GANGSTA BABY To Make American Premiere At Open Space Arts This Fall

Open Space Arts, in association with Emmy-winning Chicago producer G. Riley Mills and Kate Garassino (GB Productions), will co-produce the American premiere of GANGSTA BABY, a fearless new London drama by Cameron Raasdal-Munro. The production will run September 19 through October 5, 2025, at Open Space Arts, 1411 W. Wilson Avenue in Chicago.

A queer sex worker reflects on his childhood and the forces that shaped his life in this powerful play, which premiered at London’s Hope Theatre in January 2024. Directed by Rikki Beadle-Blair MBE, GANGSTA BABY will star its author Cameron Raasdal-Munro alongside a Chicago cast.

About the Play

Junior, a young sex worker in Hastings, England, confronts the return of his homophobic gangster father, who once placed him in an elite school to lift him into the middle class. As Junior recounts his upbringing—marked by poverty, classism, bullying, violence, and the guidance of his older trans stepbrother—he explores how these experiences defined him.

The play examines the oppression faced by marginalized communities through economic hardship, rigid gender roles, and internalized homophobia. After a staged reading at the King’s Head Theatre, GANGSTA BABY had a three-week run at The Hope Theatre, where it earned five-star reviews and Pink Prince Theatre’s awards for “Best Creative of the Year” and “Best Male Actor of the Year” for Raasdal-Munro.

The Chicago production will continue the tradition of London Pub Theatre, staged in Open Space Arts’ intimate 25-seat venue.

Cast and Creative Team

Alongside Raasdal-Munro as Junior, the Chicago cast will feature:

• Josh Odor (No Such Thing, Right Now, No Man’s Land) as Senior.

• Bryan Nicholas Carter (Kid Prince and Pablo) as Mitch.

• Jensen Knudson (Roosevelt University) as Pete, Junior’s transgender stepbrother.