THE SECOND CITY PRESENTS SHE THE PEOPLE October 5 – November 23, 2024 in The Second City’s UP Comedy Club,

ChiIL Live Shows On Our Radar

THE FUTURE IS FUNNY

LEGENDARY COMEDY THEATER THE SECOND CITY PRESENTS

SHE THE PEOPLE

Here at ChiIL Live Shows and ChiIL Mama, we've seen several iterations of She The People and we love it! Bring your besties and enjoy this fiercely funny, female powered show that will have you laughing, empathizing, and shouting "me too".  Just in time for election season, SHE THE PEOPLE is in the house. Don't miss this!

ChiIL Mama, Bonnie Kenaz-Mara and Kathleen Roman

Catherine Hellmann & ChiIL Mama, Bonnie Kenaz-Mara 

Brat summer is over. Now it’s time to Fall, Patriarchy! Laugh, cheer, and rise up as The Second City proudly presents, SHE THE PEOPLE – a theatrical revolution loaded with a dynamic blend satirical sketch comedy, epic original songs, and razor-sharp improv delivered by The Second City’s fearlessly funny queens of comedy. 

She the People isn’t just a hilarious show, it empowers audiences to take a stand and make real changes. This diverse and supercharged Second City ensemble drops an electric, unapologetic, and high-key hilarious CELEBRATION of the strength, resilience, and brilliance of women everywhere. She the People is NOW.

Photo Credit: Bonnie Kenaz-Mara 

She The People is written by the casts of The Second City with Carly Heffernan, Carisa Barreca, and Marla Caceres and features Lexi Alioto, Alex Bellisle, Marla Caceres, Mary Catherine Curran, Sayjal Joshi, and Daryn Robinson. The music director is Lisa McQueen and stage managers are Izzy Patt and Bree Bartman.

Photo Credit: Bonnie Kenaz-Mara 

The producing team includes Ed Wells (CEO), Parisa Jalili (COO/CRO), Elizabeth Howard (VP of Production), Jen Ellison (VP, Head of Creative), Jeremy Smith (Assistant General Manager & Managing Producer)

SHE THE PEOPLE plays for a limited run Saturday nights at 8 p.m. October 5 – November 23.  in The Second City’s UP Comedy Club located at 230 W North Ave, 2nd Floor of Piper’s Alley, Chicago. Tickets, starting at $29, are available at The Second City Box Office (230 W. North Ave, 1st Floor, Piper's Alley), by phone at 312-337-3992 or online at www.secondcity.com.  

 

About The Second City

The Second City opened its doors in 1959 as a small comedy cabaret and has since grown to become the world's most influential name in improvisation and comedy. It celebrates its 65th year in business on December 16th, 2024. The Second City's stages, Touring Companies, and Training Centers across North America have proudly been the launch pad and artistic home for many of the funniest performers, writers, directors, and comedic minds on the planet.

For more information on The Second City, visit www.secondcity.com and follow The Second City on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

Photo Credit: Bonnie Kenaz-Mara 

OPENING: NEW She the People: The Resistance Continues at Second City

ChiIL Live Shows on our radar

Revamped She the People Re-Conquers UP Comedy Club at The Second City

I'll be ChiILin' with Chi, IL's infamous Second City for the relaunch of The Second City's She The People: The Resistance Continues on March 14th, so check back soon for my full review. She The People is one of my favorite Second City shows to date and I can't wait to see the new material they've added. The women of She the People are breaking ceilings and taking names. If you've heard the old cliche that feminists are humorless, you'll never believe it again. This show is fierce, funny and unapologetically feminist. You'll never look at advertising, pop culture, and dating quite the same way again. Don't miss this! 

Bonnie Kenaz-Mara (AKA: ChiIL Mama) and Chicago artist, Kathy Blankley Roman, ChiILin' at the press opening of Chi, IL's She The People, January 2018.

The Second City’s knockout show She the People: The Resistance Continues is electrifying UP Comedy Club with a refreshed name, updated material, new cast members, and all of its signature witty, empowering bite. The all-female, all-funny show directed by Carly Heffernan welcomes Mary Catherine Curran, Sayjal Joshi, and Kaye Winks who join original cast members Carisa Barreca, Alex Bellisle, and Katie Caussin.

“The Second City has never been lacking for new material, and just like entertainment juggernaut Blue Man Group or the most recent tour of Miss Saigon, art must evolve to stay true and relevant and inspiring to its audience,” said Second City CEO and Executive Producer Andrew Alexander. “People coming back to She the People for the second or third time will be delighted to see that about half of the show is brand new.”

