Bring Your Own Theatre(BYOT) Productions is Chicago's longest standing 24 hour play-based theatre company. BYOT's monthly shows bring together 5 writers, 5 directors and a cast of actors together 24 hours before the show to announce groups, allow those groups to discuss consent, comfortability, and lay the ground work for the playwright to begin creating a one act play, based on a theme selected by audience votes from the previous show. The next morning and afternoon are dedicated to rehearsals and tech before bring all plays together for one punk-rock night of theatre. BYOT originally began as senior thesis to create short original theatre in a short period of time, with the original "venues" being the living rooms of our earliest members, going as far back early 2014. Over the years, a grassroots following took hold, with BYOT playing site specific spaces ranging from Kimball Manor, HQ and The Globe Pub, to hair salons and our own backyards before taking up residence at The Charnel House in Logan Square. In addition to our monthly shows, cabarets and script pubs, BYOT has adapted two short plays from our monthly shows into full length productions; "By Definition" by Josh Leeper, which ran at The Charnel House, and "Aces & Eights" by Ross Childs, which ran at City Lit Theater, as well as The Rover by Aphra Behn at the Prop Thtr. Inspired by this process, in 2020 BYOT began it's Workshop Reading Series as an opportunity to further develop opportunities for our company members and returning collaborators. Like many theatre's, BYOT has be remained virtual since April 2020 following the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, and as a result has embraced the challenges of finding new and creative ways to make theatre, ranging from Zoom plays in 24 hours, cabarets, and BYOTag, a series of solo acts based on a theme. You can check those and our other shows on our YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5WHbeS4z5rLzo02zH7_qGA or better yet, come play with us!
