Pictured: Kaiser Zaki Ahmed

Broken Nose Theatre has announced its seventh season, featuring a world premiere and two Chicago premieres to presented at The Den Theatre, 1331 N. Milwaukee.

The 2018-19 season kicks off this fall with a new dark comedy entitled PLAINCLOTHES, written by company member Spenser Davis and co-directed by Kanomé Jones and Davis. After a violent incident with a shoplifter places them on the chopping block, the loss prevention team of a downtown Chicago retail store decides to fight back against the corporate powers-that-be.

The season continues with Stephen Spotswood’s GIRL IN THE RED CORNER, directed by Elizabeth Laidlaw. Ridiculed at work, unsupported at home and catcalled as she’s merely walking down the street, Halo turns to the one place she feels in control: the octagon of the local women’s MMA fighting circuit.

Broken Nose Theatre’s 2018-19 Season directors include (left to right) Kanomé Jones, Spenser Davis, Elizabeth Laidlaw and Kaiser Zaki Ahmed.

In spring 2019, the company will present Yussef El-Guindi’s LANGUAGE ROOMS. When a rumor spreads through the office that he may not be as loyal to America as he lets on, Ahmed works double-time to prove that he’s the most dedicated employee at this particular Homeland Security detainment facility. LANGUAGE ROOMS will be directed by Kaiser Zaki Ahmed.

The season wraps next summer with Broken Nose’s annual BECHDEL FEST, featuring new short plays that pass the Bechdel Test with all-female casts. Throughout the year, the company will provide support to two outside playwrights through The Paper Trail, a new play development program. This season’s plays include MAVERICKS by Ryan Oliveira and NINETY-NINE by Beth Hyland.

“I’m so unbelievably proud to present Broken Nose’s seventh season, my first as Artistic Director,” said Elise Marie Davis.” This year, through both our mainstage productions and our new-play development series, we’re presenting five stories of women and people of color who find themselves caught at the center of systems designed to undervalue their voices. Who breaks free? Who folds under pressure? Who makes it their mission to burn it all to the ground? How each character responds is the lifeblood of this incredible season.”

Tickets for Broken Nose productions are available on a “pay-what-you-can” basis, and go on sale at a later date. For additional information, visit www.brokennosetheatre.com.

Broken Nose Theatre’s Seventh Season (from the press release):

November 9 – December 15, 2018
PLAINCLOTHES – World Premiere
By company member Spenser Davis
Co-Directed by Kanomé Jones and Spenser Davis

When a violent encounter with a shoplifter leaves half of their team fired or in the hospital, the security guards of a downtown Chicago retail store find themselves under corporate investigation. Short-staffed, ill-prepared and faced with accusations of racial profiling that threaten to dismantle the crew, they’re forced to decide: do we admit to something we’re not guilty of to save our jobs, or do we give the higher-ups a taste of what it’s like in the trenches? In the style of their breakout hit AT THE TABLE, Broken Nose Theatre and playwright Spenser Davis have assembled an all-star cast to develop this world premiere.

February 1 – March 2, 2019
GIRL IN THE RED CORNER – Midwest Premiere
By Stephen Spotswood
Directed by Elizabeth Laidlaw

Unemployed and fresh from an abusive marriage, Halo steps into a gym one day and signs up for mixed martial arts lessons. Her family thinks it’s ridiculous. Her trainer thinks she’s soft. But none of them know the anger that fuels her ambition. When it’s rage that brought you into the cage, are you really ready to see what winning looks like? GIRL IN THE RED CORNER is a visceral, fast-moving tale of self-discovery, one that allows women to take centerstage in a world so often dominated by men.

April 19 – May 18, 2019
LANGUAGE ROOMS – Midwest Premiere
By Yussef El-Guindi
Directed by Kaiser Zaki Ahmed

Ahmed loves America, and he’s proud to prove his patriotism whenever possible. He pays his taxes, he dresses for success at the office, and he’s made a point to be the best translator at this particular Homeland Security detainment facility. So when a rumor swirls around the water cooler calling his loyalty into question, he works to do whatever’s necessary to maintain his reputation as one of “the good ones.” But when you’re an immigrant, can you ever truly be at home in a country always ready to view you as an enemy? An episode of The Office that slowly morphs into 1984, LANGUAGE ROOMS examines the paranoia polluting our political climate.

Summer 2019
BECHDEL FEST 7
BNT’s perennial favorite feminist festival returns! As with the last six iterations, BECHDEL FEST 7 will feature an all female-identifying cast performing new short plays written and directed by some of Broken Nose’s favorite artists – and all passing the famous Bechdel-Wallace Test. Created by cartoonist Alison Bechdel, the Bechdel Test asks whether a work of entertainment features at least two women in conversation about something other than a man. Playwrights, directors and casting to be announced in 2019.