Photo Flash: First Look at Underscore Theatre's WIFE MATERIAL

Underscore Theatre Company is pleased to launch its 2018-19 season with WIFE MATERIAL, Jamie Shriner's raunchy musical comedy following one woman's journey through sex, love, marriage and how we define ourselves. Directed by Dana Anderson, with music direction by Kyra Leigh, WIFE MATERIAL will play November 8 - December 9, 2018 at Underscore's newly-remodeled, permanent home, The Understudy, 4609 N. Clark St. in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood. Tickets are currently available at underscoretheatre.org. The press opening is Tuesday, November 13 at 7:30 pm.

WIFE MATERIAL features Jamie Shriner with Caitlin Dobbins and Natalie Rae.

Growing up in conservative Indiana, Jamie Shriner always knew what it meant to be "wife material," but as a queer, sex-positive feminist, she never fit the bill. Yet in January 2017, she found herself married to a man. What gives? In Wife Material, Shriner brings her comedic chops and pop-music sensibility to explore the pressures and constraints put on young women, and to prove that even "that girl" deserves true love.

Comments Underscore Artistic Director Laura Stratford, "Wife Material, like its creator Jamie Shriner, has brains, hilarity and heart. I am excited for Underscore's seventh season to kick off with a show unlike any we have produced before: an autobiography, with songs more influenced by Katy Perry than Stephen Sondheim. It's important that we, as custodians of new musical theatre, do not try to prescribe what counts as musical theatre. Wife Material is a breath of fresh air, an incredibly timely piece that any audience will relate to, even if the more innocent among them feign shock at Jamie's openness about the pleasures and perils of a young queer woman's sex life."

The production team for WIFE MATERIAL includes: Nicholas Schwartz (scenic design), Christina Leinicke (costume design), Ellie Humphrys (lighting design), Robert Hornbostel (sound design), Persephone Lawrence-Wescott (props design), Drew de Pinto (projections design), Kate Cuellar (dramaturg), Josh Prisching (technical director), Becs Bartle (master electrician) and Christine Lauer (stage manager, intimacy captain).

Photo Credit: Evan Hanover