"Our goal is, and always has been, to satirize the woes of being a woman in this wild world while also empowering the audience to take a stand and make real change. The show bounces around everything our writing team knows are hot button topics these days--dating, body positivity, motherhood, and what might prove to be the most important election of our lifetime. It's a call to action bundled up inside a party, and we're all proud to be part of it." says director and head writer Carly Heffernan.

She the People first hit The Second City in September 2017. After its smash run in UP Comedy Club, the show brought its tour-de-female-force to Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in Washington, DC, where it earned a Helen Hayes award nomination and became the highest grossing show in the theatre’s history. “It’s a fast-paced, wild ride of a show that throws off sparks,” said MD Theatre Guide. DC Metro called the show “a dip into the often hilariously unbelievable or absurd situations that women– queer women, women of color, plus-sized women– find themselves in on a daily basis, and it does so not just playfully, but with a deep intelligence and purpose that never veers into the pedantic.”

She the People was originally written by Carisa Barreca, Alex Bellisle, Marla Caceres, Katie Caussin, Carly Heffernan, Maria Randazzo, Rashawn Nadine Scott, Tien Tran, Kimberly Michelle Vaughn, and Lauren Walker. Additional material for the re-launched production was written by Carisa Barreca, Alex Bellisle, Katie Caussin, Mary Catherine Curran, Carly Heffernan, Alexis J. Roston, and Kaye Winks.  Other team members include Mary Mahoney (Music Director/Original Music/Sound Designer), Abby Beggs (Lighting Designer), and Jaci Entwisle (Stage Manager).

She the People plays in The Second City’s UP Comedy Club (230 West North Avenue). Tickets start at $31.00 and are available by phone at 312-337-3992 or online at www.secondcity.com. 

The show schedule is as follows:

Thursdays @ 8:00pm
Fridays @ 8:00pm
Saturdays @ 8:00pm
Sundays @ 7:00pm

About the Artists
CARISA BARRECA (Ensemble/Assistant Director/Choreographer) is thrilled to be a part of She the People. She is an alumna of The Second City's e.t.c. stage, where she wrote and performed in three critically acclaimed revues. She has had the honor of performing at Lyric Opera of Chicago
with Sir Patrick Stewart and Renée Fleming in The Second City's Guide to the Opera, at Goodman Theatre and the Kennedy Center with Twist Your Dickens and wrote and performed in Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and The Second City's collaboration The Art of Falling. Follow her @Cinderisa.

ALEX BELLISLE (Ensemble) is thrilled to be working on She the People! A Chicago-based actress and comedian, Alex is one-half of the improv and sketch duo Girlish, which has performed its self-titled show around the country, including at the New York International Fringe Festival. Other credits include The Best of The Second City, Feminine Wilds, PANTS!, No Selfie Control and Just Being Honest. Alex can be seen performing with various improv groups around Chicago, including Gone Gone at The iO Theater.

KATIE CAUSSIN (Ensemble) is originally from Springfield, VA, and received her degree in Theater from Radford University. She has been an actor in Chicago for over 20 years, many of them with The Second City as part of their Touring Company and Theatricals shows. Most recently, she returned from a month-long run of She the People at the Woolly Mammoth Theater in Washington, D.C.  Previously, she appeared as Mrs. Cratchit in Twist Your Dickens at Goodman Theater and toured around the US in The Realish Housewives of (Your City Here). Katie has also performed with Second City for the USO in the Balkans and at both the iO and Annoyance theaters in Chicago. On camera, Katie has appeared in an episode of Chicago Justice on NBC and has been featured on the Onion Network’s Special Report webseries.

MARY CATHERINE CURRAN (Ensemble) is so excited to join this cast of badass women! MC studied Theatre Performance at the University of Maryland and trained at The Second City Conservatory and iO Theater in Chicago. She has improvised, written, performed, and directed shows all over Chicago, at the Annoyance (Steamworks, Bite Size Broadway, Burlesque is More) and iO (Virgin Daiquiri, Lil' Tooties, One Woman Space Jam). MC just finished the debut run of The Second City's Love Factually at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. Follow @itismarycatherine on Insta and @yomarycatherine on Twitter for great content.

