Past Productions

Explore the Previous 30 Seasons of A Red Orchid Theatre

Season 30

Written by Ensemble Member Brett Neveu Directed by Ensemble Member Dado Performance Dates: October 6 - November 27, 2022 Press Performances: Saturday, October 15, 2022 World Premiere! Playwright Brett Neveu returns to the A Red Orchid stage with this very unofficial sequel to Orson Welles’ The Magnificent Ambersons. A century ago, the Ampersands were a wealthy, thriving family. Now, their remaining descendants must struggle with the legacy of their persistent curse. A darkly funny and unsettling look at ancestry, sacrifice, and survival.

The Malignant Ampersands

by Ensemble Member Brett Neveu
directed by Ensemble Member dado
October 6 - November 27, 2022
Written by Aleshea Harris Directed by Marti Gobel Featuring Ensemble Member Karen Aldridge Performance Dates: April 6 – June 4, 2023 Press Performances: Saturday April 15 Industry Night: May 8 at 7pm Open Captioned Performances: May 13 at 3pm & 7:30pm Black-Out Performance: May 12 at 7:30pm Audio Described Performance & Touch Tour: May 20 at 3pm ASL Interpreted Performance: May 21 at 3pm Chicago Premiere! When twins Racine and Anaia receive a letter from the mother they thought was dead, they swear to avenge her — and themselves — with blood. Their “mission from God” spans from the Dirty South to the California desert, from hip-hop to Afropunk, from ancient tragedy to the Spaghetti Western. Winner of the 2016 Relentless Award and the 2018 Obie Award for Playwriting, Is God Is asks us to consider the roots and futility of cyclical violence, and to question ourselves for wallowing so happily in stories that traffic in it. Run time: Approx. 1 hour & 40 minutes (no intermission)

Is God Is

by Aleshea Harris
directed by Marti Gobel
April 6 – June 4, 2023

Season 29

Written by Jen Silverman Directed by Artistic Director Kirsten Fitzgerald January 6 - March 6, 2022 Preview Performances: January 6 - January 15, 2022 Press Performance: January 15, 2022 Opening Night: Sunday, January 16, 2022 Regular Run: January 20 - March 6, 2022 Chicago Premiere On the wind-blown, desolate moors, two sisters and their mastiff scheme to wrest their destinies from the systems and the savage land around them. A governess is summoned and a moor-hen drops in, forcing all to ask what price they might pay for autonomy and for love. Inspired (perhaps) by certain 19th-century gothic romances and the sisters who wrote them, this savage comedy disrupts the conventions of status and visibility. 

The Moors

by Jen Silverman
directed by Artistic Director Kirsten Fitzgerald
January 6 - March 6, 2022
Written by Exal Iraheta Directed by Ismael Lara, Jr. April 21 - June 12, 2022 Preview Performances: April 21 - 30, 2022 Press Performances: April 30, 2022 Opening Night: Sunday, May 1, 2022 Regular Run: May 5 - June 12, 2022 Show Run Time: 100 Minutes, no intermission World Premiere Reunited and on the run, Miguel and Julio are fleeing an America where being Latinx is a life sentence. Sequestered in a Texas state park, the arrival of a sympathetic deserter, Shepherd, brings the conflict between Julio’s desire for revolution and Miguel’s longing for normalcy into sharp focus. Recorded last season as an audio play and now in its theatrical world premiere, LAST HERMANOS is a story of tenacious brotherhood and love in a not-so-distant future that asks: which path promises the better future?  Tickets are on sale now!

Last Hermanos

by Exal Iraheta
directed by Ismael Lara, Jr.
April 21 - June 12, 2022

Season 28

Written by Jon Tai & Alex Gruhin Directed by Alex Gruhin February 2 - 28, 2021 Chicago Premiere A Red Orchid Theatre presents Missed Connections-a live interactive online play with magic, conceived for virtual experience. Missed Connections is an intimate & immersive evening of story and magic where things imagined become real and connection is possible through the shared experience of wonder. The play, a magician’s cosmic love story inspired by the work of Haruki Murakami, Marshall McLuhan & Derren Brown, takes 25 audience members on a roundtrip voyage to the stars in search of the invisible thread that connects them all.

Missed Connections

by Jon Tai & Alex Gruhin
directed by Alex Gruhin
February 2 - 28, 2021
Written by Exal Iraheta Directed by Melanie Queponds April 23 - May 16, 2021 An Audio Play Reunited and on the run; Miguel and Julio are fleeing an America where being Latinx is a life sentence. Finding themselves sequestered in a Texas state park, the arrival of a sympathetic deserter, Shepherd, brings the conflict between Julio’s desire for revolution and Miguel’s need to return to normalcy into sharp focus. An audio translation of a stage-work in progress; LAST HERMANOS is a story of tenacious brotherhood, both chosen and blood, in a not-so-distant future that asks which path promises a better future?

Last Hermanos-Audio

by Exal Iraheta
directed by Melanie Queponds
April 23 - May 16, 2021
BUY TICKETS Collectively Conceived by Ensemble Member Brett Neveu, Neil Verma, Matthew Muñiz, Ele Matelan, Rich Sparks & Frankie Pedersen Directed by Neil Verma June 2 - 27, 2021 An Experimental Audio Book This multi-disciplinary art piece inspired by the geographical area of southern Illinois called American Bottom begins life here as an experimental audio fiction, written in verse, performed by a full cast, and featuring original music and illustrations.  Kevin disappeared in rural Illinois near the site of the Cahokia Mounds. American Bottom follows the thoughts of the people who knew him; unearthing the many layers of life and story connected to the place he called home. 

