Preston Choi

playwright

Preston Choi (he/him) is a Chicago-based playwright whose work focuses on Asian-American history, mixed-race and queer lives, and social science fiction. His plays include A Great Migration or The Migratory Patterns of the North American Monarch Butterfly and Fatherless Sons (2021 Paul Stephen Lim Playwriting Award; 2019 NNPN New Play Showcase; 2017 Agnes Nixon Award), performing class (2021 NNPN Bridge Program), Happy Birthday Mars Rover (The Passage Theatre), and This Is Not a True Story (CAATA ConFest 2018). His plays have been developed with Artists at Play, Interact Theatre, Silk Road Rising, Theatre Mu, The New Harmony Project, The Passage Theatre, and Victory Gardens. He received a BS in theatre from Northwestern University and is currently a 2nd-Year MFA playwright at UCSD.

Marti Lyons

director

Marti Lyons (she/her) most recently directed Cymbeline at American Players Theatre. She also recently directed I, Banquo at Chicago Shakespeare Theater and the audio production of Kings for Studio Theatre in Washington, D.C. Next, she will direct the world premiere of John Proctor Is the Villain at Studio Theatre. Marti was recently named the artistic director of Remy Bumppo Theatre Company. Additional directing credits include How to Defend Yourself (Victory Gardens Theater, co-production with Actors Theatre of Louisville); Native Gardens (Victory Gardens Theater); Cambodian Rock Band (Victory Gardens Theater, City Theatre in Pittsburgh, Merrimack Repertory Theatre); Witch (LA Drama Critic's Circle Award for Best Direction and Best Production, Saturn Award for Best Production; Geffen Playhouse, Writers Theatre); The Niceties (Writers Theatre); Botticelli in the Fire (Woolly Mammoth Theatre); The Wolves and Kings (Studio Theater); Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (Court Theatre); The Merry Wives of Windsor (Montana Shakespeare in the Parks); Short Shakes! Macbeth and Short Shakes! Romeo and Juliet (Chicago Shakespeare Theater); Wit (The Hypocrites); The City of Conversation (Northlight Theatre Company); Wondrous Strange (2016 Humana Festival); and Title and Deed (Lookingglass Theatre). Other projects include Bethany, Mine and Body and Blood (The Gift Theatre); Hot Georgia Sunday and Seminar (Haven Theatre); Prowess, The Peacock and The Last Duck (Jackalope Theatre); The Play About My Dad (Raven Theatre); Give It All Back, Mai Dang Lao, 9 Circles, Maria/Stuart and the co-direction of The Golden Dragon (Sideshow Theatre). She is the artistic director of Remy Bumppo Theatre Company, an ensemble member at The Gift Theatre, an artistic associate with Sideshow Theatre and a proud member of SDC.

martilyons.com

Regina Victor

dramaturg

Regina Victor (they/them/pharoah) is a dramaturg, director, multidisciplinary artist, and cultural critic. Presently Sideshow Theatre’s artistic director, and one of Newcity’s “Fifty Players”-- 2019, 2020, and 2022. Recent directing credits: Long Wharf Theatre, TimeLine Theatre, and Actors Theatre of Louisville. As a dramaturg, Pharaoh has collaborated with Sarah Ruhl, Beaufield Berry, J. Nicole Brooks, and more. In 2017 they founded Rescripted, an online arts journalism platform. Pharaoh’s service includes the National Advisory Council for Howlround Theatre Commons, Bard at the Gate, and the Artistic Caucus for Long Wharf, Baltimore Centerstage, St. Louis Rep, and Woolly Mammoth Theatre.

SOLEMN MASS FOR A FULL SUMMER MOON

by Michel Tremblay

translated and adapted by Philip Dawkins

directed by Jonathan L. Green

On a hot summer night, eleven neighbors stand on their back decks in search of solace. One by one and all together, they beseech the moon to grant them peace. Insatiable or jealous lovers, wavering partners, exhausted caretakers, desperate parents, and a recent widow are united under one moon overseeing them all. Sideshow artistic associate Philip Dawkins translates and adapts this lyrical play by Michel Tremblay, in which Québec's preeminent playwright unites a group of disparate seekers who have little in common beyond a shared fire escape. When they enter into communion, a sacred power is unearthed, and the healing power of those around us is revealed.

Saturday, June 1, 2019

3pm

Goodman Theatre

Philip Dawkins

translator / adaptor

Philip Dawkins is a playwright and educator whose plays have been performed all over the world. His plays include Failure: A Love Story (Victory Gardens Theater), Le Switch (About Face Theatre, The Jungle), The Homosexuals (About Face Theatre), The Burn (Steppenwolf for Young Audiences), Dr.Seuss’s The Sneetches, the Musical with composer David Mallamud (Children’s Theater Company, Minneapolis), The Gentleman Caller (Raven Theatre, Chicago; Abingdon Theatre, NY), Charm (Northlight Theatre; MCC), Miss Marx: Or The Involuntary Side Effect of Living (Strawdog Theatre), and his solo play, The Happiest Place on Earth (Sideshow Theatre/Greenhouse Theater Center). Philip has won some awards and not won some others. He’s been a fellow at the Hawthornden Castle International Retreat for Writers in Scotland and the MacDowell Colony in New Hampshire, and has taught playwriting at his alma mater, Loyola University Chicago, Northwestern University and for the Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis. Many of Philip’s plays, including his scripts for young performers, are available through Dramatists Play Service, Playscripts, Inc. and Dramatic Publishing. He is currently working on a commission from Children’s Theater Company and an American English translation of Michel Tremblay’s Messe Solennelle Pour Une Pleine Lune D'été for Sideshow Theatre.

