Redtwist Theatre Reveals Headliner & Plays In Inaugural New Work Incubator - TWISTED PLAYFEST

Redtwist Theatre has revealed the roster of plays for its inaugural Twisted Playfest, December 17 - 22, and the cast and creative team for the headlining production in Twisted Playfest, The Totality of Things, written by Eric Gernand and directed by Enrico Spada, December 5, 2024 - January, 19, 2025, at Redtwist Theatre. Complete schedule and additional details are below. The Totality of All Things single tickets and Twisted Playfest reservations will be available on Monday, Nov. 18 at RedtwistTheatre.org with discounts available for seniors, students and industry professionals and pay-what-you-can for all Friday performances of The Totality of All Things. 

Redtwist's inaugural new work incubator, Twisted Playfest features six plays at various stages of development. The plays are presented as staged readings, stand readings and a main stage production of Eric Gernand's The Totality of All Things. In addition to inclusion in Twisted Playfest, Redtwist supports its festival playwrights throughout the new year with additional readings and workshops.

“We look forward to the launch of the first Twisted Playfest at our newly renovated Redtwist Theatre,” said Co-Artistic Director Dusty Brown. “This new festival - six plays, 10 days, 20 performances, all Chicago - will introduce plays from Chicago playwrights and offer audiences a rare opportunity to see these new works.”

“The Twisted Playfest is the first step in these new plays’ incubation,” said Co-Artistic Director Eileen Dixon. “From our headliner The Totality of All Things to the staged readings to the stand readings, the inaugural roster of plays represents a wide variety of styles, ideas and themes. Redtwist is introducing this new work so that the playwrights may hear from audiences and contemporaries to continue the works’ development.”

The 2024 Twisted Playfest includes:

TWISTED PLAYFEST HEADLINER

The Totality of All Things
Headliner of the Twisted Playfest
December 5 - January 19, 2025
Written by Eric Gernand 
Directed by Enrico Spada
Previews: Thursday, Dec.5 and Friday, Dec. 6 at 7:30 p.m. 
Press Opening: Saturday, Dec. 7 at 7:30 p.m.
Performance Schedule: 
Previews: Thursday, Dec.5 and Friday, Dec. 6 at 7:30 p.m.
Performances: Sunday, Dec. 8 at 3:30 p.m. 
Thursday, Dec. 12 - Saturday, Dec. 14 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 15 at 3:30 p.m.
Thursday, Dec. 19 and Saturday, Dec. 21 at 8 p.m.
Thursday, Jan. 9 and Friday, Jan. 10 at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 11 at 3:30 and 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Jan. 12 at 3:30 p.m.
Thursday, Jan. 16 and Friday, Jan. 17 at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 18 at 3:30 and 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Jan. 19 at 3:30 p.m.
 

The centerpiece of Redtwist's inaugural Twisted Playfest is The Totality of All Things. The Totality of All Things introduces audiences to Judith Benson, “teacher-famous” for the award-winning student newspaper she proudly oversees at her small Indiana high school, a program that extols truth and integrity in journalism. At the start of a new school year, an anti-gay hate crime occurs calling everything Judith believes about inspiring the next generation of reporters and the definition of truth itself into question.

The cast of Totality of All Things is Redtwist Ensemble Member Jacqueline Grandt (she/her, Judith); Suzy Krueckeberg (she/her, DeeAnn); Philip Matthews (he/him, Gregg); Kason Chesky (he/him, Micah); Aundria TreNay (she/her, Ms. Carter); Phil Aman (he/him, Principal Benson); Hilary Sanzel (she/her, Judith understudy); Michelle Perry (she/her, DeeAnn understudy); Nate Brimner Smith (he/him, Gregg understudy); Zachary Cutter (he/him, Micah understudy); Andi Muriel (she/her, Ms. Carter understudy) and Hugo Balta (he/him,  Principal Benson understudy). 

The Production Team for Totality of All Things is Erik Gernand (he/him, playwright); Enrico Spada (he/him, director); Taylor Mercado Owen (he/him, stage manager); Emily Newmark (she/her, assistant director); Madeline Felauer (she/her, Costume Designer); Redtwist Ensemble Member Jeff Brain (he/him, props designer and technical director); Camille Pugliese (she/her, dramaturg); Nicholas Svoboda (he/him, sound designer); Brandii Champagne (they/them, scenic designer); Raine DeDominici (they/them/she/her, production manager) and Cat Davis (she/her/they/them, lighting designer). 

TWISTED PLAYFEST STAGED READINGS

Fiona
Written by Zack Peercy
Directed by Jessica Love   
Performance schedule: Tuesday, Dec. 17 at 8 p.m. and Saturday, Dec. 21 at 4 p.m.
Tickets: Pay-What-You-Can

Fiona is the performance of a lifetime. What starts as an examination of 25 letters all addressed to an unknown "Fiona" rapidly evolves, expands, contracts and explodes into an exploration of belief, reality, presentation and legacy.