SAYJAL JOSHI (Ensemble) hails from North Carolina where she earned her BA in theater from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and co-founded Greensboro’s first improv comedy club, The Idiot Box. For sixteen years, she has been writing, performing, and teaching theater, sketch, improv, film, guitar comedy, and stand-up all over the universe. Credits include The Second City e.t.c., the Kennedy Center, Goodman Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Zanie’s Comedy Club, The Laugh Factory, The Second City Touring Company, The Annoyance Theater, iO (formally Improv Olympic), ComedySportz, Laugh Out Loud Theater, and the critically acclaimed Asian-American sketch ensemble Stir-Friday Night. Follow her @SayjalJoshi.

KAYE WINKS (Ensemble) is #blessed to be alongside the fabulous ladles of She the People! Kaye trained with the Moscow Art Theater. She recently performed her hit solo show TOKEN to sold-out audiences at The Second City Training Center and toured it to UCB LA, Out of Bounds Comedy Festival, and United Solo Theater Fest In NYC. She is proudly repped by Shirley Hamilton and NV Talent.

CARLY HEFFERNAN (Director/Head Writer) is an award-winning alumna of The Second City
Toronto, where she wrote and performed in four Mainstage revues. She recently co-wrote the hit show The Second City Guide to the Symphony and toured with it across Canada and the United States. She directed the critically acclaimed Second City Toronto Mainstage revue Come What Mayhem!, as well as for The Second City Touring Company and several Norwegian Cruise Line shows. Carly currently writes for Second Jen (City TV), The Irrelevant Show (CBC Radio) and Air Farce Canada 150 special (CBC).

MARY MAHONEY (Music Director/Original Music/Sound Design) is thrilled to be working with the talented women of She the People. Mary has worked as a Musical Director for sketch and improv comedy all over the continent while touring with Second City Theatricals aboard the Norwegian Dawn and with The Second City Touring Company. A former music faculty member of Western Washington University, she is now a proud faculty member at The Second City Training Center.

ABBY BEGGS (Lighting Design) is excited to be joining The Second City on this show. When she's not in the booth at The Second City, she can be found stage managing, directing, and composing music for theater around town. Stage management credits include: L’enfant et les Sortilèges, L’incoronazione di Poppea (Roosevelt University), The Out of Tooners (Off-Color Theatre Company}, Gallo (Guerilla Opera), Blue Window (Brown Box Theatre Project), The Scene, Good People, and Barefoot in the Park (Dorset Theatre Festival), among others.

JACI ENTWISLE (Stage Manager) is excited to return to Second City for She the People, having
previously worked on #DateMe in UP Comedy Club, as well as on stage management teams in
Sonoma (Transcendence Theatre Company), Philadelphia (Quintessence Theatre Group) and
Chicago (Goodman Theatre, Remy Bumppo Theatre Company, A Red Orchid Theatre, American Blues Theater).




About The Second City
The Second City is the leading brand in improv-based sketch comedy. With theatres and training centers in Chicago, Toronto and Hollywood, 11 full time touring ensembles, thriving corporate communications and theatricals divisions as well as television and film operations, The Second City has been called "A Comedy Empire" by The New York Times. The Second City has a current student body of 3,500 per week and is the largest school of improvisation and sketch comedy in the world.

NEXT FRIDAY: One Night Only Staged Reading of All New Feminist Play "Reap The Grove" March 15th at The Den Theatre

ChiIL Live Shows on our radar

REAP THE GROVE

By Caity-Shea Violette

One night only staged reading of an all-new feminist play

Directed by Julie Proudfoot

March 15, 2019 - 7:30 PM 

**Winner of the 2017 Artemisia Fall Festival**

Staged reading of dramedy REAP THE GROVE set for Friday, March 15 at The Den

Caity-Shea Violette’s play of a family of women reconnecting in the face of a life-altering decision was the winner of the 2017 Artemisia Fall Festival

Caity-Shea Violette’s heartbreakingly funny new play is a riveting story about a family of women struggling to reconnect as they react to an unexpected end-of-life decision. This new dramedy was the winner of Artemisia’s 2017 Fall Festival of new plays, earning it this staged reading. Artemisia’s Founding Artistic Director Julie Proudfoot will direct the reading, to be performed at The Den Theatre, 1331 N. Milwaukee, on Friday, March 15 at 7:30 pm.

