A Toast To Poetry with Muffy Films

A monthly reading series highlighting plays that have not yet been produced in Chicago The Understudy Dares You to Produce This Play is a monthly reading series highlighting plays that have not received a Chicago production. Produced by The Understudy’s bookstore team, this series works to expand the variety of playwrights and titles in our vibrant community. This month, we’re reading Poor Clare by Chiara Atik Clare: Felicia Oduh Beatrice: John-Payne Francis: Andrew Shipman Alma: Jordan Levene Peppa: Preeti Thaker…

Phanésia, Zach, and Netta discuss how their plays (Dead Girl's Quinceñera, The Pilon, and Hayward) found their way to full production. Over the last year we have seen new playwrights be produced by larger theatre companies: Phanésia Pharel’s Dead Girl’s Quinceñera is making a triple collective world premiere (Barrington, Goodman Theatre, and Hartford Stage). Zach Barr’s The Pilon produced by Red Theatre, won the ATCA New Play award. Netta Walker’s Hayward is debuting at Steppenwolf Theatre, presented by The Gift…

A play reading of THE OUTSIDER by Paul Slade Smith produced by Exit, Pursued by a Play Reading. Drama critic Mortimer Brewster’s engagement announcement is upended when he discovers a corpse in his elderly aunts’ window seat. Mortimer rushes to tell Abby and Martha before they stumble upon the body themselves, only to learn that the two old women aren’t just aware of the dead man in their parlor, they killed him! Between his aunts’ penchant for poisoning wine, a…

a modern guide for moving sex and boundaries past rigid rules and toward real connection, personal fulfillment, and self-discovery. ABOUT THE BOOK Essential, up-to-date guidance on consent and sex for anyone who’s having it—and everyone who wants to do it better. Empowered practices, embodied skills, and frame-changing advice for navigating consent, pursuing pleasure, and building connection in the real world. Part practical guide, part cultural critique, this book offers braver, more creative, and more empowered visions of what sex can…

About This Event We spent a year building something. Now we’re celebrating it the only way we know how: by gathering everyone we love in a room for a night of community. (X)tra is (X) Collective’s first annual anniversary cabaret, built specifically for work that refuses to play it safe. Bold performances. Wild moments. Artists doing the thing they’ve been waiting for someone to give them the room to do. Artists operating at the edge of what they know how to…