UIC Theatre - Reverb

2020–2021 THEATRE SEASON

A need for reckoning, a need for change...

Truth can be scary. It can leave us in a world of confusion and mix up our core beliefs.

It can wake us from the comfort of what we believe is real, test our discipline, move us, calibrate our direction, and bring relief.

Join us this theatre season to experience new perspectives with stories of historic movements, courage, fear, and loss that reveal a need for change in the reality we live today.

The 2020–2021 Mainstage Theatre season is dedicated to the memory of William “Bill” Raffeld, Associate Professor Emeritus, and UIC alumni class of 1955, in honor of his 57 years of teaching and dedication to UIC performing arts, who passed away in May of 2020.

Contributions may be made to the William F. Raffeld Award at UIC Chicago, https://theatreandmusic.uic.edu/donate Locate UIC William F. Raffeld Award, SAUIC, and follow instructions; or, checks payable of the University of Illinois Foundation, and mailed to: 1305 W. Green Street MC-386 Urbana, IL 61801

UIC THEATRE BLM SOLIDARITY STATEMENT This summer we have been wrestling with how to proceed in the righting of institutional racism that has methodically put Black and Brown bodies in physical, financial, and emotional peril. Because Black Lives Matter. At this time our society is being asked to atone for many wrongs, the most egregious of which is the systemic racism that has remained unchecked in our cultural institutions for too long. Higher Education and The American Theatre are being called upon to acknowledge their perpetuation of these racist systems, and their responsibility to fix it.

We, the faculty and staff at UIC Department of Theatre, an historically white institution, begin by acknowledging the lack of inclusion of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, Latinx and all People of Color) identities in our overall pedagogy and modes of production. Further, we acknowledge our shortcomings, both personally and professionally, of our previous efforts. We state our commitment to holding ourselves and each other to a higher standard - NOW. In our shared analysis of the systems, traditions, and culture of our department, we are identifying biased practices. As a unified group, we are reconceiving these practices to be inclusive, equitable, and transparent. We recognize that this work of identifying and eradicating the underlying colonialism and racism is imperative, and long overdue.

Most importantly, we are committed to follow this inciting spark through by setting specific, measurable, time-oriented goals. We understand that this deeply-rooted problem does not have an easy remedy—and that it will take longer than one semester, year, or generation.

Here we begin this departmental transformation with a commitment to the following set of actions:

UIC THEATRE DEPARTMENT ANTI-RACIST ACTION STEPS Read our Anti-Racist Action Steps here:

https://theatreandmusic.uic.edu/newsdetails/805/792

Reverb Writers

Karla Corona Alex Hohnsen MarieAnge Louis-Jean Khameron Riley Phia Ringo

Director

Jessica Fisch

Co-Creator

Lydia Diamond

Guest Director Film Coordinator

Monty Cole

Producer

Bonnie Metzgar

Video Designer

Anthony Churchill

October 2–11, 2020 Run time: 1 hour and 05 minutes

ENSEMBLE Emma Ariagno

Christian Ortega

Richard Cantu

Kaylah Crosby

Avery Fountain

Adam Lawdon

Lauren Littlejohn

Victor Musoni

Alex Rivera

Izareza Rodriguez

Andy Shreve

Yourtana Sulaiman

PRODUCTION STAFF Scenic Designer

*Collette Pollard

Choreographer

Kasey Alfonso

Costume Designer

Gregory Graham

Composer Sound Designer

Josh Schmidt

Lighting Designer Graphic Designer

Jackie Fox

* Denotes U.S.A. Member

PRODUCTION STAFF (CONT.) Assistant Director

Daliate Solomon

Associate Sound Designer Additional Composition Camera Operator

David Hernandez

Costume Supervisor Special Effects Coordinator

*Stephanie Cluggish

Stage Manager Assistant Film Coordinator

Wendy Madrigal

Production Manager

Erin Freeman

Camera Operator (Waste)

Andy Shreve

Additional Sound Design (DNA)

Alex Hohnsen

Associate Video Design Camera Operator

Elliott Michael

Assistant Scenic Design

Ngili Aje Soberekon

Technical Director

Hannah Holmes-Robins

Master Electrician

Mike Trudeau

Electricians

Gabrielle Strong Lindsey Lasiewicz

Scenic Design Studio Assistant

Lauren Nichols

SPECIAL THANKS Rebecca Rugg, Dean of CADA

Semicolon Books

Asha Foods

Elizabeth Dombrowski

Christine Dunford, Yasen Peyankov, and the entire faculty of the UIC Theatre Department

Martson McCoy Media MarstonMcCoyMedia.com

An extra special thanks from the Director to these people and the many more who said “yes” to the grand experiment that became Reverb. In a time overwhelmed with ‘no’ you chose ‘yes’ and from that we made art.

