The Gift Theatre is busy making plans for its 25th Anniversary season, including new ensemble members and a new home for TEN 25th, the company’s annual 10-minute performance festival of new work written, directed, and performed by various local artists. Details for a Winter Gala, celebrating 25 years, and two Mainstage productions will be announced soon. TEN 25th, March 25-April 4, 2026, will be presented at A Red Orchid Theatre 1531 N Wells St. in Chicago.
Joining The Gift Theatre ensemble are: Jennifer Aparicio, Shanésia Davis, Angela Morris, Jennifer Rumberger, Netta Walker and Patrick Weber.
Artistic Directors Jennifer Glasse and Brittany Burch comment, “Following the sold-out world premiere of Cygnus last spring, we embarked on a full strategic planning initiative that renewed our mission, clarified our vision and values, and set a solid course for The Gift’s future. We’re thrilled to welcome longtime members of our Gift community into the ensemble, strengthening the artistic family at the heart of our work. As we look ahead, we’re recommitting to our origins in Jefferson Park and actively exploring pathways to bring The Gift home again. Our 25th Anniversary ‘Homecoming’ season reflects that spirit—beginning with a winter gala and continuing this spring with TEN 25th at A Red Orchid Theatre. We can’t wait to share what’s next.”
PRODUCTION DETAILS:
Title: TEN 25th
TEN 25th features world premiere plays from Chicago playwrights John Gawlik, Jennifer Rumberger, Gregory Fenner, Kimberly Dixon-Mays, Dolores Diaz, Stephanie Alison Walker, Emilio Williams, and Brett Neveu
TEN 25th features the work of Gift ensemble members Cyd Blakewell, Erica Weiss, Gregory Fenner, Jennifer Glasse, Jennifer Rumberger, Jim Farruggio, John Gawlik, Kenny Mihlfried, Pat Weber, Paul D’Addario and Shanésia Davis.
TEN 25th features 10-minute world premiere plays from Chicago playwrights John Gawlik, Jennifer Rumberger, Gregory Fenner, Kimberly Dixon-Mays, Dolores Diaz, Stephanie Alison Walker, Emilio Williams, and Brett Neveu.
Location: A Red Orchid Theatre, 1531 N Wells St., Chicago
Dates: March 25 – April 4, 2026
Curtain Times:
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Wednesday, March 25 at 7:30pm
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Thursday, March 26 at 7:30pm
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Friday, March 27 at 7:30pm
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Saturday, March 28 at 7:30pm
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Sunday, March 29 at 3pm
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Wednesday, April 1 at 7:30pm
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Thursday, April 2 at 7:30pm
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Friday, April 3 at 7:30pm
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Saturday, April 4 at 3pm and 7:30pm
Tickets, priced at $25, are on sale at thegifttheatre.org or by calling (773) 283-7071.
ABOUT THE NEW GIFT THEATRE ENSEMBLE MEMBERS
Jennifer Aparicio has been working in the Chicago theater scene as a freelance Production Manager and Equity Stage Manager. Select production management credits include work with The Gift Theatre, Steep Theatre, Porchlight Music Theatre, and Teatro Vista. Select stage management credits include work with Chicago Shakespeare Theater, The Goodman Theatre, TimeLine Theatre Company, A Red Orchid Theatre, and Steep Theatre. Jennifer is a member of Actors' Equity Association.
Shanésia Davis (Shay) is excited to be a part of the gift theatre ensemble where she recently directed Top Dog Underdog. Other gift acting credits include Hamlet and Richard III. Her most recent acting role was as Lena Younger in A Raisin in The Sun at the Court Theatre. Additional credits include works at Steppenwolf, Northlight, Porchlight Music Theatre, Goodman, Congo Square, Mark Taper Forum, Cleveland Playhouse, CenterStage Baltimore, Kansas City Rep among others. She is a recipient of a Black Theatre Alliance Award and Excellence in The Arts Awards, several Jeff nominations and an NAACP Image Award nominee. Some film credits include The Thing about Harry, Blueprint, Consumed, Damaged Goods, Cleveland Abduction, Morning Due, among others. Some television credits Chicago Stories: Ida B. Wells (voice of Ida B. Wells) Lovecraft Country (HBO), The Chi (SHOW), Proven Innocent (FOX), Empire (FOX), Chicago Fire (NBC), and series regular on Early Edition (CBS). Directing credits include Indecent, Spunk, Mother Courage and Her Children at Roosevelt University CCPA, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill at Congo Square Theatre, Our Lady of 121st Street at UIC School of Theatre & Music. Shanésia served as Program Director of Acting and Assistant Teaching Professor of Acting at Roosevelt University, CCPA. Shanésia’s debut editorial book Nine questions every actor of color should consider when tokenism in not enough can be purchased through Routledge, Taylor & Francis publishing, bookstores and online. She is a proud member of Equity and SAG/AFTRA unions.
