Playwrights to Debut New Works As Part Of Waukegan Theatre Festival

Since last fall, Three Brothers Theatre in Waukegan, Illinois has been supporting a residency of playwrights developing new plays through monthly online meetings. Now, as part of a revamped Waukegan Theatre Festival, they're ready to showcase these works with a weekend long reading series. Resident playwrights include Lyra Nalan, Adrienne Dawes, Ron Anahaw, Marjorie Muller, Chase Wheaton-Werle, and Zach Barr. The residency was facilitated by fellow playwright Zack Peercy.

"The support and development of new works is a crucial aspect of running a theater company today," said Executive Director Josh Beadle. "Even with our limited resources, we're grateful to have the opportunity to work with these talented artists and help build community and foster new plays."

All readings will take place at Three Brothers Theatre's 115 N Genesee Street location. Tickets are $10 per reading, or $50 for a two-day pass. The schedule for the event follows below:

SATURDAY at 10:30AM

Tethered by Ron Anahaw, directed by Liv McDaniel
A living room play for the non-living. Vincent has ghosts tethered to him, but he doesn't know it. These ghosts fight for control of Vincent, but the dynamic is disrupted when Vincent's mother passes and sees the influence they have over her son.

SATURDAY at 1:00PM

Enduring Jest by Zach Barr, directed by AJ Schwartz
A loose adaptation of the novel "Infinite Jest," with one catch: the playwright hasn't read it. Built solely out of verbatim text from interviews with people who have actually read the book, this play reconstructs David Foster Wallace's story, as best as its readers are able to do so themselves. An investigation of how our passions define us - and the often impossible task of explaining those passions to others.

SATURDAY at 4:00PM

Chuan & Eve by Lyra Nalan, directed by Joel Willison
In a desperate bid to help his schizophrenic mother, a young immigrant forms an unexpected bond with a seemingly perfect therapist, only to uncover a shocking truth that challenges his understanding of trust, empathy, and the very nature of therapy itself.

SATURDAY at 7:00PM

End of the Day, Ep 1 by Adrienne Dawes, directed by Mack Finklea
Tud, Myleigh, and Lancelot are perhaps the only surviving contestants of a British reality dating show broadcast during a massive extinction event. Isolated from the outside world, they dance between denial and acceptance, searching for love and meaning in a pointless, absurd existence. Inspired by absurdist theatre, Sims 4, and Love Island UK, "End of the Day" is an eight-play cycle that examines the unique anxieties, uncertainties, and frustrations of trying to find love in the "coronial age."

SUNDAY at 12:00PM

The Final Séance of Madame LeFay by Chase Wheaton-Werle, directed by Eileen Tull
On October 31, 1896, for her last seance ever, Madame Allisandre LeFay would pull a feat more impossible than speaking to the dead. She summons the New York City's most ardent medium-defrauder Elton Rochester to the stage with this proposal: before the session is done, one would be converted or the other debunked.

SUNDAY at 3:30PM

HypergaMater by Marjorie Muller, directed by Ramona Rotten
"If you are doomed to mother him emotionally, he must father you financially." This is the motto of Alanna Aberdeen's protege program through which she teaches women the art of snagging geriatric billionaires to secure the lifestyle they deserve. However, when she chooses skeptic Robin Rigby to join her program, both women become disillusioned with the lives (and men) they've chosen and the world literally begins to crumble until they are forced to ask an age-old question. Is the grass really greener on the other side? Or, worse, is there no grass anywhere at all?

We hope you mark your calendars for the first weekend in August and join us in Waukegan to support these incredible playwrights and their new work!

GET TICKETS!

To post a comment, you must register and login.