Weekend of Workshops provides a platform for directors, devisers, and performers to hone and delve into their craft. This winter, audiences will experience a blend of new and familiar pieces, both devised and revised. The Weekend of Workshops is dedicated to pushing the boundaries of artistic expression for every participant in this intimate space.

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13th Morning by BT Hayes

13th Morning comes, naturally, after the Twelfth Night. Sebastian and Olivia are married after she had been in love initially with Viola. Is it bad that she can't stop thinking about her husband's sister? Meanwhile, Antonio returns from his trips across the sea to share with Sebastian this new thing called "the gay"! They recall a time when they might have been just that. And Malvolio is still trying to figure out a way to seek his revenge, but all he's managed to do is learn to play shitty acoustic covers. Or just one.

Cast

Rachel Bolte (Olivia) is a third year Sociology and Germanic Studies student. This is her first UT show on the ‘actually being onstage’ side of things, although she was Production Manager on The Arsonists and Assistant Production Manager on The Play That Goes Wrong. She’s grateful to the company of 13th Morning for all the laughter and for making outside-her-comfort-zone not such a scary place to be. Also many thanks and much love to the JERM Haus and to the Subaru sponsorship messages that aired right after Sunday morning episodes of ‘Globe Trekker’ on PBS for teaching her about gay (‘Love. It’s what makes a Subaru a Subaru.’).

Caroline Lopez (Viola) is a fourth-year Chemistry major. Her past credits include Much Ado About Nothing (Borachio), The Play that Goes Wrong (Director), Dead Fun Society (Aspen), Marian (Guard), and The Trail to Oregon! (u/s Mother). She is so very grateful for all of the wonderful people who worked on this show and who made the entire process a joy from start to finish. Where did she first learn about gay? It’s hard to pinpoint between the Catholic all-girls education or tumblr, but she reckons it was one of the two.

Collin Polasky (Sebastian)

Giancarlo Beritela (Antonio)

Ian Tierney (Malvolio & Svetlana) Ian who hails from Eden, NY—a place so idyllic it probably comes with its own set of angelic harps, plays Malvolio. At just 17, he enlisted in the Marine Corps and spent over eight years playing multi-role aviation Swiss Army knife. Fast forward to 2020, and Ian decided, ‘Why not try something new?’ and got into the Veteran Scholar’s Initiative at the University of Chicago. Initially, he aimed to master Economics and make a killing in finance. But then a required art class crashed the party, and he fell head over heels for acting and directing. Over the past five years, he’s dabbled in a mix of roles in both University Theater and professional theaters—proving he’s not afraid to jump in wherever the spotlight leads him, even if it sometimes means a few unexpected twists along the way. He learned about gay from his friend Jake who was openly gay in a small farming town. At the time Ian didn’t fully understand what that meant, but looking back he thinks Jake was one of the strongest people he ever met.

Production Staff

Ryan Cairns (Co-Director) is a fourth-year completing a joint B.A./M.A. in Political Science, Human Rights, and History. She’s been involved in University Theater since the first quarter of her first year (Assistant Director, Love’s Labour’s Lost), and is excited to round out her time in UT with this incredibly fun show. Outside of theater, you can find her leading W+ (Women and Gender Minorities in Public Service) at the Institute of Politics, organizing with the Chicago Abortion Fund, enjoying a show (of any kind), and guilting her friends into over-committing to a bit. Next year, she’ll be in Baltimore to complete a post-baccalaureate pre-medical program, as well continuing work in abortion access and harm reduction. She’d like to thank all of her closest friends who agreed to work on this silly little workshop, Coco and Kelly for being the best day-one’s a girl could ask for, and my right hand arm man, Nat Lam. She’d like to dedicate this production to Zach, and all of the queer angels who didn’t get their thirteenth morning. Unfortunately, Ryan learned about gay through her childhood obsession with Ellen Degeneres.

Nathalie Lam (Co-Director) After a 17-year stint as People’s ‘Sexiest Man Alive,’ Nat Lam has embraced the joys of domestic labor in her retirement. You will often find her making instant oatmeal, or churning homemade pink-salt butter for her children during their supervised visits (unfortunately, she lost custody. . . again). In her free time, Nat is in her 20th year of her PhD program in critical quantum studies and is writing the third paragraph of her dissertation on the hermeneutical joix de vivre of post-post-modernist atomic quirks. When asked if she would direct this play, she obliged but only under the condition that we’d market her very own brand of muscle-building kombucha. Think the military man in your class likes Celsius and RedBull? Well, he hasn’t tried Nat’s very own muscle-building kombucha. As a worldwide celebrity, Nat hopes that you understand why she will not take further inquiries from the press; it has not been easy being on the cover of People’s magazine for 17 years straight.

