Scroll through the history of Resident Theatre productions and click through for photo archives. You can also download a complete listing of artists in the Resident Theatre’s production history, including directors and design teams.
The Language Archive • November 2024
Stacey Lind, Director
George, a linguist consumed with preserving languages, can’t find the words to tell his wife Mary he loves her. Mary is reduced to leaving cryptic notes for George, right up until she leaves him. Married couple Alta and Resten, the last surviving speakers of a dying language have recently stopped talking to each other. And Emma, George’s lab assistant, learns a whole new language to confess her love for George, but can’t bring herself to actually do it. The Language Archive, by Julia Cho, explores the intersection of what we say, feel, and do – amidst language and meaning, living and loving, what’s said and what’s unsaid – in a funny, moving, and ultimately affirming ode to being human. Jeff Recommended by Chicago’s Joseph Jefferson Awards.
View additional images of The Language Archive.
It Is So (If You Think So!) • April 2024
Sean Hargadon, Director
When a new family arrives in a provincial Italian town, speculations on their “situation” immediately arise amongst the neighbors. In Luigi Pirandello’s timely and timeless comic-drama, updated to the 1960s, conflicting versions of the “truth” force the community to determine whose story is right. Nominated for THREE Lou Awards including Best Production, Best Director (Sean Hargadon), and Best Actor in a Leading Female Role (Jeanann Power).
The Minutes • November 2023
Janet Rourke, Director
Tracy Letts’ scathing comedy about small-town politics and the secret ugliness of America’s most closely-held narratives in its first Chicago production since the Steppenwolf premiere. The show’s title references the meeting notes of a small American city council, and the play follows just such a session in real time. But to preserve even the most mundane elements of Big Cherry’s civic identity turns out to rely on clinging to a dark past, not all of it so distant. WINNER of the 2023 Jeff Award for Best Performer – Short Run (Jack Hradecky). Nominated for Best Production, Best Ensemble, and Best Director (Janet Rourke)- Short Run.
Light Up the Sky • April 2023
John Chambers, Director
There’s no business like show business—especially during the rollercoaster that is opening night of a brand new play. Emotions and fortunes run high and low, but the bonds between creators are forged and strengthened in its brilliant fire. Light Up the Sky is Moss Hart’s hilarious valentine to the theatre and the eccentric but lovable artists that craft it. Nominated for FOUR Lou Awards including Best Production, Best Director (John Chambers), Best Actor in a Leading Female Role (Janet Rourke), and Best Costume Design (Mark Burrows).
The Crucible • November 2022
Chris Toft, Director
Winner of the 1953 Tony Award for Best Play, Arthur Miller’s exciting drama about the Puritan purge of witchcraft in old Salem is both a gripping historical play and a timely parable of our contemporary society, particularly in the Resident Theatre’s updated setting in the 1950s. WINNER of the Lou Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Male Role (Robert Howard) and nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Male Role (Evin McQuistion).
The Book of Will • April 2022
Stacey Lind, Director
After the death of their friend and colleague William Shakespeare, actors Henry Condell, John Heminges, and their theatrical and domestic families band together to borrow, beg, and beat the odds – to compile the First Folio and preserve the work that shaped their lives. Lauren Gunderson’s The Book of Will celebrates the enduring magic of theatre and the power and persistence of the human spirit.
Pride and Prejudice • November 2019
Stacey Lind, Director
This fast-paced adaptation of the Jane Austen classic by playwright Janet Munsil explores timeless themes of love, judgement, pettiness, and goodness through the lens of 19th century England’s unforgettable brand of courtship, dancing, and wit.
The Belle of Amherst • April 2019
Stacey Lind, Director
In a world where women’s choices were severely restricted, Emily Dickinson carved out a singular life behind her doors, and created a new kind of poetry, conversational and intimate, with “the rules of verse” set aside. Poetry would never be the same. The show offers a window into her life, a life that was ultimately too big to be lived outside.
The Beautiful People • March 2019
Shawn Douglass, Director
The eccentric Jonah Webster is worried about his family. A son has moved far away, a daughter has fallen desperately in love, and the youngest is a “loafer” who writes one word novels. Has he prepared any of them for life outside the protective bubble of family? William Saroyan’s The Beautiful People is the perfect antidote for a cynical age – a whimsical and touching affirmation of love, faith and imagination.