American Bottom

by Ensemble Member Brett Neveu
directed by Neil Verma
June 2 - 27, 2021

Season 27

Written by Ensemble Member Levi Holloway Directed by Ensemble Member Shade Murray October 10 — December 1, 2019 Previews October 10 – October 19 Opening October 20 Red Night October 25 Regular Run October 24 – December 1 Open Captioning November 21 & 22 Running Time: 95 Minutes, no intermission World Premiere After a brutal car wreck in the mountains of Oregon, a young couple seeks shelter from a blizzard in a small cabin. But the cabin’s seemingly innocent inhabitants: four children and their minder, quickly start to expose the couple's secrets, unmake everything they know about themselves, and hurl them towards a potentially sinister destination. Grey House is a new horror play about the gravity of the past and the cruel inevitability of its pull.

Grey House

by Ensemble Member Levi Holloway
directed by Ensemble Member Shade Murray
October 10 — December 8, 2019
Written by Mara Nelson-Greenberg Directed by Ensemble Member Jess McLeod January 23 — March 15, 2020 Previews January 23 – February 1 Opening February 2 Red Night February 7 Regular Run February 6 – March 15 Open Captioned Performances February 27-28 Chicago Premiere Sofia was recently hired as an empathy coach at a debt collection agency—and clearly, she has her work cut out for her. These employees can barely identify what an emotion is, much less practice deep, radical compassion for others. And while they painstakingly stumble towards enlightenment, someone keeps mugging Eva in the kitchen. An outrageous play about the absurdity—and the danger of complicity in a world where some people’s feelings matter more than others.

Do You Feel Anger?

by Mara Nelson-Greenberg
directed by Jess McLeod
January 23 — March 15, 2020

Season 26

Six urbanites take their troubles to the woods and attempt to work them out at a secluded spiritual retreat. Attendees may not speak for the entire week, clothing is optional at the lake, and beware of bears. The isolating silence collides with the human ache to connect. How do we address life’s biggest questions when words fail us? A Chicago premiere that is at once strange and compassionate, awkward and graceful, silly and profound.

Small Mouth Sounds

by Bess Wohl
directed by Ensemble Member Shade Murray
October 18 — December 9, 2018
Chicago Premiere In the New Mexico desert, a down-on-her-luck folk singer takes a job at a giant retailer’s shipping center. Her young manager struggles to connect with his newly relocated girlfriend. A drifter living at a local campground dangerously links them all. Four lonely lives come together in the search for fulfillment in this raw, surprising and funny Chicago premiere.

Fulfillment Center

by Abe Koogler
directed by Jess McLeod
January 31 — March 24, 2019
A town is beset by plague and the bodies are piling up along with moral accusations, political implications and medical speculations. We peer into households and down many streets as people search for any logic to the ceaseless barrage of death. One of Ionesco’s last plays, The Killing Game is a piercing and frighteningly funny look at how the function of language and the panic surrounding social crisis sends a community into a chaotic state of paranoia, hypocrisy and opportunism.

Killing Game

by Eugene Ionesco
directed by Ensemble Member dado
May 2 — June 23, 2019

Season 25

Much of the original 1995 team come together to revisit Ionesco’s absurd masterpiece. Choubert, the archetypal bourgeois everyman, and his wife Madeleine are spending a quiet evening at home when the Detective arrives to enlist their help in finding the previous tenant. A roller-coaster ride of high comedy and horrific tragedy as Choubert examines his past present and future in a quest to find out where Mallot could be hiding.

Victims of Duty

by Eugene Ionesco
directed by Shira Piven
July 11 — August 5, 2018
World Premiere In this world premiere adaptation of Heinrich Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People, a small, NorthChicago suburb finds the town’s restart button with an investment in a newly opened charter school. After issues with the school grounds are discovered by its head of sciences, Dr. Stock, a quest to inform and correct is met with support. But suspicion and rancor mount as truths bubble to the surface. A play that mirrors our vital, absurd and often hilarious political times.

Traitor

by Ensemble Member Brett Neveu
directed by Ensemble Member Michael Shannon
January 7 — March 4, 2018
Chicago Premiere Remember when you felt you could do anything when there was still nothing to fear? Evening at the Talk House is a reunion at your favorite club, where old friends cozy up, raise a glass and remember gentler times when culture had value and terror wasn’t the every day. This ultra-dark comedy invites us all to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the opening night of Robert’s under-appreciated masterpiece, Midnight in a Clearing with Moon and Stars.

Evening at the Talk House

by Wallace Shawn
directed by Ensemble Member Shade Murray
September 29 — November 26, 2017
Chicago Premiere Taking place during a real-time band practice, 33 to Nothing is a play that rocks hard and breaks hearts. Feeling the incessant call of adulthood, individuals begin to question their role in the ensemble. Ultimately begging the question: to break up or to build stronger? An anthem of forgiveness, loyalty and resilience when your world is being torn by the seams.

33 to Nothing

By Grant James Varjas
directed by Tyrone Phillips
April 6 — May 27, 2018

Season 24

By turns terrifying, moving and wildly funny, The Room is Pinter's very first play. Rose prefers to stay in, safe from the hostile world outside, but her seemingly cozy sanctuary is continually being invaded. With visits from the landlord, a couple in search of their own space, a stranger and the return of her husband, it becomes increasingly unclear whether the menace comes from within or without. The Room is a precarious examination of private fears vs. social fears, as seen through the lens of the working class.

The Room

by Harold Pinter
directed by Ensemble Member dado
September 29 — November 13, 2016
Chicago Premiere A young detective uncovers a disturbing brand of entertainment, triggering an interrogation into the darkest corners of the imagination and the most basic of human desires. The Nether is a virtual wonderland that provides total sensory immersion; a beautiful escape that ultimately begs some very serious questions about responsibility, connectivity and love. Winner of the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize 2011-2012.

The Nether

by Jennifer Haley
directed by Ensemble Member Karen Kessler
January 26 — March 12, 2017
World Premiere Seven kids must travel across a country unmade by the Elder Gods in a 1988 Winnebago SuperChief Motorhome to find what may be the last safe pocket of Humanity: a small town in northern Canada.