PLEASE JOIN US FOR A POST-SHOW TALK Sunday, October 4, 2PM Join us for a free post-show panel discussion hosted by UIC Theatre faculty member Richard Corley with writers, artists and special guest Cynthia Blair, Associate Professor of History and African American Studies at UIC. Topics: Black Lives Matter, COVID-19, and Hope Register for the panel here: https://uic.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJMocOqoqTMoGtD17fRGefYGrLcRqHoWXa2e

SUPPORT THEATRE AND MUSIC AT UIC We rely heavily on our alumni, friends, and community to provide support for our students and programs. Please consider making a secure donation on our website, and help us bring wonderful theatre and music to our community. https://theatreandmusic.uic.edu/donate-now

DIRECTOR’S NOTE

REVERB is what happens when you say “Yes.” In the first week of May 2020, it became clear in a meeting with Head of Theatre, Yasen Peyankov and STM Director, Christine Dunford that we should make the difficult decision to pivot from an in-person theatrical production to a barely formed idea for filmed virtual content that was bouncing around in my head. They said, “Yes.” Over the course of the next three months, amidst a pandemic, protests, heartbreak, injustice, and existential dread, many more people said “Yes.” Designers came to the “zoom” table with research and ideas, my co-creator Lydia Diamond burst onto the scene and brought a cavalry of recent UIC alumni writers, we fleshed out our team with the muscle of video designer Tony Churchill, the brain of produce Bonnie Metzgar and the creativity of director/production coordinator Monty Cole and we set to work to capture a response to this unparalleled moment. Though the world felt like a place of “No,” we would make a space for “Yes.” REVERB is a hypothesis that academic theatre can be an incubator for artists, particularly BIPOC artists, to speak truth to power and push the art form forward. The intention behind REVERB was to center the voices of our Gen-Z writers and actors and allow them to have the platform to speak to what was important to them: The Black Lives Matter Movement, the dismantling of white supremacy, an end to the patriarchy, mental healthcare,

a re-imaging of policing, an end to COVID-19 and a call for activism.

Through silly satire, stern critique, raw confession and everything in between, the pieces that became REVERB collectively shrug off the constraints of “traditional” theatre and traditionally held norms. Our time together making REVERB is but a small part of our Gen-Z artist’s larger mission to change our art form and our country and to that we say, “Yes.” JESSICA FISCH

CO-CREATOR LYDIA R. DIAMOND (Playwright) is an award-winning playwright whose work includes Toni Stone (2019 premiere at Roundabout Theatre Company), Smart People, Stick Fly (Broadway run at Cort Theatre), Voyeurs de Venus, Harriet Jacobs, and The Bluest Eye. Her work has been performed at Arena Stage, Arden Theatre Company, Second Stage Theater, The New Vic Theatre, Company One, Goodman Theatre, The Guthrie Theater, Hartford Stage, Huntington Theatre Company, Long Wharf Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, and McCarter Theatre Center.

Diamond has been a W. E. B. DuBois Institute Fellow at Harvard, a Sundance Playwright Lab Creative Advisor, a Harvard Radcliffe Institute Fellow, a Sally B. Goodman Fellow, a Huntington Playwright Fellow, and a National Endowment for the Arts/Theatre Communications Group playwright.

She is the 2020 recipient of The Horton Foote Prize, sits on the Dramatists Guild Legal Defense Fund board and is on faculty at University of Illinois at Chicago.

UPCOMING PRODUCTION

LOVE’S LABOUR’S LOST

By William Shakespeare Directed by Richard Corley NOVEMBER 13–22, 2020 Topics: Romance, Wit, and Loss For showtimes, tickets and the most current information, please visit: https://theatreandmusic.uic.edu/theatre-season

PANEL DISCUSSIONS Join us for free post-show panel discussions with the artists and special guests, curated by UIC faculty member Richard Corley.

Discussions will be live-streamed from our Facebook on the following dates: Reverb Sunday, October 4, 2020 Topics: Black Lives Matter, COVID-19, and Hope

The Crucible Sunday, February 28, 2021 Topics: Paranoia, Courage, and Grace

Love’s Labour’s Lost Sunday, November 15, 2020 Topics: Romance, Wit, and Loss

ms. estrada Sunday, April 18, 2021 Topics: War, Sex, and Power

University of Illinois at Chicago theatreandmusic.uic.edu 312.996.2939

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