Kelli Simpkins News

Just last night, Tectonic Theater Project celebrated Tectonic At 25!, a benefit performance celebrating 25 years of groundbreaking theater. The star-studded evening, directed by Tectonic Theater Project founder Moises Kaufman and hosted by and starring two-time Academy Award winner Jane Fonda, took place at NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts (566 LaGuardia Place, New York, NY 10012). 

Tectonic Theater Project has announced the performance lineup for Tectonic At 25!, a benefit performance celebrating 25 years of groundbreaking theater.

American Theater Company (ATC) announces casting for its regional premiere of Men on Boats by Jaclyn Backhaus, Jan. 6-Feb. 12, 2017, immediately following the production's acclaimed Off Broadway run directed by ATC Artistic Director Will Davis at Playwrights Horizons. Davis also helms the ATC production, with an all new Chicago cast.

Tectonic Theater Project has announced casting for Tectonic At 25!, a benefit performance celebrating 25 years of groundbreaking theater.

About Face Theatre continues its 20th Anniversary Season with the Chicago premiere of the dark comedy THE SECRETARIES by The Five Lesbian Brothers aka Maureen Angelos, Babs Davy, Dominique Dibbell, Peg Healey and Tony Award winner Lisa Kron (Fun Home). Directed by Bonnie Metzgar, THE SECRETARIES will play now through June 12, 2016 at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave. in Chicago. The press opening is tonight, May 12 at 7:30 pm. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

About Face Theatre is pleased to continue its 20th Anniversary Season with the Chicago premiere of the dark comedy THE SECRETARIES by The Five Lesbian Brothers aka Maureen Angelos, Babs Davy, Dominique Dibbell, Peg Healey and Tony Award winner Lisa Kron (Fun Home). Directed by Bonnie Metzgar, THE SECRETARIES will play May 6 - June 12, 2016 at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave. in Chicago. Tickets are currently available at www.aboutfacetheatre.org, by calling (773) 975-8150 or in person at Theater Wit Box Office. The press opening is Thursday, May 12 at 7:30 pm.

 About Face Theatre is pleased to continue its 20th Anniversary Season with the Chicago premiere of the dark comedy THE SECRETARIES by The Five Lesbian Brothers, directed by Bonnie Metzgar, playing May 6 - June 12, 2016 at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave. in Chicago. Tickets go on sale Monday, March 28, 2016 at www.aboutfacetheatre.org, by calling (773) 975-8150 or in person at Theater Wit Box Office. The press opening is Thursday, May 12 at 7:30 pm.

One of the most pervasive images in Sarah Gubbins's play COCKED, now in its world premiere production at Victory Gardens under the direction of Joanie Schultz, is an incredibly shiny silver pistol. This prop pistol reveals itself at the end of the first scene in the play--and while it then quickly disappears, we know that it lingers--and that it has a high probability of going off at some point in the play. Likewise, Gubbins's timely play, which is set in Chicago's Andersonville neighborhood and examines our relationship with guns, strikes a balance between tense and frequently hilarious. Gubbins' natural, laugh-out-loud funny dialogue for all three characters in the play never ceases to entertain but the tension underneath those moments of levity also stays present.

Victory Gardens Theater continues its 41st season with the world premiere of COCKED by Sarah Gubbins, directed by Victory Gardens Theater Associate Artistic Producer Joanie Schultz. COCKED runs now through March 13, 2016 with the press performance tonight, February 19, 2016, at 7:30pm at Victory Gardens Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

Victory Gardens Theater announces Backstage at the Biograph: Breathing Life into a New Play. This behind-the-scenes event focuses on Cocked by Sarah Gubbins, directed by Joanie Schultz, running February 12 - March 13, 2016. Backstage at the Biograph: Breathing Life into a New Play examines the process of developing and staging a world-premiere production. Backstage at the Biograph: Breathing Life into a New Play is Thursday, February 4, 2016 at 7:00 p.m. at Victory Gardens Biograph Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue.

Victory Gardens Theater continues its 41st season with the World Premiere of Cocked by Sarah Gubbins, directed by Victory Gardens Theater Associate Artistic Producer Joanie Schultz.  Cocked runs February 12 - March 13, 2016 with the press performance on Friday, February 19, 2016, at 7:30pm at Victory Gardens Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue.