The Haven Place

by Levi Holloway
directed by Steven Wilson
December 8 — December 28, 2016
Chicago Premiere Inspired by 70’S sitcoms and the political incorrectness of “jiggle television,” 3C is a hilarious and horrifying look at identity and what lies beneath the perky veneer. Brad lands in L.A. to start a new life. A wild night of partying finds him passed out in Connie and Linda’s kitchen and the three strike a deal that raises the suspicions of the landlords. Complications spiral out of control, taking the show from farce to something…unexpected.

3C

by David Adjmi
directed by Ensemble Member Shade Murray
April 20 — June 4, 2017

Season 23

It’s Christmas Eve in New Orleans and Trinket Dugan is holed up at the Silver Dollar Hotel with a painful secret. Her only friend and confidant, Celeste, has just been released from jail and will stop at nothing to get back into her good graces, her pocket-book and her booze. Can their friendship survive the cruelty, the con men, hookers, cops, sailors and drunks? The Mutilated is one of Williams’ funniest and most moving plays, and according to Williams himself is “an allegory on the tragicomic subject of human existence on this risky planet.” –Esquire magazine 1965.

The Mutilated

by Tennessee Williams
directed by Ensemble Member dado
January 13 — March 14, 2016
World Premiere A World Premiere by one of Chicago’s hottest emerging playwrights. It’s summertime in Chicago. Over a year after his supposed death, a young man returns to his former apartment: alive, well, and with a new found ambition to fix what went wrong. A miracle reunion turns into a catastrophic disaster as the past catches up with the present and old debts return, expecting payment in full. What does growing-up mean and is it even desired in this day and age?

Sender

by Ike Holter
directed by Ensemble Member Shade Murray
April 14 — June 4, 2016
World Premiere It’s Thanksgiving Day and the McKee family is up to its eyeballs in hilarious drama. Between stirring the cranberries and debating pumpkin pie, parents Jim and Melissa relive their glory days. Meanwhile, their earth-poet Son and pregnant-teen Daughter navigate family contracts, holiday power grabs, and decades of thinly veiled deceit. For a family with such a strong appetite for tales, are their stories more important than the truth? With homages to Albee, O’Neal, Williams and Shepard, the tension rides high and the carving knife does more than just cut the turkey.

Pilgrim’s Progress

by Ensemble Member Brett Neveu
directed by Ensemble Member Shade Murray
November 5 — December 13, 2015

Season 22

US Premiere A richly comic, searing drama by one of Ireland’s most exciting playwrights and winner of the Steward Parker Trust Award and the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. In a small coastal village in Northern Ireland, three local women reluctantly join Mairin in mourning the death of her husband. Everyone is there for a reason and each has a bloody good reason not to be there. With mythical echoes, Strandline turns a sharp eye on small-town social and economic realities.

Strandline

by Abbie Spallen
directed by J. R. Sullivan
October 23 — December 7, 2014
Chicago Premiere After Paul’s dear companion passes away, his work buddies try to cheer him up between shifts at their security guard posts. Their well-meaning and often hilarious attempts only throw salt in the wound and seem to prove that nothing soothes a heartache like our four-legged friends. One of New York’s hottest emerging playwrights tells a tale of solace and loneliness.

Red Handed Otter

by Ethan Lipton
directed by Ensemble Member dado
April 9 — May 24, 2015
Chicago Premiere In a dive-y gay bar on Manhattan’s lower east side, the regulars and the restless others do battle, joke and drink their way through a lonely winter evening. Different generations and backgrounds collide, secrets are revealed and old wounds are torn anew as these survivors come to grips with life, loss, and aging in the 21st century. Family and friendship are the focus of this humor-filled drama.

Accidentally Like a Martyr

by Grant James Varjas
directed by Ensemble Member Shade Murray
January 15 — March 1, 2015

Season 21

Inspired by true events, Trevor is a subversive comedy about fame, success, and the lies we tell ourselves in order to keep people from taking away our erratic, 200-pound chimpanzee. At the center of this hilarious and terrifying play are two individuals fighting against a world unable to understand their love- Trevor, a chimpanzee who once performed in commercials with the likes of Morgan Fairchild, and his owner Sandra, who promises he would never hurt a fly. Nick Jones’ surprising play explores family, flawed communication, and the complexity of “acting like a man.”

Trevor

by Nick Jones
directed by Ensemble Member Shade Murray
October 10 — November 24, 2013
In a war-torn world, in an unnamed city divided by a river–and religion, politics, and money– a devout candlemaker, his sick wife, and their son struggle to survive. When they learn of a plan for their side of the river to be mined for minerals, and, worse, that their son has taken drastic action against their oppressors, their lives dramatically change. Zinnie Harris’ otherworldly play explores terrorism and a family attempting to keep ahold of their faith and each other in a world torn apart by violence and inequality–a world we often fear ours becoming.

Solstice

by Zinnie Harris
directed by Ensemble Member Karen Kessler
January 9 — February 23, 2014
Chicago Premiere A high school pot dealer abandons his prom night to crash the hotel-room reunion between three flight attendants (all old enough to be his mother). Booze is poured, herb is smoked, the room blurs and futures, careers, and kindness snap sharply into focus. We suggest that you keep your seat belt fastened throughout the performance, as you are certain to experience turbulence. Local Playwright Marisa Wegrzyn’s profoundly compassionate and fiercely witty play makes its Chicago Premiere.

Mud Blue Sky

by Marisa Wegrzyn
directed by Ensemble Member Shade Murray
April 9 — May 29, 2014

Season 20

World Premiere Accomplished playwright and ensemble member Brett Neveu takes a look at the hard world of boxing from the perspective of small time gym owner Tre and the young up and comer Donell. They come from different worlds, they barely understand each other, but in the ring anything is possible. Questions of loyalty and life’s dreams are put to the test in this explosive world premiere that promises to pull some punches and fearlessly land all the others.

