OPENING: World Premiere of Enough to Let the Light In at Steppenwolf’s 1700 Theater September 21-October 23, 2022

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TEATRO VISTA PREMIERES PALOMA NOZICKA’S PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER 

ENOUGH TO LET THE LIGHT IN

DIRECTED BY GEORGETTE VERDIN, STARRING MELISSA DUPREY AND LISANDRA TENA, SEPTEMBER 21-OCTOBER 23 AT STEPPENWOLF’S 1700 THEATER, PART OF 5TH DESTINOS FESTIVAL

The performance is presented in English. Runtime is 85 minutes

Melissa DuPrey (left) and Lisandra Tena star in Teatro Vista's psychological thriller Enough to Let the Light In

Teatro Vista opens its 2022-23 season with Enough to Let the Light In, a world premiere drama about love, truth, and the ghosts that won't let us go by Mexican-American actor/playwright/ filmmaker/director Paloma Nozicka.

It’s co-presented at Steppenwolf’s 1700 Theater, September 21-October 23, 2022, as part of the 5th Destinos, Chicago International Latino Theater Festival. I'll be out for opening night, September 23rd, so check back soon for my full review. 

Enough to Let the Light In is a riveting psychological thriller about girlfriends Marc and Cynthia, who start an evening together celebrating a milestone. But the night quickly devolves into chaos as buried secrets are revealed and lives are irrevocably changed. 

(from left) Playwright Paloma Nozicka, director Georgette Verdin, and actors Melissa DuPrey and Lisandra Tena

Chicago’s own Melissa DuPrey, known for her role as Dr. Sara Ortiz on ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy, plays Marc. Lisandra Tena, who trained at the Theater School of DePaul and played Lola Guerrero on AMC’s Fear The Walking Dead, is Cynthia. Georgette Verdin directs.

“Enough to Let the Light In is a taut, poignant and startling exploration of love and loss,” said Verdin. “Audiences will experience one fateful evening in the lives of Marc and Cynthia, two women who are very much in love. But what happens when everything they thought they understood about each other gets thrown into question and their commitment is put through the ultimate test? Paloma’s play will have you leaning in and grasping for solid ground.” 

Nozicka, the playwright, elaborated, “Enough to Let the Light In is, at its core, a love story - albeit a different version than what we’re used to seeing onstage. I wanted to write something that features the characters that I want to see more of in theater - funny, complicated, deeply flawed women who are trying their best to deal with truly strange circumstances. My hope is that this play, and these characters, stay in people’s minds for a long, long time.”  

Teatro Vista’s production team includes Sotirios Livaditis (scenic design), Gregory Graham (costumes), Stefanie M. Senior (sound), Emma Deane (lights), Lonnae Hickman (props), Courtney Abbott (intimacy director), Adelina Feldman-Schultz (casting), Julie Jachym (production manager), Johnnie Schleyer (technical director) and Conchita Avitia (master electrician). Stage manager is Wendye Clarendon. Olivia Ellery is assistant stage manager. Covers are Gaby Moldovan and Sofia Tew. Lorena Diaz and Wendy Mateo are co-artistic directors of Teatro Vista. Cruz Gonzalez-Cadel is artistic producer. 

Previews of Enough to Let the Light In are Wednesday and Thursday, September 21 and 22 at 8 p.m. Press opening is Friday, September 23 at 8 p.m. Performances run through October 23: Thursdays and Fridays at 8 p.m.; Saturdays at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m.; and Sundays at 3 p.m.

Steppenwolf’s 1700 Theater is located at 1700 N. Halsted St., Chicago. Tickets, $25-$45, are on sale now at steppenwolf.org.

Sign up for Teatro Vista’s e-newsletter at teatrovista.org to receive first notice of new shows, episodes, and behind-the-scenes content, or follow Teatro Vista on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. 

Teatro Vista’s Enough to Let the Light In doubles as the company’s entry in the 5th Destinos, Chicago International Latino Theater Festival. This year’s annual, city-wide event, produced by the Chicago Latino Theater Alliance (CLATA), will showcase top Latino theater artists and companies from Chicago, the U.S. and Latin America for five consecutive weeks, September 14-October 16, 2022. Visit destinosfest.org to purchase tickets and see the full line-up.

Play Description: En Espanol

Una pareja disfruta una noche de celebración, pero rápidamente se convertirá en un caos a medida que algunos secretos vayan siendo revelados y sus vidas cambien para siempre. Enough to Let the Light In es un thriller psicológico sobre el amor, la verdad y los fantasmas que no nos abandonan.

This is a Teatro Vista Joint: In-person show discount opportunities

Student Nights: Thursday nights are Student Nights at Teatro Vista. Students with a valid student ID can get tickets at $15 with the code TVSTUDENT to every Thursday performance. (Please note: one ticket per student ID.)

Teatro For All: Teatro For All is a new initiative to offer affordable tickets to students, artists, seniors or anyone on a tight budget. Teatro For All tickets are available for every performance on a first come first served basis. We trust our community inherently and hope these tickets find the folks who need them most. If you need to access a Teatro For All priced ticket, please use code TEATROFORALL at checkout.

Group Tickets: Booking a group of 10 or more? Group rates are available. To check availability or other details, please send an email to info@teatrovista.org.

Covid-19 Policy: Enough to Let The Light In is co-presented at Steppenwolf 1700 Theater, which, at press time, requires patrons to wear masks. 

Enough to Let the Light In: Playwright, director and actor bios 

Paloma Nozicka (playwright) is a Mexican-American actor, writer and director. TV acting credits include recurring roles on The Red Line (CBS); Proven Innocent, Empire (FOX); Chicago Med, Chicago PD (NBC). She’s worked at some of the country's most prestigious theaters, including Geffen Playhouse, Goodman Theatre, and Steppenwolf Theatre. She's written several short plays, two short films, and currently has a feature film in development. Directing credits include her short film Each Lovely Thing (currently in festivals). palomanozicka.com

Georgette Verdin (director), is a Cuban-American director, arts educator and the current Michael Maggio Directing Fellow at Goodman Theatre. Since 2015, she has served as the Managing Artistic Director of Interrobang Theatre Project. Verdin is also a company member with Rivendell Theatre Ensemble. Select directing credits include Chagall in School (Grippo Stage Company at Theater Wit), Spay by Madison Fiedler (Rivendell Theatre), This Wide Night by Chloë Moss (Shattered Globe Theatre/Interrobang Theatre Project), Tribes by Nina Raine (Western Michigan University), the U.S. Premiere of Out of Love by Elinor Cook, as well as, Utility, the 2016 Yale Drama Series winner by Emily Schwend (Interrobang Theatre Project). Verdin holds a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Performance from McNeese State University and a Master in Directing from the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. Verdin received 3Arts Make-A-Wave grant in 2021 and is an associate member of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. georgetteverdin.com

