Displaying items by tag: theatre festival

From a "Kung Fu rom-com" to a witchy new musical, The Goodman's popular New Stages Festival in its 22^nd year continues to offer a first glimpse at the latest works by a handful of the hottest contemporary playwrights. This year's four-play line-up includes Bruceploitation by Qui Nguyen (Vietgone); House Gyalz by Abigail C. Onwunali (Blood Be Sweet); Shook by Mike Lew (A Beat of Our Own) with music and lyrics by Zoe Sarnak (Galileo) and Wonderland by Will Eno (Thom Pain). Under Walter Artistic Director Susan V. Booth and Director of New Works Kat Zukaitis, this annual offering showcases works-in-progress in the intimate 400-seat Owen Theatre. Theater industry professionals are invited to Professionals Weekend (December 11-13), which includes special events and opportunities for networking. This year, Professionals Weekend includes readings of new works by The Goodman's 2026 New Stages Residency playwrights: Black-Eyed Peas & Collard Greens by Lachrisa Grandberry and The Last Time We Saw Them by William Glick. New Stages appears December 5-13; tickets are free and available starting October 30 at 10am at the Box Office (170 N. Dearborn), at 312.443.3800 or online at GoodmanTheatre.org/NewStages. Theater professionals interested in Professionals Weekend should RSVP by November 30 at GoodmanTheatre.org/Professionals. The Goodman is grateful for the support of The Joyce Foundation (Major Support for Diverse Artistic and Professional Development).

22^nd NEW STAGES FESTIVAL LINE-UP | Owen Theatre

Bruceploitation  
By Qui Nguyen  
Directed by May Adrales  
Readings: December 5 at 7pm and December 12 at 7:30pm

After Bruce Lee's death, a struggling Asian American actor gets his big Hollywood break... by replacing the legend... despite not knowing a lick of kung fu. Sparks fly when he meets the badass Black stuntwoman hired to train him, who's tired of making everyone else look like a hero while she stays out of frame. Turns out learning to throw a punch is way easier than keeping their hands off each other. A Kung Fu rom-com. 

Qui Nguyen is an Emmy-Award winning tv writer, filmmaker, playwright, and co-founder of the pioneering geek theatre company, Vampire Cowboys. Notable plays include Vietgone, Poor Yella Rednecks, Bike Wreck, and the acclaimed Vampire Cowboys productions of She Kills Monsters (recently awarded a 2024 Kennedy Center College Theatre Festival Gold Medallion Award), Revenge Song, Soul Samurai, The Inexplicable Redemption of Agent G, Alice in Slasherland, Fight Girl Battle World, and Living Dead in Denmark. For TV/Film, he's written for Marvel Studios, Netflix, AMC, SYFY, PBS. He most recently penned Disney's Raya and the Last Dragon (nominated for a 2022 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature) and co-directed and wrote Disney's Strange World. Qui is a proud member of the WGA and a board member of New Dramatists. 

House Gyalz 
By Abigail C. Onwunali 
Directed by Lili-Anne Brown 
Readings: December 8 at 7pm and December 13 at 11am

House Gyalz follows two Nigerian housemaids as they spiral into dangerous roleplay, examining class, power, and womanhood. When unexpected news raises the stakes of their games, they will pull out all the stops to survive. Blending sharp satire with explosive theatricality, Abigail C. Onwunali's dark comedy is a contemporary take on Jean Genet's classic The Maids.    

Abigail C. Onwunali is a Nigerian-American storyteller working across playwriting, performance, and poetry. Her plays have been developed with New York Theatre Workshop, Red Bull Theater, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Liberation Theater Company, Fault Line Theatre, and Yale Cabaret. Her play Blood Be Sweet will be part of New York Theatre Workshop's 2026–27 season. She is a 2025 New Harmony Project Fellow and recipient of the 2025 Irons in the Fire Residency, 2026 La MaMa Experiments in Playwriting Fellowship, 2026 Page 73 Writers Group, and 2025–26 NYTW 2050 Artistic Fellowship. She is a member of EST's Obie Award-winning Youngblood collective.

