Lettie

by Boo Killebrew

Originally produced at Victory Gardens Theater, Chicago, IL

April 6 to May 6, 2018

About the Premiere Production:

Synopsis: After serving seven years in prison, Lettie is released and struggles to make a fresh start. Her children, who have been cared for by her half-sister, want little to do with her. Her re-entry job is anything but gentle as she takes on the dark, harsh world of welding. Trying again and again to create a non-criminal life, Lettie is confronted by her past and must make impossible choices to protect her future. Lettie, directed by Artistic Director Chay Yew marks playwright Boo Killebrew’s Victory Gardens Theater debut.

Artistic Statement: On the surface, Lettie is a play about an intimate epic and complex journey of an ordinary woman reintegrating into society, post-incarceration. In the wake of our current political climate, the relevancy of our disappearing middle class, and with a harsh spotlight on the American working class, Lettie is more vital now than ever. With her muscular language and gorgeously observed dialogue, Boo possesses a remarkable ability to address relevant and difficult social issues through the prism of recognizable and insightful personal relationships. Victory Gardens commissioned Lettie as part of the Chicago Cycle of New Plays, our cannon of new plays set in Chicago, intended for Chicago and for national audiences.

Grant Statement: Funds from the Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award will support two weeks of additional rehearsal time, with a discontinuous rehearsal period scheduled in the fall 2017 as well as extra rehearsals added to those ordinarily budgeted for in March 2018 in lead up to its premiere.

Director: Chay Yew

Set Designer: Andrew Boyce

Lighting Designer: Lee Fiskness

Costume Designer: Melissa Ng

Sound Designer:Mikhail Fiskel

Properties: Jesse Gaffney

Cast: Charin Alvarez, Matt Farabee, Kirsten Fitzgerald, Ryan Kitley, Caroline Neff, Krystal Ortiz

Additional funders: Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation