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A Red Orchid Theatre is pleased open its 34^th Season, exploring the theme of "world on fire," with the Chicago premiere of Will Arbery's politically-charged drama Heroes of the Fourth Turning, directed by Ensemble member dado*, playing October 29 – December 6, 2026 at 1531 N. Wells St. in Chicago's Old Town neighborhood. Single tickets are now on sale at aredorchidtheatre.org or by calling (312) 943-8722. Season subscriptions are currently available.

Heroes of the Fourth Turning features Ensemble Member Kirsten Fitzgerald* with Magdalena Dalzell, Isa Grofsorean, Beck Nolan and Nate Santana.

About the Production:

It's nearing midnight in Wyoming, where four recent graduates have gathered to celebrate their beloved mentor and professor Gina, newly inducted as president of their tiny Catholic liberal arts college. The reunion spirals into spiritual chaos, clashing generational politics and a vicious fight to be understood. Offering grace and disarming clarity, this haunting play speaks to the torn heart of a country at war with itself.

The production team includes Ensemble Member Grant Sabin* (Scenic Designer), Madeleine Shows (Costume Designer), Josiah Croegaert (Lighting Designer), Ethan Korvne (Composer & Sound Designer), Eel Black (Props Designer), Chels Morgan (Violence & Intimacy Director), Caroline Michele Uy (Dramaturg), Omar Fernandez (Assistant Director), Kira Nutter (Production Manager), Tom Daniel (Technical Director), Mark Brown (Master Electrician), JC Widman (Stage Manager) and Faith Locke (Assistant Stage Manager).

*Denotes A Red Orchid Theatre Ensemble Member

PRODUCTION DETAILS:

Title: Heroes of the Fourth Turning

Playwright: Will Arbery
Director: Ensemble member dado*
Cast: Ensemble Member Kirsten Fitzgerald* (Gina) with Magdalena Dalzell (Emily), Isa Grofsorean (Teresa), Beck Nolan (Kevin) and Nate Santana (Justin).

Understudies: Rachel Ives (Emily & Teresa), Kyle Ringley (Justin & Kevin) and Sarafina Vecchio (Gina).

Location: A Red Orchid Theatre, 1531 N. Wells St., Chicago

Dates: Previews: Thursday, October 29 at 7 pm, Friday, October 30 at 7 pm, Sunday, November 1 at 3 pm, Thursday, November 5 at 7 pm and Friday, November 6 at 7 pm

Opening: Sunday, November 8 at 6 pm

Regular run: Thursday, November 12 – Sunday, December 6, 2026
Curtain Times: Thursdays and Fridays at 7 pm; Saturdays 3 pm & 7 pm; and Sundays at 3 pm. Please note: there will not be performances on Saturday, October 31 at 7 pm (Halloween) or Thursday, November 26 (Thanksgiving); there will be an added Industry Night performance on Monday, November 23 at 7 pm.

Tickets: Previews: $33 – $44*. Regular run: $55*. Access, student, senior, and group discounts available. Single tickets are now on sale at aredorchidtheatre.org or by calling (312) 943-8722. Season subscriptions are currently available. *Ticket prices include a processing fee.

A Red Orchid Theatre is pleased to announce full casting for its Chicago premiere of Will Arbery's politically-charged drama Heroes of the Fourth Turning, directed by Ensemble Member dado*.

The talented line-up includes Ensemble Member Kirsten Fitzgerald* with Magdalena Dalzell, Isa Grofsorean, Beck Nolan and Nate Santana.

Launching A Red Orchid's 34^th Season, exploring the theme of "world on fire," Heroes of the Fourth will play October 29 – December 6, 2026 at 1531 N. Wells St. in Chicago's Old Town neighborhood. Single go on sale Tuesday, September 29, 2026 at aredorchidtheatre.org or by calling (312) 943-8722. Season subscriptions are currently available.

About the Production:

It's nearing midnight in Wyoming, where four recent graduates have gathered to celebrate their beloved mentor and professor Gina, newly inducted as president of their tiny Catholic liberal arts college. The reunion spirals into spiritual chaos, clashing generational politics and a vicious fight to be understood. Offering grace and disarming clarity, this haunting play speaks to the torn heart of a country at war with itself.

The production team includes Ensemble Member Grant Sabin* (Scenic Designer), Madeleine Shows (Costume Designer), Josiah Croegaert (Lighting Designer), Ethan Korvne (Composer & Sound Designer), Eel Black (Props Designer), Chels Morgan (Violence & Intimacy Director), Omar Fernandez (Assistant Director), JC Widman (Stage Manager), Kira Nutter (Production Manager), Tom Daniel (Technical Director), Faith Locke (Assistant Stage Manager) and Duncan Hon (Master Electrician).