Shook 
Book by Mike Lew 
Music and Lyrics by Zoe Sarnak    
Directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel 
Reading: December 11 at 7:30pm 

Something is rotten at Camp Avon, the prestigious Shakespeare summer camp for teens. Is it the star-crossed lovers facing a stage kiss? The stage management intern who wants a chance to perform so badly that she disguises herself as a camper? Or the fact that there are actual witches in the woods? All the woods a stage and all the campers merely players in this angsty musical ode to the eternal power of theatre.  

Mike Lew's plays include tiny father (Geffen, Barrington/Chautauqua, Audible); Teenage Dick (Donmar Warehouse, Ma-Yi/Public, Wooly Mammoth, Huntington, Artists Rep); Tiger Style! (TheatreWorks, SCR, Olney, Huntington, La Jolla, Alliance); Bike America (Ma-Yi, Alliance); microcrisis (Ma-Yi, InterAct); Alpha Asians; and How To Manong. His plays are currently in rep at Profile Theater. Musicals: A Beat of Our Own with Sam Willmott and Rehana Mirza (McCarter, La Jolla, Birmingham Rep); Shook with Zoe Sarnak (Northern Stage/Goodman commission); and Love Somebody with Betty Who and Rehana Mirza. Awards/Fellowships: Guggenheim, Mellon, PEN, Dramatists Guild Council/Tony Voter, New Dramatists, EST, Venturous, NYFA, MAP, Richard Rodgers, Kleban, Lanford Wilson, Helen Merrill, Weissberger, Kendeda, Heideman. Education: Juilliard, Yale.  

Zoe Sarnak is a Drama Desk–nominated and Larson Award–winning composer, lyricist, writer and orchestrator, as well as a finalist for the Ebb and Kleban Awards. Upcoming and recent works include: Galileo (with Danny Strong and Michael Weiner) opening on Broadway in 2026; NY Times Critic's Pick The Lonely Few (with Rachel Bonds) at MCC and Geffen Playhouse; Empire Records (with Carol Heikkinen) at McCarter Theatre; Particle Fever (with David Henry Hwang and Bear McCreary) premiering at La Jolla Playhouse in February 2027; A Beautiful Mind (with Sarah Treem); The Invisible Line (with Christopher Oscar Peña and Mark St. Germain) and others soon to be announced. Her work has been developed and produced at Second Stage, The Public, Roundabout Theatre Company, New York Theatre Workshop, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Geffen Playhouse, and MCC, among others. Her music has been featured by NY Times Live and the Guggenheim. 

Wonderland 
By Will Eno 
Directed by Susan V. Booth 
Reading: December 12 at 2pm

After a punishing decade-long exile in Europe, Orson Welles returns to Hollywood for a one-night only reading of Lewis Carrol's Alice in Wonderland. The borders between fiction and real life—and between his outward wants and inner demons—begin to break down, as Alice's journey becomes hopelessly entangled with Orson's past, and the evening takes a wild turn into the present. From Obie-Award winning playwright Will Eno, Wonderland paints a hopeful, tender, and at times surreal portrait of humanity and reality in the modern age.

Will Eno lives in Brooklyn and is a Pulitzer Finalist in Drama and winner of the Obie, Lortel, and Drama Desk awards. He wrote the book for the massively successful Skittles Commercial: The Broadway Musical, which won 7 Golden Lion awards at Cannes and 9 Clio Awards. Will teaches playwriting, most recently at Princeton University, and he mentors students at Columbia and elsewhere. His daughter Albertine acted in a workshop of her dad's new play The Green Room at the Gate Theatre in Dublin in 2025. Will was thrilled and honored to work for several years with the late and much-missed documentary film director Frederick Wiseman, who oversaw the French translation of his play The Realistic Joneses and was preparing to direct its premiere on the Paris stage in 2026. In addition to plays, Will also writes for television and film.

PROFESSIONALS WEEKEND READINGS | Alice Center for Education and Engagement

Black-Eyed Peas & Collard Greens 

By Lachrisa Grandberry 
Directed by J. Nicole Brooks 
Reading: December 11 at 3pm

In a West Side Chicago apartment building, three families prepare to welcome the New Year with the beliefs, strategies, and secrets they've relied upon for generations. But what happens when our traditions no longer align with our reality? Black-Eyed Peas & Collard Greens is a multi-generational ensemble dramedy about inheritance and what happens when those inherited truths stop serving us. Funny, heartfelt, and deeply human, Lachrisa Grandberry's newest play explores how tradition comforts us, when it confines us, and what remains when we're finally brave enough to choose something new.