Melissa DuPrey (Marc) is a multidisciplinary artist with roots from Humboldt Park, Chicago. After earning double Bachelor of the Arts degrees from the University of Houston, she returned to Chicago to join the all-Latina theatre company, Teatro Luna. Her one-woman show, SEXomedy (2012), was developed during their monthly series for women of color in the arts and received a Chicago Reader Recommendation, a Member's Pick, and had a successful debut Off-Broadway in New York. The popular show spurred a progressive sequel, SEXomedy 2.0, which debuted at Steppenwolf Theatre in April 2019. Her second solo show, SUSHI-frito, has also been critically acclaimed as part of MPAACT's Signature Series for solo artists. DuPrey is also a community organizer and spiritualist who also launched The Good Grief Project-an extension of the social justice component from her play GOOD GRIEF where communities of color are connected to local, accessible and multidisciplinary mental and spiritual wellness practitioners of color. In 2021, the New York-based new work development company, ARS NOVA, invited her to develop her fifth solo play, RISE OF THUNDERDOME, to a national digital audience. Her full-length play BRUJAJA was selected as part of 16th Street’s New Play Pop Up Reading Series for 2019 and received its world premiere in 2021 as a digital theatrical release produced by UrbanTheater Company. In 2014, she was selected as a new talent in the ABC Diversity Showcase in New York City. She has performed stand-up comedy in Chicago, New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles. She is a featured actor in the Emmy-nominated web-series Brown Girls and has many regional and non regional theater credits in Chicago. She is credited with playing “Dr. Sara Ortiz” on Grey's Anatomy (Season 17 and 18). Other TV credits include a recurring appearance on Empire (FOX), and guest appearances on The Resident (FOX), Chicago PD (NBC), and The Chi (Showtime). Film credits include: Relative (2022), Long Division (2022), Cherry (2020), Two in the Bush (2017), The Way We Speak (2014) and Bromance (2014). As a musician and active member of her community, she is dedicated to the preservation of Puerto Rican culture by way of the folkloric music, Bomba y Plena, with Africaribe and Las BomPleneras. She is currently an Ensemble Member at UrbanTheater Company and Artistic Associate at Sideshow Theater.

Lisandra Tena (Cynthia) graduated magna cum laude from the Theatre School at DePaul University. Stage credits include Mother Road (Goodman Theatre), Crime Scene: A Chicago Anthology (Collaboraction Theatre), Your Problem with Men (Los Angeles Theatre Center), and her self-written one-woman show, Güera (tour included Illinois, New Mexico, and Arizona). Tena has also appeared in numerous films, commercials, and voiceovers. She is best known for her role as Lola Guerrero on AMC’s Fear The Walking Dead. Other television credits include The Good Place, NCIS, Chicago PD and Good Trouble. She is currently based in Los Angeles. 

Coming Soon as part of Teatro Vista’s 2022-23 season

Teatro Vista’s season’s theme is “Shadow Work,” featuring two world premiere live productions and two exciting new digital works intended “to bring to light that which sits in the unconscious mind.”

(from left) Marvin Quijada, Sandra Márquez, Alice da Cunha

Next spring, Chicago will be hailing The Dream King, a silent musical by Teatro Vista ensemble member Marvin Quijada, co-directed by ensemble member Sandra Márquez and Alice da Cunha.

The Dream King is a story of a man who falls in love with the woman of his dreams while in his dreams. A story told using no words. An exploration of the psyche told through movement, circus, projections, puppetry, and a willingness to let go of what one thinks a play should be. Performance dates and venue are TBA.

Teatro Vista digital productions in 2022-23

(from left) Isaac Gómez, Monty Cole

Digital productions dropping this season are La Vuelta, an original Teatro Vista film exploring how our existence in the world has ripple effects beyond us, particularly in times of great crisis and isolation. La Vuelta is written by ensemble member Isaac Gómez, directed by Monty Cole, and devised by ensemble members Charín Álvarez, Cruz Gonzalez-Cadel, Ramón Ybarra, Eddie Torres, Sandra Marquez and Sandra Delgado.  

Gabriel Ruiz

In addition, look for season two of The Fifth World, a serial fiction podcast written by ensemble member Gabriel Ruiz.

Season one, voiced by an all-Teatro Vista ensemble cast, followed Sebastian Reyes as he arrived in the small desert town of Palomas, Arizona to make his name producing a true crime story about a missing child. But things weren’t always what they seemed in Palomas, and Seba found himself in a whole other world.

Rescripted.org called season one of Teatro Vista’s serial podcast “tense, suspenseful, horrifying, gorgeous, and evocative…a must-listen.” Season two will uncover even more mysteries and seal Seba’s fate in a riveting tale rooted in Aztec mythology, set in modern times and influenced by a pandemic.

Get ready by listening to season one of The Fifth World, available to stream for free via teatrovista.org, Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Enjoy Season 1, episodes 1 & 2 of The Fifth World. If you dare.

“At Teatro Vista, we believe the artists we collaborate with are inherently genius”

Teatro Vista Co-Artistic Directors Lorena Diaz (left) and Wendy Mateo

In a statement accompanying Teatro Vista’s season announcement, Co-Artistic Directors Lorena Diaz and Wendy Mateo wrote, “At Teatro Vista, we believe that the artists we collaborate with are inherently genius. These artists have not always been given the privilege to explore their work through different expressions in spaces where they see themselves reflected. As artists of color, we know what it means to be drawn into boxes we feel powerless to break out of. It is the work of our artists that defies the idea of what we have been known to produce as a Latine theater company and pushes us into greater depths of expression. Teatro Vista’s 2022-23 ‘Shadow Work’ season will explore what healing looks like and how humans are nurtured to fight against their dark unconscious, in a courageous search for the peace of mind of their inner light.”

Sign up for Teatro Vista’s e-newsletter at teatrovista.org to receive first notice of new shows, episodes, and behind-the-scenes content, or follow Teatro Vista on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. 

OPENING: Paramount and Destinos Festival Pair Up for BULL: a love story by Nancy García Loza Oct. 5-Nov. 20

 ChiIL Live Shows On Our Radar

 BULL: a love story by Nancy García Loza 

closes Paramount’s BOLD Series with a tale about a contemporary Latino family 

Oct. 5-Nov. 20

Paramount’s BULL marks the first suburban production in Destinos Festival history

Bull dealt drugs, got caught, and served his time. After a decade, he is released from prison and returns to an unrecognizable Lakeview. What will it take to really get home? Find out in BULL: a love story, a world premiere play by Chicago writer Nancy García Loza. 

 

BULL: a love story, Nancy García Loza’s (left) world premiere play, directed by Laura Alcalá Baker, wraps up Paramount’s first BOLD Series, October 5-November 20, 2022 in downtown Aurora’s new Copley Theatre.

BULL: a love story has been developed for the past two years through Paramount Theatre’s Inception Project. Now this riveting, contemporary family drama will be brought to the stage as a full production as the finale of Paramount’s first-ever BOLD Series, now bringing a new brand of fearless, thought-provoking and unexpected forms of live theater to downtown Aurora.

Paramount’s new Copley Theatre is a sleek, state-of-the-art, 165-seat theater with a modern new lobby bar and lounge, reopened this past March as downtown Aurora’s newest live theater space following a two-year, $2 million, top-to-bottom renovation. The Copley is located at 8 E. Galena Blvd., in the North Island Center, right across the street from Paramount Theatre, in downtown Aurora.

