Philip Dawkins News

It's finally summer in Minnesota, and that means lakes, parks, camping, hiking, and best of all - summer theater! You can't spend every moment of the summer outdoors, because you wouldn't want to get a sunburn, and also sometimes it rains. So take a break from outdoor activities to see some great theater this summer (or watch theater outdoors!). Here are a few of your choices for summer theater playing on stages and in parks around Minneapolis, St. Paul, and the surrounding area.

Victory Gardens Theater announces the June lineup for The VG Reading Series. This regularly scheduled program of play readings provides playwrights a platform to develop their plays-in-progress, and will give audiences opportunities to experience exciting new work throughout the year. The Reading Series adds to VG's current programming of world premieres and new plays and the IGNITION Festival of New Plays.

? This summer, the Jungle Theater presents a witty, affectionate and timely comedy about what it means to be committed, alive and in love in the era of marriage equality. LE SWITCH, by "the richly talented Chicago writer" Philip Dawkins (Chicago Tribune), is on stage June 17-July 31 at the Lyn-Lake neighborhood theater, 2951 Lyndale Ave. S. in Minneapolis. The Playwrights' Center Artistic Director Jeremy Cohen makes his directorial debut at the Jungle with this production.

? Sideshow Theatre Company, winner of the League of Chicago Theatres' 2016 Broadway In Chicago Emerging Theatre Award, is pleased to announce its full 10th Anniversary Season, proudly featuring two world premieres and one U.S premiere production.

First Floor Theater (FFT) is thrilled to announce its fourth annual literary festival, FITZFEST, a festival of eight world premiere plays, by some of the country's most exciting playwrights, inspired by the life and work of F. Scott Fitzgerald. FITZFEST will play August 5 - August 13, 2016 at Collaboraction's Pentagon Theatre in The Flat Iron Arts Building. Tickets will be available at http://firstfloortheater.com/.

'MotherStruck!,' written and performed by Staceyann Chin, co-produced in New York by Rosie O'Donnell, Robert Dragotta and Culture Project, and originally directed by Emmy, Tony and Grammy Award-winner Cynthia Nixon begins Greenhouse Theater Center's 'Solo Celebration' at the Greenhouse (2257 N Lincoln Ave).

Sometimes theater is more than just theater. Sometimes theater is about giving a voice to people whose voices are not often heard. Sometimes theater is about increasing our understanding of people who seem different than us, but who really are the same. Sometimes theater is about giving everyone a chance to see their lives and experiences reflected back at them, validating their existence and importance in the world. Mixed Blood Theatre's work often checks all of the above boxes, as is the case with the new play CHARM by Phillip Dawkins. Inspired by the true story of a transgender woman who teaches a charm school to homeless and at risk transgender youth, CHARM premiered in Chicago last fall, but Mixed Blood's production is the first to include five transgender actors in the cast, which lends an air of poignant authenticity to this moving, funny, and at times difficult story.

Today, Jacob Harvey, Artistic Director of the Greenhouse Theater Center, announced the 12 plays that will be presented as part of the 'Solo Celebration!' series, running June 2016 - February 2017, including new works from acclaimed Chicago-based playwrights including Isaac Gomez, Brett Neveu, Douglas Post, Susan Padveen and Philip Dawkins (who will also be performing his solo work).

Mosaic Theater Company of DC announces its second season, an explosive lineup of youthful new voices, multicultural convergences, an acclaimed portrait of an African-American cultural icon, and a multi-prismatic lens trained on two global conflict zones-the Middle East and South Africa. The 2016-17 season builds on the triumphs of the inaugural year by introducing audiences to a host of bold new colors and brash tones while maintaining a continued commitment to the company's ambitious mission of thought-provoking drama and public discourse.

Crazy as it sounds, there's a mall in Barbra Streisand's basement. And Sasha Andreev plays the one man who knows what's in there in BUYER & CELLAR, playing now at Hennepin Theatre Trust's New Century Theatre in Minneapolis through April 24, 2016.

Victory Gardens Theater concludes its 41st season with Midwest Premiere of The House That Will Not Stand by Ensemble Playwright Marcus Gardley, directed by Artistic Director Chay Yew. The House That Will Not Stand runs June 10 - July 10, 2016, with the press performance on Friday, June 17, 2016, at 7:30 pm at Victory Gardens Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue.

Philip Dawkins' CHARM is the story of Mama Darleena, an African American trans woman in her 60s teaching an etiquette class to trans youth experiencing precarious housing in a LGBTQI Chicago community center. Her students range in sexuality, race, and gender identity from a Latina trans woman, to a cisgender couple, to a member of a local gang, to a gay suburban teen. They fight each other and their instructor in equal measure, struggle through their daily battles with poverty, prejudice, and personal identity, seek solace in each other, succeed and fail separately and together.

Children's Theatre Company is proud to announce its 2016-2017 season which includes four musicals, two CTC audience favorites, and two world premiere productions including the development of a new Dr. Seuss musical based on the story of the Sneetches and an epic new play by Naomi Iizuka.

Sideshow Theatre Company will conclude its 2015/16 Season with CAUGHT, a new, head-spinning collaboration with playwright Christopher Chen, director Seth Bockley and Chicago's Xiong Art Gallery.

Robert Falls' and Seth Bockley's world premiere adaptation of Roberto Bolaño's famed novel, 2666, which has received extraordinary audience enthusiasm during previews, officially opens tonight, February 16, 2016.

Robert Falls' and Seth Bockley's world premiere adaptation of Roberto Bolaño's famed novel, 2666-which has received extraordinary audience enthusiasm during previews and officially opens tomorrow, February 16-has been extended. Four additional performances include March 17, 18 and 19 at 6:30pm and March 20 at 1pm. The 15-member all-Chicago ensemble cast remains unchanged during the added performances.

Continuing its long-term investment in new work by our most exciting contemporary theatre makers, Mixed Blood will replace the previously announced spring show, THE UPSTAIRS CONCIERGE, with a new play by Philip Dawkins titled CHARM. 

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.

About Face Theatre is pleased to open its 20th Anniversary Season with the world premiere romantic comedy LE SWITCH by Artistic Associate Philip Dawkins, directed by Stephen Brackett and presented by special arrangement with Doug Nevin. LE SWITCH plays January 15 - February 21, 2016 at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave. in Chicago.

Chicago Theatre Week, an annual celebration of the rich tradition of theatre-going in Chicago, will take place February 11 - 21, 2016, spanning a week and two full weekends.