Lachrisa Grandberry is a Milwaukee-born, Chicago-based playwright, lyricist and poet whose work holds space for healing, liberation and joy. Her stories are a tapestry woven from the voices and experiences of many—especially black women and girls navigating the weight of inherited patterns and unspoken truths. A 2024 Dramatists Guild Foundation National Musical Theater Fellow, she also serves as Director of NOVA Programming at Northern Sky Theater, where she curates safe spaces for writers to explore and amplify their voices. In 2022, she was named one of Wisconsin's 52 Most Influential Black Leaders. Whether through her published poetry (Shredding Rugs) or her theatrical works, Lachrisa believes that storytelling is a way to learn, unlearn, release and heal. "I know that my stories are not my own," she writes. "They belong to all of us." More at lachrisagrandberry.com

The Last Time We Saw Them 
By William Glick 
Directed by Jessica Fisch 
Reading: December 12 at 10am

In 1983, Tess, Sasha, and Amelia are young writers hoping to make their marks on Ronald Reagan's Washington.  As the years pass, their lives—and the Conservative Movement that brought them to power—are made unrecognizable by wars abroad and division at home. Spanning four turbulent decades, from the fall of the Berlin Wall to the beginning of the second Trump administration, The Last Time We Saw Them tells the story of three exceptional women whose ideals, rivalries and love of country and each other help forge the America of the 2020s.

William Glick is a Chicago-based playwright who was born and raised in Pompano Beach, Florida. His plays include The Last Time We Saw Them, Felt (Clubbed Thumb Emerging Writers Group), The Bigot (UT New Theatre), Kin Folk (World Premiere, The New Colony), the libretto for the children's opera Cry Wolf (Crane Prize for Performing Arts), and The Winter Farm (House Theatre Performance Lab).  His work has been a finalist for the Bay Area Playwrights Festival and the Heideman Award and shortlisted for the Relentless Award, the Ojai Playwriting Conference, and PlayPenn. He received his BA in Political Science from the University of Chicago and his MFA in Writing from the Michener Center at the University of Texas-Austin.

ABOUT THE GOODMAN

Since 1925, The Goodman has been a theatrical home for artists and a gathering space for Chicagoland, where bold stories spark connection, conversation and change. Now, as it enters its second century, The Goodman builds on that legacy with an eye toward the future. Under the leadership of Walter Artistic Director Susan V. Booth and Executive Director John Collins, the theater continues to champion new work—following hundreds of plays developed and a national reputation for commissioning and premiering original stories by living writers—while reimagining classics and produce large-scale musicals.

But The Goodman's reach today extends beyond its home in the heart of the Loop. From the intimate magic of The Magic Parlour, now in its third year, to the boundary-pushing world of Theater of the Mind—an immersive experience that blurs the lines between science, storytelling and sensation—and from citywide initiatives like 100 Free Acts of Theater to partnerships with artists and companies across Chicago and around the world, The Goodman is expanding what theater can be, and where it can live.

At its core, The Goodman is driven by a belief that a more empathetic, more connected city is built one story at a time. Generation-spanning productions and programs offer theater for a lifetime—from babies and young children to teens, adults and seniors—including Theater for the Very Young (ages 0–5) and the beloved annual A Christmas Carol, which has welcomed audiences for five decades. Education and Engagement programs, led by Clifford Director Jared Bellot and based in the Alice Rapoport Center, use the tools of theater to spark imagination, reflection and belonging—reaching thousands each year, the majority from underserved communities.

With nearly 200 world or American premieres, two Pulitzer Prizes, 22 Tony Awards and nearly 200 Joseph Jefferson Awards, The Goodman remains a defining force in American theater—and the first to produce all 10 plays of August Wilson's American Century Cycle. The theater also frequently serves as a production partner—from national and international companies to Chicago's Off-Loop theaters—to help amplify a wide range of theatrical voices.

Founded by William O. Goodman and his family in memory of playwright Kenneth Sawyer Goodman, the theater carries forward a legacy of artistic ambition and civic generosity. With the help of Mr. Goodman's descendants—Albert Ivar Goodman and his late mother, Edith-Marie Appleton—that spirit continues to shape its future as The Goodman expands its impact across Chicago and beyond. Marsha Cruzan is Chair of the Goodman Theatre Board of Trustees; Diane Landgren is Women's Board President; and Christopher Way is president of the Scenemakers Board for Young Professionals.

