Delivering the News,
Collecting Life Lessons
Experience the wonder of 'Newsboy', the captivating story of a child taking in the turbulent world around him through the lens of his North Shore paper route.
Live Performance Ahead
'NEWSBOY brings to the stage the acclaimed memoir of a childhood paper route in Chicagoland. Gary Cole began his route for the Chicago Tribune in 1968, at the age of eight. Within weeks, Martin Luther King was assassinated. As a young boy growing up in a quiet suburb who had not previously been exposed to the news, he was stunned by the ensuing explosion of events that made the headlines of the Tribune: riots across the country, the shooting of Robert F. Kennedy, and the chaos of the Democratic National Convention, among others. 'Newsboy' is a compelling chronicle of a child's efforts to grasp the momentous stories he tracks in the Tribune through this tumultuous period, including the collapse of the 1969 Cubs, the Chicago Seven Trial, and notorious corruption scandals. The performance intimately portrays his route and customers, in particular the residents of the Chimney Apartments (pictured - image courtesy of Winnetka Historical Society), from a bygone era when paperboys came to the door of each subscriber both to deliver and to collect.
PRAISE FOR THE MEMOIR
Newsboy has been a top seller at The Book Stall in Winnetka and has drawn high praise:
+ Tribune columnist and WGN Radio personality Rick Kogan called Newsboy a “terrific book.”
+ Rick Telander, sports columnist for the Sun-Times, offered this blurb: “Like a bike ride through a turbulent, unsettling, yet beautiful landscape, Cole's deceptively simple tale of a kid delivering newspapers on his trusty Schwinn is so much more than what it at first appears …. The print he delivers -- and reads in wonder -- and the people he meets and listens to on his route become the education of a lifetime. By the end of Newsboy you'll marvel that this kid has taught you so much. I loved this book.''
+ One of the North Shore’s top book club leaders, Judy Levin, put Newsboy on her Recommended Reading List under the category “Great Books with a Local Twist.”
+ Television writer/producer Mike Kelley described Newsboy as “something truly special – a wholly compelling story that everyone can relate to but only one person could ever tell.”
Auditions
'Newsboy' Audition Notice
Trenchant Productions
Trenchant Productions is pleased to announce auditions for its premiere of 'Newsboy' by Gary D. Cole, directed by Iris Sowlat.
Trenchant Productions is Gary D. Cole’s producing company. He has produced theatre professionally on both the East and West Coasts for more than 30 years. 'Newsboy' marks his producing debut in his hometown of Chicago. This is the show’s site: NewsboyonStage.com
Iris Sowlat is a Chicago-based director. She holds an MFA in directing from UMass Amherst and has directed in Chicago for nine years.
Production Dates:
Rehearsals: Tuesday, July 6, 2027 through tech (4-5 times per week, evenings and Saturdays)
Tech: September 2, 3, 4, 7 and 8, 2027
Performances: September 9-12, 16-19, 23-26 and 30, 2027; October 1-3, 2027. All performances at Piven Theatre, 927 Noyes St., Evanston.
Synopsis:
'Newsboy' is a new play based on Gary D. Cole’s acclaimed memoir of his childhood paper route in 1960s and ‘70s Chicagoland. The play, told as a nearly-solo show by two actors in turn portraying Gary as a young boy and a teenager, is a coming-of-age tale, tracking his growth from sheltered suburban innocent to keen student of the turbulent world around him — and his place in it. Gary shares stories about some of the biggest moments in Chicago and national history gleaned from the newspaper he reads and delivers each morning, as well as cross-generational friendships formed through his paper route, with realism, freshness, and humor.
Audition Info:
For general auditions: Please send your headshot and resume to iris.sowlat@gmail.com. You’ll be sent a short selection of the script as an audition side. Actors auditioning for the role of Older Gary will be asked to submit a video of the audition side and one other 1-minute monologue of your choosing. Actors auditioning for the role of Younger Gary will be asked to send a video of the audition text and will have the option to add any other audition material. Please send video submissions to the same email address as either a Google Drive link or an Unlisted YouTube link by December 15, 2026.
