THE LOOP — When Lee Kirk came to Chicago to see the opening of a friend’s play in 2023, inspiration struck. The writer/director/actor and DePaul grad was considering a return to theater, and it occurred to him that the seeds of a new play could take root in his old stomping grounds.

“I had a few days in the city and I realized how much I missed Chicago,” Kirk told Block Club. “I only lived there for about six years — four years in school and a couple years after school — but it’s really stuck with me. The sense of community that I found when I lived there … living in L.A., where it’s a driving city, you don’t rub shoulders with your [neighbors] very much. But in Chicago, you really do — riding the ‘L’ or the bus, walking to a local shop to get something.”

Then a lightbulb went off, he sa

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