The Goodman stands on the unceded homelands of the Council of the Three Fires—the Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi Nations—and acknowledges the many other Nations for whom this land now called Chicago has long been home, including the Myaamia, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Sac and Fox, Peoria, Kaskaskia, Wea, Kickapoo, and Mascouten. The Goodman is proud to partner with the Gichigamiin Indigenous Nations Museum (Gichigamiin-Museum.org) and the Center for Native Futures (CenterForNativeFutures.org)—organizations devoted to honoring Indigenous stories, preserving cultural memory, and deepening public understanding.

Artemisia Theatre is proud to announce the return of the WeWomen Play Festival, its annual celebration of new feminist work. This year’s festival features six playwrights and a slate of directors bringing their work to life through staged readings.

The 2026 WeWomen Play Festival runs November 16–18 at Bramble Arts Loft. Each evening will feature two staged readings, along with artist talkbacks and networking opportunities designed to bring Chicago’s theatre community together.

This year’s announced playwrights are Zeyy Fawaz with The Tenants, Lauren M. Gunderson with Paradise, Samantha Hurley with COUNTESS JOSEPHINE AND LADY

PHILOMENA du BOURBON TRY TO HIDE A BODY, Sonja Lynn Mata with White Thorn of Color, Elenna Stauffer with Woman’s Work, and Brandy Victoria with Holy Smoke.

The 2026 festival directors are Dinah Berkeley directing White Thorn of Color, Julia Farrell Diefenbach directing Paradise, Kayla Menz directing COUNTESS JOSEPHINE AND LADY PHILOMENA du BOURBON TRY TO HIDE A BODY, Zoë Nisam directing The Tenants, Stephanie Mattos directing Holy Smoke, and Denise Yvette Serna directing Woman’s Work.

The WeWomen Play Festival production team includes Julia Farrell Diefenbach (Producer), Ema Kester (Stage Manager), and members of their Artist Leadership Coalition: Whitney Dottery, Leanna Gianoutsos Oliveira, Samie Jo Johnson, Abigail Karr, Jabari Khaliq, Candice Mason, Grayson May, Dionna Ndlovu, Seoyoung Park, Sydni Charity Solomon, and Jessica Swim.

The festival schedule has networking events starting at 6 pm, with readings and talkbacks starting at 7 pm. On November 16, Woman's Work by Elenna Stauffer then Paradise by Lauren M. Gunderson. November 17 will have COUNTESS JOSEPHINE by Samantha Hurley and The Tenants by Zeyy Fawaz. And finally, November 18 will end the festival with Holy Smoke by Brandy Victoria and White Thorn of Color by Sonja Lynn Mata.

The 2026 WeWomen Play Festival will take place at Bramble Arts Loft, 5545 N. Clark Street, 2nd Floor, Chicago, IL 60640, in Chicago’s Andersonville neighborhood.
Single-day tickets are $23 and three-day passes are $48, and may be purchased online at artemisiatheatre.org.

Access: Bramble Arts Loft is located on the second floor of the building and is accessible by an ADA-accessible guest elevator. Guests with specific accessibility questions or accommodation requests are encouraged to contact Artemisia Theatre in advance of their visit.

Visit artemisiatheatre.org for more information, including content warnings, and news of special events. Find and follow the company on social media @artemisiatheatre on Facebook and Instagram

ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHTS

Zeyy Fawaz (The Tenants, she/her) is a multilingual playwright, actress, and vocalist. A community organizer and activist, Zeyy weaves her advocacy into her artistic expression. Her body of work spans film, television, theater, commercial, and voiceover productions. A firm believer in art as a powerful political tool, Zeyy is committed to centering activism in her work, contributing to numerous productions that spotlight pressing social justice issues. In addition to holding a degree in the arts, she earned a master’s in International Relations and Development, with a concentration in Languages and Diaspora Studies. It is this unique intersection of diplomacy and artistry that informs and propels her creative and professional pursuits.

