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REDTWIST THEATRE ANNOUNCES CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM FOR ITS INAUGURAL
TWISTED PLAYFEST
AND HEADLINING PRODUCTION
TOTALITY OF ALL THINGS
DECEMBER 5, 2024 - JANUARY 19, 2025
AND PLAYS, PLAYWRIGHTS AND DIRECTORS FOR
TWISTED PLAYFEST, DECEMBER 17 - DECEMBER 22
Erik Gernand’s Totality of All Things, directed by Enrico Spada, is the headliner
and kicks off Twisted Playfest
Top: (L to R) Jacqueline Grandt, Kason Chesky, Philip C. Matthews
Bottom: (L to R) Suzy Krueckeberg, Aundria TraNay, Phil Aman
Award-winning Redtwist Theatre is proud to announce the roster of plays for its inaugural Twisted Playfest, December 17 - 22, and the cast and creative team for the headlining production in Twisted Playfest, The Totality of Things, written by Eric Gernand and directed by Enrico Spada, December 5, 2024 - January, 19, 2025, at Redtwist Theatre, 1044 W. Bryn Mawr Ave. Complete schedule and additional details are below. The Totality of All Things single tickets and Twisted Playfest reservations will be available on Monday, Nov. 18 at RedtwistTheatre.org with discounts available for seniors, students and industry professionals and pay-what-you-can for all Friday performances of The Totality of All Things.
Redtwist's inaugural new work incubator, Twisted Playfest features six plays at various stages of development. The plays are presented as staged readings, stand readings and a main stage production of Eric Gernand's The Totality of All Things. In addition to inclusion in Twisted Playfest, Redtwist supports its festival playwrights throughout the new year with additional readings and workshops.
“We look forward to the launch of the first Twisted Playfest at our newly renovated Redtwist Theatre,” said Co-Artistic Director Dusty Brown. “This new festival - six plays, 10 days, 20 performances, all Chicago - will introduce plays from Chicago playwrights and offer audiences a rare opportunity to see these new works.”
“The Twisted Playfest is the first step in these new plays’ incubation,” said Co-Artistic Director Eileen Dixon. “From our headliner The Totality of All Things to the staged readings to the stand readings, the inaugural roster of plays represents a wide variety of styles, ideas and themes. Redtwist is introducing this new work so that the playwrights may hear from audiences and contemporaries to continue the works’ development.”
The 2024 Twisted Playfest includes:
TWISTED PLAYFEST HEADLINER
The Totality of All Things
Headliner of the Twisted Playfest
December 5 - January 19, 2025
Written by Eric Gernand
Directed by Enrico Spada
Previews: Thursday, Dec.5 and Friday, Dec. 6 at 7:30 p.m.
Press Opening: Saturday, Dec. 7 at 7:30 p.m.
Performance Schedule:
Previews: Thursday, Dec.5 and Friday, Dec. 6 at 7:30 p.m.
Performances: Sunday, Dec. 8 at 3:30 p.m.
Thursday, Dec. 12 - Saturday, Dec. 14 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 15 at 3:30 p.m.
Thursday, Dec. 19 and Saturday, Dec. 21 at 8 p.m.
Thursday, Jan. 9 and Friday, Jan. 10 at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 11 at 3:30 and 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Jan. 12 at 3:30 p.m.
Thursday, Jan. 16 and Friday, Jan. 17 at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 18 at 3:30 and 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Jan. 19 at 3:30 p.m.
Redtwist Theatre, 1044 W. Bryn Mawr Ave.
Tickets: $35 with discounts available for seniors, students and industry professionals and pay-what-you-can for all Friday performances.
The centerpiece of Redtwist's inaugural Twisted Playfest is The Totality of All Things. The Totality of All Things introduces audiences to Judith Benson, “teacher-famous” for the award-winning student newspaper she proudly oversees at her small Indiana high school, a program that extols truth and integrity in journalism. At the start of a new school year, an anti-gay hate crime occurs calling everything Judith believes about inspiring the next generation of reporters and the definition of truth itself into question.
