Invictus Theatre Company, the seven-year-old storefront theatre company who this past year was one of the most honored organizations at the Non-Equity Jeff Awards and then lost its venue in a July 2023 fire, has announced a new home and a four-play season for 2024. Invictus will move to the Windy City Playhouse, the former producing company and venue that closed early last year.
Invictus’s first production at the Windy City Playhouse will be Suzan-Lori Parks's 2002 Pulitzer Prize winner TOPDOG/UNDERDOG, playing February 13 to March 31, with a press opening on Monday, February 19 at 7 p.m. Parks's drama of sibling rivalry will be directed by Aaron Reese Boseman, who led the Invictus productions of THE MOUNTAINTOP and A RAISIN IN THE SUN. Boseman’s cast for the two-hander will be Mikha’el Amin (Dr. Martin Luther King in Invictus’s THE MOUNTAINTOP) and DeMorris Burrows (of Steppenwolf’s 1919). It will be followed in May by another Pulitzer Prize winner — the first Chicago production of Tracy Letts’s play AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY since the 2010 national tour that played the Cadillac Palace Theatre. This monumental drama of family dysfunction in rural Oklahoma had its world premiere at Steppenwolf Theatre in 2007, winning six Jeff Awards, including production of a play. It transferred to Broadway in 2008, where it won five Tony Awards, including Best Play. Invictus Artistic Director Charles Askenaizer, winner of the 2023 Jeff Award (Non-Equity Wing) for his direction of Invictus’s WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?, will direct. AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY will play from May 28 to July 14, with a press opening scheduled for Monday, June 3 at 7 p.m.
In August, Askenaizer will also direct the Chicago premiere of Lee Hall’s adaptation of the Academy-Award-winning NETWORK. Hall’s adaptation of the screenplay by Paddy Chayefsky premiered in London in 2017 and opened on Broadway in 2018. The story concerns a network television anchorman who is fired for his declining ratings but becomes embraced by the public as a symbol of their collective angst. Chayefsky’s 1976 screenplay was prescient in its foretelling of television’s adoption of reality-based programming and exploitation of grievances. NETWORK will run from August 13 to September 29. The press opening will be Monday, August 19 at 7 p.m.
Invictus will continue its tradition of presenting intimate productions of Shakespeare with its season-closing presentation of MACBETH, the Bard’s tale of the seductive nature of power that combines Scottish history with magical realism. The tragedy’s three witches who warn Macbeth about his future will make their first appearance just before Halloween, with previews beginning on October 29, leading up to a press opening on Monday, November 4 at 7 p.m. and playing through December 15.
MACBETH will be directed by Sarafina Vecchio, a Chicago-based actor, director, and educator who is an adjunct faculty member of The Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. Vecchio holds a Post Graduate Award in Teaching Shakespeare from The University of Warwick (in conjunction with the Royal Shakespeare Company) in Coventry, England and has been a guest instructor to Ontario, Canada's Stratford Festival. CHICAGO STAGE AND SCREEN’s Angela Allyn praised Vecchio’s text coaching for Invictus’s JULIUS CAESAR for being “as modern sounding as your favorite political podcast. You have heard these speeches before but never like this. This is a Caesar for everyone.”
Askenaizer says, “We’re looking forward to returning to production with another season of powerful, emotional dramas. We will take full advantage of the flexible space in our new home at Windy City Playhouse to develop creative staging for our shows.”
Invictus Theatre Company has been one of the most notable success stories among Chicago’s storefront theatres in spite of the challenges facing the theater community in recent years. When the pandemic shut down in-person performances just three years after the company’s founding, they responded with a thrillingly intimate Zoom production of ‘NIGHT, MOTHER. They returned from the pandemic by acquiring their own space – the former Jackalope Frontier Theater – which they renamed in honor of the late founding company member Reginald Vaughn. In that space, they continued to build a reputation for intimate and honest interpretations of classics with fidelity to the original texts and close attention to character development. The company’s extraordinarily successful 2021-22 season netted the company five Jeff Awards for its 13 nominations.
The company continued its upward trajectory during its 2022-23 season. That season began with intimate, yet full-scale stagings of the epics JULIUS CAESAR and THE CRUCIBLE along with the two-hander THE MOUNTAINTOP. BUZZ CENTER STAGE’s Wesley David said in reviewing JULIUS CAESAR that “Invictus Theatre Company is quickly becoming one of my favorite venues in Chicago” and of THE MOUNTAINTOP said “They constantly exceed their reach. I have to remind myself this is a storefront theatre.” The CHICAGO READER’S Jack Helbig said of THE CRUCIBLE “This is a production that grabs an audience in the first seconds, pulls us in, and doesn’t let go until the final lights go out.”
