sympathizers. Under the guise of national security, a host of normally benign objects took on sinister overtones, as sanctioned US translators turned torturers, unpacked everything from baseball bats, pliers and tubing, to clown noses, honey, and deprivation suits.

(left to right) Bradford Stevens and Salar Ardebili

When loyalties are questioned, lines blur between the detainers and detainees, and thing get even more interesting. Language Rooms is fanciful and frightening; a delightfully dark comedy, as disturbing as it is absurd. It's easy to believe the world of this dystopian detention center could truly exist in our present political climate. It's hapless inhabitants are suspect for a lack of love of sports, a shyness for group showers, and guilt by association. 

(left to right) Bilal Dardai and Salar Ardebili

Throw in a dose of immigrant struggles, parental sacrifice and screw ups, hidden infidelity, and infidel associates, and you have one masterful mashup. In this catacomb of coerced confessions, an Egyptian translator works who barely knows his native language or culture, a black boss suspects everyone, coverups and leaks abound, and big brother is always watching. Meanwhile, higher powers are gunning for dissolving the entire division. So the pressure's on for the facility to justify their own existence and success rates, to stay in the interrogation business. The entire cast is compelling with Salar Ardebili (Ahmed) and Bilal Dardai (Samir) as particular standouts, 

Yussef El Guindi’s thought provoking piece is recommended. Best of all, tickets for all performances are Pay-What-You-Can! Book now for best availability. Tickets are currently available at www.brokennosetheatre.com.

Bonnie Kenaz-Mara is a Chicago based writer-theater critic-photographer-videographer-actress-artist-general creatrix and Mama to two terrific teens. She owns two websites where she has published frequently since 2008: ChiILLiveShows.com (adult) & ChiILMama.com (family friendly). 

(left to right) Bradford Stevens, Bilal Dardai and Salar Ardebili

Broken Nose Theatre is pleased to continue its seventh season with the Midwest premiere of Yussef El Guindi’s dark comedy LANGUAGE ROOMS, directed by Kaiser Zaki Ahmed, playing April 19 – May 18, 2019 at BNT’s resident home, The Den Theatre (2A), 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood. Tickets are currently available at www.brokennosetheatre.com. Tickets for all Broken Nose Theatre 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. The press opening is Monday, April 22 at 7:30 pm.

(left to right) Salar Ardebili and Bassam Abdelfattah

LANGUAGE ROOMS features Bassam Abdelfattah, Salar Ardebili, Bilal Dardai and Bradford Stevens.

Ahmed loves America, and he’s proud to prove his patriotism whenever possible. He pays his taxes, he dresses for success at the office, and he’s made a point to be the best interrogator at this particular government detainment facility. So when a rumor swirls around the water cooler calling his loyalty into question, he works to do whatever’s necessary to maintain his reputation as one of “the good ones.” But when you’re an immigrant, can you ever truly be at home in a country always ready to view you as an enemy? Part The Office, part 1984, LANGUAGE ROOMS examines the paranoia polluting our political climate.

Comments Artistic Director Elise Marie Davis, “We at Broken Nose are consistently looking for plays that center around characters, or are set in worlds, that rarely have the opportunity to make it onstage, and Yussef's play is no different. Language Rooms is a dark comedy about state-sanctioned torture, a hilarious and horrifying balancing act in which the belly laughs are immediately followed by gut punches. After admiring the work he's done at his home company of Jackalope Theatre for years, we're thrilled to be working with director Kaiser Zaki Ahmed for the first time. We cannot wait for Chicago audiences to see what this cast and production team have in store.”

