DUE TO POPULAR DEMAND, A RED ORCHID THEATRE EXTENDS THE OPPONENT NOW THRU DECEMBER 15
A Red Orchid Theatre proudly announces new performance dates for the world premiere production of Ensemble Member Brett Neveu’s The Opponent, directed by fellow Ensemble Member Karen Kessler. Due to high ticket demand, the production is now extended through Saturday, December 15, 2012 at A Red Orchid Theatre, 1531 N. Wells. Tickets for the two-week extension are now on sale through the box office, (312) 943-8722 and www.aredorchidtheatre.org.
“We are thrilled that the first show of our 20th Anniversary Season warrants extending,” says Artistic Director Kirsten Fitzgerald. “This is particularly rewarding as a world premiere work from Ensemble Member Brett Neveu, featuring our Founding Artistic Director and Ensemble Member Guy VanSwearingen.”
Accomplished playwright and Ensemble Member Brett Neveu takes a look at the hard world of boxing from the perspective of small time gym owner Tre and the young up-and-comer Donell. They come from different worlds, they barely understand each other, but in the ring anything is possible. Questions of loyalty and life’s dreams are put to the test in this explosive world premiere that promises to pull some punches and fearlessly land the others. The Opponent was originally developed through Center Theatre Group's Writers' Workshop.
The Opponent features A Red Orchid’s Founding Artistic Director and Ensemble Member Guy Van Swearingen with Kamal Angelo Bolden.
The creative team includes Joey Wade (Set Designer), Myron Elliott (Costume Designer), Mike Durst (Lighting Designer), Joe Court (Sound Designer), Toni Kendrick (Prop Designer), John Tovar (Fight Director), Al Ortiz (Boxing Trainer), Kate DeVore (Dialect Coach), Christa Van Baale (Stage Manager), Chelsea Mead Jackson (Assistant Director), and Rick Julien (Technical Director).
Title: The Opponent
Written by: Brett Neveu
Directed by: Karen Kessler
Dates: Regular Run: October 25 – December 2, 2012 (No performance November 22)
Extension: Through Saturday, December 15, 2012
Schedule: Thursdays: 8:00 p.m.
Fridays: 8:00 p.m.
Saturdays: 8:00 p.m.
Sundays: 3:00 p.m.
Location: A Red Orchid Theatre, 1531 N. Wells Ave.
Tickets: $15 previews, $25-$30 regular run. ($25 Thurs, $30 Fri-Sun)
Box Office: Located at 1531 N. Wells Ave, Chicago, (312) 943-8722; or online www.aredorchidtheatre.org
About The Artists:
BRETT NEVEU (Playwright) is an Ensemble Member at A Red Orchid where his play Megacosm had its world premiere just last year. Other recent productions include4 Murders with SkyPilot Theatre and twentyone with The Side Project. Past work includes productions with The Royal Court Theatre, Writers’ Theatre, The House Theatre, The Inconvenience, The Goodman Theatre, The Royal Shakespeare Company, TimeLine Theatre Company, A Red Orchid Theatre and American Theatre Company. Brett is a 2012 Sundance Institute Ucross Fellow and the recipient of the Ofner Prize for New Work, the Emerging Artist Award from The League of Chicago Theatres, an After Dark Award for Outstanding Musical (Old Town with Strawdog Theatre Company) and has developed plays with companies including The New Group, The Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, Victory Gardens and Chicago Dramatists. Brett is a member of The Playwrights’ Union and an alumni member of the Center Theatre Group’s Playwrights’ Workshop as well as Chicago Dramatists. Brett has been commissioned by The Royal Court Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Club, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, The Goodman Theatre, TimeLine Theatre Company, Writers’ Theatre, Strawdog Theatre and has several of his plays published through Broadway Play Publishing, Dramatic Publishing and Nick Hern Books. Brett has taught at DePaul University, Second City Training Center and currently teaches at Northwestern University. His movie, Christmas Bytes, will begin production in 2013.
