Photo Flash: THE KID THING Celebrates Opening Night

Chicago Dramatists and About Face Theatre are proud to co-produce the world premiere of THE KID THING by Chicago Dramatists Resident Playwright and About Face Theatre Artistic Associate Sarah Gubbins. Directed by Joanie Schultz, THE KID THING will run through October 16th at Chicago Dramatists, 1105 W. Chicago Ave. Recently, the Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for theatre, has named THE KID THING as one of 19 theatre recipients of the second round of The Edgerton Foundation New American Play Awards for 2011. The prestigious grant will fund the extension of the development and rehearsal period of the new play.

THE KID THING proves that sometimes good news isn't all it's cracked up to be. When two lesbian couples, who have been best friends for years, get together for a dinner party, the unexpected news of an impending pregnancy manages to rock both relationships. When Jacob, an old college friend (and potential sperm donor) enters the picture, emotions run deep in this biting, witty piece about what it means to have a child in 2011.

"‘The kid thing' is a question confronted by most couples," says Chicago Dramatists Artistic Director Russ Tutterow. "Should we have kids? How will our relationship change? Will we be good parents? Sarah Gubbins new play provides us an inside look at how these two couples navigate the shark-infested waters around the universal controversy of ‘The Kid Thing'."

The production team for THE KID THING includes: Chelsea Warren (sets), Izumi Inaba (costumes), Sarah Hughey (lighting), Miles Polaski (sound), and Jenniffer Thusing (stage manager).

Sarah Gubbins is a fourth generation Chicagoan. Her plays The Kid Thing and Fair Use were developed at the Steppenwolf Theatre Company as part of their First Look Repertory of New Plays. Her plays have been read or produced at Second City, Collaboraction's Sketchbook Festival, 20% Theatre Company, the Estrogen Fest and Rhino Fest in Chicago, Public Theater, the ALLIANCE THEATRE, and Bloomington Playwrights Project. Her play In Loco Parentis was recently produced by The Next Theater in Chicago as part of their What's Next Series. She developed The Water Play at Bard College's Voice & Vision in collaboration with Rivendell Theater Ensemble and received further development from the Goodman Theatre. Her short plays Out of Order and Mea Culpa were finalists for the Heideman Award at The Actors Theatre of Louisville. She wrote the book for the musical Fatty Arbuckle's Spectacular Musical Revue which was produced by Second City Theatricals. Gubbins is also the recipient of two City of Chicago CAAP Individual Artist Grants and is the 2010-2011 Carl J. Djerassi Playwriting Fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and will be a 2011-2012 Jerome Fellow at the Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis. She has been commissioned by the Steppenwolf Theatre and DePaul University. She recently collaborated with the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange on A Matter of Origins and completed an M.F.A. in Writing for the Screen + Stage at Northwestern University. Additionally, Gubbins is being produced at Steppenwolf for Young Adults along with Playwright Alum's Rebecca Gilman's The Heart is a Lonely Hunter.

About Face Theatre (Bonnie Metzgar, Artistic Director; Jason L. Held, Executive Director) is one of Chicago's most acclaimed theatre companies, and is a national leader in the development of new work exploring gender and sexual identity. Since its founding by Kyle Hall and Eric Rosen in 1995, the company has premiered more than 30 new plays by writers and directors who have been recognized with several Tony Awards, The Pulitzer Prize for Drama, The MacArthur Fellowship and dozens of Joseph Jefferson Awards.

In the fall of 1979, four playwrights came together to hear their work read aloud and to hone their craft. Today, Chicago Dramatists' amazing record of achievement has landed them an invaluable place in the artistic community as a vital source of inspiration to 40 Resident Playwrights, 160 Associate Playwrights, 60 Associate Artists, and thousands of audience members. Over the past three decades, Chicago Dramatists has worked with over a thousand playwrights, produced and developed thousands of plays and stayed true to its mission to nurture compelling, challenging and diverse plays that move on to productions, earn awards, and define the American theatre. Chicago Dramatists has helped launch the career of hundreds of award-winning writers, including Tina Fey (30 Rock), Rick Cleveland (Mad Men), Rebecca Gilman (Spinning Into Butter), Sarah Ruhl (The Clean House), Lydia R. Diamond (Stick Fly) and Keith Huff (A Steady Rain). Each season Chicago Dramatists presents three world premiere productions and the signature Saturday Series, weekly staged readings of plays-in-progress. The theatre also conducts educational outreach to at-risk students at Chicago Public Schools, awakening the possibility of self-expression by writing for the theatre. Through passionate dedication, personal nurture and careful exposure, Chicago Dramatists carries on its mission of developing new plays and playwrights for the next generation of theatre.

Chicago Dramatists is located just minutes from the Loop at 1105 W. Chicago Avenue, at the 24-hour Chicago Avenue stop of the Blue Line subway, and is just off the Ogden and Augusta exits of the Kennedy Expressway. There is street parking available, a detailed parking map can be found at www.chicagodramatists.org/parking. For more information or reservations visit www.chicagodramatists.org.

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