Redtwist is proud to present a queer adaptation of Maurine Watkins 1926 satire, Chicago. A satire of lawyers, journalists, and the criminals who keep them employed. It’s the roaring 20s and Roxy Hart is desperate to get out of Cook County Jail and onto the Vaudeville stage. Join Redtwist in rediscovering this classic story of the Windy City written by the Tribune journalist who first reported on the real murderesses of Chicago.

Chicago: Queerly Adapted from the Play You’ve Never Heard of that Inspired the Musical You Can’t Get Away From, by Maurine Dallas Watkins; Adapted by Eileen Dixon & Dusty Brown

CRACKS

Written and Performed by Claire Lochmueller

Directed by David Resnick

Claire Lochmueller presents CRACKS, a one-trans-woman dark comedy memoir about growing up in the Catholic Church and a JROTC military high school and the pervasive ways those places affect a trans identity. CRACKS is as vulnerable as it is funny. Through a hybrid of storytelling, stand-up, and theatre the audience is taken on an emotional roller coaster of navigating gender identity, substance abuse, and finding joy. Come see how her two lives, through laughter and tears, became one trans identity.

“It’s worth witnessing. In fact, it’s one of the most accomplished Fringe pieces I’ve seen in a few years. Claire Lochmueller has created a beautiful, effective story that allows the audience a better understanding of the trans experience… If you’re going to catch one solo show in this year’s festival, this is it.”

-Forget the Box (Montreal’s Most In-Depth Arts Magazine)

Accolades:

Winner – Storytelling Award: Montreal Fringe 2025

Nominee – Most Promising English Text: Montreal Fringe 2025

Winner – Artist’s Choice Award: PortFringe 2025

Winner – Critic’s Choice Achievement in Performance: PortFringe 2025

Winner – Critic’s Choice Achievement in Writing: PortFringe 2025

Production History:

Cincinnati Fringe 2024

Annoyance Theater 2025

Richmond Fringe 2025

Montreal Fringe 2025

PortFringe 2025

Elgin Fringe 2025

Help support Bryn Mawr Avenue’s premiere black box theatre: Redtwist! Celebrate a phenomenal year of community growth and artistic excellence, meet and mingle with Edgewater’s finest artists, and enjoy live entertainment, fabulous food, and delicious drinks.

Hosted at Morningstar, 22 West Washington Street, Chicago, IL.

Hors-d’Oeuvres, Open Bar, Wine Pull, Live Music, and a Live Auction.

Sandra is an accomplished professor, comfortable in her position until a racist cartoon is nailed to her office door; Sara is a slave in the Deep South, fighting for her freedom and spying for the union as the nation is pulled into Civil War. Despite the century between them, both women raise their voice against the institutions of racism and misogyny that hold them back. Dominique Morriseau’s (author of Detroit ’67 and Skeleton Crew) Confederates leaps through time to trace the identities of these two Black American women and the truths that bond them.

Life has beaten Jessie down. Spiraling between a failed marriage, a cruel son, and an aging parent, Jessie is determined to take control over the one sliver of life left to her. When new horrors batter at her daily; when society isolates her and the world turns to chaos; when a promised future dwindles and her hope fades: Jessie digs up her father’s old pistol. Marsha Norman’s Pulitzer Prize winning play catapults through a mother and daughter’s darkest day together.