The Pillowman
2020-03-02
Once upon a time, there lived a writer who only wrote gruesome tales. He lived with his brother under the watchful eye of an unnamed authoritarian regime. But when a string of horrific child murders begin to mirror his frightful tales, our writer finds himself before two investigators who want more than answers. Martin McDonagh’s The Pillowman doesn’t shy away in this dark, twisty, and utterly unforgettable masterpiece.
Come Closer talk-back event on March 22nd.
DIRECTOR’S NOTE
I first encountered McDonagh’s The Pillowman on the floor of my college library. Back then, I was looking to become ‘formidable’ and do ‘formidable work’ in the theatre. The Pillowman felt formidable, and—even in its short sixty pages—dense. It was raw, strange, imaginative, violent, and funny. It was multifaceted and that was daring.
When I revisited the text nearly ten years later, all those things still existed but the world had changed. I had changed. I had experienced too much to ignore the blatant racism, ableism, and hypermasculinity exhibited by the characters. I had bore witness to how trauma reverberated through generations both purposefully and not. I had felt the pain of watching my country betray the trust of its people time and time again.
Coming back to The Pillowman meant confronting a version of myself that believed grit was a measure of craft, trauma was evidence of dramatic integrity, and laughing at it all made you impenetrable. I no longer believe those things.
When I look at it now, I’m struck by the world that makes rooms of torture, manipulation, and mind games possible. I cannot help but draw parallels to the world we live in today. I bet you can’t either. Because we don’t live in a vacuum and authority’s need to control the narrative is strengthening its grip daily. This is the world that the ensemble and designers built to step into our Pillowman.
It meant taking a building of learning and dismantling it to become an agent of reeducation. It meant acknowledging that systems were put into place to strike fear and submission in the hearts of the people. It meant cracking open the relationship between trauma, truth, and the stories we tell ourselves to survive, even when survival is not an option.
This isn’t The Pillowman reimagined once upon a time. We found a different light, illuminating a greater darkness.
-Laura Alcalá Baker
THE GIFT’S CONTENT ADVISORY POLICY
At The Gift, we cherish making theatre in an intimate space and the responsibility of doing so. We know that the stories we share, the emotional honesty of our ensemble, and the intimacy of our theatre can combine into profoundly moving (and, hopefully, healing) experiences. Over the past 19 years, we have produced pioneering plays which place the conversation about mental health center-stage where it ought to be, as this is a subject deeply personal to us at The Gift. Rather than presume what aspects of each play might be unsettling, we find more salubrious results in having real conversations on a play-by-play basis. If ever you have any questions about what kind of theatrical ride you’re in for at The Gift, please reach out to us at boxoffice@thegifttheatre.org, and let’s begin that conversation. Want to join the conversation further? Join us for our Come Closer performances, where we host a fun post-show reception and chat, unpacking the play together.
Each of us fights a daily battle alone. But when you come to The Gift, we fight those monsters together.
With much love, as always,
The Gift

The Gift Gala 2020
2020-02-15
At The Gift Theatre we believe that every great story is kind of a love story, and so we cordially invite you to celebrate ours with an intimate evening as we embrace our unique theatre and the individuals who make it all possible. Set within the contemporary-chic confines of Greenhouse Loft, guests will indulge in fine faire, libations, silent and live auctions with one-of-a-kind items, and dancing. We hope you’ll join us for a memorable evening and toast toward the future, as we strive to continue producing art with honesty and simplicity, in a manner accessible to all.

