Our Events
We’ve designed The Understudy from the ground up to support a variety of events. Join us after close for play readings, drag performances, concerts, meetups, and more! The calendar is always updating, so check back often.
The Understudy believes curiosity is a powerful, generative force for transformation. We seek to feed our collective creative lives by nourishing deep curiosity– whether toward your own vision, or through engaging generously with the work of another. We see curiosity, empathy, and justice as interdependent ideals. Our work seeks to foster deeper connections to our passions, our neighbors, and to contemporary life.
We’re always on the lookout for new ways to share our space and bring creative people together. If you have an idea for a new one-off event or series at The Understudy, please fill out the form below. Please note that we give priority to theatre related events, and, though we really want to, we can’t accommodate every request. Let’s chat!
recurring series
ARSENIC AND OLD LACE by by Joseph Kesselring
October 5 @ 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
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 […]
ARSENIC AND OLD LACE by by Joseph Kesselring
October 5 @ 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Mia Schachter: How to Do Consent (without Sounding Like a Robot)
October 8 @ 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm
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 […]
Mia Schachter: How to Do Consent (without Sounding Like a Robot)
October 8 @ 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm
Re:working – Elements of Surprise: Specialized Design
October 15 @ 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Join Matt, Megan, Alice, & Ethan as we discuss their wide-ranging careers and visions around specialized designs that surprise and amaze us. When was the last time you gasped in […]
Re:working – Elements of Surprise: Specialized Design
October 15 @ 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Re:working – Elements of Surprise: Specialized Design
October 15 @ 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Join Matt, Megan, Alice, & Ethan as we discuss their wide-ranging careers and visions around specialized designs that surprise and amaze us. When was the last time you gasped in […]
Re:working – Elements of Surprise: Specialized Design
October 15 @ 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
(X)tra: An Anniversary Cabaret
October 22 @ 7:30 pm – 10:00 pm
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 […]
(X)tra: An Anniversary Cabaret
October 22 @ 7:30 pm – 10:00 pm
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[post_content] => 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 brother who thinks he’s Teddy Roosevelt, and another brother using plastic surgery to hide from the police – not to mention Mortimer’s own hesitancy about marriage – it’ll be a miracle if Mortimer makes it to his wedding. Arsenic and Old Lace is a classic dark comedy about the only thing more deadly than poison: family.
** CAST TO BE ANNOUNCED **
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[post_content] => 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 (and should) be. Essential reading for anyone having sex in the 21st century, How to Do Consent moves the conversation past stale and rigid assumptions toward one rooted in connection, fulfillment, and self-discovery.
Timely, provocative, real-world, and affirming, Schachter’s work dispels misconceptions like:
- “Consent can be done perfectly”: When in practice, it’s relative, subjective, fluid, and interpersonal—there’s no one right way to do it.
- “If you can’t talk about sex, you shouldn’t be having it”: Abstinence lite is unrealistic; talking about sex requires experience, trial, and error.
- “Consent will save us”: Consent is a harm-reduction strategy, not a panacea.
- “Enthusiasm is a requirement for consensual sex”: Utterly unenthusiastic but totally consensual sex happens all the time. It’s fine!
- “Consent is something that men do for women”: It’s a shared, communal responsibility—and anyone of any gender can violate another’s’ boundaries.
- “Sexuality is always innate and unchangeable”: While honoring the reality that many are “born this way,” Schachter shares how their own desires and sexuality have been both fluid and actively sculpted.
Grounded in Schachter’s work as an intimacy coordinator and consent educator—and informed by insights from sex workers, therapists, kink practitioners, and community leaders—How to Do Consent (Without Sounding Like a Robot) offers a provocative and bitingly funny alternative to the myths and practices that keep us silent, confused, anxious, and disconnected—and that hold us back from asking for (and discovering) what we really want.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mia Schachter is a writer, multi-media artist and musician, and the creator of Consent Wizardry, an online consent school serving over a thousand students seeking more easeful relationships, clearer boundaries, and authentic self-expression. Mia also works as an intimacy coordinator for TV, film, and theater. They’ve taught and spoken for organizations including Planned Parenthood, XBiz, and the Directors Guild’s Women’s Steering Committee. Drawing on a background in philosophy, gender studies, ethics, and neuroscience—as well as their lived experience with chronic illness—Schachter explores consent as a creative, anti-carceral practice that links body, desire, and imagination.