Lauren M. Gunderson (Paradise, she/her) has been one of the most produced playwrights in America since 2015, topping the list 4 times, including 2025/26. She is a two-time winner of the Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award for I and You and The Book of Will, the winner of the William Inge Distinguished Achievement in Theatre Award, the Lanford Wilson Award and a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Her plays have been translated into a dozen languages and produced across the world, and her anthology, “Revolutionary Women,” is published by Bloomsbury. LaurenGunderson.com and @LalaTellsAStory

Samantha Hurley (COUNTESS JOSEPHINE AND LADY PHILOMENA du BOURBON TRY TO
HIDE A BODY, she/her) is a Maine-raised, Chicago-based playwright. Her debut play, I’m Gonna Marry You Tobey Maguire, premiered Off-Broadway at Nancy Manocherian’s The Cell Theatre to critical acclaim and a sold-out run, followed by its international debut at London’s Southwark Playhouse. The play is published by Concord Theatricals and has been featured in Teen Vogue, Interview, and Pleaser. Her second full-length play, RE(VULVA), was an O’Neill Semifinalist, Princess Grace Award Semifinalist, and Relentless Award Honorable Mention. Her plays have been developed at the Cell Theatre, Pocket VR/Theatre L’Acadie, Impostors Theater Co, Two Chairs Theatre Company, and Avalanche Theatre. samhurleywrites.com

Sonja Lynn Mata (White Thorn of Color, she/her) is an actor-creator, clown, and playwright hailing from the suburbs of Chicago. She graduated with a BFA from Ohio University and has completed the Professional Training Program at Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theater. She has worked with the National Theatre of Ghana in their nation's capital, Accra and has toured nationally with Theater Unspeakable. Sonja is a year-round cyclist, an avid connoisseur of pizza and is currently working on her solo show: ¡Abuela más panqueques, por favor! IG: @sonjathepayasa or www.sonjalynnmata.com

Elenna Stauffer (Woman’s Work, she/her) is a NYC based playwright and actor. Her writing has been produced or developed by Thrown Stone, Detroit Rep, UC Davis, Second

Act New Works, Studio Theatre Tierra del Sol, Pittsburgh New Works, and the New York International Fringe Festival. Macha Distillery, Pegasus, and SWTP Finalist and O’Neill, WP Lab, Lanford Wilson, Hidden River, DVRF, and Frank Moffett Mosier Semi-finalist.

HYSTERICAL! and THE AUNTIE NETWORK are published/licensed by Broadway Play Publishing, and monologues appear in Smith+Kraus Best Monologues compendiums. Proud member AEA, SAG/AFTRA, Dramatists Guild, Climate Reality, and the 2025 PlayPenn Playwrights Cohort. Yale (BA) and Columbia (MFA).

Brandy Victoria (Holy Smoke, she/her) is a playwright, essayist, and performance artist whose work has been produced by the Obsidian Theatre Festival, the Fade to Black Reading Series, the Barter Theatre, and the Abingdon Theatre Company. In 2023, Brandy was named a Hurston/Wright Foundation Fellow and featured as a playwright in the literary publication Obsidian: Literature and Arts in the African Diaspora. She graduated from Temple University in Philadelphia, earning degrees in Film and Media Arts and African-American Studies. Learn more at brandyvictoria.com

ABOUT THE DIRECTORS
Dinah Berkeley (White Thorn of Color, they/them) is a Chicago-based theatre-maker, Arts Educator and Community Facilitator whose work is deeply rooted in the embodied practices of clown, mime, puppetry and dance. They seek out work that aligns with their values of centering authenticity, making space for curiosity, wonder, and awe as essential parts of process before product, and moving towards liberation through collective communal care, collaboration, and play. Directing credits include Everybody Thrashing The Cherubs program at Northwestern University, We Tell Each Other Stories, a workshop reading as part of A Red Orchid Theatre’s Incubator series, and they were a featured Director at Direct Address, produced by The Understudy Coffee Shop and Book Store. Additionally, Dinah has been a performer and deviser for over ten years; their work has been witnessed globally, from San Francisco to Edinburgh, NYC to El Bolsón. Dinah is delighted to be working with Artemisia Theatre for the first time during the WeWomen Play Festival. Take clown with them for free as part of the Healing Arts Chicago program, which seeks to bridge the gap between arts and health by providing free arts services across the city.
Julia Farrell Diefenbach (Paradise, she/her) is a director and dramaturg drawn to strange, dark, and unconventional stories. Recent directing credits include Kate Hamill’s Sense and Sensibility, The Haunting of Hill House (Twin City Players), and the sold-out Los Angeles production of One Exit (The Halogen Company). Other credits include work with Chicago Dramatists, Haven Chicago, Shattered Globe Theatre, Collaboraction, Midsommer Flight, and Citadel Theatre. Julia has a particular love for immersive work and for digging into historical stories to find what still feels urgent, messy, and recognizable today. She currently serves as Director of Marketing & Community Engagement at Shattered Globe Theatre and Managing & Marketing Director at

Artemisia Theatre. Julia is a graduate of Columbia College Chicago and is a proud member of LMDA.

