Whiskey
Neat

Set in the back room of an illegal high-stakes gambling establishment in Chicago in 1949, “Whiskey Neat” revolves around the lives of an all-Irish gang, headed by Jack Kilrain but led by his formidable sister, Beverly.  Roy McCluskey and Ed Gorham, two of Beverly’s muscle, wait for action that never seems to come. Numbers guy Harry Delaney delivers stability and wisdom to the group. 

As the night unfolds, the characters navigate their personal ambitions and relationships against the backdrop of organized crime.  Beverly is furious and frustrated at her nephew, Mike Kilrain, who has recently joined the family business.  Mike’s youthful bravado and desire to prove himself lead him into conflict, especially with the volatile Izzi Macklin, who represents the darker side of their operations.  Mike continues causing issues by chasing an attractive cocktail waitress, Trudy Sullivan, who wants nothing to do with him. 

Tensions rise when Mike’s impulsive actions lead to a confrontation.  Whiskey Neat is a story of loyalty and the quest for identity within a world governed by violence and power dynamics.  Ultimately, they are all forced to confront their own choices and the consequences of their lives in the criminal underworld.

 “Whiskey Neat” is a gripping exploration of ambition, familial ties, and the moral complexities of life in organized crime, punctuated by sharp dialogue and moments of dark humor. In the world of the Kilrains, blood is thicker than whiskey, and more dangerous…

Party
Poolside

PARTY POOLSIDE is a fast-paced, 1988-set Hollywood farce that unfolds over one chaotic summer evening at the lavish poolside home of a slick movie producer. When his dim-but-bankable action star suddenly declares he wants to pursue “serious art,” the producer launches an increasingly desperate scheme to lock him into a lucrative multi-picture deal before everything implodes.

What follows is a comic pressure cooker of egos, deceit, and escalating absurdity involving a neglected wife, a venomous film critic, a ditzy girlfriend, a volatile pastry chef, a hapless stuntman, a drunken British butler, and a revered playwright who almost becomes collateral damage in the con. As vodka flows and plans unravel, the play skewers Hollywood ambition, celebrity worship, and the illusion of artistic integrity with rapid-fire dialogue and classic door-slamming farce mechanics.

With a contained single set, a strong ensemble of juicy comedic roles, and escalating physical comedy, Party Poolside is a smart, actor-driven farce offering both commercial appeal and sharp satirical bite 

Martini's
& Music

MARTINIS & MUSIC is a romantic, jazz-infused stage musical set in late-1950s Chicago, where nightclubs, boxing gyms, and backroom deals collide. At its center is Billy Green, a once-famous piano man whose career and great love were destroyed by a powerful gangster who controls both the fight game and the nightclub circuit.

When Billy is forced back into the club that broke him, he’s reunited with Cozy LaRue, the headlining singer he never stopped loving. Around them swirl intersecting lives: a champion boxer risking everything in the ring, his younger brother chasing a dream onstage, a tough-talking waitress with star potential, and a ruthless kingpin who pulls every string. As ambition, loyalty, and love clash, the characters must choose between survival and following their hearts.

Blending classic Broadway romance with swing, jazz, and big ensemble numbers, Martinis & Music offers rich leading roles, strong opportunities for dancers and singers, and a muscular emotional core. It’s a nostalgic and sentimental musical about second chances, artistic integrity, and the price of living your truth in a world run by power and money

The Comedy
Playhouse

THE COMEDY PLAYHOUSE is a big-hearted backstage comedy set in 1986 inside a struggling Chicago theatre, where artistic ego, fragile finances, and sheer theatrical chaos collide. After a violent storm blows a hole straight through the roof of the theatre, the staff must scramble to keep the doors open, the actors sane, and the benefactors happy, all while preparing to go on with the show.

As the day unravels, an anxious business manager obsessed with his cat, a thunderous director with delusions of grandeur, a hypochondriac diva and her beefy paramour, a grandstanding actor, a sharp-eyed dramaturg,  and an eccentric, free-associating benefactor all collide in escalating comedic chaos. When financial salvation comes with a dangerous catch—producing the benefactor’s nephew’s terrible dramatic masterpiece—the company must decide how far they’re willing to bend their artistic souls to survive.

With rapid-fire dialogue, bold character comedy, and a loving insider’s eye on the absurdities of theatre life, The Comedy Playhouse is a classic ensemble comedy about passion, compromise, and the stubborn belief that the show must go on—roof or no roof. Designed for a single set with large, juicy roles, the play celebrates theatre people at their most ridiculous and most human.

The Merciful
Heavens

The Merciful Heavens is a play about labor, loyalty, and longing. Set against the backdrop of a Chicago construction site in 1986, it paints the lives of men who sweat under the sun while dreaming under the stars. The world of the play balances discipline and banter, work and dreams, grounded reality and surreal memory.
At its core, this story is about human connection:

• Jim Williams, the disciplined crew boss, carries the weight of leadership, haunted by ghosts of his past.

• Sonny Hill, a dreamer with comic timing, transforms ordinary lunches and aches into extraordinary flights of imagination.

• Kyle “Junior” Brennan, the owner’s son, comes of age through hard work and respect.

• John Garner wrestles with his shyness and hopes for love through music.

• The dream figures—Emma Sheppard, Ruth Williams, the Waiter/Emcee, Brenda—bring the inner lives of these men into sharper relief, showing how desire and memory haunt and sustain them.

The world of The Merciful Heavens is one where pudding cups can carry the same weight as longing for Emma Sheppard, and where a harmonica riff can cut through the grind of shovels in the dirt. The humor is real, the hardship is real, and the dreamscapes remind us that even in the most blue-collar corners of life, poetry and music flourish.

Kissing
Babies

Frederick Chestinforth, the Mayor of Chicago, is a big game hunting, rollicking party animal. As he wakes on his couch in the afternoon on Halloween Day, he learns that Rocky McKane, a notorious bootlegger who the Mayor put in prison, has escaped from the Penitentiary and is on his way to the Mayor’s Office to exact his revenge. Miss Price, the Mayor’s cigar smoking, rat hating receptionist, is his last line of defense. The Mayor’s sharp assistant, Morty Kaufman, tries vainly to keep the Mayor focused, but to Morty’s surprise, his own focus gets diverted, heavily, by the presence of a zany showgirl named Kitty Stiles who Morty is attracted to. With a grand Halloween party scheduled for the evening, and the cook nowhere to be found, Morty further has to deal with a mysterious stranger, Delilah Plush, who the Mayor hires on the spot to be a second assistant to him. Deliliah is not who she says she is, however…
Add in a reedy IRS agent who dreams of adventures, and the Cast embarks on a wild farce of a day as all the characters (including Rocky) don costumes in preparation for the Halloween party.