The Opponent

by Ensemble Member Brett Neveu
directed by Ensemble Member Karen Kessler
October 18 — December 2, 2012
Midwest Premiere All day every day, two slackers hang out behind a coffee shop by the dumpsters. These guys have elevated loitering to an almost Buddhist “tea ceremony” level, where music, Bukowski, sex, travel, philosophy, friendship and ambition (or lack thereof) are intensely meditated upon while the busy world rushes by. Enter a 17-year-old barista-cum-disciple, and so begins a summer where no one moves but everything changes.

The Aliens

by Annie Baker
directed by Shade Murray
January 17 — March 3, 2013
High society meets low life in the slippery netherworld of thoroughbred racing. This tragic- comedy explodes when a simple phone call threatens to undo years of blackmail and false identities. Loyalties run fierce or run completely a-muck as Vinnie and Carter reunite in hopes of settling an old score.

Simpatico

by Sam Shepard
directed by Ensemble Member dado
June 13 — July 28, 2013
World Premiere An original production created with an ensemble of 15 youth from across the city of Chicago showcasing their experiences with violence and intolerance as well as ideas about how to empower youth to take action in their communities presented as part of Now Is The Time, an initiative to use the arts to combat youth violence and intolerance in the city of Chicago.

Our City, Ourselves

by A Red Orchid Youth Ensemble
directed by Megan Shuchman
April 27 — May 19, 2013
Midwest Premiere What is the use of beauty? In 1989 an ambitious American architect is summoned to the fictitious Middle Eastern country of Aquaat where the Minister of Culture commissions him to build a thing of beauty; something to remind him of his happiest childhood memories. Architectural plans get sidelined as interest shifts to debates of politics, personal life and pop culture. One begins to wonder who is actually in charge and if beauty is even possible.

In a Garden

by Howard Korder
directed by Lou Contey
April 4 — May 19, 2013

Season 19

Midwest Premiere Skewed family values and the deep and dark secrets they create become a life force for Valerie, the infamous butcher of Baraboo, Wisconsin. Once her husband has gone missing everyone suspects she played a hand, especially her nosy sister-in-law who just happens to be the town sheriff. Enter the drug-pushing pharmacist daughter who just might hold the key to the ultimate unanswered questions. Family has never been so funny… or quite so bloody!

The Butcher of Baraboo

by Marisa Wegrzyn
directed by Shade Murray
March 29 — April 13, 2012
World Premiere With existential terror, Megacosm presents us with a world full of revolt and chaos both inside and out. An industrialist in the near future utilizes every means possible to get an inventor to sign over his revolutionary creation that will inevitably change the world. Corporate greed never met creative angst with such dramatic and hilarious results.

Megacosm

by Ensemble Member Brett Neveu
directed by Ensemble Member dado
January 13 — February 19, 2012
Chicago Premiere Sharp wit and shifting moral ground play out with the taut suspense of a psychological thriller. This Pulitzer-prize finalist and comedy of bad manners, tangled love and sex had its debut at the Humana Festival. When Suzanna decides to set her best friend Max up on a blind date with her husband’s mysterious co-worker, Becky Shaw, she sets into motion a series of cataclysmic events forever transforming each of their lives.

Becky Shaw

by Gina Gionfriddo
directed by Damon Kiely
September 23 — November 6, 2011

Season 18

Midwest Premiere Do you remember your first time? Trapped in a small town and in the years that have passed since their halcyon days at The New Electric Ballroom, these Irish sisters relive memories of something resembling romance with hilarious and horrible effect.

The New Electric Ballroom

by Enda Walsh
directed by Robin Witt
January 20 — March 6, 2011
Callimaco loves Lucrezia, Lucrezia is married to Nicia, Nicia wants a baby… enter Ligurio and add a corrupt priest, the doting mother and the root of the mandrake to make for an extraordinarily complicated and hilarious plan. With everyone behaving so badly, can anyone possibly win?

The Mandrake

by Niccolo Machiavelli
directed by Steve Scott
April 8 — May 24, 2011
World Premiere Adapted by Craig Wright specifically for our young, all-female cast, this version of The Iliad offers a provocative and playful new spin on Homer’s age-old tale of the Trojan War. Vengeance, loyalty, or honor: which is most important? And, in this saga of bloody battles and huge male egos, where exactly do women and children fit in? Packed with swordplay, gender politics, and even a few songs, this is one war you don’t want to miss.

The Iliad

by Craig Wright
directed by Steven Wilson
November 12 — December 19, 2010
Midwest Premiere At 3:20 PM on Tuesday, May 21, 1946 Louis Slotin’s hand slipped—a small, practically insignificant blunder, except that Slotin was the chief bomb builder at Los Alamos, and at that fateful moment he held in his hands a plutonium bomb core named “Rufus”. With a structure inspired by classical music’s sonata allegro form – and dance numbers with President Truman and Albert Einstein – Louis Slotin Sonata traces the true story of a brilliant scientist’s last nine days, as his body and mind gradually succumb to the chaos wreaked by radiation.

Louis Slotin Sonata

by Paul Mullin
directed by Ensemble Member Karen Kessler
September 10 — October 24, 2010

Season 17

World Premiere Legendary producer Felix Artifex gets in way over his fast-talking head when he takes on Mistakes Were Made, the first World Premiere of his long and chequered career. Felix’s project is a gargantuan epic of the French Revolution, which he thinks is going to be his ticket to professional and personal redemption. Mistakes Were Made is a compact gem of philosophy and funny-business from Craig Wright, the Emmy-nominated writer of Six Feet Under and the award-winning playwright of Lady, Grace, and The Pavilion.

Mistakes Were Made

by Craig Wright
directed by Dexter Bullard
September 9 — October 18, 2009
Chicago Premiere Abigail is having a party and none of you are invited, but do not miss the cocktail party just down the block. Beverly and Lawrence are having the “grown-ups” over and this party promises hilarity and horror the likes of which you can not imagine. The petty competition is fierce as social relationships are laid bare exposing the obsessions, prejudices, dreams and aspirations of the guests. A sort-of comedy of manners developed through lengthy improvisations in which Mike Leigh and his actors explored characters and the realities of day-to-day life in all their beautiful, terrible glory.

