Jackalope Theatre Announces CIRCLE UP!

Jackalope Theatre Company in collaboration with the Chicago Inclusion Project presents CIRCLE UP!, a collection of new play readings fresh to Chicago. Set in JTC's Frontier venue at 1106 W Thorndale, CIRCLE UP! is dedicated to amplifying diverse stories of scope and providing safe harbor for evolving work. Each reading includes a post-show discussion, encouraging our audience to share and engage with the play over drinks and light fare. Bring your friends, bring your enemies, arrive with interest, leave with questions...

Admission is Free (although donations are accepted). Reservations are recommended, as seating is limited.. Please email Jackalope@jackalopetheatre.org to reserve seats.

Unable to attend? We'll be following each live reading with a CIRCLE UP! Podcast episode, spotlighting our featured playwright through interview and selected excerpts. Episodes will be found on Apple Podcasts and Google Play.

November 13th @ 7:00 pm
Good Bad People by Rachel Lynett Directed by: Cameron Knight

June returns home in an attempt to make amends with her family, after her brother, Amiri, is shot by a police officer. But when her family refuses to make a statement and her personal beliefs are questioned, suddenly June is forced into the spotlight and must decide which is more important: family reconciliation or standing up for her brother's life.

March 13th @ 7:00 pm

PerKup Elkhorn by Isaac Gomez Directed by: Vanessa Stalling

It's just another day at PerKup Elkhorn, the hottest local coffee shop in Elkhorn, Wisconsin, where happiness is sold per the cupful. Lori and Vicki gab about the latest town gossip, Jeff and Eric argue about the latest sports news, and the new cold brew is selling like hot cakes. But when newcomer, Pedro, stops by the shop to borrow WiFi for work, a collision of differences leaves irreparable damage. PerKup Elkhorn is an experiment on assessing how far we will go to protect the ones we love.

May 7th @ 7pm

Red Bike by Caridad Svich Directed by: Lisa Portes

What kind of future will you have living in these here United States?

Remember when you were eleven years old and you had a bike, one that made you dream about a world bigger than the one in which you live? This is that memory. Except it is now.

CIRCLE UP! Playwrights:

Rachel Lynett is an MFA Arkansas-based playwright and theatre artist. Her recent playwriting credits include Well-Intentioned White People (2017 Downstage Left Residency with Stage Left, Orlando Shakespeare New Play Festival, 2017 Kilroys honorable mention) and Abortion Road Trip (semifinalist for the 2017 Bridge Initiative, workshop production by Theatre Prometheus as part of Capital Fringe & best Comedy winner). Her play, Abortion Road Trip, presented by Theatre Prometheus, was also a part of the 2017 Kennedy Center Page to Stage Festival. Other recent credits include Choosing You as part of the CulturalDC 2016 Source Festival and Breathe Me In (O'Neill Playwright's Conference 2016 semi-finalist and Kernodle Play Award finalist (2016)). She currently works as the company manager at Arts Center of the Ozarks and is an AIE rostered teaching artist through Arkansas Arts Council.

Isaac Gomez is a Chicago-based playwright, dramaturg and educator. His plays include La Ruta (developed at Primary Stages, Steppenwolf Theater Company, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Goodman Theatre, and Pivot Arts); Wally World (Sideshow Theater Company Commission); PerKup Elkhorn (developed at Northlight Theatre and Chicago Dramatists); The Way She Spoke: A docu-mythologia (WP: Greenhouse Theater Center, 2016); The Displaced (WP: Haven Theatre, 2018); Throwaway Kids (Cunningham Commission for Youth Theatre -- The Theatre School at DePaul University); The Soul of the World (Actors Theatre of Louisville Acting Apprentice New Play Commission). He is a recipient of the Jeffry Melnick New Playwright Award at Primary Stages, a member of the 2017-18 Goodman Theatre's Playwrights Unit, the Co-Creative Director at the Alliance of Latinx Theatre, a Resident Playwright at Chicago Dramatists, an Artistic Associate with Victory Gardens Theater, Ensemble Member with Teatro Vista, Artistic Associate with Pivot Arts, Artistic Curator for Theater on the Lake 2017/2018, a steering committee member of the Latinx Theatre Commons (LTC) and an artistic community member at The Hypocrites in Chicago. He is a Professional Lecturer at The Theatre School at DePaul University.

Caridad Svich received the 2012 OBIE for Lifetime Achievement. She also received an NNPN Continued Life Fund rolling world premiere and a 2012 Edgerton Foundation New Play Award for her play GUAPA, 2011 American Theatre Critics Association Primus Prize for THE HOUSE OF THE SPIRITS (based on Isabel Allende's novel), and has twice won the National Latino Playwriting Award, including in the year 2013. Her play SPARK received world premiere at Theater Alliance in Washington D.C. Key works include ALCHEMY OF DESIRE/DEAD-MAN'S BLUES, 12 OPHELIAS, and IPHIGENIA CRASH LAND FALLS ON THE NEON SHELL THAT WAS ONCE HER HEART. Her works have been seen across the US and abroad at diverse venues, among them Denver Center Theatre, Mixed Blood Theatre, San Diego Repertory Theatre, 59E59, The Women's Project, Gala Hispanic Theatre, Milagro Theatre Group, Borderlands, Phoenix Theatre, Teatro Mori (Chile), Artheater (Cologne), Ilkhom Theatre (Uzbekistan), and Edinburgh Fringe Festival. She sustains a parallel career as a theatrical translator, lyricist, arts editor and freelance journalist. Her works are published by TCG, Smith & Kraus, Broadway Play Publishing, Intellect UK, Manchester University Press, Eyecorner Press, Seagull Books, StageReads and more. She is alumna playwright of New Dramatists, Associate Editor of Contemporary Theatre Review for Routledge UK, Drama Editor of Asymptote literary journal, founder of NoPassport theatre alliance and press, and serves on the advisory board of the US-Mexico Exchange Program at the Lark Play Development Center. She holds an MFA n Playwriting from UCSD. Website: http://www.caridadsvich.com.

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