SAVE THE DATES: Remy Bumppo Theatre Company’s 2022 – 2023 Season of Shows

Celebrating the resilience of the human spirit, our need for creative self expression, and the never-ending desire for emotional connection

Remy Bumppo Theatre Company returns to the stage for its 2022-2023 season with three plays that celebrate the resilience of the human spirit, our need for creative self-expression, and the never-ending desire for emotional connection. Examining the unexpected relationships that are born in life-altering circumstances, these bold, provocative works will capture your imagination with electrifying, language-driven, funny, unique, heart-wrenching stories. All three plays will be performed at Theater Wit, 1229 West Belmont Avenue in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood. 

“In my second season as Artistic Director of Remy Bumppo Theatre Company, I am thrilled to bring to the stage three plays that are all about people whose journeys are about to take unexpected turns; ROUTES by Rachel De-lahay, ANNA IN THE TROPICS by Nilo Cruz, and GOD’S SPIES by Bill Cain,” says Marti Lyons. "Driven both by forces outside of their control, and their own needs and desires, each person in these works find themselves in a moment where their whole future hangs on their next decision.”

“Remy Bumppo has always produced plays that speak to the current moment--this season is no different. Each one of these plays seizes on themes and feelings we are all grappling with,” says Executive Director Margaret McCloskey. “I am especially proud to feature plays that showcase the breadth of talented artists working in Chicago right now, and introduce our audience to thrilling voices in playwriting.”

SEASON AT A GLANCE:

 

ROUTES

by Rachel De-lahay

Directed by Mikael Burke, featuring Core Ensemble Member Terry Bell

An American Premiere 

October 12, 2022 - November 20, 2022

Olufemi hopes to return home to his family. Bashir wants to remain in the only home he knows. Kola yearns to find home in a place that's never felt like one. Rachel De-lahay's shattering, urgent new play looks through the eyes of immigrants, refugees, and children in conflict with the law as they fight to get home through an impossibly complex system designed to keep them out. 

 

ANNA IN THE TROPICS

by Nilo Cruz

Directed by Laura Alcalá Baker, featuring Core Ensemble Member Charín Alvarez

The first major revival in Chicago in 20 years

February 8 - March 19, 2022

In a Cuban American cigar factory just outside Ybor City in 1929, a charismatic lector reads Anna Karenina aloud to pass the hours. As Anna’s passions are enunciated, the workers’ hidden desires bubble to the surface, becoming a powder keg that must eventually explode in the Florida heat. Nilo Cruz’s passionate classic shines an unrelenting light on the search for identity in the American landscape.

 

GOD’S SPIES

by Bill Cain

Directed by Artistic Director Marti Lyons, featuring Core Ensemble Member Linda Gillum

A World Premiere 

April 5 - May 14, 2023

London, 1603. A famous playwright is beset by self-doubt after writing the world’s greatest play, Hamlet. The plague grips the city, and the playwright is forced into quarantine with an idealistic young lawyer and a shrewd sex-worker. As the city burns just outside their door, they turn to creativity in order to survive, and a new masterpiece is born from the ashes. Bill Cain’s God’s Spies is a funny and heart-wrenching love-letter to Shakespeare and the value of art during times of struggle.  

All productions in Remy Bumppo Theatre Company’s season will be performed at Theater Wit, 1229 West Belmont Avenue in Chicago. Visit RemyBumppo.org for more information on subscriptions and single ticket sales.

Underwriting support for ANNA IN THE TROPICS and the 2022-2023 Season is generously provided by Brenda and James Grusecki. Additional support of the 2022-2023 Season is generously provided by Geoffrey A. Anderson, Lynne and George Simon, and Charlotte Toerber. Remy Bumppo’s programs and operations are partially funded by the Paul M. Angell Family Foundation, the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, the Illinois Arts Council, the MacArthur Foundation for Arts and Culture at Prince Charitable Trusts, and the Shubert Foundation.

ABOUT REMY BUMPPO THEATRE COMPANY

Remy Bumppo Theatre Company expands and enriches their community’s view of the world, and their own, by producing both the great plays of the past and the important plays of today. As an ensemble-driven theater company, Remy Bumppo authors a more humane culture that listens to, and seeks to understand, the voices, the ideas and the stories of one another.

Since its inception in 1996, Remy Bumppo has produced a blend of modern classics, new adaptations and complex contemporary works, all presented in an intimate setting with clarity, wit and passion. We invite audiences to engage directly with the art through conversation with the artists.