Abigail’s Party

by Mike Leigh
directed by Shade Murray
February 4 — March 21, 2010
An anonymous company of merry children gather on a cold winter night to rejoice in telling the story of Scientology founder and hero L. Ron Hubbard. Rejoicing in songs such as “Hey! It’s a Happy Day!,” this satirical musical about Scientology explores the magic of Dianetics, the fascinating E-meter, the immortal Thetans, and the entrancing story of Xenu with the straightest of faces.

A Very Merry Unauthorized

by Kyle Jarrow
directed by Ensemble Member Lance Baker & Steven Wilson
November 12 — January 3, 2010

Season 16

Penned and performed by one of A Red Orchid’s very own, this one-woman tour-de-force chronicles a young performer’s humbling first encounters and shocking diagnosis with Multiple Sclerosis. Mierka recrafts her ideal and idyllic childhood living in Cincinnati, discovering her penchant for drama by channeling “Annie”, enrolling in a high school for the performing arts, and embarking on the competitive journey of graduate school where she would ultimately confront an unexpected “hard knock life” in discovering her diagnosis.

With or Without Wings

by Ensemble Member Mierka Girten
directed by Ensemble Member Lawrence Grimm
September 20 — November 2, 2008
Midwest Premiere The Unseen is Craig Wright’s darkly humorous examination of faith and reason in a completely unreasonable world. Imprisoned by an unknown totalitarian regime and mercilessly tortured for unknown crimes, Wallace and Valdez live without hope of escape or release. When an enigmatic new prisoner arrives and begins communicating in code, both men develop new relationships to each other, their captors, and their world.

The Unseen

by Craig Wright
directed by Ensemble Member dado
January 16 — March 15, 2009
Midwest Premiere Abbie Spallen’s Pumpgirl takes us on a turbo charged raced through the diesel fumes and country music of the borderlands between Northern and Southern Ireland. This explosively comic play jolts into high gear as three lives careen wildly and compellingly out of control. Drink, dirty love and clapped-out motors set the backdrop for charting the humors and horrors that grow out of the utter lack of options and imagination in these Armagh badlands. Sometimes love is blind; sometimes it’s just this desperate.

Pumpgirl

by Abbie Spallen
directed by Ensemble Member Karen Kessler
April 3 — May 24, 2009
An anonymous company of merry children gather on a cold winter night to rejoice in telling the story of Scientology founder and hero L. Ron Hubbard. Rejoicing in songs such as “Hey! It’s a Happy Day!,” this satirical musical about Scientology explores the magic of Dianetics, the fascinating E-meter, the immortal Thetans, and the entrancing story of Xenu with the straightest of faces.

A Very Merry Unauthorized Children’s Scientology Pageant

by Kyle Jarrow
directed by Ensemble Member Lance Baker & Steven Wilson
November 14 — December 28, 2008

Season 15

World Premiere Weapon of Mass Impact examines both the effects of terrorism from unseen malicious evildoer types as well as the mundane routine commonplace terrorism that goes on daily in our apathetic society,” says artistic director and ensemble member Guy Van Swearingen. “Infusing the dramatic with the every day, Brett has imagined an amazing world where the professional boundaries between the morality of fair play and personal space are skewed.”

Weapons of Mass Impact

by Ensemble Member Brett Neveu
directed by Edward Sobel
October 19 — December 2, 2007
US Premiere Ping Pong is a game like no other. It demands acute dexterity, lightning quick reflexes, and nerves of steel. But nerves are fraying among a team of three London cabbies as they face elimination from their elite league of master players. Can the team captain hold his comrades together to rise above and reach the top this season, or will their bond disintegrate in the face of buried tensions boiling to the surface? This razor sharp comedy in its U.S. Premiere investigates the male psyche at its competitive worst.

Not a Game for Boys

by Simon Block
directed by Robin Witt
May 9 — June 22, 2008
Midwest Premiere A modern descendant of Alfred Jarry’s famous Ubu Roi, the tyrannical Fatboy eats everything in sight, until the world he consumes is bereft of both justice and pancakes. Meanwhile his wife, Fudgie, chases carnal satisfaction; serving as a burlesque Judy to Fatboy’s Punch. Fatboy examines the destructive forces of blind greed and mindless consumption with a crass comedic panache and questions how a charismatic yet vulgar egomaniac can rise from obscurity to rule an apathetic society.

Fatboy

by John Clancy
directed by Ensemble Member Guy Van Swearingen
October 19 — November 11, 2008

Season 14

World Premiere In a basement apartment in a rotten part of town, Glynn struggles to focus on his writing career. His friend Patrick flocks to the subterranean lair to escape the paralyzing fear he encounters when he ventures outside – a world controlled by roving street criminals and telephone scammers. But when everything they fear encroaches upon the sanctuary, the shut-ins must confront their dark suppositions about a world that is made both scarier and funnier by their avoidance of it.

The Meek

by Ensemble Member Brett Neveu
directed by Brennan Parks
April 20 — June 3, 2007
Christmas Eve is hectic enough when it’s spent in the company of loved ones. But when you’re the warden of a government psychiatric hospital, the holiday promises to be anything but a silent night. When one patient is discovered dead and another gives birth, an inquisition is formed to assign blame for the dubious misdeeds and to ensure punishment is inflicted on the guilty parties. Before long, the boss starts unraveling, and a conspiring staff leaves unattended the boiling tensions simmering beneath them.

The Hothouse

by Harold Pinter
directed by Ensemble Member dado
October 20 — December 17, 2006
Midwest Premiere Taking an unflinching look at terror brought on by violence at home and abroad, Blasted brings the horrors of a vague and distant war crashing through the seemingly insular walls of a culpable yet complacent citizenry. When a comfortable hotel room is blown apart, a journalist, his girlfriend, and an intruding soldier are left to weather the primal nature of human beings in crisis.