TEN 2020
2020-01-09
Enjoy world premiere ten-minute pieces by The Gift and guests. This festival allows us to work with many talented artists who help us uphold our mission of telling great original stories – and tickets are just $10!
THE GAME OF LIFE
Book and lyrics by: The Gift Co-Founder William Nedved
Music by: Stephen Coleman
Directed by: Ensemble Member Erica Weiss
Featuring: Michael Turrentine
UNMOVED
By: Hansol Jung
Directed by: Brian Shaw
Featuring: Ensemble Member James D. Farruggio
giftLIT.
Featuring, variously: Maggie Andersen with Jennifer Rumberger, Shaina Warfield, and Maria Ortiz
THE EDIT
By: Brooke Allen
Directed by: Erin Murray
Featuring: Ensemble Member Alexandra Main and guest artist Chanell Bell
NATURAL GAS
Featuring, variously: Kieran Fitzgerald, Carly Olson, John Pantlind, and Ensemble Members Ed Flynn, Hannah Toriumi, Michael Patrick Thornton, and Kyle Zornes, and other scoundrels
TOUR MANAGER
A Short Film by: Ensemble Member Ed Flynn and guest artist Amy Speckien
Featuring: Ensemble Members and guest artists
NON-DISCLOSURE AGREEMENT
By: Michael Allen Harris
Directed by: Gregory Geffrard
Featuring: Jalyn Greene, Raphael Diaz, Watson Swift, and Michael Turrentine
BLACK HOLE
By: Stacy Osei-Kuffour
Directed by: Ensemble Member Martel Manning
Featuring: Ensemble Members Gregory Fenner and Jennifer Glasse
BURIED MOTHER
By: Mickle Maher
Directed by: Michael Cotey
Featuring: Deanna Dunagan and Diana Slickman
PLEDGE DRIVE
By: Ensemble Member Michael Patrick Thornton
Directed by: Jonathan Berry
Featuring: Ensemble Members James D. Farruggio, Alexandra Main, and Jay Worthington, and guest artists Katie Gonzalez and Ricardo Gutierrez

Kentucky
2019-10-20
When her sister, a born-again Christian, decides to marry at 22, NYC-transplant Hiro, takes it upon herself to return home to Kentucky to stop the wedding and salvage her sister’s future. Identity, religion, and love collide in this unique coming of age story.

Season Release Bash 2019
2019-08-18
Release the season at Park & Field, Logan Square vintage sports club on Sunday, August 18th starting at 6pm. Enjoy a late summer evening with cocktails by the bonfire, bocce ball, and The Gift Theatre season announcement at 7 pm.
The evening features two hours of open bar (6-8pm), including select beer, wine, and cocktails – and the exclusive opportunity to celebrate with The Ensemble as we officially announce our plans for 2019!

WOLF PLAY
2019-07-15
In a world where people struggle to have children, one American couple decides to ‘un-adopt’ their young Korean son because they have a newborn at home. After an internet chat room search for the right family, the father ‘re-homes’ the boy with a lesbian couple, where one half is desperate for a child and the other half is fighting for her career. As the boy — who thinks he’s a wolf, but is really a puppet – adjusts to his new life, he forms bonds with the unlikeliest of culprits while the rest of the adults squabble about what is ‘best for the child.’ Wolf Play is a messy, funny, and moving theatrical experience that grapples with where family allegiance lies.
Wolf Play is a messy funny disturbing theatrical experience grappling with a wolf, a puppet, and a very prickly problem of “what is a family, and what do we need from them, today? Is it very different from the things humans have needed from families before?”
Hansol Jung is a playwright and director from South Korea. Productions include CARDBOARD PIANO (Humana Festival at Actors Theater of Louisville), AMONG THE DEAD (Ma-Yi Theatre Company), NO MORE SAD THINGS (co-world premiere at Sideshow Theatre, and Boise Contemporary Theatre), WOLF PLAY and WILD GOOSE DREAMS (which will premiere at La Jolla Playhouse in 2017). Commissions from Artists Repertory Theater, Playwrights Horizons, Seattle Repertory Theatre, the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation grant with Ma-Yi Theatre and a translation of ROMEO AND JULIET for Play On! at Oregon Shakespeare Festival. She has translated over thirty English musicals into Korean, including EVITA, DRACULA, SPAMALOT, and THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE, while working on several award winning musical theatre productions as director, lyricist and translator in Seoul, South Korea. Jung holds a Playwriting MFA from Yale School of Drama, and is a proud member of the Ma-Yi Theatre Writers Lab.

Doubt: A Parable
2019-03-03
In this brilliant and powerful drama, Sister Aloysius, a Bronx school principal, takes matters into her own hands when she suspects the young Father Flynn of improper relations with one of the male students.
Winner of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award for Best Play.

