Artemisia Theatre to Present the World Premiere of ROE V US

The fight for women's rights is ON, and Chicago's Artemisia Theater is going on offense with the world premiere of Roe v US, written and directed by Kelcey Anyá, one weekend only, July 14-17, 2022, at Filament Theatre, 4041 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago's Portage Park neighborhood.

Press opening is Thursday, July 14 at 7:30 p.m. Shows continue Friday and Saturday, July 15 and 16 at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, July 17 at 3 p.m. Performances will be presented workshop-style, and will be followed by audience discussions. Tickets, $25, are on sale now at artemisiatheatre.org.

Roe is your teacher, your sister, your mother, your cousin. Roe is your friend, your mentor, your pastor's wife. Roe is the CEO of a Fortune 500 company; Roe is the 5-star athlete; Roe is you or someone you're close to. In a society that views human rights as an issue of right and wrong, Roe v US puts on trial society's commentary on morality and confronts the grueling real-life consequences of choice. How do you handle your right to choose? Are you redeemable and by whose standards are you judged? Is redemption inherent or is it earned?

With Roe v Wade in jeopardy like never before, Roe v US gives voice to the women who made the choice. Chicago actors Abby Chafe, Ginger DeLeon and Ana Silva will play multiple roles.

"Now, more than ever, the fight for women's voices and stories to be heard is at an all time high. Roe v US could not be more timely and that is what makes me so excited," said Kelcey Anyá, Roe v US playwright, director and Artemisia's managing director. "These stories we are telling were already important, but now with the literal state of Roe v Wade I want to ensure that as many stories as I possibly can, get rise. This is not a debate on what is right and what is wrong. Women's lives are at stake here and it's time we hear their side of the story."

Filament Theatre is located at 4041 N Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago's Portage Park neighborhood, on the first floor of the Portage Arts Lofts building. Filament is easily accessible via the Irving Park exit on 90/94. Turn west on Irving Park Ave. and at the six corners turn slight right onto Milwaukee Ave. Filament is on the right across from the Portage Theatre.

Metered street parking is available in front of the theater. Street parking is free on Sundays. Additional parking is available at the Laporte Ave. Public Parking Lot one block west of the theater via West Cuyler Ave.

Public transit: Take the Blue Line to Irving Park and transfer to the Irving Park Bus (#80) headed west. Get off at Cicero and Milwaukee. A Divvy station is also located across the street from Filament on West Cuyler Ave.

For more information, including local dining options, go to filamenttheatre.org/plan-your-visit.

For more information, visit artemisiatheatre.org or follow the company on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

i??The fight for women's rights continues this fall with Julie Proudfoot's Title X

In the fall, Artemisia follows up Roe v US with the world premiere docudrama Title X by Artemisia's founder, Julie Proudfoot, co-directed by Proudfoot and Kelcey Anyá.

Title X documents the fight for abortion rights in America from 1978 to now. The play is told through the lens of eight radically different female characters: A 17-year-old wrestles with her choices under Title X. The director of a women's clinic defends her patient's right to reproductive justice. A member of Operation Rescue protests in front of an abortion clinic. An asylum officer interviews detainees, victims of the refugee crisis, at the Texas-Mexico border. A woman in her twenties confronts haunting memories of sexual harassment by her professor during a visit to her former college campus. A conservative congresswoman urges her pro-life supporters to fight the battle for the unborn with Christian love. A survivor of sexual assault reclaims her life after taking her boss to trial for rape. A lesbian exposes her complicated but loving relationship with her partner, who died of AIDS. In the end, the 17-year-old, now a mature woman, discovers the empowering life lessons she has learned.

"I wrote Title X over the course of a year while sheltering at home, while Trump was succeeding in reverse funding under Title 10 via coercion tactics," said Proudfoot. "It exposes the way the system works against women and keeps women from having autonomy and agency."

Title X debuts November 25-December 18, 2022 at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave. in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood. First preview and press opening is Friday, November 25 at 7:30 p.m. Performances continue through December 18: Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m., Sunday at 2:30 p.m. Tickets go on sale September 9 via Theater Wit's box office, TheaterWit.org or (773) 975-8150.