Jonathan L. Green

director

Jonathan has been the artistic director of Sideshow Theatre since its founding in 2007. He has directed and assisted for Sideshow, Greenhouse Theater Center, Lookingglass, Steppenwolf, Goodman, Diversionary Theatre, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, Chicago Dramatists, Theatre Seven of Chicago and Pavement Group. Recent projects include HeLa, truth and reconciliation (Jeff Award nomination for direction), The Happiest Place on Earth, Antigonick, Stupid Fucking Bird, Idomeneus (Jeff Award for ensemble), and others. Jonathan is a graduate of the University of Virginia and is the literary manager for Goodman Theatre, where his recent dramaturgy credits include How to Catch Creation, Blind Date, Objects in the Mirror, Gloria, War Paint, The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window and Disgraced.

CHRISTMAS AT HOME

by Calamity West

directed by Wardell Julius Clark

dramaturgy by Regina Victor

Christmas time is here, and Mark, Luke, and Darla will be celebrating together for the first time since becoming orphans. Drinks, sing-a-longs, and family ghosts are all part of this family affair, but the most haunting part of their history looms outside the house. Award-winning playwright Calamity West examines the insidious effects of white privilege in the home and how they collide with the American justice system in her new play Christmas at Home. Anything can happen when we return to our roots.

Saturday, July 20, 2019

3pm

Victory Gardens Theater

Calamity West

playwright

Calamity West is a Chicago-based, award-winning playwright. Her plays have appeared at Williamstown Theatre Festival, Roundabout, Goodman, Jackalope Theatre, Steep Theatre, TimeLine, and Sideshow. In 2014 Calamity was recipient of the 3Arts Award. She teaches playwriting at the University of Chicago and Webster University. She is a company member at Jackalope Theatre Company and an ensemble member of Sideshow Theatre Company. Calamity holds a BA in dramatic writing from Webster University and an MFA in creative writing from California College of the Arts. She is represented by ICM Partners. Plays by Calamity include: The Retribution Play (2020); Christmas at Home (2019); Greetings from Moscow! A Love Story (2018); In the Canyon (2018); Hinter (2018); Engines and Instruments of Flight: A Fantasia in Three Acts (2016); Give It All Back (2016); Rolling (2016); Ibsen Is Dead (2014); The Peacock (2013); and The Gacy Play (2012).

Wardell Julius Clark

director

Wardell Julius Clark hails from Fairfield, Alabama. Directing credits include The Shipment (Red Tape Theatre); Insurrection: Holding History (Stage Left Theatre); Surely Goodness and Mercy (Redtwist Theatre); associate director for Guess Who's Coming to Dinner and assistant director for Gem of the Ocean and Satchmo at the Waldorf, all at Court Theatre. On stage he has appeared at American Blues Theater, Raven Theatre, First Folio Theatre, TimeLine Theatre, Northlight Theatre, Victory Gardens, Court Theatre, 16th Street Theatre, and Congo Square Theatre. TV/Film: Proven Innocent (Fox); Shameless (Showtime) Chicago Fire seasons 1 and 4. Wardell is a company member with TimeLine Theatre Company, where he also serves as a teaching artist in the Living History Program. He is also an associate artist with the Black Lives, Black Words theatre collective. BFA acting, DePaul University. Represented by Gray Talent.

Regina Victor

dramaturg

Regina Victor (they/them/theirs) is a producer, director, dramaturg, arts journalist, and performer. Currently the associate producer at Halcyon Theatre, they have produced shows and events for the Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Steppenwolf Theatre, Pegasus Theatre, and more. Their writing can be found in HowlRound, American Theatre Magazine, The Windy City Times and of course on Rescripted, the arts journalism platform they founded in 2017. As an artist, Victor has secured a number of prestigious appointments and fellowships including the SDCF Observership 17/18 class, the Victory Gardens Director’s Inclusion Initiative, and most recently was the Artistic Apprentice and Multicultural Fellow at Steppenwolf Theatre. Recent credits include The Roommate at Steppenwolf Theatre, Familiar at Steppenwolf Theatre, and Pipeline at Indiana Repertory Theater. Victor has developed HeLa (dramaturg) and Pro-Am (director) through the Sideshow Freshness Initiative and are thrilled to join the Sideshow Ensemble as an artistic associate. Victor is available for panels and workshops; learn more at:

reginavictor.com

Aurora Real de Asua

playwright

Aurora Real de Asua is an actor, director, and playwright based in Chicago. As a playwright, her ten-minute play "Women, 1 AM" debuted as a part of Victory Gardens College Night. As an actor, she has worked with Goodman Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Victory Gardens, Rivendell Theatre, and the Hypocrites. Aurora graduated from Northwestern University with a BA in theatre and playwriting.

Gabrielle Randle

director

Gabrielle Randle is a graduate student, director, and dramaturg who is passionate about social justice, storytelling, and the power of performance to change the world. She has a dual BA degree in drama and sociology from Stanford University and an MA degree in performance as public practice at The University of Texas at Austin. She has directed, devised, dramaturged, and produced professionally across the United States in Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Austin, and New York City (off-Broadway) and internationally on three continents. In Chicago she has worked with Steppenwolf Theatre, Sideshow Theatre Company, Chicago Dramatists, Victory Gardens Theater and Court Theatre. She is a second year PhD student at Northwestern in the interdisciplinary PhD in theatre and drama.

Ada Alozie

dramaturg

Ada Alozie is an early-career playwright and dramaturg who graduated from the University of Chicago with a major in anthropology. She is the current artistic intern for Remy Bumppo and was recently the assistant director for Sideshow’s The Ridiculous Darkness. She likes theatre that’s provocative, clever, anti-the-obvious and, above all, theatrical.

Ariel Zetina

playwright

Ariel Zetina’s plays include Pink Milk (Garage Theatre (CA), Oracle Theatre (4 Jeff Award nominations), FringeNYC, Chicago Fringe); British Honduras Fantasy (reading w/ ALTA, Victory Gardens); Precious Monster Operas (as librettist: Feast Productions, NYC & Chi); Lovedrug (developed at Magic Theatre, SF); Congratulations Alicia (Chi 1 Min Play Fest); Pumpkin; lisafraanqus (Chi Home Theatre Fest). Ariel is the 2018 resident DJ at Smartbar; she has released music with with Boukan Records, Club Chai, & SHXME; her DJ residencies include Hideout (Ariel’s Party), Berlin Nightclub (Rosebud), Rumors. She has performed (w/WITCH HAZEL) in Taylor Mac’s The Walk Across America For Mother Earth (Steppenwolf Garage Rep), GODZILLA (Pritzker Pavilion), INAUGURATION (The Neo Futurists), FISH (Dfbrl8r Gallery), La Lune De Femme (New Orleans Fringe), and Moonifest Destiny (MCA). Her poetry was part of Bina-48 (Honey Soundsystem’s Smartbar Generators Residency).