TEN 2019
2019-01-10
Enjoy world premiere ten-minute pieces by The Gift and guests. This festival allows us to work with many talented artists who help us uphold our mission of telling great original stories – and tickets are just $10!
ON A SCALE
By: PHILIP DAWKINS
Directed by: Associate Artistic Director Emjoy Gavino
Featuring: Ensemble Member James D. Farruggio, giftED. alumnus Declan Schliesmann, and Stephanie Diaz
YOU NEVER TOLD ME THAT
By: NICOLE ZIMMERER
Directed by: Jesse Swanson
Featuring: Ensemble Members Gregory Fenner and Jennifer Glasse
SPARROW
By: CHARLENE JAMES
Directed by: Courtney Williams
Featuring: Ensemble Members Alexandra Main, Hannah Toriumi, and guest artists Stephen Spencer and Londen Shannon
NOT YOU
By: DANNY BERNARDO
Directed by: David Lovejoy
Featuring: Guy Massey & Lars Ebsworth
THE OLD COUNTRY
By: TRACY LETTS
Directed by: BJ Jones
Featuring: Richard Henzel, Steve Pringle, and Lindsay Stock
A MOMENT OF YOUR TIME
By: E. NAPOLETANO
Directed by: Sonny Das
Featuring: Jimbo Pestano and Wil Whedbee
CHUPPAH CHAPS
By: RAMMEL CHAN
Directed by Brian Shaw
Featuring: Ensemble Member Jay Worthington, and guest artists Andrew Muwonge, Brad Smith, and Harrison Hapin
THE DIZZYING ENDLESS EXPANSE
By: Michael Patrick Thornton
Directed by: Kristen Johnson
Featuring: Chanell Bell
giftLIT.
NATURAL GAS

giftLIT. February 2018
2018-12-04, 2018-02-27
The giftLIT. salons happen several times a year at Community Tavern. A salon has historically been defined as “a gathering of people under the roof of an inspiring host, held partly to amuse one another and partly to refine the taste and increase the knowledge of participants through conversation.” What does that mean to the Gift? It means we round up a diverse group of writers and performers—some experienced, some rookies, some comedians, some poets. We give them all the same prompt and ask them to tell their stories while we drink good wine and eat good food. In between stories, we enjoy live music. At The Gift, we strongly believe that these story-sharing experiences create meaningful connections among individuals and within our community.

The Gift Gala 2018
2018-11-14
With every word, scene, and play, The Gift is rewriting the story of American theatre by producing nationally-acclaimed works with a renowned ensemble, all inside a space that is our country’s most intimate professional theatre.
Join The Gift for literature and libations in Chicago’s most exciting new cultural institution: The American Writers Museum.
Celebrate great writing, enjoy delicious food and drinks, and help The Gift Theatre write its next chapter: one of transformation and growth.
Honorary Co-Chair Jeff Perry
6:00 — 7:00
VIP RECEPTION
Vintage Spirts: Curated Cocktails by the Spirit Archivist at Wrigley Field’s Hotel Zachary
Music by Cellist Melissa Bach and Guitarist David Onderdonk
7:00 — 9:30
THE MAIN EVENT
Cocktails, Hors d’oeuvres, Desserts
Silent Auction
Reading by Award-winning Chicago Author Megan Stielstra

Cosmologies
2018-10-28
Put the whimsical humor of the Keystone Cops and Bugs Bunny into a particle collider with the philosophy of Soren Kierkegaard and George Berkeley and you’re getting close to the style of this existential absurdist comedy from David Rabe. When a young man’s negotiation for a date goes very wrong, we are transported through kaleidoscopic worlds of possibilities, identities, and loves.