Blasted

by Sarah Kane
directed by Ensemble Member Karen Kessler
January 19 — March 4, 2007

Season 13

World Premiere The Sea Horse is a bawdy yet touching love story concerning weathered seaman Harry Bales’ attempt to lure his sweetheart, Gertrude Blum, from her seedy life as proprietor of The Sea Horse, a grimy dive of a bar settled in the mist of the Southern California coastline. Coming from hard, working-class lives, both have seen their share of hard knocks and bear the emotional scars that come from a life of struggle. Yet, as they strive to understand their lot in life and to negotiate an intimacy with one another, a rich story of humor, pathos, and love emerges.

The Sea Horse

by Edward J. Moore
directed by Ensemble Member dado
January 17 — March 5, 2006
World Premiere Rick, having left behind his violent roots to find a new life in Los Angeles, returns after three years to confront his two brothers about past abuses. Seconds after he arrives, The Game – a brutal family ritual with an elaborate set of rules older than the brothers themselves – begins. Rick, as ever, is no match for his sadistic kin, but this time he’s brought a secret weapon, a man of incredible fame and wealth who, for this one night only, will be ‘The Earl.

The Earl

by Ensemble Member Brett Neveu
directed by Ensemble Member Lance Baker
February 10 — March 31, 2006
Midwest Premiere Kimberly Akimbo is your typical sixteen-year old: curious, precocious, and full of insecurity. She also happens to look like she’s 65 years old, due to progeria, a rare condition that causes the human body to age at over four times its normal rate. But this is a minor hindrance compared to the episodes she must grapple with in the midst of her loony family including a lush of a father, a hypochondriac mother, and a scheming felon for an aunt. But like all adolescents, even Kimberly finds hope and excitement in the possibility of first love. Kimberly Akimbo is a play about making every moment count, particularly when you only get 25% of them.

Kimberly Akimbo

by David Lindsay-Abaire
directed by Shade Murray
November 6 — December 18, 2005
From master dramatist Eugene Ionesco comes this epic journey of one man’s attempt to truly enjoy his existence. Jean is a middle-aged husband and father who cannot accept his lot in life. Stuck in a home that seems to be slowly rotting away and suffocating under the weight of his responsibility to his family, he is haunted by his past and a feeling that the promise of his early years was never delivered to him. Mustering all the courage and strength that remains within him, he makes a decision to strike out into the world hoping to find the ecstasy of being alive. A deeply personal, at times quasi-autobiographical work, Hunger and Thirst is filled with the fantastical humor, kaleidoscopic imagery, and emotional intelligence that have marked Ionesco as a vanguard of the Theatre of the Absurd.

Hunger and Thirst

by Eugene Ionesco
directed by Ensemble Member Michael Shannon
April 21 — June 4, 2006

Season 12

U.S. Premiere The Fastest Clock in the Universe tells the story of Cougar Glass’ 19th birthday. His best friend, Captain Tock, has spared no expense providing all necessary party favors: a delectable cake, pointy hats, birthday cards from all the sexiest people, and red meat. Cougar himself has only invited a single guest, the adorable Foxtrot Darling, and may be too busy doting on him to notice your presence. But, parties are inevitably meant to be crashed, and when, subsequently, the crashing commences, Mr. Glass starts to sweat as the illusion on which his entire identity is balanced goes up in flames. The Fastest Clock in the Universe is a devilish romper room of a play which explores the difficulty inherent in appreciating our passing birthdays.

The Fastest Clock in the Universe

by Philip Ridley
directed by Ensemble Member dado
October 22 — December 5, 2004
U.S. Premiere Set in a small, dead-end town on the southeast coast of Scotland, Gagarin Way concerns the vindication of two thoroughly disenfranchised employees of a soulless computer factory, owned by a large multi-national corporation. Always uncertain of their job security and constantly spied on by corporate snoops, Eddie and Gary plot their revenge and invite Tom, a young security guard fresh out of university, to help them pull off a late night “heist” in a dark storeroom far from the factory floor. But when it’s revealed that the stolen goods consist of more than a few crates of microchips to be sold on the black market, Tom starts to wish he hadn’t left his post. Fueled by the indignation of the nameless and faceless plebes across the globe that make all the useless paraphernalia we build our lives around, Gagarin Way crackles with gallows humor and ballistic intensity.

Gagarin Way

by Gregory Burke
directed by Karen Kessler
January 21 — March 20, 2005
World Premiere In what ways are we connected with the strangers that infiltrate our lives? How do we deal with the unforeseen consequences of one single impulse and the need for human company, in even the seemingly harmless chat at the bus stop? How are we blinded to the dangers that are right before us? This dark but funny play battles with how we come to accept the truth from all of the perceptible truths and realities that are available to us.

4 Murders

by Ensemble Member Brett Neveu
directed by Ensemble Member Guy Van Swearingen
April 22 — June 5, 2004

Season 11

Midwest Premiere What would happen if you were traveling in a somewhat hurried, somewhat oblivious disposition, over a straight line, strictly Point A to Point B, and as you were making your way, you came face to face with another person, a dealer, who stands between you and your destination? A dealer that you cannot avoid or side step but must confront? A dealer who drives the hardest of bargains? You not even knowing what you could possibly want or what is being offered, also not wanting to offend but not wanting to answer questions too personal to share with strangers. What happens in an empty society where no one knows what is really being bought and sold? In the Solitude of Cotton Fields distills to its psychological, poetical, and spiritual essence the nature of the most rapidly multiplying and perhaps most intimate relationship in present times, that of DEALER and CLIENT.

In the Solitude of Cotton Fields

by Bernard-Marie Koltes
directed by Dexter Bullard
September 25 - November 9, 2003

Season 10

World Premiere Set in an anonymous suburban enclave, Eric LaRue concerns the struggle of Janice, a middle-aged mother coming to terms with a high-school shooting spree perpetrated by her son. Walking an unsettling line between satirical social critique and a meditation on the inescapable loneliness of the human soul, Eric LaRue is a powerful fable with its finger tracing the surface of the America’s mobius-strip morality.

