Pictured: (left to right) Jennifer Cheung, Adam Soule, Evan Linder and Elise Spoerlein in Broken Nose Theatre’s hit 2017 production of AT THE TABLE by Michael Perlman, directed by Spenser Davis. Photo by Matthew Freer.

Broken Nose Theatre has announced the full line-up for its 2018 season, featuring three world premiere productions, to be presented at its new resident home, The Den Theatre in Wicker Park. The company has also announced partial casting for the 2018 year.

The season starts with the kitchen-sink comedy KINGDOM by Michael Allen Harris, directed by Kanome Jone, and featuring Johnard Washington, Watson Swift and RjW Mays. Following in the summer is Sam Chanse’s drama THE OPPORTUNITIES OF EXTINCTION, directed by  Jen Poulin and featuring  Echaka Agba and Aria Szalai-Raymond. The season concludes with world premiere dark comedy PLAINCLOTHES written and directed by Spenser Davis and featuring Echaka Agba, Elise Spoerlein, Johnard Washington, David Weiss, Martin Hanna, RjW Mays, Kim Boler, Adam Soule and Rob Koon. The piece will be developed by the ensemble.

Summer 2018 will also include BECHDEL FEST 6, the annual feminist festival, featuring a full slate of new short plays with all female-identifying casts. Playwrights. Directors and casting will be announced at a later date.

During 2018, Broken Nose will also provide institutional support to two outside playwrights through The Paper Trail – its new play development program. Next year’s plays include PEG by Liam Fitzgerald, about a couple who negotiate their kinks in anticipation of an impending shipment of sex toys; and EXPOSURE by Cynthia Hines, in which a former army photographer combats the ghosts of war that followed her home to the South Side of Chicago.

Broken Nose Theatre’s 2018 Season (from the press release):

March 2 – March 31, 2018
KINGDOM – World Premiere
By BNT resident playwright Michael Allen Harris
Directed by Kanome Jones
Featuring BNT company member Johnard Washington and artistic associates Watson Swift and RjW Mays.

When the state of Florida legalizes same-sex marriage, Arthur and Henry (his partner of fifty years) come to terms with their differing opinions on the necessity of becoming husbands, even as their son Alexander finds himself wading through some rough new waters of his own. KINGDOM is the story of an entirely-LGBTQ African American family that lives in the near-literal shadow of Orlando’s magical kingdom, as they struggle to create a life together that captures a little bit of that same magic.

KINGDOM was developed in conjunction with The Paper Trail, BNT’s new play development program.

June 2 – June 30, 2018
THE OPPORTUNITIES OF EXTINCTION
By Sam Chanse
Directed by BNT company member Jen Poulin
Featuring BNT company member Echaka Agba and artistic associate Aria Szalai-Raymond.

A couple flees to the Mojave Desert in the wake of a social media firestorm. A young woman obsessively studies the oncoming impact of climate change. As the world heats up, tensions rise and the political becomes indistinguishable from the environmental, these three find one another in the shadow of the endangered Joshua tree, wondering how long they have before everything falls apart.

Summer 2018
BECHDEL FEST 6

BNT’s perennial favorite feminist festival returns! As with the last five iterations, BECHDEL FEST 6 will feature an all female-identifying cast performing new short plays written and directed by some of our favorite artists, and all passing the famous Bechdel 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 2018.

October 20 – November 17, 2018
PLAINCLOTHES – World Premiere
Written and directed by BNT company member Spenser Davis
Featuring BNT company members Echaka Agba, Elise Spoerlein, Martin Hanna, Johnard Washington and David Weiss and artistic associates RjW Mays, Kim Boler, Adam Soule and Rob Koon.

After an incident with a shoplifter ends with half their team either fired or in the hospital, the loss prevention department of a downtown Chicago retail store comes under harsh investigation from corporate. Their manager’s suggestion: “Start catching more white people. At least until they stop looking at the numbers.” When a group of supposed Good Guys have a blind spot that lands them on the chopping block, who holds themselves accountable and who decides to give the higher-ups a taste of the trenches? In the style of BNT’s 2017 hit At The Table, PLAINCLOTHES will be developed alongside its pre-cast ensemble.

Additional casting for the season will be announced at a later date.