awe/struck. By Christopher Oscar Peña Comes to Profile Theatre

Profile Theatre presents awe/struk. by christopher oscar peña as part of their 2023-24 season: The American Generation. awe/struck. is the second of peña's plays in Profile's two-year season exploring the works of peña alongside Pulitzer finalist Kristoffer Diaz, and American Academy of Arts and Letters inductee, Lauren Yee.

awe/struck. runs at Imago Theatre November 9-19, 2023.

“To save his daughter from the violence of their home country, Julio convinces her to leave everything behind and move to an unfamiliar world. Monique has never left Chicago but is feeling increasingly alienated by the world around her. Navigating a new country is exhausting and lonely, but when an altercation with a troubled teen leads to the unthinkable, people who were once strangers find a way to become family. 

A surreal and unexpected tale about the search for safety, belonging, and most of all home.”

"It has been an incredible experience not only to have my plays in conversation with Lauren Yee and Kris Diaz, but to have this opportunity to have them in dialogue with my other plays. I have gotten to see how questions, ideas, and feelings in my plays evolve based on my age, experience, and the moment in our culture,” peña says. “The ideas in awe/struck show a writer in a different place in his life asking the same questions about identity, family, culture, race, and ultimately, who gets to be an American."

Artistic Director Josh Hecht says, “awe/struck is the play that first made me fall in love with Chris Peña when I read an early draft nearly a decade ago. The play is incredibly theatrical, even magical, the relationships both surprising and familiar. It's no small feat to do a season of all world premieres and commissions by important mid-career writers! This season is a dream come true to be able to premiere this Queer Latiné story from one of our pre-eminent writers of ‘prestige TV' like ‘Jane The Virgin' and ‘Insecure.'”

The production will employ new AI technology to map video onto the set and actors in brand new and innovative ways. Profile is working with 5-Ohm's video designer Luke Norby and Creative Technologist Scott James to bring scenic designer Megan Wilkerson's set to life with cutting-edge technology.

And three actors from Peña's play HOW TO MAKE AN AMERICAN SON return to premiere Peña's new play, which was commissioned by The Goodman Theatre in Chicago and workshopped at The Sundance Institute and New York's LAByrinth Theatre Company.

In June of 2023, Profile produced peña's How to Make an American Son, which Willamette Week called, “deliciously original storytelling.” awe/struck will be the second of three of peña's works that Profile is producing. Peña was also in town for Profile's Playwright Convening in April of 2023 where he workshopped our orange sky, which will be a World Premiere Commission with Profile in June of 2024. In television, he was a writer on the Golden Globe nominated debut season of the CW show Jane the Virgin, the critically acclaimed HBO show Insecure (in which he also appeared as the character Gary), as well as the Starz show Sweetbitter, Motherland: Fort Salem on Freeform, and the ABC / Hulu series Promised Land.

awe/struck. stars Jimmy Garcia (Mando in How to Make An American Son), Alexandria Hunter, Crystal Ann Muñoz (Mercedes in How to Make An American Son), Skyler Verity (Sean in How to Make An American Son), and Lea Zawada. 

awe/struck. will be presented at Imago Theatre, November 9-19, 2023. Thursday through Saturday performances at 7:30pm. Sunday matinees at 2pm and 7pm evening performances on the 11th and 18th. Preview performances are on the 9th and 10th  at 7:30pm. Reviewers are welcome to attend opening weekend (Nov 9-12) or other performances as needed. Email Director of Communications Eboni Lovell at eboni@profiletheatre.org to arrange press tickets.

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