* Denotes BNT company member   ^ Denotes BNT artistic associate      

Location: The Den Theatre (2A), 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago
Dates: Previews: Friday, April 19 at 7:30 pm and Saturday, April 20 at 7:30 pm
Opening: Sunday, April 21 at 3 pm
Press performance: Monday, April 22 at 7:30 pm
Regular run: Thursday, April 25 – Saturday, May 18, 2019
Curtain Times: Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm; Sundays at 3 pm

Industry night: Monday, May 6 at 7:30 pm

Understudy night: Wednesday, May 15 at 7:30 pm

Tickets: Pay-what-you-can. Tickets are currently available at www.brokennosetheatre.com.

(left to right) Bilal Dardai and Salar Ardebili

(left to right) Bradford Stevens and Salar Ardebili 

About the Artists
Yussef El Guindi’s (Playwright) productions include The Talented Ones at Artists Repertory Theatre in Portland; Our Enemies: Lively Scenes of Love and Combat at Golden Thread Productions; An Evening with Activists at Cutting Ball Theater; Collaborator at Macha Monkey Productions; Threesome at Portland Center Stage, ACT and at 59E59 (winner of a Portland Drammy for Best Original Script); Pilgrims Musa and Sheri in the New World (winner of the Steinberg/ American Theater Critics Association’s New Play Award in 2012; and the 2011 Gregory Award) also at ACT and at Center Repertory Company (Walnut Creek, CA) 2013; and Language Rooms (Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award), co-produced by Golden Thread Productions and the Asian American Theater Company in San Francisco; at the Wilma Theater in Philadelphia (premiere), and at the Los Angeles Theater Center. Our Enemies: Lively Scenes of Love and Combat was also produced by Silk Road Theater Project and won the M. Elizabeth Osborn award. His plays Back of the Throat, Pilgrims Musa and Sheri in the New World, Jihad Jones and the Kalashnikov Babes, Such a Beautiful Voice is Sayeda’s and Karima’s City have been published by Dramatists Play Service. His play Ten Acrobats in an Amazing Leap of Faith is included in Salaam/Peace: An Anthology of Middle Eastern-American Playwrights, published by TCG, 2009. Our Enemies: Lively Scenes of Love and Combat is included in the anthology Four Arab American Plays published by McFarland Books. And Threesome is published by Broadway Play Publishing Inc. Yussef is the recipient of the 2010 Middle East America Distinguished Playwright Award, and Seattle’s 2015 Stranger’s Genius Award.

 (pictured) Bilal Dardai 

Kaiser Zaki Ahmed (Director) is a Chicago-based theatre director, actor and teacher. An alum of Columbia College Chicago’s Theatre Directing program, Kaiser specializes in actor-driven new American plays. Most recently, he assistant directed Guards at the Taj (Steppenwolf) and Hand to God (Victory Gardens). Kaiser was the Founding Artistic Director of Jackalope, from its inception in May of 2008 through the end of 2011, and continues to serve as the Associate Artistic Director. At Jackalope, Kaiser has directed the Jeff-Nominated 1980 (or Why I'm Voting for John Anderson), The Raid, The Killing of Michael X, Long Way Go Down, Slaughter City, The Last Exodus of American Men, and countless readings and short plays. Kaiser is also an Artistic Associate at The Artistic Home Theatre Company. A member there since 2005, he directed the Jeff-Nominated Midwest Premiere of The Late Henry Moss, House of Yes and assistant directed several others. Kaiser also directed Vanya (or That’s Life!) and Washer/Dryer at Rasaka Theatre. Kaiser is a 2015-16 Eugene O’Neill National Directors Fellowship Finalist, a 2016-17 Victory Gardens Directors Inclusion Initiative recipient and an Associate Member of SDC. Favorite acting work includes Ideation and Lunacy! (Jackalope Theatre), A Nice Indian Boy (Rasaka Theatre) and The Seagull (Artistic Home Theatre), The Awake (First Floor Theatre) and several film and commercial spots. He is represented by Gray Talent.


(left to right) Bassam Abdelfattah, Bradford Stevens and Salar Ardebili in Broken Nose Theatre’s Midwest premiere of LANGUAGE ROOMS. Photo by Austin D. Oie.


