TUTA Theatre Updates Summer Repertory Lineup with TOM & ELIZA and Nassim Soleimanpour’s WHITE RABBIT, RED RABBIT

TUTA Theatre has announced a change in its two-play summer repertory. WHITE RABBIT, RED RABBIT will replace the replace the previously announced EVERY BRILLIANT THING and will play Sundays and Mondays through August 16.

This highly experimental play by Iranian German playwright Nassim Soleimanpour, like some of his other plays, is performed cold by a different actor at each performance, with no rehearsal, no director, and no set. Company member Huy Nguyen will perform the play on opening night, with actors for the remaining performances to be announced. Forbidden to leave his country, playwright Nassim Soleimanpour distilled the experience of an entire generation in a wild, utterly original play.

WHITE RABBIT, RED RABBIT is as much about contemporary Iran as it is about power dynamics in the rest of the world. Please note - this play is NOT overtly political and should not be portrayed as such. It operates on a deeper, metaphoric level, and very expressly avoids overt political comment. All media and press agents are urged to keep in mind that the playwright lives in Iran. We therefore ask the press to be judicious in their reportage. WHITE RABBIT, RED RABBIT will open to the press on Monday, July 7 at 7:30 pm, and play Sunday and Monday evenings through August 11.

Since its joint premiere in 2011 in Edinburgh and Summerworks festival, WHITE RABBIT RED RABBIT has been translated into more than 30 different languages and been performed over 3000 times by some of the biggest names in theatre and film including actors John Hurt, Whoopi Goldberg, Nathan Lane, Stephen Rea, Sinead Cusack, Marcus Brigstocke, Dominic West and film director Ken Loach. It was produced off-Broadway in New York in 2016. The Production Team for TUTA's staging will be Co-Artistic Director Jacqueline Stone (Artistic Producer), Huy Nguyen (Artist Liaison), Keith Parham (Lighting Design), Becky Warner (Stage Manager), and Helen Lattyak (Creative Producer).

TUTA's summer rep will begin on June 26 with the Chicago premiere of TOM & ELIZA by Celine Song, whose directorial film debut PAST LIVES (2023) received critical acclaim and was nominated for the Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay. Song's following feature film, MATERIALISTS, opened to rave reviews on June 13. TUTA Co-Artistic Director Aileen Wen McGroddy will direct. The two plays will be performed in repertory through mid-August at TUTA Theatre, 4670 N. Manor Avenue, Chicago.

TOM & ELIZA, which premiered at Brooklyn, New York's JACK theater in 2016, examines a young couple from their ordinary first date toward the end of civilization. In little more than an hour, with no intermission, the two characters use rapid-fire language to chronicle their entire relationship, mercilessly withholding nothing. A teethy battle of wills that centers on obsessions with bathing and book-burning, the play wakens both ecstasy and disgust with life. TUTA Co-Artistic Director Aileen Wen McGroddy, who was Jeff-nominated for her direction of the Jeff Award-winning ensemble of TUTA's ATTEMPTS ON HER LIFE in summer 2024, is directing this Chicago premiere.

The two-hander TOM & ELIZA will be played by Clifton Frei and Seoyoung Park, who were both members of the Jeff Award-winning ensemble cast of ATTEMPTS ON HER LIFE. Keith Parham, Jeff-nominated for his lighting design of ATTEMPTS ON HER LIFE, is Lighting Designer. Tatiana Kahvegian, a 2024 Tony Award nominee for the scenic design of THE OUTSIDERS, is Set and Costume Designer. TOM & ELIZA will open to the press on Sunday, June 29 and Monday, June 30 at 7:30 pm both evenings following previews from June 26. It will play an irregular schedule through August 16.

Seats for all performances of TOM & ELIZA and WHITE RABBIT, RED RABBIT can be reserved by purchasing in advance. Prices for all performances (excluding opening nights) are $20,  $45 and $60 (plus a $3.00 per ticket fee). Any seating not reserved in advance will be available the day of the performance for in person, pay-what-you-choose tickets at the door 30 minutes before curtain time.