Award-winning Redtwist Theatre is proud to announce the cast and creative team for How to Transcend a Happy Marriage, the launch of its 2025 - 2026 season, “Defiant Femmes.” How to Transcend a Happy Marriage, is written by Sarah Ruhl, directed by Elizabeth Swanson and movement directed by Sarah Scanlon, August 14 - September 21 at its home in Edgewater, the newly renovated Redtwist Theatre, 1044 W. Bryn Mawr Ave. Previews are Thursday, Aug. 14 - Saturday, Aug. 16 at 7:30 p.m. with the press opening Sunday, August 17 at 3:30 p.m. The performance schedule is Thursdays - Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 3:30 p.m. with a total running time of two hours including a 15 minute intermission. There will be two understudy performances on Sunday, Aug. 31 at 3:30 p.m. and Thursday, Sept. 11 at 7:30 p.m. Single tickets are now on sale at RedtwistTheatre.org with discounts available for seniors, students and industry professionals and pay-what-you-can for all Friday performances
George is meandering through the American dream - she has a house in the suburbs, a loving husband and a young daughter. What more could she want? Isn’t she on the road to a happy ending? In How to Transcend a Happy Marriage, Sarah Ruhl (Chicago native and author of Eurydice and In The Next Room, or the Vibrator Play) challenges the white picket ideal, blurs the line between friends and lovers and asks all of us to grow beyond the constraints of monogamy.
The How to Transcend a Happy Marriage cast includes Carlos Treviño (he/him, Paul), Joshua Servantez* (he/him, David), Monique Marshaun* (she/her, Jane), Nate Hall (he/him, Freddie), Shaina Toledo (she/her, Pip), Tatiana Pavela (she/her, George), Elonie Quick (she/her, Jenna), Joe Zarrow (he/him, Michael), Sam Ramirez (he/him, Paul U/S), Jeremy Neale Cox (he/they, David U/S), Arabella DeLucco (she/her, Jane U/S), Drake St Pierre (he/him, Freddie U/S), Aneshia Morishita (she/her, Pip U/S), Emilie Soghomonian (she/her, George U/S), Kelcy Taylor (she/her, Jenna U/S) and Jeff Brain* (he/him, Michael U/S).
Top row: (L to R) Carlos Treviño (Paul), Joshua Servantez (David), Monique Marshaun (Jane)
Second row: (L to R) Nate Hall (Freddie), Shaina Toledo (Pip), Tatiana Pavela (George)
Third row: (L to R) Elonie Quick (Jenna) and Joe Zarrow (Michael)
The How to Transcend a Happy Marriage production team includes Elizabeth Swanson (they/she, director); Sarah Scanlon (she/her, movement director); Shay Gordon (they/them, production stage manager) Kendall Phillips (she/her, assistant director);Marquecia Jordan (she/her, costumer designer); Paige Bosler (she/her, props designer); Caleb McAndrew (he/him, technical director); Harper Justus (she/her, sound designer); Korey Joseph (he/him, dramaturg), Rose Johnson (they/them, scenic designer); Eric Watkins (he/him, lighting designer), Raine DeDominici* (they/she, production manager); Dusty Brown* (they/them, executive artistic director) and Eileen Dixon* (she/they, casting director/producing artistic director).
*indicates Redtwist Theatre Ensemble Member
ABOUT SARAH RUHL, playwright
Sarah Ruhl (she/her) is an award-winning playwright, poet and essayist. Her plays include The Clean House (Pulitzer Prize finalist), In the Next Room, or the Vibrator Play (Pulitzer Prize finalist, Tony Award finalist for best play), Eurydice (named one of the best productions over the past 25 years by The New York Times.) Her plays have been translated into 14 languages and have been performed around the world, on Broadway, off-Broadway and across the country. She has been the recipient of a MacArthur “genius” grant, a Whiting Award, a PEN award and a Susan Smith Blackburn Award. Her books include “Letters from Max: A Book of Friendship” (with Max Ritvo), “Smile, A Memoir, “44 Poems for You,” “100 Essays I Don't Have Time to Write: On Umbrellas and Sword Fights, Parades and Dogs, Fire Alarms, Children, and Theater” and “Love Poems in Quarantine.” Her play Eurydice has been made into an opera, performed at the Metropolitan Opera and she’s currently working on a musical with Elvis Costello. She has taught at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale for the past 12 years and has also taught courses at Yale College in theater studies. She has had the honor of premiering five of her plays at Yale Repertory theater under James Bundy. She is currently working on a book called “Lessons from My Teachers,” portraits of her teachers from preschool to the present day, including portraits of the excellent students who have taught her so much at Yale. She lives in Brooklyn with her family.
