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.

FREE Staged Readings at Goodman Theatre by Their 2016/2017 Playwrights Unit Members 7/16-18

GOODMAN THEATRE PRESENTS 

A FIRST LOOK AT NEW WORKS BY ITS 2016/2017 PLAYWRIGHTS UNIT MEMBERS

LUCAS BAISCH, DAWN RENEE JONES, EVAN LINDER AND EMMA STANTON—IN FREE READINGS, JULY 16-18

***PLAYWRIGHTS UNIT ALUM SANDRA DELGADO BRINGS LA HAVANA MADRID, THE WORK SHE DEVELOPED AT THE GOODMAN WHILE A MEMBER OF THE UNIT, TO THE OWEN THEATRE,  JULY 21 – AUGUST 20***

Goodman Theatre announces a line-up of free staged readings written by 2016/2017 members of its Playwrights Unit— Lucas Baisch, Dawn Renee Jones, Evan Linder and Emma Stanton. The four one-time-only readings take place at Goodman Theatre beginning Sunday, July 16 through Tuesday, July 18, presented in partnership with Chicago Dramatists. Over the past year members worked with the Goodman’s artistic team to develop and discuss their plays-in-progress. Free readings take place July 16-18 at Goodman Theatre (170 N. Dearborn); to make a reservation call 312.443.3800 or visit GoodmanTheatre.org/PlaywrightsUnit. Availability is extremely limited.

As previously announced, Teatro Vista’s La Havana Madrid makes its way to Goodman Theatre in its downtown debut, July 21 – August 20. A world premiere by Playwrights Unit alum Sandra Delgado—who authored the play as a 2015 member of the unit—the production arrives at the Goodman following sold-out runs at Steppenwolf Theatre Company and Logan Square’s Miracle Center. Directed by Teatro Vista ensemble member Cheryl Lynn Bruce, the play was inspired by true stories of Cuban, Puerto Rican and Colombian immigrants who found refuge in the 1960s fabled Chicago nightclub. La Havana Madrid appears July 21 - August 20 in the Owen Theatre (Opening Night is Wednesday, July 26 at 7pm). Tickets ($30-$50; subject to change) are now available; visit GoodmanTheatre.org/LaHavanaMadrid or call the box office at (312) 443-3800. 

**La Havana Madrid is recommended for ages 12 and up.**

The Goodman is grateful for the generosity of its New Work sponsors, including: the Time Warner Foundation, Lead Support of New Play Development; The Pritzker Pucker Family Foundation, Major Support of New Work Development; The Glasser and Rosenthal Family, Support of New Work Development; and the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, Support of New Work Development.

About the 2016/2017 Playwrights Unit Readings

The Beauties by Dawn Renee Jones
Directed by J. Nicole Brooks 
Sunday, July 16 | 2pm

A goddess with an anxiety disorder enlists the aid of her son to procure beauties for placement in the universe where needed. But when a rare and unusually beautiful maiden accepts the hand of a grotesque monster, mother and son are challenged to reassess their relationship to the superficially attractive.

Jones is the recipient of the 2015 Ruby Prize for her play A Heap See. Her interdisciplinary collaboration with composer Carei Thomas and visual artist Seitu Jones entitled S’Kin received a workshop production at the Cornerstone Theatre’s Genesis Festival in New Brunswick, and was produced by Intermedia Arts in Minneapolis where it was recognized as one of the year’s best by the Twin Cities Reader. Her feature screenplay Man of the Word won Best Screenplay at the 2008 FilmColumbia Film Festival. Jones’ writing career began on Madison Avenue where she wrote print and broadcast advertising at the Leo Burnett Company, Young & Rubicam and McCann Erickson advertising agencies and for a broad range of national brands. She has been a script doctor on feature screenplays for Columbia Pictures, Warner Brothers and Paisley Park. Jones was the founder and artistic director of Alchemy Theatre in Minneapolis, where she also directed productions for Actors Theatre of St. Paul (The Blood Knot, If I’m Traveling on a Movin’ Train and Water Torture), Alchemy Theatre (American Menu, A Raisin in the Sun), Mixed Blood (Ali), Penumbra Theatre (Suspenders), At the Foot of the Mountain Theatre (Angela,  Going to Seed, Head Over Heels, Ida B. Wells, and Wake Up Call), Women’s Theatre Project (A Place on Earth) and Starting Gate Theatre (A Raisin in the Sun). She developed theatre curriculum for the State of Minnesota’s Professional Development Institute at the Perpich Center for the Arts, has been an artist in residence at K-12 schools in Minnesota and New York and taught theater history courses at Macalaster College and Metropolitan State University. Jones has an MFA in creative writing with emphasis in playwriting from Goddard College.

Jo and Liv by Evan Linder
Directed by Krissy Vanderwarker
Sunday, July 16 | 7:30pm

Liv has accepted her estranged sister Jo's invitation to spend Christmas together with their families in New York in 1961. With years of hurt between them, they hope this can be their chance to finally exhume all the skeletons in their closets... or at least the contentious Academy Award stuffed in the cupboard.

Linder is a founding member and the co-artistic director of The New Colony in Chicago. He works as a playwright, actor and director. He recently reprised the role of Jim in the remount of his play Byhalia, Mississippi, (2016 Non-Equity Jeff Award for new work) at Steppenwolf's 1700 Theatre. Other plays include FRAT, 11:11, The Warriors,  The Bear Suit of Happiness (published by Chicago Dramaworks), B-Side Studio and 5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche (published by Samuel French) which ran off-Broadway at the SoHo Playhouse from 2012-2013 and has been performed all over the U.S., Europe and Australia. Linder's newest play, The Hunted (co-written with Paul Oakley Stovall), recently received its first staged reading with About Face Theatre's “First Draaft” Series. He is beginning his fifth year as a guest lecturer at the University of Chicago where he has created three new playwriting courses. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America and is represented by ICM.