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[post_content] => Join Matt, Megan, Alice, & Ethan as we discuss their wide-ranging careers and visions around specialized designs that surprise and amaze us.When was the last time you gasped in a Chicago theatre? Chances are, one of these folks had something to do with it. Join Matt, Megan, Alice, and Ethan as we discuss their wide-ranging careers and visions around specialized designs that surprise and amaze audiences. Together, we’ll lift the curtain on their creative processes which span meticulous puppetry, sharp physical theatre and movement, exhilarating new music, haunting sound, and delightful wig/costume/makeup design. Alongside guest moderator Joel, we’ll be answering how COVID affected their creative ideas and career paths, their optimal spaces to design, how they would approach their career if they were entering the industry today, and much more!
Re:working Chicago Theatre is a new roundtable series to follow up on long-standing challenges faced by local creatives and forge ahead with renewed perspectives and solutions. This partnership between Pocket Theatre, The Understudy Coffee + Books, and American Theatre magazine aims to serve an ecosystem which finds itself at a crossroads and foster connections across specializations and companies. Each month, Gabriela Furtado Coutinho welcomes four theatre folks to The Understudy in Andersonville to confront distinct issues in a warm, community-driven setting. These guests are selected from a public nomination form, linked here.
Matthew Yee
Matthew Yee (he/him) is a playwright, composer, actor, and musician living in Chicago, IL. Much of his work focuses on the Asian American experience, and features actor-musicianship, movement, and puppetry.
His original musical Lucy And Charlie’s Honeymoon premiered at Lookingglass Theatre in 2023, where he is an ensemble member. His new play White Rooster, which transposes Chinese folklore into an Americana setting, will have its world premiere this spring at Lookingglass. Lookingglass acting credits include: Treasure Island, Moby Dick, and Lucy and Charlie’s Honeymoon. He has performed at Writers Theatre, Steppenwolf, Court Theatre, Paramount, Berkeley Rep, The Old Globe, Alliance Theatre, and on Broadway in Almost Famous: The Musical.
Megan E. Pirtle
Megan E. Pirtle is a Chicago based theatre artist specialized in wig, costume, and makeup design. Megan is passionate about using her art to tell stories, especially those that will engage diverse audiences and challenge society. As a designer dedicated to the collaborative art of theatre, she has studied many facets of theatrical production including costume construction, costume crafts, and prosthetics.
With these skills she has worked with many theatres across Chicagoland including Lookingglass Theatre, Marriott Theatre, Paramount Theatre, TimeLine Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, Northlight Theatre, Writer’s Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Raven Theatre, Drury Lane Theatre, Court Theatre, Albany Park Theatre Project, Chicago Children’s Theatre, Music Theatre Works, Lyric Opera, Haymarket Opera and more.
A graduate of The Theatre School at DePaul University, she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in both Costume Design & Costume Technology. She is also a licensed cosmetologist in Illinois and a graduate of the Tricoci University of Beauty Culture.
In 2023, Megan was the recipient of the Michael Merritt Emerging Technical Collaborator Award
Today Megan continues to freelance, while also serving as an administrator for the Chicago Costume Community and adjunct instructor to Wig, Hair, and Makeup Design students at DePaul University.
