JEFFERSON PARK — The Gift Theatre will kick off its 15th anniversary season with free performances of 15 10-minute plays.
While the Jefferson Park theater at 4802 N. Milwaukee Ave. typically starts its season with the world premiere of 10 short plays, five "additional theatrical treats" will also be presented to celebrate the theater's 15th anniversary, organizers said.
Performances will take place at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday as well as at 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
The plays to be performed are:
• "Last Stop" by Jenny Davis, directed by Brian Balcom
• "Sitayana" by Lavina Jadhwaani, directed by Elizabeth Margolius
• "Mare Cognitum" by Jennifer Rumberger, directed by Chika Ike
• "Signs" by Michael Patrick Thornton, directed by Darci Nalepa
• "giftED" by Michael Patrick Thornton, directed by Jay Worthington
• "Austin, Texas" by Andrew Hinderaker, directed by Keira Fromm
• "Filmmaker" by Ed Flynn, directed by Sommer Austin
• "A Long, Arduous Journey" by Jaqueline Lawton, directed by Kristen Johnson
• "Stay Woke" by Ike Holter, directed by Samuel Roberson
• "Furcher Vs. The Dark" by Will Eno, directed by Erica Weiss
• "The Stretch" by Tracy Letts, directed by Marti Lyons
The theatre's improv troupe Natural Gas and giftLIT, the literary extension of the theater, will also perform.
The theater's season will begin in earnest in March with a performance of William Shakespeare's "Richard III" in Steppenwolf's Garage Theatre starring Gift Theater founder and artistic director Michael Patrick Thornton as the villainous monarch.
In June, the ensemble will perform "The Grapes of Wrath," by John Steinbeck, adapted by Frank Galati.
In October, the theater will host performances of Melissa Ross's play of "A Life Extra Ordinary," directed by John Gawlik. The play is about an expectant mother who vanishes from her small Ohio town on Christmas Eve.
For more information, go to thegifttheatre.org or call 773-283-7071.
For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here:
