The Understudy Dares You To Produce This Play: The House Party

The Understudy Dares You to Produce This Play is a monthly reading series highlighting plays that have not received a Chicago production. Produced by The Understudy’s bookstore team, this series works to expand the variety of playwrights and titles in our vibrant community.

This month, we're reading The House Party by Laura Lomas

Julie: Magdalena Dalzell

Christine: Isabella Maria Valdes

Jon: Diego Rivera-Rodriguez

About the Play

A wild party. A friendship. A cherished pet. And a night that changes everything. It's Julie's eighteenth birthday, and she's throwing a party in her father's extravagant townhouse. Her boyfriend has just dumped her and her longsuffering best friend Christine is trying to pick up the pieces. As the revellers pile into the booze, down in the kitchen Christine and her boyfriend Jon – son of Julie's cleaner – clear up and dare to dream of the future. But as the volume goes up and the shots go down, Julie concocts a twisted cocktail of privilege, desire and destruction. 

The House Party spins Strindberg's classic play Miss Julie into intense, fizzing life for today's generation. Laura Lomas's play was first performed at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester, in 2024, and then toured the UK in 2025, co-produced with Headlong in association with Frantic Assembly.