LOOKING FORWARD: Shows We're Excited to See
Continuing our support of productions that embrace inclusion for artists and audiences, below are shows that you can buy tickets to this week that we feel are moving our community in the right direction. Let your wallet do the talking. Buy tickets to shows that celebrate inclusion. Then write to producers and tell them you want to see more of it. Decision makers are led by numbers and this is one way we can all make a difference.
American Theater Company CORE presents Battleaxe Betty, a workshop and talkback
Written by Molly Brennan Songs by Diego Colon Directed by Jay Worthington, Malic White and others
"Battleaxe Betty" is the story of a Warrior Princess who enlists a Heavy Metal Rock Star to assist her in challenging her predestined fate. For this workshop, a crew of collaborative artists are going to explore storytelling techniques that include and celebrate a wide range of ability differences. Artists who are blind, who are deaf, or who use a wheelchair or other device will be devising with artists who are not disabled to make a Heavy Metal Fantasy Sword Fighting Awesomeplay. This is strictly a workshop to experiment with the material, and will be presented as a demonstration of the kinds of work that may be included in a full production.
Collaborators/Performers: Evan Bivins, Lindsay Bivins, Matt Bivins, Becca Brown, Sydney Charles, Richard Costes, Sammi Grant, Havalah Grace, Sharriese Hamilton, Terri Hudson, Justin LaPorte, Jessica Lyons, Marti Lyons, DK Madison, Aidan McCormack, Almanya Naruda, Darcy Woods and MORE!
At American Theater Company
1909 W Byron St
November 7
Reserve tickets HERE
Pegasus Theatre Company presents Rutherford's Travels
Adapted Ilesa Duncan and David Barr III
Directed by Ilesa Duncan
A spellbinding tale based on the beloved book MIDDLE PASSAGE. Told through Rutherford Calhoun’s 1830s log entries, the newly freed Illinois youth has migrated south to New Orleans seeking fortune, where he stows away on an outbound rigger to escape debtors. But The Republic isn’t just any ship. It’s a slave ship and it’s headed to Africa!
Ensemble includes Breon Arzell, Osiris Khepera, Gary Houston, Darren Jones, Andrew Malone, Ron Quade, Nelson Rodriguez, Tiffany Renee Johnson, Naima Hbrail Kidjo, Heather Chrisler and David Fehr.
At Chicago Dramatists 773 N Aberdeen
Through December 4
TICKETS $18-30
Reserve your tickets HERE
The Goodman Theater in collaboration with Free Street Theater presents Every 28 Hours
Featuring work by Rasheedat Badejo, Hedi Van, Ova Saopeng, Aleshea Harris, Shruti Purkayastha, Sigrid Gilmer, Claudia Alick, Prince Gomolvilas, Anu Yadav, Amina Henry, Psalmayene 24, Ike Holter, Paul Tully, David Henry Hwang, James McManus, Shishir Kurup, BrianKushner, Marshall Jones III, D'lo, Neil LaBute, Tarell Alvin Mccraney, Stew, Jerome A Parker and UNIVERSES
The Every 28 Hours Plays, commissioned by Oregon Shakespeare Festival and developed with the One-Minute Play Festival, is a national collaboration inspired by our current Civil Rights Movement. The title focuses on the widely shared and contested statistic that every 28 hours in America, a black person is killed by the police, vigilante, or security guard. The collection of 75 one minute plays about this historic time were written by playwrights across the nation and then developed in a week-long residency in St Louis which included community members, artists, law enforcement and activists.
The Goodman, in collaboration with Free Street Theater, will be one of several theatres across the country presenting a staged reading of these plays and engaging in a conversation born out of the outrage surrounding Michael Brown’s 2014 death in Ferguson, Missouri.
At Goodman Theatre 170 N Dearborn St Chicago
November 7
TICKETS free, reservations required
Reserve your tickets HERE
Timeline Theatre Company in collaboration with The Yard presents Cardboard Piano
Written by Hansol Jung
Directed by Mechelle Moe and Joel Ewing
On the eve of the millennium in Northern Uganda, the daughter of an American missionary and a local teenage girl steal into a candlelit church to exchange vows in a secret wedding ceremony. But when an escalating civil war encroaches on their fragile union, they cannot escape its reach. Confronting the cost of intolerance, this powerful drama examines violence and the struggle to rebuild in its wake, as well as the human capacity for love and forgiveness. The cast features TimeLine Associate Artist Charles Andrew Gardner; The Yard Company Members Dana Murphy, Victor Musoni, Liv Shine, Sharrell Rhodes and Ireon Roach; and Brittney Love Smith and Julian Parker.
At Timeline Theatre
615 W. Wellington Ave.
November 7
TICKETS free, reservation required
Reserve your tickets HERE