Callbacks: If you are called back, you will be invited to perform a different selection from the script in person at Piven Theatre on January 16, 2027.
Characters:
Younger Gary - Seeking an actor age 12+ who could play Gary from the ages of 9-12 in the first act of the play. We are seeking an actor who has excellent storytelling skills, spontaneity, imagination, comic timing, and actor/audience connection. He’s someone who could keep the audience engaged in his story. We’re looking for an actor who can tackle both the humor in Gary’s childhood as well as the more serious moments. This role would require memorizing about a third of the play’s text. He/him, white presenting
Older Gary - Seeking an actor age 16+ who could play Gary from the ages of 13-15 in the second and third acts of the play. We are seeking an actor who has excellent storytelling skills, spontaneity, imagination, sense of humor, and actor/audience connection. He’s someone who could keep the audience engaged in his story. We’re looking for an actor who can play the range in the character’s development as he handles the challenges of growing up and dismantling his own privilege as he is thrown into the world around him. This role would require memorizing about two-thirds of the play’s text. He/him, white presenting.
Stipend:
Stipend of $2500 each for Younger Gary and Older Gary.
$1000 for understudies.
Performances
‘Newsboy’ will open Thursday, September 9, 2027 and play through Sunday, October 3. Showtimes will be 7:30 pm on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings and 2 pm on Sunday afternoons. All performances will be held at the Piven Theatre, 927 Noyes Street in Evanston. Tickets will go on sale in spring 2027.
Images
Team
Iris Sowlat (Director) is a Chicago-based director. She holds an MFA in Theatre Directing from University of Massachusetts Amherst (2024), where she directed Sarah Ruhl’s Orlando and Lauren Gunderson’s Emilie: La Marquise du Chatelet Defends Her Life Tonight. Most recently, she directed the Revolutionists for Violet Surprise Theatre, touring to 25 Chicagoland communities, and Caryl Churchill’s Drunk Enough to Say I Love You? for Poor Players Productions. In 2025, she directed Amy Crider’s Buddha’s Birthday (Lucid Theatre), The Book of Will for Triton College, and Come Along for the Ride (Eco Logic). Additional Chicago directing credits include Romeo and Juliet (Accidental Shakespeare Company), Joan of Arc and Underworld Anthem (RhinoFest), The Days Are Shorter (PrideArts), ABCD (Piven Theatre), and Narratives of Achromatopsia and Turn That Thing Around (Chicago Fringe Festival), and three different sold-out fundraiser readings of Paula Kamen’s Jane: Abortion and the Underground. She has also worked with Northlight Theatre, About Face Theatre, American Theatre Company, Chicago Dramatists, Stage Left Theatre (former Artistic Associate), and many others. Iris is the Co-Artistic Director of Violet Surprise Theatre. In 2018, she was named one of Windy City Times’ “30 Under 30.” Find her on the web at www.IrisSowlat.com.
Gary D. Cole (Author) was raised in the Chicago suburb of Winnetka and graduated from New Trier East High School. He went on to earn degrees from Williams College and Stanford Law School. Cole practiced law at the Central Intelligence Agency before writing a play based loosely on his Agency experience. While a partner at a Portland, Oregon law firm, he co-founded a professional theatre company, CoHo Productions, which still performs in the black box performance space he developed for the company.
Cole has written another memoir entitled Artless about his odyssey through the arts and politics. Artless picks up five years after Newsboy leaves off. He is also the author of a novel, Black Box.
Cole now resides in Richmond, Virginia. He is married and has two children. For more information, visit www.garydcole.com.
Get in Touch
Reach Out
For inquiries regarding auditions, tickets, group rates, or further details about the production, please feel free to contact us via the email form provided.
