Inc. is a new play incubator that strategically pairs 6 early career Chicago directors with 6 budding Chicago playwrights to develop a new script over a dedicated 3 month process. During the process, the cohort participates in various professional development workshops led in collaboration with Chicago storefront leaders.

Inc. is proud to present 30-minute excerpts from new works in development:

Night #1 December 5 @ 7PM

Jimmy Wayne and The Sound of Soul by Jamaque Newberry and Directed by Izadorius Tortuga
During the sound check of the last show of their first tour newly popular singing group Jimmy Wayne and The Sound of Soul reflect on their travels of the segregated lands of the United States in the 1960’s. As showtime gets closer the secrets get heavier. With pressure from the label, romantic partners, jealousy, addiction and with racial divide reaching its peak the group wonders if their music/fame is enough to heal their wounds or even the world around them or is it just a distraction.

I’d Much Rather be Painting Fruit by Kolin Lawler and Directed by Devon Hayakawa
At its core, this play is about the struggle of being an artist and yearning to live amongst peers who seemingly have joy within a far shorter reach than you. It’s about being a person who lives in your head, and the desperation to be in your body and experience joy, all the while an unnamed darkness holds you back and torments you at every turn. It’s about living with PTSD, all the while lacking the language or the means to find care, but still holding on in pursuit of a deeper happiness you’re certain one day you will find.

The Ubermarionettes by Kim Campbell and Directed by Sivan Spector
Set in 1916 Chicago, Ubermarionettes follows 4 figures who had a brief, powerful influence on the world’s little theater movement. During a time of upheaval and rising fascism, both class identity and classics are put to the test by director Maurice Browne, puppeteer/actor Ellen Von Volkenburg, and actor/playwright Alice Gerstenburg as they go little with theater and include the working class people of Chicago in the world’s greatest art experiment. Throughout their brief reign in Chicago, a queer narrative of countercultural impulses unfolds and informs the future Chicago art scene. A distant reprimand from Edward Gordon Craig challenges and upends their work. His privilege helped gain him a reputation as a genius director and scenic designer, but his struggle with perfectionism and exerting control alienated him from connection and true success. There’s a tragic end for all as the venture dwindles and relationships crumble, but the impact of their work lives on in today’s thriving culture of storefront experimental theater. The play itself is designed as an experiment, a cautionary tale against fascist leanings, a meditation on the way history repeats itself and a moment of revelry in community play, involving actors as storytellers and puppets as actors, with a dash of physical theater and mayhem.

Night #2 December 12th @ 7PM

Doonbeg by Andres Coronado and directed by Octavio Montes De Oca
In the very near future, ocean levels have risen, and the foundation of the coastal town of Doonbeg is at risk. Yet, a national corporation is still building a country club on the shoreline. When a local surveyor publicly challenges the environmental ethics of the building, their life is torn in half: a duty to the community and to their family on one end, and their personal motivations on the other. Acclimating Doonbeg USA challenges its residents to persevere or drown in the process.
Acclimating Doonbeg USA is inspired by Ibsen’s Enemy of the People, Sophocles’ Antigone, and the real-life climate scandal at Trump International Golf Links in Doonbeg, Ireland.

NOLA by Zoe Soteres and directed by Stefan Roseen
NOLA, explores the working-class experience in New Orleans following a terrorist attack that occurred early on New Year’s Day of this year. The story, based on interviews I conducted while in NOLA, follows five workers at a restaurant near Bourbon Street on January 2, 2025 — the only ones who showed up after being threatened with termination if they didn’t. Some have children without access to childcare, others fear being near the site of the attack, but all are forced to choose between safety and keeping their jobs. As the day unfolds and more is revealed about the attacker, the workers confront their relationships to labor, American identity, and how they’re perceived by the public they serve. The play examines economic precarity, worker exploitation, and the cost of national trauma.

Total Camp Unity by Kandace Mack and directed by Keimon Shook
In a dystopian future where a summer camp director rules the world and everyone lives on screens, three people navigate influencer culture, surveillance, and tickets-for-oxygen while plotting a revolution through the same technology that imprisons them. In Total Camp Unity by Kandace Mack, Gen Z humor meets 1984 as it asks the question: Can the tools of our oppression become the weapons of our liberation

ACCESSIBILITY: Please note that performances will be held on the 1st floor