Victory Gardens Theater presents the Ignite Chicago reading of Exercise Your Demons: A Play About Gay Male Body Trauma written by Gage Tarlton and directed by Ryan Dobrin, with motion direction by Breon Arzell. Exercise Your Demons: A Play About Gay Male Body Trauma will be presented Saturday, February 19 at 3 p.m. at Hardware Strength and Conditioning, 1834 W. Balmoral Ave, Chicago.

Exercise Your Demons: A Play About Gay Male Body Trauma is Ignite Chicago’s fourth reading this season, presented as part of The Ignition New Play program. Tickets are FREE but very limited and must be reserved through the box office at 773.871.3000 or online at www.victorygardens.org/event/exercise-your-demons.

Max wants to be healthy. Brooks is her personal trainer. Russell is a gym rat. Wiley makes money using OnlyFans. Among them looms The Demon, an amalgamation of their greatest desire and greatest fear – and there’s more than just exercise at stake when these men meet up at their local gym. In the aftermath of a suicide, a group of artists must grapple with grief, gender, identity, body image, performance, and the demons that live within all of us.

“We are thrilled to bring our first Ignite Chicago Reading of 2022 to Hardware Strength and Conditioning in Andersonville, whose mission to create a welcoming space for everyone aligns with ours,” shares the artistic director of Victory Gardens, Ken-Matt Martin. “It provides the perfect setting for the first reading of this show, and we hope neighborhood theatergoers will join us for this opportunity.”

Ignite Chicago is part of the Ignition New Play program (formerly Ignition Festival of New Plays) and is sponsored by the Pritzker Foundation and the Pritzker Pucker Family Foundation. The Ignition New Play program consists of two events for the 2021/22 season: the Ignite Chicago reading series, offering six free readings of new works between October 2021 and July 2022, and the 20/50 festival in June 2022, with three new works. by playwrights over 50, directed by fellows of the VG Directors Inclusion Initiative. Ignite Chicago readings will take place throughout the season, both at the Victory Gardens home in Lincoln Park, the Biograph Theater and at partner venues around the city, to bring new plays to Chicago’s many communities.

Other upcoming readings from Ignite Chicago include:

● April 2022: Primary Trust by Eboni Booth

● July 2022: Nancy by Rhiana Yazzie

All readings are free, but reservations will be required as capacity for each reading is limited. Registration for Ignition New Play Program events will be available on winnergardens.org approximately one month prior to each event.