The Playwrights

ANDY BAYIATES is a Chicago-based playwright and Neo-Futurist alumnus. Recent plays include LOST LAUGHS: THE SLAPSTICK TRAGEDY OF FATTY ARBUCKLE, 45 PLAYS FOR 45 PRESIDENTS, 45 PLAYS FOR AMERICA’S FIRST LADIES, THE PECULIAR DISTRACTION OF MR. LINCOLN’S SOCIAL MEDIA, and A HISTORY OF HUMAN STUPIDITY. His work has been produced by The Actor’s Theatre of Louisville, Geva Theatre, Merrimack Repertory Theatre, Forward Theater Company, The NOLA Project, The Neo-Futurists, Dad’s Garage Theatre Company, Cleveland Public Theatre and NextStop Theatre Company.  Bayiates founded and directed the Plays for Presidents Festival in 2012, which inspired 44+ separate productions of the then-titled 44 Plays for 44 Presidents across the country in the months leading up to the 2012 Presidential Election. He wrote and performed in Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind in Chicago from 1999-2004. Bayiates’ work is published by Playscripts, Inc., and in Humana Festival 2001: The Complete Plays, 200 More Neo-Futurist Plays and The Absolutely Worst Places to Live in America. He was the astrology columnist for Time Out Chicago Magazine (2005-2007) and wrote non-astrological content for Time Out Chicago and the Southern Illinoisian newspaper. Currently, Bayiates is developing two plays: 45 Plays for America’s First Ladies with his team of co-writers, and The Peculiar Distraction of Mr. Lincoln’s Social Media. First Ladies was selected by Berkeley Rep for development at its residency lab, The Ground Floor, in 2018. A workshop production of  Peculiar Distraction was honored with a Kennedy Center award in 2017.

AARON MUÑOZ As a playwright and theatre maker: LOST LAUGHS: THE SLAPSTICK TRAGEDY OF FATTY ARBUCKLE (Merrimack Repertory Theatre), 2 HOUSEHOLDS, 2 ASSHOLES: SHAKESPEARE’S R & J (co-creator, Soho Playhouse), EARLY TO RISE (playwright, Actor’s Bridge). As an actor, favorite roles include Bottom in A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM (Actors Theatre of Louisville), Francis in ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS (Georgia Shakespeare Festival), Michal in THE PILLOWMAN (Studio Theatre), and Macduff in MACBETH (Nashville Shakespeare Festival). Other Theaters include: Geva Theatre, Northern Stage, Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival, About Face Theatre, First Folio Shakespeare Festival, and Nashville Children’s Theatre. Film/TV: Stranger Things, The Walking Dead, Cadillac Records, The Saurus (SXSW), & Yinz. Muñoz is the founding Artistic Director of Nashville Story Garden, recently producing Love Song and the Mr. Mysterio Podcast. He is a Suzi Bass Nominee (Outstanding Lead Actor) & recipient of an Individual Artist Fellowship from the Tennessee Arts Commission. He holds a B.A. from Columbia College Chicago, and a M.F.A. from Alabama Shakespeare Festival’s professional actor training program. Muñoz is an Assistant Professor of Acting at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an Artistic Associate at Merrimack Repertory Theatre. 

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