For more, visit meganpirtledesign.com
Alice Da Cunha
ALICE DA CUNHA is a Brazilian/Portuguese actress, director and producer who has worked in Portugal, the UK and the US. She is a Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director of Physical Theater Festival, an international contemporary, visual and physical theater festival that
happens in Chicago every year. Her past experiences working in festivals include: Marketing Director, CASA (London's Latin American Theatre Festival); Producer/Presenter/Curator, Shortcutz London(weekly short film festival); Production Assistant, Todos Festival (an
interdisciplinary festival in Lisbon, Portugal); Hospitality, Chicago Latino Film Festival. A brief list of her acting credits include: United Flight 232 (House Theater) -Jeff Award for Best Ensemble & Midsize Production-, La Ruta (Steppenwolf Theater), The Clean House (Remy Bumppo) & This Much is True (Theater 503, UK). Recent directing credits include: The Crone Chronicles (Pride Arts Chicago; PhysFest NYC) and Co-Direction of The Dream King (Teatro Vista) - Jeff Award Nomination for Best Direction and POTUS (Loyola University). Alice is also an Artistic Consultant to Theater Unspeakable and Adjunct Professor at Loyola University.
Ethan Korvne
Ethan Korvne is a composer and sound designer from Akron, OH and based in Chicago. CHICAGO: Court Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, A Red Orchid Theatre, Chicago Children’s Theatre, Raven Theatre, About Face Theatre, Refracted Theatre Company, Northwestern University. REGIONAL: Kansas City Repertory Theatre, American Players Theatre, Peninsula Players, Illinois Shakespeare Festival. UPCOMING: Feast! (Goodman Theatre). He is a four-time Joseph Jefferson Award winner and a six-time nominee. Ethan graduated from The Theatre School at DePaul University with a BFA in Sound Design. He believes in theatre that draws a diverse audience, plays that challenge and thrill, and work that puts a spotlight on perspectives that rarely receive enough attention. Listen to his work and more at: ethankorvne.com
Facilitated by:
Joel Willison
Joel (he/him) is the Artistic Director for Pocket and the co-founding Artistic Producer of Freshly Brewed, inc., Direct Address, and Re:working. He is also a company member of Theatre L’Acadie, Playground Chicago and created the Chicago Artist Database.
Joel has built partnerships with The Neofuturists, Steppenwolf Theatre, Raven Theatre, Understudy Coffee and Books, Theatre L’Acadie, Goodman Theatre, Bramble Theatre, and American Theatre through programs he has created.
Recent directing credits include work with Jackalope Theatre, Shattered Globe Theatre, Filament Theatre, Theatre L’Acadie, Definition Theatre, Refracted Theatre Company, The Runaways Lab Theater, Playground Chicago, Haven, Ghostlight Theatre Ensemble, Stage Left Theatre, and Chicago Dramatists. In 2023, he was selected for Directors Haven 6.
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[post_content] => Join Matt, Megan, Alice, & Ethan as we discuss their wide-ranging careers and visions around specialized designs that surprise and amaze us.When was the last time you gasped in a Chicago theatre? Chances are, one of these folks had something to do with it. Join Matt, Megan, Alice, and Ethan as we discuss their wide-ranging careers and visions around specialized designs that surprise and amaze audiences. Together, we’ll lift the curtain on their creative processes which span meticulous puppetry, sharp physical theatre and movement, exhilarating new music, haunting sound, and delightful wig/costume/makeup design. Alongside guest moderator Joel, we’ll be answering how COVID affected their creative ideas and career paths, their optimal spaces to design, how they would approach their career if they were entering the industry today, and much more!
Re:working Chicago Theatre is a new roundtable series to follow up on long-standing challenges faced by local creatives and forge ahead with renewed perspectives and solutions. This partnership between Pocket Theatre, The Understudy Coffee + Books, and American Theatre magazine aims to serve an ecosystem which finds itself at a crossroads and foster connections across specializations and companies. Each month, Gabriela Furtado Coutinho welcomes four theatre folks to The Understudy in Andersonville to confront distinct issues in a warm, community-driven setting. These guests are selected from a public nomination form, linked here.
Matthew Yee
Matthew Yee (he/him) is a playwright, composer, actor, and musician living in Chicago, IL. Much of his work focuses on the Asian American experience, and features actor-musicianship, movement, and puppetry.
