PRODUCTION HISTORY
This history only contains Otherworld Theatre Company MainStage Productions. For SecondStage Programming, please view our Facebook Album Page.
PROSPERA
Winter 2026 | Performed at Theater Wit | Written and Adapted by Tiffany Keane Schaefer
In this breathtaking, science fiction reimagining of Shakespeare's The Tempest, the magic of old is replaced by the terrifying power of advanced technology. Stranded on an isolated, corporate-controlled moon at the edge of the galaxy, the exiled tech-genius Prospera rules over a desolate digital landscape. Utilizing cutting-edge hacking, synthetic AI, and the cybernetic thrall Ariel, she weaves a web of illusions to orchestrate a high-stakes trap for the corporate rivals who betrayed her.
Blending classical poetry with immersive neon aesthetics and futuristic political intrigue, Prospera explores the boundaries of revenge, bodily autonomy, and what it truly means to be human in a world governed by code.
THE LIGHTNING THIEF
Summer 2024 | Performed at Otherworld Theatre, 3914 N. Clark Street | Lyrics by Rob Rokicki and book by Joe Tracz
Percy Jackson is having a brutally bad week. He just got expelled from school (again), his math teacher turned into a literal monster, and he discovered that his deadbeat dad is actually Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea.
Thrust into a world of myth and monsters at Camp Half-Blood, Percy is quickly accused of stealing Zeus’s master lightning bolt - the ultimate weapon of mass destruction. To prevent an apocalyptic war between the gods, Percy and his demigod friends must embark on an epic quest across America to find the real thief and solve the riddle of the Oracle. Powered by a blistering, high-octane rock score, inventive low-tech stagecraft, and a fiercely funny script, this musical adaptation is a triumphant, action-packed celebration of finding your inner strength and choosing your own destiny.
GARTERS
Summer 2024 | Performed at Otherworld Theatre, 3914 N. Clark Street | Written by Natalie Zutter
Once, two girls disguised themselves as boys to train to become knights. Seven years later, an unconventional nonbinary warrior and a fiercely unapologetic sex worker reunite at a brothel in the middle of nowhere and embark on an epic quest.Inspired by the beloved universes of Tamora Pierce and Jacqueline Carey, Garters is a sexy, queer, immersive "romantasy" that subverts traditional high-fantasy archetypes. Packed with thrilling swordplay, deep romantic angst, and ancient magic, this adult fairy tale asks what happens when you refuse to be the helpless damsel, but the world won't let you be the hero.
TWIHARD! A Twilight Musical Parody
Fall 2024 - Spring 2025 | Performed at Otherworld Theatre, 3914 N. Clark Street | Book & Lyrics by Tiffany Keane Schaefer & Music by Brian Rasmussen
Hold onto your cargo pants and get ready to sparkle! Twihard! is the ultimate, totally unhinged musical tribute to the angsty, fleece-jacket-clad vampire phenomenon that defined a generation.
When socially awkward, clumsy teenager Bella Goose moves to the perpetually rainy town of Forks, Washington, she expects total boredom. Instead, she falls head-over-heels for Edward, a broody, century-old high school student who glows like a disco ball in the sun and has a deeply unsettling obsession with watching her sleep. Cue the teenage melodrama, a legendary baseball game set to 2000s alt-rock, a shirtless pack of local werewolves, and a trio of lethal nomadic vampires out for blood. Packed with catchy, campy original songs, hyper-meta humor, and a heavy dose of nostalgia, this fast-paced parody lovingly roasts the supernatural romance we all secretly (or not-so-secretly) obsessed over.
PUFFS!
Spring 2023 | Performed at Otherworld Theatre, 3914 N. Clark Street | Written by Matt Cox
For seven years, a certain boy wizard with a lightning-bolt scar went to a certain school of magic and conquered evil. This is not his story. This is the story of the Puffs: a loyal, well-meaning group of magical misfits who just happened to be in the exact same school at the exact same time.
Wayne Hopkins, a totally ordinary boy from New Mexico, discovers he is a wizard and gets sorted into the Puffs. This is the house notorious for being afraid of vacuums, obsessed with badgers, and permanently stuck in fourth place. Alongside his fellow outcasts, Wayne navigates a dangerously bureaucratic school system, rogue soul-sucking monsters, existential teenage angst, and a looming dark lord who refuses to let anyone finish an exam. A fast-paced, fiercely funny, and surprisingly poignant comedy for anyone who has ever felt like the side character in someone else's heroic journey, Puffsis a triumphant celebration of friendship, failure, and being the hero of your own story.
