Babes With Blades Theatre Company (BWBTC) kicks off the new year and its 2022 season with Plaid as Hell, written by Cat McKay*, directed by Christina Casano* with fight direction and intimacy direction by BWBTC Ensemble Member Maureen Yasko*, January 29 - March 5, 2022 at The Factory Theater, 1623 W. Howard St, with select performances being live streamed. Previews are Saturday, Jan. 29 at 8 p.m., Sunday, Jan. 30 at p.m. and Thursday, Feb. 3 at 8 p.m. Press opening is Friday, Feb. 4 at 8 p.m. with a regular run schedule of Thursdays – Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. Tickets are $30 for adults/streaming access, $20 for students/seniors and $15 for the previews. Tickets go on sale Saturday, Jan. 1, 2022 at BabesWithBlades.org.
Plaid as Hell, the winner of the BWBTC’s Biennial International Playwriting Competition Joining Sword & Pen and The Margaret W. Martin Award, is an honest, slightly raunchy, queer comedy which introduces us to Cass, who is hoping her annual camping trip will go well this year. But with her best friend Emilie sniping at Cass’s new girlfriend Jessica, not to mention the serial killer on the loose, the weekend is off to a rocky start. “These characters are not perfect - they're not examples of perfect femininity, they're not perfect friends, they're not perfect lovers. This play gives the space for these characters to just exist as women in the world, for better or for worse,“ states director Christina Casano*. “What drew me to this play especially was that this is an example of queer storytelling in which being queer is a given circumstance, not the conflict.”
The tight four-person cast features Gabriela Diaz* (Jessica), Alexandria Moorman* (Emilie), McKenzie Wilkes* (Cass), Alice Wu* (Kelly), Alexandra Alontaga* (Kelly, understudy), Debbie Baños* (Jessica, understudy), Reagan James* (Cass, understudy) and Song Marshall* (Emilie, understudy).
The production team includes the Cat McKay* (playwright), Christina Casano* (director), Nina D’Angier*/^ (props designer), Hannah Foerschler* (sound designer), Erin Gautille* (scenic designer), Elizabeth Gomez* (lighting designer), Roxie Kooi* (stage manager), Kate Lass* (assistant fight director/assistant intimacy director), Tab Mocherman^ (COVID compliance officer), Jennifer Mohr* (costume designer) and Faith Roush* (production manager). BWBTC Ensemble Member Maureen Yasko* completes the team as fight director and intimacy director.
Pronoun Key: + (he/him/his); * (she/her/hers); ^ (they, them, theirs); = (any with respect)
ABOUT CAT MCKAY*, PLAYWRIGHT OF PLAID AS HELL
Cat McKay* recently dipped her toes into the writing world, and it’s going well so far. Favorite roles include “Bella” in Valkyries, Badasses on Bikes (based on the NYC Sirens motorcycle gang; dir. Maggie Spanuello), “Lil” in Interventions (Paragon Festival at Otherworld Theater), and various characters in About Face’s Scary Stories to Save Your Life, for which she wrote multiple scenes. McKay is a proud alum of Case Western Reserve and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.
ABOUT CHRISTINA CASANO*, DIRECTOR OF PLAID AS HELL
Christina Casano* previously worked with BWBTC on Plaid as Hell while in development and as a part of the 2019 Fighting Words Festival. She is a freelance theatre artist and the artistic director of The Plagiarists. Based in Chicago, Casano’s training includes a Bachelor of Arts in theatre from Miami University and the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey's Summer Professional Training Program. She was selected for Victory Gardens Theater’s Directors Inclusion Initiative for the 2019-2020 season, and served as the assistant director for How To Defend Yourself. Selected directing credits include: Poison (The Plagiarists), Deep Shadows (audio drama series, Eclectic Full Contact Theatre), Anne Frank, Sleepy Hollow (GreatWorks) and The Living Newspaper Festival (Jackalope Theatre). Other favorite projects include Some Like It Red and The Epic of Gilgamesh, etc. (The Plagiarists), Bury Me (Dandelion Theatre) and The Light Fantastic (Jackalope Theatre). You can find out more at her website: www.cmrcasano.com.
ABOUT JOINING SWORD & PEN INTERNATIONAL PLAYWRITING COMPETITION AND THE MARGARET W. MARTIN AWARD
The Joining Sword & Pen international playwriting competition launched in 2005 to generate more scripts that featured women in roles involving stage combat. Created in collaboration with Artistic Advisor and Fight Master in the Society of American Fight Directors David Woolley who sponsors the competition, scripts inspired by a specific image are submitted and go through a blind judging process. The winning script goes through BWBTC’s new play development program, but also receives a full production, cash prize and the Margaret W. Martin Award.