LORCA, LIVING THE EXPERIENCE VIA WATER PEOPLE THEATER WEDNESDAY, MAY 25 AND WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1 AT THE INSTITUTO CERVANTES OF CHICAGO

ChiIL Live Shows On Our Radar 

WATER PEOPLE THEATER ANNOUNCES CAST AND MUSICIANS FOR ITS RETURN TO LIVE PERFORMANCES WITH 

LORCA, LIVING THE EXPERIENCE 

CONCEIVED AND DIRECTED BY ARTISTIC DIRECTOR 

IRAIDA TAPIAS 

WEDNESDAY, MAY 25 AND WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1 

AT THE INSTITUTO CERVANTES OF CHICAGO

Presented in Spanish with English Subtitles, This World Premiere Combines Plays and Music Written and Composed by Federico García Lorca with Video Mapping to Immerse the Audience in Lorca’s World 

Water People Theater, celebrates 20 years of creating theater, announces the cast and musicians for its return to live performances with LORCA, Living the Experience, conceived and directed by Artistic Director Iraida Tapias, plays and music written and composed by Federico García Lorca. A show in which the audience will be immersed, like never before, in the world of the Andalusian poet. Performance are Wednesday, May 25 and Wednesday, June 1 at 7 p.m. at Instituto Cervantes, 31 W Ohio St. Tickets are $25 - $35 and are on sale now at WaterPeople.org.

LORCA, Living the Experience is a theatrical show with the protagonists of Federico García Lorca plays including “The Shoemaker's Prodigious Wife,” “Doña Rosita the Spinster,” “Blood Wedding”, “The House of Bernarda Alba,” “Yerma” and “Mariana Pineda.” Through video mapping, the audience will be immersed in the world of flamenco. With these female voices, the poet speaks to the audience of the deep meaning of the word freedom.

The LORCA, Living the Experience cast includes Carlota Sosa, (Bernarda Alba); Rebeca Aleman, (Yerma, Mariana Pineda, pianist); Ana Santos, (The Mother, Neighbor, First Washer-Woman, singer); Kris Tori, (Doña Rosita, The Bride, Second Washer-Woman); Teresa Echeveste, (The Shoemaker’s Wife, Third Washer-Woman, understudy); Camilo Rasquin, (Lorca, singer); Andrea Salcedo, (guitar) and Diego Salcedo, (percussion).

The production crew includes Iraida Tapias, (director/creator); Ramon Camin (assistant director); Marisabel Munoz, (art director); Oliver Krisch and Mafer Rodriguez, (projection design and video mapping), Irene Sivianes (choreographer) and Kim Schalk, (costume designer).

ABOUT IRAIDA TAPIAS, playwright and director 

Iraida Tapias is a director, playwright, producer and artistic director of Water People Theater. During her more than 49-years career in theater, she focused on producing and directing plays of Spanish American authors, especially Venezuelan. Tapias has written seven plays, produced over 20 theatrical performances and writes and produces for film and television. She has received the National Artist Award, Venezuela, “Best Director;” Premio Municipal de Cine, Venezuela, “Scriptwriter” and La Habana Film Festival Award, “Best Producer.”

ABOUT WATER PEOPLE THEATER

Water People Theater is a non-profit Latino bilingual organization dedicated to the development of performing arts and theater. Its mission is to attract new and diverse talents to create high-quality theater that inspires a very diverse audience to seek change and contribute decidedly to equity, justice, respect and integrating all cultures. 

The name, Water People, comes from the Venezuelan indigenous group, Yekuana. It signifies people on the river who open roads in the water.

Water People Theater believes in the power of theater to bring people together to inspire action, encourage understanding and facilitate harmony among diverse communities.

Water People Theater, celebrating 20 years of creating theater, returns to live performances with LORCA, Living the Experience, conceived and directed by Artistic Director Iraida Tapias combining text and music written and composed by Federico García Lorca, Wednesday, May 25 and Wednesday, June 1 at 7 p.m. at Instituto Cervantes, 31 W Ohio St. Tickets are $25 - $30 and are on sale now at WaterPeople.org.

