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X-WR-CALDESC:Events for The Understudy
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260921T193000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260921T220000
DTSTAMP:20260921T150307
CREATED:20260916T133808Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260921T051204Z
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SUMMARY:Ramallah by Kayla Karnesky
DESCRIPTION:Set in 1950s Ramallah\, Palestine\, the play follows a young woman coming of age as she discovers love\, family\, independence\, and adulthood.\n\n\nSet in 1950s Ramallah\, Palestine\, the play follows a young woman coming of age as she discovers love\, family\, independence\, and adulthood. Through the everyday lives of Margo and her loved ones around her\, the play explores what it means to grow up\, fall in love\, build a life\, and hold onto hope while the world around you is changing. Ramallah is a story about ordinary people trying to live ordinary lives in extraordinary circumstances. \nPlaywright: Kayla Karnesky \nDirector: Gloria Imseih Petrelli \nDramaturg: Krystal Ortiz \nStage Directions: Amal Salem \nMargo: Joelle Denhof \nAziza: Marielle Issa \nOmar: Abbas Salem \nSamir: Zakaria Senan \nNadia: Tina El Gamal \nAsad: Arash Fakhrabadi \n \nFreshly Brewed Team: \nNadya Naumaan – Co-Artistic Producer \nJoel Willison – Co-Artistic Producer \nAmanda Arany – Associate Producer \nKaeli Maeno – Associate Producer \nAdam Crawford – The Understudy Co-Owner \nDanny Fender – The Understudy Co-Owner
URL:https://theunderstudy.com/event/ramallah-by-kayla-karnesky/
LOCATION:The Understudy Coffee and Books\, 5531 N. Clark St.\, Chicago\, IL\, 60640\, United States
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260923T193000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260923T220000
DTSTAMP:20260921T150307
CREATED:20260904T041058Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260916T044114Z
UID:10000286-1790191800-1790200800@theunderstudy.com
SUMMARY:FEM/THEM Comedy Open Mic at The Understudy
DESCRIPTION:If you identify as funny and not-a-dude-onstage\, this is your night diva! Hosted by Preeti Thaker\n\n\nPreeti & Jordan present: A Comedy Open Mic for Women + Non-Binary Comics!\nIf you identify as funny and not-a-dude-onstage\, this is your night diva! \n  \nWHAT’S THE PLAN?\n• 7:30 PM — arrive responsibly early\, wonder what the vibe is gonna be like. Support the space by buying a drink! \n• 8:00 PM — the mic starts\, the chaos begins \n• Sign-ups close at 9 PM because of boundaries \n  \nSET DETAILS\n• 4 minutes of pure lightning \n• 5 minutes if you buy a drink — please support and tip our bartenders ♥️ \n  \nCAN MEN ATTEND?\nOf course! \nMen can sit\, watch\, hydrate\, clap\, and support women (a skill we’d love to see more of) \nWe kindly ask that you practice not-mansplaining \nIf you feel a mansplanation rising in your throat\, please swallow it \n  \nANYTHING ELSE?\nBring the vibes baby! This is our first time doing a comedy open mic and we’d love to make it a tradition. Come through! \n  \nxx \nPreeti & Jordan
URL:https://theunderstudy.com/event/fem-them-comedy-open-mic-at-the-understudy-9/
LOCATION:The Understudy Coffee and Books\, 5531 N. Clark St.\, Chicago\, IL\, 60640\, United States
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260928T193000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260928T210000
DTSTAMP:20260921T150307
CREATED:20260817T032557Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260916T044116Z
UID:10000275-1790623800-1790629200@theunderstudy.com
SUMMARY:The Understudy Dares You to Produce This Play: Poor Clare
DESCRIPTION:A monthly reading series highlighting plays that have not yet been produced in Chicago\n\n\nThe 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. \n \nThis month\, we’re reading Poor Clare by Chiara Atik \nClare: Felicia Oduh  \nBeatrice: John-Payne \nFrancis: Andrew Shipman \nAlma: Jordan Levene \nPeppa: Preeti Thaker \nOrtolana: Mari De La Rua \nThe Poor/Beggar: Izzy Valdes \n \nAbout the Play \nIt’s 1211 in Assisi\, Italy\, and Clare’s got beauty\, wealth and a rich suitor who showers her with expensive presents. So why is she so drawn to this guy Francis who gave up all his possessions just because poor people are suffering? Everyone in town says he’s crazy. And yet… she starts seeing everything in her life differently. This hilarious\, anachronistic telling of the real story of St. Clare considers the cost of doing good – and how little has changed for the haves and the have-nots in almost a millennium.
