A working class queer, a stranger, and 1000 years worth of past lives walk into a bar–

or: ARI is the not official manager of a queer bar, and she’s going to have to open by herself unless she can get a last minute temp for the night. Luckily, in strolls BEAU –hot, charming, and able to load a dishwasher. As the meet-cute goes pitch perfect, it seems Ari’s ass is saved, and maybe she could even have a fun hook-up when her shift is over for the night–until Beau reveals that they’re not the last minute temp hire from the service industry app they ordered.

CATACOMBS, written by Katherine Gwynn and directed by Whitney LaMora, celebrates its world premiere production at Dorothy this September! Starring Haven AJ Crawley and Wisterman, experience Chicago’s premiere lesbian bar, Dorothy, like you’ve never before.

Production team includes Milla Guerra (Stage Manager), Jyreika Guest (Intimacy/Fight Coordinator), Jan Diaz (Costume/Props), Theo Sullivan (Sound/Lights), Simone Hobbs (Photographer) and Heidi Hoblit Graham (Producer).

Doors open at 5pm and our production begins at 6pm. There are no late entries allowed once the production begins. Dorothy will open to the public shortly after the production wraps and audience members are encouraged to stay if they wish!

Tickets range from $15-$30 in a variety of spaces throughout the bar. This production is immersive (but not interactive) and due to the nature of the environment, sight lines may vary as the actors move throughout the space.

Performances occur: September 11th*, 12th, 13th, 15th**, 19th, 20th, 21st, 25th, 26th & 27th.

*PREVIEW, **Industry Night for theatre & hospitality workers

Dorothy is 21+ and requires physical ID for all to enter. Dorothy is also ADA accessible with elevator access on Campbell Avenue. If you are a guest who requires elevator access, please wait by the black door on Campbell Ave with our logo in the window and call our staff to assist: 773-770-3799. If you have any ADA questions before your purchase or leading up to the show, please email us at hello@dorothydownstairs.com.

Please note: refund requests are only honored until 24h before each show. No other refund requests will be honored. Refunds will not be given if guests arrive after the show begins and are not able to get into the performance.

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ABOUT THE TEAM

KATHERINE GWYNN (Playwright/Producer, they/them) is a non-binary lesbian, CODA, and Chicago playwright who writes about the mythic and violent spaces between queerness and the divine. Gwynn is the winner of the 2022 UCROSS + The Blank Theatre – Future of Playwriting Prize and a 2023 Venturous Fellowship Nominee. Gwynn also won the 2015 Jane Chambers Student Playwriting Award and Second Place for the EMOS Ecodrama Playwrights festival 2022. Their work has been developed and produced by Refracted Theatre, Red Theatre, Flint Rep, Jackalope Theatre, The New Coordinates, The Great Plains Theatre Conference, the Terra Femina Collective, Commission Theatre, The Fishtank, and Rockhurst University. Gwynn has been a 2024 Playwrights Center Core Writer Finalist, a 2024 American Blues Blue Ink Award Semi-Finalist, a Seven Devils 2024 Semi Finalist, a 2021 Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference Finalist and 2x Semi Finalist, 2021 Playwrights Realm Scratchpad Series Finalist, a 2x Bay Area Playwrights Festival Finalist and 4x Semi-Finalist, a 2020 Parity Productions Commission Finalist, a 2020 Story Theatre Resident Playwright Semi-Finalist, a 2x Princess Grace Playwriting Fellowship Semi-Finalist, a 2x Ashland Play Festival Semi-Finalist, a 2x New Works Festival at Kitchen Dog Theater Finalist, a 2019 LezPlay Finalist, and a 2x invited Submission for the Humana Festival of New American Plays.

WHITNEY LAMORA (Director/Producer, she/her) is the Owner and Creative Director of Dorothy and is passionate about creating spaces for queer joy to thrive. Her most recent theatrical credits include Dimension, a 1:1 solo production she performed at Dorothy’s bar in July 2024. Her directorial debut, 12 Ophelias, played at The Martin, 2018. She’s thrilled to be back in the theatre game and hopes to inspire others to create productions in nontraditional spaces. You can follow her @whitneycurates.

HAVEN AJ CRAWLEY (Ari, they/them) is passionate about art that engages with its audience, and explores the line between violence and veneration. Crawley has recently worked on productions with Gender Fucked Productions, A Short Leap Theatre, Midsommer Flight, Director’s Haven, and Oak Park Festival Theatre, and they are a member of About Face Theatre’s current touring show—Life Out Loud. They are a graduate from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign BFA program. In their spare time, they can be found making visual art, moving and shaking (occasionally under the pseudonym Finger Prince), and writing poems about bugs.

WISTERMAN (Beau, they/them) was most recently seen in Antigonick (Trap Door Theatre), Indoor Cats (Jeff Award recipient, Performer in a Supporting Role), and Vinegar Tom (Red Theater). Film and TV credits include The Bear, Work in Progress, Chicago MED, and Candyman. Wisterman earned their B.F.A. in Performance from Stephen F. Austin State University and is represented by Paonessa Talent.

HEIDI HOBLIT GRAHAM (Producer, she/her) is the Principal of Grey Area Productions and is dedicated to supporting the stories of female, Queer, and BIPOC Communities.  Her first love was theatre and storytelling, and she has devoted her life to empowering young artists. She started as a high school drama teacher but was called to the craft of motherhood. For fifteen years, while her children were young, she offered children an opportunity to create their own theatre. Stonegate Kids focused on kids ages 7-13 having agency over all aspects of production. Heidi honed her leadership abilities with The League of Women Voters and serves on the Board of Directors for A Red Orchid Theatre.

MILLA GUERRA (Stage Manager, them/them) is an actor-turned-SM who studied Musical Theater Performance at the Conservatory of Music at Baldwin Wallace University. They are now using that expertise to stage manage queer independent theater in their hometown of Chicago. Most recently, they were the SM/Prop Master/Scenic Designer for the debut of Electric Flesh Chewed Up In The Chaos Engine with Shampoo Research Animal at the Labyrinth Club.

JYREIKA GUEST (Intimacy/Fight Director, she/her ) is an actor, dancer, and intimacy director based in Chicago. She is thankful to God for continuing to guide her and for the love of her family and community. Theatre credits include Fela! (Olney Theatre), How Blood Go and What to Send Up When It Goes Down (Congo Square), Tragedy of King Christophe (formerly House Theatre of Chicago), Lindiwe U/S (Steppenwolf), Frankenstein (Remy Bumppo),  columbinus (The Yard Theatre Company),  In the Blood (Red Tape Theatre),  Fly Honeys Show (The Inconvenience Project),  The Wiz (Kokandy Productions). Intimacy direction credits include Ain’t No Mo (Woollymammoth Theatre), Is God Is (Red Orchid Theatre), Groundhog Day, Rock of Ages (Paramount Theatre), Fire Shut Up In My Bones and Champion (Lyric Opera), Sheepdog (Shattered Globe), Brooklyn Laundry, Little Women, Selling Kabul, Intimate Apparel, Fireflies (Northlight Theatre), The Tasters (Rivendell Theater Ensemble), The Light (Coalescence Theatre), The Children of Edgar and Nina (The Neighborhood Theatre), October Storm and The Last Pair of Earlies, Hoodoo Love – Asst. (Raven Theatre), First Deep Breath – Asst. (Victory Gardens). Film/TV: Starz Power Book Series: Force, Rough River Lake, and The Poet Series. IG: @jevelyng