ROLE CALL: November 2024 @ Volumes Bookcafe Wicker Park

At ROLE CALL, we bravely dive into a play by reading it cold, and then we engage in and practice the complicated conversations that often follow challenging art. This series is not a performed reading. That’s the best part – no preparation is necessary! All participants take part reading through the script together for the first time before we jump into a variety of activations and discussions based on our reading. It’s a space for everyone: actors, non-actors, theater lovers, ex-theater lovers, and especially the theater-curious.

And this year, we're shaking it up a bit!

Last year we met in the same space for each event but this year, we’re bringing the theatre to you! We’re excited to be partnering with various venues and hosts throughout the Chicago area to bring this accessible engagement into different neighborhoods to meet people where they are at.

We’ll also be featuring some special guests, experts, and educators based on our location and the play/subject matter we explore. Part of the fun of Role Call is that it depends on the people who show up!

Sheathed

In the aftermath of a devastating war between clans, two swordswomen try to find their way forward in this strange new world of peace: one trying to escape her bitter past, and the other driven by an inherited thirst for revenge. When your very existence is defined by your blade, how can you keep the violence within yourself sheathed? A tale of an unlikely friendship about the bonds of honor and the true price of forgiveness.

Maggie Lee (she/her) is a Seattle playwright who creates imaginative worlds on stage in genres like science fiction, fantasy, and horror, with productions in Seattle, New York, Seoul, Minneapolis, and San Francisco. Her work includes Once More, Just for You (Seattle Public Theater; 2024 Gregory Award Winner, Outstanding Original Script); And So That Happened (The 5th Avenue Theatre); The Sunless Scar (ACT Theatre Young Core Company commission); The Clockwork Professor (Seattle Public Theater Education, Augsburg University); Sheathed (Macha Theatre Works; 2019 Gregory Award Winner, Outstanding New Play); The Flight Before Xmas (Macha Theatre Works, Seattle Public Theater); and The Tumbleweed Zephyr (Pork Filled Productions; 2016 Gregory Award Nominee, Outstanding New Play). She was a Hedgebrook writer-in-residence (2021) and a Jack Straw Artist Support Program residency awardee (2021). She is currently a Resident Playwright at Seattle Public Theater, a board member of Rain City Projects (an organization supporting PNW playwrights), a contributing writer for The Ugly Radio podcast, and a member of the Dramatists Guild. Her plays are available on New Play Exchange and published by Mneme Press.

Refracted’s mission is to disrupt socially accepted narratives by telling the “other side of the story.” By upending audience expectations through innovation and adaptation, Refracted inspires meaningful discourse centered on empathy and humanity.

Refracted is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that was founded in 2019 in New York City by Graham Miller and Tova Wolff. As a four-year old company, Refracted is proud to have been one of the only theaters in the country that produced two full seasons of live theatre during the pandemic, harnessing its powers of creativity and innovation. Now in its fourth season in its new home of Chicago, Refracted invites you to get involved as it redefines what theatre can be in order to build a world fueled by curiosity and compassion. Please visit www.refractedco.com for more information and follow Refracted on social media @refractedco.

Host or Publisher Refracted Theatre Company (RTC) is a new non-profit theatre company .