Producing
New Play Festival 2025: Haunted
at Subtext Studio Theatre Company
I was thrilled to serve as the curator, creator, and executive producer for Subtext Studio TC’s inaugural new play festival, which culminated in a weekend of 4 plays by some of Chicago’s most exciting, dynamic, and boundary pushing emerging and never before produced playwrights:
Hero Gero by Lydia Moss, directed by Rashaad Bond, lead produced by Devin Christor
Gerry, a Black man diagnosed with schizophrenia, and his 10-year-old sister and her best friend go on an adventure when they start to all see the same visions and travel into a fantasy universe together. This story explores themes of family, courage, heroism, and mistakes; both the mistakes that we make and the mistakes that make us.
Abuela’s Follies by Kidany Camilo, directed by Raquel Torre, dramaturged by Laura Rodriguez Sierra, lead produced by Omar Fernandez
An avant-garde play with music that takes audiences on a journey through the life of a Latina grandmother. This evocative production uses a blend of songs, stories, and disruptive memories to unravel the intricate dynamics of familial love and conflict.
The Deep See by Walter Todd, directed by Niní Bagundo, dramaturged by Mia Rhee, lead produced by Emma Durbin
Isaac a young writer named seeking inspiration for the ending of his pirate-adventure novel, joins an old, ornery, and eccentric fisherman called “Captain”, and sails directly into the eye of a storm on the great inland sea: Lake Michigan. Isaac struggles with their inability to live up to and fit in with societal expectations of gender, strength, and masculinity when caught between the crossdressing woman pirate of their novel, their own nightmarish childhood memories, a hyper-masculine Captain, and the wrath of the ocean herself.
Touch Me My Exodus by Isaiah Zavion-Boozer, directed by Christopher Michael Richardson, dramaturged by Victoria Cruz, and lead produced by Kevin Aoussou
This roaring mystic afro-prophetic intertextual Ode of a play weaves Biblical Mythology, Rap Musicology, & Afro-Cultural Diffusion together, whilst unrelentingly colliding spiritual warfare with the need of a people to survive. How does a community break intergenerational curses when those now curses were once the same tools they used to survive?
Freshly Brewed
A new play development series hosted by The Understudy Coffee and Books
Centering The Understudy's core values: collaboration, community, and discovery. Freshly Brewed provides an accessible pathway for emerging Chicago artists to meet new collaborators and lean into process over product, all while speaking to our local community and connecting playwrights with avenues for further production.
New Play Workshops - Full Length Plays
Austin’s Home by Jesse Robkin, co-directed by Bryar Barborka and Adam Crawford (Jan 2024)
Crushed by Maria Arreola, directed by Karina Patel (Feb 2024)
BRAWL! By Connor Ermir Bradshaw, directed by Danny Fender (Mar 2024)
Echo’s Inferno by Juliet Kang Huneke, directed by Daira Rodriguez (Apr 2024)
Island of Love by Felicia Oduh, directed by Allie Woodson (May 2024)
Service by Makeda Delcet, directed by Regina Victor (June 2024)
Ocean and her Madness by Lydia Moss, directed by Liv Morris (July 2024)
Everything, Devoured by Katherine Gwynn, directed by Mikael Burke (Oct 2024)
The Pilón by Zach Barr, directed by Kidany Camilo (Feb 2025)
We Sent Her to the Sea by Maddie Powell, directed by Hershey Suri (Mar 2025)
New Play Workshops - Short Plays
Don’t Forget to Tip! by Moon Abbott, directed by Mikee Parangalan (Apr 2025)
I Love Chess! by Rachel Herriegs, directed by Brandii Champagne (Apr 2025)
You’re a Bitch, Opal Hadley by Kandace Mack, directed by Erin Sheets (Apr 2025)
Community Engagement Events
Playwright and Director Speed Networking, hosted by Joel Willison (Aug 2024)
Monologue Workshop, hosted by Emma Durbin (Sept 2024)
Direct Address co-produced w/ Pocket Theatrics, hosted by Mikael Burke and Joel Willison (May 2025)
COLLABORATION
In programming our plays, we intend to operate as active collaborators, providing abundant new opportunities for emerging playwrights and directors while empowering them to self-advocate and to dream. While this program does not represent the final step in developing these stories, our goal is to use the tools available to us to help move these visions along.
COMMUNITY
Because The Understudy is a community space and hub for creative expression, we recognize our responsibility to distribute our resources equitably amongst Chicago’s vibrant and diverse community of BIPOC, queer, and disabled artists. Freshly Brewed is an opportunity to forge career-long connections between emerging artists (playwrights, directors, actors, dramaturgs).
DISCOVERY
At The Understudy, we celebrate the joy of work in progress. We seek to platform artists in the process of discovering their own unique voices and vantage points, and seek to expand the curiosities of our audiences. As producers, we work to experiment with new facets of our programming, pursuing new avenues for inspiration and connection.