The Chicago Writers' Bloc 2024 New Play Festival will feature five new plays and five new musicals from 14 local Chicago Writers' Bloc playwrights, lyricists, and composers. The works to be performed as staged readings will cover genres from comedies and dramas to documentary theatre, and subject matter that ranges from history to current events, and fantasy to reality.
The Festival readings will be performed on evenings between May 5 and May 19 at Theater Wit at 1229 W Belmont Ave. The May 5 opening night benefit reception begins at 7:30, with performance starting at 8:00. All other performances begin at 7:30. Tickets are $25 for the benefit, and $20 for all other evenings, and can be purchased at the door or through Theater Wit's website: https://www.theaterwit.org/tickets/productions/box_office.
With book and lyrics by Joanne Koch and music by Jim Lucas, Hearts in the Wood is a country-western musical that follows a West Virginia dulcimer maker and once popular folksinger as he discovers he has an adult granddaughter and decides to reconnect with life. His newfound granddaughter prompts him to bring his regional music to Chicago. Grandfather and granddaughter find unexpected romances and finally get past their differences, united by bonds of love and their special musical heritage. Buy tickets for the Opening Night Reception and Hearts in the Wood here.
With book and lyrics by Wencke Braathen and music by Gerald H. Bailey, in the musical Hell is Canceled! Archangel Michael lands in Hell and announces to Lucifer that God has decided that this department is defunct and will be liquidated. Michael gets stuck in Hell with Lucifer and a lost soul while Hell disintegrates. Archangel Raphael causes problems from above, and Katie and Kevin save the day by sending new feathers to Lucifer's wings. Buy tickets for Hell is Canceled here.
With book and lyrics by June Finfer and music by Elizabeth Doyle, Dream City is the musical story of Chicago in a Gilded Age not unlike today, when immigrants, women, and minorities fight for inclusion in an economy controlled by the wealthy. The 1893 Chicago Columbian Exposition World’s Fair seemed to offer all Chicagoans opportunities for participation, visibility, and jobs, from the architects who designed it to the workers who built it. Buy tickets for Dream City here.
Written by John S. Green, Remember Me tells the story of Jake, a second-generation Nigerian American who joined the army to prove that he was a “real American.” When he returns from fighting in Afghanistan, he reaches out to his acting teacher, Earl, seeking comfort, sanity and a chance to rekindle his broken dreams. They work together to conquer their own personal demons and perform Hamlet. Buy tickets for Remember Me here.
With book and lyrics by Chloe Bolan and Music by Gerald H. Bailey, Driving the Dream is a musical bioplay on the life of Bertha Benz, the woman who drove the first motorwagen farther than anyone before her and so introduced the world to the age of the automobile. She might seem like a conservative hausfrau, but her rebellion at three different times in her life testify to her strong instincts, her indomitable courage, and her belief in a dream she and her husband shared. Buy tickets for Driving the Dream here.
Written by Fran Zell, two timely one-act documentary theatre pieces about asylum seekers will be presented. “How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Venezuelans” is based on the playwright’s experiences volunteering with asylum seekers in Chicago. “My Name is Renny Edward Milano Salgado” recounts one asylum seeker’s journey, a story of loss, grief, mortal danger, and always, hope. Buy tickets to "How I Learned to..." and "My Name is..." here.
Written by Nic Hamel, in No Kind of Hero, amidst the growing threat of fascism in the 1930’s, the young French philosophy professor Simone Weil struggles against the oppression she witnesses all around her. Caught between practical limitations and an unrelenting idealism, Simone’s choices are both absurd and inspiring as she seeks to embody hope and heroism in an increasingly chaotic world. Buy tickets to No Kind of Hero here.
With book written by Joanne Koch, Dianne Dorsey, Joan Mazzonelli, lyrics by Francesca Peppiatt, and music by Ilya Levinson, In “Merry Widows, The Musical,” women and men gather together to help each other grieve. Only our grief group doesn't just talk about their profound losses. They use the magic of music to work through their sorrow and bring themselves to face life as single people. With 14 million widows and widowers in the U.S. today, and thousands of these grief groups, the creative team thought it was about time to offer something more than a fluffy operetta.
Written by Blake Levinson, in “The Deconstruction of a Honky,” emerging white playwright Sam meets with DD, his influential Black director-dramaturg prior to the staged reading of his socially conscious play on racism. Their discussion takes a charged turn when she begins to question the authenticity of his Black characters. Tensions heighten as DD turns the spotlight on Sam’s indomitably liberal character and exposes a shocking secret. Buy tickets to "Merry Widows, The Musical" and "The Deconstruction of a Honky" here.
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