Jonathan L. Green

director

Jonathan has been the artistic director of Sideshow Theatre since its founding in 2007. He has directed and assisted for Sideshow, Greenhouse Theater Center, Lookingglass, Steppenwolf, Goodman, Diversionary Theatre, Chicago Dramatists, Theatre Seven of Chicago, Pavement Group and the Earl Hamner, Jr. Theatre. Recent projects include truth and reconciliation, The Happiest Place on Earth, Antigonick, Stupid Fucking Bird, Idomeneus (Jeff Award for ensemble), and others. Recent dramaturgy credits include Blind Date, Objects in the Mirror, Gloria, War Paint, The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window, and Disgraced, all at Goodman Theatre. Jonathan is a graduate of the University of Virginia, currently serves on the board of directors of the League of Chicago Theatres, and is the literary manager for Goodman Theatre.

jonathanlgreen.com

Lucas Garcia

dramaturg

Lucas Garcia is a Chicago based writer and dramaturg from Albuquerque, NM. They are also the content coordinator for the Alliance of Latinx Theatre Artists. Lucas has worked as a dramaturg with TimeLine Theatre Company (In the Next Room), Steppenwolf Theatre Company (La Ruta, Pass Over), The Hypocrites (W;t), Chicago Dramatists (Lorca in New York) and is a guest dramaturg at ALTA's Open Dramaturgy Office Hours. Lucas is a theatre critic for Rescripted, an artist-led platform for critique, discussion, and writing. Their creative work can be found most recently on the blog of The Brillantina Project, plainchina, VCU’s anthology of undergraduate work, and in Re: Visions, the literary journal of the University of Notre Dame’s creative writing department. Lucas has performed recently as part of Safe Haven, Haven Theatre company’s pop-up event series. Their play, Out of Orbit, was produced as part of 2015 ND Theatre NOW! at the University of Notre Dame’s DeBartolo Center for the Performing Arts.

PRO-AM

by Brynne Frauenhoffer

directed by Regina Victor

dramaturgy by Tanuja Devi Jagernauth

The porn industry isn't what it used to be, but upstart performers in Miami are making the most of the amateur scene. Joe was a community college dropout who got fired from Jiffy Lube, but now he’s transformed himself into an assistant talent scout; he finds the girls, flies them to Florida, and gets them the gigs. But they don’t stick around for long--usually about three months--so the rental house where he lives with the talent sees a lot of turnover. Until Chloe Kendall arrives, determined to turn her stint as a "teen" star into a lasting career in adult entertainment, for herself and for her new housemates.

Saturday, July 14, 2018

3pm

Victory Gardens Theater

Brynne Frauenhoffer

playwright

Brynne spent most of her childhood performing The Lion King as a one-toddler show and writing spec scripts for Pokemon; as an adult, she has decided to basically keep doing things like that forever. After graduating with a BFA from The University of Oklahoma, she moved to Chicago, where she now pursues playwriting and performing. Her full-length play Bury Me has been selected for readings at Echo Theater and Will Geer's Theatricum Botanicum. She developed Synchronicity with The Writers Room at The New Colony, where it was selected for a staged reading; it later won the 2016 Davey Foundation Theatre Grant, which included a workshop and reading at Salt Lake Acting Company. Her short plays have been produced by Commission Theatre Company, 20% Theatre Company, and the Chicago One Minute Play Festival. As a script supervisor and director's assistant, Brynne has worked on the world premieres of Look, we are breathing (Rivendell Theatre Ensemble), American Beauty Shop (Chicago Dramatists), and A Work of Art (Chicago Dramatists). Currently, Brynne is workshopping Bury Me for Dandelion Theatre's RESERVOIR series, developing the full-length plays Jane's Heir (IT'S BRONTE B*TCH) and Pizza Hut Heartbreaker, and profiling Chicago theatermakers for PerformInk.

Regina Victor

director

Regina Victor is a non-binary femme of color born and raised in Oakland, California, now residing in Chicago. They consider civic engagement, mentorship, and social justice to be the core of their artistic practice. In the spring of 2017 Regina Victor co-produced and facilitated a panel on cultivating critics of color at Chicago Dramatists, and has co-founded Rescripted, an artist-led online journal for criticism and essays with Katherine O’Keefe (rescripted.org). Victor is an artistic associate at Greenhouse Theatre Center, a member of the Victory Gardens Directors Inclusion Initiative 17/18, and the SDCF Observership 17/18 Class.  A producer, dramaturg, director, writer and performer, Regina has worked with Steppenwolf Theatre, California Shakespeare Theater, Walkabout Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, About Face (AIDSOnstage), Shattered Globe Theatre, African American Shakespeare Company, Chicago Dramatists and more. They are currently serving as the Steppenwolf multicultural fellow and artistic apprentice in the artistic department for the 17/18 season.

reginavictor.com

Tanuja Devi Jagernauth

dramaturg

Tanuja Devi Jagernauth is a playwright and dramaturg. She believes in the necessity of creation during times of destruction. Born in Guyana, South America, raised in Arizona, and currently living in Chicago, Tanuja’s artistic work employs humor, expressionism and magical realism to explore identity, assimilation, sexual violence, family, spirituality, and generational trauma. As an Indo-Caribbean immigrant and two-time alum of the Voices of Our Nations Arts multi-genre writing workshop for people of color, Tanuja is dedicated to using her artistic and political work to help further the interests of healing justice, prison abolition, and Black liberation.