*Denotes A Red Orchid Theatre Ensemble Member

PRODUCTION DETAILS:

Title: Heroes of the Fourth Turning

Playwright: Will Arbery
Director: Ensemble member dado*
Cast: Ensemble Member Kirsten Fitzgerald* (Gina) with Magdalena Dalzell (Emily), Isa Grofsorean (Teresa), Beck Nolan (Kevin) and Nate Santana (Justin).

Understudies: Rachel Ives (Emily & Teresa), Kyle Ringley (Justin & Kevin) and Sarafina Vecchio (Gina).

Location: A Red Orchid Theatre, 1531 N. Wells St., Chicago

Dates: Previews: Thursday, October 29 at 7 pm, Friday, October 30 at 7 pm, Sunday, November 1 at 3 pm, Thursday, November 5 at 7 pm and Friday, November 6 at 7 pm

Opening: Sunday, November 8 at 6 pm

Regular run: Thursday, November 12 – Sunday, December 6, 2026
Curtain Times: Thursdays and Fridays at 7 pm; Saturdays 3 pm & 7 pm; and Sundays at 3 pm. Please note: there will not be performances on Saturday, October 31 at 7 pm (Halloween) or Thursday, November 26 (Thanksgiving); there will be an added Industry Night performance on Monday, November 23 at 7 pm.

Tickets: Previews: $33 – $44*. Regular run: $55*. Access, student, senior, and group discounts available. Single tickets go on sale Tuesday, September 29, 2026 at aredorchidtheatre.org or by calling (312) 943-8722. Season subscriptions are currently available. *Ticket prices include a processing fee.

About the Artists:Will Arbery (Playwright, Heroes of the Fourth Turning, he/him) is a playwright and screenwriter from Texas. His play Heroes of the Fourth Turning premiered at Playwrights Horizons in 2019 and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist and the winner of an OBIE, Lucille Lortel and New York Drama Critics Circle Award, among other honors. It was named one of the "new canon" plays by American Theatre. Other plays include: You Hateful Things (upcoming London premiere), Spite House (upcoming New York premiere), Corsicana (Playwrights Horizons), Evanston Salt Costs Climbing (The New Group), Plano (Clubbed Thumb) and Wheelchair (3 Hole Press). He was the recipient of a Whiting Award in 2020. Will wrote on the fourth season of Succession, for which he won the WGA Award for Episodic Drama. He is the creator of two upcoming shows with FX: Seven Sisters (starring Elizabeth Olsen) and The Marriage Plot (starring Sadie Sink). Texas Monthly flagged him as one of the most influential cultural figures of the past 50 years out of Texas, and The New Yorker has called him the playwright of the moment.dado (Director, Heroes of the Fourth Turning, she/her) last directed the world premiere of JoJo Jones' Veal at A Red Orchid, and before that Six Men Dressed Like Joseph Stalin by Dianne Nora. In 2025 dado directed Lobster by Kallan Dana for the Wirtz Center at Northwestern and Dance Nation by Clare Barron for UIC, where she currently serves on the faculty. Other projects dado has directed are Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again. by Alice Birch with The Feast Collective, Right Now by Catherine Anne Toupin (Facility Theatre), Anny Ouyang Moench's In Quietness at A Red Orchid and The Lover by Harold Pinter (with Yasen Peyankov at Facility Theatre). She has also directed The Ruse of Medusa by Erik Satie (Facility Theatre) and Killing Game by Eugene Ionesco (A Red Orchid). Next spring she will direct The Cherry Orchard for UIC's mainstage.Kirsten Fitzgerald (Gina, she/her) is a proud member of the Ensemble at A Red Orchid Theatre and has served as the Artistic Director since 2008. As an actor Kirsten has originated roles in the world premieres of The Targeted, The Cave, Grey House, Traitor, Pilgrim's Progress, Weapon of Mass Impact, and more at A Red Orchid; Swing State, I Hate It Here (Goodman); Lettie, Appropriate (Victory Gardens); Mary Page Marlowe, The Qualms (Steppenwolf). TV: Dark Matter, Shining Girls, Somebody Somewhere, The Exorcist, Sirens, The Big Leap, Chicago Med/Fire/Justice, Underemployed, ER. Film: Rain Reign, Widows, Working Man. Directing credits include Birds of North America (Jeff Award for Best Production and Best Director of a Play-Midsize) and The Moors (Jeff Award for Best Production and Best Director of a Play-Midsize) at A Red Orchid, the world premiere of Gorgeous by Keiko Green at Raven Theatre and Dance Nation at Northwestern University's Wirtz Center. Kirsten is represented by Grossman & Jack Talent.Magdalena Dalzell (Emily, she/her) is so excited to make her Red Orchid debut! Recent acting credits include The Seagull (Red Theater), Beatrix Potter Holiday Tea Party (Chicago Children's Theatre), Meet Me at Dawn, Fefu and Her Friends and Eurydice (Snails on a Bike), and Chicago P.D.. She is a founding ensemble member of Snails on a Bike, a site-specific and found space theatre collective, and the bookstore manager at The Understudy. Magdalena studied theatre and Russian language and literature at Northwestern University, as well as the Moscow Art Theatre School. Rep: Talent X Alexander | IG: @maggie_.grace.

