Victory Gardens Theater, under the leadership of Artistic Director Chay Yew and Managing Director Erica Daniels, have announced the lineup for its 2017-2018 Season.

The 43rd Season will include the groundbreaking, Tony Award-winning musical FUN HOME with music by Jeanine Tesori and book and lyrics by Lisa Kron; the Chicago premieres of FADE, a co-production with Teatro Vista, by Tanya Saracho, and MIES JULIE, a contemporary reworking of August Strindberg’s classic MISS JULIE by Yaël Farber, as well as the world premieres of BREACH: a manifesto on race in america through the eyes of a black girl recovering from self-hate by Antoinette Nwandu and DOING IT by Boo Killebrew.

“It is with tremendous excitement that we welcome friends, old and new, to our 43rd Season at Victory Gardens Theater. We continue to give a Chicago home to the most electrifying and diverse voices in American theater,” says Artistic Director Chay Yew. We are proud to present these timely and powerful stories that celebrate and address our citizenship and humanity, creating meaningful dialogue that unifies all communities in these current times.”

The 2017-18 Victory Gardens Theater Season (from the press release):

FUN HOME
Music by Jeanine Tesori
Book and Lyrics by Lisa Kron
Directed by Gary Griffin
September 19-November 12, 2017

Hailed as one of Broadway’s most original musicals and winner of 5 Tony Awards, Fun Home is a groundbreaking story inspired by Alison Bechdel’s best-selling graphic memoir. In this intimate musical, Alison sets out to unravel the many mysteries of her childhood through a series of memories and conversations – from her coming out to her moving journey of acceptance. Gary Griffin (Hand to God, Never the Sinner) directs this emotionally charged family drama that The New York Times calls “extraordinary,” and “a rare beauty.”

FADE
By Victory Gardens Theater Ensemble Playwright Tanya Saracho
Directed by Teatro Vista Ensemble Member Sandra Marquez
A Co-Production with Teatro Vista
November 4-December 23, 2017

In this witty behind-the-scenes drama, Mexican-born Lucia is hired to write for a ruthless Hollywood TV series. She soon discovers that the Mexican American custodian, Abel, has a windfall of plot ideas. As their friendship grows, his stories start to blur with hers with unexpected consequences. Fade, directed by Sandra Marquez, is an acclaimed new play from Tanya Saracho (How to Get Away with Murder, Looking, Girls) whose writing “lands in that sweet spot between comedy and drama” (Chicago Tribune).

BREACH: a manifesto on race in america through the eyes of
a black girl recovering from self-hate
By Antoinette Nwandu
Directed by Lisa Portes
February 9-March 11, 2018

What happens when a woman trapped in a dead-end job and a fizzling relationship accidentally gets pregnant by a man that she’s not dating? A coming-of-age story about race, class and motherhood, Breach by Antoinette Nwandu and directed by Lisa Portes, examines how hard it is to love others when it’s you that you loathe most of all.

DOING IT
By Boo Killebrew
Directed by Chay Yew
April 6-May 6, 2018

After serving seven years in prison, Lettie is released and struggles to make a fresh start. Her children, who have been cared for by her half-sister, want little to do with her. Her re-entry job is anything but gentle as she takes on the dark, harsh world of welding. Trying again and again to create a non-criminal life, Lettie is confronted by her past and must make impossible choices to protect her future. Doing It, directed by Artistic Director Chay Yew (A Wonder In My Soul, The House That Will Not Stand) marks playwright Boo Killebrew’s Victory Gardens Theater debut.

MIES JULIE
By Yaël Farber
Directed by Dexter Bullard
Adapted from August Strindberg’s Miss Julie
May 25-June 24, 2018

In a sweltering kitchen of a remote farm, laborer John and Mies Julie, the daughter of his white master, embark on a feverish night. Fueled by drink, heat, generation-deep resentments and primal passion, John and Julie’s deadly attraction spins dangerously out of control. Dexter Bullard (Sucker Punch), directs Yaël Farber’s Mies Julie, an explosive and simmering adaptation of August Strindberg’s classic play set against the poignant backdrop of post-apartheid South Africa.

For more information on Victory Gardens Theater visit victorygardens.org.