WORLD PREMIERE of SOMEWHERE OVER THE BORDER Via TEATRO VISTA at WINDY CITY PLAYHOUSE Now Playing Through JUNE 12, 2022

ChiIL Live Shows On Our Radar  TEATRO VISTA RETURNS TO LIVE THEATER WITH BRIAN QUIJADA’S  SOMEWHERE OVER THE BORDER  A WORLD PREMIERE MUSICAL INSPIRED BY HIS MOTHER’S REAL LIFE STORY AND THE WIZARD OF OZ,  MAY 12-JUNE 12, 2022 AT WINDY CITY PLAYHOUSE (from left) Brian Quijada (book, lyrics and music) is the playwright and narrator of Teatro Vista’s world premiere musical, Somewhere Over the Border. Denise Yvette Serna directs. The cast features Andrés Enriquez, Amanda Raquel Martinez, Gabriela Moscoso, Claudia Quesada and Teatro Vista ensemble member Tommy Rivera-Vega.  Teatro Vista, Chicago’s leading Latine theater company, will return to the live stage this spring with Emmy-nominated artist Brian Quijada’s world premiere musical, Somewhere Over the Border, directed by Denise Yvette Serna. Performances are May 12-June 12, 2022 at Windy City Playhouse, 3014 W. Irving Park Road in Chicago. Tickets, $15-$49.50, are on sale now at teatrovista.org. Fees not included. Inspired by his mother’s real-life border crossing from El Salvador to the U.S., mashed up with The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Somewhere Over the Border is an uplifting new work of musical theater that embraces fact and fantasy to depict one young girl's pursuit of the American dream.  As Reina Quijada travels north to the Mexican border, she gathers friends, faces down dangers and holds tight to the memory of the little boy she left behind. Set in the 1970s and propelled by an original score including cumbia, Mexican mariachi boleros, American rock and hip hop, Somewhere Over the Border is both fable and family history – a testament to the determination born of love.  Brian Quijada (book, lyrics and music), who created, starred and two-time Jeff Award winner for Teatro Vista’s 2016 hit world premiere hip hop show, Where Did We Sit on the Bus?, is back to narrate his newest work.  "I've been waiting to see a brown, Central-American Dorothy,” said Quijada, “and now, the American theater is being introduced to her."  “When I was 18, I left my hometown on a Greyhound bus with two duffel bags, in search of a far away future I hoped existed for someone like me. It was one of the scariest times of my life, with ripple effects and traumas that follow me to this day," said director Denise Yvette Serna.  "With Somewhere Over the Border, we have the privilege to come together in a theater again, to laugh, cry, dance, and celebrate those who leave their homes willingly, those who are displaced, the parents who did their best, and all the dreamers who take each day step-by-step.” Somewhere Over the Border is the first production under new co-artistic directors, Lorena Diaz and Wendy Mateo. "Brian’s new musical is the most ambitious production Teatro Vista has endeavored to produce to date,” confirmed Diaz. “It brings us back to live theater and houses us in a large new space at Windy City Playhouse where anything is possible.”  “Large scale productions like this one don't usually happen on a budget like ours, but we met the challenge to give the community a way to see themselves reflected in stories like these,” added Mateo. “We committed to employing mostly femme and people of color in key positions, led by an all Latine cast and Mexican-American femme-director. For our first production out of the pandemic gates, we mean to be true to our word, to be a model for inclusive and equitable practices in Chicago theater.”  The cast is Andrés Enriquez (Silvano/Don Napo), Amanda Raquel Martinez (Antonia/Leona), Gabriela Moscoso (Reina), Brian Quijada (Narrator), Claudia Quesada (Julia) and Teatro Vista ensemble member Tommy Rivera-Vega (Cruz/Adan). Covers are Ulysses Espinoza, Laura Quiñones and Karla Serrato. Music director is Thee Ricky Harris. Choreography by Kasey Alfonso. Yendrys Cespedes (co-orchestrator/keyboards/percussion) leads the three-piece band with Roberto “Carpacho” Marin (upright bass) and Guido Acevedo (cajón).  The production team includes Teatro Vista ensemble member Ayssette Muñoz (associate director), Yvonne Miranda (scenic design), Sarah Albrecht (costumes), Stefanie Senior (sound), Diane Fairchild (lights), Liviu Pasare (projections), Lonnae Hickson (props), Grace Needlman (puppets), Kristin Leahey (dramaturg), Adelina Feldman-Schultz (casting), Jennifer Aparicio(production manager), Johnnie Schleyer (technical director), Kyle Jensen(sound design assistant), Isaac Mandel (audio supervisor/sound engineer), Julián Mesri (co-orchestrator), Sara Pool Wilhelm (music copyist). Stage manager is Madeline Scott. Assistant stage managers are Maurilio Rodriguez and Olivia Sullam.  