About Broken Nose Theatre:
Broken Nose Theatre is a Pay-What-You-Can theatre company. Founded in 2012, BNT was this 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.

Pay-What-You-Can At The Midwest Premiere of LANGUAGE ROOMS Via Broken Nose Theatre April 19 – May 18, 2019 at The Den Theatre

ChiIL Live Shows on our radar

Midwest Premiere!

Broken Nose Theatre Presents

LANGUAGE ROOMS

By Yussef El Guindi

Directed by Kaiser Zaki Ahmed

April 19 – May 18, 2019 at The Den Theatre

All Performances Pay-What-You-Can!

(left to right) Bradford Stevens, Bassam Abdelfattah, Salar Ardebili and Bilal Dardai in a publicity image for Broken Nose Theatre’s Midwest premiere of LANGUAGE ROOMS. Photo by Spenser Davis.

I'll be ChiILin' at The Den with Chi, IL's Broken Nose Theatre for the press opening April 22nd, so check back soon for my full review. Broken Nose Theatre is pleased to continue its seventh season with the Midwest premiere of Yussef El Guindi’s dark comedy LANGUAGE ROOMS, directed by Kaiser Zaki Ahmed, playing April 19 – May 18, 2019 at BNT’s resident home, The Den Theatre (2A), 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood. Tickets are currently available at www.brokennosetheatre.com. Tickets for all Broken Nose Theatre 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. 

LANGUAGE ROOMS features Bassam Abdelfattah, Salar Ardebili, Bilal Dardai and Bradford Stevens.

Ahmed loves America, and he’s proud to prove his patriotism whenever possible. He pays his taxes, he dresses for success at the office, and he’s made a point to be the best interrogator at this particular government detainment facility. So when a rumor swirls around the water cooler calling his loyalty into question, he works to do whatever’s necessary to maintain his reputation as one of “the good ones.” But when you’re an immigrant, can you ever truly be at home in a country always ready to view you as an enemy? Part The Office, part 1984, LANGUAGE ROOMS examines the paranoia polluting our political climate.

Comments Artistic Director Elise Marie Davis, “We at Broken Nose are consistently looking for plays that center around characters, or are set in worlds, that rarely have the opportunity to make it onstage, and Yussef's play is no different. Language Rooms is a dark comedy about state-sanctioned torture, a hilarious and horrifying balancing act in which the belly laughs are immediately followed by gut punches. After admiring the work he's done at his home company of Jackalope Theatre for years, we're thrilled to be working with director Kaiser Zaki Ahmed for the first time. We cannot wait for Chicago audiences to see what this cast and production team have in store.”

* Denotes BNT company member   ^ Denotes BNT artistic associate      

Cast (in alphabetical order): Bassam Abdelfattah (Nassar), Salar Ardebili (Ahmed), Bilal Dardai (Samir) and Bradford Stevens (Kevin).

Location: The Den Theatre (2A), 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago
Dates: Previews: Friday, April 19 at 7:30 pm and Saturday, April 20 at 7:30 pm
Opening: Sunday, April 21 at 3 pm
Press performance: Monday, April 22 at 7:30 pm
Regular run: Thursday, April 25 – Saturday, May 18, 2019
Curtain Times: Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm; Sundays at 3 pm
Industry night: Monday, May 6 at 7:30 pm
Understudy night: Wednesday, May 15 at 7:30 pm
Tickets: Pay-what-you-can. Tickets are currently available at www.brokennosetheatre.com.