The cast of Totality of All Things is Redtwist Ensemble Member Jacqueline Grandt (she/her, Judith); Suzy Krueckeberg (she/her, DeeAnn); Philip Matthews (he/him, Gregg); Kason Chesky (he/him, Micah); Aundria TreNay (she/her, Ms. Carter); Phil Aman (he/him, Principal Benson); Hilary Sanzel (she/her, Judith understudy); Michelle Perry (she/her, DeeAnn understudy); Nate Brimner Smith (he/him, Gregg understudy); Zachary Cutter (he/him, Micah understudy); Andi Muriel (she/her, Ms. Carter understudy) and Hugo Balta (he/him, Principal Benson understudy).
The production team for Totality of All Things is Erik Gernand (he/him, playwright); Enrico Spada (he/him, director); Taylor Mercado Owen (he/him, stage manager); Emily Newmark (she/her, assistant director); Madeline Felauer (she/her, costume designer); Redtwist Ensemble Member Jeff Brain (he/him, props designer and technical director); Camille Pugliese (she/her, dramaturg); Nicholas Svoboda (he/him, sound designer); Brandii Champagne (they/them, scenic designer); Raine DeDominici (they/them/she/her, production manager) and Cat Davis (she/her/they/them, lighting designer).
TWISTED PLAYFEST STAGED READINGS
Fiona
Written by Zack Peercy
Directed by Jessica Love
Performance schedule: Tuesday, Dec. 17 at 8 p.m. and Saturday, Dec. 21 at 4 p.m.
Tickets: Pay-What-You-Can
Fiona is the performance of a lifetime. What starts as an examination of 25 letters all addressed to an unknown "Fiona" rapidly evolves, expands, contracts and explodes into an exploration of belief, reality, presentation and legacy.
Man Cave
Written by Caroline Kidwell
Directed by Co-Artistic Director Eileen Dixon
Performance schedule: Friday, Dec. 20 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 22 at 3 p.m.
Tickets: Pay-What-You-Can
Guess what? The world ended. And Hannah, a lifestyle vlogger, has been living alone in a bunker for five years. She’s an influencer with no one to influence until Wanda, a survivor, knocks on her door.
Keep It Light
Written by Toby Inoue
Directed by LeKecia Harris
Performance schedule:
Tickets: Wednesday, Dec. 18 at 8 p.m. and Saturday, Dec. 21 at 12 p.m.
Pay-What-You-Can
To find their way back to each other, two mixed-race half-sisters are forced to grapple with the complicated ways in which their mother's racism broke them apart. Winnie, half African-American, is a famous but canceled celebrity stand-up comedian and Tomi, half Asian-American, is an elementary school art teacher who stayed in their hometown. Tomi calls Winnie home when their mother becomes seriously ill and the sisters sort their mother's house as they accommodate her last wishes, including a comeback show for Winnie and a hospital wedding for Tomi.
TWISTED PLAYFEST STAND READINGS
You Sit Down and You Cry
Written by Ruben Carrazana
Directed by Joshua Servantez
Performance schedule: Thursday, Dec. 19 at 10 p.m and Sunday, Dec. 22 at 1 p.m.
Tickets: Pay-What-You-Can
The play is about a break-up. A really bad break-up. Like the worst. And about time. And how time heals. And how, sometimes, it doesn't. A play about moving on. And not moving on. An anti-romantic comedy about toxic masculinity and pain and suicide and pizza rolls and the United States Postal Service. A love letter to getting your heart crushed, because sometimes, you deserve it.
Murder in Residence
Written by MT Cozzola
Directed by Hannah Blau
Performance schedule: Friday, Dec. 20 at 5:30 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 22 at 5 p.m.
Tickets: Pay-What-You-Can
When a brilliant young poet disappears from an artist’s colony, her fellow writers weave alibis to shield their secrets from an unseen inspector who digs relentlessly for the truth. In a secluded mountain retreat, six ambitious women come together to write their masterpieces but switch to alibis when brilliant young Kenna meets a mysterious demise. As they struggle to shield their secrets, a relentless inspector digs for the truth. Everyone is lying - Kenna’s lover Mandy, rival Fern, would-be bestie Lynette…even the kindly cabbie who saw her last. In a race against time to unmask the killer, each must confront their deepest desires and wrestle with the bonds of love, art and community.
