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| What is LeapFest? LeapFest is an annual series of emerging plays with socio-political themes, presented as workshop productions in rotating repertory. The festival is the culmination of Downstage Left, a multi-tiered development program with the goal to cultivate and support new and emerging voices and inspire playwrights to address the political and social issues of our day. Join us again this year to see what's next in Chicago theatre! All LeapFest performances will take place at our
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| THE PLAYS | |
BEATEN |
What do you do when your nerdy best friend wants benefits and more, your grandma intends to party until she drops (literally), and your mom is determined to see you succeed even if it kills you? Poignant, disturbing and shockingly funny, BEATEN tells the story of a young woman’s efforts to survive the best intentions of a family who has gone off the rails. |
THE FACE OF A |
In well-to-do Northshore suburb, a local spa causes controversy with a billboard ad featuring a picture of a gorgeous woman in a bikini, superimposed with arrows suggesting how she could be cosmetically enhanced. Some of the key players discuss their involvement in the image being protested, vandalized and ultimately taken down. |
THE MEANING OF LUNCH |
As their family business hits a dry spell, a father and son receive an intriguing offer that forces them to grapple with globalization and each other. |
| MOTHER BEAR by Jayme McGhan directed by Artistic Director Vance Smith Sunday, 6/20 @ 2:00pm Friday, 6/25 @ 7:30pm Friday, 7/2 @ 7:30pm |
A union organizer attempts to recruit a gang of truckers and their notorious leader in the Utah Desert. Mother Bear is a hard-hitting, plot-twisting, pedal-to-the-floor haul down the darkest parts of America's highways. |
| OUR KIND OF VIOLENCE by Steve Spencer directed by Rachel Edwards Harvith Thursday, 6/17 @ 7:30pm Thursday, 6/24 @ 7:30pm Saturday, 7/3 @ 7:30pm |
Some people get to limp through life. No amount of therapy or Paxil can reach them. If you're one of these unlucky souls, sometimes you just have to kill somebody. |
* Stage Left Ensemble Member |
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| THE PLAYWRIGHTS | |
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Dan Aibel's plays have been developed and/or produced by The New Group (New York), Blank Theatre (Los Angeles), Detroit Rep, Syracuse Stage, Flashpoint Theatre Co. (Philadelphia), Outsider's Inn Collective (Seattle), the Bug Theatre (Denver) and at the Playwrights' Center (Minneapolis). He lives in New York. |
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Mia McCullough's most recent productions include the premiere of LUCINDA'S BED at Chicago Dramatists and SINCE AFRICA at the Old Globe in San Diego. Stage Left has produced many of her plays including CHAGRIN FALLS (Jeff Award for Best New Work, Julie Harris Playwriting Competition First Prize and the ATCA Osborn Award), CYBER SERENADE, ECHOES OF ANOTHER MAN, SUICIDE, and SPARE CHANGE. Her plays have also been seen in Chicago at Steppenwolf and Chicago Dramatists, as well as around the country. Mia is also a screenwriter and teaches playwriting and screenwriting at Northwestern University in the Creative Writing for the Media Program. |
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Jayme McGhan is an award-winning playwright, director, and set-designer recently transplanted in Chicago by way of the Twin Cities. He is the author of fourteen full-length plays including The Fisherman (Seen in LeapFest 5), Ragtown, Hellfire, The Methuselah Tree, and The Sweet Stuff. His plays have been seen across the country; four of them are published. He is the former Regional Representative of The Dramatists Guild to the Twin Cities. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Theatre at Concordia University, Chicago. He holds an M.F.A in Playwriting from The University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He is married to his lovely wife Juile. |
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Steve Spencer is from Dayton, Ohio. Previous Chicago productions include 2009’s Camp Freedom! and 2007's Another Day in the Empire (both with Black Sheep Productions) His play Night Society received a staged reading at Stage Left in 2008. Spencer’s Whippets & Scotch was featured as part of the Chicago Dramatists' Deadline Workshop in the summer of 2006 and his short play An Abortion for Eternity was a finalist for Stage Left's 2007 DrekFest. |
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Scott Woldman is the Resident Playwright at the Metropolis Performing Arts Centre in Arlington Heights, for whom he wrote the plays SpeeDating The Musical, Dates From Hell, Men Exposed – Thinking With Your Head, Indecent Proposals, and Dinner for |
| FIRST NIGHT CELEBRATION | |
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First Night The festival begins with this kick-off evening, featuring scenes from each of the LeapFest plays, introductions of the playwrights, directors and casts, and the traditional performance of Mark Maroney's Rock / Scissors / Paper! |
| PRODUCTION STAFF | |
Production Manager -- Caitlin Parrish |
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| TICKETS | |
LeapPASS - $25 The LeapFest Plays - $12 Click the title of the play to purchase tickets online |
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