Refracted Theatre Company announced that due to unforeseen circumstances, they have cancelled the fall production of Dream Hou$e, written by Eliana Pipes and directed by Laura Alcalá Baker, slated for September 12 - October 18, at the Den Theatre, 1331 N Milwaukee Ave. Current ticket holders will be notified by email of the cancellation and may receive a refund or donate the price of the tickets to Refracted.
“As artistic director of Refracted Theatre Company, I carry a profound responsibility to safeguard the integrity of our work, the well-being of our collaborators and the trust of our community,” said Artistic Director Tovah Wolff. “It is with a heavy heart that I share that, after careful reflection, Refracted has made the decision to cancel our production of Dream Hou$e.”
The complete statement is available at RefractedCo.com.
ABOUT REFRACTED THEATRE COMPANY
Refracted Theatre Company was started by co-founders Graham Miller and Tova Wolff in 2019 in New York City. At the time of Refracted’s conception, Miller and Wolff observed a fractured nation, polarized and insular in its political/social motivations, a world inhabited by people deeply distrustful of those with whom they did not share ideological overlap. Miller and Wolff ventured to create a theatre company that would challenge their audience’s biases, a space to become a mental and emotional fitness center where audiences could use theatre to grapple with the issues/feelings/forces in their lives. They wanted to inspire healthy discourse and empathic discussions, to encourage people to seek nuance and understanding again.
In Refracted’s first season ever, they were able to produce a Refracted Reading...before everything came to a screeching halt. The pandemic changed the landscape of theatrical engagement in a way Wolff and Miller could never have predicted. But they stuck true to their mission, which seeks not only to provide Refracted content, but also Refracted form. While most theaters shuttered their doors, the co-artistic directors relied on adaptivity and innovation to continue to produce safety-driven, live theatrical events that combined audio, immersive and movement theatre. In 2021, Refracted moved from New York to Chicago, where it continues to invite audiences to engage with new forms of storytelling, forms that are sure to upend their expectations.
In the four years since its arrival in Chicago, Refracted has set a new standard for storefront theatre in a city renowned for its theatre scene. In 2023, the company was heralded as a “Rising Star in Storefront Theatre” by NewCity, nominated for the Broadway In Chicago Emerging Theatre Award, had sold out performances, received rave reviews and swept the Joseph Jefferson Awards, winning eight awards for its production of Tambo & Bones by Dave Harris, including Best Production. In 2024, Refracted’s production of Coronation, written by Laura Winters and directed by Tova Wolff, received the most Jeff Non-Equity nominations for a non-musical offering and won three Jeff Non-Equity Awards for lighting Design (Garrett Bell), projection design (Abboye Lawrence) and supporting actor (Jodi Gage). Refracted aims to always remain a home for people seeking to understand the world through a more nuanced and empathetic lens. The truth, like a prism, has many sides and in order to see the light, Refracted asks to show the spectrum of colors that comprise it.