Man Cave
Written by Caroline Kidwell
Directed by Co-Artistic Director Eileen Dixon   
Performance schedule: Friday, Dec. 20 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 22 at 3 p.m.
Tickets: Pay-What-You-Can

Guess what? The world ended. And Hannah, a lifestyle vlogger, has been living alone in a bunker for five years. She’s an influencer with no one to influence until Wanda, a survivor, knocks on her door.

Keep It Light
Written by Toby Inoue
Directed by LeKecia Harris 
Performance schedule: 
Tickets: Wednesday, Dec. 18 at 8 p.m. and Saturday, Dec. 21 at 12 p.m.
Pay-What-You-Can  

To find their way back to each other, two mixed-race half-sisters are forced to grapple with the complicated ways in which their mother's racism broke them apart. Winnie, half African-American, is a famous but canceled celebrity stand-up comedian and Tomi, half Asian-American, is an elementary school art teacher who stayed in their hometown. Tomi calls Winnie home when their mother becomes seriously ill and the sisters sort their mother's house as they accommodate her last wishes, including a comeback show for Winnie and a hospital wedding for Tomi.

TWISTED PLAYFEST STAND READINGS

You Sit Down and You Cry
Written by Ruben Carrazana
Directed by Joshua Servantez
Performance schedule: Thursday, Dec. 19 at 10 p.m and Sunday, Dec. 22 at 1 p.m.
Tickets: Pay-What-You-Can  

The play is about a break-up. A really bad break-up. Like the worst. And about time. And how time heals. And how, sometimes, it doesn't. A play about moving on. And not moving on. An anti-romantic comedy about toxic masculinity and pain and suicide and pizza rolls and the United States Postal Service. A love letter to getting your heart crushed, because sometimes, you deserve it.

Murder in Residence
Written by MT Cozzola
Directed by Hannah Blau
Performance schedule: Friday, Dec. 20 at 5:30 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 22 at 5 p.m.
Tickets: Pay-What-You-Can 

When a brilliant young poet disappears from an artist’s colony, her fellow writers weave alibis to shield their secrets from an unseen inspector who digs relentlessly for the truth. In a secluded mountain retreat, six ambitious women come together to write their masterpieces but switch to alibis when brilliant young Kenna meets a mysterious demise. As they struggle to shield their secrets, a relentless inspector digs for the truth. Everyone is lying - Kenna’s lover Mandy, rival Fern, would-be bestie Lynette…even the kindly cabbie who saw her last. In a race against time to unmask the killer, each must confront their deepest desires and wrestle with the bonds of love, art and community.

Deserted
Written by Melanie Coffey
Directed by Co-Artistic Director Dusty Brown
Performance schedule: Tuesday, Dec. 17 at 5:30 p.m. and Saturday, Dec. 21 at 2 p.m.
Tickets: Pay-What-You-Can 

Jodie and Emma are the lucky winners of the Project's Soil competition, where they receive a truckload of soil and are to garden it with prairie grasses, native flowers and the vegetables of their choosing. But their well is drying up, the Neighbor keeps sneaking over and eating the soil and the couple is becoming less and less the good team they thought they were. Putting roots down in desertified land is never easy.

Following
Written by Ben F. Locke
Directed by Devin Christor
Performance schedule: Wednesday, Dec. 19 at 8 p.m., and Saturday, Dec. 21 at 10 a.m.
Tickets: Pay-What-You-Can 

Darnell is an up and coming app designer. His popularity attracts a lot of fame and attention. It all seems great until he finds out that he's being stalked. Can Darnell solve the mystery before it's too late? Following explores what exactly it means to be an ally. Do we do what we do because it's the right thing to do or do we all have our own selfish motives that dictate what we deem as what's right and wrong?

Strange Fruit
Written by Brandon Wright
Directed by Rashaad A. Bond
Performance schedule: Friday, Dec. 20 at 10 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 22 at 11 a.m.
Tickets: Pay-What-You-Can 

In quiet suburbia, a group of five come across the body of a black boy hanging from a tree. They take it upon themselves to figure out whodunit, but as they explore the nature of this violent hate crime true secrets start to become uncovered within themselves.

Short Changed
Written by Jordan Gleaves
Directed by Aja Singetary 
Performance schedule: Wednesday, Dec. 18 at 5:30 p.m. and Saturday, Dec. 21 at 10 p.m.
Tickets: Pay-What-You-Can 

Stan is homeless in the West End neighborhood of Atlanta and estranged from his brother. To make matters worse, Stan is about to lose his beloved “Mother,” Friendship Baptist Church, which is to be demolished and replaced by a new football stadium for the Atlanta Falcons. In the midst of the neighborhood’s rapid gentrification, Richard returns into Stan’s life with hopes of helping his younger brother get a leg up out of homelessness and avoid displacement. First, however, they must work to amend their relationship and work past moral differences. Is reconciliation possible and how much will it matter when the community around the brothers is changing with or without their participation?

Stage managers for Twisted Playfest are Marisa Langston (she/her), Eliot Colin (they/them/he/him) and Charlie Levinson (they/them/she/her). Productions, participants and dates are subject to change.

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