Tickets for Invictus's 2024 season will be available soon at www.invictustheatreco.com
LISTING INFORMATION
TOPDOG/UNDERDOG
by Suzan Lori-Parks
Directed by Aaron Reese Boseman
February 13 – March 31, 2024
Previews: Tuesday 2/13/24, Friday 2/16/24, Saturday 2/17/24 at 7 p.m. Saturday 2/17/24 and Sunday 2/18/24 at 2 p.m.
Press Opening Monday 2/19/24 at 7 p.m
Regular performances Fridays, Saturdays, and Mondays at 7 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m.
Performances at Windy City Playhouse, 3014 W. Irving Park Road, Chicago
Ticket prices: Previews $25. Monday $25. Friday through Sunday $45. Season subscriptions available.
www.invictustheatreco.com
A darkly comic fable of brotherly love and family identity and the way we are defined by history. Lincoln and Booth are two brothers whose names were given to them as a joke, foretelling a lifetime of sibling rivalry and resentment. Haunted by the past, the brothers are forced to confront the shattering reality of their future.
AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY
by Tracy Letts
Directed by Charles Askenaizer
May 28 – July 14, 2024
Previews: Tuesday 5/28/24, Friday 5/31/24, Saturday 6/1/24 at 7 p.m. Saturday 6/1/24 and Sunday 6/2/24 at 2 p.m.
Press Opening Monday 6/3/24 at 7 p.m.
Regular performances Fridays, Saturdays, and Mondays at 7 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m.
Additional performance Wednesday 7/3/24 at 7 p.m.
NO PERFORMANCE Friday 7/5/24
Performances at Windy City Playhouse, 3014 W. Irving Park Road, Chicago
Ticket prices: Previews $25. Monday $25. Friday through Sunday $45. Season subscriptions available.
www.invictustheatreco.com
A vanished father. A pill-popping mother. Three sisters harboring shady little secrets. When the large Weston family unexpectedly reunites after Dad disappears, their Oklahoman family homestead explodes in a maelstrom of repressed truths and unsettling secrets. This is the first Chicago production since 2010 of this recipient of the 2008 Tony Award® for Best Play and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY uproariously exposes the dark side of the Midwestern American family.
NETWORK
CHICAGO PREMIERE
Adaptation by Lee Hall of the screenplay by Paddy Chayefsky
Directed by Charles Askenaizer
August 13 – September 29, 2024
Previews: Tuesday 8/13/24, Friday 8/16/24, Saturday 8/17/24 at 7 p.m. Saturday 8/17/24 and Sunday 8/18/24 at 2 p.m.
Press Opening Monday 8/19/24 at 7 p.m.
Regular performances Fridays, Saturdays, and Mondays at 7 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m.
Performances at Windy City Playhouse, 3014 W. Irving Park Road, Chicago
Ticket prices: Previews $25. Monday $25. Friday through Sunday $45. Season subscriptions available.
www.invictustheatreco.com
Stage adaptation of the Academy Award-winning film in which a network TV news anchorman is plunged into despair when his ratings drop and he is fired. He turns suicidal and threatens to kill himself live on air at an appointed time. Bizarrely, this announcement leads to a dramatic resurgence in popularity. Beale is reborn as "the mad prophet of the airwaves," a man who channels the anger of the common man. A nihilistic satire on the direction that television, and specifically news coverage, was headed in the Seventies.
MACBETH
by William Shakespeare
Directed by Sarafina Vecchio
October 29 – December 15, 2024
Previews: Tuesday 10/29/24, Friday 11/1/24, Saturday 11/2/24 at 7 p.m. Saturday 11/2/24 and Sunday 11/3/24 at 2 p.m.
Press Opening Monday 11/4/24 at 7 p.m.
Regular performances Fridays, Saturdays, and Mondays at 7 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m.
Regular performances Fridays, Saturdays, and Mondays at 7 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m.
Performances at Windy City Playhouse, 3014 W. Irving Park Road, Chicago
Ticket prices: Previews $25. Monday $25. Friday through Sunday $45. Season subscriptions available.
www.invictustheatreco.com
One of Shakespeare's most popular and enduring tragedies. A brave Scottish general named Macbeth receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders King Duncan and takes the Scottish throne for himself. Forced to commit more and more murders to protect himself from enmity and suspicion, he soon becomes a tyrannical ruler. The bloodbath and consequent civil war swiftly take Macbeth and Lady Macbeth into the realms of madness and death.