In REAP THE GROVE, Sandra and Nan have a loving marriage, estranged daughters and a very special problem.  Sandra has decided to end her life on her own terms following a terminal diagnosis.  She summons her two daughters, Judith and Beckah, home to spend her final days with them.  REAP THE GROVE examines this family of women authentically, fearlessly and with a big dose of smart humor.  

Proudfoot’s cast for the reading includes Denise Hoelfich  (Compass Theatre’s WHAT WE’RE UP AGAINST) as Sandra; Justine Serino (of productions with The Gift, Silk Road Rising and many others) as Nan; Tina El Gamal (I CALL MY BROTHERS with Interrobang) as Beckah; and Elisabeth Del Toro (SHE KILLS MONSTERS with The Cuckoo’s Theater Project) as Judith.

Playwright Caity-Shea Violette is a Chicago native currently pursuing her MFA in playwriting at Boston University. She will return to Chicago for this one-night-only reading and participate in a post-reading discussion led by director Julie Proudfoot.  Violette has been working closely on the script with Proudfoot, who is a story analyst for HBO Films and Fremantle Media in addition to her work as a stage director and actress. Violette says, “Artemisia will be a powerful home to nurture this story and further empower me to push my artistic bravery to new heights to discover and honor each layer of these four women."

REAP THE GROVE is another example of Artemisia’s mission to find and develop dynamic and empowering new plays with compelling female characters who have agency, independence, and are the focal point of their own narratives. The company’s development process includes its annual Fall Festival, in which new scripts each year are given public readings; a close collaboration between Artistic Director Proudfoot and the playwright on a developmental workshop with audience discussion of each festival’s winner the following year; and a culminating fully-staged production of that play with a multi-week run the year after that.  Artemisia will stage the Midwest Premiere of SWEET TEXAS RECKONING by Traci Godfrey, winner of Fall Festival 2016, from June 7-30, 2019 at The Den.

Tickets for REAP THE GROVE are $15 and are now on sale at www.artemisiatheatre.org. 

CAITY-SHEA VIOLETTE (playwright) is a Chicago-based playwright and actress. Her national award-winning work has been seen in Washington D.C., New York City, Minneapolis, Las Vegas, Toronto, Denver, and Chicago. She holds a BFA in Theatre from the University of Minnesota, Duluth and is a graduate of the St. Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists. Caity-Shea is currently pursuing her MFA in playwriting at Boston University and is passionate about exploring trauma, invisible disabilities, and gender-based violence, by creating new work for women.

Caity-Shea’s awards and recognition include: National Award Winner of the 2019 Susan Glaspell Playwriting Festival, Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival New Play Competition (National Finalist), The Kennedy Center's National Partners of the American Theatre Playwriting Excellence Award (Winner), Shakespeare's Sister Playwriting Fellowship (National Semi-Finalist), InspiraTO Playwriting Contest (Winner), Kennedy Center’s Irene Ryan Acting Competition (National Finalist), Kennedy Center's David Mark Cohen National Playwriting Award (National Semi-Finalist), Kennedy Center's National Ten-Minute Play Competition (National Finalist, National Semi-Finalist), Kennedy Center's John Cauble for Outstanding Short Play (Regional Runner-Up). More information available at www.caitysheaviolette.com. 


JULIE PROUDFOOT (Director) As Founder and Artistic Director, Julie is the vision behind Artemisia, selecting the plays that are featured each season in the annual fall festival and developing and directing the theatre’s premiere productions.  An actor, director and producer, Julie is proud to be part of the amazing Chicago Theatre community and make the city home to Artemisia.  Julie’s work as an actor was most recently seen on NBC’s popular series CHICAGO MED, and as a performing understudy in TimeLine’s outstanding production of A SHAYNA MAIDEL. Julie has also acted with Shakespeare Project of Chicago, Equity Library Theatre, Nebraska Rep and Artemisia, among others, and has numerous Off-Broadway and regional theatre credits.  Julie is a story analyst for HBO Films and Fremantle Media and has extensive experience developing, directing and producing new work.




The Den Theatre
1331 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago
All seats $15.00
More info & tickets at http://artemisiatheatre.org/plays/



ABOUT ARTEMISIA: A CHICAGO THEATRE
Founded in 2011, Artemisia, A Chicago Theatre is a professional, not-for-profit theatre that produces all-new, dynamic and empowering plays that center on women who have agency, independence, and are the focal point of their own narratives, to create gender parity both onstage and off. Each season, Artemisia produces its Fall Festival of new play readings as well as fully staged productions of new plays it has developed. Artemisia is a 501 c 3 organization and, as such, relies heavily on public support to fund theatre that promotes equality and social justice for all women and girls.  

