CHICAGO: Election year means the time is ripe for political plays—or at least that seems to be the case for some of the offerings in Victory Gardens Theater‘s 2015–16 season, announced today. The season will include a world premiere play by Lucas Hnath about Hillary Clinton, plus a new play about gun control by Sarah Gubbins.
“I’m thrilled to welcome old and new friends to our 41st season at Victory Gardens Theater,” said artistic director Chay Yew in a statement. “Featuring some of the finest and boldest voices in the theatre today, these electric and provocative plays promise a continuation of great dialogue with our Chicago audiences.”
The season will open up with Roy Williams’s Sucker Punch (Sept. 18–Oct. 18), about two African-American boxers and former friends who face off in the ring. Dexter Bullard, who previously directed Circle Mirror Transformation at Victory Gardens, will helm Sucker Punch.
Next the theatre will present a revival of John Logan’s Never a Sinner (Nov. 6–Dec. 6), a courtroom drama based on the true story of Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb, who in 1924 were accused of murdering a 14-year-old boy for sport. Gary Griffin, who previously directed Appropriate at Victory Gardens, will direct.
Chicago-based playwright Sarah Gubbins’s newest play, Cocked, will get its world premiere Feb. 12–March 13, 2016. The thriller follows Taylor and Lizzie, a lesbian couple whose peaceful lives (and anti-gun beliefs) are disrupted when Taylor’s troubled brother arrives uninvited. Cocked was presented at the theatre’s 2014 IGNITION Festival of New Plays. It will be directed by Victory Gardens associate artistic producer Joanie Schultz.
In time for the Democratic presidential primaries will be the world premiere of Hillary and Clinton by Lucas Hnath (April 1–May 1, 2016). The play imagines a night during the 2008 primaries, when Hillary Clinton calls her husband Bill for a favor to help her win the nomination. The production will be directed by artistic director Yew. The play was presented at IGNITION 2014.
The final production of the season will be Marcus Gardley‘s The House That Will Not Stand (June 10–July 10, 2016), also directed by Yew. The family drama follows the freed slave Beatrice, whose life is thrown into turmoil when her white husband dies. Victory Gardens previously premiered Gardley’s Gospel of Lovingkindness last year.
Victory Gardens, founded in 1974, is devoted to the development and production of new plays.