Season Release Bash 2018
2018-09-16
THE GIFT THEATRE SEASON RELEASE BASH!
Sunday, September 16, 4-8 p.m. @ Filament Theater Company-4041 N. Milwaukee Ave
Our annual summer fundraiser features live music and all you can drink Old Irving craft beer. Come hang with The Gift ensemble and be the first in the world to hear about our new season.
Bash Single tickets are $25. VIP Table near the music and beer for eight is $400.

giftLIT. September 2018
2018-09-11
The giftLIT. salons happen several times a year at Community Tavern. A salon has historically been defined as “a gathering of people under the roof of an inspiring host, held partly to amuse one another and partly to refine the taste and increase the knowledge of participants through conversation.” What does that mean to the Gift? It means we round up a diverse group of writers and performers—some experienced, some rookies, some comedians, some poets. We give them all the same prompt and ask them to tell their stories while we drink good wine and eat good food. In between stories, we enjoy live music. At the Gift, we strongly believe that these story-sharing experiences create meaningful connections among individuals and within our community.
Writers include: Ada Cheng, Ensemble Member Jennifer Glasse, Nestor Gomez, Katherine Keberlein, and Jennifer Rumberger.

Hamlet
2018-06-07 - 2018-07-29
After the death of his dad, a young black man named Hamlet returns home to grieve and seek revenge. Fighting against the injustice of his father’s murder and the powers that want him out of the picture, Hamlet quickly loses power and sanity. Directed by guest artist Monty Cole, The Gift’s retelling of Shakespeare’s great tragedy will crack open the mind of one of western drama’s most fascinating and entertaining characters. Running Time: 3 Hours.

giftLIT. May 2018
2018-05-01
The giftLIT. salons happen several times a year at Community Tavern. A salon has historically been defined as “a gathering of people under the roof of an inspiring host, held partly to amuse one another and partly to refine the taste and increase the knowledge of participants through conversation.” What does that mean to the Gift? It means we round up a diverse group of writers and performers—some experienced, some rookies, some comedians, some poets. We give them all the same prompt and ask them to tell their stories while we drink good wine and eat good food. In between stories, we enjoy live music. At The Gift, we strongly believe that these story-sharing experiences create meaningful connections among individuals and within our community.
Writers: Ensemble Member Maggie Andersen, Katherine Bourne, Sherman Edwards, and Shaina Warfield

Hang Man
2018-03-08 19:30 - 21:30 (America/Chicago)
The community of a backwoods Southern town grapples with the murder of a Black man who is found hanging in a tree. As events unfold, the hanging mystifies the people of the community, forcing them to confront their complicity in this man’s horrific demise. Osei-Kuffour’s darkly comical, heartbreaking play, which recently made the prestigious 2017 Kilroy’s List, uses absurdity to explore racism, sexuality, and the parts of American history we would all like to forget.

TEN 2018
2018-01-05
Enjoy world premiere ten-minute pieces by The Gift and guests. This festival allows us to work with many talented artists who help us uphold our mission of telling great original stories – and tickets are just $10!

The Gift Gala 2017
2017-12-01
Since 2001 and over seventy productions, The Gift Theatre has pioneered the frontiers of the American theatre via the most intimate professional theatre in the country, leading to national acclaim and a cultural revolution on Chicago’s northwest side.
Please join us for a celebratory evening at The Copernicus Center, named after the astronomer whose theory about revolutions changed everything.
Guests will enjoy cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, irresistible auction items and delectable desserts.
The evening will also feature live jazz and classical music, the presentation of the Total Gift Award, and a short performance charting our evolving place in the cosmos from Copernicus to NASA, SpaceX and beyond.

A SWELL IN THE GROUND
2017-10-19
In intimate rooms throughout New York, four friends from college fight through 17 years of love affairs, shattered dreams and compromised lives. Flipping back and forth through time like a photobook, this play—whose title is from a line of Emily Dickinson poetry— is equally breathtaking and heartbreakingly spare as Olivia, Nate, Abagail, and Charles try to reconcile the lives they imagined with the lives they live.
Come Closer on Sunday, December 3 for a talkback with the cast, drinks, and a couple of themed appetizers! Tickets to this special event are $55 and sell out quickly. Reserve your spot today!