About the Artists

Yussef El Guindi’s (Playwright) productions include The Talented Ones at Artists Repertory Theatre in Portland; Our Enemies: Lively Scenes of Love and Combat at Golden Thread Productions; An Evening with Activists at Cutting Ball Theater; Collaborator at Macha Monkey Productions; Threesome at Portland Center Stage, ACT and at 59E59 (winner of a Portland Drammy for Best Original Script); Pilgrims Musa and Sheri in the New World (winner of the Steinberg/ American Theater Critics Association’s New Play Award in 2012; and the 2011 Gregory Award) also at ACT and at Center Repertory Company (Walnut Creek, CA) 2013; and Language Rooms (Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award), co-produced by Golden Thread Productions and the Asian American Theater Company in San Francisco; at the Wilma Theater in Philadelphia (premiere), and at the Los Angeles Theater Center. Our Enemies: Lively Scenes of Love and Combat was also produced by Silk Road Theater Project and won the M. Elizabeth Osborn award. His plays Back of the Throat, Pilgrims Musa and Sheri in the New World, Jihad Jones and the Kalashnikov Babes, Such a Beautiful Voice is Sayeda’s and Karima’s City have been published by Dramatists Play Service. His play Ten Acrobats in an Amazing Leap of Faith is included in Salaam/Peace: An Anthology of Middle Eastern-American Playwrights, published by TCG, 2009. Our Enemies: Lively Scenes of Love and Combat is included in the anthology Four Arab American Plays published by McFarland Books. And Threesome is published by Broadway Play Publishing Inc. Yussef is the recipient of the 2010 Middle East America Distinguished Playwright Award, and Seattle’s 2015 Stranger’s Genius Award.

Kaiser Zaki Ahmed (Director) is a Chicago-based theatre director, actor and teacher. An alum of Columbia College Chicago’s Theatre Directing program, Kaiser specializes in actor-driven new American plays. Most recently, he assistant directed Guards at the Taj (Steppenwolf) and Hand to God (Victory Gardens). Kaiser was the Founding Artistic Director of Jackalope, from its inception in May of 2008 through the end of 2011, and continues to serve as the Associate Artistic Director. At Jackalope, Kaiser has directed the Jeff-Nominated 1980 (or Why I'm Voting for John Anderson), The Raid, The Killing of Michael X, Long Way Go Down, Slaughter City, The Last Exodus of American Men, and countless readings and short plays. Kaiser is also an Artistic Associate at The Artistic Home Theatre Company. A member there since 2005, he directed the Jeff-Nominated Midwest Premiere of The Late Henry Moss, House of Yes and assistant directed several others. Kaiser also directed Vanya (or That’s Life!) and Washer/Dryer at Rasaka Theatre. Kaiser is a 2015-16 Eugene O’Neill National Directors Fellowship Finalist, a 2016-17 Victory Gardens Directors Inclusion Initiative recipient and an Associate Member of SDC. Favorite acting work includes Ideation and Lunacy! (Jackalope Theatre), A Nice Indian Boy (Rasaka Theatre) and The Seagull (Artistic Home Theatre), The Awake (First Floor Theatre) and several film and commercial spots. He is represented by Gray Talent.

About Broken Nose Theatre:

Broken Nose Theatre is a Pay-What-You-Can theatre company. Founded in 2012, BNT was this 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.

OPENING: Midwest Premiere! of GIRL IN THE RED CORNER Via Broken Nose Theatre February 1 – March 2, 2019 at The Den Theatre

Midwest Premiere!

Broken Nose Theatre Presents

GIRL IN THE RED CORNER

By Stephen Spotswood

Directed by Elizabeth Laidlaw 

February 1 – March 2, 2019 at The Den Theatre

All Performances Pay-What-You-Can!

Broken Nose Theatre is pleased to continue its seventh season with the Midwest premiere of Stephen Spotswood’s drama GIRL IN THE RED CORNER, directed by Elizabeth Laidlaw, playing February 1 – March 2, 2019 at BNT’s resident home, The Den Theatre (2A), 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood. Tickets are currently available at www.brokennosetheatre.com. Tickets for all Broken Nose Theatre 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. 

I'll be out for the press opening February 4th so check back soon for my full review.

