Fresh produce 2024
A Celebration of New Plays ABOUT Women
August 11- September 1, 2024
All readings are at 7:30pm
Location: Rivendell Theatre Ensemble
5779 N. Ridge, Chicago
Very Blue Light
By Daphne Silbiger
Director: Ensemble member Kristen Osborn
Public Reading: Sunday, August 11
Gorgeous
By Keiko Green
Director: Helen Young
Public Reading: Friday, August 16
the live in(n)
By Gloria Imseih Petrelli
Director: Azar Kazemi
Public Reading: Sunday, August 25
Nina/Violetta
By Monica West
Director: Ensemble member Devon de Mayo
Public Reading: Sunday, September 1
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All prices are a SUGGESTED DONATION.
We have suggested two price levels - $10 and $25, but please feel free to offer any amount you'd like.
We are thrilled to announce the 2024 return of Rivendell Theatre Ensemble’s annual Fresh Produce: New Plays with Women+ at the Core. Originally launched in 2004, Rivendell has long cultivated the notion that thoughtfully planting new artistic seeds wields the richest harvest. Our Fresh Produce series is known for risky, innovative, and compelling new work. During each series, our staff curates an exciting slate of new projects to be nurtured through an intensive, developmental workshop process.
Each project culminates in a public sharing with the opportunity for a moderated dialogue between artists and audience. We hope you will join us as we sow the seeds of original new work about women+ once again! *This year, our festival mission utilizes the term “women+” to better capture an expansive definition of gender across the spectrum. To read our full gender identity statement, please visit our homepage.
Festival Staff
Artistic Producer - Caroline Michele Uy
Casting Director - Glenn-Dale Obrero +
Festival Assistants - Ema Kester, Dana Pepowski
Intern - Emma Burkey
Very Blue Light
Daphne Silbiger
Playwright
Kristen Osborn +
Director
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Johnathan L. Green
Dramaturg
Photo Credit: Joe Mazza
Marfa, TX, 2022--Magna was likely abducted by aliens, but her friends don't believe her. She seeks out the fabled Marfa Mystery Lights hoping for answers, and discovers that the secrets of the cosmos are both monumentally far-reaching and disarmingly mundane. VERY BLUE LIGHT uses centuries-old West Texas lore to draw connections between isolation and doubt in trans* experiences, the work of revisiting relationships, and cultural narratives around extraterrestrial encounters.
CAST:
Magna - Jeff Rodriguez
Angela - Andi Muriel +
Coleman - Jack Seijo
Michigan - Collin Quinn Rice
PRODUCTION TEAM:
PLAYWRIGHT: Daphne Silbiger
DIRECTOR: Kristen Osborn +
DRAMATURG: Jonathan L. Green
PROJECTIONS DESIGNER/CONSULTANT: Andres Fiz
*= member of Actor's Equity Association
+= Rivendell Theatre Ensemble Member
READING: Sunday 8/11 at 7:30PM
Gorgeous
Keiko Green
Playwright
Helen Young
Director
Sarah Slight +
Dramaturg
Set in an open garage in suburban Georgia, a young Japanese-American woman named Jenny goes head-to-head with Bernie, who seems more like a tornado than a woman, in an all-out brawl after the death of Bill, an old, miserable, asshole-turned-Saint. The item in question? Bill's English bulldog, Gorgeous. This dramedy set in the not-so-romanticized South asks: who gets to change their story?
CAST
Jenny Ikeda - Mi Kang
Bernie Dwyer - Tara Mallen +*
Stage Directions/Announcers - Anna Joy Yee
PRODUCTION TEAM
PLAYWRIGHT: Keiko Green
DIRECTOR: Helen Young
STAGE MANAGER: Lucy Whipp*
DRAMATURG: Sarah Slight+
*= member of Actor's Equity Association
+= Rivendell Theatre Ensemble Member
READING: Friday, 8/16 at 7:30PM
the live in(n)
Gloria Imseih Petrelli
Playwright
Azar Kazemi
Director
Maiya Corral
Dramaturg
The Ayad-Eklunds have the best domestic team ever: Bruna the nanny (by day, freelance reporter by night), and Chimalli the cook (by night, photojournalist by day). When Bruna starts reporting on The Just Tax, which would increase taxes for the top 5% and redistribute to everyone else, it hits a bit close to home. It seems though, the Ayad-Ecklund home may hit back…
CAST
Bruna El-Khoury - Shadee Vossoughi*
Hala Ayad-Eklund - Dana Omar*
Anders Eklund - Will Burdin
Chimalli Hernandez - Eduardo Curley-Carrillo*
PRODUCTION TEAM
PLAYWRIGHT: Gloria Imseih Petrelli
DIRECTOR: Azar Kazemi
DRAMATURG: Maiya Corral
SOUND DESIGN/CONSULTANT: Aidan Eubanks
*= member of Actor's Equity Association
+= Rivendell Theatre Ensemble Member
READING: Sunday, 8/25 at 7:30pm
Nina/Violetta
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Monica West
Playwright
Devon de Mayo+
Director
Tanya Palmer
Dramaturg
It’s been ten years since Nina left opera to raise her family. At forty-five, and against all odds, her dazzling comeback appears: a debut at The Met in La Traviata, performing the coveted leading role: Violetta. The opportunity dangles before Nina, and she dives into a dark fairytale where she’s forced to choose between her deepest passions: her family and her artistry.
CAST
Nina - Rebecca Spence +*
Violetta - Cruz Gonzalez-Cadel*
PRODUCTION TEAM
PLAYWRIGHT: Monica West
DIRECTOR: Devon de Mayo+
DRAMATURG: Tanya Palmer
MUSICIAN: Emma Rothfield
READING: SUNDAY, 9/1 at 7:30PM
Folded Map Residency
Quenna Lené Barrett
Lead Artist
Tonika Lewis Johnson
Lead Artist
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Brit Cooper Robinson
Artistic Producer
Tanya Ward
Artistic Producer
This year, Rivendell Theatre gathers a group of talented, eclectic artists from across disciplines to devise a new theatrical piece, inspired by the multimedia art installation, Folded Map™ by Chicago native photographer, Tonika Lewis Johnson, which explores the results of segregation in the city by bringing together residents who live at corresponding addresses on the
North and South sides of Chicago. The core artists will be in residency together during the duration of Fresh Produce, listening, sharing, and building the piece from the ground up, with a public sharing in September 2024. Full details to be announced.