Angela Morris' Chicago credits include: Hand Man and Cygnus (The Gift) Rebecca Gilman's Twilight Bowl and Ah! Wilderness (Goodman), The Lady from the Sea (Court), Black Sunday (Timeline), The Hamlet Project (The Collective), and Horatio (A Beautiful Fight). Regional credits include The Comedy of Errors (JFK Cntr for the Performing Arts). Television and film credits include Chicago Med, Chicago P.D., Chicago Fire, Shining Girls, A Social Contract, and Never Not Yours. Video game credits include Perception and Romancelvania.
Jennifer Rumberger is a playwright, poet, and essayist. Recent readings and productions include The Fires at the Tank Theatre, The Locusts with The Gift Theatre, Night in Alachua County with Wildclaw Theatre and Open Blue Sky at Stella Adler/ Tisch School of the Arts. Jennifer’s playwriting work has been developed or presented by The Gift Theatre Company, The Lark Playwrights Center, id Theatre Company, Black Box Acting Studio, The Living Room Playmakers, The Seven Devils Playwrights Conference and Chicago Dramatists. She was a nominee for the PoNY Fellowship and a semifinalist for the P73 Playwriting Fellowship and the Princess Grace Award, as well as a recipient of the 2021 Illinois Arts Council Fellowship Award. She was a 2022 Tennessee Williams Scholar at the Sewanee Writers’ Conference. Her essay, “Ghosts,” was published in The Deadlands. She has performed her poetry and essays with 2nd Story, You're Being Ridiculous, Brooklyn Poets, and Gift Lit. She is an associate artist with Second Site in Chicago and holds an MFA in Writing for the Screen and Stage from Northwestern University.
Netta Walker is an actor and playwright that began her career onstage in Chicago 10 years ago as the Rose of Sharon understudy at The Gift Theater for The Grapes of Wrath. Now she is known for starring as Keisha McCalla in "All American: Homecoming" and “All American” on The CW for 3 seasons. In 2019, she won a Jeff Award for “Best Supporting Performance in a Play” (Yen, Raven Theater) and was named one of the Chicago Tribune’s "Hot New Faces" by theater critic Chris Jones.
She studied playwriting at The LIR at Trinity College for a year while simultaneously taking acting classes at RADA. As a writer in the Pearl Cleage writers workshop with the Tony Award winning Goodman Theater and Remy Bumppo Theater Company, she began developing Hayward - which was chosen as a Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference 2025 Semifinalist. Her play keerah was selected as a winner in Definition Theaters’ 2024 AMPLIFY New Play Festival, where it is set to be workshopped for two years. keerah has also been performed in scratch nights in London with Irish speaking casts. Her Filipino short film Balik won the Horror/Thriller short script category at Hollywood Just4Shorts Film and Screenplay competition, as well as being selected for London Film Festival International and Edinburgh FFI. This was swiftly followed by her short script Baby Gay being selected for the Chicago Script Awards and as a Cambridge Script Festival finalist (LGBTQ Screenplay). Both shorts were selected for the Best Script Awards screenplay competition in London in the same year. Walker was also chosen to pitch her original feminist dystopian series House of Dixie at the American Cinemtheque’s Proof of Concept Film Festival in LA in 2024 - it then went on to be selected as a Quarterfinalist for WeScreenplays’ Diverse Voices Lab Spring 2025. She is now adapting it for stage.
Chicago onstage acting credits include: Lion in Winter (Court Theater), How to Defend Yourself (Victory Gardens, original cast); Yen (Raven Theatre, Jeff Award for Best Supporting Actor); Hamlet, Grapes of Wrath (The Gift); No Child (Definition Theatre); Continuity (Goodman); truth and reconciliation (Sideshow Theatre Company); Great Expectations (Silk Road Rising/Remy Bumppo); The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley (Northlight, original cast) and in workshops and reading series with companies like Steppenwolf Theater, Jackalope Theater, and Pride Films and Plays. Regional: Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley (Milwaukee Rep).
Patrick Weber began working with The Gift began as a high schooler at Notre Dame College Prep—part of the very first GiftEd ensemble, a crew of teens and their leader Lindsey Barlag Thornton. Patrick later attended the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign where he earned his BFA in Acting. Patrick appeared in the original production of How to Make an American Son directed by Kimberly Senior in Arizona. After returning to Chicago, he was cast in The Gift’s original production of The Locusts written by cohort member Jennifer Rumberger and directed by John Gawlik. Patrick has also appeared in You and Me with Gift's co-founder Michael Patrick Thornton.
About The Gift Theatre
The Gift Theatre is a storefront nonprofit founded in Chicago’s Jefferson Park neighborhood, committed to creating accessible, inclusive, and impactful theatrical experiences. Our identity is defined by intimacy, collaboration, and a belief that live storytelling can inspire and transform both artist and audience. Our programming isn’t bound by genre but guided by character-driven, emotionally rich storytelling rooted in truth. Whether surreal or starkly naturalistic, each play we share reflects our commitment to creating spaces of deep connection—among artists, between artist and audience, and within our community.