June in the Parade by Emma Stanton 
Directed by Vanessa Stalling
Monday, July 17 | 7:30pm

In June's grandmother's house, everyone is sick. Her grandmother has dementia, her aunt is hallucinating and June is beginning to see things that aren’t there. Three generations of women call into question what we inherit, what we are capable of and who we become as a result of our family.

Stanton’s plays include Bojko and the Glacier, Jitterbug, One Wood Road, Bountiful Planets and No Candy. Her written collaborations include The Cure (Walkabout Theater Company), Storm (Walkabout Theater Company & London’s Moon Fool), Circle-Machine (Oracle Theater), and The Straight Line (American Theater Company, as part of their Chicago Chronicle Program). Additionally, she has worked with such companies as Collaboraction, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Victory Gardens Theater, About Face Theatre, Redmoon Theater, Double Edge Theater, En Garde Arts and Roundabout Theatre Company. Her play In the Danube was a recipient of a Civics and Arts Foundation Playwriting Award for Emerging Artists in Chicago, as well as a finalist for the 2016 Heideman Award at Actors Theatre of Louisville. For her play No Candy, Stanton was a finalist for the 2016 Susan Glaspell Award, a winner of the 2016 Columbia University/Roundabout Theater Underground Reading Series and the recipient of the 2016 Jane Chambers Feminist Playwriting Award. Most recently, she was the recipient of the 2016 Princess Grace Award Playwriting Fellowship, which includes a year-long residency at New Dramatists in New York. She is the associate artistic director of Walkabout Theater Company in Chicago. BA: Boston College; MFA: Columbia University.

Refrigerator by Lucas Baisch
Directed by Kurt Chiang
Tuesday, July 18 | 7:30pm

Eighty-two percent of Earth's population has disposed of their physical bodies and digitally uploaded their consciousness to IceBox & Co. In the midst of a going-away party for a colleague, the company’s few remaining employees battle their moral and socioeconomic inabilities to abandon reality.

Baisch’s work has been read and developed at InFusion Theatre Company, Salonathon, Victory Gardens Theater, Post Q at Links Hall, Gloucester Stage Company, Chicago Dramatists’ Saturday Series, The Bridge Program at American Theatre Company, The Wulfden, The DeYoung Museum, The NeoFuturists’ Kitchen Festival, SF Playground and DePaul University. Full-length productions include The Scavengers (DePaul University), A Measure of Normalcy (Gloucester Stage Company) and Zipped & Pelted  (The Wulfden/Chicago Fringe). He recently completed an eight-month residency as Gloucester Stage Company's 2015 Playwriting Apprentice and will be a 2017 artist-in-residence at Elsewhere Museum in Greensboro, NC. Baisch has also self-published his digital zine series Taste Test since 2015. He received his BFA in playwriting from the Theatre School at DePaul University.

About Goodman Theatre
America’s “Best Regional Theatre” (Time magazine) and “Chicago’s flagship resident stage” (Chicago Tribune ), Goodman Theatre is a not-for-profit organization distinguished by the quality and scope of its artistic programming and civic engagement. Founded in 1925, the Goodman is led by Robert Falls—“Chicago’s most essential director” (Chicago Tribune), who marks 30 years as Artistic Director this season—and Executive Director Roche Schulfer, who is celebrated for his vision and leadership over nearly four decades. Dedicated to new plays, reimagined classics and large-scale musical theater works, Goodman Theatre artists and productions have earned hundreds of awards for artistic excellence, including: two Pulitzer Prizes, 22 Tony Awards, nearly 160 Jeff Awards and more. Over the past three decades, audiences have experienced more than 150 world or American premieres, 30 major musical productions, as well as nationally and internationally celebrated productions of classic works (including Falls’ productions of Death of a Salesman, Long Day’s Journey into Night, King Lear and The Iceman Cometh, many in collaboration with actor Brian Dennehy). In addition, the Goodman is the first theater in the world to produce all 10 plays in August Wilson’s “American Century Cycle.” For nearly four decades, the annual holiday tradition of A Christmas Carol has created a new generation of theatergoers. 

The 2016 opening of the Alice Rapoport Center for Education and Engagement (“the Alice”) launched the next phase in the Goodman’s decades-long commitment as an arts and community organization dedicated to educating Chicago youth and promoting lifelong learning. Programs are offered year-round and free of charge. Eighty-five percent of the Goodman’s youth program participants come from underserved communities.

Goodman Theatre was founded by William O. Goodman and his family in honor of their son Kenneth, an important figure in Chicago’s cultural renaissance in the early 1900s. The Goodman family’s legacy lives on through the continued work and dedication of Kenneth’s family, including Albert Ivar Goodman, who with his late mother, Edith-Marie Appleton, contributed the necessary funds for the creation of the new Goodman center in 2000.

Today, Goodman Theatre leadership includes the distinguished members of the Artistic Collective: Brian Dennehy, Rebecca Gilman, Henry Godinez, Dael Orlandersmith, Steve Scott, Chuck Smith, Regina Taylor, Henry Wishcamper and Mary Zimmerman. Joan E. Clifford is Chair of Goodman Theatre’s Board of Trustees, Cynthia K. Scholl is Women’s Board President and Justin A. Kulovsek is President of the Scenemakers Board for young professionals. 

Visit the Goodman virtually at GoodmanTheatre.org—including OnStage for insider information—and on Twitter (@GoodmanTheatre), Facebook and Instagram.