AstonRep’s 2020-21 Season kicks off this fall Twisted Tales of Poe, a streaming radio broadcast based on Tales of Edgar Allen Poe, adapted by Philip Grecian and directed by Aaron Mays – the perfect treat for Halloween! The season continues this winter with AstonRep’s 12th Annual Writer’s Series, a daylong festival of virtual workshops of plays from talented local and regional writers. Next spring, AstonRep plans to resume live, in-person performances with the Chicago premiere of Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa’s action-adventure-fantasy Rough Magic. The season concludes next fall with the rescheduled Chicago premiere of Sarah Treem’s courageous drama When We Were Young and Unafraid, directed by Co-Artistic Director Sara Pavlak McGuire.
Rough Magic and When We Were Young and Unafraid will be staged on The Edge Theater’s mainstage, 5451 N. Broadway St. in Chicago. Tickets for all productions will go on sale at a later date. For additional information, visit www.astonrep.com.
AstonRep Theatre Company’s 2020-21 Season includes:
October 26 – 31, 2020
- Twisted Tales of Poe – A Streaming Radio Play
- Based on Tales by Edgar Allen Poe
- Adapted by Philip Grecian
- Directed by Aaron Mays
“The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Cask of Amontillado,” “The Black Cat,” and “The Raven,” each created by the master of the mysterious and macabre. The mysterious presence of the raven, the victim's vulture eye and the catacombs of Italy all come to life in AstonRep’s streaming radio broadcast – just in time for Halloween.
January 30 – 31, 2021
- The 12th Annual Writers Series – Virtual Performances!
- Titles to be announced.
Since the company’s founding, AstonRep Theatre Company has hosted their annual Writer’s Series – a festival featuring Chicago-based and national playwrights who get an opportunity to workshop near-finished plays and works in development. Over the course of a day, new works are read by AstonRep actors and guest artists followed by focused talkback sessions with the writers.
April 30 – May 30, 2021
- Rough Magic – Chicago Premiere!
- By Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
- Co-Directed by Melanie Thompson and Co-Artistic Director Derek Bertelsen
- at The Edge Theater, 5451 N. Broadway St., Chicago
Transplanting characters from The Tempest to present-day New York, Rough Magic is a Shakespearean action-adventure-fantasy in the tradition of Harry Potter and The X-Men that conjures a mythical, magical meta-universe in which the evil sorcerer Prospero is willing to do anything to recover his stolen book of magic – even if it means Manhattan’s destruction. Lucky for us, New York’s defenders include a quartet of unlikely heroes: Melanie Porter, a plucky, raven-haired dramaturg with the ability to free characters from plays; Caliban, Prospero’s hunky (though not-too-bright) son; Tisiphone, a revenge-seeking Fury from Ancient Greece; and a seventeen-year-old lifeguard from Coney Island named Chet Baxter. May the forces of evil beware!
Fall 2021
- When We Were Young and Unafraid – Chicago Premiere!
- By Sarah Treem
- Directed by Co-Artistic Director Sara Pavlak McGuire
- at The Edge Theater, 5451 N. Broadway St., Chicago
In the early 1970s, before Roe v. Wade, before the Violence Against Women Act, Agnes has turned her quiet bed and breakfast into one of the few spots where victims of domestic violence can seek refuge. But to Agnes’s dismay, her latest runaway, Mary Anne, is beginning to influence Agnes’s college-bound daughter Penny. As the drums of a feminist revolution grow louder outside of Agnes’s tiny world, Agnes is forced to confront her own presumptions about the women she’s spent her life trying to help.
About the Artists
Edgar Allen Poe (Author, Twisted Tales of Poe) was an American writer, poet, critic and editor best known for evocative short stories and poems that captured the imagination and interest of readers around the world. His imaginative storytelling and tales of mystery and horror gave birth to the modern detective story. Many of Poe’s works, including “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Fall of the House of Usher,” became literary classics.
Philip Grecian’s (Adaptation, Twisted Tales of Poe) works include The Dragon of Nitt and The Lion and the Lyre (both translated and performed in Russia); the authorized stage production of In His Steps, Toby Saves the Farm, a musical salute to tent shows; and a translation of Mozart's opera, The Magic Flute. His staged and televised radio dramas, in addition to Dracula (Emmy winner) and It's a Wonderful Life, include Twisted Tales of Poe (winner of a Gold AVA Digital Award), A Christmas Carol, The Hound of the Baskervilles (nominated for an Emmy and winner of a Telly Award), The Blood Countess, Frankenstein, The Invisible Man and others.
