Victory Gardens Sets IGNITION Festival of New Plays Lineup

Victory Gardens Theater announces the lineup for its newly-expanded IGNITION Festival of New Plays for the 2015 Festival, including Confessions of a P.I.M.P. by André De Shields; Queen by Madhuri Shekar; Slay & Eat by A. Zell Williams; The Last Book of Homer by José Rivera; Muthaland by Minita Gandhi; Office Hour by Julia Cho; and Sadie River's Drag Ball on the Lawn by Basil Kreimendahl. The festival takes place July 16-19, 2015. The IGNITION festival creates a productive environment for both emerging and established playwrights to explore and develop their new work.

"Since its inception, Victory Gardens' IGNITION Festival of New Plays has been a biennial celebration of new, bold and dynamic voices in the theatre. Starting with this edition, we're proud to announce that IGNITION will now be an annual national event. As with every festival, these powerful and potent plays reflect the issues and lives of the diverse communities in our city and country. I'm thrilled to welcome this 2015 collective of playwrights to Victory Gardens and IGNITION," comments Artistic Director Chay Yew.

"We are excited to welcome seven playwrights for our 2015 IGNITION Festival. With themes ranging from race to politics, gender identity ?to gun violence, IGNITION will give these established and emerging playwrights the opportunity to develop bold and exciting new work? in-house at Victory Gardens," comments Literary Manager Isaac Gomez. "IGNITION has consistently been an essential part of our? new play development programming since 2008, and Ignition 2015? will be no exception."

INGITION's seven selected plays will be presented in a festival of readings scheduled for summer 2015 and will be directed by leading artists from Chicago. Following the readings, two of the plays may be selected for intensive workshops during Victory Gardens 2015-16 season, and Victory Gardens may produce one of these final scripts in an upcoming season.

COMPLETE FESTIVAL LINEUP

Confessions of a P.I.M.P.
Written and performed by André De Shields
Thursday, July 16, 2015 | 7:30 p.m.
IGNITION Opening Night Party following the performance

From the heat of urban insurrection in Baltimore, Maryland to the incandescent glare of New York's Great White Way, "Jelly Belly" has many stories to tell. Through song, dance, and spoken word, join Victory Gardens Theater's Fox Foundation Resident Actor Fellow André De Shields in this riveting solo-performance as we follow this adventure from inner city impoverishment to self-actualization.

Queen by Madhuri Shekar
Directed by Associate Artistic Producer Joanie Schultz
Friday, July 17, 2015 | 7:30 p.m.
Artistic Meet and Greet & Ice Cream Social following the performance

Sanam Shah, a mathematician, and Ariel Spiegel, a biologist, are PhD candidates and best friends working together to discover the cause of the urgent crisis where bees are disappearing around the world. Just as they are about to publish a career-defining new paper on the subject, Sanam realizes the numbers don't add up. Should she look the other way, or should she stand by her principles? What will she lose?

Slay & Eat
By A. Zell Williams
Directed by Henry Wishcamper
Saturday, July 18, 2015 | 3:00 p.m.

A powerful black politician on Chicago's South Side struggles to pull her family together amidst her husband's failing business, her daughter's drug use, and her brother's relationship with a white dominatrix. Will she survive a scandal or go down in history as an ex-girlfriend of President Obama?

The Last Book of Homer
By José Rivera
Directed by Jonathan Berry
Saturday, July 18, 2015 | 7:30 p.m.
Cocktail Hour & Hang Out following the performance

Numb Nuts is a screenwriter who gets kidnapped by a drug cartel while shooting a movie in Mexico about the Trojan War. Battling their bad knees, beer bellies, cataracts, bad hearing, and bitter divisions of the past, his four brothers - ex-military guys nicknamed God, Buddha, Weasel, and Joseph Smith - come to Mexico for the rescue.

Muthaland
Written and performed by Minita Gandhi
Directed by Heidi Stillman
Sunday, July 19, 2015 | 12:30 p.m.

The life of a young Indian-American woman is forever changed when, on a retreat to her homeland, she unearths family secrets, encounters a prophet, and ultimately discovers her own voice. The Familiar and the Foreign swap roles in this dark comedy about culture, identity, spirituality, and sexuality.

Office Hour
By Julia Cho
Directed by Artistic Director Chay Yew
Sunday, July 19, 2015 | 3:00 p.m.

Gina, an adjunct writing professor, meets with a troubled student whose violent writings have disrupted her class. Other professors worry he's a ticking time bomb -- "a classic shooter." Gina isn't so sure. But where is the line drawn between troubled and dangerous?

Sadie River's Drag Ball on the Lawn
By Basil Kreimendahl
Directed by Bonnie Metzgar
Sunday, July 19, 2015 | 7:30 p.m.
IGNITION Closing Night Celebration following the performance

Sadie River, Mother to The House of River, teaches her unconventional drag family a new performance that she believes will change their lives. Rather than schooling them on gender performance, she attempts to educate her working-poor family in the art of passing as upper-class.