Barbara Lhota

Raeanne, an “aging,” flailing boxer, has a new girlfriend, an old dream and the guts to go after the Olympic team. But her mom and the past are forcing her to face a much bigger battle: the one within.

Angela and Marnie met as kids - one black, one white - in a big Catholic neighborhood in Detroit during the turbulent 1970s. They moved together from Detroit to Chicago, got jobs, married, and have been best buddies since God was a boy. But when a third childhood friend shows up for visit, all hell breaks loose. Old wounds are reopened, lies are exposed, and secrets lurking beneath the surface are revealed. Can shared history and love overcome these phantom pains?

A seventeen-year-old girl who mysteriously went missing four years ago resurfaces in a youth shelter in Canada, with no memory of where she's been. Soon she recalls a name, Sophia Sobin, and a life she wants back. Her aunt, Ellie, and troubled mother, Eva, welcome her home, but Sophie has a hard time remembering things. Who are you if you cannot remember your past? Sophia revives her damaged family, but chaotic past events bubble beneath the surface. Inspired by true life events, Girl Found explores how perceptions can be distorted in the desperate, primal pursuit of love.

Abby, an autistic teen, only speaks in echo-speech, until she is introduced to a promising communication method that requires a facilitator to help her type letters into a communicator. Abby’s mother is thrilled at a chance to speak with her daughter, but her sister and father are uncertain about this new method - the latest in a long line of therapies. ECHO examines the complex family dynamics when spouses, parents, and children struggle and fail to hear and see each other.

ECHO TEASER
A Chicago family is thrilled when their non-verbal autistic daughter unexpectedly starts to communicate.

Set in 16th-century Spain, THE VANISHED, is a romantic play that explores the impact of family ties, societal pressures, and unexpected love on the lives of two sisters: Diana Garcia Diaz and Isabel Garcia Reyes de la Barrera. The play is full of clandestine trysts, plots and counter plots, blackmail and dazzling swordplay!

CRITICS' PICS 2008 - Windy City Times
Los Desaparecidos (The Vanished) - "Don't let the title fool you--if you liked The Princess Bridge, you'll love this swashbuckling romance of unusual relationships in 16th century Spain." Mary Shen Barnidge

"Los Desaparecidos (The Vanished) delivers not only rough-and-tumble entertainment but enough intrigue and romance to rivet the most avid soap opera fans--in a good way....With clever, witty dialogue, and vigorous swordplay that includes rapiers, knives, daggers, and shields, the play makes for a thoroughly enjoyable time. The final scenes of the play are infused with drama and emotion and a healthy dose of surprising twists and turns that made some in the audience gasp." Elena Ferrarin, Daily Herald Chicago

A lesbian couple search for their sperm donor online. In looking for the perfect male donor with the right hair, profession, education, look, they discover the fundamental things they don't realize about each other.

While facing a personal tragedy, a popular evangelical preacher begins to question the existence of Hell. At the same time, an academic and politically active atheist who shares a past with the preacher begins to question her own beliefs. As they face personal and professional turbulence, they are forced to re-examine everything they hold dear.

Two Chicago police officers give a ride home to a young, drunk twenty-something. Several hours later, the young woman emerges from her place screaming. A veteran female internal affairs investigator and her partner weed through the contradictory stories from each person’s perspective but the clashing stories, questionable credibility and preconceived assumptions about the victim make this case complex. Warped asks the question: Is the truth constant, or is it as malleable as our own perceptions? Is justice ever possible when those we rely on to keep justice have their own biases?

Patrice assumes that Meryl has called her to talk face-to-face with the mother of the "monster" who killed Meryl's son. When she walks into the coffee shop, Patrice is prepared to apologize for what Ty has done. In reality, Meryl has a much bigger reason for this meeting.

Lesbian "life-coach" Jackie is impulsive, free-spirited, and looking online for an experienced, uninhibited soul-mate. "Bi-possible lesbian" Louise is a nervous English teacher with a habit of over-analyzing and no "experience" whatsoever. When the two of them finally meet after connecting online, their hidden reactions to each other spill out as they fumble their way through this hilarious, unpredictable first date.

Alison, a lonely woman, awakens suddenly from a nap on her couch to find a strange but familiar-looking woman sitting in her living room. What's even stranger is the woman seems to be a hybrid of both Alison's younger sister, Sylvia, and the famous Animal Universe explorer Robin Webb. At first, the Sylvia/Robin hybrid woman narrates the mating habits of the pseudarcris frog species, but we soon discover there is something much deeper to this meeting between sisters.

A teen loses his temper with his autistic younger sister but soon realizes that she is his biggest ally.