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Dear Theater on the Lake Community,
We know many of you look forward to the summer theater season on the lakefront, but this year's festival will not be possible due to COVID-19 concerns. The timeline for safely gathering is too uncertain to commit to presenting our season as planned. After the epic Year of Chicago Theatre in 2019, we were excited to build on the connections we made and the community we grew. This year, we planned to bring you an extra-ordinary line up of fresh new voices from the Chicago theatre scene. Of the six companies selected to present shows this season, five would have appeared in the festival for the first time. Two full-fledged musicals made the cut, a nod to the 2020 Year of Chicago Music (which will continue in 2021). All of these shows embody what is truly special about Chicago's storefront theatre community-the chance to tell our stories, ourselves.
As a part of the Night Out in the Parks programming community, we have seen the impact of neighborhood based performance and are looking for ways to support artists in our communities and increase neighborhood based access to the arts. We had hoped to continue to experiment with local touring, and this season would have been a hybrid between shows at our home base, Theater on the Lake, with additional performances in community park spaces around the city. Last summer, the Theater on the Lake: In the Works winner, Tina Fakrid-Deen, selected Mandrake Park in the Bronzeville community to present the staged reading of her play in progress, Dandelions. In 2020, our plan was to return this summer for the developmental production and a deepening of that community conversation. These plans are on hold for now, but we hope to be able to support the efforts of the theater community by highlighting their current work endeavors.
Summer is NOT cancelled, and true to form, many of these companies are still finding ways to be vital parts of our civic fabric. We want to take this moment to recognize the companies whose excellent productions we were working to remount, and encourage you to engage with them as they transition their work in this new future. We have included a link to the donation page for each company, please consider contributing and supporting the return of these companies when it is safe for all of us to gather again. Until then, we wish you well!
Warmly,
Quenna, Tony, Angelique and the Theater on the Lake Festival Team
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The Story Theatre - At the Wake of a Dead Drag Queen
Written by Terry Guest
Directed by Mikael Burke
Donations to support their work can be made here.
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About the Show: Courtney Berringers (given name: Anthony Knighton) would like to welcome you to her wake! She has recently died from complications due to AIDS, you see. And by recent, we mean 2019 in rural Georgia, baby. But-make no mistake-this isn't your grandma's funeral. There will be no black frocks, no perfumed flowers, and definitely no crying. Probably. Tonight is a celebration. At the Wake of a Dead Drag Queen by The Story Ensemble member Terry Guest is a one-act, two-hander play about Blackness, queerness, and the fine art of drag. From African goddesses to Shirley Brown to Trina, At the Wake thoughtfully uses the conceit of drag performance-the taking on of another persona-to explore identity, illness, and the narratives we construct for ourselves. Pay your respects and party at the wake.
Want to connect? The Story Theatre is using this time to strengthen the ensemble and prepare to emerge as a theatre to look out for in the Chicago storefront scene. They are also actively supporting Black liberation through supply drive efforts, community engagement, and donations, in collaboration with other Edgewater theatres. If you'd like to help contribute to those efforts, you can do so here.
The Story Theatre also has had readings of new plays by ensemble members, The G.O.A.T., or Who Is Ximone? by Paul Michael Thomson and The Magnolia Ballet by Terry Guest. If you would like to get involved with The Story, please visit their website or check them out at @thestorytheatre on social media platforms. They are still a very young company, and your support could make all the difference in the trajectory of their story.
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Urban Theatre Company - Back in the Day: An 80's House Music Dancesical
Adapted from Jos? "Gringo" Echevarria's Book, "The Real Dance Fever" by Miranda Gonzalez
Directed by Raquel Torre
Choreography by Breon Arzell
Donations to support their work can be made here.
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About the Show: Set in the height of Chicago's street dancing and battle era of the 1980's. When juice-bars, like Jenals and Medusas, ruled the underage club-scene and DJ's created a movement. This house music immersive dancesical follows the three northside dance crew the Allstars and Frenemies, the Culitos and Imported Taste as they struggle, soar, and move through life making their own families and redefining for themselves gender norms within a community not yet ready for change.
