Second Skin
A world premiere by Kristin Idaszak
Directed by Jess Hutchinson
On these nights, you hear footsteps behind you.
But when you turn around, nobody’s there.
There’s just the smell of salt.
That’s me.
When Quinn discovers her estranged mother is dying, she returns to a home she fled long ago. As she cares for her mother, Quinn wrestles with disturbing childhood memories. What is her mother’s secret? What do the bedtime stories of Selkies her mother once told her really mean? Told in three interconnected monologues, SECOND SKIN (winner of the Kennedy Center’s Paula Vogel and Jean Kennedy Smith awards) investigates the fraught relationship between mothers and daughters, and how one mistake can reverberate across generations.
Previews September 11-13, 2018 Runs September 14 – October 13, 2018
At the Den Theatre 1333 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago, IL 60622
“★ ★ ★ ★ … There are some times when the script of a play is just so darned good that you don’t want to say much about it; you just want people to go and experience it.” – Chicago OnStage
“Ghostly and poignant.” – Windy City Times
“Long after this ghost story was finished, I was haunted by it.” – Chicago Reader
“It is a script that sings such that each of these three actresses can deliver their lines like spoken arias. We are riveted.” – Picture this Post
Photos by Joe Mazza / Brave Lux, Inc.
Cast
Quinn – Stephanie Shum
Sigrid – Paula Ramirez
Aislinn – Hilary Williams
Quinn (U/S) – Chelsea Dàvid
Sigrid (U/S) – Alys Dickerson
Aislinn (U/S) – Sarah Lo
Production Team
Director – Jess Hutchinson
Playwright – Kristin Idaszak
Stage Manager – Aaryanna Renee
Dramaturg – Hannah Herrera Greenspan
Scenic Designer – Lizzie Bracken
Casting Director – Moira Begale*
Costume Designer – Anna Wooden
Sound Designer – Sarah Espinoza*
Make-Up Designer – Krista D’Agostino*
Lighting Designer – Kaili Story
Assistant Stage Manager – Cedar Larson
Production Manager – Lila Gilbert
*WildClaw Company Member
**WildClaw Artistic Associate
Press
“The beauty of Idaszak’s writing, though, is that she knows that the mundane horrors of everyday life are at least as terrifying as ghosts. … As tight as the writing is, it’s the director, Jess Hutchinson, and her three-person cast who make the show. Each actor knows how to turn the screw a little tighter, and a little tighter still, until by the end we hang on the last storyteller’s every word. Long after this ghost story was finished, I was haunted by it.” – Jack Helbig, Chicago Reader
“★ ★ ★ ★ … There are some times when the script of a play is just so darned good that you don’t want to say much about it; you just want people to go and experience it. … Kristin Idaszak’s moody and poignant portrait of three women in the same family and a darkness that they share captures you from its first magnetic moments and just won’t let you go. … Second Skin is a remarkable production. Walking out of the theatre, you will carry with you not only the unforgettable story, but the impressions that all of the designers make and the haunting memory of Idaszak’s poetic language and characters. It’s a play that can’t be told about; it must be experienced. And I highly recommend that you do so.” – Karen Topham, Chicago On Stage
“The three monologues – in sequence, spinning and unspinning the tale – are conveyed with great skill by these three actresses. The brilliance of Kristin Idaszak’s script, in this writer’s view, is in weaving the vernacular of everyday with the spookiness of the haunted. It is a script that sings such that each of these three actresses can deliver their lines like spoken arias. We are riveted.” – Amy Munice, Picture This Post
“Idaszak’s play, by focusing on the parallel yet alienated lives of women who are related to each other—but cannot relate to each other—adds a welcome twist of realism to the mysterious. … Jess Hutchinson’s staging gives each actor breathing room to grow their tale, trusting that we’ll follow them through the mists of the past and let us empathize with all three women. It’s not, perhaps, as dark or gory a tale as some past WildClaw efforts. But it slowly exudes a clammy sense of dread and sorrow as the women confront interior ghosts of guilt, regret and retribution that are harder to shake than any spirits in the night.” – Kerry Reid, Windy City Times
Photos by Joe Mazza / Brave Lux, Inc.