BULL: a love story, directed by Laura Alcalá Baker, starts previews October 5, including two Pay What You Can Previews: Thursday, October 6, at 7 p.m., and Saturday, October 8, at 2 p.m. Press openings are Wednesday and Thursday, October 12 and 13 at 7 p.m. Performances continue through November 20: Wednesdays at 1:30 p.m. and 7 p.m.; Thursdays at 7 p.m.; Fridays at 8 p.m.; Saturdays at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.; Sundays at 1 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. Tickets are $67 to $74.

For tickets and information to BULL: a love story at the Copley Theatre, visit paramountaurora.com, call (630) 896-6666, or stop by the Paramount box office, 23 E. Galena Blvd., Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Note:  BULL: a love story is suggested for ages 13 and up for adult language.

BULL: a love story is part of the 5th Destinos, Chicago International Latino Theater Festival, an annual, city-wide event produced by the Chicago Latino Theater Alliance (CLATA) showcasing top Latino theater artists and companies from Chicago, the U.S. and Latin America, September 14-October 16, 2022. Paramount Theatre is proud to be the first suburban theater to be included in Destinos.

Use promo code DESTINOS online, via phone or in person at the Paramount box office to access $35 tickets to BULL: a love story for performances during festival dates, October 5-16. This discount may not be combined with any other offer, and excludes opening nights, October 12 and 13. Learn more about the 2022 Destinos Festival at destinosfest.org. 

Behind-the scenes of Paramount’s BOLD Series production

BULL: a love story was originally presented in January, 2021 as a virtual staged reading as part of Paramount’s new play development program, The Inception Project. “Nancy García Loza has written such a beautiful love story and we are so honored to be a part of the journey of this piece from inception to full production,” said Amber Mak, Paramount’s artistic producer and new works development director.

BULL: a love story features (from left) Eddie Martinez as Bull, Alexandra Casillas as Sadie, Kelsey Elyse Rodriguez as Sol, Jocelyn Zamudio as Emme, Sammy A. Publes as Tio, and Andrew Perez as Otherman, Lawman and G.

For its world premiere staging, Paramount’s cast features Eddie Martinez as Bull, Alexandra Casillas as Sadie, Kelsey Elyse Rodriguez as Sol, Jocelyn Zamudio as Emme, Sammy A. Publes as Tio, and Andrew Perez as Otherman, Lawman and G. 

The production team includes Yeaji Kim, scenic designer; Izumi Inaba, costume designer; Cat Wilson, lighting designer; Jeffrey Levin, sound designer; Aimee Plant, properties designer; Liviu Pasare, projection designer; Ismael Lara, Jr., dramaturg and associate director; Maegan Burnell, stage manager; and Lanita VanderSchaaf, assistant stage manager.

Nancy García Loza is an award-winning self-taught, pocha playwright rooted in Chicago, Illinois and Jalisco, México. She is a two-time alumni of the national Fornés Playwriting Workshop. She has enjoyed residencies with Goodman Playwrights Unit and Future Labs, Steppenwolf Theatre and The New Harmony Project, Oregon Shakespeare Festival Black Swan Lab, SPACE on Ryder Farm Institutional Residency, and more. Her audio drama, Brava, is available on all podcast platforms (Make-Believe Association, 2019). She is currently under commission/development with Steppenwolf Theatre (Ascent), Goodman Theatre (Rust), the National Museum of Mexican Art (NMMA) (Pénjamo: a Pocha Road Trip story; Macha), and more. This year, she received The Joyce Award, as well as the APAP ArtsForward Award, both in collaboration with the National Museum of Mexican Art. She was most recently recognized by the Dramatists' Guild Council (NYC) as the 2022 Lanford Wilson Award recipient. She is the daughter of Mexican immigrants and the eldest daughter of seven children. She lives in Chicagolandia and writes in her kitchen. She is Mexican American, no hyphen.

Laura Alcalá Baker (director, she/her/hers) is a Chicago-based director and new play developer. She served as the Casting Director/Artistic Programs Manager at Victory Gardens Theater from 2016-2019 leading programs such as The Access Project and Directors’ Inclusion Initiative. Baker has developed and directed multiple new works including Isaac Gómez’s The Leopard Play, or sad songs for lost boys (Steep Theatre), The Way She Spoke (DCASE, Greenhouse Theater Center) and Omer Abbas Salem’s The Secretaries (First Floor Theater). She also directed the audio drama Brava by Nancy García Loza (Make Believe Association) which is available on all podcast platforms. Other select works include The Pillowman (The Gift Theatre), There is No Message in the Message, Shamed (The Gift Theatre’s TEN), Project Potential (Broken Nose Theatre’s Bechdel Fest), and Jets, Sharks, and Beckys (Collaboraction's PEACEBOOK Festival). Baker is a Steep Theatre Ensemble Member, a 2021 3Arts Make a Wave Recipient, and a proud member of the Alliance of Latinx Theatre Artists. For more visit, labdirecting.com. 

"Nancy is creating a canon of Chicago narratives,” said Baker. “She paints vividly, urgently to capture these stories while they are still living memory. BULL: a love story is just the first of many to make it to the stage. It is a heartfelt love letter to Chicago’s Lakeview and the people who built a life there. I believe it to be a new American classic."

Special Events

Paramount will offer two Pay What You Can Performances on Thursday, October 6, at 7 p.m., and Saturday, October 8, at 2 p.m.

College Night is Friday, October 21, at 8 p.m.

Church Night is Sunday, October 23, at 5:30 p.m. 

Access Services

Paramount will offer an American Sign Language interpreted performance on Friday, November 9, at 8 p.m.

If you require wheelchair or special seating or other assistance, please contact the box office at (630) 896-6666 or boxoffice@paramountarts.com in advance.

Paramount offers assistive listening devices free of charge at all performances. Check in at the coat room before the show to borrow a listening device.

Paramount Theatre’s Covid-19 commitment to and safety and protocol

Paramount Theatre has followed, and will continue to follow, the requirements of the State of Illinois and the Kane County Health Department. Therefore, Paramount is following the guidance of the State of Illinois and recommends, but no longer requires, masks, proof of vaccination or negative COVID test for patrons. Mask wearing is strongly encouraged, but will be optional. 

Across the street, Dreamgirls kicks off Paramount’s 11th Broadway Series, August 31- October 16

Right across the street from the Copley, Paramount Theatre is kicking off its 11th Broadway series with Dreamgirls, the Tony-winning musical inspired by The Supremes that spawned an Oscar-winning movie. Performances are August 31-October 16, 2022. 

Also playing the big stage during the final weeks of BULL: a love story is Paramount’s second 2022-23 Broadway production, The Sound of Music, November 9, 2022-January 8, 2023.

Paramount still offers the same “Buy Two Shows, Get Two Shows Free” subscription offer, just as it has since it launched its first Broadway Series in 2011. Four-show Broadway Series packages including Dreamgirls, The Sound of Music, plus Into the Woods and School of Rock in 2023 start as low as $56 (fees not included). To subscribe, visit ParamountAurora.com, call (630) 896-6666, or stop by the Paramount Theatre, 23 E. Galena Blvd. in downtown Aurora.