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i??About Artemisia Theatre

Artemisia Gentileschi was a great feminist painter, forgotten by history. Now, she's celebrated as the greatest female artist prior to the modern period. It shows why women's stories are important. They change our perspective, on the past, the present and the future.

That's why Chicago's Artemisia Theatre was founded, to share women's untold stories. Since 2011, Artemisia has enriched Chicago's culture by taking creative risks, achieving artistic excellence, and engaging the audience directly to inspire compassion and social justice for women. Through its celebrated productions of classic and all-new feminist plays, its past Fall Fest of staged readings, and its current virtual works, and upcoming world premieres, Artemisia creates career-altering opportunities for African American, Latinx, Asian, Arab and Native American (ALAANA), Caucasian and LGBTQ theater artists.

Julie Proudfoot is founder and artistic director of Artemisia Theatre. Kelcey Anyá was hired as Artemisia's first managing director in February 2022, marking a key moment of institutional growth and renewed commitment to elevating women's voices.

Artemisia's leadership team is 100 percent women, because "women still struggle to find a place where they can share their stories and be their true selves as artists," said board president E. Faye Butler. "That's what I love about Artemisia. It's a sisterhood of leaders, who empower women as writers, directors, performers. A place where women can bring their fire, passion and lived experience and share true stories from their perspective."

Artemisia Theatre is a recent recipient of a Chi Biz Strong Grant and is also supported by the Arts for Illinois Relief Fund, Arts Work Fund, DDT Law Group, Echo Limousine, Fox Pest Control, Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, HKM Employment Attorneys LLP, Illinois Arts Council Agency, Illinois Humanities, The MacArthur Fund for Culture, Equity and the Arts at the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Paul M. Angell Family Foundation, Rebellious Magazine for Women and Salvi Schostok & Pritchard Trial Lawyers.

For more, visit artemisiatheatre.org.

Roe vs US Biographies

Kelcey Anyá (managing director) is a multi-disciplinary performing artist originally from the bayous of South Louisiana. She began her performance career at the age of two as a dancer, fell in love with all things performance, and her motto became "as long as I can touch the stage, I'm happy." Kelcey Anyá received her Master's of Arts in Theatre, Performance and Practice with certificates in both Teaching and Women's Gender and Sexuality Studies from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. In 2019 she merged her love for education and the arts when she began her career as a teaching artist in New York City. Since then, she has juggled serving as the director of Colt Coeur Theatre Company's annual education initiative (New York City), as a teaching artist and dance instructor with The Joffrey Ballet, and as a teaching artist with Pegasus Theatre. Now in Chicago, she is also Founder and Director of the Kelcey Anyá Performing Arts Academy, LLC (KAPAA), an organization geared towards amplifying the voices of young Black and Brown storytellers through the arts.

Abby Chafe (she/her) makes her debut to Chicago theatre with Artemisia Theatre and Roe v US. She was a Kennedy Center nominee for her collegiate work in She Kills Monsters (Agnes) in 2020 and holds a BA in Theatre and Performance from Miami University.

Ginger De Leon (she/her/hers) is making her Artemisia Theatre debut. She is a recent graduate of Columbia College Chicago, where her credits include Case Study: Contact, La Casa Azul and Forgiving Mary Typhoid. De Leon has also been in The River Bride (Fragmented Light Theatre). Most recently, she has appeared as an ensemble group member in When There are Nine (PrideArts).

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Ana Silva (she/her/hers) is also making her Artemisia debut. Recent theater credits include The Sound of Music (The Marriott Theatre), Mr.Burns: A Post-Electric Play (Theater Wit), Kentucky (The Gift Theater), She the People (The Second City), In the Heights (Casa 0101 and Teatro Nuevos Horizontes) and Searching for Aztlán (Teatro Milagro). Both a writer and a performer, Silva co-wrote and starred in the award winning web series In-Diana and short film Speeding Towards Red Lights. Awarded Outstanding Improviser in Chicago (ALTA), Silva has performed with Matt Damon Improv, Improvised Jane Austen, and Baby Wants Candy. You can hear Ana as Maddie Crocker in the upcoming narrative audio episodic On the Night Train (The Merry Beggars).

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