THEATER

nied by Chrisler’s own marvelously whimsical (but decidedly not twee) drawings. (One of those performers is Chrisler’s husband Mark Chrisler, a playwright and creator of the popular podcast The Constant.)

The love story of Chickpea and Thimble began backstage at Writers, after director Keira Fromm restarted The Last Match rehearsals in February. When the cast reunited, the atmosphere was a world away from where it left o some 11 months earlier.

“Our last rehearsal before canceling, we were in tech,” Chrisler says. “We were told the League [of Chicago Theatres] would be issuing some sort of o cial guidance soon, and it would likely mean the opening was o . The question we had as a cast was did we want to keep working until that announcement or did we want to go home right then.

“There was a split in the room—some were like, ‘If we can work another four hours, we need to keep working,’ some were, ‘No. We need to go get groceries and be with our families,’” Chrisler recalls.

SEASON OF RENEWAL