The end of a journey

about us

MISSION

Interrobang Theatre Project (ITP) produces visceral and timely works, rarely produced texts, and new American plays. We strive to excite a new generation of theatergoers, to engage our community through challenging plays, to maintain an environment in which artists can do their very best work, and to change our world one play at a time. ITP is not recommended for audiences who prefer theatre to be benign or familiar.

ENSEMBLE

The recipient of 2019's Broadway in Chicago Emerging Theatre award, Interrobang Theatre Project, now in its 10th season and under the artistic leadership of Georgette Verdin, has been hailed by the Chicago Tribune as a “company to watch” and by Time Out Chicago as “one of Chicago’s most promising young theatre companies.”

Interrobang Theatre Project is also proud to be in residence at Rivendell Theatre, located at 5779 N Ridge Ave in the Edgewater neighborhood. 

PRODUCTION HISTORY

Productions have included the world premiere of Calamity West’s Ibsen is Dead (Jeff Recommended), the U.S. Premiere of Elinor Cook's Out of Love (Jeff Recommended), the Midwest Premiere of Emily Schwend's 2016 Yale Drama Series Prize Winner Utility and the Chicago Premieres of Deanna Jent's Falling and Dawn King's Foxfinder which Chris Jones called, “...a ripping good yarn,” earning it 3.5 stars from the Chicago Tribune.

AWARDS & NOMINATIONS

ITP’s most recent accolades include 2020 Jeff Award nominations for: Performer in a Principal Role (Play): Laura Berner Taylor (Out of Love); Lighting Design: Michelle Benda (Out of Love); Solo Performance: Scott Sawa (Here Lies Henry).

OUR SPONSORS

 Interrobang Theatre Project acknowledges and celebrates the generous support of the following organizations:

Anti-racism

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Over the last year, Interrobang has been hard at work putting our diversity, equity and inclusion ideals into practice. On April 16, 2020, after months of planning, our Board of Directors unanimously adopted a four-year strategic plan which most notably calls for Interrobang to “Lead with equity in all of our institutional arenas.” Our actions to-date and our future plans stand in relation to our history of prioritizing the experiences of our artists, our goals as outlined in our newly adopted strategic plan and the BIPOC Demands for White American Theatre. We are in the process of hiring an independent consulting firm who will help us build out a DEI plan to shepherd our organization towards a more equitable and anti-racist future. We are heartened by the change we’re already seeing within our industry and very much look forward to sharing the transformational work we are engaged in here at ITP.

Actions Taken

• Our top leadership, which includes our Artistic Director, Artistic Producer and Board President have participated in The Chicago Inclusion Project’s workshop “Being Anti-Racist: An Active Action”

• We have identified Mason-Vivit Consulting Group to help us build out a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion plan

• We are building our capacity as an organization to have hard and uncomfortable conversations for the purpose of breaking down communication barriers

• We have designated Anti-racist work time at the start of all Interrobang meetings whether they be ensemble, staff or board in an effort to better understand who shares our rooms and how to consistently and safely move our organization forward in its anti-ract, anti-oppressive initiatives.

  • Examples include:
    • Facilitated discussions around privilege and identity
    • Identifying where our organization currently lives on The Chicago Inclusion Project’s “Continuum of Anti-Racist Representation”

• We have started an audit of our Workplace Environment Policy

• We are analyzing our budget to ensure alignment with our priorities

  • To this end:
    • We have added our first two salary positions for our leadership team to start in FY22, which include:
    • Artistic Director
    • Artistic Producer
    • Increased stipends for contract workers
    • Added an Anti-Racist/DEI line to our budget

• We have developed Community Agreements to govern our rooms and cultivate safe spaces.

• We have added questions regarding inclusivity and diversity to our post production survey to collect more data and better track our progress.

• We have committed to reading a Land Acknowledgement statement at all meetings, rehearsals, public performances/events.

• We will no longer be holding 10 out of 12 rehearsals for any process