Plymouth Court Stage Saturday, Sept. 7th at 3pm Sarah Jaffe is a writer and reporter living in New Orleans and on the road. She is the author of Work Won’t Love You Back: How Devotion To Our Jobs Keeps Us Exploited, Exhausted, and Alone; Necessary Trouble: Americans in Revolt, and the forthcoming From the Ashes: ... Read more
Center Stage Sunday, Sept. 8th at 1pm Archy Jamjun is the curator of OUTspoken: LBGTQ+ Storytelling at Sidetrack. He is also a two-time winner of The Moth Grand Slam in Chicago. His writing has been published by Barrel House, Chicago Magazine, and The Rumpus.
Plymouth Court Stage Sunday, Sept. 8th at 5pm Dr. Valerie C. Johnson is Associate Provost for DEI, Inclusion, Associate Professor of Political Science, and Endowed Professor of Urban Diplomacy at DePaul University. She is the co-editor with Jennifer Ruth and Ellen Schrecker of The Right to Learn: Resisting the Right-Wing Attack on Academic Freedom (2024). ... Read more
Grace Place Stage (1st floor) Saturday, Sept. 7th at 10am Jim Joyce is a high school teacher and zine writer from Chicago. His work is available through Antiquated Future distro and Quimby's Bookstore.
Plymouth Court Stage Saturday, Sept. 7th at 10am Meghan Elizabeth Kallman is a professor, organizer, and a State Senator, representing Rhode Island District 15. She and Josephine Ferorelli founded the organization Conceivable Future in 2014 to recognize that environmental collapse is now a major factor in family planning. Together they are the authors of The ... Read more
Center Stage Sunday, Sept. 8th at 10am Jack Keilman is a professional actor who has just moved to Chicago and is happy to join Broadway Dropouts as his first improv troupe. He studied theatre at Columbia College Chicago and earned a BA in musical theatre in 2023. Some of local credits include Literary Concerts Chicago's ... Read more
Grace Place Stage (2nd floor) Saturday, Sept. 7th at 1pm Emily Kellogg is the Program and Operations Manager at the Carol Shields Prize Foundation. Her writing has appeared in publications such as The Globe and Mail, The Wall Street Journal, The Humber Literary Review, and Room Magazine. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in ... Read more
Center Stage Sunday, Sept. 8th at 10am Abby is so excited to be a part of the Broadway Dropouts! She enjoys performing and has been in roles such as Pat in Kinky Boots and Ensemble in the Drowsy Chaperone and RENT! When she is not performing she teaches 7th grade math! She wants to thank ... Read more
Joseph & Bessie Feinberg Foundation Stage Saturday, Sept. 7th at 5pm Crystal Hana Kim is the author of The Stone Home (2024) and If You Leave Me (2018), which was named a best book of 2018 by over a dozen publications. She is the recipient of the 2022 National Book Foundation’s 5 Under 35 Award, ... Read more
Plymouth Court Stage Sunday, Sept. 8th at 12pm Meg Kissinger, a Pulitzer Prize finalist and author, will help you see and think about people with mental illness in a new light. Her engaging memoir, While You Were Out: An Intimate Family Portrait of Mental Illness in an Era of Silence has been praised for its ... Read more
Center Stage Sunday, Sept. 8th at 10am Marianna Kontos is a Technical Theatre Artist/Choreographer based in the Chicago Suburbs.
