Blue in the Right Way is proud to present its inaugural production, Women Beware Women, freely adapted by Kevin V. Smith and Daiva Bhandari, with Spanish translation by Sonia Perelló and directed by Smith, April 27 - May 12, at The Edge Theater, 5451 N. Broadway. Previews are Saturday, April 27 and Sunday, April 28 at 7:30 p.m. with a press opening Monday, April 29 at 7:30 p.m. The performance schedule is Wednesdays - Fridays at 7:30 p.m., Saturdays at 1 and 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. Running time, including the intermission, is currently 2 hours and 45 minutes. Tickets are $20 - $40 and are available on January 9 at BlueInTheRightWay.com.
Thomas Middleton’s 1621 psychosexual revenge tragedy tells the story of the devastating effects of the patriarchy on an entire society. A captivating and clever widow, Livia, orchestrates the futures of two young women and sets in motion a wicked game of subversion and deceit. But when the mastermind breaks with social convention herself, she finds out how far the men around her will go to constrict her autonomy. In this new queer feminist take, the lacerating personal narration of two surreal transfemme drag queens frames Middleton’s timeless tale, rushing it into the here and now. Smith and Bhandari’s original adaptation dives deep, excavating the social frameworks of gender violence and the gender of violence, as the story hurtles towards a devastating and outrageous new ending for our modern times.
Smith’s abstract, expressionist staging will feature elements of drag performance and modern dance. Driven by the company’s desire to make English-language theatre more accessible to Chicago's Spanish-speaking population, this masterpiece of early modern literature has been translated into Spanish for the first time. Each performance will be presented with Spanish supertitles, translated by Sonia Perelló.
The cast of Women Beware Women includes Lynne Baker (she/her, Mother); Daiva Bhandari (she/her, Livia); Kidany Camilo (they/she/he, Solange); Ryan Wright Cassidy (he/him, Hippolito); John Zhou Duncan (any with respect, Ward); Rich Adrian Lazatin (he/him, Cardinal); Shail Modi (he/him, Sordido); Johnny Moran (he/him, Fabritio); Huy Nguyen (he/him, Duke); Keenan Odenkirk (he/him, Guardiano); Christin Prince (she/her, Bianca); Nathe Rowbotham(they/them, Clara); Mia Van De Mark (she/her, Isabella); Brandon Wiman (he/him, Leantio); Nigel Brown (he/him, U/S Duke/Cardinal); Mary Mikva (she/her, U/S Livia/Mother); Bree Perry (she/her/they/them, U/S Solange/Clara); McGuire Price (he/him, U/S Leantio/Sordido); Kelcy Taylor (she/her, U/S Bianca/Isabella); Garvin Wolfe van Dernoot(they/them, U/S Guardiano/Hippolito); Dryden Zurawski (he/they, U/S Ward/Fabritio).
The artistic and production team includes Kevin V. Smith (Kevin/Kevin’s, co-adapter/director); Daiva Bhandari (she/her, co-adapter); Sonia Perelló (she/her, Spanish translator); Courtney Abbott (she/they, intimacy director); Xuan Chen (any with respect, scenic designer); Juan Contreras-Kirby (he/him, wig, hair and makeup designer); Sam Flipp (she/her, stage manager); Anna Gelman (she/her, production manager); Kasia Januszewski (she/her, social media marketing manager); Emma Ladji (she/her, sound designer); Catherine Miller (they/them, casting director); Leo Mock(they/them/he/him, intimacy consultant); Alaina Moore (she/her, costume designer); Josh Munden (he/him, technical director); Eme Ospina-López (they/them, video and projection designer); Keith Parham (he/him, lighting designer); R&D Choreography (Rick Gilbert (he/him, violence designer) and Victor Bayona (he/him, violence designer)); Hayley E Wallenfeldt (they/them, properties supervisor) and Chris Wood (he/they, sound engineer).
ABOUT KEVIN V. SMITH, CO-ADAPTER/DIRECTOR
At the forefront of the avant-garde theater scene in Chicago for more than a decade, Smith’s queer feminist deconstructionist approach to directing combines the surreal and the expressionistic to create daring and visually arresting abstract stagings. Smith's work has been called "stylized and imaginative" (Chicago Tribune), "startling and haunting" (Chicago Reader) and "as extraordinary in vision and delivery as it is provocative and captivating" (Chicago Stage Review). Smith’s 2020 production of Juliet at Theatre Y was featured in HowlRound for its Spanish-language supertitles and chorus of mothers and infants on stage. It was highly recommended by WTTW as, "a work of both real life and pure poetry." A four-time Non-Equity Joseph Jefferson Award-nominated actor, Smith was named “Best Actor of the Year” by Chicago Stage Review, starred Off-Broadway in the notorious production of Jean Genet’s The Maids X 2and has acted under Tony Award-winning directors Mary Zimmerman and David Cromer. Smith has trained extensively in Viewpoints and Grotowski techniques both domestically and abroad.
ABOUT DAIVA BHANDARI, CO-ADAPTER
Daiva Bhandari is a theatre and dance artist with a performance career spanning nearly two decades. An expressive and dynamic performer, Bhandari endeavors to stretch the limits of her imaginative and emotional capabilities, seeking work that deepens her training and engages her creative curiosity. As an actor, Bhandari has worked onstage with The Neo-Futurists, Steep Theatre, Steppenwolf, Manual Cinema, Theatre Y, The Building Stage, Pop Magic Productions and Emerald City Theatre, and she has performed the choreography of Michael Estanich, Lucy Vurusic-Riner, Corinne Imberski, Kelly Anderson and Erin Kilmurray. A company member with RE|dance group since 2010, she has toured in evening-length and site-specific works throughout the United States. Her featured performance in Homeland was praised in Newcity: “Nurturing tenderness resonates in both language and in movement that masterfully straddles the line between abstract and indicative [with] marrow-deep sincerity.” Bhandari assistant directed Kevin V. Smith’s acclaimed 2020 production of Juliet. She served as videographer for Imberski’s Roof Series 2020-21 and presented her choreography for the first time at Harvest Chicago Contemporary Dance Festival in the fall of 2022.
ABOUT BLUE IN THE RIGHT WAY
After more than 15 years of collaboration, Kevin V. Smith and Daiva Bhandari founded Blue in the Right Way in 2019 to make provocative, stylized theatre as visual art. Women Beware Women is the company's debut work.
Blue in the Right Way is proud to present its inaugural production, Women Beware Women, freely adapted by Kevin V. Smith and Daiva Bhandari, with Spanish translation by Sonia Perelló and directed by Smith, April 27 - May 12, at The Edge Theater, 5451 N. Broadway. Previews are Saturday, April 27 and Sunday, April 28 at 7:30 p.m. with a press opening Monday, April 29 at 7:30 p.m. The performance schedule is Wednesdays - Fridays at 7:30 p.m., Saturdays at 1 and 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. Running time, including the intermission, is currently 2 hours and 45 minutes. Tickets are $20 - $40 and are available on January 9 at BlueInTheRightWay.com.
Pictured: Daiva Bhandari. Photo by Christopher Semel