Pictured (l-r): Kristen Johnson, Ian Martin, and Lexi Saunders.

Haven Theatre has announced the line-up for its third DIRECTORS HAVEN, the company’s initiative that showcases the talents of three early career directors.

This season, Kristen Johnson directs Vaclav Havel’s political satire THE PROTEST, Ian Martin helms Amiri Baraka’s THE TOILET, and Lexi Saunders directs Rachel Dubose’s sharply funny and biting new play THE DEPARTURE. The three fully-produced productions will run back-to-back in one program.

Comments Artistic Director Josh Sobel, “The continued growth of the Director’s Haven program is a fulfillment of one of my greatest hopes – to provide institutional support and hands-on production opportunity for directors at the very earliest stages of their professional journeys. The past two years have been a testament to the talent and imagination of the newest generation of professional theatermakers, and this season’s cohort of artists will only build upon and continue this momentum. These directors have selected pieces that are truly uniquely personal to each of them, and share an immediacy, a relevancy and a consciousness that serves to reinforce my faith in the next wave of artistic leaders.”

DIRECTORS HAVEN 2017 (from the press release):

THE PROTEST
By Vaclav Havel
Directed by Kristen Johnson

Renowned activist Vaněk pays a visit to the lavish home of a former colleague, Staněk, who has invited Vaněk to help secure the release of a jailed radical musician, fiancée to Staněk’s daughter. Vaněk also has a favor to request: getting the Staněk’s signature in a far-reaching protest.

THE TOILET
By Amiri Baraka
Directed by Ian Martin

Set in a high school lavatory in the early 1960’s, LeRoi Jones’ The Toilet is an exploration of love, race and masculinity. The play is one of several known colloquially as Revolutionary theatre, which aimed to force change in the social order by exposing, accusing, and attacking. The Toilet exposes love, accuses race, and attacks masculinity, in hopes that we can imagine a new social order; One in which a boy could love another, despite their colors.

THE DEPARTURE
By Rachel Dubose
Directed by Lexi Saunders

Friendships are tested when a group of women reunites for an Escape Room themed Bachelorette Party. Loosely based on Sartre’s No Exit and developed collaboratively, what was supposed to bring the women together actually begins to tear them apart. As the clock winds down, tensions build and old secrets are revealed.

The production team for DIRECTOR’S HAVEN 2017 includes Rachel Rauscher (scenic design), Sara Torres (lighting design), Antonio Gracias (sound design), Devon Green (props design) and Corbin Paulino and Merle Palmer (stage managers).

DIRECTOR’S HAVEN 2017 runs October 16 – November 1, 2017 at Haven Theatre’s resident home, The Den Theatre (2A), 1333 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood. All performances are pay-what-you-can. Tickets are currently available at haventheatrechicago.com.