Photos of new Copley Theatre and lobby bar by Thomas J. King

About Paramount Theatre

Paramount Theatre, 23 E. Galena Blvd., is the center for performing arts in Aurora, the second largest city in Illinois. The beautiful, 1,843-seat theater, graced with a strong 1930s Art Deco influence and original Venetian décor, nationally known for its high-quality productions, superb acoustics and historic grandeur, has been downtown Aurora’s anchor attraction since 1931.

After launching its own Broadway Series in 2011, Paramount Theatre grew to be the second largest subscription house in the U.S. Before Covid, more than 41,000 subscribers from all over Chicagoland and the Midwest were enjoying Paramount’s critically acclaimed, 2019-20 Broadway-caliber productions. In addition, Paramount also presents an array of internationally known comedians, musicians, dance troupes and family shows annually.

Paramount Theatre is one of four live performance venues programmed and managed by the Aurora Civic Center Authority. ACCA also oversees downtown Aurora’s newly renovated 165-seat Copley Theatre, home to Paramount’s new BOLD Series, along with the Paramount School of the Arts, RiverEdge Park, the city’s 6,000-seat outdoor summer concert venue, and Stolp Island Theatre, an immersive space opening in summer 2023.

Paramount Theatre continues to expand its artistic and institutional boundaries under the guidance of Tim Rater, President and CEO, Aurora Civic Center Authority; Jim Corti, Artistic Director, Paramount Theatre; a dedicated Board of Trustees and a devoted staff of live theater and music professionals.

For the latest updates, visit ParamountAurora.com or follow @ParamountAurora on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, and @paramountarts on Tik Tok.

ART BEAT: The National Hellenic Museum announces two new exhibitions

ChiIL Live Shows On Our Radar

Gather Together: Chicago Street Photography

by Diane Alexander White

September 16, 2022 – April 30, 2023

 

Storytelling in Cloth and Light

Open run beginning September 16, 2022

 

Museum’s grand reopening celebration in September also includes

world premiere of Resilience by HRH Prince Nikolaos

Greek Independence Day Parade in Chicago (1980), photo by Diane Alexander White

 

The National Hellenic Museum (NHM) in Chicago’s Greektown neighborhood—a premier museum dedicated to sharing Greek history, art, culture and the Greek American story—announced today two additional exhibitions as part of its grand reopening celebration this September. These exhibitions join the previously announced world premiere photography exhibition Resilience by HRH Prince Nikolaos.

In Gather Together: Chicago Street Photography by Diane Alexander White (September 16, 2022–April 30, 2023), the Chicago-based Greek American photographer presents 80 historic works showcasing Chicago’s Greek American celebrations alongside other ethnic and cultural festivals and parades, primarily from the 1970s and 1980s. Depicted events include the Greek Independence Day Parade, Greek Festival, Bud Billiken Day Parade, Japanese Festival, Chinese New Year Parade, Puerto Rican Festival, Mexican Civic Society Parade, Mexican Festival, St. Patrick’s Day Parade, Jewish Festival, German Von Steuben Day Parade, Polish Festival, Festa Italiana and the Indo-Pak Parade.

“Our mission at the National Hellenic Museum is to share Greek history, art and culture, and the Greek American experience. Diane’s works vividly capture how Chicago’s Greek American community gathers in the public space to show pride in its identity and share its culture. Through her images of other ethnic and cultural celebrations, Diane also explores the universality of how Chicagoans gather together to show pride in their diverse communities,” says NHM Executive Director Marianne Kountoures.

Storytelling in Cloth and Light (open run beginning September 16, 2022) presents a series of textiles and photographs side by side. The textiles, part of NHM’s expansive collection of more than 10,000 Greek American artifacts, were meticulously woven in Greece, largely by women, and brought across the ocean to the United States. The photographs are additional images from Diane Alexander White, which capture the people and landscapes of Greece in 1977, including her father’s village of Poulithra. Together, these artifacts tell stories connecting audiences with the people, places and events of the past—and encouraging viewers to remember their own stories.

These new exhibitions join the previously announced world premiere photography exhibition Resilience by HRH Prince Nikolaos (September 16–December 30, 2022). Prince Nikolaos’ North American debut includes 19 new works exploring Greece’s strong relationship with nature and environmental preservation. The exhibition also features the North American premiere of Together, an immersive scene of life-size illuminated, embracing olive trees accompanied by sounds of Greek nature, which first premiered at the London Design Biennale in 2021.

The National Hellenic Museum (333 S. Halsted Street, Chicago) presents three new exhibitions as part of its grand reopening celebration: the world premiere of Resilience by HRH Prince Nikolaos (September 16–December 30, 2022), Gather Together: Chicago Street Photography by Diane Alexander White (September 16, 2022–April 30, 2023) and Storytelling in Cloth and Light (open run beginning September 16, 2022). Beginning Friday, September 16, museum hours are Thursday-Sunday from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tickets to the museum are $10 and include admission to all exhibits. Discounts are available for seniors, students and children. For more information, visit nationalhellenicmuseum.org or call 312-655-1234.

 The Resilience exhibition is sponsored by NHM Trustee John S. Koudounis.

 

Artist Bio

Photographs from film begin as negative images which are developed in the darkroom where a positive print is created. As a lifelong Chicago photographer, Diane Alexander White has explored the negative and positive effects of photography since 1972. Her father Angelo D. Alexander, who emigrated from Greece in 1920, became an avid photographer and shared his knowledge of the camera with his daughter, Diane. While attending the University of Illinois Chicago she took her knowledge of photography one step further by learning the ways of the darkroom. Photography instructor Robert Steigler opened her eyes to the art of capturing the street image as he was influenced by Harry Callahan, Arthur Siegel, Aaron Siskind and others at the Institute of Design (IIT). Upon graduating in 1976, she began working in studios and darkrooms and continued with her street photography. In 1983 Diane was hired by Field Museum head photographer Ron Testa to photograph natural history collections and she continues to work there to this day. For more information, visit dawhitephotography.com.

About the National Hellenic Museum

The National Hellenic Museum (NHM) is a premier museum dedicated to sharing Greek history, art and culture, from ancient times to the present day, including the modern Greek American experience. NHM preserves the Hellenic legacy and makes this rich heritage relevant today through its collection of thousands of physical artifacts, oral histories, exhibits, educational programs and special events. Originally founded in 1983 and located in Chicago’s historic Greektown neighborhood since 2011, the NHM provides lifelong learning for the community and sparks inquiry and discussion about the broader issues in our lives and society. Museum hours are Thursday-Sunday from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. For more information, visit nationalhellenicmuseum.org or call 312-655-1234.

Wicked Returns to Broadway In Chicago’s James M. Nederlander Theatre September 28 - December 4, 2022.

 ChiIL Mama’s ChiIL Picks List

CHICAGO’S MOST POPULAR MUSICAL

OPENS IN FOUR WEEKS!

