Photo: PILGRIMS playwright Claire Kiechel

The Gift Theater’s 2017 season will feature three world premieres all be female playwrights.  Kicking off in February with the debuts of Mona Mansour’s war-torn drama UNSEEN, Claire Kiechel’s futuristic PILGRIMS and Janine Nabers’ time-hopping love story A SWELL IN THE GROUND.

“The Gift’s season is dedicated to epic intimacy which explores the question: Who Have We Become?” said artistic director Michael Patrick Thornton. “From a pioneering spacecraft to explosive Istanbul to intimate spaces in New York, our 2017 season is about wounded lovers trying their best to recover from trauma. I’m ecstatic that this will be our first season comprised entirely of world premieres by women playwrights.”

The Gift Theatre also announces funding for 4802—the new play research and development wing of The Gift—is complete. In 4802, artists/artistic teams will be given residencies in the Gift Theatre’s storefront, providing dedicated tailor-made time, space, and support for their work. Applications for 4802 will be live at thegifttheatre.org on September 1, 2016.

“4802 exists for one purpose: to nurture the creation of vital works of theater that explore and explode what is possible in a storefront space,” 4802 co-director Andrew Hinderaker said. “We want to nurture the development of theater pieces that celebrate the strengths of storefronts while dreaming the boundaries of our form bigger. Plays that draw on the unique resources and talents of The Gift Theatre, while furthering the growth of our own company and ensemble. Plays that kick the door open to populations all too often left out in the cold. Plays that make the Chicago storefront—and The Gift Theatre—a center for vital new American plays.”

As usual, The Gift’s year begins in January with TEN (Jan. 5-8, Jan. 12-15), the theater’s annual celebration of world premiere ten-minute pieces by The Gift and guests, curated by Thornton and associate artistic director Paul D’Addario.