Unexpected Theatre Company, is proud to present the World Premiere of 7 Minutes to Live, written by Richard Lyons Conlon and directed by Andrea J. Dymond, August 29 - September 22, at Chicago Dramatists, 798 North Aberdeen. Co-produced by Chicago Dramatists and Prop THTR, previews are Tuesday, Aug. 27, and Wednesday, Aug. 28 at 7:30 p.m. Opening night is Thursday, Aug. 29 at 7:30 p.m. The regular performance schedule is Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 3:00 p.m. Tickets for 7 Minutes to Live are priced on a “Pay-What-You-Can” scale, with a suggested price of $25, and can be purchased at www.TicketTailor.com.
Intense, profane and wickedly funny, 7 Minutes to Live has been described as a gothic dramedy about urban angst, patriarchal privilege, caste warfare, incendiary literature, and true love. 7 Minutes to Live was a Semi-Finalist at the Eugene O’Neill Playwrights Conference, as well as a Stage Play Finalist at the Austin Film Festival, and has placed in several other competitions and festivals.
The cast of 7 Minutes to Live includes Ryan Hake (he/they, Henry); Liliana Mastroianni (she/they, Vanessa); Tomer Proctor-Zenker (they/them, Eddy) and Nathanael Vangine (he/him, Luke).
The production team includes Andrea J. Dymond (director); Addoris Davis (stage manager); Becca Schwartz (fight & intimacy director); Stefan Roseen (scenic designer); Nick Jones (sound designer); Elliot Hubiak (lighting designer), and Maryah Paige (properties).
ABOUT RICHARD LYONS CONLON, PLAYWRIGHT
Richard Lyons Conlon is resident playwright alumnus at Chicago Dramatists and a proud member of the Dramatists Guild of America. He is an O’Neill Playwrights Conference honoree and was selected as a 2020 Kennedy Center Playwright. Conlon has written over 50 plays, including: 7 Minutes to Live (Eugene O'Neill Playwrights Conference Semi-Finalist); One Time (record-breaking production at Next Act Theatre; Best Comedy Winner at the 2022 Legacy Play Festival, published in 2022 by Next Stage Press) and Intellectual Property (published in 2024 by Next Stage Press, Finalist for the HRC Showcase Theatre New Play Contest in New York).
ABOUT ANDREA J. DYMOND, DIRECTOR
Andrea J. Dymond is a Chicago-based freelance director specializing in developing and directing new work. Her most recent foray was at the 2023 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where Joe Janes’s Macbeth By The Sea was met with delight and packed houses. Formerly, Dymond was resident director at Victory Gardens Theater, where she directed 11 productions, including seven world premieres and helped to develop and launch The Ignition Festival of New Plays. She also does research and production dramaturgy, directs at new works festivals; and has served as thesis play advisor for MFA playwrights at Carnegie Mellon University and, as a director at NNPN’s MFA Playwrights Workshops, at the Kennedy Center. Dymond taught at Columbia College Chicago, where her courses included directing, collaboration, text analysis, acting and new play development.
ABOUT UNEXPECTED THEATRE COMPANY
A socially-progressive not-for-profit professional theatre company in Chicago, Unexpected produces plays that strive for attitude-change, tolerance-building, and social justice through deeply involving, highly entertaining – always unexpected – theatrical work. Unexpected is a D.I.Y company in the best tradition of Chicago Theatre, inspired in part to create great new theatre by any means possible by the stories in Mark Larson’s oral history of Chicago theatre: “Ensemble”. Because today it’s nearly impossible to get a new play produced without grassroots champions, Unexpected Theatre asks for your support to help produce new work and pay artists an equitable wage. Find out more about Unexpected and how you can help support at www.Fundraising.FracturedAtlas.org.
As part of its egalitarian mission, Unexpected believes in the Pay-What-You-Can ticketing model to allow patrons to set their own ticket price and remove the financial barrier that prevents so many from experiencing live theatre.