Prop Thtr Announces 2022-23 Season Featuring THE CLEAN-UP, PANTHER WOMEN: AN ARMY FOR THE LIBERATION & More

Prop Thtr, Chicago's longest established off-loop theatre company, today announced its 2022-23 season, which will be its 41st. With two world premieres, workshops and residencies, and participation in festivals, the upcoming season will feature programming across Chicago.

In October 2022, Hallie Palladino's THE CLEAN-UP will make its world premiere at the Athenaeum. Commissioned and developed in Prop Thtr's 2021 Play Development Lab, THE CLEAN-UP is radical in its honest depiction of the invisible work of parenting. A story of love, friendship, and the messes we make in their pursuit, this stealthy-substantive comedy delivers a stirring indictment of America's hidden-in-plain-sight childcare crisis. THE CLEAN-UP runs October 21 - November 19, 2022, with previews October 13, 14, 15, 16, and 20. Tickets go on sale at www.athenaeumcenter.org in July.

In early 2023, the season continues with the National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere of PANTHER WOMEN: AN ARMY FOR THE LIBERATION by India Nicole Burton, in co-production with South Shore-based Perceptions Theatre. A devised choreopoem, PANTHER WOMEN focuses on the Black women who shaped the history of the Black Panther Party including Angela Davis, Assada Shakur and Elaine Brown. Perceptions Theatre Artistic Director Myesha-Tiara directs, with Prop Thtr Artistic Director Olivia Lilley as lead producer.

Throughout the season, Prop Thtr offers two development programs to Chicago's artistic community. Writers Aloud is a free writers meeting where artists gather monthly to share works-in-progress and give notes. The Nest is a four-month residency designed to provide funding to emerging or interdisciplinary artists focused on experimental work.

Prop Thtr also continues its participation in Chicago's longest-running new works festival, The Rhinoceros Theater Festival, having recently co-produced the month-long HINT OF RHINO: Rhinofest 2022 at multiple live venues throughout Chicago.

THE CLEAN-UP

Playwright: Hallie Palladino
Director: Jen Poulin
Previews start Oct. 13; Opening Oct. 21
Shows Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays 7:30 p.m.; Sundays 3 p.m.
Seeking community post-quarantine, Nicole enrolls her toddler at The Learning Co-Op, a parent-run DIY preschool, where she's assigned to Sunday night clean-up crew. There she meets Logan, a swoon-worthy superdad. To get closer she becomes the school's star volunteer, causing the burnt-out founders to tap her as their replacement. THE CLEAN-UP is a tale of love, friendship, and the messes we make in their pursuit.
Tickets on sale July 2022

PANTHER WOMEN: AN ARMY FOR THE LIBERATION

A co-production between Prop Thtr and Perceptions Theatre
A National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere™
Playwright: India Nicole Burton
Director: Myesha-Tiara
Opening early 2023
PANTHER WOMEN: AN ARMY FOR THE LIBERATION weaves together the stories of Angela Davis, Assata Shakur, and Elaine Brown, in a captivating retelling of the history of the Black Panther Party highlighting the essential role that women played in the 60s and 70s Black Liberation movement. A high-energy choreopoem, PANTHER WOMEN is devised in the theatrical tradition of Ntozake Shange's "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf."
Tickets on sale Winter 2023

ABOUT PROP THTR

Prop Thtr strives to redefine what theater is in the 21st century. We produce and incubate new work, including plays, devised work, director-driven reimagined classics, adaptations, and other alternative forms of storytelling. Prop works with makers of all ages, races, gender identities, and backgrounds. In the spirit of Chicago storefront theater, Prop is continuously committed to fostering companies who create original work for diverse and inclusives spaces. Prop Thtr is a charter core member of the National New Play Network. Learn more at www.propthtr.org.

ABOUT PERCEPTIONS THEATRE

Perceptions Theatre strives to change the way people perceive the world around them one show at a time by shining light on underserved communities. Our mission is to eliminate prejudice and discrimination, educate audiences on the cultures our work illuminates, lessens neighborhood tensions, and defend human and civil rights. Perceptions also functions as an educational and literary training ground in particular for Black artists in the Chicagoland area, specifically the South Shore region. We provide training for actors and technicians, self-taping services, headshot and resume services. And we're committed to casting workshops and productions from within the community of artists we serve. Perceptions brings live theater to underserved communities around Chicago through schools and partner organizations. Learn more at www.perceptionstheatre.org.

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