TRADE FEDERATION
Spring 2023 | Performed at Otherworld Theatre, 3914 N. Clark Street | Written by Andy Boyd
A young, experimental playwright named Andy Boyd pitches George Lucas a screenplay for a brand-new Star Wars film. The concept? A prequel to the prequels that flushes out the high-stakes economic, social, and political implications of the galaxy's most misunderstood intergalactic corporation.
Replacing the veiled allegories of the original movies with full-on, unhinged political satire, Andy’s script hilariously weaponizes late-stage capitalism against itself. In this wild, rapid-fire farce, the Trade Federation becomes the IMF, the Gungans are the Zapatistas, the Jedi operate like a deeply bureaucratic UN, and a whole galaxy far, far away gets turned inside out to prove that no matter how big the empire, you can always fight back.
TALES FROM THE WANDERING WYVERN INN
Winter 2022 | Devised by the Ensemble | Performed at Otherworld Theatre, 3914 N. Clark Street
A young, experimental playwright named Andy Boyd pitches George Lucas a screenplay for a brand-new Star Wars film. The concept? A prequel to the prequels that flushes out the high-stakes economic, social, and political implications of the galaxy's most misunderstood intergalactic corporation.
Replacing the veiled allegories of the original movies with full-on, unhinged political satire, Andy’s script hilariously weaponizes late-stage capitalism against itself. In this wild, rapid-fire farce, the Trade Federation becomes the IMF, the Gungans are the Zapatistas, the Jedi operate like a deeply bureaucratic UN, and a whole galaxy far, far away gets turned inside out to prove that no matter how big the empire, you can always fight back.
KITTIES IN SPACE
Spring 2022 | Performed at Otherworld Theatre, 3914 N. Clark Street | Written by John Enright
At the helm are Co-Captains Socks and Mittens. They aren’t your average stuffy officers; they’re two cosmic slackers just looking for a righteous adventure across the galaxy.
But when their ship accidentally plows into a nebula made of pure, unadulterated interstellar catnip, the co-captains get absolutely blasted out of their minds. Completely baked on the cosmic green, Socks and Mittens must somehow pull themselves together to out-maneuver aggressive alien dog-factions, dodge perilous asteroid fields, and resist the ultimate existential trap - laser pointers from distant galaxies.
Packed with stellar practical effects, excellent puppetry, and laugh-out-loud humor for humans of all ages, this sci-fi comedy is a totally bodacious trip into the deep void. Be excellent to each other, and pass the catnip!
MURDER ON HORIZON
Summer 2021 | Performed at Otherworld Theatre, 3914 N. Clark Street | Devised by an Ensemble
Welcome to the distant future, a time when humanity is heavily "modded" by genetic and technological enhancements.
When Val Tramel, a brilliant but mysterious scientist conducting secret, off-books research, is found dead aboard the Horizon Space Station, the famously unenhanced Detective Symin Stone is dispatched to crack the case. Station authorities want the incident swept quickly under the rug, but as the investigation deepens, it becomes clear that there is a far more dangerous conspiracy lurking in the shadows.
An immersive production.
COUNTESS DRACULA
October 2019 | Performed at Otherworld Theatre, 3914 N. Clark Street | Adapted from Bram Stoker's Dracula | Written by Nick Izzo and AmBer D. Montgomery
A dramatized retelling of the mother of all vampire stories, Countess Dracula is set in 19th century New Orleans and New York. Portrayed as an African American woman, Dracula becomes an avenging angel against the high society of white patriarchy that seeks to oppress her and her people.
Countess Dracula promises a macabre bloodbath that you will not want to miss this Halloween.
MEDUSA UNDONE
April 2019 | Performed at Otherworld Theatre, 3914 N. Clark Street | Written by Bella Poynton
Medusa Undone is a dramatization of the little-known Medusa origin story. Before she was one of the greatest mythical monsters of all time, Medusa was a kind, beautiful sea-nymph in Athena’s service. Unparalleled in both her beauty and devotion to the Gods, Medusa catches the eye of the charming but narcissistic Poseidon. Interested only in the passions of the spirit, and not the flesh, Medusa has no choice but to reject the greedy God. She not only suffers violence at the hand of Poseidon, but also unknowingly incites a deep-seated jealousy in Athena, with horrific and disturbing consequences. Medusa Undone explores the social problem of rape culture, our tendency to victim blame, and the great injustice suffered by female victims of abuse of all kinds.