BY STEPHEN SCHWARTZ AND WINNIE HOLZMAN

BASED ON THE NOVEL BY GREGORY MAGUIRE

PLAYING AT

BROADWAY IN CHICAGO’S

JAMES M. NEDERLANDER THEATRE

SEPTEMBER 28 – DECEMBER 4, 2022

She's mean, green... or is she just misunderstood. Here at ChiIL Mama we adore how WICKED flips the script and gives us new insight into the origin story of one of our creepiest childhood villains. WICKED is the winner of over 100 international awards including the Grammy Award and three Tony Awards and a great pick for making multigenerational memories. Don't miss this! 

Broadway In Chicago is delighted to announce Chicago’s most popular musical, WICKED, opens in just four weeks! WICKED will play Broadway In Chicago’s James M. Nederlander Theatre for a limited engagement September 28 - December 4, 2022. 

The Broadway sensation WICKED looks at what happened in the Land of Oz… but from a different angle. Long before Dorothy arrives, there is another young woman, born with emerald-green skin, who is smart, fiery, misunderstood, and possessing an extraordinary talent. When she meets a bubbly blonde who is exceptionally popular, their initial rivalry turns into the unlikeliest of friendships… until the world decides to call one “good,” and the other one “wicked.”

With a thrilling score that includes the hits “Defying Gravity,” “Popular” and “For Good,” WICKED has been hailed by The New York Times as “the defining musical of the decade,” and by Time Magazine as “a magical Broadway musical with brains, heart, and courage.”  NBC Nightly News calls the hit musical “the most successful Broadway show ever.”

Now the 5th longest-running show in Broadway history, WICKED is the winner of over 100 international awards including the Grammy Award and three Tony Awards. Since opening in 2003, WICKED has been performed in over 100 cities in 16 countries around the world (U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Japan, Germany, Holland, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, The Philippines, Mexico, Brazil, Switzerland and China) and has thus far been translated into six languages: Japanese, German, Dutch, Spanish, Korean and Portuguese. WICKED has been seen by over 60 million people worldwide and has amassed over $5 billion in global sales.

Based on the novel by Gregory Maguire, WICKED has music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, and a book by Winnie Holzman. The production is directed by Tony Award winner Joe Mantello with musical staging by Tony Award winner Wayne Cilento. WICKED is produced by Marc Platt, Universal Stage Productions, The Araca Group, Jon B. Platt and David Stone.

For more information about WICKED, please visit www.WickedTheMusical.com.

Follow WICKED on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE

Performances are Tuesday through Friday at 7:30 PM (with Wednesday matinees at 2:00 PM). Saturday performances are at 2:00 PM and 8:00 PM. Sunday performances are at 2:00 PM with an additional performance on Sunday, October 2 at 7:30 PM. There will be no 2:00 PM performance on Wednesday, September 28. There will be no performances on Thursday, November 24. There will be an additional performance on Friday, November 25 at 2:00 PM.

TICKET INFORMATION

Individual tickets for WICKED are on sale now and range from $59.00 - $184.00 with a select number of premium tickets available. Tickets are available now for groups of 10 or more by calling Broadway In Chicago Group Sales at (312) 977-1710 or emailing GroupSales@BroadwayInChicago.com. For more information, visit www.BroadwayInChicago.com.

ABOUT BROADWAY IN CHICAGO

Broadway In Chicago was created in July 2000 and over the past 21 years has grown to be one of the largest commercial touring homes in the country. A Nederlander Presentation, Broadway In Chicago lights up the Chicago Theater District entertaining more than 1.7 million people annually in five theatres. Broadway In Chicago presents a full range of entertainment, including musicals and plays, on the stages of five of the finest theatres in Chicago’s Loop including the Cadillac Palace Theatre, CIBC Theatre, James M. Nederlander Theatre, Auditorium Theatre, and just off the Magnificent Mile, the Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place.

COVID-19  PROTOCOL

Masks are recommended, but not required.  Our COVID protocol can change without notice. For complete information on our COVID protocol visit www.BroadwayInChicago.com/covid19

 

For more information and tickets, visit www.BroadwayInChicago.com.

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Northlight Theatre opens 2022-23 Season With The Garbologists September 1 – October 2, 2022

 ChiIL Live Shows On Our Radar

The Garbologists

by Lindsay Joelle

directed by Cody Estle

September 1 – October 2, 2022

Northlight Theatre, under the direction of Artistic Director BJ Jones and Executive Director Timothy J. Evans, opens its 2022–2023 season with The Garbologists, written by Lindsay Joelle, directed by Cody Estle, featuring Tiffany Renee Johnson and Luigi Sottile. The Garbologists runs September 1 – October 2, 2022 at Northlight Theatre, 9501 Skokie Blvd in Skokie. I'll be out for the press opening September 9th, so check back soon for my full review.          

This off-beat buddy comedy pairs essential workers from two different worlds in the shared cab of a New York City garbage truck. Danny’s a white, blue-collar mansplainer hiding a heart of gold. Marlowe’s a Black, Ivy League-educated newbie learning the ropes from her old-school partner. When they’re thrown together to pick up what the world has discarded, they discover there’s more that binds them than taking out the trash.

The Garbologists features Tiffany Renee Johnson (Marlowe) and Luigi Sottile (Danny).

The creative team includes Collette Pollard (Scenic Design), Gregoy Graham (Costume Design), Greg Hofman (Lighting Design), and Josh Schmidt (Sound Design). The production stage manager is Rita Vreeland.

 

About the Artists

Cody Estle (Director) returns to Northlight Theatre where he previously directed By the Water (named by Chicago Sun-Times honorable mention as one of the top theatre productions of 2017) and another seven productions as the assistant director under artistic director, BJ Jones. He is the artistic director of Raven Theatre where his directing credits include The Luckiest, Sundown, Yellow Moon, How I Learned To Drive (named by Windy City Times as the best of Chicago theatre in 2019), The Gentleman Caller (2019 Jeff Award winning new play by Philip Dawkins), The Assembled Parties, A Loss of Roses (named by Chicago Tribune honorable mention as one of the year’s best in 2016), Dividing the Estate, Vieux Carré (named by Chicago Tribune as one of the year’s best in 2014), Good Boys and True, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Boy Gets Girl, and Dating Walter Dante. Other directing credits include collaborations with Strawdog Theatre, Shattered Globe Theatre, First Floor Theatre, Redtwist Theatre, The Artistic Home, Haven Theatre, Mary-Arrchie Theatre, and Citadel Theatre. Cody was recently named one of NewCity’s Fifty People Who Really Perform For Chicago. He is a member of SDC, serves on the board of directors of the League of Chicago Theatres, and is an alumnus of Columbia College Chicago

Lindsay Joelle (Playwright) is a playwright, screenwriter, and librettist living in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona. The granddaughter of a survivor in Poland’s Underground Resistance and the daughter of a first-generation Israeli-born American, Joelle is drawn to stories of misfits, rebels, and the unassimilated. Her plays spotlight voices not usually heard in the American theater: Chasidic Jews addicted to rock and roll. Sanitation workers who find treasure in the trash. Her writing explores the rituals, routines, jargon, and humor of urban and rural micro-communities across America. Plays include TRAYF (Geffen Playhouse, Theater J, Penguin Rep, New Rep), The Messengers (Audible Theater audioplay), A Small History of Amal, Age 7 (Forward Flux/Pratidhwani), and The Garbologists (Philadelphia Theatre Company, City Theatre). She has been awarded an Audible Theater Emerging Playwright commission, E.S.T./Sloan Foundation Science & Technology commission, Vital Theatre musical commission, Irving Zarkower Award, and Goldberg MFA Playwriting Prize. Alumna of the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop, Nashville Repertory Theatre’s Ingram New Works Lab, and NNPN Playwright-in-Residence at Curious Theatre (’18-’19). Originally from Chicago, Joelle received her BA from Columbia University and MFA from Hunter.

