A-Squared Theatre
featuring A Girl's Gotta Do, etc.
Written by Julia Izumi
Directed by Brian Balcom
Performed by Helen Lee, Karissa J. Murrell Myers, and Jennifer Zhang
Day 3: Saturday, October 22 at 7 pm
Day 4: Sunday, October 23 at 7 pm
TICKETS AND SCHEDULE
BACK TO FESTIVAL HOME PAGE
Day 4: Sunday, October 23 at 7 pm
TICKETS AND SCHEDULE
BACK TO FESTIVAL HOME PAGE
A Girl's Gotta Do, etc. is a 'serious' comedy about the joys and tribulations of teenage girls in the era of millennials.
Julia Izumi is a playwright and performer based in New York City. Her plays have been performed and developed at the New Ohio Theater, Dixon Place, Martin E. Segal Center, the New York Society Library, Williamstown Theatre Festival, A-Squared Theatre Workshop, Ugly Rhino Productions, Cloud City with Fresh Ground Pepper (2015 PlayGround PlayGroup Residency), 4th Street Theatre with The Habitat Theatre Company, Variations Theatre Group, Ingenue Theatre, ESPA at Primary Stages, and Tufts University, where she earned her B.A. in Drama. She is a proud member of the BMI Librettists Workshop, the Beehive Collective, and the Artistic Committee of The Brewing Dept. She was granted a 2015 First Floor Studio Residency at HB Studio with director Logan Reed. Her play Meet Murasaki Shikibu Followed by Book-Signing, and Other Things was presented at the 2016 Great Plains Theatre Conference and produced in the 2016 NY International Fringe Festival. She has also worked with Samuel French, The New York Neo-Futurists, Signature Theatre Company, and the Under the Radar Festival at the Public Theatre. This fall she will begin at Brown University’s MFA Playwriting Program.
Brian Balcom has worked with Walking Shadow Company , Gremlin Theatre, Urban Samurai, and The Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis. With his company, The New Theatre Group, he commissioned and produced several new works by local and national writers. He is a Resident Artist at Victory Gardens' Access Program and was a Multi-Cultural Fellow at Steppenwolf. Brian has a BFA from Carnegie-Mellon and an MFA from DePaul.
Originally from Southern California, Helen Lee is ecstatic to make her Chicago debut with A Girl's Gotta Do, etc. She credits the expat theatre community in Seoul, South Korea for helping her find her passion. Among her favorite roles are Helena from A Midsummer Night's Dream and Dotty Otley/Mrs. Clackett from Noises Off. You'll be seeing her around town dancing her goofy heart out with The Comedy Dance Collective and shivering uncontrollably from November to April. She warmly thanks A-Squared Theatre for welcoming her to the community!
Karissa J. Murrell Myers moved to Chicago last year after she earned her M.F.A. in Performance from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and B.A. in Theatre with a minor in Music from Boise State University. Previous Chicago stage credits include: Farewell My Friend ((re)discover theatre, Iseult), Tea (Prologue Theatre, Himiko), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Greenman Theatre, Titania), Collaboraction's 15th Annual Sketchbook Festival, and Something Marvelous' Origins: A Night of New Works. Regional: Blithe Spirit, Big Love, Uncle Vanya and Zombies, Thread Hell, Stop Kiss, Queens of the Night, very still and hard to see, You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, and Oklahoma!. Tour: Missoula Children’s Theatre (2012). Television: Chicago Med. Love to Mark and Rosie!
Jennifer Zhang 张羽琪 is a musician, actress, model and emcee based in Chicago. She is a singer, songwriter, and musical performer of various instruments including the Chinese bamboo flute, the Chinese zither, and the piano. Jennifer graduated from Northwestern University and pursued further study at Berklee College of Music. She has worked on NBC's Chicago PD as well as a news anchor and program host on WNDZ 750am. She has acted in short films such as The Windy City, Chinglish, Friday the 13th as well as Machine Baby, and has appeared on major TV stations such as MTV, CMT and the Style Network. She has also performed musically around the world with prestigious organizations such as the Chicago Modern Orchestra, DCASE, and MGM. Crowned as the 2015 Miss Friendship Ambassador of Chicago, she was granted the honor of representing Chicago in the 2015 Miss Chinese International Pageant in Hong Kong.