Artemisia Gentileschi was a Baroque artist whose paintings depicted violence with fierce honesty and elegance. For centuries after her death, her art was attributed to men. Feminist curators in the late 1970’s rediscovered Artemisia, who is now considered the greatest female painter prior to the modern period. A common theme in Gentileschi’s later work is women in moments of power, or triumph, which is why she is the perfect namesake for Artemisia.

FEST ALERT: ARTEMISIA FALL FESTIVAL of Feminist Plays Sept. 24-Oct. 3

ARTEMISIA FALL FESTIVAL 2018 

Sept. 24-Oct. 3

Annual festival of feminist plays will include staged readings of six new works

ARTEMISIA FALL FESTIVAL 2018

September 24-26 and October 1-3, 2018

Mondays – Wednesdays, 7:30 PM each evening

The Edge Theater

5451 N. Broadway, Chicago

Ticket prices for $10 for individual plays or $25 for a VIP Pass good for any three admissions to an Artemisia Theatre event during the 2018-19 season. Tickets can be purchased at www.artemisiatheatre.org or by phone at 312-725-3780.

Here at ChiIL Live Shows and ChiIL Mama we're all about empowering women, giving voice to diverse experiences, and fighting inequity in the arts. As a female theatre critic and small business owner, I adore Artemisia's tag line, Theatre -- About Women For Everyone. Women centered stories are not a niche market to be marginalized. It's about time that the 51% have a say in the stories that define universal human tragedies, triumphs and the relationships in between. It's past time to go beyond just straight, white, male stories as the dominant art form in our culture. I'm particularly excited by Artemisia's festival team, a diverse group of artists who are significant players in the theater community: 

*Jamal Howard, an African-American, has directed for Emerald City and New American Folk Theatre; 
*Carol Ann Tan, an Asian-American, has directed with Haven and Otherworld and is currently a dramaturg on Vietgone at Writers; 
*Aaron Sawyer, founding AD of Red Theater, who directed R&J The Vineyard  (the Romeo & Juliet with hearing-impaired actors)
*Beth Wolf, founding AD of Midsommer Flight (free Shakespeare in the parks)
*Rachel Sledd Iannantuoni, who has acted in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner at Court, and has also acted with Profiles and Shattered Globe
*Julie Proudfoot, founding AD of Artemisia

Ready to check out the next wave of feminist movers, shakers and culture makers?

Six directors and 30 actors from the Chicago theatre community will collaborate to create staged readings of six new feminist plays in the Artemisia Fall Festival 2018, to be performed September 24-26 and October 1-3 at The Edge Theater at 5451 N. Broadway. 

Artemisia Founding Artistic Director Julie Proudfoot and Literary Manager Sharai Bohannon have curated the festival from submissions solicited from writers, agents and literary managers across the US with whom the company has had working professional relationships. One play from the six to be performed will be chosen for further development by Artemisia Artistic Director Proudfoot, who will work closely with the playwright over the next two years to develop their feminist story for a full production in Chicago.

Proudfoot defines “feminist plays” as plays that empower women and challenge audiences to see women differently. In a recent interview, she noted how many plays in the existing canon fail to adequately portray women, saying “We don’t necessarily have feminist three-dimensional characters with all the flaws and virtues and complexities of great male characters. It matters to me because women are long overdue to be recognized on a level equal to men, especially in terms of leadership, humanity, complexity and agency. I think it should matter to everyone because Artemisia’s work inspires gender parity, which has been statistically shown to make for better and safer communities.”

While the scripts selected for this year’s festival all feature women who have agency and who are the center of their own narratives, the plays have a diversity of topics and genres. Themes to be explored include cultural differences between diverse societies in their treatment and status of women, mother-daughter relationships, and tensions between economic classes. The ranges of genres include dramas, satire and thrillers. The writers are not exclusively female – one male playwright will be represented alongside the five women writers. Proudfoot says, “We believe that men as well as women can be feminists.”

Over each of the Festival’s six nights, a different new play is staged as a reading. Talkbacks focusing on empowerment, inclusion and diversity will follow each reading. There will be a closing night party on October 3rd.  

