ChiIL Live Shows On Our Radar
TUTA Theatre Announces Summer Rep of
Celine Song’s TOM & ELIZA
Alternating With
White Rabbit, Red Rabbit
Plays to be performed in rotating repertory June 27 – August 16.
TUTA Theatre announces changes in two-play summer rep:
Celine Song’s TOM & ELIZA will now be paired with the experimental
WHITE RABBIT, RED RABBIT by Iranian playwright Nassim Soleimanpour
TUTA Theatre has announced a change in its two-play summer repertory. WHITE RABBIT, RED RABBIT will replace the replace the previously announced EVERY BRILLIANT THING and will play Sundays and Mondays through August 16. This highly experimental play by Iranian German playwright Nassim Soleimanpour, like some of his other plays, is performed cold by a different actor at each performance, with no rehearsal, no director, and no set. Company member Huy Nguyen will perform the play on opening night, with actors for the remaining performances to be announced. Forbidden to leave his country, playwright Nassim Soleimanpour distilled the experience of an entire generation in a wild, utterly original play. WHITE RABBIT, RED RABBIT is as much about contemporary Iran as it is about power dynamics in the rest of the world. Please note - this play is NOT overtly political and should not be portrayed as such. It operates on a deeper, metaphoric level, and very expressly avoids overt political comment. I'll be reviewing WHITE RABBIT, RED RABBIT for ChiIL Live Shows at the press opening Monday, July 7th, so check back shortly after for my full review. I reviewed Interrobang's version of this show back in 2018, and I'm eager to see what TUTA's style and the changing world over the past 7 years will bring to this fresh production. The show will play Sunday and Monday evenings through August 11.
Since its joint premiere in 2011 in Edinburgh and Summerworks festival, WHITE RABBIT RED RABBIT has been translated into more than 30 different languages and been performed over 3000 times by some of the biggest names in theatre and film including actors John Hurt, Whoopi Goldberg, Nathan Lane, Stephen Rea, Sinead Cusack, Marcus Brigstocke, Dominic West and film director Ken Loach. It was produced off-Broadway in New York in 2016. The production team for TUTA’s staging will be Co-Artistic Director Jacqueline Stone (Artistic Producer), Huy Nguyen (Artist Liaison), Keith Parham (Lighting Design), Becky Warner (Stage Manager), and Helen Lattyak (Creative Producer).
TUTA’s summer rep will begin on June 26 with the Chicago premiere of TOM & ELIZA by Celine Song, whose directorial film debut PAST LIVES (2023) received critical acclaim and was nominated for the Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay. Song’s following feature film, MATERIALISTS, opened to rave reviews on June 13. TUTA Co-Artistic Director Aileen Wen McGroddy will direct. The two plays will be performed in repertory through mid-August at TUTA Theatre, 4670 N. Manor Avenue, Chicago.
TOM & ELIZA, which premiered at Brooklyn, New York’s JACK theater in 2016, examines a young couple from their ordinary first date toward the end of civilization. In little more than an hour, with no intermission, the two characters use rapid-fire language to chronicle their entire relationship, mercilessly withholding nothing. A teethy battle of wills that centers on obsessions with bathing and book-burning, the play wakens both ecstasy and disgust with life. TUTA Co-Artistic Director Aileen Wen McGroddy, who was Jeff-nominated for her direction of the Jeff Award-winning ensemble of TUTA’s ATTEMPTS ON HER LIFE in summer 2024, is directing this Chicago premiere.
The two-hander TOM & ELIZA will be played by Clifton Frei and Seoyoung Park, who were both members of the Jeff Award-winning ensemble cast of ATTEMPTS ON HER LIFE. Keith Parham, Jeff-nominated for his lighting design of ATTEMPTS ON HER LIFE, is Lighting Designer. Tatiana Kahvegian, a 2024 Tony Award nominee for the scenic design of THE OUTSIDERS, is Set and Costume Designer. I'll be covering TOM & ELIZA for ChiIL Live Shows on Sunday, June 29th so check back soon for my full review. Previews begin June 26th. It will play an irregular schedule through August 16.
Seats for all performances of TOM & ELIZA and WHITE RABBIT, RED RABBIT can be reserved by purchasing in advance. Prices for all performances (excluding opening nights) are $20, $45 and $60 (plus a $3.00 per ticket fee). Any seating not reserved in advance will be available the day of the performance for in person, pay-what-you-choose tickets at the door 30 minutes before curtain time. Additional information on TUTA Theatre’s ticketing is available at www.tutatheatre.org. There is no late seating. If available, pay what-you-choose 30 minutes before curtain.
Clifton Frei and Seoyoung Park.
MORE PRODUCTION INFORMATION
TOM & ELIZA
By Celine Song
CHICAGO PREMIERE
Directed by Aileen Wen McGroddy
Performed by Seoyoung Park and Clifton Frei
June 26 – August 16, 2025
Performance Days: Vary per week. See schedule below.