URL:https://theunderstudy.com/event/the-understudy-dares-you-to-produce-this-play-poor-clare/
LOCATION:The Understudy Coffee and Books\, 5531 N. Clark St.\, Chicago\, IL\, 60640\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://theunderstudy.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/0bf3fde215661c504ff1998019148afe-u0zxDi.tmp_.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260929T193000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260929T220000
DTSTAMP:20260921T150307
CREATED:20260918T161432Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260921T051206Z
UID:10000291-1790710200-1790719200@theunderstudy.com
SUMMARY:New Playwrights/Established Companies: The Path to Production
DESCRIPTION:Phanésia\, Zach\, and Netta discuss how their plays (Dead Girl's Quinceñera\, The Pilon\, and Hayward) found their way to full production.\n\n\nOver the last year we have seen new playwrights be produced by larger theatre companies: \nPhanésia Pharel’s Dead Girl’s Quinceñera is making a triple collective world premiere (Barrington\, Goodman Theatre\, and Hartford Stage). \nZach Barr’s The Pilon produced by Red Theatre\, won the ATCA New Play award. \nNetta Walker’s Hayward is debuting at Steppenwolf Theatre\, presented by The Gift Theatre. \nJoin us as we talk about the steps of taking their pieces to production\, asking how long the plays were developed\, what pushed the play to production\, how did you pitch/represent your play to new audience members\, and what is the history of your plays development? \nWho are the playwrights? \nPhanésia Pharel \nPhanésia Pharel is a Haitian-American playwright and screenwriter from a dragon fruit farm in Miami. She is the daughter of an immigrant teacher and farmer. \nHer play DEAD GIRL’S QUINCEÑERA is making a triple collective world premiere. It will then run at the Goodman September 26th-November 1st and conclude its world premiere at Hartford Stage in spring 2027. It recently closed our Barrington run. \nShe recently made her Off-Broadway debut at the WP Theater with her play The Waterfall\, which was co-produced by Thrown Stone. \nShe is the Playwriting Fellow (2025–2027) at Emory University\, where she serves as a visiting professor and will have a new play produced by the university’s repertory company. \nHer plays have been developed at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Playwrights Conference\, New Harmony Project\, Playwrights’ Center\, New York Stage and Film\, SolFest\, Shattered Globe\, and Echo Theater Company. \nShe has received commissions from the Atlantic Theater Company\, Lucille Lortel Theatre (Alcove)\, La Jolla Playhouse\, Miranda Family Fund\, Hero Theatre\, City Theatre Miami\, and the Latinx Playwrights Circle. \nPhanésia is a member of the Obie Award-winning EST/Youngblood group and The Wish Collective. As a screenwriter\, she is an alumna of Lena Waithe’s Hillman Grad Screenwriting Lab. \nShe holds a B.A. in Urban Studies from Barnard College of Columbia University and an MFA in Playwriting from the University of California San Diego. \n \nZach Barr \nZach Barr (they/them) is a nonbinary multidisciplinary theatre artist. Their plays include THE PILON (2026 Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award Winner)\, ENDURING JEST (2026 O’Neill Conference Semi-Finalist)\, NEW OLEANNA (2024 LiveArts Waterworks Finalist)\, and QUINLYN CAN PAINT. They’ve completed residencies with Three Brothers Theatre and Filament Theatre\, are a two-time semi-finalist for Seven Devils New Play Foundry and a two-time honorable mention for Wild Imaginings’ Epiphanies festival\, and have had work developed by Valdez Theatre Conference\, Bramble Theatre Company\, Black Cat Theatre\, and Fat Theatre Project. Zach serves as Literary Manager at Red Theater\, curating the new play reading series “Script Club\,” and is the creator of the video essay series “And Now They Sing” on YouTube. They are a proud member of the Dramatists Guild. Find them on