A play focusing on the efforts of animal rescuers following Hurricane Katrina has recently made the move from Los Angeles to the Chicago area. Because They Have No Words is based on co-writer Tim Maddock's personal experience rescuing animals in the aftermath of Katrina. Maddock also stars in the production, which is now appearing at Evanston's Piven Theatre. Of the differences between the version performed in L.A. and the new Piven Theatre version, Maddock says:

I think in this Piven version we also went further with the comedy. We weren't sure initially how humor would play in a story of one of this country's greatest tragedies, but it is such a part of who Lotti and I are as people that we couldn't silence it in our writing. Humor was also integral to how I 'survived' New Orleans, emotionally. It seems obvious, now, that people find the humor in this play refreshing, but at the time we weren't sure if it would be perceived as flippant or disrespectful.