Kayla Menz (COUNTESS JOSEPHINE AND LADY PHILOMENA du BOURBON TRY TO HIDE
A BODY, she/they) is a multidisciplinary theatre artist who primarily focuses in directing and intimacy directing these days. Recent directing credits include Radical Futures, The Sporting Life (Factory), The Meaningful Action Theatre Company Presents A Workshop Reading Of "Muffed: A Recounting Of Farmington, Maine's 43rd Annual Chester Greenwood Day Devised By The Members Of The Meaningful Action Theatre Company" (Factory, 3Bros), Lavinia Andronicus is YOUR Spin Instructor (Meat Machine), and Lincoln Lincoln Lincoln Lincoln (Impostors). They are a graduate of Cleveland State University and the directing apprenticeship program at Capital Stage in Sacramento. Connect with Kayla at www.kaylamenz.com or on Instagram @kaylabanana797.

Zoë Nisam (The Tenants, she/her) is very excited to work with Artemisia on this project! She is a recent graduate of The Theatre School at DePaul University, where she studied Theatre Arts and Nonprofit Organization. Originally from Minneapolis, Zoë has called Chicago home for 4 years and has fallen in love with the arts scene here. Her work spans directing, dramaturgy, stage management, and teaching, and she is an ensemble member with Sub Rosa Theatre Company. Recent credits include The Snow Queen with The Impostors Theatre Co. (Stage Manager), In Pursuit Of with Sub Rosa (Dramaturg), Pinto with TTS and A Red Orchid Theatre (Asst. Director), and she is a teaching artist and administrative assistant with Creative Root. Learn more about her work here: https://sites.google.com/view/zoe-nisam/home

Denise Yvette Serna (Woman’s Work, she/her) is an award-winning theatre practitioner in Chicago, Illinois. Credits include productions and new play development with Teatro Vista Productions, Lyric Opera of Chicago, MCA Chicago, Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, The Neo-Futurists, Paramount Theatre, Bramble Theatre Company, Strawdog Theatre Company, Prop Thtr, and Global Hive Laboratories. Denise has facilitated international workshops, productions, readings, fundraisers, panels, and festivals to promote activism for racial equity, accessibility, climate justice, gender based violence, immigration, literacy, community collaboration, and collective joy. deniseyvetteserna.com

Stephanie “Stevie” Mattos (Holy Smoke, she/her) is an actor, fight director and combatant in Chicago and a member of the Society of American Fight Directors. BFA in Performance Arts - Acting, Western Kentucky University. Directing: Women of 4G (Asst. Director, Babes with Blades Theatre Co.), Lonely Hearts in Lockdown (Birch House Immersive), Twelfth Night (Midsommer Flight). Fight Direction: Do You Feel Anger (Here's The Exit Theatre Co.) Andy Warhol Presents: The Cocaine Play (Jackalope Theatre Co.), Black Cypress Bayou (Definition Theatre), A Lie of the Mind, Gorgeous, OAK and The Prodigal Daughter (Raven Theatre); Brothers from the Deep (Factory Theater), The Duchess of Malfi (Asst. Fight Director, Babes with Blades Theatre Co.). Film: Rent’s

Due, Go To the Body (Asst. Stunt Coordinator). Represented by Big Mouth Talent. Ensemble member of Midsommer Flight. www.stephaniemattos.com. IG: asmattering.

ABOUT ARTEMISIA

Artemisia produces plays that empower women, creating career-altering opportunities for ALL women theatre artists of all racial and ethnic backgrounds; sexual orientations and identities; economic status; ages and disabilities. We make women heroes of their own lives by sharing their stories and amplifying their voices. We invite anyone and everyone who wants to empower women to join us as artists and audience.

