January 3-27, 2019 | Pegasus at Chicago Dramatists

The Young Playwrights Festival (YPF) celebrates the 32nd year of inspiring Chicago students to explore their histories, research their communities and mine their personal journeys to write dynamic one-act plays for the stage. YPF is the only event of its kind in Chicago and is the second largest in the country.

The winning playwrights’ productions are work-shopped and professional produced with full casts and production teams. The competition received over 500 submissions in 2018 with this year’s selections:

A GREEN LIGHT by Alexis Gaw: Patrick comes out to his best friend but discovers her casual homophobia. With the help of an online friend group, Patrick is able to honor his feelings.

FRAGILE LIMBS by Anonda Tyler: Faith, a teenage boy struggling with loss meets Hope, a teenage girl struggling with abuse and self-esteem. Together, they find strength against the backdrop of a violent Chicago.

GOOD STRONG COFFEE by Luna MacWilliams: In Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood, siblings Violeta and Ernesto juggling their own dreams and desires while trying to keep the family coffee shop afloat.

Be sure to witness the amazing results and enjoy an evening of theater from tomorrow’s theater stars.

Regular Performance Tickets: $18-30

Student Matinee Tickets: teachers and school administrators should contact ypf@pegasustheatrechicago.org.

 

About the Production Team

JOAN MAZZONELLI, director – A Green Light
Joan Mazzonelli has produced, directed, and designed original works in Chicago and New York City.  With Pegasus Theatre last season, she was the dramaturg on The Green Book.She has served in leadership roles with City Lit Theater, Griffin Theatre, Midwest New Musicals, Athenaeum Theatre, Theatre Building Chicago, On Stage Productions, Opera Shop at the Vineyard Theatre, and National Shakespeare Company. Her musical books include: Bottom’s Dream with James L. Kurtz, the adaptation for the stage of All in the Laundry by Fred Rogers of Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, Reasonable Terms with Karena Mendoza and Marianne Kallen, and High Fidelity, The Proposal, Dorabella’s Daughters and The Passion of John with Philip Seward, as well as the co-adaptation of Border Crossing with Marianne Kallen.

JUAN RAMIREZ, director – Fragile Limbs
Juan Ramírez is a director, filmmaker and actor, who has been active in Film, Theater, and Television for over 40 years and was Executive/Artistic Director of PanAmerica Performance Works (formerly Latino Chicago Theater Company at The Firehouse) for over 30 years. Mr. Ramirez has produced and/or directed over 30 stage productions and 2 full-length feature films. His film ISRAEL IN EXILE (which he also wrote) was a Slamdance Film Festival Competition Selection that received additional screenings at festivals in Cuba, France, England, Spain, Mexico and across the United States. As an actor, Juan has been featured in over 50 films, television shows and stage plays, including a co-starring role on the ABC series Missing Persons (22 episodes) with Daniel Travanti. Other film/tv roles include  “Chain Reaction,” “ER,” “Sleeper Cell,” “Criminal Minds” and “Weeds.”

ILESA DUNCAN, director – Good Strong Coffee
ILesa Duncan is the executive/artistic director at Pegasus Theatre Chicago. Her recent directing work at Pegasus includes the Jeff-Recommended Eclipsed, the hit  Shakin the Mess Outta Misery (Jeff Nominated), the world premiere of Jeff-Recommended Rutherford’s Travels and For Her as a Piano.  Other recent credits include Neverwhereat Lifeline Theatre (Jeff-Recommended), Broken Fencesat 16th Street Theater, Jeff Award-nominated The Nativitywith Congo Square and the Jeff Award-winning Jar the Floorat ETA Creative Arts. Duncan has also worked with The Goodman, Writers Theatre, Victory Gardens Theater, Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, Lifeline Theater, Stage Left and Chicago Dramatists, as well as Contemporary American Theatre Company (Ohio). The Alliance Theatre (Atlanta), Arena Stage (Washington DC) and Lincoln Center Theater (New York). Duncan’s creative nonfiction short stories have been published (Columbia College Chicago) and she’s written poems and screenplays.  For the stage, she co-adapted Rutherford’s Travelsfrom the National Book Award-winning novel Middle Passage, co-wrote and directed Blakk Love: Stoeez of A Darker Hue and facilitated the devised project Do You See What I’m Sayingfor Chameleon. Duncan will also assume the role of artistic director at Lifeline Theatre beginning in January 2019, and will remain Pegasus’ executive and producing director.