OPEN SEASON
2017-09-17
The Gift Theatre is proud to announce Adithi Chandrashekar’s OPEN SEASON as the first play chosen to pilot 4802—the new play research and development wing of The Gift named after its storefront address located on North Milwaukee Avenue in Jefferson Park.
OPEN SEASON
What do an Illinois State Sheriff and a white-tailed deer have in common? Love, anger, hunger, fear, joy, community, isolation and everything in between. OPEN SEASON tracks the universality of being alive and explores the nature of power and loneliness.

giftLIT. September 2017
2017-09-12
You are cordially invited to join local writers, actors and musicians on Tuesday, September 12 at Community Tavern for an evening of stories, wine and entertainment in the grand tradition of a Parisian salon. $10. Tickets available online and at the door. Music begins at 8 PM and the stories start at 8:30 PM. We highly recommend buying tickets in advance in order to ensure a seat-communitytavern.org.

Season Release Bash 2017
2017-07-16
THE GIFT THEATRE SEASON RELEASE BASH!
Drink! Dance! Release the season!
Sunday, July 16th from 4pm-8 p.m. at Old Irving Brewery Co.
www.oldirvingbrewing.com
Our annual summer fundraiser features live music and all you can drink Old Irving craft beer. Come hang with The Gift ensemble and be the first in the world to hear about our new season.
Bash Single tickets are $25. VIP Table near the music and beer for eight is $400. Bash single ticket plus 2018 Season Subscription is $120.

PILGRIMS
2017-06-08
On a spacecraft on its way to colonize a newly discovered planet, a soldier and a teenage girl live together in one of the ship’s cabins with only an outdated robot and each other for company. When they are quarantined in their close quarters due to a potential outbreak, they’re forced to explore their own traumatic pasts in a dying society. What does it mean to create a new society? What does it mean to be a Pilgrim today?

giftLIT. May 2017
2017-05-02
May 2 Stories by:
Jose Blanco and Raul Vasquez
Jane Hseu
Jasminum McMullen
Diana Sykes
Live Music by the Winnemac 3!
Appetizers and cocktails by your friends at Community Tavern

UNSEEN
2017-02-16
Conflict photographer Mia wakes up in the Istanbul apartment of her on-again, off-again girlfriend after being found unconscious at the scene of a massacre she was photographing. Mia can’t even remember being there, but she wired photos of the site hours before being found. The two women resume their volatile push-pull when Mia’s well-meaning Californian mother arrives from the United States, trying to help unravel the mystery of what happened to her daughter.
Come Closer on Sunday, April 2nd for a talkback with the cast, drinks, and a couple of themed appetizers! Tickets to this special event are $55 and sell out quickly. Reserve your spot today!

TEN 2017
2017-01-05
Enjoy world premiere ten minute pieces by The Gift and guests.
This festival allows us to work with many talented artists who help us uphold our mission of telling great stories.
This festival is just $10 and free for 2017 subscribers. Thank you for keeping the arts alive.

giftLIT. November 2016
2016-11-15
Curated by ensemble member Maggie Andersen, giftLIT is the literary extension and iteration of The Gift Theatre. The salon will feature celebrated writers from Chicago reading original work based on the themes in “A Life Extra Ordinary.” $10 for entrance to this rustic-chic room, exquisite storytelling, $5 glasses of rosé and specialty appetizers.

The Gift Gala 2016
2016-11-10
The Gift Theatre Ensemble will gather with their devoted community of supporters to celebrate The Gift Theatre’s 15th year of telling remarkable stories on stage with honesty and simplicity. The Gift and has been recognized by Mayor Rahm Emmanuel and the Illinois State Legislature as the cultural anchor of the Jefferson Park neighborhood. The Gift’s Ensemble of actors, playwrights and directors has garnered a loyal following that extends from its northwest side neighborhood throughout the city, country and abroad.
The Gift believes a play never closes until everyone who saw it stops thinking about it and that art is, at its best, a sacred conversation between actor and audience, revealing the joy and pain of being human. In other words, a gift. Our hope is that guests will leave talking about our anniversary celebration with affection for years to come.

A LIFE EXTRA ORDINARY
2016-10-03
Annabel Anderson McCafferty is an expectant mother who vanishes from her small Ohio town on Christmas Eve. Both mystery and memory play, “A Life Extra Ordinary’ untangles and re-assembles the moments that make a life.
