Stage Left's LeapFest 11 to Run 6/14-28

Stage Left Theatre is partnering with the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events to present LeapFest 11, Stage Left's annual new-play festival, at the Storefront Theater (66 E Randolph), running June 14 - 28, 2014. LeapFest is an annual event featuring several new plays with socio-political themes, presented as workshop productions in rotating repertory. This year's festival includes new works from Meridith Friedman, David Valdes Greenwood, Carolyn Kras, and Jenni Lamb.

The festival's name stems from the Downstage Left logo, which features a frog about to "take the leap." The three-week event is designed to help playwrights and their plays bridge the gap between development and full production. To further this objective, the festival features an extensive rehearsal process for each play, multiple workshop performances before the public, and post-show audience discussions after each performance. In addition to our general audiences, regional theater producers and artistic directors are invited to attend the festival in order to get an advance look at some of the best new plays in the country.

LeapFest 11 will be performed at the Storefront Theater at 66 E. Randolph in Chicago. Tickets and information for all events are available by calling 773-883-8830 or online at www.stagelefttheatre.com. Single tickets for LeapFest performances are $10 each. Patrons can save by purchasing a LeapPASS for $20. The LeapPASS entitles the bearer to full access to all four LeapFest shows.

Detailed performance schedules and information on the plays are provided below. The theater is handicapped and CTA accessible via Randolph/Wabash El Stop (Brown, Green, Orange, Pink, & Purple)

The LeapFest 11 Plays and Performance Schedule

12th and Clairmount
by Jenni Lamb - original music by Janice Lowe - directed by John Gawlik
Mon. 6/16 @ 7:30pm, Sun. 6/22@ 7:00pm, Wed. 6/25 @ 7:30pm
It is July 1967 in Detroit. Roderick, an up-and-coming Motown singer, brings a suit to be repaired by Dot, a talented Polish seamstress. Through a series of fittings, the unlikely pair find themselves drawn to each other. And as the riots break out, they reveal their traumatic pasts. This play with music explores the power of sharing stories of human suffering, and the connection and turmoil it can create in our communities.

The Firestorm
by Meridith Friedman - directed by Drew Martin*
Tue. 6/17 @ 7:30pm, Mon. 6/23 @ 7:30pm, Sat. 6/28 @ 2:00pm
Patrick, a candidate for governor of Ohio, and his wife Gaby are a perfect political couple, but there's one small problem: he's white and she's black. When a racially charged incident from Patrick's past breaks out, Gaby's skin color is thrust to the forefront of the campaign and she begins to wonder who her husband really is.

Mine and Yours
by Carolyn Kras - directed by Ann Shanahan
Sat. 6/14 @ 1:00pm, Wed. 6/18 @ 7:30pm
When a foreclosure loophole forces a house's new owners and former owners to share the same home, the cohabiting strangers struggle to drive each other out of the contested space.

Raggedy And
by David Valdes Greenwood - directed by Katie Horwitz°
Sun. 6/15 @ 7:00pm, Sat. 6/21 @ 2:00pm, Tue. 6/24 @ 7:30pm
In a very modern comedy of manners, a lesbian poet must weigh whether or not to accept an offer to be the Inaugural Poet and, in so doing, risk exposing a secret not even her own son knows. Her choice calls into question her whole identity-and who gets to define it.

*Stage Left ensemble member °Stage Left artistic associate