The Secretaries: a parable

by omer abbas salem*, directed by laura alcalá baker

May 7 - june 11, 2022

Berlin, 1944: four women in Aryan drag vie to be the Führer’s personal secretary as he heads into a bunker with his girlfriend. As the Third Reich crumbles around them, mystery and secrets abound, causing tensions to escalate. Omer Abbas Salem’s fearsome, outrageous, and absurd new work examines complicity and the lies we tell ourselves as we mistake self-interest and supremacy for civic duty. This is Salem’s much anticipated first production as a playwright in Chicago.

*denotes First Floor Theater company member

Omer Abbas Salem (he/they) is a Chicago actor and playwright. As an actor, he's worked with The Goodman, The New Coordinates, Jackalope Theatre, Steep Theatre, Silk Road Rising, Griffin Theatre, The House, Bailiwick Chicago, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Roundabout Theater, and The Atlantic Theater. His play Mosque4Mosque was developed through the National Queer Theater and then chosen for further development through Steppenwolf Theatre's SCOUT Program. The Secretaries was workshopped through The New Coordinates, a semi-finalist in Definition Theatre's Amplify Commission, and developed through the Goodman Theatre's Future Labs. Pretty Shahid was commissioned as part of Jackalope Theatre's 2020/21 New Frontier Series and Love in the Time of Jonestown was produced as a radio play by The New Coordinates. He is a member of the 2021/22 Goodman Playwrights Unit and is the recipient of the 2021 Cunningham Commission through DePaul University. He will also receive First Floor Theater’s Blueprint Commission in 2022. He was an apprentice of the Actors Theatre of Louisville (17/18) and a proud ensemble member with Steep Theatre, First Floor Theater, and The New Coordinates. He is represented by DDO Artist Agency and The Gersh Agency. More at www.omerabbassalem.com.

Laura Alcalá Baker (she/her/hers) is a Chicago-based director and casting director. She served as the Casting Director/Artistic Programs Manager at Victory Gardens Theater from 2016-2019 leading programs such as The Access Project and Directors’ Inclusion Initiative. Most recently, Laura directed the world premiere of Isaac Gomez’s The Leopard Play, or sad songs for lost boys (Steep Theatre) and The Way She Spoke: A Docu-mythologia (DCASE, Greenhouse Theater Center). She also directed the audio drama BRAVA by Nancy Garcia Loza (Make-Believe Association) which is available on all podcast platforms. Other select works include: The Pillowman (The Gift Theatre), Equivocation, The Giver, 11:11, and Collapse (B Street Theater) There is No Message in the Message, Shamed (The Gift Theatre’s TEN), Project Potential (Broken Nose Theatre’s Bechdel Fest), and Jets, Sharks, and Beckys (Collaboraction's Peacebook Festival). Laura has continually sought out creative means for accessibility in the theatre through directing programs such as Chicago Cultural Accessibility Consortium’s Access Live, which provides theatre leaders a live example of growing practices integrated with accessibility in mind. She has led new play workshops and readings in institutions such as The New Colony, Paramount Theatre, and The Goodman. Laura is a proud member of the Alliance of Latinx Theatre Artists and was nominated for 'Best Casting Director' at the 2018 ALTA Awards and “Best Director - Brava” at the 2019 ALTA Awards. She was also Jeff Award Nominated for "Best Director" for her work on The Leopard Play, or sad songs for lost boys. 

This production is made possible by the support of our generous season sponsors:

Michael & Mona Heath of the Heath Fund