Our Story
Our founding members hail from a variety of backgrounds - from law to business, from technology to arts. Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, each of us were deeply involved in theater-making at a time when the bounds of the medium were shattered, and the global artistic community was calling into question what theater could be in a remote landscape.
With our founding members based in Chicago, New York City, and London we are committed to applying these hard-learned lessons to increase the efficiency, efficacy, and ethicality of our productions, even as we return to a world of in-person art.
We aim to develop highly mobile networks of support and resource acquisition, so that we may produce high quality, full length productions whenever and wherever opportunity arises, and connect passionate individuals across all walks of life.
Our Commitments
1. Produce high-quality in-person productions across the United States, with locally based actors, writers, and production staff
2. Ensure that our productions are financially sustainable without compromising on creating timely, culturally relevant, and thought-provoking works of art in-line with our mission
3. Maintain open dialogue with all members of our team to ensure that we are fostering an empowering, rigorous, and safe environment
4. We recognize that theater is politics and politics is theater
Our Team
2026 Season
COMING SOON...
2025 Season
ALEXANDRIA
An Off-Broadway World Premiere at Dixon Place in NYC!
After a series of brutal hurricanes forces them out of their homes, five survivors seeking shelter stumble upon an abandoned library that has miraculously survived the elements. Sisters Luz (Anuka Sethi) and Izzy (Josie Rose Hand), alongside life-long friend J (Celeste Samson), attempt to make sense of the world with the new found knowledge at their fingertips, while married couple Rheann (Caitlyn Alico Beckwith) and Kal (Steve Gamble) try their best to rebuild what is left of their old lives. As tensions rise on the surface, a sixth survivor (Kana Seiki) remains hidden underground, cultivating a life of her own. With the threat of change forever looming, the group must make the choice to succumb to it or to shape it.
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2024 Season
NEXT TO NORMAL
In partnership with the South Asia Institute in Chicago!
NEXT TO NORMAL, with book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey and music by Tom Kitt, explores how one suburban household copes with crisis and mental illness. Winner of three 2009 Tony Awards, including Best Musical Score and the 2010 Pulitzer Prize, Next to Normal was also chosen as "one of the year's ten best shows" by critics around the country, including The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Rolling Stone and The New York Times.
Dad's an architect; Mom rushes to pack lunches and pour cereal; their daughter and son are bright, wise-cracking teens, appearing to be a typical American family. And yet their lives are anything but normal because the mother has been battling bipolar disorder for 16 years. Next to Normal takes audiences into the minds and hearts of each character, presenting their family's story with love, sympathy and heart.
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Directors Note
I was born to Mandhir Singh Suri and Jasneet Kaur Sabharwal in 1999 in New York City. After immigrating here from India, my parents started trying to have children. They lost their first-born when she was born. I was their second-born.
Growing up as a Sikh Punjabi woman, I often struggled to balance the opinions of the Western world and the values of my South Asian culture, especially in regards to mental health. I watched my mom experience extreme panic attacks, my brother get diagnosed with OCD, and my father struggle with suicidal depression. In first-generation/immigrant households, talking about mental health means that you are “crazy.” I was the first one in my family to seek therapy for my own needs, and soon enough my family and I began to deal with our trauma by utilizing methods from both Indian and American culture.
When I first saw “Next to Normal” at the San Diego Musical Theatre, I felt like I was watching my family on stage—even with its all-white cast. The musical touched on topics of Depression, Bi-Polar disorder, Schizophrenia, Anxiety while highlighting the strength within us to cope with these diseases with the support of family, friends, and medicine.
Now, as a Chicago-based actor, director, and producer with numerous theatre productions under my belt, I am thrilled to put on the world premiere Next to Normal with a completely South Asian cast to showcase the realities of my South Asian household, the tragedy of ignoring your trauma, and the light that comes from accepting both love and pain as a package deal.
The show goes up during Mental Health Awareness month. Our production will partner with mental health organizations in Chicago to host talkbacks after the show. My purpose for directing/producing art is to push audiences to consider perspectives outside of their comfort zone in order to build a more collaborative society. Through this experience, I am building a vibrant artistic community and giving voice to a much needed dialogue for my South Asian culture. I have always been stunned by the lack of professional opportunities within this industry to showcase South Asian culture and talent. There are currently no Broadway musicals featuring South Asian characters, and professional opportunity within this field for my community is scarce. I want to not only create space for South Asian artists to advance their careers but also illuminate South Asian culture in a historically white industry.
This show is my dream come true. It will serve as a love letter to theatre, Chicago, and ultimately, my family.
Sincerely,
Hershey Kaur Suri
