Evalena Lakin

Evalena Lakin

Evalena Lakin (née Friedman) is a Chicago-based playwright, theatre educator, storyteller, occasional poet, and lifelong bookworm. She received her BA in Theatre and Elementary Education summa cum laude from Northeastern University, where she helped launch the first-ever new play initiative on campus, producing dozens of student playwrights each year.

As a playwright, she has had the pleasure of...
Evalena Lakin (née Friedman) is a Chicago-based playwright, theatre educator, storyteller, occasional poet, and lifelong bookworm. She received her BA in Theatre and Elementary Education summa cum laude from Northeastern University, where she helped launch the first-ever new play initiative on campus, producing dozens of student playwrights each year.

As a playwright, she has had the pleasure of working with the Great Plains Theatre Commons, Prop Thtr, The Annoyance, Curious Theatre Branch, Strawdog Theatre Company, Chicago Dramatists, Dandelion Theatre, NoMads Art Collective, and Silver Masque Theatre Company. Evalena has also performed original stories with the live lit series You’re Being Ridiculous at various venues around Chicago, including Steppenwolf Theatre as part of their LookOut series. Her poems have been published by Sword & Kettle Press, and she was part of the 2021-2022 Theatremacher Cohort with the Jewish Theatre Alliance. She is proud to be a teaching artist with Lifeline Theatre and the Library Assistant at the Poetry Foundation.

Plays

  • Perennials
    Perennial (adjective):
    1. Lasting for an indefinitely long time; enduring.
    2. Having a life cycle longer than two years, as a stream.
    3. Perpetual; everlasting; continuing; recurrent.

    It is the Future, and human life is on the brink of extinction. In the middle of it all, two women journey across a decimated country, on the run from... well, everything, really. Resting in a...
    Perennial (adjective):
    1. Lasting for an indefinitely long time; enduring.
    2. Having a life cycle longer than two years, as a stream.
    3. Perpetual; everlasting; continuing; recurrent.

    It is the Future, and human life is on the brink of extinction. In the middle of it all, two women journey across a decimated country, on the run from... well, everything, really. Resting in a forest clearing, they read a Book about a family that can never die. And for the first time, they begin to open up to one another, to chip away at the wall that stands between them. And they keep coming back to this Book, this story that they can't seem to shake. But it’s just a children’s story. It’s fiction, a fantasy. People can’t really be immortal. Everlasting. Perennial.
    Right?
  • TREIF PLAY
    The Restaurant, the hottest dining establishment in all of Chicago, is in disarray. Nora quit two days ago out of nowhere, and no one seems to know why. Rachel is brand new and has no idea what she’s doing.

    Rumors fly, servers spar, and secrets come to light in this ensemble play about the abuse of power in two radically different communities, and how to rebuild from the wreckage.
    ...
    The Restaurant, the hottest dining establishment in all of Chicago, is in disarray. Nora quit two days ago out of nowhere, and no one seems to know why. Rachel is brand new and has no idea what she’s doing.

    Rumors fly, servers spar, and secrets come to light in this ensemble play about the abuse of power in two radically different communities, and how to rebuild from the wreckage.

    How to begin again.
  • Mad Girls
    Eileen and Ruthie have always been different. Growing up Jewish smack dab in the middle of the Bible Belt tends to do that to a person. But Eileen survives her torturous adolescence, escaping to Chicago the first chance she gets, while Ruthie stays behind. Eileen blossoms and blooms in her new life, but Ruthie remains the same, stuck firmly in the past. As we jump about in time and space, we see Eileen finally...
    Eileen and Ruthie have always been different. Growing up Jewish smack dab in the middle of the Bible Belt tends to do that to a person. But Eileen survives her torturous adolescence, escaping to Chicago the first chance she gets, while Ruthie stays behind. Eileen blossoms and blooms in her new life, but Ruthie remains the same, stuck firmly in the past. As we jump about in time and space, we see Eileen finally return to her hometown on the day of a family tragedy, only to discover that her sister is no longer the ally she thought she was.
    A play about madness. About hermit crabs. About grief.
  • Lavinia
    Inspired by ten lines from Titus Andronicus, this movement-based poetry play brings Shakespeare's most gruesome tragedy into the 21st century. Ancient Rome becomes modern-day university, Goths become frat bros, victim becomes survivor. As Lavinia's world transforms into a living nightmare, new text fuses with the old to give her the voice that Shakespeare did not.
  • Sadie, Sadie
    Two artists, an unfinished painting, a graveside spat, Frida Kahlo eyebrows, and other things. Most importantly, a love story.
  • Three Strangers
    Midnight. Chicago. Elizabeth is working in her university's call center, counting the hours until her shift ends. Katherine is on a date, starving and bored to tears. Viola is commuting home, hot and sticky on the un-air conditioned subway. Three sisters, three ordinary nights. But everything is about to change.