GIRL IN THE RED CORNER will feature BNT company member Elise Marie Davis* and artistic associate Kim Boler^ with Michelle Courvais, August N. Forman and Mark West.

Unemployed and fresh from an abusive marriage, Halo steps into a gym one day and signs up for mixed martial arts lessons. Her family thinks it’s ridiculous. Her trainer thinks she’s soft. But none of them know the anger that fuels her ambition. When it’s rage that brought you into the cage, are you really ready to see what winning looks like? GIRL IN THE RED CORNER is a visceral, fast-moving tale of self-discovery, one that allows women to take centerstage in a world so often dominated by men.

Comments Artistic Director Elise Marie Davis, “Girl in the Red Corner is a show that allows women and other marginalized voices to step into a story (and an arena) so often dominated by men, all while being unapologetically messy and complicated and real. There's something extremely empowering about allowing women to be the anti-hero, about giving us a platform to tell stories of characters who often muddle the best of intentions with poor execution. We are thrilled to have director Elizabeth Laidlaw, fight choreographer John Tovar, and a host of other guest artists joining us for this production. Broken Nose is proud to bring this play and these characters to Chicago audiences, with their scrapes, scars and bruises on display for all to see.”

The production team for GIRL IN THE RED CORNER includes Therese Ritchie (scenic design), Lizzie Cook (costume design), Cat Davis (lighting design), Isaac Mandel (sound design), Devon Green^ (props design), John Tovar (fight choreography), Alison Dornheggen (associate director), Madisen Dempsey (assistant director), Rose Hamill* (production manager), Dominique Zaragoza (technical director), Liz Gomez (master electrician) and Jenna Thiel (stage manager).

* Denotes BNT company member   ^ Denotes BNT artistic associate      
    

Cast (in alphabetical order): Kim Boler^ (Brinn), Michelle Courvais (Terry), Elise Marie Davis* (Halo), August N. Forman (Gina) and Mark West (Warren).

Location: The Den Theatre (2A), 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago
Dates: Previews: Friday, February 1 at 7:30 pm and Saturday, February 2 at 7:30 pm

Opening: Sunday, February 3 at 3 pm
Press performance: Monday, February 4 at 7:30 pm
Regular run: Thursday, February 7 – Saturday, March 2, 2019
Curtain Times: Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm; Sundays at 3 pm
Industry night: Monday, February 18 at 7:30 pm
Understudy night: Wednesday, February 27 at 7:30 pm
Tickets: Pay-what-you-can. Tickets are currently available at www.brokennosetheatre.com.

About the Artists
Stephen Spotswood (Playwright) is a DC-based playwright, educator and journalist, who received his MFA in playwriting from the Catholic University of America in 2009. At the 2017 Helen Hayes Awards, he received the Charles MacArthur Award For Outstanding New Play for Girl In The Red Corner. Produced works include: Doublewide (NNPN Rolling World Premiere); Girl In The Red Corner (The Welders); The Last Burlesque (Pinky Swear Productions); Walking The City Of Silence And Stone (Forum Theatre); In The Forest, She Grew Fangs (defunkt Theatre, Washington Rogues); We Tiresias (Best Drama, Capital Fringe Festival 2012); When the Stars Go Out (Bright Alchemy Theatre); Sisters of Ellery Hollow; The Resurrectionist King (Active Cultures Theatre); Off A Broken Road (Imagination Stage); and A Cre@tion Story for Naomi (Bright Alchemy). He is a current member of The Welders playwrights collective and a member of Forum Theatre’s artist ensemble.

