YOU'RE A WEIRDO, ANNIE BEST to Premiere at Fresh Fruit Festival

Erin Shay Brady's clever comedy, "You're a Weirdo, Annie Best" premieres at the Fresh Fruit Festival, exploring the life of a queer, polyamorous writer in Chicago peppered with a whiff of Nora Ephron.

Annie Best is a writer living in Chicago. She is queer, polyamorous, recently estranged from her family and at a creative standstill. When one of Annie's partners convinces her to dive into the world of Nora Ephron's great romantic comedies, Annie begins to see her life through the Ephron lens. Annie imagines scenes and conversations, paying homage to When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle and Julie & Julia, among others, as she sits with the beauty and discomfort of the life she has chosen. Along the way, as seasons pass, romantic relationships develop and change with faith and family coming into question. At the end of the play, Annie reconnects with her father, finally finding the courage to stand on her own.

Erin Shea Brady is a writer, director and social worker living in Chicago, IL. As a playwright, Erin has developed two plays (Revival and Chaos Theory, or something about butterflies) with the Jackalope Playwrights Lab. Directing credits include: Grace, or the Art of Climbing and Everybody (Brown Paper Box Co.); Cabaret; Annapurna (staged reading) and The Rise and Fall of Little Voice (No Stakes Theater Project). Assistant Directing and Dramaturgy credits include productions at the Goodman, Jackalope, TimeLine, A Red Orchid, Northlight, and Remy Bumppo. Erin is a graduate of the directing program at Columbia College Chicago, has participated in the internship program at Steppenwolf and was part of Goodman's "Criticism in a Changing America" bootcamp. Erin has been a company member with Brown Paper Box Co. and The Wampus Cat Collective, is a contributing writer and critic at Newcity Stage, and is a practicing therapist with a Masters in Social Work from Loyola University. They are currently pursuing a Masters in Extension Studies with an emphasis on Creative Writing and Literature at Harvard University.

"You're a Weirdo, Annie Best" by Erin Shea Brady

Produced by Juliet Roll in association with the Fresh Fruit Festival.
Covid Compliance overseen by Leah Ableson

Friday 5/6 at 6:30 pm
Sunday 5/8 at 5:30 pm
Monday 5/9 at 8:15 pm

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