DIRECTOR BIOS
Charles Askenaizer (Artistic Director, Director AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY, NETWORK) is the Founding Artistic Director of Invictus Theatre. He won the 2023 Jeff Award (Non-Equity Wing) for his direction of the company’s WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?, which also won Jeff Awards for Production of a Play, Scenic Design (Kevin Rolfs), and Performer in a Supporting Role – Play (Rachel Livingston). Other recent directing credits include THE CRUCIBLE, JULIUS CAESAR, and HAMLET (Invictus Theatre), readings with Chicago Dramatists, 'NIGHT, MOTHER (Associate Director-Invictus Theatre), THE MERCHANT OF VENICE (Invictus Theatre), OTHELLO: THE MOOR OF VENICE (Invictus Theatre), TITUS ANDRONICUS (Bare Knuckles Theater), JULIUS CAESAR (Associate Director - Brown Paper Box), TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA (Reutan Collective), and THE DIFFERENCE (Reading-Piccolo Theatre). Charles has worked with Citadel Theatre, Teatro Vista, the Artistic Home, City Lit, Raven, Brown Paper Box, Chicago Dramatists, the Side Project and many more. Charles graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in Theatre and Communications. In 2024, Charles was named one of Newcity Magazine’s “Players 50 2024: The Rising Stars and Storefront Stalwarts”.
Aaron Reese Boseman (Director, TOPDOG/UNDERDOG) is a Chicago native and a graduate of Columbia College Chicago with a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Direction and Acting. He directed Invictus’s acclaimed productions of THE MOUNTAINTOP and A RAISIN IN THE SUN and is a Jeff Award nominated actor, Black Excellence Award and Black Theatre Alliance Award nominated director and designer. He is also co-founder and artistic director of PULSE Theatre Chicago, where his directing credits include the critically acclaimed, ONCE ON THIS ISLAND, IN THE BLOOD, THE COLORED MUSEUM, FABULATION, OR THE RE-EDUCATION OF UNDINE, and A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE. Other directing credits include THE TIGER WHO WORE WHITE GLOVES (eta Creative Arts Foundation), THE LAST DAYS OF JUDAS ISCARIOT, S'KIN, THE PHILADELPHIA (Columbia College Chicago), AMERICAN SON (Ghostlight Theatre), NETWORTH, ROOM FOR MORE (Film Series) and DETROIT '67 (Columbia College Chicago-Mainstage). Upcoming: THE MUSIC MAN (Metropolis Performing Arts) and FAIRVIEW (Theatre at Cedar Rapids). Recent Acting Credits include BLUE HEAVEN (Black Ensemble Theater), RAGTIME (Metropolis Performing Arts), RUINED (Invictus Theatre), BIG RIVER (TATC), SHREK THE MUSICAL (Windy City Performs), IN THE HEIGHTS (The Miracle Center, Slate), VIOLET, BALM IN GILEAD (Griffin Theatre and Loyola University), GOLDEN BOY, DO RE MI (Porchlight Music Theatre), RENT (CCC), and LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS (Skylight Music Theatre and Citadel Theatre).
Sarafina Vecchio (Director, MACBETH) has been working as an actor, director, and educator in Chicago for over 20 years. She holds a Post Graduate Award in Teaching Shakespeare from The University of Warwick (in conjunction with the Royal Shakespeare Company) in Coventry, England. She earned her Bachelor's in Theatre from Roosevelt University and studied classical acting at Richmond College in London. She is currently an adjunct faculty member at Roosevelt University's Chicago College of the Performing Arts, an instructor at Acting Studio Chicago, and served as administrator of The Acting Institute at Paramount Theatre's School of the Arts. She is also honored to have been invited as a guest instructor to Ontario, Canada's Stratford Festival, where she taught their acting company techniques in Shakespeare instruction. As a performer and creative, Sarafina has worked locally with many companies, including: Drury Lane, Shattered Globe, TimeLine, Remy Bumppo, Irish Theatre Chicago, Oak Park Festival Theatre, Speaking Ring, Metropolis, The Other Theatre Company, Steel Beam, and Janus Theatre. She is a proud member of SAG-AFTRA and has appeared in numerous feature films, national TV shows, industrials, and commercials.
ABOUT INVICTUS THEATRE COMPANY
At Invictus Theatre Company, our mission is to create theatre that promotes a better understanding of language: its poetry, its rhythm, its resonance; through diverse works by diverse artists. We respect the power of heightened language: spoken, written, sung; to express the breadth of the human condition. We work to harness the power of language: to promote diversity, to engender respect, to foster collaboration; and to empower our communities to share their voices.
Invictus Theatre Company incorporated in January 2017 and received its 501(c)(3) nonprofit status in February 2017. A diverse group of Chicago actors and directors founded Invictus with the vision to empower their communities through theatrical productions of heightened language. We are committed to the idea that our productions should reflect the communities we represent, and, to that end, we are committed to non-discriminatory hiring practices. In working with local artists, designers, and production teams, Invictus Theatre Company does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, ability, nationality, citizenship, religion, or any other status protected by law.
Invictus Theatre Company's 2024 season is generously sponsored by Michael and Mona Heath of The Heath Fund, with additional support from The Paul M. Angell Family Foundation, Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE), Untouchable Times Tours, Inc., and the Illinois Arts Council.