Press Openings Sunday, June 29 at 7:30 pm and Monday, June 30 at 7:30 pm
TUTA Theatre, 4670 N Manor Ave, Chicago, IL 60625
Ticket Prices: $20 - $60
Tickets and more information at www.tutatheatre.org
Tom's mother and father made love
Tom was born
Tom grew up
Tom entered this restaurant
Tom is on a date
Eliza's mother and father made love
Eliza was born
Eliza grew up
Eliza entered this restaurant
Eliza is on a date
TOM & ELIZA is a dual meditation on the choices we make (and those we don't) in a world that spins relentlessly into the future. Performed in one long breath by two virtuosic actors, TUTA Co-Artistic director Aileen Wen McGroddy directs the Chicago premiere of this idiosyncratic work by Celine Song, writer of Oscar-nominated PAST LIVES and the recently released rom-com MATERIALISTS.
Performance Schedule:
Previews: Thursday 6/26 – 7:30 pm, Friday 6/27–7:30 pm, Saturday 6/28 – 7:30, pm
Openings: Sunday 6/29 – 7:30 pm and Monday 6/30 – 7:30 pm
Regular Run: Thursday 7/3 – 7:30 pm, Thursday 7/10 - 7:30 pm, Friday, 7/11 – 7:30 pm, Saturday 7/12 – 7:30 pm, Sunday 7/13 – 2:00 pm, Thursday 717 – 7:30 pm, Saturday 7/19 – 7:30 pm, Sunday 7/20 – 2:00 pm, Thursday 7/24 – 7:30 pm, Friday 7/25 – 7:30 pm, Sunday 7/27 – 2:00 pm, Thursday 7/31 – 7:30 pm, Saturday 8/2– 7:30 pm, Sunday 8/3 – 2:00 pm, Thursday 8/7 – 7:30 pm, Saturday 8/9– 7:30 pm, Sunday 8/10 – 2:00 pm, Friday 8/15 – 7:30 pm, Saturday 8/16 – 7:30 pm
Additional performances listed above in bold. Monday 7/28 – 7:30 pm will now be a performance of WHITE RABBIT, RED RABBIT.
WHITE RABBIT, RED RABBIT
by Nassim Soleimanpour
Presented in association with Nassim Soleimanpour Productions
July 6 – August 11, 2025
Press Opening Monday, July 7 at 7:30 pm
Performance days and times vary per week
TUTA Theatre, 4670 N Manor Ave, Chicago, IL 60625
Ticket $20 - $60
Ticketing and more information at www.tutatheatre.org
Forbidden to leave his country, playwright Nassim Soleimanpour distilled the experience of an entire generation in a wild, utterly original play. WHITE RABBIT RED RABBIT is as much about contemporary Iran as it is about power dynamics in the rest of the world. The play is performed cold by a different actor at each performance, with no rehearsal, no director, and no set.
Performance Schedule
Preview: Sunday 7/6 – 7:30 pm.
Press Opening: Monday, 7/7 – 7:30 pm
Regular Run: Sunday 7/13 – 7:30 pm, Monday 7/14 – 7:30 pm, Sunday 7/20 – 7:30 pm, Monday 7/21 – 7:30 pm, Sunday 7/27 – 2:00 pm, Monday 7/28 – 7:30 pm, Sunday 8/3 – 7:30 pm, Monday 8/4 – 7:30 pm, Sunday 8/10 – 7:30 pm, Monday 8/11 – 7:30 pm.
BIOS
Celine Song (Writer, TOM & ELIZA) is a Canadian director, playwright, and screenwriter based in New York City. Her directorial film debut PAST LIVES (2023) received critical acclaim and was nominated for the Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay. Song's other plays include ENDLINGS and THE SEAGULL ON THE SIMS 4 FAMILY, and THE FEAST. According to her biography on The Playwright's Realm, "she has been awarded residences, fellowships, and commissions from MTC/Sloan, Sundance, the Millay Colony for the Arts, the MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, and the Edward F. Albee Foundation." Her next film project, MATERIALISTS, starring Dakota Johnson, Pedro Pascal, and Chris Evans, was released in theatres on June 13, 2025.