CORONA
April 2019 | Performed at Otherworld Theatre, 3914 N. Clark Street | Written by Elizabeth A. M. Keel
Captain Ariadne Minos must ferry the latest fourteen tributes to her home planet of Crete, where they will be fed as sacrifices to a fearsome bull. On the journey, she makes a surprise connection to two of her more forceful passengers: the headstrong prince Theseus, and Pneuma, a Healer who is outraged to face death with her medical education incomplete. However, as the spaceship nears its final destination, Ariadne must weigh the comfort of her new friends against family loyalties which have haunted her across the galaxy. The time has come for her to reconcile between monsters, gods, and men.
THE WINTER WOLF
December 2018 | Performed at Otherworld Theatre, 3914 N. Clark Street | Written by Joseph Zettelmaier
It's Christmas night in Cora's house. She's visited by her beloved grandfather, a man of high spirits and failing health. They sit around the fireplace and she listens to the legend of the Winter Wolf, a strange creature who serves as Time's hunter, stalking those who are in the winter of their lives. That night, the Winter Wolf comes for Cora's grandfather, but the young girl manages to trap it. What follows is a magical journey through the mysteries of time, as Cora learns how far one can go for the sake of someone they love.
ALL I WANT IS ONE MORE MEANWHILE
October 2018 | Performed at Otherworld Theatre, 3914 N. Clark Street | Written by Kelly Jean Fitzsimmons
Twenty years ago she was Perfectra, an artificially engineered superhero impervious to humanity’s flaws. Today, she is Jane, a real woman who gave up power and perfection to become a mother. But estranged from her daughter and battling against a no-longer-perfect physique is not the ending she planned on. Discovering her daughter has not only been kidnapped by a canine-controlling criminal but worse still, engaged to a local superhero—can this supermom stand by and let her daughter spend her life dangling in distress? Especially as she suspects her daughter might have a secret of her own...
DOWN THE ROCKY ROAD AND ALL THE WAY TO BEDLAM
March 2018 | Performed at Nox Arca Theatre, 4001 N. Ravenswood | Written by D. Matthew Beyer
In a cyberpunk vision of future, an android named Zelazny struggles to comprehend her own evolution while fulfilling her intended purpose as a nurse for Thomas Oliver Bedlam’s dying daughter Lucy. As Zelazny tries to cope with her theoretically impossible emotions and Lucy’s looming death drives Bedlam to desperate measures, absent mother Lain returns from her exile-- still carrying the darkness that drove her away in the first place. With the house of Bedlam collapsing around Zelazny, picking up the pieces and moving forward seems like a distant impossibility. Can a broken family be fixed?
SPEED OF LIGHT
October 2017 | Performed at Berger Park Cultural Center, 6205 N. Sheridan | Written by Bella Poynton
On the planet of Nerth, physicist Mayra Ecazin races against time to unlock the secret of light speed travel while a hoard of alien invaders threaten to decimate life on the planet. However, getting the machine made proves more difficult than anticipated. Battling greedy investors, competing agendas, and her own mortality, how much is Mayra willing to sacrifice to make her machine?
Speed of Light takes a fantastical look at the infinite possibilities of the human mind and the finite potential of a flawed civilization.
THE ROGUE AVIATOR
June 2017 | Performed at Strawdog Theatre, 1802 W. Bernice | Written by Nick Izzo
In an alternate history of the 1930s, the floating city of Olympus has been built among the clouds of America. Sold as the epitome of the American Dream, many yearn to be a citizen of the jeweled metropolis. However, once admitted into its iron embrace, citizens find themselves living as prisoners in what they once hoped would be their promised land.
Rogue Aviator Ellie McCloud navigates the perils of her era. Once raised among the elites of Olympus, Ellie now fights for the freedoms of those they oppress. In a world of fanatical rulers and nearly forgotten masses living in the bowels of the city, Ellie must wage a war on two fronts: the Sky Pirates who lay their claim to the city, and her moral battle within.
A PRINCESS OF MARS
March 2017 | Performed at Berger Park Cultural Center, 6205 N. Sheridan | Based on the novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Adapted by Nick Izzo and Tiffany Keane Schaefer
When John Carter is mysteriously transported across the cosmos, he wakes up on Barsoom—the dying, war-torn desert world we call Mars. Possessing superhuman strength due to the planet's lower gravity, Carter is quickly captured by a fierce tribe of six-armed green Martians. His destiny changes forever when he crosses paths with Dejah Thoris, the brilliant and defiant Princess of Helium, who is fighting to save her people from total annihilation.