WALLY WORLD

by Isaac Gomez

directed by Gabrielle Randle

dramaturgy by Rebecca Adelsheim

It's Christmas Eve and Wally World employees are about to lose it. On the one day of the year this mega department superstore is to close its doors for the holidays, secrets come to life as store manager, Andy, does everything in her power to keep her store in line and her employees in check. But can one protest for workers' rights ruin everything she's ever worked for? Wally World is a hysterical examination of finding magic in the mundane as eleven employees do everything they can to find purpose in a place that has never seen purpose in them.

Monday, May 1, 2017

7pm

Victory Gardens Theater

Isaac Gomez

playwright

Isaac Gomez is a writer and dramaturg currently working as the literary manager at Victory Gardens Theater, where he curates the Public Programs series, directs the new play development department and heads the IGNITION Festival of New Plays. His dramaturgy credits include Cocked, The Who & The What, An Issue of Blood, The House That Will Not Stand (Victory Gardens Theater); My Mañana Comes and Between You, Me, and the Lampshade (Teatro Vista); The Hairy Ape, good friday (Oracle Productions); Badfic Love (Strange Bedfellows) and assistant dramaturg on Luna Gale and The Solid Sand Below (Goodman Theatre). As a playwright his work includes La Ruta (Goodman Theatre's Latina/o Theatre Celebration, Oregon Shakespeare Festival Latino Play Project; Austin Critics Table New Play Award 2013; Pivot Arts Incubator Series); The Displaced (ALTA Chicago - workshop, Definition Theater Company workshop) and The Way She Spoke: A Docu-mythologia (Greenhouse Theater Center). He is the creative director at the Alliance of Latino Theatre Artists (ALTA) in Chicago where he runs and is a participant of El Semillero: ALTA Chicago's Latino Playwrights Circle, an artistic associate of Teatro Vista, a resident playwright at Chicago Dramatists, a steering committee member of the Latina/o Theatre Commons (LTC) and an artistic community member at The Hypocrites.

Gabrielle Randle

director

Gabrielle Randle is a graduate student, director, and dramaturg who is passionate about social justice, storytelling, and the power of performance to change the world. She has a dual BA degree in drama and sociology from Stanford University and an MA degree in performance as public practice at The University of Texas at Austin. She has directed, devised, dramaturged, and produced professionally across the United States in Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Austin, and New York City (off-Broadway) and internationally on three continents. In Chicago she has worked with Sideshow Theatre Company, Chicago Dramatist, Victory Gardens Theater, and Court Theatre. She is a second year PhD student at Northwestern in the interdisciplinary PhD in theatre and drama.

Rebecca Adelsheim

dramaturg

Rebecca is thrilled to be working with Sideshow Theatre Company for the first time. Rebecca is a Chicago-based dramaturg and producer and recently completed the Artistic Apprenticeship at Steppenwolf Theatre Company. She has also worked with Victory Gardens Theater, Goodman Theatre, The Hypocrites, Haven Theatre, and The Gift Theatre Company. Rebecca currently serves as the programming manager for 2nd Story and is a Hypocrites Community Member. Many thanks to Marti, David, the amazing Sideshow team, and the McDonald’s across the street (for research, guys).

SOMETHING CLEAN

by Selina Fillinger

directed by Lauren Shouse

dramaturgy by Philip Dawkins

Charlotte has been a mother for nineteen years, a wife for three decades, and a respectable community member her entire life. But when her only child is incarcerated for sexual assault, her once immaculate world is forever tainted. Selina Fillinger’s intimate new drama, Something Clean, follows one woman struggling to make sense of her own grief, love, and culpability.

Monday, June 26, 2017

7pm

Victory Gardens Theater

Selina Fillinger

playwright

Selina Fillinger is a Chicago-based actress and playwright. She is a recent graduate of Northwestern University, where she completed the playwriting module under the mentorship of Laura Schellhardt. Her original work includes The Armor Plays, Three Landings and a Fire Escape, and The Coho Salmon Pub & Grub. Selina was a two-time winning playwright in the university’s Agnes Nixon Festival. Three Landings and a Fire Escape was awarded the 2015 Judith Barlow Prize and received a reading in New York under the direction of Kathleen Chalfant. Selina’s current play, Faceless, was a Northlight Theatre commission and will premiere in February as part of Northlight’s 2016/17 mainstage season.

Lauren Shouse

director

Lauren Shouse is the artistic associate and literary manager at Northlight Theatre. In Chicago, Lauren has worked with Steppenwolf, Goodman, Lookingglass, R​ivendell, Route 66, Chicago Dramatists, and Stage Left. Recent directing credits include: Betrayal at Raven Theatre; ​Rapture, Blister, Burn, Superior Donuts, and A Christmas Story at Nashville Rep​ertory Theatre​; the world premiere of Long Way Down with 3Ps productions; the world premiere of Religion and Rubber Ducks with Ovvio Arte; Parallel Lives, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, The Last Five Years and Chess in concert with Street Theatre Company; Stop Kiss, Eurydice and In the Next Room or the Vibrator Play with Northwestern’s Wirtz Center; the world premiere of Rear Widow at Chaffin’s Barn Theatre, and Sylvia Plath’s 3 Women. She received her MFA in theatre directing at Northwestern University. Her upcoming directing projects include The Legend of Georgia McBride at Northlight Theatre and Nice Girl at Raven Theatre.

laurenshousedirects.com

Philip Dawkins

dramaturg

Philip Dawkins is a Chicago playwright whose plays have been produced all over the country and the world. His critically acclaimed works include Charm (Northlight Theatre), Le Switch (About Face Theater) and Miss Marx: Or The Involuntary Side Effect of Living (Strawdog Theatre), which won the Joseph Jefferson Award for New Work, as well as The Homosexuals (About Face Theater) and Failure: A Love Story (Victory Gardens Theater), both of which received Joseph Jefferson nominations for New Work. This fall, he will be performing in the world premiere of his one man play, The Happiest Place on Earth, at the Greenhouse Theater Center with Sideshow Theatre Company. Look for his musical adaptation of Dr. Seuss’s The Sneetches (with composer David Mallamud) at Children’s Theater Company in Minneapolis next winter. Philip teaches playwriting at Northwestern University, Loyola University Chicago, his alma mater, and through the Victory Gardens ACCESS Program for writers with disabilities. Most of his plays, including his plays for young performers, are available through Playscripts, Inc. and Dramatic Publishing.