Joseph & Bessie Feinberg Foundation Stage Sunday, Sept. 8th at 5pm Daniel Kraus is a New York Times bestselling writer of novels, TV, and film whose work has been translated into over twenty-five languages. His novel Whalefall won the Alex Award, was a Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist, and was a Best Book of ... Read more
Center Stage Sunday, Sept. 8th at 2pm Yohance Lacour is a writer from the South Side, committed to telling stories of Black Chicago from the ground. After serving a decade-long sentence in federal prison, he returned home in 2017 to resume his tradition of Black storytelling, hosting the award winning podcast, You Didn’t See Nothin, ... Read more
North Stage Saturday, Sept. 7th at 12pm Joan Larkin's newest book is Old Stranger, her sixth collection of poems, published by Alice James Books in August 2024. Previous titles include Blue Hanuman and My Body: New and Selected Poems, winner of the Publishing Triangle's Audre Lorde award. A lifelong teacher and poet, Joan co-founded Out ... Read more
Plymouth Court Stage Saturday, Sept. 7th at 11am Mark Larson is the author of Ensemble: An Oral History of Chicago Theater, for which he conducted over 300 interviews with Chicago theater artists. His new book, Working in the 21st Century: An Oral History of American Work in a Time of Social and Economic Transformation, was ... Read more
Grace Place Stage (2nd floor) Saturday, Sept. 7th at 3pm Shayla Lawson is the author of A Speed Education in Human Being, Pantone, I Think I'm Ready to See Frank Ocean, This is Major: Notes on Diana Ross, Dark Girls and Being Dope, and How to Live Free in a Dangerous World: A Decolonial Memor. ... Read more
Joseph & Bessie Feinberg Foundation Stage Saturday, Sept. 7th at 3:30pm Priscilla Layne is Professor in the Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures and an Adjunct Associate Professor in African, African American, and Diaspora Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is also the Director of the Center for ... Read more
Grace Place Stage (1st floor) Saturday, Sept. 7th at 12pm Amy Leach is the author of The Salt of the Universe, The Everybody Ensemble, and Things That Are. She grew up in Texas and earned her MFA from the Nonfiction Writing Program at the University of Iowa. Her work has appeared in The Best American ... Read more
Plymouth Court Stage Sunday, Sept. 8th at 3pm Daniel Lefferts is a writer living in the Hudson Valley. He holds an MFA from Columbia University and has taught writing at Columbia and Rutgers. His debut novel, Ways and Means, was published in February 2024, and his writing has appeared in the Paris Review and elsewhere.
Center Stage Saturday, Sept. 7th at 10am Irene Lo is a singer, dancer, actress originally from Taiwan. She has a bachelor degree in voice at National Taiwan Normal University and has danced with the Chinese Arts Dance Ensemble in many International Art Dance Festivals in Europe. A graduate of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy ... Read more
North Stage Sunday, Sept. 8th at 12pm Claire Lombardo is the author of The Most Fun We Ever Had, which has been optioned for television by Reese Witherspoon. She lives in Iowa City, where she has taught at the Iowa Writers' Workshop and Grinnell College and works part-time as a bookseller at Prairie Lights Books.
Plymouth Court Stage Sunday, Sept. 8th at 5pm Steve Macek is a Professor of Communication and Media Studies at North Central College in Naperville, IL. He writes frequently about censorship, academic freedom and First Amendment issues for Truthout, Common Dreams, The Progressive, and other independent media outlets. He co-edited and contributed to the book, Censorship, ... Read more
Grace Place Stage (1st floor) Saturday, Sept. 7th at 3pm New York Times bestselling author Shawntelle Madison has written over 15 science fiction, fantasy, and romance titles, most notably the urban fantasy series Coveted. Her next release, The Fallen Fruit, is a multi-generational time-travel epic (HarperCollins, September 3, 2024). She earned her undergraduate degree in ... Read more
Grace Place Stage (2nd floor) Saturday, Sept. 7th at 11am Thomas Maier is an award-winning author, investigative reporter, and television producer. He is the author and a producer of Paramount's Mafia Spies and Showtime's Masters of Sex, both based on his books. A former Chicago Sun-Times reporter, Maier has written nine books, including Dr. Spock, ... Read more
Joseph & Bessie Feinberg Foundation Stage Saturday, Sept. 7th at 5pm Rebecca Makkai is the author of New York Times bestseller I Have Some Questions for You, as well as four other works of fiction. Her last novel, The Great Believers, was a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, and ... Read more