Want to connect? Follow Urban Theater on social media for updates on "Que Pasa" After-hours Virtual Series; making local and national artists accessible to new audiences.
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Aloft Circus Arts - Brave Space
Conceived and Directed by Shayna Swanson, Devised by Ensemble
Donations to support their work can be made here.
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About the Show: Brave Space is the building of a blanket fort, the act of sneaking under a hoopskirt, an impulsive congregation in the tiniest of tents. Intimate and low tech, this hour-long work of contemporary circus invites the audience to sit nose-to-nose with bold aerialists and acrobats to build the world we want to live in, even for only a few shared moments. An antidote to the daily news cycle, this hypermobile show can pop up in fields, intersections, theaters, and warehouses -- wherever people need beauty, hope, and comfort.
Want to connect? Aloft has been hosting regular online performances of their popular monthly cabaret series entitled Sanctuary in Place, featuring circus artists from around the world. Follow them on social media and join them for the next live/virtual performance. Click here for more information. Last month's ticket donations supported The Chicago Community Bond Fund.
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Free Street Theater - Parched! Stories about Water, Pollution and Theft
Created by the Free Street Theater Youth Ensemble
Directed by Katrina Dion
Donations to support their work can be made here.
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About the Show: Since 1969, Free Street Theater has used theatre to defy Chicago''s racial & economic segregation by creating original plays by, for, with, about and in Chicago''s diverse communities. PARCHED, originally developed by their Pulaski Youth Ensemble, tells the stories of the power of water while exposing and critiquing water injustices from lead pipes, to theft by corporations, to pollution and cost.
Want to connect? Parched v1 is available to watch on Vimeo.
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Chicago Fringe Opera - The Rosina Project: An Immersive Hip-Hopera
Composer/Producers - K. F. Jacques, 'Kechi
Lead Writer - Mikey to the P
Concept & Stage Direction - George Cederquist
Associate Directors - BraveSoul Movement
Choreographic Direction - Kelsa ''K-Soul'' Robinson, Daniel ''BRAVEMONK'' Haywood
Donations to support their work can be made here.
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About the Show: The Rosina Project is an original adaptation of Rossini's classic opera The Barber of Seville that mixes MCs, street-dance artists and opera singers with a live DJ and Beatboxer to tell a contemporary story of female empowerment through an immersive Hip-Hop battle.
Want to Connect? The Rosina Project''s performance at the 2020 Pivot Arts Festival is available here.
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Kokandy - Head over Heels: The Musical
Conceived by & original book by Jeff Whitty; adapted by James Magruder
Music and Lyrics by The Go-Go's
Directed by Elizabeth Swanson and Derek Van Barham
Music Direction by Kyra Leigh
Choreography by Breon Arzell
Donations to support their work can be made here.
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About the Show: A hilarious, exuberant celebration of love, Head Over Heels follows the escapades of a royal family on an outrageous journey to save their beloved kingdom from extinction - only to discover the key to their realm''s survival lies within each of their own hearts. Set to the music of the iconic 1980's all-female rock band The Go-Go's, this laugh-out-loud love story pushes boundaries, breaks binaries, and encourages us to all dance to our own beat!
Want to Connect? Follow Kokandy Productions on social media for up to date information. The company's current focus is finding ways to support Black Lives Matter and the current movement.
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About the Show: King Davis is a recovering addict, whose only legacy is the six-flat building in Bronzeville his mother owns and it is in immediate threat of being taken from his family due to mounting back taxes. King swoops in to save the day only to find out his mama has entrusted the building's future to a new neighbor. How can King finally show who he is when the people around him only see him for who he was? This searing drama is about survival, loss, and redemption. Dandelions is about who gets to stay and who's weeded out.
Want to Connect? Tina Fakhrid-Deen recently returned from a MacDowell Fellowship where she worked on two new plays and she is currently preparing for her first professional production with the premiere of her play, Pulled Punches, which will be produced by MPAACT at the Greenhouse Theater in 2021. She is also looking forward to the upcoming opportunity to teach English at Stateville Correctional Center through the Northwestern Oakton Prison Education Project. You can follow her work on her website.
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