Refracted Theatre Company Announces Inaugural Chicago Season

Refracted Theatre Company has announced its inaugural Chicago season, featuring a launch event, a world premiere production and a new play development initiative. Refracted is dedicated to curating experiences where curiosity is rewarded with the unexpected, and an open heart is met with a colorful display of what it means to be human.

Refracted's 2022 season kicks off this summer with the company's official launch party, the Refracted Salon, on Thursday, July 14, 2022 from 6:30 - 9:30 pm at Guild Row, 3130 N. Rockwell St. Meet the company leadership and learn how to become involved at this free event inspired by the "salons" of eighteenth-century France. Mix and mingle while enjoying a festive evening of entertainment, food and drink! Registration is currently open at refractedco.com/season-2022/salon.

This fall, Refracted presents its debut Chicago production: the world premiere of Andrew Kramer's dark comedy St. Sebastian, directed by Artistic Director Graham Miller. This three-hander about a queer white couple that moves into a historically Black neighborhood will be presented at The Den Theatre (2B), 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood. Tickets will go on sale in July 2022 at thedentheatre.com.

The company is also pleased to launch its inaugural RefrAction Lab, an eight-month playwriting initiative for emerging Chicago playwrights to create full-length plays through a "Refracted" lens. As part of the development process, The lab includes a two-night public showcase in December 2022. Refracted is currently accepting applications through May 2, 2022 at refractedco.com/refraction-lab.

Refracted Artistic Director Tova Wolff comments, "When we launched Refracted in the fall of 2019 in New York City, we looked at a polarized, divided social-political landscape and thought, 'How can we make theatre that rewards curiosity? How can we create an audience experience that allows people who don't agree to start talking to each other again?' Cut to 2020, and the theatre industry comes to a screeching halt. Through sheer will and innovation, Refracted continued to produce live, safety-driven theatrical experiences throughout the pandemic, shows that upended our audience's expectations of how theatre works and feels. Now, we are honored to join Chicago's artist-driven theatre community, a community which will undoubtedly foster the growth and impact of Refracted Theatre Company. Our team feels strongly that Refracted's mission of using the theatre as a prism through which to reveal the complexity of the human experience is one that Chicago communities need in order to pave a way forward together."

Refracted Artistic Director and Director of St. Sebastian Graham Miller adds, "I am grateful for the opportunity to continue developing Andrew Kramer's play, St. Sebastian, and share it with our new Chicago audience. This play does not let up on the gas from start to finish. Tova and I have talked a lot about how, because of the pandemic, we've spent the last few years 'refracting' form, inventing unique ways to experience theatre. In this play, we are leaning heavily into Refracted content. We intend to offer a thrilling, heart-pumping theatre experience with an intriguing (and at times, hilarious) entry point for some of the most difficult, divisive conversations people are having with the people closest to them."

Refracted Theatre Company's 2022 Season includes:

Refracted Salon

Thursday, July 14, 2022 from 6:30 - 9:30 pm

Guild Row, 3130 N. Rockwell St., Chicago

Tickets: Free. Registration and proof of vaccination required. For additional information, visit refractedco.com/season-2022/salon.

The Refracted Salon is Refracted Theatre Company's launch event and an invitation to become a part of the Refracted Family. The Salon is a one-night event inspired by the "salons" of eighteenth-century France, where intellectuals would discuss revolutionary ideas of the day, and young artists would seek patronage and prominence at an annual artistic exhibition.

The Refracted Salon flips these stodgy, uptight, French historical events into a killer evening that promises a panoply of stellar performances, rowdy debate, food/beverage and delightful debauchery. Hosted by Artistic Directors Graham Miller and Tova Wolff, all Chicagoans are called to come meet the new company in town.

September 15 - October 2, 2022

St. Sebastian - World Premiere!

By Andrew Kramer

Directed by Artistic Director Graham Miller

The Den Theatre (2B), 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago

Press opening: Friday, September 16 at 8 pm

St. Sebastian is Refracted Theatre company's Chicago debut production. The play is a dark comedy with a disturbing edge. Ben convinces his much younger boyfriend Gideon to move out of their apartment in the city to flip a house... but he leaves out that the new house is in a historically (and currently) Black neighborhood. When Ben befriends and employs a local neighborhood kid named Reuben, the blurry line between ignorance, activism and fear lays bare how perniciously racism hides just beyond the face of "wokeness." After five years of development on St. Sebastian, Playwright Andrew Kramer (Armature), whose plays have been seen across the country and internationally, will work with a team of Refracted artists to deliver his beautiful, complex work on stage, fully produced for the first time.

June 2022 - February 2023

RefrAction Lab

RefrAction Lab is a playwriting lab for emerging Chicago playwrights interested in developing plays by way of a specific point of entry as the writer. We're asking: how can a playwright turn a question into the action of a play?