Meet Me In St. Louis • November 2018
John Chambers, Director
The musical based on the classic MGM motion picture about a St. Louis family and the impending world’s fair, and featuring that famous trolley song, set box office records for the Resident Theatre!
The Mystery of Edwin Drood • March 2018
John Chambers, Director
Rupert Holmes’ Victorian-inspired musical based on the unfinished novel by Charles Dickens sports a music hall vibe and a choose-your-own ending. Drood follows the capers of a troupe of Victorian music hall players performing their version of the Dickens story for an audience that ultimately determines the show’s nightly outcome. The result? Eight distinctly different performances with seven different murderers!
Arcadia • November 2017
Stacey Lind, Director
A story about math, sex, physics, curiosity, literature, scandal, and gardening, Arcadia leaps between the 19th and 20th centuries, following the history of an English country estate in Derbyshire. As the characters hurtle from foolery to genius and from passion to reason, navigating the ever-changing paradigm of knowledge, we realize – though the landscape may be constantly changing – we easily see ourselves in their search for love and understanding.
Twelfth Night • March 2017
Amy Gray, Director
Moody Duke Orsino wants to marry melancholy Countess Olivia. Shipwrecked Viola disguises herself as a man and falls in love with the Duke, but is forced to be the messenger of his love to Olivia. Olivia falls in love with Viola disguised as Cesario, and Olivia’s servant Malvolio is tricked into believing that Olivia secretly loves him. When Viola’s supposedly dead twin brother shows up, things get truly complicated.
The Seagull • November 2016
Stacey Lind, Director
Perhaps the most popular of the Russian author’s plays from the 1890s, the story centers around the consequences of making choices based on passion or reason, exploring the dynamic between obsession and sacrifice for love, art, and family. The Seagull was presented in rotating repertory with Holiday, with several actors appearing in both productions.
Holiday • November 2016
Wes Meador, Director
Philip Barry’s romantic comedy from 1920’s America focuses on a man caught between embracing tradition to marry a woman he loves, and abandoning a promising career to embark on a journey to find out who he really is.
The Fantasticks • March 2016
Stacey Lind, Director
The world’s longest-running musical tells the story of two parents who pretend to feud and, with the help of a mysterious narrator, stage a dramatic abduction to trick their children into falling in love. When the ruse is discovered and tempers fray, the lovers set out to experience the world, and return bruised and changed, but more appreciative of what they left behind.
She Loves Me • November 2015
John Chambers, Director
From the composers of Fiddler on the Roof, with a book by Joe Masteroff of Cabaret, the delightful American musical comedy tells the story of passionate pen pals who have no idea they are actually in love with the coworkers that, in person, they almost as passionately hate.
The Man Who Came to Dinner • March 2015
John Chambers, Director
The classic American comedy about a surly celebrity with a heart of gold, The Man Who Came to Dinner is a hijinks-filled tale of what happens when romance, fame, theatre, penguins and a mummy case all descend on small-town Ohio.
Our Town • November 2014
Stacey Lind, Director
A plain tale of a small town, told with deliberate simplicity and an emphasis on old-fashioned storytelling, Our Town is the heartwarming, funny, sad and hopeful tale of our shared human experience hailed as “phenomenal” by Lt. David Haynes on WGN Radio.
Into the Woods • March 2014
John Chambers, Director
A story about the magic and mayhem of pursuing your dreams. Chasing happy endings, the characters hornswoggle, barter, fudge and lie to reach to their goals. And when they finally arrive, they aren’t at all sure it’s actually where they want to be.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream • October 2013
John Chambers and Stacey Lind, Directors
The funny, colorful, and beloved Shakespeare comedy, with its crazy lovers, magical fairies, and working stiffs looking for their big break in the theatre, was the first exposure to Shakespeare for many students and members of the Edge community.
The Secret Garden • March 2013
John Chambers and Stacey Lind, Directors
The timeless children’s story about Mary, an orphan who releases the healing magic in a forgotten garden and changes the lives of those around her forever.