Timeline Theatre Company's Chicago premiere of Leigh Fondakowski's documentary-style SPILL aims to show audiences the untold side of the story surrounding the April 2010 blowout and subsequent explosion of the Deepwater Horizon, a BP oil rig, in the Gulf of Mexico. The resulting oil spill was the worst in United States history, leaching nearly 5 million barrels of oil into the Gulf, leaving thousands of oiled animals for dead, and disrupting the livelihoods of many who relied on the body of water for fishing. Fondakowski's play aims to accomplish what great theater should: the interweaving of the personal and political. The play shows the human side of a widely publicized issue that audiences may previously have held at a distance. And Fondakowski, a member of the Tectonic Theater Project and the head writer on THE LARAMIE PROJECT, wisely and movingly devotes a good amount of SPILL's material to a lesser-known consequence of this devastating environment event: the lives of the 11 men who were taken in the explosion. These men were fathers, sons, siblings, and husbands who had inherently risky careers - but in the wake of the BP oil rig explosion and subsequent spill, they were soon forgotten by the mass media.

TimeLine Theatre Company continues its 19th season with the Midwest premiere of SPILL, an incredibly vivid, behind-the-news play revealing the untold stories of the people directly affected by the 2010 BP oil spill and the lasting impact of the largest environmental disaster in U.S. history. Scroll down for a first look at the cast in action!

About Face Theatre is pleased to announce its 20th Anniversary Season, featuring three productions new to the Chicago stage, plus a series of staged readings celebrating its two extraordinary decades in Chicago. The 2015-16 Season kicks-off with the world premiere romantic comedy LE SWITCH by Artistic Associate Philip Dawkins, directed by Stephen Brackett, presented by special arrangement with Doug Nevin. The season continues with the Chicago premiere drama after all the terrible things i do by A. Rey Pamatmat, directed by Artistic Director Andrew Volkoff. The mainstage season concludes next spring with the Chicago premiere of the dark comedy THE SECRETARIES by The Five Lesbian Brothers, directed by Bonnie Metzgar. About Face is pleased to announce all three productions will be presented at its new resident theatre, Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave. in Chicago.

About Face Theatre has announced its full line-up of 2014-15 programming, kicking off this fall with the Chicago premiere of METHTACULAR!, Steven Strafford's hilarious and harrowing autobiographical account of his three year crystal meth addiction in Chicago. In the winter, AFT presents the Chicago premiere of Daniel Pearle's A KID LIKE JAKE, a contemporary look at gender seen through the lens of parents shepherding their Cinderella-loving son through the rigors of NYC kindergarten admissions. Next spring, AFT presents another Chicago premiere - Bixby Elliot's comedy ABRAHAM LINCOLN WAS A F*GG*T, a teen's touching and hilarious quest to prove the truth behind our 16th President's sexual orientation.

About Face Theatre Company will continue its OUT FRONT SERIES, a year-round collection of free public readings and developmental workshops, with when last we flew by Harrison David Rivers, directed by Lisa Portes, playing tonight, January 25 at 7:30 pm and Sunday, January 26 at 3 pm at Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont Ave. in Chicago.

Swine Palace, in association with The Study Group, is pleased to announce casting for the world premiere of Leigh Fondakowski's SPILL in March 2014.

About Face Theatre Company will continue its OUT FRONT SERIES, a year-round collection of free public readings and developmental workshops, with when last we flew by Harrison David Rivers, directed by Lisa Portes, playing Saturday, January 25 at 7:30 pm and Sunday, January 26 at 3 pm at Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont Ave. in Chicago.

3Arts is honored to announce the ten recipients of its 6th annual 3Arts Awards, presented to women artists, artists of color and artists with disabilities working in the performing, teaching and visual arts. The awards will be presented tonight, Monday, Oct. 21, by the 3Arts Board of Directors and Awards Host Committee in a celebratory gathering at the Museum of Contemporary Art. 3Arts has awarded over $1 million in total grants to more than 100 Chicago artists in the past six years.

CHICAGO, IL (October 21, 2013)–3Arts is honored to announce the ten recipients of its 6th annual 3Arts Awards, presented to women artists, artists of color and artists with disabilities working in the performing, teaching and visual arts. The awards will be presented tonight, Monday, Oct. 21, by the 3Arts Board of Directors and Awards Host Committee in a celebratory gathering at the Museum of Contemporary Art. 3Arts has awarded over $1 million in total grants to more than 100 Chicago artists in the past six years.