Reimagined for the stage with enchanting stagecraft, high-stakes swordplay, and epic world-building, this sweeping adventure explores loyalty, honor, and romance on a planet where survival is a daily battle. It is a thrilling tribute to the very roots of modern science fiction and fantasy.
MESSINA3004 (A Post apocalyptic Much Ado About Nothing)
February 2016 | Performed at Mary's Attic, 5400 N Clark St. | Written by William Shakespeare, Adapted by Mary-Kate Arnold
In the year 3004, humankind is left to rebuild a world that has been ravaged by war, poverty, and disease. From these ashes arise two opposing political powers: The Moralists who value order and reason and The Revolutionaries who value free expression. Two years have passed since these political enemies have met face to face. Join us now in Messina as either a Moralist or a Revolutionary as you navigate a story of brotherly foes, requited romance, and slanderous villainy.
You will be equipped with government sanctioned medication to survive this destitute world. CAUTION: new users have reported hallucinatory side effects.
Whether you join us as a Moralist or a Revolutionary, welcome to Messina.
GONE DARK
October 2015 | Performed at Epworth United Methodist Church, 5253 N Kenmore | Written by Stuart Bousel
A site specific piece taking over a gothic cathedral built in the late 1800s, playwright Stuart Bousel weaves a dark romantic tale in the gothic thriller "Gone Dark". Centered around a society of vampire hunters, slayers are summoned from around the world to convene after the death of their leader.
Ned Dalton is tormented by his last hunt and haunted by foggy and untrustworthy memories. As events begin to unfold around him, he begins to realize the hunt may not be over yet and that the dead may indeed rise again.
QUEEN AMARANTHA
April 2015 | Performed at City Lit Theatre, 1020 W Bryn Mawr Ave | Written by Charles Busch
An homage to nineteenth century historical melodrama, Queen Amarantha tells the story of a fictional monarch, Amarantha, the daughter of a barbaric warrior king, who tries to emerge from her father’s shadow. Like Sweden’s Queen Christina, she is uncomfortable with her society’s conventional female role and prefers to dress as a man. She falls in love with a wanderer named Adrian and when her enemies destroy her reputation through a manipulated scandal, Amarantha abdicates and runs away with Adrian. She leaves the throne to her young and hopelessly weak ward, Roderigo, who becomes a pawn of Amarantha’s enemies, particularly her treacherous childhood friend, the Countess Thalia.
THE AURORA PROJECT
November 2014 | Performed Right Brain Project, 4001 N. Ravenswood | Written by Bella Poynton
The Aurora Project follows Constantine—a humanoid robot, or ‘intelligent design'--and Nora, a genetically enhanced female explorer, as they begin a voyage across the uncharted universe. When Nora unexpectedly contracts an incurable illness, Constantine decides to subject them both to the phenomenon of cryo-freeze. Thus, the pair begins a kind of chemical induced time warp, spanning millions of years as they wait for the universe to get smarter, and a cure to Nora’s illness to be found.
OF DICE AND MEN
April 2014 | Performed at The Public House Theatre, 3914 N. Clark Street | Written by Cameron McNary
In 2006, when his best friend Jason enlists in the Marine Reserves and prepares to deploy to Iraq, 30-something Dungeon Master John Francis is left with shattered friendships and a crisis of identity. He examines the role the game Dungeons and Dragons has played in his life, and what that means in the face of Jason's sacrifice. He must ultimately use the game he loves to get his two best friends to say what they need to say to each other before Jason leaves... and in the process, figure out what it means to finally “grow up”.
A blisteringly funny and heartwarming comedy about gamers, for a general theatre audience.
FAHREINHEIT 451
June 2013 | Performed at Strawdog Theatre, 3829 N. Broadway | Written and Adapted by Ray Bradbury
Sixty years after its originally publication, Ray Bradbury’s internationally acclaimed novel Fahrenheit 451 stands as a classic of world literature set in a bleak, dystopian future.
Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden. Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television “family.” But when he meets an eccentric young neighbor, Clarisse, who introduces him to a past where people didn’t live in fear and to a present where one sees the world through the ideas in books instead of the mindless chatter of television, Montag begins to question everything he has ever known.