Eric La Rue

by Brett Neveu
directed by Ann Filmer
November 10 — December 23, 2002
Chicago Premiere Ugly, violent, and extremely funny Mr. Kolpert takes a hard, raw look at what happens to people who find themselves so numbed by their comfortable and conventional lives that they are willing to do whatever it takes to feel something – anything – again.

Mr. Kolpert

by David Gieselmann
directed by Karen Kessler
February 13 — March 10, 2003

Season 9

Midwest Premiere Nominated for Jeff Awards: Actor in a Principal Role (Michael Shannon), Actress in a Principal Role (Kate Buddeke), Sound Design of a Play. Bug takes place in a motel room on the outskirts of Oklahoma City. Forty -year old Agnes White is living a withdrawn, transient life, working as a waitress in a local saloon. She is down to a few seedy friends who stop by to do drugs and booze it up, when into her life comes Peter Evans—a young man with a secret past. As Agnes and Peter desperately throw themselves at one another, Bug delves into the ideas of love, paranoia, and government conspiracy.

Bug

by Tracy Letts
directed by Dexter Bullard
August 20 — September 29, 2001
Midwest Premiere The Grey Zone centers on the true account of survivor Dr. Myklos Nyiszli, a Jewish surgeon hand-picked by Joseph Mengele to conduct autopsies on Mengele’s questionably deceased “experiments”; and a selection of Hungarian Jews picked to work in sonderkommando (or Special Commando) units. Their duties are to assist in the heinous act of gassing and burning the incoming trainloads of Jews. At first concerned solely with their own survival Dr. Nyiszli and the sonderkommando find they have given up too much and must fight back in order to save their humanity. The Grey Zone examines the Holocaust not as the abstract horror we have learned but as a real, visceral story that can illustrate the greater truth of what it means to face terrorism with dignity and courage.

The Grey Zone

by Tim Blake Nelson
directed by Dado
December 17, 2001 — March 10, 2002

Season 8

George Dandin (or “The Confounded Husband”) is the hilarious chronicle of the troubles of a noveau-riche man’s attempts to better himself through marriage to an aristocratic younger wife. In this translation by Albert Bermel, Moliere hysterically skewers the self-interest and jealousy that arise in such situations. When George Dandin discovers his wife is cheating on him, his hilarious attempts to prove her infidelity only end up backfiring on him. In the end he can only resign himself to his new “place in society” `that of the confounded husband.

George Dandin

by Moliere
directed by Richard Cotovsky
April 9 — May 20, 2001

Season 7

Chicago Premiere Mr. Bundy chronicles what happens in a peaceful, suburban community when it suddenly finds a convicted sex offender living next door. This compelling drama about the dilemma of sex-offender registration and the right to privacy questions humanity and its levels of tolerance. There are no easy answers, especially when some in society view these offenders as nuclear waste. In Mr. Bundy, the “not in my back-yard” adage takes on a palpable significance, creating a paradigm that addresses how our need for protection can ultimately destroy us. Mr. Bundy forces us to face the question: are these the lessons we want to teach our children?

Mr. Bundy

by Jane Martin
directed by Richard Hesler
May 20 — June 25, 2000
World Premiere An autobiographical account of Mr. Adams’ experience as a medic during the Vietnam War, Place of Angels goes beyond the G.I. Joe iconography that distorts many dramatic interpretations of the conflict. Filled with the vivid details and complex relationships that only first-hand experience can offer, Mr. Adams explores his plight as a man responsible for the care of wounded soldiers in a terrifyingly difficult and, at times, aimless. Battle.

Place of Angels

by Bob Adams
directed by Dexter Bullard
April 10 - May 14, 2000

Season 6

Midwest Premiere The Cut is the story of a coal-miner returning to work after eight years of imprisonment. Searching for the truth behind his father’s mysterious death, he is unable to find anyone willing to face the violent repercussions of honesty. He soon finds himself the victim of selfish manipulators working toward their own social advancement.

The Cut

by Mike Cullen
directed by Ensemble Member Lawrence Grimm
March 20 — May 1, 1999
In this astonishing satire of the art world at its most ruthless, a team of filmmakers attempts to rewrite the story of one woman’s life. On the run from her husband, who keeps her locked up in their Brooklyn apartment, Anne finds refuge in Manhattan. When two producers offer to buy her story, they end up buying her body and her mind. The Treatment offers a provocative look at the relationship between artist and subject while exposing the aggressive heart of the city of New York.

The Treatment

by Martin Crimp
directed by Adrian Butcher
November 15 — December 20, 1998

Season 5

World Premiere Saturday Stories examines the lives of six urban dwellers trying to catch up with themselves on the one day they have to call their own. Through image and word, each character looks in vain for the bright promise of a Saturday afternoon, leaving their dreams and disappointments scattered across the stage.

Saturday Stories

by Jimmie Cumbie
directed by Beatrice Bosco
January 10 — February 14, 1998
Written in 1958, Ionesco’s The Killer remains a harrowing meditation on man’s quest to find home and community for himself in the metropolises of the industrial age. Ionesco tells the story of Berenger, an anonymous everyman. Berenger journeys from the Radiant City, a ridiculously utopian neighborhood, to his search for a Killer. A mystery even the police have given up on solving, Berenger cannot rest until he uncovers its culprit and restores the Radiant City’s sparkle and shine.

The Killer

by Eugene Ionesco
directed by Dan Torbica
February 22 — April 5, 1998
Midwest Premiere The Removalists tells the story of an attractive young woman who, while attempting to free herself from a brutish husband, seeks help from two police officers who feign compassion for their own self-serving reasons.

The Removalists

by David Williamson
directed by Adrian Butcher
November 11, 1997 — January 4, 1998

Season 4

US Premiere Arnold Petch, numbed by his low-income, dead-end existence, conceives of a conspiracy theory that the “secret police” are slowly stealing his memory, his reality, and his sanity–and that they are trying to make him assassinate the President. Trouble ensues when the president arrives in town, forcing him to make the “big decision,” which could either end his persecution or his life.

