Broken Nose Theatre To Receive BIC Emerging Theatre Award

The League of Chicago Theatres announces Broken Nose Theatre as the recipient of the 2018 Broadway In Chicago Emerging Theatre Award. The award will be presented at the League of Chicago Theatres Gala on Monday, May 21, 2018 at the Four Seasons Hotel Chicago, 120 E. Delaware Place.

The Broadway In Chicago Emerging Theatre Award was created in 2007 to encourage, support, and promote young theatres in Chicago that have demonstrated great ability and promise, artistic excellence and fiscal responsibility in business practices. Applications for the award were accepted during February 2018. Eligible companies are members of the League of Chicago Theatres, have been incorporated at least 3 and no longer than 10 years, and have demonstrated artistic excellence, fiscal responsibility, community leadership and potential for future growth.

Broadway In Chicago will provide a $5,000 cash prize and marketing support, including a substantial advertising package. Previous award recipients include: Route 66 Theatre Company, Sideshow Theatre Company, Jackalope Theatre Company, Oracle Productions, The House Theatre of Chicago, Silk Road Theatre Project (now Silk Road Rising), the side project, Steep Theatre, The New Colony, Theatre Seven of Chicago and 16th Street Theater.

Broken Nose Theatre is Chicago's premier Pay-What-You-Can organization, allowing patrons to set their own ticket price to ensure that theatre remains accessible to all audiences, regardless of socioeconomic status. The company develops and produces new work that amplifies underrepresented voices, cultivates empathy, sparks conversation, and provides opportunities for a diverse array of artists both on and off the stage.

Broken Nose Theatre founder and artistic director Benjamin Brownson comments, "The Broadway In Chicago Emerging Theatre Award is a reminder of the richness, diversity, and vibrancy of Chicago's unparalleled theatre community, and to join the ranks of so many stellar companies who have gone before us is a profound honor. This award will be a significant help as we continue developing and producing new, inclusive work, amplifying underrepresented voices, and building new and diverse audiences through our economically accessible pay-what-you-can model."

The Chicago theatre community will also honor Amina Dickerson with the Tribute Award, as well Dorothy Milne (Lifeline Theatre) and Steve Scott (Goodman Theatre) with Lifetime Achievement Awards. The winner of the Broadway In Chicago Emerging Theatre Award is to be announced.

The League of Chicago Theatres Gala is an elegant event that brings together friends of Chicago theatre to raise funds for programs to support Chicagoland's more than 250 member theatre companies. The Gala Co-Chairs are Kate Lipuma, Executive Director of Writers Theatre and Marissa Ford, Special Projects Associate of Goodman Theatre.

Tickets are $350 per person, and all proceeds benefit the League of Chicago Theatres, which promotes, supports, and advocates for theatre in Chicago. To purchase tickets, or for sponsorship opportunities and participation information, visit www.chicagoplays.com or call 312-554-9800.

About Broken Nose Theatre

Since its founding in 2012, Broken Nose Theatre has developed and produced 11 full-length plays, including seven Chicago or World Premieres. Through five iterations of the annual Bechdel Fest, the company has produced over 40 women-centric short works, with each play featuring an all-female cast and passing the Bechdel-Wallace Test. In its fourth season, it became one of the city's first entirely Pay-What-You-Can theatre companies, allowing patrons to set their own ticket price and removing the financial barrier that prevents so many from experiencing live theater. Last year, our Midwest Premiere of At The Table received four Joseph Jefferson Awards (including Best Production of a Play and Best Ensemble), three Time Out Chicago Theater Awards, and was named "One of the Best Shows of 2017" by Chicago Tribune's Chris Jones, Time Out's Kris Vire, and teen critic Ada Grey. In her end-of-year roundup, Kelly Kleiman of The Dueling Critics stated that "Broken Nose may be the next Steppenwolf."

This year, Broken Nose Theatre is producing three World Premieres: Kingdom by resident playwright Michael Allen Harris, The Opportunities of Extinction by Sam Chanse, and Plainclothes by company member Spenser Davis, who is developing the play alongside a pre-cast ensemble of twelve. Broken Nose is developing two new works-Peg by Liam Fitzgerald and Exposure by Cynthia Hines-through its new play development series, dubbed The Paper Trail, which provides institutional support to Chicagoland playwrights who lack an artistic home. This Summer will bring the sixth iteration of Bechdel Fest.

Broken Nose Theatre was recently named the youngest recipient of the inaugural Bayless Family Foundation grant, which supports theater that "ignites conversation, extends community, and reaches to a broader audience in the service of impactful storytelling."

Broken Nose Theatre is comprised of Company Members Echaka Agba, Benjamin Brownson, Elise Marie Davis, Spenser Davis, Rose Hamill, Martin Hanna, Jen Poulin and David Weiss; Artistic Associates Kim Boler, Caitlin Boylan, Sam Brownson, JD Caudill Devon Green, Ada Grey, Rob Koon, Teresa Kuruvilla, RjW Mays, Ivy Reid, Adam Soule, Watson Swift and Aria Szalai-Raymond; and Resident Playwrights Jennifer Blackmer and Michael Allen Harris.

About Chicago theater

Chicago theater is the leader in the U.S. with more than 250 theaters throughout Chicagoland, comprising a rich and varied community ranging from storefront, non-union theaters to the most renowned resident theaters in the country, including 5 which have been honored with Regional Tony Awards, and the largest touring Broadway organization in the nation. Chicago's theaters serve 5 million audience members annually and have a combined budget of more than $250 million. Chicago produces and/or presents more world premieres annually than any other city in the nation. Last year alone Chic

ago theater companies produced more than 100 world premiere productions and adaptations. Each year Chicago theaters send new work to resident theaters across the country, to Broadway, and around the world.

The League of Chicago Theatres' Mission Statement

The League of Chicago Theatres is an alliance of theaters which leverages its collective strength to promote, support and advocate for Chicago's theater industry locally, nationally and internationally. The League of Chicago Theatres Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the art of theater in the Chicago area through audience development and support services for theaters and theater professionals.

For a comprehensive list of Chicago productions, visit the League of Chicago Theatres website, ChicagoPlays.com. Half-price tickets to the current week's performances as well as future performances are available at HotTix.org and at the two Hot Tix half-price ticket locations: across from the Chicago Cultural Center at Expo72 (72 E. Randolph) and Block Thirty Seven (108 N. State).

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