J. Nicole Brooks

playwright

J. Nicole Brooks is an actor, playwright, director, and demigod. Recent acting credits include the critically-acclaimed Immediate Family directed by Phylicia Rashad (Mark Taper Forum) and Death Tax (Lookingglass Theatre). As a scribe, her debut play Black Diamond: The Years the Locusts Have Eaten (published Methuen Drama 2013, Joseph Jefferson Award nominations) about female rebel fighters in Liberia was commissioned and produced by the Lookingglass Theatre to critical acclaim. She also penned a retelling of Jean Racine’s Phedre called Fedra: Queen of Haiti (published University of Wisconsin Madison 2016, Black Theatre Alliance Award), and Kamala: Masterclass. New works in development include The Untitled Yuri Kochiyama Project (with support from NEA), Brer Rabbit (with Abbie Phillips) and Her Honor Jane Byrne (commissioned by Lookingglass). Trophies include: TCG Fox Foundation Resident Actor Fellowship, American Theatre Wing Tony Award with Lookingglass Theatre Ensemble, Black Theatre Alliance Award Best Actress, LA Ovation Award Best Featured Actress, and grant from National Endowment For the Arts. In 2011 she was invited by the ITI-Worldwide global theatre congress in Xiomen, China as a US delegate to write and act in an original production collaborating with artists from 13 other countries around the world.

Jonathan L. Green

director

Jonathan has been the artistic director of Sideshow Theatre since its founding in 2007. He has directed and assisted for Sideshow, Greenhouse Theater Center, Lookingglass, Steppenwolf, Goodman, Diversionary Theatre, Chicago Dramatists, Theatre Seven of Chicago, Pavement Group and the Earl Hamner, Jr. Theatre. Recent projects include truth and reconciliation, The Happiest Place on Earth, Antigonick, Stupid Fucking Bird, Idomeneus (Jeff Award for ensemble), and others. Recent dramaturgy credits include Blind Date, Objects in the Mirror, Gloria, War Paint, The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window, and Disgraced, all at Goodman Theatre. Jonathan is a graduate of the University of Virginia, currently serves on the board of directors of the League of Chicago Theatres, and is the literary manager for Goodman Theatre.

jonathanlgreen.com

Regina Victor

dramaturg

Regina Victor is a non-binary femme of color born and raised in Oakland, California, now residing in Chicago. They consider civic engagement, mentorship, and social justice to be the core of their artistic practice. In the spring of 2017 Regina Victor co-produced and facilitated a panel on cultivating critics of color at Chicago Dramatists, and has co-founded Rescripted, an artist-led online journal for criticism and essays with Katherine O’Keefe (rescripted.org). Victor is an artistic associate at Greenhouse Theatre Center, a member of the Victory Gardens Directors Inclusion Initiative 17/18, and the SDCF Observership 17/18 Class.  A producer, dramaturg, director, writer and performer, Regina has worked with Steppenwolf Theatre, California Shakespeare Theater, Walkabout Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, About Face (AIDSOnstage), Shattered Globe Theatre, African American Shakespeare Company, Chicago Dramatists and more. They are currently serving as the Steppenwolf multicultural fellow and artistic apprentice in the artistic department for the 17/18 season.

reginavictor.com

THE HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH

by Philip Dawkins

directed by Jonathan L. Green

dramaturgy by Benno Nelson

Once upon a time in Anaheim, California in an orange grove, a magical kingdom was built and dedicated to America's history, dreams, and wildest hopes. Eight years later, an American prince died on live television while delivering the Albuquerque sports scores, leaving four daughters and their mother behind. Left reeling from the loss of their patriarch, the family underwent a quest to reach the magical kingdom, and seek solace and recovery. Now, more than fifty years after their journey, acclaimed playwright and storyteller Philip Dawkins retraces and illustrates the true story of the women in his family, exploring their history and asking if there really is a place where the dream that we wish can come true.

Saturday, December 19, 2015

2pm

Victory Gardens Theater

Philip Dawkins

playwright

Philip Dawkins is a Chicago playwright whose plays have been produced all over the country and the world. His critically acclaimed works include Charm (Northlight Theatre), Le Switch (About Face Theater) and Miss Marx: Or The Involuntary Side Effect of Living (Strawdog Theatre), which won the Joseph Jefferson Award for New Work, as well as The Homosexuals (About Face Theater) and Failure: A Love Story (Victory Gardens Theater), both of which received Joseph Jefferson nominations for New Work. This fall, he will be performing in the world premiere of his one man play, The Happiest Place on Earth, at the Greenhouse Theater Center with Sideshow Theatre Company. Look for his musical adaptation of Dr. Seuss’s The Sneetches (with composer David Mallamud) at Children’s Theater Company in Minneapolis next winter. Philip teaches playwriting at Northwestern University, Loyola University Chicago, his alma mater, and through the Victory Gardens ACCESS Program for writers with disabilities. Most of his plays, including his plays for young performers, are available through Playscripts, Inc. and Dramatic Publishing.

