Next Draft Series

Three Cat Productions announces our new staged reading series, Next Draft.  This monthly staged reading series will continue Three Cat Productions commitment to new work and is meant to be an extension of the Chicago New Work Festival.  The reading series will held on the third Monday of each month at the Berger Park Cultural Center first floor.  These readings will be free to the public.

Up Next:

2017 Upcoming Readings

June 19, 2017
Our Dick
by Amy Crider

Featuring:

Pete Blatchford, Jake Degler, Dennis Fisher, Johnny Garcia, Cat Hermes, Wesley James, Renee Lockett, Lauren Miller, and  Andy Polacek

Ben Mars is a struggling comic, bombing everywhere and going nowhere, living with his supportive, kooky, but wise grandmother.  Mars starts getting political when sex scandals escalate, then tries running for office himself as his path crosses with disgraced Senators and slick TV hosts.

About Amy Crider

Amy Crider received her BA in theater from Goddard College in 1982, but didn’t return to it again until moving to Chicago, earning a sketch comedy certificate from Second City in 2008.  She studied with Chicago Dramatists for five years.  Her work has been seen in New York, Columbus, Minneapolis, Ann Arbor, Waukegan, and Chicago.  She attended the LaMaMa International Playwrights Retreat in Spoleto, Italy, in 2012.  In November she’ll be producing her comedy Leda at The Cornservatory in Lincoln Square.

July 17, 2017
The Paringtons
by Kalena Chevalier, Directed by Jen Henry

Carla Jones, a very serious and determined young architect, desperately wants to meet Marshall Parington— the head of the leading architectural firm in the country. When she becomes the math tutor for his obnoxious teenage son, Lloyd, she feels she has the key to her dream job.  But what she didn’t prepare for was the family that comes along with the job.  She is overwhelmingly embraced by this wacky clan— especially Lloyd’s older brother Frank— and Lloyd goes to drastic measures to try and make her an official part of the family.  As Carla tries to keep the job and lose the family, her world and way of thinking is turned upside down. 

About Kalena Chevalier

Kalena’s work has been performed at Goodman Theatre and Prop Theatre, produced by Project 891 Theatre Company, Breadline Theatre Group, and Three Cat Productions, and commissioned by Raven Theatre. Her plays The Unburnt House and The Paringtons were named as semi-finalists for the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Playwrights Conference in 2013 and 2015. Kalena has worked with performing arts organizations including Writers’ Theatre and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and currently serves as the Program Director for the Cultural Grants Programs at the City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE).

August 21, 2017
OUR 14 ABORTIONS
by Barbara Lau, Directed by Bec Willett

My 14 Abortions, by Barbara Lau, plows through our often cursory responses to this complex topic. Reminding us that every decision affects two lives at the very least, Lau explores a teacher devoted to her at risk students, a pregnant athlete and pro-life parent, a husband outraged by multiple miscarriages, a bewildered 14-year-old, and a feisty medical team feeling under siege. The play even weighs the constitutional rights of a fetus versus a full fledged citizen. Whatever your thoughts, this will offer much to ponder.

About Barbara Lau

BARBARA LAU is an active playwright, poet and educator living in Iowa. Her full-length drama, Raising Medusa, premiered at Riverside Theatre, Iowa City, supported by an NEA Artistic Excellence Award.  Barbara also penned a libretto for “Lady with the Pet Dog,” based on Chekhov’s beloved story.  She writes and produces short plays and monologues too, including “His Name was, and God Is” from My 14 Abortions, presented at 3 Cats in 2014.  Her first book of poetry, The Long Surprise, won the 2000 X. J. Kennedy National Poetry Prize.

Sept 18, 2017
We Just Met
by Doug Van Hooser

Two young people meet. They have a night of drinking. Was it rape? Who gets to make that decision?

About Doug Van Hooser

Doug Van Hooser lives and writes in suburban Chicago. He is a network playwright at Chicago Dramatists Theatre where a number of his plays have been read. Two of his plays, My Father’s Son and Eulogy Unrequited, have been in Three Cat Productions Next Draft series. His poetry or fiction has appeared recently in Red Earth Review, Chariton Review, Poetry Quarterly, The Riding Light Review, Black Fox Literary Magazine, and Stoneboat Literary Journal among others.

October 16, 2017
Matthew Three Horn
by Adam Hurst, Directed Scott Ozaroski

Matthew is just like any other normal monster. He likes playing baseball, reading books, eating sandwiches. And after arriving on the first day of his new school he’s excited to make friends and fit in. Unfortunately, nothing goes according to plan as Thrash, the school bully, quickly teaches Matthew that he may not be so normal after all.

About Adam Hurst

Adam Eugene Hurst is a founding member of the Chicago based company Honest Theatre and a network playwright for the Chicago Dramatists. His playwriting credits include: A FAMILY PLAY, MATTHEW THREE HORN, and A HIGH SCHOOL PLAY. MATTHEW THREE HORN was most recently showcased in Chicago Dramatists’ Saturday series in 2015. He received his MFA in acting from Regent University and his BA from Vanguard University. He is a writer and performer for the sketch comedy and improv group Michael & Friends. 

November 20, 2017
Reputation
by Ken Kaye

U.S. Attorney General Richard Graham is accused of using his Justice Department illegally to collect dirt on the leading candidate opposing the President’s re-election last year. While Graham categorically denies any federal involvement in the matter, TV news teams camp in front of his home and the White House leaves him “twisting in the wind.” Events point toward a familiar scene, the Apologetic Resignation with Loyal Wife at Elbow; but Anne Graham has put Richard on notice that she won’t be there for him. Their college-age daughter Liz has to confront her father with the hardest decision of his life.

About Ken Kaye

Coming Soon

December 18, 2017
The Twisted Tael
by Sean Magill, Directed by Dylan Roberts

In an attempt to aimlessly revenge himself upon a dystopian future world in which virtually all labor is automated, Nicholas Raskol violently stumbles upon the opportunity to deceive Deacon Oliver Crumbwell and a parish of fanatical Catholics and fatten his purse from their misguided charity. Throwing a wrench in his poorly planned, yet cunningly improvised plot, is a counter-plot by the zealously anti-religious Frieda Peachy, who aims to sway the upcoming election and place the blame for all human suffering on the Catholic Church. Every step of the way, Nick is haunted by the ghost of Father Francisco, who naively attempts to fill the role of Nick’s totally absent conscience. In this gravely serious and not at all absurd story, tumultuous political conflict between the parties: “Politicorp” and the “Equalicrats” threatens to obliterate the consequence of individual human action.

About Sean Magill

Sean Magill’s artistic contributions have up to this time primarily involved his physical body and voice as he’s played various roles from an aged Scottish wife, to Oedipus to Earnest Worthing. He wrote a ten-minute play called: “The Spoils of Pleasure” which was performed at Indiana University and has written several other short scripts not worthy of much note. He has been working on “The Twysted Tael of the Abominable Holey Manne…” for approximately four years, and until now has not had the opportunity to work toward producing it in any way shape or form.

To see a list of our previous Next Draft Readings,  please visit this link.