KAREN KESSLER (Director) is a member of the ensemble of A Red Orchid Theatre who just directed the critically acclaimed remount of Wrens by Anne McGravie for Rivendell Theatre Ensemble. Most recently for Red Orchid, Karen directed the Midwest premiere of Louis Slotin Sonata and previously directed the Midwest premiere of Pumpgirl by Irish playwright Abbie Spallen, the Chicago premiere of Sarah Kane’s Blasted; the US premiere of Gagarin’s Way by Gregory Burke (a play that won an After Dark award for Outstanding Ensemble) and the Midwest premiere of Mr. Kolpert by David Gieselmann. Other Chicago credits include: Collaboraction’s Sketchbook 2009 –Who Put the Dead Bird in My Mailbox? by Sarah Hammond; the US Premiere of Roddy Doyle’s War for Seanachai Theatre; A Going Concern, This Lime Tree Bower, Remembrance, A Mislaid Heaven, and the award winning Early and Often for Famous Door; the Midwest premiere of Sam Shepard’s The God of Hellat the Next Theatre; The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek, Hamlet and Cyrano de Bergerac for Rivendell Theatre; and the Midwest premiere of Steve Martin’s The Underpants for Noble Fool Productions. Credits outside of Chicago include: Glengarry Glen Ross for the Northern Stage Ensemble in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England;Macbeth for the Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival; Measure for Measure for Connecticut Repertory Theatre; the world premiere of a new adaptation of The Three Musketeers, Scapin, Macbeth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Taming of the Shrew, and All’s Well That Ends Well at the Illinois Shakespeare Festival; and The Merry Wives of Windsor and The Complete History of American (Abridged)for Idaho Repertory Theatre. Karen is an Associate Professor of Directing and Shakespeare at Ball State University in Indiana.
GUY VAN SWEARINGEN (Tre) is a founding Ensemble Member and former Artistic Director at A Red Orchid Theatre. He was last seen at A Red Orchid in The New Electric Ballroom. Other credits include The Time of Your Life (Steppenwolf, Seattle Rep, A.C.T.), Taking Care (Steppenwolf), Eleven Rooms of Proust (Lookingglass),Come Like Shadows (Plasticene), Cleansed (Defiant Theatre) and Beyond Mozambique (Mary-Arrchie). Other A Red Orchid appearances include Blasted, The Seahorse, Bug, Gagarin Way, The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, The Cut, Tis’ Pity She’s a Whore, The Questioning of Nick³, Victims of Duty, The Killer, Cops, The Removalists and The Connection. Television credits include episodes of Chicago Fire, Underemployed, Detroit 1-8-7, The Beast, Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story, Early Edition and TURKS. Film work includes: The Dilemma, Take Shelter, Janie Jones, Public Enemies, The Merry Gentleman, Mad Dog & Glory, The Negotiator, Ali, The Weatherman and Adam Rapp’s independent film Blackbird.
KAMAL ANGELO BOLDEN (Donell) makes his A Red Orchid Theatre debut with The Opponent. Most recently he was seen at Court Theatre as Youngblood in August Wilson's Jitney, at the Goodman Theatre as Tony in Paul Oakley Stovall's Immediate Family, and as Black Man/Actor 2 in the world premiere of We Are Proud to Present... at Victory Gardens Theater. Since leaving Nashville for Chicago three years ago, Kamal has originated the roles of Jackie Robinson in the Chicago Children's Theatre's world premiere of Jackie and Me, and Chad Deity in Victory Gardens Theatre's world premiere of The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity. He has also worked with Actors Theatre of Louisville (The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity) and won a Black Theatre Alliance Award for Best Leading Actor for his work in Athol Fugard’s The Island at Remy Bumppo Theatre. Kamal has appeared in many independent films and national commercials, and has made guest appearances onBOSS, Lights Out, and The Row. He holds a B.S. in Business Administration-Entrepreneurship from Bradley University and is a proud Artistic Associate of Erasing the Distance.
About A Red Orchid
Since 1993 A Red Orchid Theatre has been an artistic mainstay of the Chicago theatre community; known and praised for its powerful ensemble, creative design and its gripping, intimate productions. The resident Ensemble maintains the conviction that passionately committed theatre will draw passionately committed audiences, and the 2012-2013 subscription season promises to bring Ensemble and audience even closer together.
A Red Orchid Theatre is: Lance Baker, Dado, Jennifer Engstrom, Kirsten Fitzgerald, Joseph Fosco, Steve Haggard, Mierka Girten, Larry Grimm, Karen Kawa, Karen Kessler, Danny McCarthy, Brett Neveu, Michael Shannon, Guy Van Swearingen, Doug Vickers, Natalie West and Craig Wright.
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