Jonathan L. Green

director

Jonathan has been the artistic director of Sideshow Theatre since its founding in 2007. He has directed and assisted for Sideshow, Greenhouse Theater Center, Lookingglass, Steppenwolf, Goodman, Diversionary Theatre, Chicago Dramatists, Theatre Seven of Chicago, Pavement Group and the Earl Hamner, Jr. Theatre. Recent projects include truth and reconciliation, The Happiest Place on Earth, Antigonick, Stupid Fucking Bird, Idomeneus (Jeff Award for ensemble), and others. Recent dramaturgy credits include Blind Date, Objects in the Mirror, Gloria, War Paint, The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window, and Disgraced, all at Goodman Theatre. Jonathan is a graduate of the University of Virginia, currently serves on the board of directors of the League of Chicago Theatres, and is the literary manager for Goodman Theatre.

jonathanlgreen.com

Benno Nelson

dramaturg

Benno has served as dramaturg for productions and readings with Sideshow, A Red Orchid Theatre, the Inconvenience, LiveWire, New Leaf and more, and directed productions at The New Colony and Oracle’s B-Sides. His writing has appeared in Time Out, the Paper Machete, Judson Memorial Church, and Collaboraction’s SketchBook.

LIBERTY TREE

by Bonnie Metzgar

directed by Jonathan L. Green

dramaturgy by Polly Hubbard

Amy grew up under a big tree near Boston. 200 years earlier, Mum Bett cleaned a big house near Boston. Amy went to Harvard, had kids, and worked at a university. Mum Bett was a slave. Amy had a bad day and pulled out a gun. Mum Bett used the new constitution to free all the slaves in Massachusetts. From the dawn of the war for independence to the modern day gun violence pandemic, playwright Bonnie Metzgar investigates the pathology of the American patriot, the violent roots of the American family tree, and asks the question: if everybody's so equal, who's going to clean up the blood?

Saturday, April 9, 2016

2pm

Victory Gardens Theater

Bonnie Metzgar

playwright

Bonnie Metzgar is a playwright, director, dramaturg and producer. Recent directing: Let Me Down Easy at American Theater Company and The Walk Across America For Mother Earth by Taylor Mac for Red Tape/Steppenwolf Garage Rep. Currently, Metzgar is the interim artistic director at American Theater Company and is on the National Advisory Committee for Howlround. She served as artistic director of About Face from 2008-2013 where she directed numerous shows including The Pride and The Homosexuals at Victory Gardens. Previously, Metzgar produced the 365 Festival with Suzan-Lori Parks and was the associate producer at the Public Theater where she founded Joe’s Pub. She is a proud alum of the 2015 Goodman Theatre Playwrights Unit and got her MFA from University of Iowa Playwrights Workshop.

Jonathan L. Green

director

Jonathan has been the artistic director of Sideshow Theatre since its founding in 2007. He has directed and assisted for Sideshow, Greenhouse Theater Center, Lookingglass, Steppenwolf, Goodman, Diversionary Theatre, Chicago Dramatists, Theatre Seven of Chicago, Pavement Group and the Earl Hamner, Jr. Theatre. Recent projects include truth and reconciliation, The Happiest Place on Earth, Antigonick, Stupid Fucking Bird, Idomeneus (Jeff Award for ensemble), and others. Recent dramaturgy credits include Blind Date, Objects in the Mirror, Gloria, War Paint, The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window, and Disgraced, all at Goodman Theatre. Jonathan is a graduate of the University of Virginia, currently serves on the board of directors of the League of Chicago Theatres, and is the literary manager for Goodman Theatre.

jonathanlgreen.com

Polly Hubbard

dramaturg

Polly is the literary manager of Steppenwolf Theatre Company. A former literary agent with Abrams Artists Agency (NY), Polly once represented an array of writers, directors and designers including Philip Dawkins, Matthew-Lee Erlbach, A. Rey Pamatmat, Jordan Seavey, and Erika Sheffer, among others. Recent dramaturgical work includes Philip Dawkins' critically acclaimed Charm, which Northlight Theatre presented at the Steppenwolf Garage under the direction of BJ Jones, and Matthew-Lee Erlbach's Sex of the Baby, which played at Access Theatre (NYC), directed by Michelle Bossy. Selected developmental work: Steppenwolf's First Look (The Imaginary Music Critic Who Doesn't Exist by David Mitchell Robinson, directed by Marti Lyons), Victory Gardens Ignition Festival (Queen by Madhuri Shekar, directed by Joanie Schultz; The Last Book of Homer by José Rivera, directed by Jonathan Berry; Seven Spots on the Sun by Martín Zimmerman, directed by Lisa Portes), and American Theatre Company (Dinner Party Play by Lauren Yee, directed by Jess McCleod; The Rose Garden by Troy Deutsch, directed by Bonnie Metzgar.) Upcoming​: Jackalope Theatre's production of Rolling by Calamity West, directed by Nate Silver. Previous work, in various capacities, with SPACE on Ryder Farm, The Kilroys, Cherry Lane Theatre, 13P, New Harmony Project, Lark Play Development Center, Princess Grace Awards, and Amnesty International.

Kristiana Rae Colón

playwright

Kristiana Rae Colón is a poet, playwright, actor, educator, Cave Canem Fellow, and executive director of the #LetUsBreathe Collective. Her play Octagon, winner of Arizona Theater Company's 2014 National Latino Playwriting Award and Polarity Ensemble Theater's Dionysos Festival of New Work, had its world premiere at the Arcola Theater in London in September 2015. Her work was featured in Victory Gardens' 2014 Ignition Festival. In 2013, she toured the UK with her collection of poems promised instruments published by Northwestern University Press. In autumn 2012, she opened her one-woman show Cry Wolf at Teatro Luna in Chicago while her play but i cd only whisper had its world premiere at the Arcola Theater in London and will have its 2016 American premiere at The Flea in New York. Kristiana is a part of the Goodman Theatre's Playwrights Unit, a resident playwright at Chicago Dramatists and one half of the brother/sister hip-hop duo April Fools. She appeared on the fifth season of HBO's Def Poetry Jam.