Playwrights will generate questions that look at divisive social, political, historical and interpersonal issues from multiple sides. Over the course of eight months of bi-monthly meetings with a cohort of fellow playwrights and the Refracted artistic team, playwrights will:

• curate these questions
• research the "two sides" of the story, identifying prevailing biases on all sides of the issue
• use this research to create characters and plot
• generate and workshop pages of their script
• and ultimately, present their work at a RefrAction Lab showcase

The goal of this program is to support playwrights in creating a strong first draft of a full-length play (with the option of that being a one-act play) generated from scratch by the final RefrAction Lab meeting in February 2023.

About the Artists & Leadership

Andrew Kramer (Playwright, St. Sebastian, He/His/Him) is a queer playwright from Cleveland, OH. He is a graduate of Ball State University's Department of Theatre & Dance and a proud alumni of the Emerging Writer's Group at The Public Theatre. His plays have been developed through the Downstage Left Playwriting Residency at Stage Left Theatre in Chicago, The Nord Playwriting Fellowship at Cleveland Public Theatre, the Groundbreakers Playwrights' Group with the terraNOVA Theatre Collective, the SigWorks Musical Theatre Lab with Signature Theatre, the Ingram New Works Lab at Nashville Repertory Theatre and the Core Apprentice Writer Program at The Playwrights Center. His work has been seen in Cleveland, Indianapolis, Chicago, Brooklyn, Kansas City, Lincoln, Louisville, Nashville, Houston, Williamsburg VA, New York City, Sacramento, Washington, D.C, Ft. Lauderdale, Cairns Australia and Bucharest Romania.

Graham Miller (Artistic Director, Director, St. Sebastian, He/His/Him) is a theatre director, producer and the co-founder and co-artistic director of Refracted Theatre Company. He is particularly interested in non-linear storytelling, solo-performance, docudrama, queer theatre, dramaturgically-meticulous musical theatre and any work that exposes the gray in the black and white. Directing credits include: Homeless Garden (co-developer with Matt Minnicino for Refracted), Be a Good Little Widow (Refracted), I Am My Own Wife (Out Front Theatre Co., starring Peter Smith), The Dark by Serena Berman (Samuel French OOB Festival Finalist at The Vineyard Theater), Fostered Love by Claire-Frances Sullivan (TACT Studios), Heavy is the Head...Or Why We Bow by J.S. Hinds (Amoralists 'Wright Night at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater), as well as pieces for SHOTZ! for AMIOS (The Kraine Theater) and Serials for The Bats (The Flea). Graham has also directed multiple cabarets/solo pieces at such venues as Green Room 42, Don't Tell Mama, The Duplex and The Tank. Assistant/associate work includes projects with directors such as Michael Arden (Roundabout), Trip Cullman (Powerhouse/NYSAF), Michael Rader (Cape Playhouse) and Zi Alikhan (BASiC Theatre Project.) Graham is an MTC Directing Fellow 2018/19, SDCF Observership Recipient 2018, and 2017 alumnus of The Director's Lab Chicago.

Tova Wolff (Artistic Director, She/Her/Hers) is a director and producer working in Chicago. Select directing credits include: The King's Speech (Associate Director, National Tour & Chicago Shakespeare Theater), Monica: This Play Is Not About Monica Lewinsky (59E59 Theaters & Edinburgh Fringe Festival), A Bad Night (The Frontier), Fade (Assistant Director, Victory Gardens), Bachelorette (Walkerspace/Soho Rep.), Security! (Secret Theater) and Still Rising (The Tank). In 2016, Tova won Best Director in the Midtown International Theatre Festival for her production of Between Men. She was a participant in the Chicago Director's Lab in 2017 and a 2017/2018 Directing Fellow at Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago. Refracted was born out of Tova's desire to tell the unseen side of the story. She embraces nuance and complexity of thought in all of her work. With RTC, Tova aims to build a creative, theatrical home for the passionate pursuit of inclusivity, empathy and community. www.tovawolff.com

About Refracted Theatre Company

Refracted's mission is to disrupt socially accepted narratives by telling the "other side of the story." By upending audience expectations through innovation and adaptation, Refracted inspires meaningful discourse centered on empathy and humanity.

Refracted is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that was founded in 2019 in New York City by Graham Miller and Tova Wolff. As a two-year old company, Refracted is proud to have been one of the only theaters in the country that produced two full seasons of live theatre during the pandemic, harnessing its powers of creativity and innovation. Now in its third season in its new home of Chicago, Refracted invites you to get involved as it redefines what theatre can be in order to build a world fueled by curiosity and compassion. Please visit www.refractedco.com for more information and follow Refracted on social media @refractedco.

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