LIGHT ROCK by Philip Dawkins

Join The Understudy and Raven Theatre ahead of the premiere of THE COMEDIANS for a new work by playwright Philip Dawkins, Directed by Jonathan L. Green.

When Rose up-and-leaves her husband and baby, she gets a job babysitting the objects in Jo’s house. Jo, meanwhile, is unknowingly dating Rose’s ex, while Rose has secretly moved her mother into Jo’s home which turns out to be haunted by the ghost of the cat that Rose probably should have adopted. And why is world-famous tennis pro Martina Navratilova hanging around with Jenn (with two Ns) who went to school with Rose but who Rose simply cannot remember? All this and more, set to a banging playlist of songs that used to go hard as hell but have now aged into the soundtrack to grocery shopping and dentist visits. After all, the cruelty of time's passing is relentless.

J. Nicole Brooks
Katy Collins
Eduardo Curley-Carrillo
Ann James
Sarah Price
Omer Abbas Salem
Gage Wallace
Jocelyn Zamudio

Philip Dawkins is a playwright and educator whose plays have been performed all over the world. His plays include Failure: A Love Story (Victory Gardens Theater), Le Switch (About Face Theatre; The Jungle), The Homosexuals (About Face Theater), The Burn (Steppenwolf for Young Audiences), Dr. Seuss's The Sneetches, the Musical with composer David Mallamud and Spamtown, USA (both with Children's Theater Company, Minneapolis), The Gentleman Caller (Raven Theatre; Abingdon Theatre), Charm (Northlight Theatre; MCC), Miss Marx: Or The Involuntary Side Effect of Living (Strawdog Theatre), and his solo play, The Happiest Place on Earth (Sideshow Theatre/Greenhouse Theater Center). He has taught playwriting at Loyola University Chicago, Northwestern University, Victory Gardens Theater, and for the Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis. Many of Philip's plays, including his scripts for young performers, are available through Dramatists Play Service, Playscripts, Inc. and Dramatic Publishing.

Jonathan L. Green has directed for Sideshow Theatre, Diversionary Theatre (San Diego), TheatreWorks (Palo Alto), Greenhouse Theater Center, Playwrights' Center, Silk Road Rising, Chicago Dramatists, and more. He is the director of new play development for Steppenwolf Theatre and was the artistic director of Sideshow Theatre from 2007-2020. Recent directing projects include U.S. or world premieres of Alistair McDowall's X, J. Nicole Brooks's HeLa, debbie tucker green's truth and reconciliation, Philip Dawkins's The Happiest Place on Earth, and more. Dramaturgy credits at Steppenwolf and Goodman Theatres include the world premieres of Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’s Purpose, Martin Yousif Zebari's Layalina, Christina Anderson's How to Catch Creation, Rogelio Martinez's Blind Date, Charles Smith's Objects in the Mirror, and Doug Wright's, Scott Frankel's and Michael Korie's War Paint.

(Jonathan L. Green Headshot: joe mazza -- brave lux inc)

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