Artemisia aims to be at the forefront of the fight for women and their allies through outstanding performances that push the envelope. From world premieres to the virtual stage, our mission is and will always be to better our world for everyone.

Artemisia is led by a volunteer coalition of Chicago-based artists and administrators who are fully committed to the theatre’s mission and its core values of empowerment, diversity, and inclusion. The coalition creates a safe space for ALL Chicago artists while practicing pay equity, amplifying the voices of BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ artists, and engaging the community in plays driven by the idea that her story empowers us all. If you are interested in joining the coalition, email artemisia.org for more info.

Visit www.artemisiatheatre.org to learn more.

Curious Theatre Branch, with co-producers Chicago Danztheater Ensemble, Chicago Dramatists and Labyrinth Club, are pleased to announce the 37th annual Rhinoceros Theater Festival, September 20 - October 26 at four venues across Chicago. The month-long festival of shows will kick off with a special “afternoon tea” edition of the Full Moon Vaudeville, this concert launches the festival on Sunday, Sept. 20 at 3 p.m. at Facility Theatre, 1138 N. California Ave., headlined by art/folk/cabaret act The Crooked Mouth and other special guests. 

Throughout its nearly four decades, Rhinofest has endeavored to welcome as many participants as possible, both as artists and as audience members. To that end, artists pay no fee to apply or to produce their works at Rhinofest and all tickets are offered at pay-what-you-can pricing, with a $25 suggested price. Tickets and details for all upcoming shows will be available Sunday, Sept. 6 at Rhinofest.com.

Since its inception in 1989, as a single weekend of shows in the Wicker Park neighborhood, this unique and mutable fringe festival has expanded and contracted to fit the time and has become the longest running Fringe Festival in Chicago. Festival events will take place at four venues this year: Facility Theatre, 1138 N. California Ave. in Humboldt Park; Chicago Dramatists, 798 N. Aberdeen in River West, Labyrinth Arts Club, 3658 N. Pulaski Rd. in the Irving Park neighborhood and Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble, 1650 W. Foster Ave. 

The 37th Rhinofest will feature mostly original work from Chicago artists and companies, including new work from The Fat Theater Project, the 10th anniversary of Ira Murfin’s An Interview, a new work by Jessica Wright Buha, new work from Drinking and Writing Theater, and, of course, an evening of short works by The Curious Theatre Branch, Rhinofest’s host. New to the Festival in 2026 are partnerships with Chicago Danztheater, a beautiful space in Andersonville, featuring movement-based work and a creativity workshop called Maps, Guides & Legends: a generative writing and interdisciplinary art-making workshop on Saturday, Oct. 24 at 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.  

This year's festival will feature plays, music and performances from more than 35 companies and solo artists. Among the highlights are: 

The Full Moon Vaudeville

Facility Theater, 1138 N. California Ave.

Sunday, Sept. 20 at 3 p.m.

The annual bacchanalia headlined by art/folk/cabaret act The Crooked Mouth 

includes a variety of acts to inaugurate the festival featuring cool things as yet unknown and a rare afternoon teatime show.

Make Out the Words 

by The Curious Theatre Branch

Chicago Dramatists, 1105 W. Chicago Ave.

Saturday, Oct. 3 at 9 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 4 at 5 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 10 at 7 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 18 at 5 p.m., Friday, Oct. 23 at 7 p.m. 

Make Out the Words: two new short plays inspired by the unproduced writing of the late Matt Rieger, by Curious ensemble members Charlotte Lastra and Chris Bower. The show also features a performance of Rieger's own text by Beau O'Reilly. 

A strange encounter on a train leaves an aimless woman desperate for answers, and a flood with no explanation leaves a couple with a basement full of ruined Moby Dicks.

Drinking and Writing Theater: Miersten Wolf

Labyrinth Arts Club, 3658 N. Pulaski Rd.

Thursdays: Sept. 24, Oct. 1, Oct. 8, Oct. 15 and Oct. 22 at 7 p.m.

In this 70-minute musical, three stories are interwoven with 10 original songs. The stories include the truthful biographical information of the writer, the history of Chicago's problem/solution with its waste and, lastly, a fictional story of a crib keeper on Lake Michigan who dreams of a mysterious woman named Miersten Wolf.

