Box Office: 847.834.0738 | info@oillamptheater.org
TICKETS: $20 PER SHOW OR $50 FOR ALL THREE
Discount applied when all three shows are in cart
Monday, July 20th @ 7:30 PM
Yes, Deep in My Blood by Isis Elizabeth
SYNOPSIS
Black. White. One Bloodline. When Amara is sent to care for her dying grandmother in rural Georgia, she expects an uncomfortable reunion. Instead, she finds herself trapped inside a house haunted by memory, race, and a family history neither of them can escape. As her grandmother’s mind begins to unravel, buried truths surface, forcing both women to confront what blood can carry…and what it can never erase.
ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT
Isis Elizabeth is a Chicago-based playwright and actor whose work explores Black identity, memory, survival, and generational healing through poetic realism. She is an Associate Member of the Dramatists Guild of America and serves as Associate Artistic Director of Pulse Theatre Chicago. Her play Beneath the Willow Tree received its world premiere with Pulse Theatre Chicago at the Den Theatre in 2024 and earned a Non-Equity Joseph Jefferson Award nomination. Her short play Crown of Smoke was featured Off Broadway as both a finalist and winner of Red Bull Theatre's Short New Play Festival and is forthcoming in publication. Additional works include City of Water, a finalist for Subtext Studio Theater and a selection for Pulse Theatre Chicago's inaugural First Beat Series, Who Is Freedom?, a finalist for Definition Theatre's Amplify Series 5, Before We March, winner of the 2025 Mosaic Theatricals Staged Reading Festival in San Diego, and When the Ground Breaks, which was selected for Pocket Theatrics’ Direct Address Series in collaboration with Raven Theater. Isis was also a finalist for the 2026 New Stages Residency.
CAST:
Chelsea Russell - Amara Washington
Jean Marie Koon - Margaret Washington
Amber Washington - Stage Directions
Tuesday, July 21st @ 7:30 PM
Love In The Time Of _________ by Mantra
SYNOPSIS
Set in a world of pop songs, dating apps, and coincidences, pattern play, “Love in the Time Of _____” interrogates the gap between the idealized notion of love we consume and the messier reality that love entails. When the rose-colored hue of novelty falls away, where do we go from there?
ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT
Mantra (she/any) is a playwright, director, and comedian originally from Bangalore, India. Her work was recently seen at 24HourPlays (Off-Broadway), Steppenwolf Theatre, Writers Theatre, A Red Orchid Theatre, The Second City, Artemesia Theatre, Token Theatre, The Road Theatre, Theatre Wit, Theo Ubique, Shattered Globe, Sandbox Theatre Collective and Avalanche Theatre. She has received recognition from the Jeff Impact Fellowship (winner), Fulbright Research/Study scholarship (alternate finalist), Agnes Nixon Playwriting award (winner), Ojai Playwrights Conference (semifinalist), Inkslinger Playwriting Competition (semifinalist), SheNYC festival (finalist) and Boise Contemporary Theatre’s Playwriting festival (finalist). Her sketch collective, Women Off-Colour, recently debuted at A Red Orchid Theatre through their incubator, and will be performing at the Playground Comedy Festival in 2026. She was a Victor Wong Fellow at the Second City and performs stand-up comedy all over Chicago!
CAST:
TBA
Wednesday, July 22nd @ 7:30 PM
Serenade by Zach Barr
SYNOPSIS
Pip and Lou have come to celebrate their friend Mia’s engagement to a man named Jan. But they’ve come with a secret goal: to break up Mia and Jan, for Mia’s own good. As the evening falls and more about both couples’ pasts are revealed, everyone will have to reconsider the true costs of believing that you know someone better than they know themselves.
ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT
Zach Barr (they/them) is a nonbinary multidisciplinary theatre artist. Their plays include THE PILON (2026 Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award Winner), ENDURING JEST (2026 O'Neill Conference Semi-Finalist), NEW OLEANNA (2024 LiveArts Waterworks Finalist), and QUINLYN CAN PAINT. They’ve completed residencies with Three Brothers Theatre and Filament Theatre, are a two-time semi-finalist for Seven Devils New Play Foundry and a two-time honorable mention for Wild Imaginings' Epiphanies festival, and have had work developed by Valdez Theatre Conference, Bramble Theatre Company, Black Cat Theatre, and Fat Theatre Project. Zach serves as Literary Manager at Red Theater, curating the new play reading series “Script Club,” and is the creator of the video essay series “And Now They Sing” on YouTube. They are a proud member of the Dramatists Guild. Find them on NPX. @admiralzachbarr
CAST:
Ksa Curry - Lou
Hannah Eisendrath - Pip
Sierra Coachman - Mia
Faiz Siddique - Jan
Cori Lang - Stage Directions
The Ignite New Works Festival is made possible with support from the Creative Projects Grant from:
