Broken Nose Theatre to Open Second Season with Bechdel Fest, FROM WHITE PLAINS

Broken Nose Theatre (BNT) follows up their inaugural season (featuring ROOMS: a rock romance, the 'surprise hit of the summer" (Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun Times) with their 2013-2014 season built on the theme of "Lessons: the things we've learned."

"Sophomore seasons are all about next steps," says BNT Artistic Director Benjamin Brownson. "They're about taking the things we learned in our first year and figuring out how to apply them to continue growing and moving forward. We are constantly discovering who we are, what paths we're interested in pursuing, and where we fit in the larger Chicago theatre community."

Kicking off the season will be the December debut of Bechdel Fest, a two-week festival of nine short plays performed by a diverse ensemble of actresses. Borrowing its name from the Bechdel Test, a cultural rubric used to highlight gender disparity in film and theatre, the festival will feature an all-female cast in plays predominantly written and directed by women.

"I don't think it's news to anyone that women are still underrepresented in theatre, both onstage and off," says Brownson. "We wanted to produce a theatrical event that would create more opportunities for our community's incredibly talented and underutilized female actors, playwrights, and directors to practice and hone their crafts."

Bechdel Fest will run two weeks, Mondays - Wednesdays, December 9th-11th and 16th-18th at 7:00 PM at the Greenhouse Theatre Center, 2257 North Lincoln Ave. Tickets are $15 and are available online at www.greenhousetheater.org or by calling 773.404.7336.

BNT is also thrilled to announce the Chicago Premiere of From White Plains, a sharp, relevant, and empathetic drama about bullying, vengeance, and the consequences of taking it all too far. Written by Michael Perlman - in collaboration with Aaron Rossini, Craig Wesley Divino, Karl Gregory, and Jimmy King, the actors in the original production - the play had a successful New York run and went on to receive the GLAAD Award for Best New Off-Off Broadway Play.

"I am so excited to bring this incredible and important play to Chicago for the first time," says Brownson. "It's one of those rare scripts that calls attention to a complex and timely cultural issue without beating its audience over the head with an agenda. It asks some tough questions without providing all the answers, it presents a variety of perspectives without painting an easy scapegoat, and, hopefully, it will leave audiences talking and feeling empowered to affect change."

Directed by BNT Company Member Spenser Davis, From White Plains will run January 24th - Ferbuary 25th, 2014 at the Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 North Lincoln Ave. Look for the complete announcement with entire cast and production team to follow at a later date.

The directors, playwrights, and production team for Bechdel Fest are listed below:
DIRECTORS: Jenn Adams, Erica Barns, Dani Bryant, Michael Carnow, Juan Castaneda, Mary Rose O'Connor, Leslie Ruettiger*, Cassy Sanders, Arianna Soloway, Helen Young.

PLAYWRIGHTS: Erica Barns, Benjamin Brownson*, Dani Bryant, Sydney Davis, Sarah Illiatovich-Goldman, Robert Koon, Rohina Malik, Chelsea Marcantel, Mia McCullough, Carla Stillwell

PRODUCTION TEAM: Benjamin Brownson* (Producer/Curator), Spenser Davis* (Producer), Elise Spoerlein (Producer), David Weiss* (Festival Dramaturg/Curator), Ivy Reid (Production Coordinator), Patsy Radford (Production Stage Manager), Danielle Case (Props Designer).

*Asterisks denote Broken Nose company members.