Elizabeth Laidlaw (Director) has worked in Chicago and regional theatre professionally for 25 years. She is the founder and artistic director of Lakeside Shakespeare Theatre, begun in 2003. At LST, she has directed Romeo and Juliet and The Taming of the Shrew, and co-directed A Midsummer Night’s Dream (with Jeff Christian) and most recently Henry VIII, (with Christy Arington). She is also the co-producer (with Mia McCullough) of The Haven web series, co-directing episode 2. She assisted director Terry Kinney with East of Eden at Steppenwolf Theatre. This past season, she served as the intimacy consultant on The Doppelgänger, also at Steppenwolf, and as the violence and intimacy designer for A Moon for the Misbegotten at Writers Theatre. As an actor, Elizabeth has appeared onstage at Chicago Shakespeare, Steppenwolf, Writers Theatre, Court Theatre, The Goodman and many, many others. Film credits include the features, Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party, Into the Wake, Eastern College, Dimension and Three Days. Television includes Chicago PD and Crisis (NBC), Betrayal (ABC) and Boss (Starz), The Chicago Code (FOX). Ms. Laidlaw spent the autumn of 2018 filming The Red Line, a new drama series for Warner Bros and CBS television, written and produced by fellow Chicagoans Caitlin Parrish and Erica Weiss, Her voice can be heard narrating Hard Earned, a documentary produced by Kartemquin Films for Al-Jazeera America, and in numerous television commercials, audiobooks and video games. She received her BFA from Illinois Wesleyan University and completed post-graduate Shakespeare studies at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art of London, UK.


About Broken Nose Theatre:
Broken Nose Theatre is a Pay-What-You-Can theatre company. Founded in 2012, BNT was this 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 11 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.

OPENING: World Premiere of PLAINCLOTHES Via Broken Nose Theatre

ChiIL Live Shows On Our Radar:

World Premiere!

Broken Nose Theatre Launches Seventh Season with

PLAINCLOTHES

By Company Member Spenser Davis

Co-Directed by Kanomé Jones and Company Member Spenser Davis 

November 9 – December 15, 2018 at The Den Theatre

 

All Performances Pay-What-You-Can!

Here at ChiIL Live Shows, Broken Nose Theatre is a favorite of ours and we love that their “pay-what-you-can” policy, allows patrons to set their own price and ensuring theatre remains economically accessible for all audiences. 
I'll be out for the press opening November 12th so check back soon for my full review. 

Broken Nose Theatre is pleased to launch its seventh season with the world premiere dark comedy PLAINCLOTHES, written by company member Spenser Davis* and co-directed by Kanomé Jones and Davis. Developed with much of the team behind BNT’s runaway 2017 hit At The Table, PLAINCLOTHES will play November 9 – December 15, 2018 at its resident home, The Den Theatre (2A), 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood. 

Tickets are currently available at www.brokennosetheatre.com on a “pay-what-you-can” sliding scale. 

PLAINCLOTHES will feature BNT company members Elise Marie Davis* and David Weiss*, artistic associates Kim Boler^, Teresa Kuruvilla^, RjW Mays^ and Adam Soule^ with Rob Frankel, Ben Locke, Carmen Molina, Stephanie Shum and Alejandro Tey.

When a violent encounter with a shoplifter leaves half of their team fired or in the hospital, the security guards of a downtown Chicago retail store find themselves under corporate investigation. Short-staffed, ill prepared and faced with accusations of racial profiling that threaten to dismantle the crew, they’re forced to decide: do we admit to something we're not guilty of to save our jobs, or do we give the higher-ups a taste of what it’s like in the trenches? In the style of their breakout hit At The Table, Broken Nose Theatre and playwright Spenser Davis have assembled an all-star cast to develop this world premiere.

Comments playwright and co-director Spenser Davis, "For years, I worked as undercover security for a major retail store on the Michigan Avenue, and it never ceased to amaze me how separate my team's world felt from the average customer's: while they traveled up eight bright, glittery floors of merchandise, we were confined to a closet-turned-camera room with spotty air-conditioning and banker's boxes of pointless paperwork. The loss prevention team in Plainclothes find themselves in just such a camera room when the ground shifts underneath their feet.”