Aaron Mays (Director, Twisted Tales of Poe) is an emerging director and playwright in Chicago with a passion for stories of the African diaspora and the narratives of marginalized voices. Aaron’s most recent directing credits include Gem of the Ocean (South Bend Civic Theatre), 2 X 2 (Haven), Waiting for Godot (Tympanic Theatre) with an all-Latinx cast and Tug of War (CIRCA Pintig), a series of short plays on war, trauma and immigration. In addition, he has worked with Chicago’s top directors, serving as the assistant director for such productions as Sweat (Goodman Theatre), Two Trains Running (Goodman Theatre) and Whorl Inside a Loop (Second Stage). As a writer, Aaron's plays include Black Santa, Sticks and Stones and The Street Corner. Aaron is a proud graduate of Northwestern University.
Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (Playwright, Rough Magic) is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama. His plays include The Picture of Dorian Gray (Roundhouse Theatre), King of Shadows (The Working Theatre), Good Boys and True (Steppenwolf, 2econd Stage Theatre, the O’Neill), Based on a Totally True Story (MTC), The Velvet Sky (Woolly Mammoth Theatre), Dark Matters (Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre, the O’Neill), Rough Magic (Hangar Theatre), and the GLAAD Media Award-nominated comedies: Golden Age and Say You Love Satan. Musicals include American Psycho and co-book writer of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. In addition to his playwriting, Mr. Aguirre-Sacasa is also a comic book writer best known for his work for Marvel Comics and for the television series Glee, Big Love, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and Riverdale.
Melanie Thompson (Co-Director, Rough Magic) is a Chicago-based freelancing artist. Past credits with AstonRep include: The Lonesome West, The Crowd You’re In With (Sound Designer) and The Laramie Project (Asst. Production Manager). She’s also worked with Erasing the Distance, Pride Films & Plays, 16th Street Theatre, Black Button Eyes Productions, Metropolis Performing Arts Centre and Steppenwolf Theatre Co. She’s an alumni of the Steppenwolf Young Adult Council, and a recent graduate of Dominican University, with a BA in Theatre Arts.
Derek Bertelsen (Co-Director, Rough Magic) joined AstonRep in 2013 and serves as Co-Artistic Director. Previous directing credits with the company include Doubt, Next Fall, Wit, The Laramie Project, The Crowd You're In With, and Equus. He served as Co-Founder and Artistic Director of The Comrades from 2016-2020 where he directed and produced numerous productions. He’s also directed for BrightSide Theatre, Wilmette Center for the Arts, Pride Films & Plays and assistant directed at Goodman, Bailiwick Chicago, and Steppenwolf Garage. Regional credits include Festival 56, Shawnee Summer Playhouse, New Ground Theatre, and five seasons at Timber Lake Playhouse.
Sarah Treem’s (Playwright, When We Were Young and Unafraid) A Feminine Ending premiered at Playwrights Horizons and went on to productions at South Coast Repertory and Portland Center Stage, among others. Her play The How and the Why premiered at the McCarter Theater starring Mercedes Ruehl (with Emily Mann directing) and went on to productions at Interact Theatre and Trinity Repertory, among others. Sarah’s other plays include Empty Sky (Bloomington Playwrights Project), Orphan Island (Sundance Theater Lab), Human Voices (New York Stage and Film) and Mirror Mirror. She has been commissioned by Playwrights Horizons, Southcoast Repertory and Manhattan Theater Club, and developed work at the Ojai Playwrights Festival, the Screenwriters Colony, Hedgebrook and Yaddo. In addition to her theater career, Sarah wrote and produced all three seasons of the acclaimed HBO series "In Treatment," for which she won a WGA award and was nominated for a Humanitas award. She was also a writer/producer for the HBO series "How to Make it in America." She has taught playwriting at Yale University, where she earned her B.A. and M.F.A.
Sara Pavlak McGuire (Director, When We Were Young and Unafraid) has been a company member with AstonRep since 2013, where she primarily served as casting director. The 2018-19 season was her first as Co-Artistic Director. Working primarily as an actor in Chicago, Sara has worked with many different companies around the city; namely Windy City Playhouse, Remy Bumppo, Oak Park Festival Theatre, Filament Theatre, Hubris Productions, Spartan Theatre and of course her home base at AstonRep. She is a two-time Jeff Award nominee (2011, 2018). She received the award in 2011 for her work in Agnes of God, with Hubris Productions. She has assistant directed several productions with AstonRep (Wit, The Lyons, The Laramie Project). Sara holds an MFA in acting from Western Illinois University.
About AstonRep Theatre Company:
AstonRep Theatre Company was formed in the summer of 2008. Since then, the company has produced numerous full-length productions, along with their annual Writer’s Series. They are currently in residence at The Edge Theater. AstonRep Theatre Company is an ensemble of artists committed to creating exciting, intimate theatrical experiences that go beyond the front door to challenge audiences and spark discussion where the show is not the end of the experience: it is just the beginning.