Tiffany Renee Johnson (Marlowe) a Chicago native and Howard University (Theatre BFA) graduate, is thrilled to make her Northlight debut! Theatre credits include Passage (Remy Bumppo), School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play (Goodman), Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and A Doll’s House (Writers), Red Velvet (Chicago Shakes), Flyin’ West (American Blues), Saint Joan (Poetic Forum Collective) truth and reconciliation (Sideshow), Vanya; Or, That’s Life! (Rasaka), and A Nativity Story (Congo Square). Television credits include: The Chi, Shameless, Chicago PD, Soundtrack, Chicago Med, APB, Embeds, and Chicago Fire.

Luigi Sottile (Danny) Luigi is happy to be back at Northlight! Broadway: Slave Play; Chicago: Steppenwolf, The Goodman, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Court Theatre; Regional Theatre: Signature Theatre (DC), Woolly Mammoth, Folger Theatre, Utah Shakespeare Festival, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, Walnut Street Theatre, Wilma Theater, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Arden Theatre, People’s Light and Theatre, Lantern Theater, Act II Playhouse, Milwaukee Rep; TV: Chicago PD, Chicago Med (upcoming); Film: All Happy Families.

Dates: Previews: September 1-8, 2022

Regular run: September 8 – October 2, 2022

Schedule:               

Tuesdays: 7:30pm (Sept 6 only)

Wednesdays: 1:00pm and 7:30pm

Thursdays: 7:30pm

Fridays: 8:00pm

Saturdays: 2:30pm (except Sept 2) and 8:00pm

Sundays: 2:30pm; and 7:00pm (Sept 4 only)

A Sensory Friendly performance will be held on September 21 at 7:30pm. An ASL interpreted and Open Captioned performance will be held on September 23 at 8:00pm and an Open Caption and Audio Described performance will be held on September 24 at 2:30P

Location:  Northlight Theatre is located at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, 9501 Skokie Blvd, Skokie

 

Tickets: 

Previews: $30-$61

Regular run: $30-$89

Student tickets are $15, any performance (subject to availability)

Box Office: The Box Office is located at 9501 Skokie Blvd, Skokie.; 847.673.6300; northlight.org

Subscriptions are available and range in price from $117-$275. With its wide range of ticket prices, discounted subscription packages and complimentary parking, Northlight remains one of the best theatrical values in Chicagoland. Package options include traditional 5-Play Packages and Flex Packages. Subscriptions are available at northlight.org/subscribe or 847.673.6300.

Up-to-date Covid-19 related policies can be found at northlight.org/health-safety.

Northlight Theatre aspires to promote change of perspective and encourage compassion by exploring the depth of our humanity across a bold spectrum of theatrical experiences, reflecting our community to the world and the world to our community.

Founded in 1974, the organization has mounted over 220 productions, including more than 40 world premieres. Northlight has earned 208 Joseph Jefferson Award nominations and 36 Awards, as well as ten Edgerton Foundation for New Play Awards. As one of the area’s premier theatre companies, Northlight is a regional magnet for critical and professional acclaim, as well as talent of the highest quality.

Northlight is supported in part by generous contributions from Allstate Insurance; the Paul M. Angell Family Foundation; BMO Harris Bank; Bulley and Andrews; Byline Bank; The Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation; CoBank; ComEd, An Exelon Company; Eckenhoff Saunders; Evanston Arts Council; Evanston Community Foundation; Lloyd A. Fry Foundation; Full Circle Foundation; The Gross Foundation; Gruman Butkus Associates; John R. Halligan Fund; Illinois Arts Council, a state agency; Illinois Humanities; Katten Muchin Roseman LLP; Kirkland & Ellis Foundation; The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; Modestus Bauer Foundation; National Endowment for the Arts; Niles Township; NorthShore University HealthSystems; Northwestern University; The Offield Family Foundation; The Pauls Foundation; PNC Bank; Polsinelli; Ralla Klepak Trust for the Performing Arts; Room & Board; Sanborn Family Foundation; The Saints Foundation; Dr. Scholl Foundation; The Shubert Foundation, Inc.; The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust; The Sullivan Family Foundation; and Tom Stringer Design Partners.

American Blues Theater announces casting for The World Premiere of Alma September 22 – October 22, 2022

ChiIL Live Shows On Our Radar 

September 22 – October 22, 2022  

By Benjamin Benne

Directed by Ana Velazquez

Featuring Jazmín Corona and Bryanna Ciera Colón  

American Blues Theater, under the continued leadership of Artistic Director Gwendolyn Whiteside, announces the World Premiere production of Alma, in cooperation with Center Theatre Group. The production will run at Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, 5779 Ridge Avenue in Chicago, September 22 – October 22, 2022. I'll checking out the opening performance September 29th, so check back soon for my full review. 

Tickets will be available beginning September 1 at (773) 654-3103 and www.amercanbluestheater.com.

Alma is the winner of the Blue Ink Award & National Latinx Playwriting Award and is presented in association with Chicago Latino Theater Alliance as part of the 5th Annual Destinos Festival.

Alma crossed the border 17 years ago in search of the American Dream. Now, on the eve of her U.S.-born daughter Angel’s SAT, Alma believes all their sacrifices and hard work will pay off. There’s one problem – Angel has very different plans for her future. Told in real time, playwright Benjamin Benne’s Alma is a heartfelt and complex exploration of the immigrant generation and their first-generation children.

The cast is: Jazmín Corona (Alma) and Bryanna Ciera Colón (Angel).

The creative team is: Tara A. Houston (scenic design), Rachel West* (lighting design / master electrician), Lily Walls* (costume design), Eric Backus* (sound design), Verity Neely (properties design), Gaby Labotka (fight & intimacy direction), Manny Ortiz* (technical director), Ana Maria Campoy (Spanish translations), and Shandee Vaughan* (production & stage manager).