Marti Lyons

co-director

Marti most recently directed The City of Conversation by Anthony Giardina for Northlight Theatre Company; Prowess by Ike Holter for Jackalope Theatre Company; Wondrous Strange by Meg Miroshnik, Martyna Majok, Jen Silverman, and Jiehae Park for the Humana Festival at Actors Theatre of Louisville, starring the theatre's Apprentice Company; and a reading of Meg Miroshnik's Lady Tattoo for the Pacific Playwrights Festival at South Coast Repertory Theatre. Marti has also directed Will Eno’s Title and Deed for Lookingglass Theatre Company and a reading of Martín Zimmerman's On the Exhale for the New Stages Festival at Goodman Theatre where she received the 2015 Maggio Directing Fellowship. Other projects include Laura Marks’ Bethany, Marks' Mine and Will Nedved’s Body and Blood for The Gift Theatre where she is an ensemble member; Catherine Trieschmann’s Hot Georgia Sunday and Theresa Rebeck's Seminar for Haven Theatre; The Peacock by Calamity West and The Last Duck by Lucas Neff for Jackalope Theatre; The Play About My Dad by Boo Killebrew for Raven Theatre; Mai Dang Lao by David Jacobi, 9 Circles by Bill Cain, Maria/Stuart by Jason Grote, and co-directed The Golden Dragon for Sideshow Theatre, where she is an artistic associate. Later this season Marti will direct Wit by Margaret Edson for The Hypocrites, Short Shakes! Romeo and Juliet for Chicago Shakespeare Theater, The Mystery of Love and Sex by Bathsheba Doran for Writers Theatre, and Native Gardens by Karen Zacarías for Victory Gardens Theatre. Marti is a proud member of SDC.

martilyons.com

Dawn Renee Jones

co-director

Dawn Renee Jones is a writer, director and theatre educator. She is the winner of the 2015 Ruby Prize for Playwriting. Her feature screenplay Man of the Word won Best Screenplay at the New York FilmColumbia Festival. Her multi-media performance work S’Kin, a collaboration with visual artist Seitu Jones and composer Carei Thomas, was recognized as one the Year’s Best Productions by the St. Paul/Minneapolis City Pages. Dawn Renee has directed main stage productions at Actors Theatre of St. Paul, Penumbra Theater, At the Foot of the Mountain Theatre, Women’s Theatre Project, and Starting Gate Theatre in Minneapolis and St. Paul, where she was also the founder and artistic director of Alchemy Theater for seven years.

Prior to pursing her lifelong interest in theatre Dawn Renee wrote and produced print and broadcast advertising in Chicago and New York for several major advertising agencies and a broad range of national brands. Dawn Renee studied Film Production at The New and has produced and/or directed music videos for Paisley Park, Motown, Tabu, Flyte Time, and Warner records. She was the dialogue coach on Purple Rain and script consultant on Graffiti Bridge. She developed theatre curriculum for the State of Minnesota’s Perpich Center for Arts Education; and has taught theatre courses at middle schools, high schools and Macalaster College. She earned an MFA in creative writing with emphasis in playwriting from Goddard College.

Isaac Gomez

dramaturg

Isaac Gomez is a writer and dramaturg currently working as the literary manager at Victory Gardens Theater, where he curates the Public Programs series, directs the new play development department and heads the IGNITION Festival of New Plays. His dramaturgy credits include Cocked, The Who & The What, An Issue of Blood, The House That Will Not Stand (Victory Gardens Theater); My Mañana Comes and Between You, Me, and the Lampshade (Teatro Vista); The Hairy Ape, good friday (Oracle Productions); Badfic Love (Strange Bedfellows) and assistant dramaturg on Luna Gale and The Solid Sand Below (Goodman Theatre). As a playwright his work includes La Ruta (Goodman Theatre's Latina/o Theatre Celebration, Oregon Shakespeare Festival Latino Play Project; Austin Critics Table New Play Award 2013; Pivot Arts Incubator Series); The Displaced (ALTA Chicago - workshop, Definition Theater Company workshop) and The Way She Spoke: A Docu-mythologia (Greenhouse Theater Center). He is the creative director at the Alliance of Latino Theatre Artists (ALTA) in Chicago where he runs and is a participant of El Semillero: ALTA Chicago's Latino Playwrights Circle, an artistic associate of Teatro Vista, a resident playwright at Chicago Dramatists, a steering committee member of the Latina/o Theatre Commons (LTC) and an artistic community member at The Hypocrites.

LITTLE MISS LAURA INGALLS

by Emily Dendinger

directed by Brad Akin

dramaturgy by Jenni Page-White

When Margo learns that her unborn child has a terminal illness, she becomes frustrated with the limitations of the present. Margo turns to a Laura Ingalls Wilder pageant for comfort, but quickly realizes that sunbonnets and churning butter come with their own challenges.

Saturday, September 20, 2014

1pm

Victory Gardens Theater

Emily Dendinger

playwright

Emily plays include Hideous Progeny, which has been produced by LiveWire Chicago Theater, Holland Productions and North Park College. She is a two-time winner of Theater Masters National Play Competition, a 2013 City Theatre National Award finalist, a 2012 Heideman finalist and a 2015 Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Award finalist. Her plays have been developed at The LARK, LiveWire Theatre and TimeLine Theatre. She is a recent graduate of the University of Iowa's Playwright's Workshop and is currently a member of TimeLine’s Writer’s Collective and the Dramatists Guild. She thrilled to be working with the fabulous folks of Sideshow on this new play. Many thanks to Brad, Jenni, Nate and all the actors for their brilliant thoughts, talent and time.

Brad Akin

director

Brad is a Chicago-based director and a member of Steep Theatre Co. Credits include: strangers, babies, Under the Blue Sky, Greensboro: A Requiem, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, Insignificance, Book of Days (Steep); OOHRAH! (LiveWire); and Where We're Born (Steppenwolf).

Jenni Page-White

dramaturg

Jenni is currently the literary associate at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, where she is completing her first season. Her dramaturgy has been seen in Chicago at Steppenwolf's First Look Repertory of New Work, LiveWire Chicago Theatre and Rabbit Hole, and with the Lark Play Development Center in New York.

GIVE IT ALL BACK

by Calamity West

directed by Marti Lyons

dramaturgy by Bobby Kennedy

In a swank French hotel room in the mid-1960s, an artist hides out from a world that's turned on him. He smokes, talks, drinks, and tries not to think about acoustic versus electric. Calamity West delivers a funny, sardonic and theatrical examination of how you hold on to your art when everyone else thinks that it's theirs.