The Persecution of Arnold Petch

by David Hauptschein
directed by Dan Sauer
March 8 — April 13, 1997
With the advancement of new and profound theories in science, what does one do with the information discovered? In The Physicists, Science, and Humanity must co-exist while three scientists attempt to navigate each other’s secrets. Set in an asylum, Durrenmat’s dark comedy explores insanity, science, and what we owe to knowledge.

The Physicists

by Friedrich Durrenmatt
directed by Ensemble Member Guy Van Swearingen
November 21 — December 29, 1996
This celebrated Jacobean potboiler concerns the hand of Annabella, the fairest maiden in Parma. She has many suitors, but none rival Giovanni, her brilliant and spirited brother. Giovanni and Annabella nervously but passionately consummate their love and must not only reckon with their sins before Heaven, but also dodge the mounting calamity that ensues with their affair. Breathtakingly restless in its shifting plots, Ford’s ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore ultimately ponders whether the arbiter of truth, justice, and beauty is God or ourselves.

Tis Pity She’s a Whore

by John Ford
directed by Dexter Bullard
June 1 — July 12, 1997

Season 3

World Premiere Winner of Jeff Award: New Work. Nominated for Jeff Award: Ensemble. When a group of men gather one night to drink beer and play poker, the ways in which they cheat each-other are revealed. This production received a Joseph Jefferson citation for Best New Work, and a nomination for Best Ensemble.

Canus Lunis Balloonis

by Christian Stolte
directed by Richard Cotovsky
June 15 — July 15, 1996
The trial of Lieutenant Stephen Maryk, who has been charged with unlawfully seizing control of the U.S.S. Caine from Captain Philip Queeg while the ship was in the midst of a harrowing typhoon. Maryk’s defense hinges on one elusive question: Was Captain Queeg mentally fit to navigate the ship through the storm to safety, or was Maryk’s decision to take the helm the only chance for the crew’s survival? Throughout the course of the testimony, Wouk’s contemporary morality tale attempts to find the line between discipline and compulsion, fear and paranoia, valor and shame.

The Caine Mutiny Court Martial

by Herman Wouk
directed by Wilson Milam
January 6 — February 10, 1996
Two detectives try to discover the truth about a rough student suspected of throwing a basketball game. Playing on his pride, they learn bit by bit of his recent experiences and discover that he knows a certain racketeer. Eventually, the student’s boasting betrays him.

The Questioning of Nick

by Arthur Kopit
directed by Richard Cotovsky
February 23 — March 16, 1996
Original Production Victims of Duty opens as Choubert, the archetypal bourgeois everyman, and his wife Madeleine are spending a quiet evening at home. Their tranquillity is interrupted when the Detective, who is trying to track down Mallot, the previous tenant of their flat, arrives and calls on Choubert to aide his search. What ensues is a roller-coaster ride of high comedy and horrific tragedy as Choubert examines his past, present, and future to figure out exactly where Mallot could be hiding.

Victims of Duty

by Eugene Ionesco
directed by Shira Piven
September 29 — December 30, 1995

Season 2

Chicago Premiere An adaptation of Peter Sichrovsky’s 1988 book of interviews with children of Nazi and SS officials, Born Guilty charts the impact of these interviews on Peter Sichrovsky’s life. His obsessive quest to find those who killed his grandmother leads to entanglements with bureaucrats, resistant sons and daughters, and a woman with whom he can truly connect.

Born Guilty

by Ari Roth
directed by Shira Piven
March 8 — June 29, 1994
Co-Production with Amicus Theatre Co. Set in the mid-1970s, Cops features a group of Chicago police officers talking shop in an all-night diner. However, when gunman appears and kills a cop, a showdown develops as the gunman barricades himself behind the counter.

Cops

by Terry Curtis Fox
directed by Scott Tomhave
October 27, 1993 — January 29, 1994
United States Premiere The story of a suicidal man perched on the ledge of an apartment building, preparing to plunge to his death. All about him, the building’s inhabitants pop in and out of their windows, revealing snippets of their own incongruous lives. As he contemplates the meaninglessness of his existence, he is unexpectedly and suddenly set free. Seven Stories explores what Panych calls “the grotesquely wonderful and relentlessly fantastic aspects of human behavior.”

Seven Stories

by Maurice Panych
directed by Laurence McCauley and Joseph Price
November 18 — December 30, 1994

Season 1

Chicago Premiere “Bogosian’s gallery of crazy drunks straddles the social gamut, from a wino lying in the gutter to a coked up Hollywood talent agent. What they all share is their pathetic need to be ‘special’ and their reliance on drink and drugs to fool them into fool thinking that fantasy is real.” – New York Post

Drinking in America

by Eric Bogosian
directed by Dan Meyer
April 23 — May 15, 1993
Set in contemporary London, this ironic, unsparing and heartfelt play is about fractured love affairs, passionate and callous. “This is a romantic drama which intelligently and movingly captures a clenched English intellectual world of lost friendship and sexual treachery, a world peopled by characters who all have the emptiness of a dead vodka bottle. Mean Tears is about sexual and romantic ownership; it’s also about despair and revenge in a society where answer-phones are used like iron lungs and where possession is nine-tenths of the raw reality.” -Sheridan Morley, Punch, 1987.

Mean Tears

by Peter Gill
directed by Meredith McCarthy
June 4 — July 11, 1993
Chicago Premiere In Jack Gelber’s culturally shocking 1959 play-within-a-play, Jim Dunn (the “producer”) and Jaybird (the “writer”) attempt to stage a production about the underbelly of society using “real” addicts. Some of the addicts are jazz musicians but they all have one thing in common: they are waiting around for their drug dealer, their “connection.”

The Connection

by Jack Gelber
directed by Richard Cotovsky
February 18 — March 27, 1993