Deserted
Written by Melanie Coffey
Directed by Co-Artistic Director Dusty Brown
Performance schedule: Tuesday, Dec. 17 at 5:30 p.m. and Saturday, Dec. 21 at 2 p.m.
Tickets: Pay-What-You-Can
Jodie and Emma are the lucky winners of the Project's Soil competition, where they receive a truckload of soil and are to garden it with prairie grasses, native flowers and the vegetables of their choosing. But their well is drying up, the Neighbor keeps sneaking over and eating the soil and the couple is becoming less and less the good team they thought they were. Putting roots down in desertified land is never easy.
Following
Written by Ben F. Locke
Directed by Devin Christor
Performance schedule: Wednesday, Dec. 19 at 8 p.m., and Saturday, Dec. 21 at 10 a.m.
Tickets: Pay-What-You-Can
Darnell is an up and coming app designer. His popularity attracts a lot of fame and attention. It all seems great until he finds out that he's being stalked. Can Darnell solve the mystery before it's too late? Following explores what exactly it means to be an ally. Do we do what we do because it's the right thing to do or do we all have our own selfish motives that dictate what we deem as what's right and wrong?
Strange Fruit
Written by Brandon Wright
Directed by Rashaad A. Bond
Performance schedule: Friday, Dec. 20 at 10 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 22 at 11 a.m.
Tickets: Pay-What-You-Can
In quiet suburbia, a group of five come across the body of a black boy hanging from a tree. They take it upon themselves to figure out whodunit, but as they explore the nature of this violent hate crime true secrets start to become uncovered within themselves.
Short Changed
Written by Jordan Gleaves
Directed by Aja Singetary
Performance schedule: Wednesday, Dec. 18 at 5:30 p.m. and Saturday, Dec. 21 at 10 p.m.
Tickets: Pay-What-You-Can
Stan is homeless in the West End neighborhood of Atlanta and estranged from his brother. To make matters worse, Stan is about to lose his beloved “Mother,” Friendship Baptist Church, which is to be demolished and replaced by a new football stadium for the Atlanta Falcons. In the midst of the neighborhood’s rapid gentrification, Richard returns into Stan’s life with hopes of helping his younger brother get a leg up out of homelessness and avoid displacement. First, however, they must work to amend their relationship and work past moral differences. Is reconciliation possible and how much will it matter when the community around the brothers is changing with or without their participation?
Stage managers for Twisted Playfest are Marisa Langston (she/her), Eliot Colin (they/them/he/him) and Charlie Levinson (they/them/she/her).
Productions, participants and dates are subject to change.
ABOUT REDTWIST THEATRE RENOVATIONS
Redtwist partnered with the City of Chicago Department of Planning and Development to build back better following the COVID quarantine. Redtwist was selected as a finalist for a 3-to-1 matching grant from the City of Chicago, which provided up to $250,000 in funding to renovate its performance space, lobby and street frontage.
These renovations mean a fresh face for Redtwist’s corner of Bryn Mawr, drawing in audiences from across the city and bringing new life to a Historic District that has been devastated by COVID-19. On the Western side of the building, the lobby was reimagined; increasing accessibility and installing a new cafe to provide concessions for all Redtwist shows. Finally, it means a revived performance space with added production capabilities, which will allow the Company to continue creating thrilling performances in its intimate black box space.
ABOUT REDTWIST THEATRE
Redtwist, now celebrating its 20th anniversary, is an award-winning theatre company that stages up close and personal contemporary dramas annually in its intimate black box theatre housed proudly within the heart of Edgewater’s Bryn Mawr Historic District.
Intimate performances at Redtwist are designed to place the theatre patron in the midst of the stories being told, making them accessible and riveting. Redtwist strives for excellence with every project and endeavors to take risks while offering opportunities for up-and-coming actors, designers and directors to work with established talent. Redtwist provides the very best Chicago storefront theatre experience from excellence on stage, to warm hospitality in a clean, friendly environment.
