On Stage

Incognito

by Nick Payne

July 17 - August 3, 2025

Theater Wit - 1229 West Belmont

Directed by Jason Palmer

A Chicago and regional premiere from the author of Constellations.  

Moving fluidly across time and space, Incognito weaves together three stories of love and loss. 

A pathologist, obsessed with understanding the biological origin of genius, risks both his career and his marriage when he steals Albert Einstein’s brain.  A divorced scientist embarks on a new romantic journey, venturing into uncharted emotional and physical territory.  A long-suffering seizure patient remembers a deep love for his fiancée, but has forgotten everything else, including her whereabouts.  

As these stories intertwine, Incognito reveals a breathtaking tapestry of the heart and mind, challenging our notions of what makes us who we are and how we perceive the world around us. 

Our second full production of 2025 will be Isaac’s Eye by Lucas Hnath, author of A Doll’s House Part 2, Hillary and Clinton, and The Christians.

Gravity. Calculus. The Color Wheel. That one person contributed so much to science and mathematics is hard to fathom, although now we take all of these things for granted. But, as with every world-changing proposition, it took a revolution of the mind to conceive of them, and dogged determination to reveal the laws of the universe.

Pulling Isaac Newton out of the distant past, Hnath creates a riveting story about the man who shaped the modern world as we know it through his insatiable curiosity and ability to see things differently than everyone else. But at what cost to himself? Genius often comes at a price. For Newton, it was his personal and professional relationships and, at times, his own physical well-being.

"Isaac's Eye" is a tale of the lengths to which a brilliant young scientist will go to get attention - and to prove he is right - while demonstrating that the past is never too far away when it comes to human nature.