Victory Gardens Theater opens its 2021/22 Mainstage Season with Queen of the Night, written by travis tate and directed by Victory Gardens Artistic Director Ken-Matt Martin. Queen of the Night runs January 29 – March 13, 2022 at Victory Gardens Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue. Press performances are Friday, February 4 and Saturday, February 5, 2022 at 7:30pm.
A divorced father and his queer son head to the woods of southeastern Texas to relive the camping trips of earlier, easier days. But even without cell service, certain things are inescapable. Playwright travis tate explores masculinity and queerness through the lens of multi-generational Blackness, offering a hilarious, heart-rending family portrait about reckoning with the wilderness of a shared past, while facing an uncertain future.
The Queen of the Night design team includes: Sydney Lynne (Scenic), Rueben D. Echoles (Costumes), Sim Carpenter (Lights), G Clausen (Sound) and Caitlin McCarthy (Props). The stage manager is JC Widman.
Fact Sheet/Queen of the Night
Title: Queen of the Night
By: travis tate
Directed by: Victory Gardens Artistic Director Ken-Matt Martin
Creative Team: Sydney Lynne (Scenic), Rueben D. Echoles (Costumes), Sim Carpenter (Lights), G Clausen (Sound), Caitlin McCarthy (Props), and JC Widman (Stage Management).
Previews: January 29 – February 3, 2022
Press Performances: Friday, February 4 and Saturday, February 5, 2022
Regular run: February 6 – March 13, 2022
Schedule:
- Tuesdays: 7:30pm (except February 1, 8 & 15)
- Wednesdays: 2:00pm (February 16 only); 7:30pm
- Thursdays: 7:30pm
- Fridays: 7:30pm
- Saturdays: 3:00pm (February 12 only); 7:30pm (except February 12)
- Sundays: 3:00pm; 7:30pm (January 30 only)
Accessible Performances:
- Word for Word (open captioning): Wednesday, February 16 at 2:00pm; Friday, February 18 at 7:30pm; and Saturday, February 19 at 7:30pm
- ASL Interpreted: Friday, February 18 at 7:30pm
- Audio Description/Touch Tour: Friday, February 18 at 7:30pm (Touch Tour at 6:00pm) and Sunday, February 27 at 3:00pm (Touch Tour at 1:30pm)
Location: Victory Gardens Theater is located at 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue, in the heart of Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood
Tickets: $29 - $62
Box Office: The Box Office is located at 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue, Chicago. 773.871.3000; www.victorygardens.org.
Victory Gardens Theater 2021/22 Mainstage Season
The Victory Gardens Theater 2021/22 Mainstage Season includes Queen of the Night by travis tate, directed by Ken-Matt Martin, January 29 - March 13, 2022; the World Premiere of In Every Generation by Ali Viterbi, directed by Devon de Mayo, April 2 - May 1, 2022; and the Regional Premiere of cullud wattah by Erika Dickerson-Despenza, directed by Lili-Anne Brown, June 11 - July 17, 2022.
Flex Passes to the 2021/22 Season are currently on sale at victorygardens.org or by phone at 773.871.3000, and offer 20% savings over single ticket prices. Single tickets will go on sale in late 2021 and range from $29 to $62.
The Ignition New Play Program
The Ignition New Play Program (formerly the Ignition Festival of New Plays) consists of two events for the 2021/22 season: the Ignite Chicago reading series, offering six free readings of new works between October 2021 and July 2022, and the 20/50 Festival in June 2022, featuring three new works by playwrights over 50, staged by VG Directors Inclusion Initiative Fellows. Ignite Chicago readings will take place not only at Victory Gardens’ home in Lincoln Park, the Biograph Theater, but at partner locations throughout the city, to bring new plays into Chicago’s many communities. The Ignition New Play Program is sponsored by The Pritzker Pucker Family Foundation.
Upcoming Ignite Chicago readings include:
● December 4, 2021: Tokens of Promise by Ada A.
● December 10, 2021: The Bottoming Process by Nicholas Pilapil
● February 2022: exercise your demons: a play on the trauma of a gay male body by Gage Tarlton
● April 2022: Primary Trust by Eboni Booth
● July 2022: Nancy by Rhiana Yazzie
All readings are free to attend, but RSVPs will be required, as capacity for each reading is limited. Registration will be available at victorygardens.org approximately one month before each event.
For complete details on the 2021/2022 Season and artists, Flex Passes, and the Ignition New Play Program, please visit victorygardens.org.
Victory Gardens Theater receives major funding from Allstate Insurance, Alphawood Foundation, Crown Family Philanthropies, Exelon Corporation, Illinois Arts Council, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The Joyce Foundation, Lloyd A. Fry Foundation, Paul M. Angell Family Foundation, Polk Bros. Foundation, Prince Charitable Trusts, the Pritzker Pucker Family Foundation, and The Shubert Foundation.
Victory Gardens also receives support from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events, Coffman Law Offices, Conant Family Foundation, Golden Country Oriental Food, Goldman Sachs, a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency, Mayer Brown LLP, The Charles H. and Bertha L. Boothroyd Foundation, and The Charles and M.R. Shapiro Foundation.
Victory Gardens Theater COVID-19 Attendance Policy
To protect the health of all who attend Victory Gardens productions, the following policies are in place for all in-person events for the 2021/22 Season: All audience members must be masked for the duration of their visit. Masks will be available for purchase onsite if needed. All audience members must show proof of full COVID-19 vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test from within the last 72 hours, along with a valid photo ID, at the door to be admitted to the theater. These policies follow state and local guidelines for safe operation during the COVID-19 pandemic, and are subject to change based on the current recommendations.
About Victory Gardens Theater
Under the leadership of Artistic Director Ken-Matt Martin and Acting Managing Director Roxanna Conner, Victory Gardens is dedicated to artistic excellence while creating a vital, contemporary American Theater that is accessible and relevant to all people through productions of challenging new plays and musicals. Victory Gardens Theater is committed to the development, production and support of new plays, which has been the mission of the theater since its founding, set forth by Dennis Začek, Marcelle McVay, and the original founders of Victory Gardens Theater, and continued by former Artistic Director Chay Yew.
Victory Gardens Theater is a leader in developing and producing new theater work and cultivating an inclusive Chicago theater community. Victory Gardens’ core strengths are nurturing and producing dynamic and inspiring new plays, reflecting the diversity of our city’s and nation’s culture through engaging diverse communities, and, in partnership with Chicago Public Schools, bringing art and culture to our city’s active student population.
Since its founding in 1974, the company has produced more world premieres than any other Chicago theater, a commitment recognized nationally when Victory Gardens received the 2001 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre. Located in the Lincoln Park neighborhood, Victory Gardens Biograph Theater includes the Začek-McVay Theater, a state-of-the-art 259-seat mainstage, and the 109-seat studio theater on the second floor, named the Richard Christiansen Theater.
For more information about Victory Gardens, visit www.victorygardens.org. Follow us on Facebook at Facebook.com/victorygardens, Twitter @VictoryGardens, and Instagram @victorygardenstheater.