AUGUST 7, 2024 (CHICAGO) – Under The Umbrella Productions, an independent group of artists and theatremakers in the Chicago area, are excited to announce the August production and live album recording event of “The Underground Society for Music” by playwright and lyricist Austin Lamewona and musician Brooke Vespoli. The production will be staged from August 29-September 1 at The Den Theatre. Tickets for this special event are $35 per patron and available for purchase at undergroundplaywithmusic.com.

The Underground is a two-part play with music, with book, lyrics, and poetry by Austin Lamewona, music by Brooke Vespoli, and additional compositions by Maya Kociba. The Underground follows a group of musicians who desperately attempt to revive their dying artform. They collaborate with a group of poets and open a school for music. But when they are unable to recruit anyone to join, they learn that there are much more powerful forces actively working against them. The August production will have Chicago thespian & comedian Rian Sondag as director, Maya Kociba as music director, and Avery Pinta as assistant music director. Performance dates and times are as follows: 

“The Underground Society for Music” at The Den Theatre

• 8 p.m. Thursday, August 29

• 8 p.m. Friday, August 30**

• 8 p.m. Saturday, August 31

• 3 p.m. Sunday, September 1

** = Denotes designated album recording day

About The Underground’s themes and relevance to current social issues, playwright Austin Lamewona said: “This project highlights the vitality of the arts to human society and the role artists must play in order to protect it. We cannot stand by idly and continue to watch our artforms be devalued in their funding and education without fighting against it.”

Austin Lamewona is a multidimensional playwright, lyricist, and poet based in Chicago. As an independent theatre maker, Lamewona often finds himself devising new ideas and self-producing his own original works. His latest development The Underground – first drafted in 2019 – was most recently staged at Trap Door Theatre in June 2024. More recent projects include “The Octets Ohio Tour,” a five-city touring production of Lamewona’s original musical Octets, and founding an independent theatre company called New Wave at Miami University. Additional writing credits include Next, a three-act play published with Off The Wall Plays, and A Night with the Dream Keeper, which performed for a five-show run at the Cincinnati Fringe Festival and won the 2016 Against the Grain International Student Playwriting Competition. Austin Lamewona full bio: undergroundplaywithmusic.com/austin-lamewona

The Underground originally premiered in February 2020 at Miami University in Oxford, OH, where a small group of students presented a staged reading of the play followed by an audience feedback session. Subsequently, and amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Lamewona produced a video series of The Underground featuring a virtual cast of actors and creatives from across the U.S. In November 2022, The Underground eventually made its way back to the stage for its Chicago premiere of “The Underground” In Concert: a workshop and staged reading performance series of the show in the Venus Cabaret Theater at the Mercury Theater Chicago. Since then, The Underground has been workshopped and staged at Redtwist Theatre (​​December 2023), Greenhouse Theater Center (April 2024), and Trap Door Theatre (June 2024).

“Our ultimate goal with this project is to strike a new path forward for models of creating and producing artistic projects,” said Lamewona. “We eagerly anticipate the return of this show to the Chicago stage, and look forward to sharing our story with a larger audience of music consumers alongside the cast album release.”

Following the August production weekend and live album recording session at The Den Theatre, the Under The Umbrella Productions team plans to release the original cast album for The Underground to all major music streaming platforms.  

The Den Theatre is located at 1331 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago, IL 60622. For more information about The Den Theatre, venue parking, and public transportation options, please visit thedentheatre.com. 

For more information about The Underground, please visit undergroundplaywithmusic.com.

Follow The Underground:

Website | Instagram | TikTok | Facebook 

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MEDIA CONTACT:

Michael Smith

michael@twoelevenmgmt.com