The Locusts
2022-11-19 19:30 - 21:30, 2022-11-18 19:30 - 21:30, 2022-11-17 19:30 - 21:30, 2022-11-12 19:30 - 21:30, 2022-11-11 19:30 - 21:30, 2022-11-10 19:30 - 21:30, 2022-11-06 15:00 - 17:00, 2022-11-05 19:30 - 21:30 (America/Chicago) and 10 more dates | IL
When a serial killer frightens Ella’s small hometown of Vero Beach, Florida, she’s called down from FBI headquarters in Washington D.C. to come help. At home, she’s confronted by the life she left behind: her struggling family and the dark events of her childhood. A play that explores how lost souls manage their fear, and their desperate search for a way to survive in a world that threatens their existence.

The Locusts
2022-11-13 15:00 - 17:00
When a serial killer frightens Ella’s small hometown of Vero Beach, Florida, she’s called down from FBI headquarters in Washington D.C. to come help. At home, she’s confronted by the life she left behind: her struggling family and the dark events of her childhood. A play that explores how lost souls manage their fear, and their desperate search for a way to survive in a world that threatens their existence.
Click Here to Learn “What to expect when coming to see The Locusts.”

The Locusts
2022-11-07 19:30 - 21:30
Industry Night
When a serial killer frightens Ella’s small hometown of Vero Beach, Florida, she’s called down from FBI headquarters in Washington D.C. to come help. At home, she’s confronted by the life she left behind: her struggling family and the dark events of her childhood. A play that explores how lost souls manage their fear, and their desperate search for a way to survive in a world that threatens their existence.

The Locusts
2022-10-24 19:30 - 21:30
Preview performance
When a serial killer frightens Ella’s small hometown of Vero Beach, Florida, she’s called down from FBI headquarters in Washington D.C. to come help. At home, she’s confronted by the life she left behind: her struggling family and the dark events of her childhood. A play that explores how lost souls manage their fear, and their desperate search for a way to survive in a world that threatens their existence.

At The Vanishing Point
2022-05-01 19:30 - 21:30
How do we remember a part of our history at the moment that it’s slipping away? How do we give voice to the ghosts that haunt us as individuals and as a community? This stunning portrait of a community weaves together historical fact, myth and memory to give voice to people who would otherwise exist only as faded images in an old photo album.

giftLIT. February 2022
2022-02-14
You are cordially invited to join us for a very special Valentine’s Day fundraiser celebration hosted by our new Co-Artistic Directors! We’ve planned an incredible evening of live literature featuring a few of our favorite writers and musicians, with a touch of extra love in honor of our favorite holiday. We’ll be together virtually, however, that doesn’t mean it’ll be any less fabulous – and as we get closer to the event we’ll be sharing for a few of our favorite ways to elevate an evening in!

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.
