MOTHER OF SMOKE

Inspired by the mash-up of Charles Mee’s The Trojan Women: A Love Story, Checkov’s The Cherry Orchard, and the crumbling of the American Dream, MOTHER OF SMOKE is the tale of a city on fire. Shifting between past and future, one woman laments the destruction of her home while another refuses to acknowledge the existence of a threat at all. A ritual of memory, violence and of picking up the pieces.

MOTHER OF SMOKE was co-presented in 2017 through a special collaboration between Chicago’s Walkabout Theater and Red Tape Ensemble at Chicago Pride Arts Center’s Broadway Theater.

Co-created by the Walkabout and Red Tape ensembles, directed by Gabriel Thom Pasculli, with original text by Emma Stanton, Morgan McNaught, and Lucas Baisch, with original music and additional text by Lucia Thomas.

Performed by Ruth Margraff**, Anita Darwish, Lucía Mier y Terán Romero, McCambridge Dowd-Whipple*, Emma Ladji**, Stephanie Shum**, Katie Mazzini*, Kelsey Shipley, Cooper Forsman*, Nigel Brown*, Johnard Washington**, Alex Rodriguez* with understudy Kelly Nesheim and musicians Lucia Thomas & Oya Dubey.

Production team includes producer Kyle Land**, production manager Deirdre Connelly, assistant director Dani Wieder, stage manager Dina Klahn*, assistant stage manager Julia Santha, scenic designer Stephanie Pasculli, costume designer Phia Sherry, lighting designer Michael Banks, sound designer Steve Labedz**, props designer Lacie Hexom, projections designer Chris Owens, technical director Harrison Ornelas, dramaturg Casey Wright**, movement collaborator Carrie Drapac**.

*denotes Walkabout Company Member
**denotes Red Tape Company Member