Isa Grofsorean (Teresa, she/her) is an actor hailing from Ann Arbor, Mi and is thrilled to be making her debut at A Red Orchid Theatre! Credits include: Strawdog Theatre Company, The Guthrie Theater, Montana Shakespeare in the Schools, Theatre L'Homme Dieu, The Gremlin Theatre and Summit Theatre Project. She is a graduate of the University of Minnesota-Guthrie Theater BFA Actor Training Program. 

Beck Nolan (Kevin, he/him) is a Chicago-based actor making his Red Orchid debut. Theatre: Keerah, Television: Widows Bay, Win or Lose, Too Much. Film: Mouse, System of Colors, Big Time, Slay, Line Cooks, Good Guy with a Gun. Beck is a graduate of The Theater School at DePaul University.

Nate Santana (Justin, he/him) is an Artistic Collective Member at Teatro Vista Productions and Artistic Affiliate at American Blues. Directing credits: Romeo and Juliet, American Jornalero (Teatro Vista); Lobby Hero (Jeff Award Best Director and Best Play – Shattered Globe). Selected acting credits: Taming of the Shrew (Court); Things with Friends (American Blues); Ironbound (Raven) The Thanksgiving Play, Ironbound (Steppenwolf); Legend of Georgia McBride (Northlight); Balm in Gilead, Golden Boy (Griffin); The Abuelas, White Tie Ball, Momma's Boyz (Teatro Vista); The Rainmaker (BoHo); References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot (Phoenix). Television credits: Chicago Med, Chicago PD, Suits and The Exorcist.  

Production sponsors: Terrance and Carol Coleman and Dawn and Jim Kink.

About A Red Orchid Theatre:A Red Orchid Theatre has served as an artistic focal point in the heart of the Old Town community of Chicago since 1993 and was honored with a 2016 MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions. Over the past 33 years, its Resident Ensemble has welcomed into its fold an impressive array of award-winning actors, playwrights and theatre artists with the firm belief that live theatre is the greatest sustenance for the human spirit. A Red Orchid is well known and highly acclaimed for its fearless approach to performance and design in the service of unflinchingly intimate stories.A Red Orchid Theatre is: Karen Aldridge, Lance Baker, Kamal Angelo Bolden, Esteban Andres Cruz, Dado, Mike Durst, Sherman Edwards, Myron Elliott, Jennifer Engstrom, Kirsten Fitzgerald, Joseph Fosco, Steve Haggard, Levi Holloway, Mierka Girten, Larry Grimm, John Judd, Karen Kawa, Karen Kessler, Travis A. Knight, Danny McCarthy, Shade Murray, Brett Neveu, Sadieh Rifai, Grant Sabin, Michael Shannon, Guy Van Swearingen, Doug Vickers and Natalie West.Sponsor Information:A Red Orchid Theatre remains grateful for the support of our board, donors and loyal audience who continue to champion our ambitious and powerful storytelling. These sponsors help to create a platform for our talented Ensemble to reach new audiences, and ensure that we remain a source for honest, compassionate, and aesthetically rigorous theatre-making.A Red Orchid Theatre's 34^th Season is sponsored by The Bayless Family Foundation and Heidi Hoblit Graham. Heroes of the Fourth Turning is sponsored by Terrance and Carol Coleman and Dawn and Jim Kink.Interested in sponsoring a production? By partnering with us as a sponsor, you will help to take our work to the next level of artistic excellence, while also receiving deeper access to our artists and the creative process. To learn more, please contact Development Director Stephanie Shum at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or (312) 943-8722.