Re/Generation Studio 2022-2023
Re/Generation Studio is About Face Theatre’s invitation to build the future of queer theatre together. This welcoming series of public workshops is shaped as a collective dreaming space for connecting with each other, learning about new plays, world-building, and exploring new production models. Each workshop will be grounded by staged readings of sections of new plays designed to invite conversation, collaboration, and creation in a shared space. Facilitators will offer key questions and considerations raised by the playwrights and directors and encourage participants to work together to brainstorm and develop creative solutions.
About Face premiered Re/Generation Studio in February 2023 as a vehicle for reconnecting, restoring, and recreating with audiences and artists after the pandemic. The overwhelming response from participants proved to us that these kinds of creative events are necessary to build and rebuild our communities. AFT is thrilled to be bringing the series back to continue engaging audiences and artists directly with up-and-coming new LGBTQ+ plays.
All workshops are free and open to the public. Workshops are recommended for ages 12 and older.
Past Workshops
Re/Generation Studio: Love and Nappiness
Saturday, Jan 28, 2023 | 2:00-5:00pm
at About Face Theatre rehearsal studio, 5252 N Broadway Ave
Featuring readings from Love and Nappiness by Kirsten Baity, directed by Dionne Addai.
About Love and Nappiness
When Meraki’s girlfriend brings her to a queer-owned hair salon as a bonding exercise, the experience quickly devolves into an exercise in dealing with micro-aggressions and the intricacies of interracial dating.
Re/Generation Studio: Lavender Men
Saturday, Feb 18, 2023 | 2:00-5:00pm
at The Den Theatre, 1331 N Milwaukee Ave
Featuring readings from Lavender Men by Roger Q. Mason, directed by Lucky Stiff.
About Lavender Men
This genre-pushing play courageously re-imagines one of America’s most beloved historical icons, President Abraham Lincoln, through a queer person of color’s storytelling lens. Taffeta, a self-proclaimed “fabulous queer creation of color,” invades Honest Abe’s private world to confront issues of visibility, race, and LGBTQ+ inclusion that still challenge us today. Lavender Men is an embrace to every queer, fat person of color who has been ignored, neglected, or erased for being themselves unapologetically in this world. They are beautiful; they are essential; they are perfect – just the way they are.
Re/Generation Studio: The Model Congressman
Saturday, Feb 25, 2023 | 2:00-5:00pm
at The Den Theatre, 1331 N Milwaukee Ave
Featuring readings from The Model Congressman by Steven Strafford, directed by AJ Schwartz.
About The Model Congressman
It’s 1994, and Kevin’s just a kid hoping to win a big scholarship and get enough money to go to the school of his dreams. It’s 1994, and Kevin’s just a closeted kid who secretly goes on adults-only chat rooms looking for men. It’s 1994, and Kevin’s just an ambitious, closeted kid who has to decide how far he’s willing to go to impress the man who can change or ruin his life. It’s time to go to the 1994 Model Congress!
Re/Generation Studio: underdrown
Saturday, March 4, 2023 | 2:00-5:00pm
at The Den Theatre, 1331 N Milwaukee Ave
Featuring readings from underdrown by Derek Lee McPhatter, directed by Mikael Burke.
About underdrown
As climate catastrophe reshapes Chicago, a queer black intellectual confronts a lover, a computer, and a mysterious visitor on his quest for truth in virtual worlds. The lines between the digital world and “real life” blur as our blackademic grows obsessed with researching a problematic video game.
Re/Generation Studio: The Wholehearted
Saturday, March 11, 2023 | 2:00-5:00pm
at The Den Theatre, 1331 N Milwaukee Ave
Featuring readings from The Wholehearted, co-created by Deborah Stein and Suli Holum and directed by Keira Fromm.
Chasing your dreams may be tough, but world champion boxer Dee Crosby isn’t going down without a fight. After falling in the ranks and surviving a brutal attack at the hands of her husband, Dee is determined more than ever to come back swinging on her road to redemption. The Wholehearted unravels the ruthless world of sports violence and the things we do in the name of love.
Re/Generation Studio: Switch Hitta
Saturday, March 18, 2023 | 2:00-5:00pm
at The Den Theatre, 1331 N Milwaukee Ave
Featuring readings from Switch Hitta by Pen Wilder, directed by Megan Carney.
It’s softball season and the stakes are high for the Marigold Ravens in Pen Wilder’s site-specific play, Switch Hitta. Echo, the team Captain, is working hard to get the new team recruits into shape when an unexpected romance emerges. No amount of game day pressure or love triangle drama can keep the players down in this energetic coming of age story about the strength of queer friendship.