Saturday, April 4, 2015

1pm

Victory Gardens Theater

Calamity West

playwright

Calamity West is a Chicago-based, award-winning playwright. Her plays have appeared at Williamstown Theatre Festival, Roundabout, Goodman, Jackalope Theatre, Steep Theatre, TimeLine, and Sideshow. In 2014 Calamity was recipient of the 3Arts Award. She teaches playwriting at the University of Chicago and Webster University. She is a company member at Jackalope Theatre Company and an ensemble member of Sideshow Theatre Company. Calamity holds a BA in dramatic writing from Webster University and an MFA in creative writing from California College of the Arts. She is represented by ICM Partners. Plays by Calamity include: The Retribution Play (2020); Christmas at Home (2019); Greetings from Moscow! A Love Story (2018); In the Canyon (2018); Hinter (2018); Engines and Instruments of Flight: A Fantasia in Three Acts (2016); Give It All Back (2016); Rolling (2016); Ibsen Is Dead (2014); The Peacock (2013); and The Gacy Play (2012).

Marti Lyons

director

Marti most recently directed The City of Conversation by Anthony Giardina for Northlight Theatre Company; Prowess by Ike Holter for Jackalope Theatre Company; Wondrous Strange by Meg Miroshnik, Martyna Majok, Jen Silverman, and Jiehae Park for the Humana Festival at Actors Theatre of Louisville, starring the theatre's Apprentice Company; and a reading of Meg Miroshnik's Lady Tattoo for the Pacific Playwrights Festival at South Coast Repertory Theatre. Marti has also directed Will Eno’s Title and Deed for Lookingglass Theatre Company and a reading of Martín Zimmerman's On the Exhale for the New Stages Festival at Goodman Theatre where she received the 2015 Maggio Directing Fellowship. Other projects include Laura Marks’ Bethany, Marks' Mine and Will Nedved’s Body and Blood for The Gift Theatre where she is an ensemble member; Catherine Trieschmann’s Hot Georgia Sunday and Theresa Rebeck's Seminar for Haven Theatre; The Peacock by Calamity West and The Last Duck by Lucas Neff for Jackalope Theatre; The Play About My Dad by Boo Killebrew for Raven Theatre; Mai Dang Lao by David Jacobi, 9 Circles by Bill Cain, Maria/Stuart by Jason Grote, and co-directed The Golden Dragon for Sideshow Theatre, where she is an artistic associate. Later this season Marti will direct Wit by Margaret Edson for The Hypocrites, Short Shakes! Romeo and Juliet for Chicago Shakespeare Theater, The Mystery of Love and Sex by Bathsheba Doran for Writers Theatre, and Native Gardens by Karen Zacarías for Victory Gardens Theatre. Marti is a proud member of SDC.

martilyons.com

Bobby Kennedy

dramaturg

Bobby is the literary manager at Writers Theatre, where he oversees the company's new work program and curates its audience engagement series. Dramaturgy credits at WT include Julius Caesar (world premiere adaptation), Death of a Streetcar Named Virginia Woolf (world premiere), Arcadia, Marjorie Prime, Isaac's Eye, Hedda Gabler, Port Authority, The Letters and Do the Hustle (world premiere), among others. Other dramaturgy credits include: Body & Blood (The Gift Theatre, world premiere), American Beauty Shop (Steppenwolf First Look), The Luck of the Irish (Next Theatre Company) and the world premieres of two Calamity West plays: Ibsen Is Dead (Interrobang Theatre Project) and The Peacock (Jackalope Theatre Company). Kennedy co-founded The Spontaneous Theater Project in Boston and is an alumnus of Boston University.

Janet Burroway

playwright

Janet Burroway is the author of plays, poetry, children’s books, and eight novels including The Buzzards, Raw Silk, Opening Nights, Cutting Stone (all Notable Books of The New York Times Book Review), and most recently Bridge of Sand. Her plays have received readings and productions in Chicago, New York, London, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Her Writing Fiction, now in its ninth edition, is the most widely used creative writing text in America, and Imaginative Writing is in its fourth edition. She is author of the memoir Losing Tim (Think Piece Press, 2014). Winner of the 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award in Writing from the Florida Humanities Council, she is Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor Emerita at the Florida State University.

janetburroway.com

Elly Green

director

Elly is a freelance director, whose previous work with Sideshow includes the co-world premiere of Hansol Jung’s No More Sad Things and a Freshness Initiative workshop series of Janet Burroway’s Boomerang. She recently directed The Distance by Deborah Bruce for Haven Theatre and After Miss Julie by Patrick Marber for Strawdog Theatre. Other Chicago credits include: The Woman Before (Trap Door), Rabbit (Stage Left – Jeff nominated), Happy (Redtwist), Unwilling and Hostile Instruments (Theatre Seven) and The Tomkat Project (Playground Theatre & NY Fringe). Elly was assistant director on Henry V (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre) and Proof (Court Theatre). She is an artistic associate with Stage Left theatre and a reader for Steppenwolf theatre. Elly originally trained in London on the MFA in Theatre Directing from Birkbeck College. Her UK directing credits include: Our Country’s Good, My Balloon Beats Your Astronaut, Beyond Therapy, About Tommy, Copenhagen, Skylight, The Beach and The Zoo Story.

ellygreendirector.com

Claire K. Redfield

dramaturg

Claire is a director, teaching artist, and community maker who has trained with SITI Company, the British American Drama Academy, and the San Francisco Mime Troupe. She is also a teaching artist at Lookingglass Theatre and proudly serves as the community engagement associate for Sideshow! Past credits include: dramaturg for Boomerang with Sideshow's Freshness Initiative, Cymbeline with The Waking Theatre (co-director), Sam Holcroft’s Vanya at Stan Mansion (director), and assistant director for Kimberly Senior’s production of After the Revolution at Next Theatre.

clairekredfield.com