Description:

I'M NOT HERE TO MAKE FRIENDS is an original, full-length play by Chicago-based playwright and comedian Elliot Schiff. The play takes place on the set of a fictional, ridiculous reality TV show. Set on the last day of shooting the season, we watch the production team squeeze TV moments out of their cast. The play asks the question: how do reality TV producers get their cast to say those wild things? And, crucially, at what cost? In asking these questions, the play explores themes of identity formation, class, capitalism, queerness, and performativity. It is also funny and silly. I'M NOT HERE TO MAKE FRIENDS will make its world premiere in Color Club's ballroom this summer.

Written by Elliot Schiff
Directed by Shea Leavis

CASTING:
The Crew:
ALEX- Age Early-Mid 20s, butch, nonbinary, white Ashkenazi Jewish, Reality TV Director.
B OP (COLIN) - Age late 20s-early 30s, cisgender man of color. Throughout both acts, he moves across set with his handheld camera. He is often invasive in order to "get the shot."

The Family:
CYNTHIA - Age Late 40s, cisgender woman of color. Her genuine good intentions and love for others neither find their way into her tone of voice nor into her speech.
MIKE - Age 50+, cisgender white man.
LILY - Age Late 20s, cisgender mixed-race woman.
BEN - Age 30s, cisgender mixed-race man.

The Bisexual Contestants:
BABETTE - Age Mid 20s, white straight-passing cisgender woman.
CHARLIE - Age Mid 20s, white cisgender gay man.

Pay: $300 Stipend