Production Staff
Scenic Design………………………. Nicolas Schwartz
Lights/Projections Design……… Josh Wroblewski
Sound Design……………………………. Steve Labedz
Costume Design………………………. Onyx Engobor
Props Design…………………….. Angelica Guttierez
Production Manager…………………..    Kelly Butler
Technical Director………………………. Nick Peebles
Master Electrician……………………….. Becs Bartle

by DANAI GURIRA

directed by ILESA DUNCAN | October 4-November 4th

Gurira’s story is set during the midst of the Second Liberian Civil War and follows the captive ‘wives’ of a rebel army’s Commanding Officer . A girl has recently arrived and the wives protect her in their tiny, dilapidated, shack. Their fragile sisterhood is threatened when a former wife returns from the battlefield. The Girl must choose whether to stay with the women who have done so much for her, or to join the freedom fighter and chart her own destiny as a soldier. With deep emotional strength, brutal honesty, and a surprising amount of humor, the women of Eclipsed fight to do something truly extraordinary: survive.

 

The first play to premiere on Broadway with an all female, black cast and creative team, was inspired by a photo that Gurira saw in The New York Times. “I was raised in Africa and I had never seen anything like it, women with AK-47s, dressed very hip and looking formidable.” she said. “I was keen to one day pursue that story and put it on the stage.” Taking place in a bullet-ridden rebel army camp during the Liberian civil war in 2003, the five “wives” of a commanding officer band together to form a fragile community and care for a 15-year-old girl who has been abducted and raped. The balance of their lives is upset by the return of a former “wife” turned rebel soldier who tries to convince the teen to leave the camp and fight with her. As the war draws to a close, each woman must discover her own personal means of survival in this deeply felt portrait of women finding and testing their own strength.

 

About the playwright

Danai Gurira is an American actress and playwright of Zimbabwean origin who is best known for her roles as “Michonne” on the AMC horror drama series “The Walking Dead” and as “Okoye” in the Marvel Universe movies “Black Panther” and “Avengers: Infinity War.” She began her career on stage and has written critically acclaimed and award-winning plays such as In the Continuum,which won her an Obie Award, an Outer Critics Award and a Helen Hayes Award for Best Lead Actress; Eclipsed, was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play and won for Best Costume Design in a play; The Convert and Familiar, the last of which was commissioned by Yale Repertory Theatre. Among her other notable movies is “Mother of George,” in which she played the lead role of a Nigerian woman. She has also made guest appearances on several television shows including “Life on Mars,” “’Law & Order” and “American Experience.” According to her, being “brought up by a scientist and a librarian”, she is “an academic at heart”, which helps her do the exhaustive research she needs to write her plays. Gurira, who feels that stories of African women are told very rarely, considers her three playsIn the Continuum, Eclipsed  and The Convert
as “parts of a trilogy on Zimbabwe’s coming of age from a feminine perspective.”

About the director

ILesa Duncan is the executive/producing director at Pegasus Theatre Chicago. Her recent directing work at Pegasus includes theJeff-Recommended, sold-out Shakin the Mess Outta Misery, the world premiere of Jeff-Recommended Rutherford’s Travels and Nambi E. Kelley’s For Her as a Piano.  Other recent credits include Neverwhere at Lifeline Theatre (Jeff-Recommended),Broken Fencesat 16th Street Theater, Jeff Award-nominated The Nativitywith Congo Square and the Jeff Award-winning Jar the Floorat ETA Creative Arts. Duncan has also worked with The Goodman, Writers Theatre, Victory Gardens Theater, Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, Lifeline Theater, Stage Left and Chicago Dramatists, as well as Contemporary American Theatre Company (Ohio). The Alliance Theatre (Atlanta), Arena Stage (Washington DC) and Lincoln Center Theater (New York). Duncan’s creative nonfiction short stories have been published (Columbia College Chicago) and she’s written poems and screenplays.  For the stage, she co-adapted Rutherford’s Travelsfrom the National Book Award-winning novel Middle Passage, co-wrote and directed Blakk Love: Stoeez of A Darker Hue and facilitated the devised project Do You See What I’m Sayingfor Chameleon.

 

The cast includes Morayo Orija, Maya V. Prentiss, Aja Singletary, Adhana Reid & Sola Thompson

The production team includes Jacqueline Penrod (Scenic Design), Megan Turnquist (Lighting Design), Owé Engobar (Costume Design), Tony Bruno (Sound Design), Amanda Caputi (Props), Carrie Hardin (Dialect Coach), Tanuja Jagernauth (Dramaturg), R&D Choreography (Violence Design), as well as Jennifer McClendon (Production Manager), and Justine Palmisano (Stage Manager).