His original musical Lucy And Charlie’s Honeymoon premiered at Lookingglass Theatre in 2023, where he is an ensemble member. His new play White Rooster, which transposes Chinese folklore into an Americana setting, will have its world premiere this spring at Lookingglass. Lookingglass acting credits include: Treasure Island, Moby Dick, and Lucy and Charlie’s Honeymoon. He has performed at Writers Theatre, Steppenwolf, Court Theatre, Paramount, Berkeley Rep, The Old Globe, Alliance Theatre, and on Broadway in Almost Famous: The Musical.
Megan E. Pirtle
Megan E. Pirtle is a Chicago based theatre artist specialized in wig, costume, and makeup design. Megan is passionate about using her art to tell stories, especially those that will engage diverse audiences and challenge society. As a designer dedicated to the collaborative art of theatre, she has studied many facets of theatrical production including costume construction, costume crafts, and prosthetics.
With these skills she has worked with many theatres across Chicagoland including Lookingglass Theatre, Marriott Theatre, Paramount Theatre, TimeLine Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, Northlight Theatre, Writer’s Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Raven Theatre, Drury Lane Theatre, Court Theatre, Albany Park Theatre Project, Chicago Children’s Theatre, Music Theatre Works, Lyric Opera, Haymarket Opera and more.
A graduate of The Theatre School at DePaul University, she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in both Costume Design & Costume Technology. She is also a licensed cosmetologist in Illinois and a graduate of the Tricoci University of Beauty Culture.
In 2023, Megan was the recipient of the Michael Merritt Emerging Technical Collaborator Award
Today Megan continues to freelance, while also serving as an administrator for the Chicago Costume Community and adjunct instructor to Wig, Hair, and Makeup Design students at DePaul University.
For more, visit meganpirtledesign.com
Alice Da Cunha
ALICE DA CUNHA is a Brazilian/Portuguese actress, director and producer who has worked in Portugal, the UK and the US. She is a Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director of Physical Theater Festival, an international contemporary, visual and physical theater festival that
happens in Chicago every year. Her past experiences working in festivals include: Marketing Director, CASA (London's Latin American Theatre Festival); Producer/Presenter/Curator, Shortcutz London(weekly short film festival); Production Assistant, Todos Festival (an
interdisciplinary festival in Lisbon, Portugal); Hospitality, Chicago Latino Film Festival. A brief list of her acting credits include: United Flight 232 (House Theater) -Jeff Award for Best Ensemble & Midsize Production-, La Ruta (Steppenwolf Theater), The Clean House (Remy Bumppo) & This Much is True (Theater 503, UK). Recent directing credits include: The Crone Chronicles (Pride Arts Chicago; PhysFest NYC) and Co-Direction of The Dream King (Teatro Vista) - Jeff Award Nomination for Best Direction and POTUS (Loyola University). Alice is also an Artistic Consultant to Theater Unspeakable and Adjunct Professor at Loyola University.
Ethan Korvne
Ethan Korvne is a composer and sound designer from Akron, OH and based in Chicago. CHICAGO: Court Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, A Red Orchid Theatre, Chicago Children’s Theatre, Raven Theatre, About Face Theatre, Refracted Theatre Company, Northwestern University. REGIONAL: Kansas City Repertory Theatre, American Players Theatre, Peninsula Players, Illinois Shakespeare Festival. UPCOMING: Feast! (Goodman Theatre). He is a four-time Joseph Jefferson Award winner and a six-time nominee. Ethan graduated from The Theatre School at DePaul University with a BFA in Sound Design. He believes in theatre that draws a diverse audience, plays that challenge and thrill, and work that puts a spotlight on perspectives that rarely receive enough attention. Listen to his work and more at: ethankorvne.com
Facilitated by:
Joel Willison
Joel (he/him) is the Artistic Director for Pocket and the co-founding Artistic Producer of Freshly Brewed, inc., Direct Address, and Re:working. He is also a company member of Theatre L’Acadie and Playground Chicago and created the Chicago Artist Database.
Joel has built partnerships with The Neofuturists, Steppenwolf Theatre, Raven Theatre, Understudy Coffee and Books, Theatre L’Acadie, Goodman Theatre, Bramble Theatre, and American Theatre through programs he has created.
