Interrobang Theatre Project, in association with The Theatre School at DePaul University, is proud to announce The Playwriting Initiative. It is our belief that it falls on every theater in our community to nurture new work. Our commitment to playwrights will include providing a supportive environment with necessary resources such as actors, directors, and space.
Each season we will invite playwrights for an immersive and supportive partnership, including one graduate selected from DePaul's prestigious BFA Playwriting program. All collaborations will be tailored to meet the needs of the individual playwright as they develop their vocabulary and theatrical voice.
The Playwriting Initiative is an invitation-only program and does not accept unsolicited proposals.
SEASON TWELVE
Season Twelve recipient of The Playwriting Initiative fellowship: Camilla Dwyer
Camilla Dwyer (she/her/hers) is a Chicago-based theatre practitioner and scholar by way of San Francisco. In addition to participating in the Interrobang Playwriting Initiative for the 2021-22 season she is currently helping develop an up-and-coming science fiction podcast with other Chicago-based writers. Most recent theatre credits include having a reading of her play Teeth presented as part of the Theatre School at DePaul University’s 2021 Wrights of Spring Festival. Chicago theatre credits include the inaugural Exquisite Corpse Playwriting Project (playwright; 2020). West Coast credits include: Davis Shakespeare Festival’s Digital Summer Internship (participant; 2020) SF-Playgrounds Young Playwrights Project (playwright; 2015, 2016, 2017), and Berkeley Rep’s Young Writers of Color Collective (playwright; 2017).
She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Playwriting and a Bachelor of Arts in African-Black Diaspora Studies from DePaul University.
SEASON eleven
Season Eleven recipient of The Playwriting Initiative fellowship: Madie Doppelt
Madie Doppelt is a playwright and theatre artist based in Chicago, IL. She has worked with The Neo-Futurists, Lookingglass Theatre, and Actors Gymnasium. Madie is a recent graduate of DePaul University with a BFA in Playwriting. In response to the COVID outbreak, she has recently adapted her play, The Model Play, into an online podcast experience. Other recent works include adaptations of Charlotte Bronte’s Villette and Alison Bechdel’s Dykes to Watch Out For.
In May, 2021, ITP was proud to present the first public reading of Sub-Culture, Madie’s new play in progress. This reading was presented in association with TheTheatreSchool and wrightsofspring festival.
A local 90s themed sandwich shop hasn't seen a customer since, well, the 90s. In the quiet of the empty shop, the employees are tasked with figuring out what to do next. As they scramble to bring their ideas into fruition, some leap into the world of 90s pop nostalgia, while others fight desperately to escape it.
"Being a part of the Playwriting Initiative program was the ideal first professional development experience post-grad. I got the freedom to really explore and develop my own artistic process while having hands-on support at the ready whenever I reached out. I'm really excited about the play draft I ended up with and the connections I made along the way."
Christina Casano, Sub-Culture Director
SEASON TEN
Season Ten recipient of The Playwriting Initiative fellowship: Grace Grindell
Grace Grindell is a Chicago-based playwright and dramaturg and a recent graduate from The Theatre School at DePaul University where she received her BFA in Theatre Arts. At The Theatre School, Grace’s play, Honey Girls, had its world premiere production directed by Carlos Murillo, and she was the dramaturg of the U.S. premiere of Robert Icke's Oresteia. Grace has worked professionally with Victory Gardens Theater, Raven Theater, and Momentary Theatre and is the current recipient of the Playwriting Initiative Award with Interrobang Theatre Project.
“The Playwriting Initiative program profoundly impacted my work as a theatre artist in the most positive way. Perhaps most significantly, this program welcomed me into the field as a professional playwright with all of the collaboration, support, and opportunity that role includes. Developing a new play in my first year out of school was invaluable to my identity and confidence as a theatre-maker, and getting to do so with the incredibly talented, generous, and imaginative people of Interrobang Theatre Project made it an unbelievably gratifying experience. The Playwriting Initiative program showed me that the stories I have to tell matter, and it gave me the space to tell them, for which I will forever be grateful.”
