Recommended by Katherine Gwynn

  • Katherine Gwynn: My Mother The Sun by Paloma Monfiletto
    “

    a stunning symphony of life and death and pain and hope under the beautiful and unforgiving blister of the sun--Arroyo is a writer to watch.

    a stunning symphony of life and death and pain and hope under the beautiful and unforgiving blister of the sun--Arroyo is a writer to watch.

    ”
  • Katherine Gwynn: A Driving Beat by Jordan Ramirez Puckett
    “

    a tender play about a mother and son at odds with trying to both discover and cling to their past--warm until the very end, despite it all.

    a tender play about a mother and son at odds with trying to both discover and cling to their past--warm until the very end, despite it all.

    ”
  • Katherine Gwynn: Monarchs by Kelundra Smith
    “

    a lovely and sweeping play dripping with atmosphere and widely relevant despite the near century span between the setting of the play and the here and now--would LOVE to see a production of this in Chicago

    a lovely and sweeping play dripping with atmosphere and widely relevant despite the near century span between the setting of the play and the here and now--would LOVE to see a production of this in Chicago

    ”
  • Katherine Gwynn: STNK by Paloma Monfiletto
    “

    an incredibly funny ACAB farce sharp as the edge of a knife

    an incredibly funny ACAB farce sharp as the edge of a knife

    ”
  • Katherine Gwynn: The Magnolia Ballet by Terry Guest
    “

    a gorgeous southern gothic fantasia--the production of this at About Face in Chicago was lovely, and I hope it gets produced more widely!

    a gorgeous southern gothic fantasia--the production of this at About Face in Chicago was lovely, and I hope it gets produced more widely!

    ”
  • Katherine Gwynn: The Secretaries by Omer Abbas Salem
    “

    one of the most exciting pieces of theatre i've seen in Chicago--absurd, vile, tender, and meticulous in detail about how Fascism and white womanhood is a snake eating it's own tail. Brilliant.

    one of the most exciting pieces of theatre i've seen in Chicago--absurd, vile, tender, and meticulous in detail about how Fascism and white womanhood is a snake eating it's own tail. Brilliant.

    ”
  • Katherine Gwynn: The World is Ending and Maybe That's Kinda Hot by Catherine Weingarten
    “

    "I want to be so special someone doesn't know what to do with me." Oofa fucking doofa.
    This play is a biting satire about privilege and gender and sex starring terrible-ish people--but then it has lines like THIS that cut to quick of what it means to desire and be desired. A really lovely strange play that I think adapts the tone of The Decameron for modern audiences delightfully and truthfully.

    "I want to be so special someone doesn't know what to do with me." Oofa fucking doofa.
    This play is a biting satire about privilege and gender and sex starring terrible-ish people--but then it has lines like THIS that cut to quick of what it means to desire and be desired. A really lovely strange play that I think adapts the tone of The Decameron for modern audiences delightfully and truthfully.

    ”
  • Katherine Gwynn: Marie Antionette and the Magical Negros by Terry Guest
    “

    the reading of this play was the last piece of live theatre I saw before lockdown occurred in the US--and I'm so glad that the last play I got to see in person was this. A wonder of humor, compassion, rage, and empathy, this play is a true gem, and exactly the kind of theatre I want to see when we can be amongst one another in a dark room once more.

    the reading of this play was the last piece of live theatre I saw before lockdown occurred in the US--and I'm so glad that the last play I got to see in person was this. A wonder of humor, compassion, rage, and empathy, this play is a true gem, and exactly the kind of theatre I want to see when we can be amongst one another in a dark room once more.

    ”
  • Katherine Gwynn: Meet Murasaki Shikibu Followed by Book-Signing, and Other Things by Julia Izumi
    “

    I just finished reading this play in one furious delighted gulp. God--what a joy to find a play that explores a famous woman writer that actually frustrates the notions of "the woman writer" or legacy, or how one relates to their own art. I found this play so delightful and so then, so unexpectedly tender. I really hope to see this performed at some point.

    I just finished reading this play in one furious delighted gulp. God--what a joy to find a play that explores a famous woman writer that actually frustrates the notions of "the woman writer" or legacy, or how one relates to their own art. I found this play so delightful and so then, so unexpectedly tender. I really hope to see this performed at some point.

    ”
  • Katherine Gwynn: Fremont Junior High Is NOT Doing Oklahoma! by Paul Michael Thomson
    “

    Within the first page I was choking with laughter. And then by the last page my heart felt torn in two, as I had gone through the highs and lows, trials and tribulations, and traumas and triumphs of Fremont Junior High's drama club trying to pick their spring production. The gift of this script is that even though it is darkly, piercingly funny, we never laugh at our our preteen leads, or think that their goals don't matter. No, part of why this play cuts to the quick is that we empathize with them fully and totally. A true delight.

    Within the first page I was choking with laughter. And then by the last page my heart felt torn in two, as I had gone through the highs and lows, trials and tribulations, and traumas and triumphs of Fremont Junior High's drama club trying to pick their spring production. The gift of this script is that even though it is darkly, piercingly funny, we never laugh at our our preteen leads, or think that their goals don't matter. No, part of why this play cuts to the quick is that we empathize with them fully and totally. A true delight.

    ”