Somewhere Over the Border premieres May 12-June 12, 2022 at Windy City Playhouse, 3014 W. Irving Park Rd., Chicago. Show times are Wednesdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m.; Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets are $15 Teatro For All/$35 previews/$49.50 regular performances. Teatro For All is a new initiative to make theater accessible to everyone – students, artists, seniors, or folks on a tight budget. Ten $15 tickets are available for every performance on a first-come, first-served basis.  For tickets and information, visit teatrovista.org. Sign up for Teatro Vista’s e-newsletter, and follow Teatro Vista on  Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.  Teatro Vista’s production of Somewhere Over the Border is a rolling world premiere with Syracuse State and Geva Theatre Center.  Plan your trip to see Somewhere Over the Border  Windy City Playhouse is located on Chicago’s northwest side, at the intersection of Irving Park Rd. and Sacramento Ave. It offers a high-end bar and snacks on-site, plus several dining partners within easy walking distance for pre- or post-show meals.  Windy City Playhouse is easily accessible from both Lake Shore Drive and I-94. The CTA #80 bus runs right in front of the theater, with a stop at Sacramento. Metered street parking is available along Irving Park Road. Side street parking is free. All street parking is free on Sundays. For more details visit windycityplayhouse/visit-irving-park. Already on play: Teatro Vista’s 2022 “must listen” virtual productions Teatro Vista’s first, original new audio play, The Fifth World by ensemble member Gabriel Ruiz, co-directed with Lorena Diaz, dropped in December, has hit 15,000 streams, and is still available for free download via teatrovista.org, Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Set in a small desert town in modern day Arizona, but rooted in Aztec mythology, The Fifth World is full of mystery, intrigue and the supernatural. It’s voiced by a nine-member, all-ensemble cast, the most ever in a Teatro Vista production,  crescripted.org called The Fifth World an “incredible work…a triumph in the realm of mystery/horror audio fiction. Tense, suspenseful, horrifying, gorgeous, and evocative…a must-listen.”   Also newly released is Detective Q, Teatro Vista’s world premiere moving graphic novel, written and created by ensemble members Marvin Quijada and Gabriel Ruiz. Ten micro-episodes dropped over the first five days in May exclusively on  Instagram feed and YouTube feeds. Film noir meets mime in Detective Q, a fast-action, funny, genre-defying digital episodic about the misadventures of an urban, animated private eye. Each chapter, like “Episode 2: How Not to Do a Stakeout'' and “Episode 3: How to Get Hit by a Car,” runs under a minute, combining comic adventure animation, live action, video, urban locales, and because it’s from Teatro Vista, an all-Latine cast. Already, Detective Q is gaining fans, attracting more than 2,500 views in the show’s first week alone.  If you haven’t figured it out already, Brian "Somewhere Over the Border" Quijada and Marvin “Detective Q” Quijada are brothers, and they’re having quite a spring. Just as Teatro Vista is releasing Marvin’s new moving graphic novel on the digital stage, Brian’s world premiere musical about their mother, Somewhere Over the Border, is debuting live at Windy City Playhouse.   Still coming in 2022 is La Vuelta, a new digital experience commissioned by Teatro Vista, devised by its ensemble members, written by Isaac Gómez and directed by Monty Cole.  Teatro Vista’s live and digital projects signal the company’s new direction under Co-Artistic Directors Lorena Diaz and Wendy Mateo: to propel the company and its ensemble to create a new definition of theater, both live and virtual, that centers its own members, encompasses many disciplines of art, genres and expression, and spurs new forms of storytelling.  About Teatro Vista Teatro Vista is Chicago’s largest, Equity-affiliated professional Latine theater company and one of the nation’s premier Latine arts organizations.The company’s primary focus is producing new works by Latine theater artists from its own ensemble, a group of multi-generational, multi-ethnic and multi-disciplinary artists.  Teatro Vista ensemble members include Charín Álvarez, Max Arciniega, Desmín Borges, Cheryl Lynn Bruce, Ramón Camín, Ivonne Coll, Laura Dahl, Sandra Delgado, Liza Fernández, Khanisha Foster, Cruz Gonzalez-Cadel, Isaac Gómez, Ricardo Gutiérrez, Erik Juárez, Jon Lyon, Sandra Márquez, Eddie Martinez, Salome Martinez, Joe Minoso, Ayssette Muñoz, Christina Nieves, Marvin Quijada, Tommy Rivera-Vega, Gabriel Ruíz, Nate Santana, Cecilia Suarez and co-founder Edward Torres.  