Margaret W. Martin was ahead of her time. In the 1960s and 70s, she maintained her full time job, taught piano, and raised a family of 6 children (four girls, two boys) all while she traveled the globe from the States to Saudi Arabia, across Europe and Vientiane Laos during the height of the Vietnam war. She founded the American International School – Riyadh (K-12) in Saudi Arabia in 1963, and it has flourished as an institution since then. The Margaret W. Martin Award is in honor of Artistic Advisor and SAFD Fight Master David Woolley’s mother.
ABOUT BABES WITH BLADES THEATRE COMPANY
Babes With Blades Theatre Company – for over the past 20 years, and moving into the future – strives to develop and present scripts focused on complex, dynamic (often combative) characters who continue to be underrepresented on theatre stages based on gender. Babes With Blades Theatre Company uses (and will continue to use) stage combat to tell stories that elevate the voices of underrepresented communities and dismantle the patriarchy.
In each element of their programming, they embrace two key concepts:
1) Folks of marginalized genders and underrepresented communities are central to the story, driving the action rather than responding or submitting to it.
2) Everyone is capable of a full emotional and physical range, up to and including violence and its consequences.
The company offers participants and patrons alike an unparalleled opportunity to experience every person as heroes and villains; rescuers and rescues; right, wrong and everywhere in between: exciting, vivid, dynamic PEOPLE. It’s as simple and as subversive as that.
LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT STATEMENT:
Babes With Blades Theatre Company produces theatre in venues located on the traditional homelands of the Council of the Three Fires: the Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi Nations. Many other tribes such as the Miami, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Sac, and Fox also called this area home. This region that we now commonly refer to as “The Chicagoland Area”, has long been a center for Indigenous people to gather, trade, and maintain kinship ties. Today, one of the largest urban Native American communities in the United States resides in Chicago. Members of this community continue to contribute to the life of this city and to celebrate their heritage, practice traditions and care for the land and waterways.
Babes With BladesTheatre Company (BWBTC) kicks off the new year and its 2022 season with Plaid as Hell, written by Cat McKay*, directed by Christina Casano* with fight direction by BWBTC Ensemble Member Maureen Yasko*, January 22 - March 5, 2022 at The Factory Theater, 1623 W. Howard St, with select performances being live streamed. Previews are Saturday, Jan. 22 at 8 p.m., Sunday, Jan. 23 at p.m., Thursday, Jan. 27 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Jan. 28 at 8 p.m. Press opening is Saturday, Jan. 29 at 8 p.m. with a regular run schedule of Thursdays – Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. Tickets are $30 for adults/streaming access, $20 for students/seniors and $15 for the previews. Tickets go on sale Saturday, Jan. 1, 2022 at BabesWithBlades.org
BWBTC’s 2022 programming is partially made possible by the kind support of The Gaylord & Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, a grant from The Illinois Arts Council Agency, a CityArts Grant from the the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events (DCASE), and the support of the Small Business Alliance Shuttered Venue Operators (SVOG) grant program.
Listings information:
Plaid as Hell
By Cat McKay
Winner of the 2019-2020 Joining Sword & Pen Competition and the Margaret W. Martin Award
Directed by Christina Casano
Fight Direction by BWBTC Ensemble Member Maureen Yasko
Previews: Saturday, Jan. 29 at 8 p.m., Sunday, Jan. 30 at p.m. and Thursday, Feb 3 at 8 p.m. Press Opening: Friday, Feb. 4 at 8 p.m.
Regular Run: Thursdays – Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m.
Tickets are $30 for adults/streaming access, $20 for students/seniors and $15 for the previews
All performances will be held at The Factory Theater, 1623 W. Howard St. Select performances will be available for live streaming.
Top Row: (L to R) Gabriela Diaz, “Jessica”; Alexandria Moorman, “Emilie”; McKenzie Wilkes, “Cass”; Alice Wu, “Kelly." Second Row: (L to R) Alexandra Alontaga, “Kelly” US; Debbie Baños, “Jessica” US; Reagan James, “Cass” US; Song Marshall, “Emilie” US. Third Row: (L to R) Christina Casano, director; Nina Castillo D’Angier, prop design; Hannah Foerschler, sound design; Kate Lass, assistant fight director and assistant intimacy director. Fourth Row: (L to R) Cat McKay, playwright; Jennifer Mohr, sound design; Faith Roush, production manager; Maureen Yasko, fight director and intimacy director.