*Denotes Ensemble Member or Artistic Affiliate of American Blues Theater

 

About the Artists

BENJAMIN BENNE he/him (Playwright) is newly graduated from the David Geffen/Yale School of Drama MFA Playwriting program and represented by Paradigm Talent Agency. He is a member of the Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group at Primary Stages and currently under commission from South Coast Repertory Theatre and Seattle Repertory Theatre. His plays include Alma (Center Theatre Group & ArtsWest; forthcoming: Curious Theatre Company & Central Square Theater) and In His Hands (Mosaic Theater Company). His work has been developed by the O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, Playwrights Realm, The Lark, The Public, Roundabout, Denver Center, The Old Globe, Two River, Boston Court Pasadena, New Harmony Project, SPACE on Ryder Farm, Pillsbury House Theatre, Parley, among many others. Benjamin has been the recipient of Portland Stage’s Clauder Competition Gold Prize, Arizona Theatre Company’s National Latinx Playwriting Award, Kennedy Center/KCACTF Latinx Playwriting Award, American Blues Theater’s Blue Ink Playwriting Award, Chesley/Bumbalo Playwriting Award, Playwrights’ Center’s McKnight Fellowship in Playwriting and Many Voices Fellowship. www.benjaminbenne.com

ANA VELAZQUEZ she/her (Director) is a Mexican American director and teaching artist in her native Chicago. Her directing experience is deeply tied to new play development and is often in collaboration with playwrights exploring underrepresented stories. Her directing credits include A Los Angeles Mural for Wrights of Spring Festival at The Theatre School at DePaul; I Come From Arizona staged reading for Vittum Theater’s grand reopening at Adventure Stage Chicago; La Ofrenda at Adventure Stage Chicago; Alma for Blue Ink Festival at American Blues Theater; El Pico for A Night of New Works at Something Marvelous; Macha for Tutterow Fellows Showcase at Chicago Dramatists; Oak & Pallets for Peacebook at Collaboraction; Los Frikis for El Semillero at Victory Gardens Theater; Meet Juan(ito) Doe (co-directed) at Free Street Theater; Everybody Loves Big E for Our Chicago Project at Collaboraction; Art House and The Scream for Scrapbook 2017 at Chicago Dramatists; Epic Tales with FEMelanin for Kid’s Fringe 2016 and Raisin Puffs for Black Lives, Black Words at Black Ensemble Theatre. She received the 2018 Alta Award for Outstanding Director of Play for Meet Juan(ito) Doe (co-directed). Ana is a PlayMakers Laboratory company member. Her teaching artist experience includes Disney Musicals in Schools and PlayBuild Youth Intensive Program with Goodman Theatre; TimeLine South Living History Program with Timeline Theatre and Young Playwrights Festival with Pegasus Theatre. Ana recently completed her second residency with Teatro Comunal, a new youth program created through We the Many with Arts Midwest and The Honeywell Foundation in Wabash & North Manchester, Indiana. She received her BA in Theatre from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

JAZMÍN CORONA she/her (Alma) previously appeared in Hurricane Diane (Theater Wit); Zulema (Goodman/Sones de Mexico); Roe (Goodman Theatre); Shrew’d and Macbeth (First Folio Theatre); I’m Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter and The Compass (u/s, Steppenwolf Theatre); 1776 (Porchlight Music Theatre); Women of 4G (Babes With Blades); A Work Of Art (Chicago Dramatists); Two Mile Hollow (First Floor Theater); Gender Breakdown (Collaboraction); Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Christmas Goose (Raven Theatre). TV credits include Chicago Fire (NBC). 

BRYANNA CIERA COLÓN she/her (Angel) is making her American Blues Theater debut in ALMA as Angel. The Chicago based performer made her national tour debut in the hit holiday musical The Elf on The Shelf: A Christmas Musical (Ella) fresh out of high school. She then went on to do In the Heights (Yolanda, Nina US, Ensemble) at the Arts Center of Costal Carolina on Hilton Head Island right after. Some of her other credits include episodes in the critically acclaimed NBC TV series Chicago Fire and the FOX TV series The Big Leap.

Dates:  Previews September 22-25, 2022

Opens September 28 and 29, 2022

Runs through October 22, 2022

Schedule:        

Thursdays: 7:30pm

Fridays: 7:30pm

Saturdays: 3:00pm and 7:30pm

Sundays: 2:30pm

 

Location: Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, 5779 Ridge Avenue in Chicago

Ticket prices: $25-$45

Box Office: Buy online at www.amercanbluestheater.com or (773) 654-3103

Group Sales discounts and Blue Card Memberships available now by calling (773) 654-3103 or visiting www.amercanbluestheater.com

About American Blues

Winner of the American Theatre Wing’s prestigious National Theatre Company Award, American Blues Theater is a premier arts organization with an intimate environment that patrons, artists, and all Chicagoans call home. American Blues Theater explores the American identity through the plays it produces and communities it serves.

The diverse and multi-generational artists have established the second-oldest professional Equity Ensemble theater in Chicago. As of 2022, the theater and artists received 221 Joseph Jefferson Awards and nominations that celebrate excellence in Chicago theater and 44 Black Theatre Alliance Awards. The artists are honored with Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize nominations, Academy Awards, Golden Globe Awards, Emmy Awards and numerous other accolades.   

OPENING: BABES WITH BLADES' RICHARD III, AUGUST 25 – OCTOBER 15th AT THE EDGE THEATER

 COME SLAY WITH US: 

 BABES WITH BLADES THEATRE COMPANY ANNOUNCES CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM FOR RICHARD III, AUGUST 25 – OCTOBER 15, 

AT THE EDGE THEATER

Directed By Richard Costes, Babes With Blades Theatre Company’s Shakespeare Features Non-Traditional Casting and is Informed by a Collaboration with the University Of Illinois Chicago and their incubators for Disability Arts and Culture

Babes With Blades Theatre Company (BWBTC) returns to live performances with its 2022 season and its presentation of William Shakespeare’s Richard III, in partnership with the University of Illinois Chicago’s Disability Cultural Center and directed by Richard Costes, August 25 – October 15, at The Edge Theater, 5451 N. Broadway Ave., with select performances being live streamed. Previews are Thursday, Aug. 25 – Saturday, Aug. 27 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Aug. 28 at 3 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 1 and Friday, Sept. 2 at 8 p.m. I'll be out for the press opening Sept. 3rd so check back shortly after for my full review. The regular performance schedule is Thursdays – Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. All performances are presented with open captioning and select performances will be live streamed. Tickets are $20-35 available HERE.

Babes With Blades Theatre Company brings the tale of Shakespeare’s most complex, cruel and fascinating protagonist to life this summer in a new version that accounts for previously disregarded perspectives.  BWBTC Shakespeare’s Richard III tells the story of Richard of Gloucester, who uses intelligence, deception and political manipulation towards his ultimate goal: England’s crown. Babes With Blades’ production is a partnership with a project called “Making Inclusive Theatre: Richard III as Disability Art,” a collaboration with the University of Illinois Chicago’s Disability Cultural Center, the UIC Department of Theatre and Bodies of Work, a network of disability arts and culture. BWBTC Shakespeare’s production of Richard III adds a new layer to the complex tale by making it more inclusive in order to further explore othering and disability culture.  

“This production represents so many aspects that are priorities for BWBTC: focusing on marginalized stories, telling complicated tales of flawed humans and our signature of stage combat as a storytelling tool,” states Artistic Director Hayley Rice. “This team is ready to tell Richard III’s story in the manner it should be told, with the artists who should be telling it, but are so often left out of the conversation completely.”