Adds Davis, “Last year, we produced a play called At The Table, a play from New York which originated from a lengthy development process between its writer-director and a pre-cast ensemble of actors; we decided to take a crack at that same process in Chicago, allowing us to create tailor-fit roles for the ensemble. And because this play has always been about the conversations it evokes, it became abundantly clear how important it was to have that conversation on both sides of the production's table. Having Kanomé co-leading this process will inherently enrich the material, keeping this story and its characters as authentic as possible."

The production team for PLAINCLOTHES includes: Evan Frank (scenic design), Rachel Sypniewski (costume design), Michael Joseph (lighting design), Isaac Mandel (sound design), Devon Green^ (props design), David Weiss* (dramaturg), Becca Holloway (assistant director), Therese Ritchie (technical director) Daryl Ritchie (master electrician) and Rose Hamill* (stage manager).

* Denotes BNT company member   ^ Denotes BNT artistic associate      
    

Location: The Den Theatre (2A), 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago
Dates: Previews: Friday, November 9 at 7:30 pm and Saturday, November 10 at 7:30 pm
Opening: Sunday, November 11 at 3 pm

Regular run: Thursday, November 15 – Saturday, December 15, 2018
Curtain Times: Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm; Sundays at 3 pm
Industry night: Monday, November 26 at 7:30 pm
Understudy night: Wednesday, December 12 at 7:30 pm
Tickets: Pay-what-you-can. Tickets are currently available at www.brokennosetheatre.com.

About the Artists

Spenser Davis (Playwright, Co-Director) is a longtime company member of Broken Nose Theatre, where he most recently directed Michael Perlman’s At The Table, named “One of the Best Shows of 2017” by Chicago Tribune, Time Out Chicago, Newcity and teen critic Ada Grey; it also received four Joseph Jefferson Awards, including Best Director/Play and Best Production/Play. Also at BNT, he has directed Perlman’s From White Plains, Elise Spoerlein’s A Phase, and several editions of Bechdel Fest. Outside of BNT, his directing credits include The Adventures of Spirit Force Five (The Factory Theater), Bachelorette (Level 11), numerous editions of the One Minute Play Festival, as well as work with A Red Orchid Theatre, American Theater Company, Chicago Dramatists, Strawdog, Mary-Arrchie, Hell in a Handbag, Oracle Productions, First Floor, Pride Films and Plays, Stage Left, Promethean Theatre and Arc Theatre. As a filmmaker, he’s the co-founder of Spilled Inc., a microbudget production company, and is the series director for SQUID, a short-form comedy series heading to Amazon Prime this Summer. As a playwright, he’s a past winner of Scotland’s Solas Festival, a finalist for the Actor Theater of Louisville’s Heideman Award, and his first full-length play Merge, about the rise and fall of the video game company Atari, closed The New Colony’s eighth season. His plays have been produced across the country and in Canada and have been published by Smith & Kraus New York. He’s also an ensemble member of The Factory Theater. Plainclothes is the first play in his trilogy The Mag Mile, which focuses on working class Chicagoans who are rarely seen onstage but are nevertheless the lifeblood that keeps the heart of the beautiful, brash, jagged edged city beating.

Kanomé Jones (Co-Director) is excited to be joining the Plainclothes Team. Most recently with Broken Nose, Kanomé directed the world premiere of Kingdom by Michael Allen Harris. She served as the Assistant Director for Radio Golf (Court Theatre) and for Insurrection: Holding History (Stage Left Theatre). Other past directing projects include Well Intentioned White People (SLT Residency), An Awaited Return (arciTEXT) and EL Stories: Riding the Line (Waltzing Mechanics). Past acting credits include Building the Wall and The Firestorm (Stage Left), The Book Club Play (16th Street Theatre), Twelfth Night (Midsommer Flight) and Titus Andronicus (Babes with Blades). She is the Casting Director for Strawdog Theatre Company and the Associate Producer for Midsommer Flight. Kanomé is also a proud alum of the Actors Theatre of Louisville Apprenticeship and a BFA graduate of Missouri State University.  

