Broken Nose Theatre Announces HUMAN TERRAIN Cast

Broken Nose Theatre (BNT) continues their first season as a Pay-What-You-Can organization with the Chicago Premiere of HUMAN TERRAIN, written by recent PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation Award winner Jennifer Blackmer and directed by BNT Artistic Director Benjamin Brownson. Performance will June 10 - July 9 at Voice of the City, 3429 W. Diversey Ave. Press Opening is Monday, June 13 at 7:00pm. All tickets are Pay-What-You-Can, available now at https://dime.io/events/human-terrain.

HUMAN TERRAIN tells the story of an anthropologist who finds herself enmeshed in a complex thicket of duty, compassion and conflicting loyalties while working alongside the American military in Iraq. The play was a finalist in the Yale Drama Competition, a semi-finalist for the Princess Grace Award, and a finalist for the O'Neill National Playwrights' Conference. In awarding Blackmer the 2015 PEN Award for Emerging American Playwright, judges called the play "bracing and unpredictable, darkly funny at times and unlike anything else on this thorny subject," naming the playwright herself as an artist who is "doing work that matters." Most recently, Blackmer received a grant from the Tribeca Film Institute to begin adapting the play for the screen.

"We are thrilled to bring Jennifer's work to Chicago audiences for the first time, and couldn't ask for a better introduction to her writing than this lovely and urgent play," says BNT Artistic Director Benjamin Brownson. "The script is wrestling with some important and timely questions around issues like loyalty, religion, friendship, war, culture, and the struggle to connect with people across the gaps that too often divide us. There are no simple answers; instead, the show challenges us to embrace the complexities and live in the questions."

The production will feature Kim Boler as Mabry, the aforementioned anthropologist, in a cast that includes Robert Koon (Alford), Shozzett Silva (Adiliah), Jessamyn Fitzpatrick (Kate), Martin Hanna (Kemal), Matt Singleton (Detty) and Evan Sesek (Harrison).

The production team for HUMAN TERRAIN includes: Benjamin Brownson* (Director/Producer), Julie Leghorn (Stage Manager), Caitlin Boylan^ (Production Manager), Gabrielle Magness (Assistant Production Manager), Laura Baker (Associate Director/Associate Producer) Iris Sowlat (Assistant Director/Dramaturg), David Weiss* (Dramaturg), Claire Sangster (Lighting Designer), Devon Green (Props Designer), Moriah Lee Turner (Costume Designer), Mike Sanow (Technical Director), Elise Spoerlein* (Associate Producer), and Spenser Davis* (Associate Producer).

Broken Nose Theatre is one of Chicago's first Pay-What-You-Can storefront theatre companies. We cultivate empathy and spark conversation by engaging our community through new works and Chicago premieres that interrogate the status quo and provide opportunities for underrepresented voices and a diverse array of artists. For more information, please visit www.brokennosetheatre.com.

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