In July, 2021, following a national search, Lorena Diaz and Wendy Mateowere appointed Co-Artistic Directors of Teatro Vista.   Lorena Diaz (left) and Wendy Mateo, Co-Artistic Directors, Teatro Vista.  “We are deeply energized by Teatro Vista and its ensemble, with its tapestry of talent, innovation and unique perspectives,” said Mateo. “There is a depth to the American Latine experience that has fueled our 20 years of storytelling and collaboration together. With this particular ensemble, we’ll be able to deepen that storytelling and bring in a kind of nuance and complexity to our stories that our audiences will be inspired by.” Diaz added, “the opportunities in an ensemble-led theater company are many and Teatro Vista has an abundance of thought-provoking artists who are exploring different genres of creative expression, from writing for television, to audio plays with visual components, to full-fledged plays with music like Somewhere Over the Border. Expect that kind of excitement going forward.” Teatro Vista’s Board of Directors includes Adela Cepeda, President, Joan Pantsios, Secretary, Julieta LaMalfa, Treasurer, and Rosa Escareño, Kareem Mohamednur, Carina Sanchez and Jose Vasquez. Teatro Vista is supported by Alphawood Foundation, the Arts Work Fund, Paul M. Angell Family Foundation, The Bayless Foundation, Chicago Community Trust, Chicago Cultural Treasures, Chicago Filmmaker Grant, CLATA (Chicago Latino Theater Alliance), DCASE (Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events), The Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, Illinois Arts Council, The Joyce Foundation, The MacArthur Fund for Culture, Equity, and the Arts at the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, Pritzker Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, The Shuttered Grant and the Tide-Venturous Foundation.  Playwright/Director Biographies Brian Quijada (playwright and composer) is an actor, playwright, and composer whose original work has been developed and produced all across the country. His hip hop solo show, Where Did We Sit on the Bus? has been produced at Victory Gardens, Geva Theatre (Emmy Nomination for digital stream), Teatro Vista (Jeff Award), Ensemble Studio Theatre (Drama Desk Nomination), Boise Contemporary, 1st Stage, City Theatre Pittsburgh, and a digital production at Actors Theatre of Louisville (Drama League Nomination). His play Kid Prince and Pablo premiered at The Kennedy Center in 2019. His plays have been developed at The Kennedy Center, Pittsburgh CLO’s Spark Festival, Victory Gardens’ Ignition Festival, New Stage and Film’s Powerhouse Festival and The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Musical Theatre Conference. Commissioning institutions include Hero Theatre, A.R.T., 1st Stage, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Woolly Mammoth and The Kennedy Center. His song “The Always Song” was the 2021’s Hispanic Heritage Month Song for Nickelodeon. He is a two-time Jeff Award winner in Chicago and a two-time Drama Desk Nominee. Acting credits include Bobbie Clearly at Roundabout, Oedipus El Rey at The Public Theater, My Mañana Comes(original cast) at Playwrights Realm, How We Got On (original cast) and Airness (original cast) at Actors Theatre of Louisville's Humana Festival. TV credits include Blue Bloods, Manhattan Love Story and Search Party. Quijada is a member of The Ensemble Studio Theatre in New York City. As an educator, he teaches solo performance at Harvard University. brianquijada.com  Denise Yvette Serna (director) is an international theater practitioner raised in San Juan, Texas and Associate Artistic Director of Chicago’s Rivendell Theatre Ensemble. Chicago credits include 45 Plays for America’s First Ladies (The Neo-Futurists), Nine Lives of a Cat (MCA Chicago/Prop Thtr), La Ruta(Steppenwolf Theatre Company), HIR (Steppenwolf Theatre Company), Cambodian Rock Band (Victory Gardens Theater), Richard & Jane & Dick & Sally (LTC Carnaval 2018), Earthquakes in London (Steep Theatre Company). International credits include L I M P I A: Nuestrxs Hechizos… (Global Hive Labs), and MEDUSA (Global Hive Labs, Fusion Theatre Company, La Compagnie Certes, Teatro Trieste Trentaquattro, Pop Magic Productions). deniseyvetteserna.com Teatro Vista's world premiere musical Somewhere Over the Border by Brian Quijada, directed by Denise Yvette Serna, runs through June 12, 2022 at Windy City Playhouse, 3014 W. Irving Park Rd., Chicago.  For tickets and information, visit   or call (773) 281-8463 x6.