The six plays to be performed, the performance dates, and the artists involved for each are as follows: 

Monday, September 24, 7:30 PM
SCRATCHING THE SURFACE, by Charly Evon Simpson. Directed by Rachel Sledd Iannantuoni.
One woman’s nightmare, one couple’s dream, and the nice female neighbor who likes to drop by unexpectedly with homemade pies collide in this juicy thriller.
Cast: William Burdin, Pauleth Jauregui, Anastacia Narrajos, Brandi Brown

Tuesday, September 25, 7:30 PM
WITCH CAMP, by J. Thalia Cunningham. Directed by Beth Wolf.
When an African-American doctor volunteers at a small health clinic in northern Ghana, she discovers that the women in the camp accused of witchcraft really do have magical powers.
Cast: Charlee Cotton, Myesha-Tiara, RJW Mays, Teresa Champion, Tamarus Harvell, Marz Timms, Sonia Goldberg

Wednesday, September 26, 7:30 PM
CASH COWS, by Anthony Fiorentino. Directed by Jamal Howard.
A group of exploited milk cows launch a hunger strike to change their abusive working conditions and the dairy company's CEO wages a ruthless campaign to crush the rebellion.
Cast: Caron Buinis, Laurie Gauger, Robin Margolis, Emma Sheikh, Tina El Gamal, Tanyce Caraballo, Dekyi Ronge, Blake Holen, David Morgan Shaw

Monday, October 1, 7:30 PM
THINGS THAT ARE ROUND, by Callie Kimball. Directed by Aaron Sawyer.
Two women, a dentist specializing in existential terror, and the worst baby sitter ever who has dreams of becoming an opera singer, square off in a strange ballet of truth or dare.
Cast: Julie Proudfoot, Alejandra Vivanco

Tuesday, October 2, 7:30 PM
MINE AND YOURS, by Carolyn Kras. Directed by Carol Ann Tan.
A foreclosure loophole pits new buyers against former owners in a struggle to claim the house as their home through cohabitation.
Cast: Barbara Roeder Harris, Steve Silver, Isabella Gerasole, Chase Wheaton-Werle

Wednesday, October 3, 7:30 PM
EVERY WAITING HEART, by Lauren Ferebee. Directed by Julie Proudfoot.
A deep and intimate dive into the combative yet unbreakable relationship between an overworked single mother and her rebellious daughter, both pioneer women in 1848.
Cast: Jennifer Cheung, Patty Malaney, Lucy Pearce, John Wehrman, Tamarus Harvell

PLAYWRIGHT BIOS

Charly Evon Simpson (SCRATCHING THE SURFACE) is a playwright and performer from New York City. Her plays include JUMP, SCRATCHING THE SURFACE, HOTTENTOTTED, WHILE WE WAIT, and more. Her work has been seen and/or developed with NNPN at its Kennedy Center MFA Playwright's Workshop, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Ars Nova, The Flea, and others. She's a member of 17/18 Clubbed Thumb Early Career Writers' Group, The Amoralists' 2018-19 'Wright Club, and is The Pack's current playwright-in-residence. Charly holds a Bachelor of Arts from Brown and Master of Fine Arts from Hunter College. www.charlyevonsimpson.com 

J. Thalia Cunningham (WITCH CAMP) is a playwright, travel writer, and photographer.  Her plays have been commissioned, produced, and developed in United States and internationally. She has been published by Smith & Kraus and Applause. She is a proud member of: Actors Studio; League of Professional Theatre Women; The WorkShop Theater Company. J. Thalia holds a Bachelor of Arts from Johns Hopkins University has traveled to 120 countries and has written for national travel publications.

Anthony Fiorentino (CASH COWS) is a Chicago-based playwright whose plays have been produced at the Athenaeum Theatre, Stage 773, Prop Theatre, the American Theatre of Actors, the Actors' Theatre of Santa Cruz, and the Attic Playhouse. His plays ALL MY LOVE and THE FEAST have been nominated for the Jeff Award for Best New Play. He is an affiliated artist with the National New Play Network. He was a finalist for the Stanley Drama Award in 2011, and a Semi-finalist for Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center National Playwright's Conference (2008).