Claire Bauman will be directing Grace’s Teach Me. Drawing from over 15 years of acting and dancing experience, Claire Bauman is a director and choreographer in Chicago who investigates theater through devising and collaborating with an interdisciplinary and feminist lens. She has directed for Rhinofest, Broken Nose Collective, Chicago Theatre Marathon as well as produced and devised her own pieces and events. Claire co-created Making (the) Movement, a dance arts festival supporting Chicago organizations dedicated to combating sexual violence. She has assisted and performed with Interrobang Theatre Project and Walkabout Theater, where she is also an Artistic Associate. She also serves as Grant Manager for Red Tape Theatre Company, Chicago’s only company promoting the Free Theatre Movement. Claire graduated from Vassar College and further trained at the Moscow Art Theater School. Claire has participated in DirectorsLabChicago, Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation Observership Program, and Hangar Theatre's Directing Apprenticeship. She is a proud founding member of Ten Names of Note.
Wrights of Spring Awards
Ensemble member Laura Berner Taylor, Playwright Grace Grindell, Supporter Larry Bundschu and Artistic Director Georgette Verdin
Season Nine
The Playwriting Initiative presents:
a live reading of Lily Rushing’s Cowboy Play directed by Angela Forshee
Playwright Lily Rushing is from the hot, inland metropolis known as Sacramento, CA. She recently graduated from The Theatre School at DePaul University with a BFA in Playwriting. She is the current recipient of The Playwriting Initiative award at Interrobang Theatre Project. Three of her plays, Office Romance, Desert Stories for Lost Girls, and a one-act called Lights Out were developed into staged readings as a part of the Wrights of Spring festival at The Theatre School. Desert Stories received a full production in April 2018, directed by Ann Filmer. Her ten-minute play, The Dog, was recently commissioned by Victory Gardens and presented at their College Night. She has also worked with Sacramento Theatre Company and the School Partnership Program, putting on plays at urban schools with kids from her neighborhood, in her beloved hometown. https://lilyrushing.com/
“I was so grateful to be chosen for the Playwriting Initiative at Interrobang. Not only did I feel supported by Interrobang to write whatever I wanted, I knew that my work was in great hands. I trusted them to put together an amazing ensemble for the readings, which they did, and I always got the feedback I needed. I would look forward to the readings, because I knew everyone in the room would be a vital part of shaping what the next draft would look like. Those readings were such a gift. Georgette was great about meeting my needs, and pushing a deadline if need be. It was such a positive, great learning experience! What a wonderful way to take my first steps into the world of professional theatre.”
Director, Angela Forshee is a Chicago-based director and is excited to be working with Interrobang for the first time. She was last seen directing She Kills Monsters with The Cuckoo's Theater Project and has worked with a variety of other companies in Chicago, including Broken Nose Theatre, Raven Theatre, and Walkabout.
Season Eight
Maeli Goren (Playwright/Director)
“Interrobang Theatre Project’s support for the workshop of Curves and Edges was vital to the play’s development. There are very few opportunities in Chicago to fully explore the physical life of a new play before it is in first production. When creating Curves and Edges, a play in which movement and visual storytelling is as important as the text itself, I discovered as a playwright and director that I was not benefitting from holding reading after reading. I knew I had to get the play up on its feet to know what I had. The Playwriting Initiative at Interrobang allowed a courageous team of theater makers to experiment with choreography, puppetry, and visual metaphor, all while strengthening the spine and story of Curves and Edges to get it ready for an eventual first production. We shared our work-in-progress with theater professionals and community members who became part of our collaboration through curated post-show discussions. Artists so rarely get to muck around in the necessary mess of a new play without the pressure of an impending opening night. It was a true gift to give this play the space it needed to breathe and grow. Many thanks to Interrobang for nurturing new plays and emerging playwrights!”
