CHICAGO: Victory Gardens Theater has announced the lineup for its 2020 Ignition Festival of New Plays. The festival, which has moved online for 2020, will feature Black Like Me by Monty Cole,  North Star by Georgette Kelly,  Last Hermanos by Exal Iraheta, and Pivot by Alex Lubischer.

“Despite these challenging times, Victory Gardens continues to believe that art and Chicago communities will endure,” said artistic director Chay Yew in a statement. “This year, we give a home to our new generation of local playwrights who shine light on our diverse humanity, whose powerful plays create meaningful dialogue towards a more unified and equitable Chicago.”

The annual Ignition festival is devoted to fostering a supportive community and nurturing relationships for emerging and established playwrights. The festival, which is free and open to the public, will host one reading per play with a “coffee with the creators” chat happening the following day at noon.

The schedule kicks off with Monty Cole’s Black Like Me on June 18. Georgette Kelly’s North Star will follow on June 25. After that will be Exal Iraheta’s Last Hermanos on July 9. The festival will then close with Pivot by Alex Lubischer on July 16.

“This year’s fully digital Ignition Festival will be accessible to people across the world as it never has been before,” said literary and public programs manager Kat Zukaitis in a statement, “and that makes it the perfect time to celebrate the work of Chicago artists, and to recognize the vital role that the arts play in our communities. This year’s cohort of writers grapple with trauma and resistance, identity and belonging, in new works that embrace the tangled inheritance of the past as we look towards the futures that we can create together.”