Recent directing credits include work with Jackalope Theatre, Shattered Globe Theatre, The Goodman Theatre, Filament Theatre, Theatre L’Acadie, Definition Theatre, Refracted Theatre Company, The Runaways Lab Theater, Playground Chicago, Haven, Ghostlight Theatre Ensemble, Stage Left Theatre, and Chicago Dramatists. In 2023, he was selected for Directors Haven 6.
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[post_content] => 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 do, and doing it anyway, in community.
This is not a showcase of finished, polished, already-approved work. This is a space for artists to bring both their most vibrant ideas and also their most incomplete ones. This is the space to fail and to be bold without apology.
Whether you're there to perform or affirm, (X)tra is an evening to revel in imperfection, honor each other's ability to risk loudly, and celebrate the spirit of creativity.
What to Expect
An evening of cabaret performances, community, and unabashed celebration, featuring artists operating at the edge of what they know how to do, and doing it anyway. Between acts, the room stays open. This is a gathering as much as it is a show, and the conversation is part of the programming.
(X)tra is also a fundraiser for (X) Collective's second year... because the best way to invest in this community is to be in the room together, in the very act of it.
Buy Your Ticket Here!
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A Toast To Poetry with Muffy Films
September 30 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Join MFP & The Understudy to hear poets read their latest works while enjoying a glass of wine that complements their poems. Come enjoy a night of poetry and wine […]
A Toast To Poetry with Muffy Films
September 30 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
New Playwrights/Established Companies: The Path to Production
September 29 @ 7:30 pm – 10:00 pm
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 […]
New Playwrights/Established Companies: The Path to Production
September 29 @ 7:30 pm – 10:00 pm
The Understudy Dares You to Produce This Play: Poor Clare
September 28 @ 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm
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 […]
The Understudy Dares You to Produce This Play: Poor Clare
September 28 @ 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm
FEM/THEM Comedy Open Mic at The Understudy
September 23 @ 7:30 pm – 10:00 pm
If you identify as funny and not-a-dude-onstage, this is your night diva! Hosted by Preeti Thaker Preeti & Jordan present: A Comedy Open Mic for Women + Non-Binary Comics! If […]
FEM/THEM Comedy Open Mic at The Understudy
September 23 @ 7:30 pm – 10:00 pm
Ramallah by Kayla Karnesky
September 21 @ 7:30 pm – 10:00 pm
Set in 1950s Ramallah, Palestine, the play follows a young woman coming of age as she discovers love, family, independence, and adulthood. Set in 1950s Ramallah, Palestine, the play follows […]
Ramallah by Kayla Karnesky
September 21 @ 7:30 pm – 10:00 pm
Midsommer Flight presents: Adelinda by Hannah Brand
September 14 @ 7:30 pm – 10:00 pm
A reading of Adelinda – a comedy that offers audiences a witty and entertaining exploration of love, intrigue, and mistaken identities. Adelinda by Hannah Brand Directed by Joshua Pennington Cast […]
Midsommer Flight presents: Adelinda by Hannah Brand
September 14 @ 7:30 pm – 10:00 pm
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[post_content] => Join MFP & The Understudy to hear poets read their latest works while enjoying a glass of wine that complements their poems.
Come enjoy a night of poetry and wine as we raise funds for our upcoming film, The Unhappy Poet.
We'll be discussing the film, sampling some delicious wine, and featuring poets Ash Kimble, Authoress Reya Sunshine, and Vanessa Chisakula. We will also have Q&As after each set.
We can't wait to see you there!
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[post_content] => 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 Theatre.
Join 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 play's development?
Who are the playwrights?
Phanésia Pharel
Phanésia 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.
Her 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.
She recently made her Off-Broadway debut at the WP Theater with her play The Waterfall, which was co-produced by Thrown Stone.
She 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.
Her 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.
She 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.
Phanésia 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.
She 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.
Zach Barr
Zach 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
Netta Walker
Netta 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.
She 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.
Chicago 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).
Born 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.
