Christina Casano

PLAID AS HELL is an honest, slightly raunchy, queer comedy which introduces us to Cass, who is hoping her annual camping trip will go well this year. But with her best friend Emilie sniping at Cass’s new girlfriend Jessica, not to mention the serial killer on the loose, the weekend is off to a rocky start.

CREATIVES

Written by Cat McKay
Directed by Christina Casano
Assistant Director - Devon Hayakawa
Fight and Intimacy Director - Maureen Yasko
Scenic Design - Erin Gautille
Lighting Design - Anna Schultz-Breef
Costume Design - Jennifer Mohr
Sound Design - Hannah Foerschler
Props Design - Meg X. McGrath
Technical Director - Line Bower
Assistant Fight Director - Kate Lass
Faith Roush - Production Manager
Stage Manager - Roxie Kooi
COVID Compliance Officer - Tab Mocherman

PRESS

Chicago Reader review
”The four women contain multitudes, and their highly realistic relationships with one another reflect their unique perspectives, shortcomings, and strengths. Under the direction of Christina Casano, each actor finds depth in moments of lightness and of devastation.”

Picture This Post review
”The way director Christina Casano keeps the laughs coming and the tension simmering, one could almost forget the radio’s earlier passing mention of a spree killer on the loose…”
”Plaid as Hell turns on a dime from dramedy to suspenseful, sometimes violent horror, but McKay and the cast handle the transition with care and skill…. When they laugh, the laughter is contagious; when they are in danger—whether from the outside threat or from each other—the fear and anxiety are palpable.”
”Although passing the Bechdel Test sets Plaid as Hell apart from the pack, it’s not all that makes this story special, in this writer’s view. As these four queer women navigate their own flawed, complicated, just plain human dynamics; they reveal four distinct histories, four distinct perspectives. In doing so, they touch—now obliquely, now explicitly, always authentically—on matters silly and serious, personal and political, mundane and life-changing. For some viewers, this could be like seeing themselves up on stage; for others, like nothing they’ve ever experienced, seen, or imagined. The remarkable thing is that Plaid as Hell is just as fun, just as thrilling, just as thought-provoking regardless of which camp one falls in.”

Broadway World press release
"These characters are not perfect - they're not examples of perfect femininity, they're not perfect friends, they're not perfect lovers. This play gives the space for these characters to just exist as women in the world, for better or for worse," states director Christina Casano. "What drew me to this play especially was that this is an example of queer storytelling in which being queer is a given circumstance, not the conflict."

Chicago Reader profile on playwright Cat McKay
“From the time she first turned the script into the contest to the day rehearsals were postponed because of the pandemic, McKay notes that the story has undergone a lot of changes—changes she feels have made the play stronger. 
’I had worked with Christina [Casano, the director] before as an actor,’ McKay says. ‘She’s amazing. She has a real gift for looking at something and saying, ‘“This doesn’t work. Here’s why and how it can be fixed.”’
She also credits the cast with giving her feedback that made the characters more authentic. The majority of characters she wrote are not white, but she is. So those actors with lived experience were able to help her make it more realistic. She found as she edited and rewrote scenes that listening to the voice of another actor gave that character a stronger part.” 

Photos by Joe Mazza