Works in Progress

By Jeff Glassman, Mark Enslin and Susan Parenti

Chicago Dramatists, 1105 W. Chicago Ave.

Saturday, Oct. 3 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 4 at 3 p.m.

Works in progress include Radish is My Teacher by Jeff Glassman, a collection of scripts for puppets by Susan Parenti and a libretto by Mark Enslin about a stranded international volunteer incarcerated firefighter. Both Susan Parenti & Jeff Glassman have had new works produced here in Chicago and around the country over the last decade.

The Metamorphosis aka The Adult Show/I'm a Bug!!! aka the Kids Show

By Jessica Wright Buha

Chicago Dramatists, 1105 W. Chicago Ave.

Sundays: Oct. 4, Oct. 11, Oct. 18 and Oct. 25 at 11 a.m.

This staged reading presents TWO works-in-progress that will happen at the same time (in two separate rooms). 

The Metamorphosis aka The Adult Show, is a five-actor immersive show based on Franz Kafka's “The Metamorphosis.” 

I'm a Bug!!!! aka the Kids Show, is a two-actor/teaching artist show for kids based on Franz Kafka's “The Metamorphosis.” This second piece will also serve as child care for audience members going to see The Metamorphosis.

Shaking the Beckett: 

The Magic of Lady M. and A Needless & Wasteful Requirement

By Fat Theater Company

Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble, 1650 W. Foster Ave.

Friday, Oct. 9 and Saturday, Oct. 10 at 9 p.m. 

These two one acts are both subjective and satirical interpretations of the works of two theatrical masters: William Shakespeare and Samuel Beckett. The Magic of Lady M. by Laura Scruggs reimagines the tragedy of “Macbeth” as a feminist political satire in a style akin to John Waters or “Ru Paul's Drag Race.” A Needless & Wasteful Requirement by Robert MacCrae follows two actresses awaiting the performance rights to produce Waiting for Godot, which becomes an existential absurd comedy in the vein of Beckett himself. 

An Interview

By Ira Murfin

Sunday, Oct. 18 at 4 p.m. at Labyrinth Arts Club, 3658 N. Pulaski Rd.

Saturday, Oct. 24 at 9 p.m. at Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble, 1650 W. Foster Ave.

An Interview is an ongoing series of encounters between rotating pairs of participants, who meet across a table in front of an audience to first revisit an interview conducted during the previous installment and now to conduct a new, unrehearsed conversation. Every performance is specific, unique and unrepeatable, while each encounter is connected to all the others by the format and sequence that carries through the project’s 10-year history. 

Special Event: Maps, Guides & Legends

Led by Sherry Antonini and Jenny Magnus

Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble, 1650 W. Foster Ave.

Saturday, Oct. 24 from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Maps, Guides & Legends is a generative writing and interdisciplinary art-making workshop. A writing and creativity day based on the idea that doing is learning, and experiments and games are an explosive way to try new things. Antonini and Magnus have been teaching together for 30 years, from the incredible Interdisciplinary Arts Department at Columbia College Chicago back in the day to writing classes at The School of the Art Institute and everything in between. This duo knows how to have fun and get ideas rolling. Anyone can get ready to begin, begin again or find a way through the middle of a project. Open to writers and interdisciplinary artists at all levels, this workshop will point to new project routes, productive detours and discoveries of what can be found along unpaved roads. 

About the Rhinoceros Theater Festival

The event that became the Rhinoceros Theater Festival began in 1988 as an offshoot of the Bucktown Arts Fest and in its first year featured just two days of performances, including work by Curious Theatre Branch co-founders Jenny Magnus and Beau O'Reilly. Curious went on to produce the Rhino across many neighborhoods and venues over the years, with events variously taking place in Wicker Park/Bucktown, Rogers Park, Andersonville and Avondale; at spaces including the Lunar Cabaret and Full Moon Café, the Neo-Futurarium, the Society for New Things, The Garage, The Firehouse, Remains Theatre and Prop Thtr. In the mid-2000s, Rhinofest settled at Prop Thtr in Avondale as its long-term base and Prop and Curious co-produced the festival among a shifting group of curators for many years. Following the closure of Prop's Elston Ave. space in 2020 and a year off during the height of the pandemic, Rhinofest now returns to its expanded form, producing shows by more than 50 artists at multiple venues.