ABOUT ELIZABETH SWANSON, director
Elizabeth Swanson (they/she) is a director and playwright specializing in rehydrating classic works and developing new plays and musicals. Recent directing credits include A Streetcar Named Desire (Paramount Theatre, featured in Chicago Tribune’s “Top 10 Chicago Theater of 2024), The Importance of Being Earnest (co-adapted with Dusty Brown, Strawdog Theatre), Head Over Heels (Kokandy Productions) and I Know My Own Heart (North American premiere, Pride Arts Center). They are co-writing the award-winning musical-in-development Saint Hildegard. Swanson teaches in Columbia College Chicago’s musical theatre program and holds an M.F.A. from the Lir National Academy of Dramatic Arts at Trinity College, Dublin.
ABOUT SARAH SCANLON, movement and intimacy director
Sarah Scanlon (she/her) is a certified intimacy director and coordinator (IDC, SAG registry), movement specialist and actor with a career spanning theatre, television and higher education. Her intimacy work includes Showtime’s “The Chi,” Apple TV+’s “Shining Girls” and FX’s “Fargo.” Onstage, she has collaborated with Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Paramount Theatre, Drury Lane and Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival, creating artist-centered spaces rooted in trust and transparency. Scanlon holds an MFA in acting from the American Repertory Theater Institute/Moscow Art Theatre School at Harvard and has taught at nearly every major university theatre program in Chicago. She is passionate about empowering bold, authentic storytelling and is thrilled to reunite with Elizabeth Swanson following their award-winning A Streetcar Named Desire.
MORE FROM REDTWIST’S “DEFIANT FEMMES” SEASON
Collective Rage: A Play In 5 Betties; In Essence, A Queer And Occasionally Hazardous Exploration; Do You Remember When You Were In Middle School And You Read About Shackleton And How He Explored The Antarctic?; Imagine The Antarctic As A Pussy And It’s Sort Of Like That
October 19 - November 23
By Jen Silverman
Directed by Producing Artistic Director Eileen Dixon
In this phenomenally femme play, five women explore everything from pussy to Shakespeare. Whether you’re a rich Betty, a lonely Betty, a butch Betty, a Betty who loves cars or a Betty who just needs to punch someone, Jen Silverman’s Collective Rage: A Play In 5 Betties; In Essence, A Queer And Occasionally Hazardous Exploration; Do You Remember When You Were In Middle School And You Read About Shackleton And How He Explored The Antarctic?; Imagine The Antarctic As A Pussy And It’s Sort Of Like That will leave you satisfied.
Confederates
February 1 - March 8, 2026
By Dominique Morriseau
Directed by Aja Singletary
Sandra is an accomplished professor, comfortable in her position until a racist cartoon is nailed to her office door; Sara is a slave in the Deep South, fighting for her freedom and spying for the union as the nation is pulled into Civil War. Despite the century between them, both women raise their voice against the institutions of racism and misogyny that hold them back. Dominique Morriseau’s (author of Detroit ’67 and Skeleton Crew) Confederates leaps through time to trace the identities of these two Black American women and the truths that bond them.
’night, Mother
April 5 - May 10, 2026
by Marsha Norman
Directed by Executive Artistic Director Dusty Brown
Life has beaten Jessie down. Spiraling between a failed marriage, a cruel son and an aging parent, Jessie is determined to take control over the one sliver of life left to her. When new horrors batter at her daily; when society isolates her and the world turns to chaos; when a promised future dwindles and her hope fades: Jessie digs up her father’s old pistol. Marsha Norman’s Pulitzer Prize winning play catapults through a mother and daughter’s darkest day together.
Productions, participants and dates are subject to change.
ABOUT REDTWIST THEATRE
Redtwist, now celebrating its 21st anniversary, is an award-winning theatre company that stages up close and personal contemporary dramas annually in its intimate black box theatre housed proudly within the heart of Edgewater’s Bryn Mawr Historic District.
Intimate performances at Redtwist are designed to place the theatre patron in the midst of the stories being told, making them accessible and riveting. Redtwist strives for excellence with every project and endeavors to take risks while offering opportunities for up-and-coming actors, designers and directors to work with established talent. Redtwist provides the very best Chicago storefront theatre experience from excellence on stage, to warm hospitality in a clean, friendly environment.
Award-winning Redtwist Theatre is proud to announce the cast and creative team for How to Transcend a Happy Marriage, the launch of its 2025 - 2026 season, “Defiant Femmes.” How to Transcend a Happy Marriage, is written by Sarah Ruhl, directed by Elizabeth Swanson and movement directed by Sarah Scanlon, August 14 - September 21 at its home in Edgewater, the newly renovated Redtwist Theatre, 1044 W. Bryn Mawr Ave. Previews are Thursday, Aug. 14 - Saturday, Aug. 16 at 7:30 p.m. with the press opening Sunday, August 17 at 3:30 p.m. The performance schedule is Thursdays - Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 3:30 p.m. with a total running time of two hours including a 15 minute intermission. There will be two understudy performances on Sunday, Aug. 31 at 3:30 p.m. and Thursday, Sept. 11 at 7:30 p.m. Single tickets are now on sale at RedtwistTheatre.org with discounts available for seniors, students and industry professionals and pay-what-you-can for all Friday performances.