CHICAGO (March 2, 2022) — The Gift Theatre is pleased to announce its 2022 season, launching this spring with a return to live performances with the Chicago premiere of Naomi Iizuka's drama At The Vanishing Point, directed by Lavina Jadhwani. Also this spring, The Gift presents the world premiere of Mud City, a ten-episode radio drama written by Founding Artistic Director Michael Patrick Thornton and featuring over 20 Gift Ensemble Members and special guest stars. The season concludes this fall with the world premiere of Jennifer Rumberger's drama The Locusts, commissioned and developed by The Gift and directed by Ensemble Member John Gawlik.
At The Vanishing Point will be presented at Filament Theatre, 4040 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago and The Locusts will be performed at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave. in Chicago. The company recently exited its longtime home at 4802 N. Milwaukee Ave. and is engaged in a capital campaign to open a new performance space in Chicago's Jefferson Park neighborhood.
The Gift's new Co-Artistic Directors Brittany Burch*, Emjoy Gavino* and Jennifer Glasse* comment, "Our conversations to curate this season were guided by what excited us most: Finding opportunities for different generations of Gift Ensemble to work together; ushering in guest artists who will not only challenge and inspire us,but grow alongside us; and finally embracing stories that seek the light amidst a lot of darkness. The role of the storyteller is one that has only become more sacred to us in the last few years. We believe it is a season that is provocative, hopeful and full of new poetry."
Season subscriptions are currently available at thegifttheatre.org or by calling (773) 283-7071. The "2022 GiftFlex Subscription Package" includes a ticket to At The Vanishing Point, The Locusts, all ten episodes of Mud City, and an exclusive invitation to In The Works, a new play reading series. Early Bird subscriptions for $99 (regular $115) are on-sale through March 17, 2022.
*Denotes The Gift Theatre Ensemble Member
The Gift Theatre's 2022 Season includes:
April 28 — May 22, 2022
At The Vanishing Point — Chicago Premiere
Written by Naomi Iizuka
Directed by Lavina Jadhwani
Performed at Filament Theatre, 4040 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago
Press opening: Sunday, May 1 at 3 pm
How do we remember a part of our history at the moment that it's slipping away? How do we give voice to the ghosts that haunt us as individuals and as a community? This stunning portrait of a community weaves together historical fact, myth and memory to give voice to people who would otherwise exist only as faded images in an old photo album.
Spring 2022
Mud City — World Premiere
Written by Founding Artistic Director Michael Patrick Thornton
Mud City is a ten-episode radio drama and the largest collaboration in Gift history. The year is 1940, and Lacey McGill — once Mud City's most fearsome journalist, now a hard-drinking, down-on-her-luck private eye — finally gets a crack in the case surrounding the disappearance of her daughter four years ago. In a crooked city of mob bosses, business tycoons and secret clubs, Lacey McGill and her best friend Narrator go against them all to answer a call to an adventure that changes everything.
October 20 — November 19, 2020
The Locusts — World Premiere
Written by Jennifer Rumberger
Directed by Ensemble Member John Gawlik*
Performed at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago
Press opening: Sunday, October 23 at 3 pm
When a serial killer goes on a gruesome rampage in Ella's small hometown of Vero Beach, Florida, she's called up from her busy career in the Miami police force to help apprehend him. At home, she's confronted with the life she left behind: her pregnant and struggling sister, her scared young niece, who like Ella, is desperate to find a life somewhere else, and the dark events of her childhood that she's tried to forget. As the murders grow more horrific and the small community is frozen by fear, Ella realizes she has to confront the events of her dark past in order to stop him.
