The Comrades Announce 2018/19 Season

The Comrades are excited to announce their third season, with all performances taking place at the Greenhouse Theater Center located at 2257 N Lincoln Avenue in Chicago, where they are a resident company.

This fall will bring the Midwest premiere of Kenneth's Lin's WARRIOR CLASS to Chicago, running October 11 thru November 11, 2018. Directed by Comrades Artistic Associate Carol Ann Tan, WARRIOR CLASS is a political battle of race, romance, forgiveness, and debt.

2019 brings a fresh revival of Sarah Ruhl's DEAD MAN'S CELL PHONE, an imaginative comedy about how we memorialize the dead, to be directed by Arianna Soloway. DEAD MAN'S CELL PHONE will run February 7 thru March 10, 2019.

And the world premiere of ROAST by Harry Wood will play July 18 thru August 18, 2019, to be directed by Comrades Artistic Director Derek Bertelsen. ROAST, set in a funeral home, explores the deeply intertwined worlds of comedy and tragedy.

Tickets for all productions will go on sale at a later date. For more information about these shows and artists, please visit www.the-comrades.com.

The Midwest Premiere of

WARRIOR CLASS by Kenneth Lin

Directed by Carol Ann Tan

Greenhouse Theater Center

October 11 through November 11, 2018

About the show: When Assemblyman Julius Lee makes a bid for Congress, the ghosts of his college days come back to haunt him. Nothing reveals true colors like a sprint to the finish, when friends become enemies and allies can turn on a dime. Warrior Class is a political battle of race, romance, forgiveness, and debt. Award: TCG Edgerton New Play Prize

Kenneth Lin (Playwright) Plays include Warrior Class, Fallow, Intelligence-Slave, Po Boy Tango, said Said, Life on Paper, Agency* and Genius in Love. He is the creator of a new limited series, "American Way," for USA Networks and is a staff writer on Netflix's "House of Cards." Commissions: Ensemble Studio Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Club, South Coast Rep, Wilma Theater and Arena Stage. Education: Cornell University, Fulbright Scholarship, Yale School of Drama.

Carol Ann Tan (Director) is a Singapore-born, Chicago-based director, writer, and dramaturg. Her work focuses on issues surrounding race and immigration, particularly those involving the Asian diaspora. She is a 2017/18 Directors Inclusion Initiate with Victory Gardens, the resident dramaturg at Silk Road Rising, and an artistic associate with The Comrades. Directing/writing: Domestic Departure for the Director's Haven 2016 (Haven Theatre), Apartment Complex, Domestic Departure (University of Chicago). Domestic Departure was awarded second place for the 2015 Olga and Paul Menn Foundation Prize in playwriting. Assistant directing: Mies Julie (Victory Gardens), You for Me for You (Sideshow Theatre). Dramaturgy: Wild Boar (Silk Road Rising), Two Mile Hollow, peerless (First Floor Theater), In the Wake (The Comrades), and assisting on The Audience (TimeLine Theatre). www.carolanntan.com

DEAD MAN'S CELL PHONE by Sarah Ruhl

Directed by Arianna Soloway

Greenhouse Theater Center

February 7 through March 10, 2019

About the show: An incessantly ringing cell phone in a quiet café. A stranger at the next table who has had enough. And a dead man - with a lot of loose ends. So begins Dead Man's Cell Phone, a wildly imaginative comedy about how we memorialize the dead - and how that remembering changes us - it is the odyssey of a woman forced to confront her own assumptions about morality, redemption, and the need to connect in a technologically obsessed world. Awards: Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding New Play, Charles MacArthur Award for Outstanding Original New Play or Musical

Sarah Ruhl (Playwright) Plays include How to Transcend a Happy Marriage, For Peter Pan on her 70th Birthday, The Oldest Boy, In the Next Room, or the vibrator play, The Clean House, Orlando, Late: a cowboy song, Dear Elizabeth and Stage Kiss. She is a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist and a Tony Award nominee.. Her plays have been produced regionally all over the country and have also been produced internationally, and translated into over twelve languages. She has received the Steinberg Distinguished Playwright award, the Susan Smith Blackburn award, the Whiting award, the Lily Award, a PEN award for mid-career playwrights, and the MacArthur "genius" award.

Arianna Soloway (Director) Originally from Atlanta, GA, Arianna graduated from Columbia College Chicago in 2013 with a BFA in directing for theater. She recently directed a site-specific production of Pine by Jacqui Honess-Martin, Carrie & Francine with Haven Theatre Company, and Guardians at Mary Arrchie Theatre as well as short plays for the Women's Theatre Alliance, Bechdel Fest at Broken Nose Theatre, Paragon Play Festival at Otherworld Theatre Company, and Ripped: The Living Newspaper Festival at American Blues Theater. She assistant directed Linda at Steep Theatre, How to Use a Knife at Shattered Globe, Pillars of the Community at Strawdog, Roz and Ray at Victory Gardens, Red Handed Otter at A Red Orchid Theatre, A Small Fire at Steep Theatre, Seminar at Haven Theatre Company, and Intelligence at Arena Stage (Through the SDC observership program). Arianna serves as the Literary Manager at Route 66 Theatre and is an Associate Member of the SDC.

The World Premiere of

ROAST by Harry Wood

Directed by Derek Bertelsen

Greenhouse Theater Center

July 18 through August 18, 2019

About the show: Roast follows the friends and family of Sam, a talented young comedian who took his own life, as they fulfill his last request: to hold a roast of him instead of a traditional funeral. As each of the roasters has their turn on stage, they reflect on who Sam was, and what he meant to them. Throughout, the play asks an important question: when a loved one is lost, how does the world change in their absence? Roast by Harry Wood explores the deeply intertwined worlds of comedy and tragedy, humor and grief.

Harry Wood (Playwright) is a writer and comedian from New York City. He studied at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, where he focused in acting, playwriting, and creative writing for the media. His first play Roast makes its production debut with The Comrades, after readings through (re)discover theatre's F(re)sh Ink Festival, and Jewish Theatre Ensemble's Night of New Works. He can be seen performing in New York with the Story Pirates, a children's theatre group. He'd like to thank Laura Schellhardt and the 2016 Northwestern Playwriting Sequence for all their help bringing Roast to life. His first open mics were in Boston, but he'd like to once again remind his mom that this play is not about him, and he's doing okay, he promises.

Derek Bertelsen (Director) is Artistic Director of The Comrades and Associate Artistic Director for AstonRep Theatre Company. Chicago directing credits include Mary-Kate Olsen Is In Love, Prelude To A Kiss (The Comrades), Design for Living, The Children's Hour, The Lyons, The Laramie Project, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, Wit, Doubt, and Next Fall (AstonRep Theatre). Assistant directing credits include Goodman, Bailiwick Chicago, and Steppenwolf Garage. Regional credits include shows at Festival 56 (Princeton, IL), Shawnee Summer Theatre (Bloomfield, IN) and five seasons at Timber Lake Playhouse (Mt. Carroll, IL).

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