This event is moderated by Joel Willison
[post_title] => New Playwrights/Established Companies: The Path to Production
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[post_date] => 2026-08-16 22:25:57
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[post_content] => A monthly reading series highlighting plays that have not yet been produced in ChicagoThe 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
Ortolana: Mari De La Rua
The Poor/Beggar: Izzy Valdes
About the Play
It’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.
[post_title] => The Understudy Dares You to Produce This Play: Poor Clare
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[post_date] => 2026-09-03 23:10:58
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[post_content] => If you identify as funny and not-a-dude-onstage, this is your night diva! Hosted by Preeti ThakerPreeti & Jordan present: A Comedy Open Mic for Women + Non-Binary Comics!
If you identify as funny and not-a-dude-onstage, this is your night diva!
WHAT’S THE PLAN?
• 7:30 PM — arrive responsibly early, wonder what the vibe is gonna be like. Support the space by buying a drink!
• 8:00 PM — the mic starts, the chaos begins
• Sign-ups close at 9 PM because of boundaries
SET DETAILS
• 4 minutes of pure lightning
• 5 minutes if you buy a drink — please support and tip our bartenders ♥️
CAN MEN ATTEND?
Of course!
Men can sit, watch, hydrate, clap, and support women (a skill we’d love to see more of)
We kindly ask that you practice not-mansplaining
If you feel a mansplanation rising in your throat, please swallow it
ANYTHING ELSE?
Bring the vibes baby! This is our first time doing a comedy open mic and we’d love to make it a tradition. Come through!
xx
Preeti & Jordan
[post_title] => FEM/THEM Comedy Open Mic at The Understudy
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[post_date] => 2026-09-16 08:38:08
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[post_content] => Set in 1950s Ramallah, Palestine, the play follows a young woman coming of age as she discovers love, family, independence, and adulthood.Set 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.
Playwright: Kayla Karnesky
Director: Gloria Imseih Petrelli
Dramaturg: Krystal Ortiz
Stage Directions: Amal Salem
Margo: Joelle Denhof
Aziza: Marielle Issa
Omar: Abbas Salem
Samir: Zakaria Senan
Nadia: Tina El Gamal
Asad: Arash Fakhrabadi
Freshly Brewed Team:
Nadya Naumaan - Co-Artistic Producer
Joel Willison - Co-Artistic Producer
Amanda Arany - Associate Producer
Kaeli Maeno - Associate Producer
Adam Crawford - The Understudy Co-Owner
Danny Fender - The Understudy Co-Owner
[post_title] => Ramallah by Kayla Karnesky
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[post_date] => 2026-08-10 22:25:52
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[post_content] => A reading of Adelinda - a comedy that offers audiences a witty and entertaining exploration of love, intrigue, and mistaken identities.Adelinda by Hannah Brand
Directed by Joshua Pennington
Cast
Adelinda D'Olstain - Ahlora Victoria
Marquis D'Olstain - Barry Irving
Count D'Olstain - Alexander Garza
Marchioness D'Olstain - Hannah Mary Simpson
Strasbourg - Brandon Beach
Zella - Koshie Mills
Dorcas - Brynley Halverson
Flora - Siyi Wang
Synopsis
The willful and rebellious Adelinda is set to marry the wealthy Count D’Olstain – much to her weary parents’ relief. The only problem – Adelinda is already secretly married to a servant! Schemes and mistaken identities abound, lost children are returned, and some snooty parents get a rightful scolding in this comical and quippy caper about the lengths we go to for a happily ever after.
About the Playwright
Hannah Brand (1754-1821) was an English actress, playwright, and poet. She began her career running a prestigious girls’ school with her sister, but by her late 30s, had decided to leave teaching and pursue a life in the theater. She published a book of poetry and plays in 1798, including Adelinda, which seems not to have been performed in her lifetime. In 1794, Brand retired from the stage and returned to the world of education, working as governess. Though her work was tragically overlooked in her time, she is considered by many modern historians to be a pioneering figure in eighteenth-century drama.
Tickets are pay-what-you-can! You can buy a ticket through the donation section.
[post_title] => Midsommer Flight presents: Adelinda by Hannah Brand
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