NPX. @admiralzachbarr \n \nNetta Walker \nNetta Walker is an actor and playwright that began her career onstage in Chicago 10 years ago as the Rose of Sharon understudy at The Gift Theater for “The Grapes of Wrath”. Now she is known for starring as Keisha McCalla in “All American: Homecoming” and “All American” on The CW for 3 seasons. In 2019\, she won a Jeff Award for “Best Supporting Performance in a Play” (“Yen”\, Raven Theater) and was quickly named one of the Chicago Tribune’s “Hot New Faces” by theater critic Chris Jones. \nShe studied playwriting at The LIR at Trinity College for a year while simultaneously taking acting classes at RADA. As a writer in the Pearl Cleage writers workshop with the Tony Award winning Goodman Theater and Remy Bumppo Theater Company\, she began developing Hayward – which was chosen as a Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference 2025 Semifinalist. Her play keerah was selected as a winner in Definition Theaters’ 2024 AMPLIFY New Play Festival\, where it is set to be workshopped for two years. keerah has also been performed in scratch nights in London with Irish speaking casts. Her Filipino short film Balik won the Horror/Thriller short script category at Hollywood Just4Shorts Film and Screenplay competition\, as well as being selected for London Film Festival International and Edinburgh FFI. This was swiftly followed by her short script Baby Gay being selected for the Chicago Script Awards and as a Cambridge Script Festival finalist (LGBTQ Screenplay). Both shorts were selected for the Best Script Awards screenplay competition in London in the same year. Walker was also chosen to pitch her original feminist dystopian series House of Dixie at the American Cinemtheque’s Proof of Concept Film Festival in LA in 2024 – it then went on to be selected as a Quarterfinalist for WeScreenplays’ Diverse Voices Lab Spring 2025. She is now adapting it for stage. \nChicago onstage acting credits include: Lion in Winter (Court Theater)\, How to Defend Yourself (Victory Gardens\, original cast); Yen (Raven Theatre\, Jeff Award for Best Supporting Actor); Hamlet\, Grapes of Wrath (The Gift); No Child (Definition Theatre); Continuity (Goodman); truth and reconciliation (Sideshow Theatre Company); Great Expectations (Silk Road Rising/Remy Bumppo); The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley (Northlight\, original cast) and in workshops and reading series with companies like Steppenwolf Theater\, Jackalope Theater\, and Pride Films and Plays. Regional: Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley (Milwaukee Rep). \nBorn and raised on the Florida/Georgia line in the Westside of Jacksonville\, Florida\, her unique background as a child of an immigrant and a Navy Chief influences every decision of storytelling she makes. The blended cultures of Cebuano Filipina and traditional Southern African-American heritage — fuels her passion for creating multicultural\, multilayered and nuanced representation of the human condition in the arts. \n \nThis event is moderated by Joel Willison
URL:https://theunderstudy.com/event/new-playwrights-established-companies-the-path-to-production/
LOCATION:The Understudy Coffee and Books\, 5531 N. Clark St.\, Chicago\, IL\, 60640\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://theunderstudy.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/164283c4404504912ecde42e6f8b51ac-T9zRL7.tmp_.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260930T193000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260930T220000
DTSTAMP:20260921T150307
CREATED:20260917T001800Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260917T001800Z
UID:10000289-1790796600-1790805600@theunderstudy.com
SUMMARY:A Toast to Poetry with Muffy Films
DESCRIPTION:
URL:https://theunderstudy.com/event/a-toast-to-poetry-with-muffy-films/
LOCATION:The Understudy Coffee and Books\, 5531 N. Clark St.\, Chicago\, IL\, 60640\, United States
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