Eleni Lefakis (Movement Director & Production Manager) is a fourth-year TAPS and RLLT major. Her workshop credits are The Heirs (Costume Designer), Ah Wing and The Automaton Eagle (Assistant Stage Manager), Strings Attached; In Concert (Production Manager), Cassandra (Production Manager), Paper Wasters (Production Manager), The Song of Circles (Production Manager), and Royal Flush (Co-Production Manager). She also has 15 UT mainstage credits and worked on the inaugural Reptilian Affiliates Theater Co. production, My God is Julie Andrews (Producer/Director/Julie Andrews) at the Edinburgh Fringe last summer. She would like everyone to acknowledge that this play is proof that New Jersey only produces great things and she is somewhat embarrassed to say that she learned about gay from an episode of Glee.

Coco Liu (Stage Manager) is a fourth-year majoring in Chemistry and Linguistics. She has previously worked on Much Ado About Nothing (Production Manager), A Weekend of Workshops; Royal Flush (Co-Production Manager), and Strings Attached (Co-Stage Manager). She first learned about gay at age ten when she accidentally stumbled upon Sherlock/John (of the BBC show) smut fanfiction during an obsession with the Arthur Conan Doyle books.

Emma Linderman (Scenic & Props Designer) is a graduate from the college in 2024 but keeps getting pulled back to UT because she can’t resist wood furniture. She is very grateful to Kurt Hummel from Glee for teaching her about gay.

Anna German (Costume Designer) is a fourth-year Political Science, Media Arts and Design, and Gender and Sexuality Studies major. Her previous UT credits include Much Ado About Nothing (Costume Designer), Richard III (Costume Designer), and Twelfth Night (Costume Designer). She first learned about gay through the greatest film ever made, the 1998 Disney classic Mulan, but the girl writing this maintains that Anna only truly UNDERSTOOD gay when she fell in deep and enduring love with her beloved roommate (who also happens to be the girl writing this).

Kelly Mao (Sound Designer) is a fourth-year Computer Science and Mathematics major. Previous UT credits include If/Then (Violin), Muscle Memory (Stage Manager), and The Heirs (Production Manager). Her beloved, perfect, and cherished friend, Emma B. Barnes, was the first person to teach her about gay (Em was also, incidentally, the one to teach her about theater (via Hamilton: an American Musical) (sorry) (it was 2016)). Thank you to every theater friend, past and present, for having made her into who she is today, and an especial thank you to Coco and Ryan, her UT day-negative-ones.

Emily Curran (Lighting Designer & Asst. Director) is a third-year Public Policy major and TAPS minor. She currently serves as UT Committee Social Chair as well as a Theater[24] Curator. She is so so so excited to bring this show to you from across the pond (sort of. because it’s really from Princeton). Her previous work with UT and TAPS includes; Much Ado About Nothing (Margaret); Arcadia (Asst. Lighting Designer); Strings Attached (Lighting Designer); Falsettos (Charlotte); Twelfth Night (Lighting Designer); Be More Chill (Asst. Lighting Designer); Macbeth in Space (Lighting Designer); and Romeo and Juliet (Asst. Lighting Designer). She would absolutely love to thank the members of the esteemed Reptilian Affiliates Theater Co. (as well as all of the affiliate affiliates) for their endless friendship, support, and willingness to trust a second year to fly halfway across the world with them to put on a silly little show. She would also sincerely like to thank JERM for their lovingness and kindness all this year. Lastly, she would like to thank musical theater as an entity for teaching her about gay (but if you wanna get specific about it, it would be the touring production of If/Then she saw with Idina Menzel in 2016. The second show she ever saw live, with two whole gay couples).

Rory McGann (Asst. Production Manager) is a fourth-year Molecular Engineering major and Theater & Performance Studies minor (come see the TAPS theses in April!). His previous credits at UChicago include Falsettos (Director), Arcadia (Bernard Nightingale), Romeo & Juliet (Juliet), and Be More Chill (Rich Goranski). He is immensely grateful to Eleni for bringing him onto the 13th Morning crew as her goofy little assistant - it’s been a great time! He first learned about gay from the lovely Doug & Kenta.

Troy McDonald (Asst. Stage Manager) is a third year Creative Writing major. Thirteenth Morning is his first ever experience in theatre.

Kaden Kaden (Asst. Lighting Designer) is a second-year History and Linguistics major. They have previously worked on The Play That Goes Wrong (Lighting Designer); Strings Attached (Assistant Costume and Assistant Lighting Designer); Much Ado About Nothing (Assistant Scenic Designer); Arcadia (TAPS Pro-Show) (Lighting Programmer and Board Operator); Muscle Memory (Lighting Designer); and five Theater [24]s as (Lighting Designer). No one had to tell them that we have gay now because they grew up in America’s foremost gay city, San Francisco.

Maya Bond (Asst. Lighting Designer)

Will Rehmus (Committee Liaison) is a second-year astrophysics major/TAPS minor. They would like to thank you for coming to see the Dean’s Men/UT’s production of Troilus and Cressida. They have been on 8 productions at UChicago so far; Muscle Memory (Asst. Lighting), Cassandra (Lighting and Sound), Falsettos (Asst. Stage Manager), Strings Attached (Co-Sound), The Play That Goes Wrong (Asst. Lighting), Much Ado About Nothing (Scenic), Arcadia (Asst. Master Electrician) and, of course, Troilus and Cressida (Asst. Sound).