The ensemble cast of 13 artists features Kristen Alesia,  (she/her/hers/they/them/theirs; Lady Anne/Lord Hastings), Aszkara Gilchrist, (she/her/hers; Richard III); Madison Hill, (they/them/theirs; Ratcliffe/Duke of York); Leah Huskey, (she/her/hers; Lord Grey/Duchess of York); Kayla Marie Klammer, (she/her/hers; Lord Lovell/Archbishop of Canterbury); Lauren Paige, (she/her/hers; Queen Elizabeth); Pat Roache, (they/them/theirs; Queen Margaret/Brackenbury); Genesis Sanchez, (she/her/hers/they/them/theirs; Earl of Richmond); Symmone Sill, (she/her/hers; Marquis of Dorset/Prince Edward); Marianna Gallegos, (she/her/hers; understudy for Margaret/Brackenbury, Ratcliffe/York, Catesby); Jo Hoch, (she/her/hers, understudy Richard III); Alison Kertz, (she/her/hers, understudy Queen Elizabeth/Richmond, Grey/Duchess of York); Emma Norville, (she/her/hers, understudy Clarence/Stanley/Lord Mayor, Anne/Hastings); Elizabeth Quilter, (she/her/hers, understudy Lovell/Archbishop, Buckingham) and Xela Rosas, (she/her/hers, understudy Rivers/Bishop of Ely/Messenger, Dorset/Prince Edward, King Edward IV) along with BWBTC ensemble members Kim Fukawa, (she/her/hers, Catesby/King Edward IV); Jillian Leff, (she/her/hers; Duke of Buckingham); Jennifer L. Mickleson, (she/her/hers; Duke of Clarence/Lord Stanley/Lord Mayor); Izis Mollinedo, (they/them/theirs/she/her/hers; Rivers/Bishop of Ely/Messenger).  

The production team includes Richard Costes, (he/him/his; director); Claire Alston, (she/her/hers; dramaturg); Esau Andaleon, (he/him/his; assistant stage manager); Dr. Margaret Fink, (she/her/hers; director of Disability Cultural Center, UIC); Bianca C. Frazer, PhD (she/her/hers; UIC Disability Culture Advisory Team) Rose Hamill, (she/her/hers; production manager); Carrie Hardin, (she/her/hers; text coach); Jesse D. Irwin, (he/him/his; sound design); Matt Lauterbach, (he/him/his; accessibility coordinator); Sydney Lynne, (she/her/hers; scenic design); Clare McKellaston (she/her/hers; costume design), Tab Mocherman (they/them/theirs; COVID compliance officer); AJ Morley (he/him/his; props design); Gabrielle Owens, (she/her/hers/they/them/theirs; stage manager); Kat Pleviak, (she/her/hers; puppet design); Keyana Robinson, (she/her/hers); UIC videographer); Carrie Sandahl, (she/her/hers, PhD, professor of Department of Disability and Human Development; UIC Disability Culture Advisory Team), Rachelle Tsachor, (she/her/hers; UIC Disability Culture Advisory Team), Becca Veneable, (she/her/hers; lighting design) and BWBTC Ensemble Members Maureen Yasko, (she/her/hers; fight/intimacy design) and Jillian Leff, (she/her/hers; assistant fight/intimacy design). 

 

ABOUT RICHARD COSTES, DIRECTOR OF RICHARD III 

Richard Costes is a deaf artist of color who has also worked as an actor, director, playwright and accessibility consultant. Costes grew up near Youngstown, Ohio where he graduated from Kent State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Studies. His professional career began in Chicago, where he fell in love with the storefront theater scene and its continued work towards diversity and inclusion. Since 2014, he has performed at Steep Theatre Company, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Red Tape Theatre, Redtwist Theatre, Broken Nose Theatre, Porchlight Music Theatre, Rasaka Theatre Company and many others.  He is a 2017 recipient of a 3Arts Make a Wave grant. He has presented at Gallaudet University’s symposium on Visual Shakespeare and was a member of the 2019 Deaf Theatre Action Planning Session hosted by HowlRound at Emerson College. 

ABOUT UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS CHICAGO DISABILITY CULTURAL CENTER (UIC DCC)

As one of the first Disability Cultural Centers in the country, the UIC DCC is committed to building community around disability experience and anti-ableism. It centers disability issues as social justice issues, exploring intersectional identities, developing disability culture, fostering a sense of belonging, and imagining radically different futures. Most UIC DCC programming is open to everyone--students, staff, faculty, and community members--and nondisabled allies are welcome to join; the Center also hosts intentional spaces for disabled people to find community. The UIC DCC's programs include public lectures, discussion series, arts-based workshops and one-on-one support.

 

ABOUT BWBTC SHAKESPEARE

Aligned with their mission of representing marginalized voices, BWBTC Shakespeare specifically features actors of marginalized genders to provide an opportunity for audiences to perceive these classic stories through a new lens.  For this production, BWBTC has partnered with UIC’s Disability Cultural Center, the department of Theatre, and Bodies of Work to tell the tale of Richard of Gloucester’s rise to power. Casting both disabled and non-disabled actors and exploring disability beyond the role of Richard III, this production will not only examine stage combat as a storytelling tool, but also interrogate the barriers that the theatre industry often creates when it comes to accessibility for actors.

ABOUT BABES WITH BLADES THEATRE COMPANY

Babes With Blades Theatre Company – over the past 20 years and moving into the future – strives to develop and present scripts focused on complex, dynamic (often combative) characters who continue to be underrepresented on theatre stages based on gender. Babes With Blades Theatre Company uses (and will continue to use) stage combat to tell stories that elevate the voices of underrepresented communities and dismantle the patriarchy.

In each element of their programming, they embrace two key concepts:

1)     Folks of marginalized genders and underrepresented communities are central to the story, driving the action rather than responding or submitting to it.

2)     Everyone is capable of a full emotional and physical engagement, up to and including violence and its consequences.

The company offers participants and patrons alike an unparalleled opportunity to experience every person as heroes and villains; rescuers and rescues; right, wrong and everywhere in between: exciting, vivid, dynamic PEOPLE. It’s as simple and as subversive as that.

This production of Richard III is supported by a UIC Creative Activity Award for a project called "Making Inclusive Theatre: Richard III as Disability Art." 

BWBTC’s 2022 programming is partially made possible by the kind support of The Gaylord & Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, a grant from The Illinois Arts Council Agency, a CityArts Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events (DCASE), and the support of the Small Business Alliance Shuttered Venue Operators (SVOG) grant program.

LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT STATEMENT:

Babes With Blades Theatre Company produces theatre in venues located on the traditional homelands of the Council of the Three Fires: the Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi Nations. Many other tribes such as the Miami, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Sac, and Fox also called this area home. This region that we now commonly refer to as “The Chicagoland Area”, has long been a center for Indigenous people to gather, trade, and maintain kinship ties. Today, one of the largest urban Native American communities in the United States resides in Chicago. Members of this community continue to contribute to the life of this city and to celebrate their heritage, practice traditions and care for the land and waterways.