Callie Kimball (THINGS THAT ARE ROUND) is a MacDowell Fellow, a two-time winner of the Rita & Burton Goldberg Award, a finalist for the O'Neill, a semifinalist for the Princess Grace Award, and a four-time nominee for the Susan Smith Blackburn Award. Her plays have appeared in NY, Chicago, LA, and DC, at the Kennedy Center, Portland Stage Company, Lark Play Development Center, Dramatic Repertory Company, Halcyon Theatre, Stoneham Theatre, Echo Theatre, The Brick Theater, Project Y Theatre, Team Awesome Robot, Washington Shakespeare Company, Mad Horse Theatre, and more. She is currently writing a commission for ShadowCatcher Productions inspired by the letters of her grandparents during World War II. THINGS THAT ARE ROUND will have its world premiere this November at Rep Stage. Plays include: SOFONISBA (Clauder Gold Prize Winner, Kilroys' List), RUSH, ALLIGATOR ROAD, DREAMS OF THE PENNY GODS.

Carolyn Kras is an LA-based playwright from Chicago. She was Playwright in Residence at Selladoor Worldwide through the support of the Fulbright LUSK Award to the United Kingdom. Her play The Subject has had 20 readings, including a United Nations Orange Day Reading in London. Carolyn is the recipient of the Visionary Playwright Award, Hamptons International Film Festival Screenwriters' Lab selection, Alfred P. Sloan Screenwriting Award, Aspen Ideas Festival Scholar selection, Disquiet International Short Play Award, and Plume & Pellicule Award.   Her plays have been developed and or produced at The Blank Theatre, The Road Theatre, Chicago Dramatists, Stage Left Theatre, Centenary Stage Company, Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre, 20% Theatre Company Chicago, Williams Street Rep, Theater Masters, Found Stages, and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.  She is a member of The Playwrights Union LA and holds a Master of Fine Arts from Carnegie Mellon University. www.carolynkras.com

Lauren Ferebee (EVERY WAITING HEART) Lauren's plays have been praised as "exquisite" (Applause, Applause) and "a fine balance between laugh-out-loud absurdity and gut-wrenching human drama" (DC Metro Theater Arts). Her play THE MEETING was recently a national finalist for the Kennedy Center's Gary Garrison 10-Minute Play Award. Previous plays include THE RECKLESS SEASON (finalist, 2016 Princess Grace Award, semi-finalist, 2014 Shakespeare's Sister Fellowship), and SEXUAL GEOGRAPHY (finalist, 2015 Reva Shiner Comedy Award). Smith & Kraus will publish four monologues from THE RECKLESS SEASON in the 2018 Best Stage Monologues Series She was a nominee for the 2016 USA Fellowship in theatre. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from NYU/Tisch. www.laurenferebee.com








Chicago’s premiere professional theatre nurturing feminist playwrights with a one-of-a-kind development process that culminates in remarkable and unforgettable productions.
Join us in bettering our community by empowering women and girls through theatre.  Partnering with Artemisia gives you unique media and marketing opportunities, direct contact with our audience and talent, and the chance to become part of a powerful movement – #ThePresentIsFemale

$100 FALL FESTIVAL SPONSOR
Recognition on Website and Social Media.  Group Logo Ad in Signature Program and signage in lobby throughout the Festival.
$200 ARTEMISIA ANGEL
Free access to all Events for Theatre Season & recognition on Website.
$500 SEASON SPONSOR
Live recognition at Fall Festival, Website Listing & Social Media and Ad in All Programs for Season.
$1,000 ARTEMISIA PARTNERSHIP
Free access to all Events for Theatre Season, Live Recognition at Fall Festival, Website Listing & Recognition in all Media, Press and Programs.
$2,500 PREMIERE PLAYWRIGHT SPONSOR
Guest of honor with free access at all Events for Season, Invitations to Exclusive Play Development Meetings and Rehearsals, Website Listing & Recognition in all Media, Press and Programs.




ABOUT ARTEMISIA: A CHICAGO THEATRE
Founded in 2011, Artemisia, A Chicago Theatre is a professional, not-for-profit theatre that produces all-new, dynamic and empowering plays that center on women who have agency, independence, and are the focal point of their own narratives, to create gender parity both onstage and off. Each season, Artemisia produces its Fall Festival of staged new play readings as well as fully staged productions of new plays it has developed. Artemisia is a 501 c 3 organization and, as such, relies heavily on public support to fund theatre that promotes equality and social justice for all women and girls.  

Artemisia Gentileschi, was a Baroque artist whose paintings depicted violence with fierce honesty and elegance. For centuries after her death, her art was attributed to men. Feminist curators in the late 1970’s rediscovered Artemisia, who is now considered the greatest female painter prior to the modern period. A common theme in Gentileschi’s later work is women in moments of power, or triumph, which is why she is the perfect namesake for Artemisia.