Aileen Wen McGroddy (Director, TOM & ELIZA; TUTA Co-Artistic Director) is a Chinese and Irish American theatre director, educator, and producer of live events. She is a co-artistic director of TUTA Theatre Chicago. She is also the Creative Producer for the Writing is Live Festival at Brown University, a member of the Roundabout Directors Group, a past 2050 Fellow at New York Theatre Workshop, and the BOLD Resident Director at Northern Stage. MFA Directing from Brown-Trinity. Past work includes: ATTEMPTS ON HER LIFE (TUTA, Jeff Award winner for Ensemble – Play), A CHRISTMAS CAROL (Trinity Rep); THE CHINESE LADY (Kitchen Theatre and Geva Theatre Center); SENSE AND SENSIBILITY (Northern Stage); AIRNESS (Breckenridge Backstage Theatre); THE LATE WEDDING, THE DUMB WAITER, SUMMER AND SMOKE, and THE TEMPEST (Brown-Trinity); COLD WAR CHOIR PRACTICE, THROWBACK ISLAND, ON THE Y-AXIS, AKIRA KUROSAWA EXPLAINS HIS MOVIES AND YOGURT (Writing is Live); MR. BURNS: A POST-ELECTRIC PLAY (Adelphi); THE GLASS MENAGERIE, OR,, DANI GIRL (Winnipesaukee Playhouse); KNUFFLE BUNNY: A CAUTIONARY MUSICAL and THE SNOWY DAY (Emerald City Theatre); MONTAUCIEL TAKES FLIGHT (Lifeline Theatre); ULYSSES (The Plagiarists); A HERO’S JOURNEY, THE HUNTING OF THE SNARK, ROBIN HOOD, and THE PIED PIPER (The Forks & Hope Ensemble); THE WHISKEY RADIO HOUR, WAKE: A FOLK OPERA, KODACHROME TELEPHONE and SIGN OF RAIN (The Whiskey Rebellion). She has directed readings for New York Theatre Workshop, The Bushwick Starr, Clubbed Thumb, NY Classical Theatre, The Yale Drama Prize, Northern Stage, and Babes with Blades.
Jacqueline Stone (Artistic Producer, WHITE RABBIT, RED RABBIT; TUTA Co-Artistic Director) Jacqueline Stone is honored to be Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director of TUTA. Her TUTA directing credits include THE LONG CHRISTMAS DINNER, the world premiere of HEDDA GABLER (as well as adaptor), Chicago and New York premieres (59E59 Theaters) of Adam Rapp's THE EDGE OF OUR BODIES, world premiere of THE ANYWAY CABARET (AN ANIMAL CABARET), and U.S. premiere OF THE SILENT LANGUAGE. Her TUTA performance credits include FULTON STREET SESSIONS, BAAL, THE WEDDING (1996, 2010, 2011), UNCLE VANYA (2008, 2009), A STILL LIFE IN COLOR, THE BIRDS, THE SWEET LITTLE PRINCE, ALICE, and THE HOUR.
In addition to TUTA, Stone currently serves as Producing Artistic Director of Breckenridge Backstage Theatre in Breckenridge, CO. BBT directing credits include the Colorado premiere of Jim DeVita and Josh Schmidt’s musical adaptation of THE GIFT OF THE MAGI, MT Cozzola’s A LADY’S GUIDE TO MOUNTAINS (Denver Fringe), and A CHRISTMAS STORY. This spring she will direct EVERY BRILLIANT THING.
From 2016 - 2020, Stone served as Artistic Director of Emerald City Theatre Company, Chicago's largest professional theatre serving young audiences. ECT directing credits include the Chicago premiere of FANTASTIC MR. FOX, the Chicago premiere of KEN LUDWIG'S 'TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS (Broadway Playhouse), the Chicago premiere of THE SNOWY DAY & OTHER STORIES, the world premiere of MOTHER GOOSE'S GARDEN, world premiere of PETER RABBIT (also adapter), JUNIE B. JONES, RAMONA QUIMBY, and the world premiere of Mo Willems' DON'T LET THE PIGEON DRIVE THE BUS.
Select Chicago directing credits include Strawdog Theatre, Chicago Dramatists, Chicago Immersive, Broadway in Chicago, Piven Theatre, The Second City, Mudlark Theater, Akvavit Theatre, Step Up Productions, 20% Theatre Company, You & Me Productions, and DCASE. Jacqueline is co-founder of Sirens, the longest running all-female improv group in the country. She has appeared and created over 200 original shows with them.
Stone taught acting and improvisation at The Second City for ten years and Columbia College Chicago for five years. She spent twelve years as Emerald City Theatre's Education Director, building and fostering new acting programs for young people ages 3.5 - 13 years old. Other select teaching credits include The Faculty of Dramatic Arts (Belgrade, Serbia), Chicago Improv Festival, Miami Improv Festival, Duke University's FUQUA School of Business, UCLA, and University of Chicago.
ABOUT TUTA THEATRE
TUTA Theatre was established in 1995 in Washington, DC by co-founders Zeljko and Natasha Djukic, who brought a unique sense of artistic expression from their European homeland. In 2002, they relocated the company to Chicago. In the ensuing 23 years, TUTA has presented numerous US premieres of foreign plays from France, Russia, Austria, and Serbia. TUTA has produced seven world premieres, eight US premieres, four Midwest premieres and many modern re-imaginings of classics. In 2012, longtime company member Jacqueline Stone stepped into the role of Artistic Director, and TUTA added productions for youth with the US premiere of THE SILENT LANGUAGE. TUTA’s productions have been listed on Chicago critics’ ‘best of the year’ list eight times in the past 10 years and have been produced nationally (in NYC and LA) and internationally (in Serbia with the National Theatre in Belgrade).In 2023, TUTA named a new leadership structure with Co-Artistic Directors Aileen Wen McGroddy, Aziza Macklin, and Jacqueline Stone. Brad Gunter is Managing Director.