About Broken Nose Theatre:

Broken Nose Theatre is a Pay-What-You-Can theatre company. Founded in 2012, BNT was this 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 11 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.

Broken Nose Theatre Welcomes New Artistic Director and Managing Director

 New Leadership at Broken Nose Theatre:

Elise Marie Davis Named Artistic Director

Rose Hamill Named Managing Director

Elise Marie Davis. Photo Ian McLaren

Broken Nose Theatre announced two major leadership appointments this July. Associate Artistic Director Elise Marie Davis has been named the company’s new Artistic Director, succeeding Founding Artistic Director Benjamin Brownson. Brownson, who has led the company since its formation in 2012, is taking a brief sabbatical and will return as the company’s Executive Director in 2019. Additionally, Company Manager Rose Hamill will assume the newly created position of Managing Director.

Comments outgoing Artistic Director Benjamin Brownson, "Elise and Rose are amazingly talented theatre makers, administrators, leaders, collaborators and human beings. They have been pivotal to the company's success and growth in recent years, and I am thrilled for them to take on these roles and leadership of the company as we enter an exciting new chapter for Broken Nose."

BNT’s new Artistic Director Elise Marie Davis adds, “Broken Nose Theatre was my very first artistic home in Chicago, and I am honored to take on the mantle as its newest Artistic Director. I'm consistently reminded of how proud I am to be part of a company that strives for economic accessibility through our Pay-What-You-Can ticketing model, which opens the door wide to all potential patrons, regardless of socio-economic status. I'm also humbled to be joining the elite group of female-identifying artistic directors in our incredible city, many of whom I've looked up to for a great many years. I'm so excited to take this company into the next phase of its artistic growth.”

BIOGRAPHIES:

Elise Marie Davis has been a Broken Nose Theatre company member since 2013, after serving as an Associate Producer for their inaugural Bechdel Fest. She has served as both Casting Director and (since 2016) Associate Artistic Director. She works around town as an actor and playwright, and her credits include Lyric Opera, Strawdog, Route 66, Pride Films and Plays, Shattered Globe and The New Colony, among others. She also appears in Squid, a short-form comedy series premiering on Amazon Prime later this Summer. At BNT, she wrote and starred in her first full-length play A Phase, which has subsequently been taught at the University of Chicago, and was part of the cast of At The Table, which won four non-Equity Jeff Awards including Best Production/Play and Best Ensemble. Next at BNT, her short play Every Other Tuesday will be part of Bechdel Fest 6, opening at Steppenwolf’s 1700 Theatre in late July, and she will be onstage this Fall in Plainclothes, a world premiere written and directed by company member Spenser Davis. She is also a Factory Theater ensemble member and is represented by Big Mouth Talent Agency.

Rose Hamill is a freelance stage and production manager. Rose believes that the creation of theatre is an exploration of humanity in all of its honest, not-always-tidy complexities, and she's driven by this constant sense of discovery. Previously, Rose has served as the Company Manager of Broken Nose Theatre, as well as stage managed their productions of A Phase, Bechdel Fest 4 and At the Table, the latter of which won four non-Equity Jeff Awards including Best Production of a Play. She has also worked with Windy City Playhouse (This), Cock & Bull Theatre (Lecherous Honey), The New Colony (PUNK), and Babes with Blades Theatre Company (The Good Fight), among others. Rose is a member of the United States Institute of Technical Theater, where she was fortunate enough to participate in the Stage Management Mentorship Program years 2016 and 2017. Rose holds a Bachelors of Arts degree in Technical Theatre from Columbia College Chicago, with minors as a Teaching Artist and in Arts Administration. 

About Broken Nose Theatre:

Broken Nose Theatre is a Pay-What-You-Can theatre company. Founded in 2012, BNT was this 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 11 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.