Babes With Blades Announces 2019 FIGHTING WORDS FESTIVAL

The Babes With Blades Theatre Company's (BWBTC) 21st anniversary season concludes with the return of The Fighting Words Festival this June at Otherworld Theatre. The Fighting Words sprang from the very clear need to increase the canon of female fighting roles.

By running a development series for new works, BWBTC not only supports the creation of plays that meet its mission and may be produced, but plays that go beyond Chicago to increase the visibility of fierce women on stage.

Each year, since 2005, BWBTC selects three scripts for development that have the potential to grow into the kinds of plays that fit its mission. Several of the Fighting Words selections have been seen as full productions with BWBTC, as well as other theatre companies: most recently The Lady Demands Satisfactions (Jeff Nominated), 180 Degree Rule, Patchwork Drifter, L'Imbecile, Promise of a Rose Garden (Jeff Nominated) and Bo Thomas and the Case of the Sky Pirates.

Each script has undergone two reading-and-feedback sessions with the ensemble and invited guests. For the second time, we're presenting the final reading of each script in a festival format: The Fighting Words Festival.

The Fighting Words Festival, June 1 and 2, Otherworld Theatre, 3914 N. Clark St.Tickets: FREE ADMISSION Refreshments and a talkback follow each reading.To reserve tickets and for more information, please visit BabesWithBlades.org.

Saturday, June 1:3:00 p.m. - Life in a Sandcastle by Jayme McGhandirected by BWBTC Managing Director Kelsey Kovacevichfight choreographed by Kim Fukawa

Two getaway weekends on the shore of Lake Michigan collide when childhood friends and family from separate worlds find themselves doing battle for the same beachside fire pit. Political persuasions, economic privilege, religious beliefs, regional proclivities, educational barriers, and a mess of cheap beer, expensive wine and dill pickle chips quickly become both shields and weapons as the women do battle for the sandy square footage they feel is rightly theirs. Life in a Sandcastle is a hilarious and touching exploration of the fates that bring us together and the tax brackets that keep us apart.

7:00 p.m. - Summer Nights and Fireflies by Bianca Samsdirected by Kanome Jones fight choreographed by Chloe Baldwin

Summer Nights and Fireflies follows Zandra Richards the owner of a small eastern Texas bar which has been in her family for generations. On the surface Zandra's finally moving forward in life, but secretly everything is falling apart at the seams. Her bar is struggling financially, younger brother Tyrone is involved in a tumultuous relationship and her boyfriend, Sean, wants more from Zandra than she's capable of giving. To make matters worse, Zandra is literally haunted by ghosts from her past which force her to confront a lifetime of abuse that she'd rather leave dead and buried. Summer Nights and Fireflies explores issues of modern femininity, the cycle of violence, and the power of self love.

Sunday June 2- 3:00 p.m. - Jenga by Deborah Yarchun, directed by BWBTC Ensemble Member Alexis Randolph fight choreographed by Maureen Yasko

Yelena returns to her childhood home for the first time in twelve years only to discover that her older sister, Simone, has transformed it into a "Burning Man-inspired" (and booby-trapped) game-room of fairy wings and glitter. As monstrous noises filter in from an offstage room, the two sisters battle in a series of escalating games over whether or not to finally confront a violent incident from their past.

To post a comment, you must register and login.