SAVE THE DATES: A RED ORCHID THEATRE ANNOUNCES 2015-2016 SEASON

SHADE MURRAY DIRECTS THE WORLD PREMIERES OF PILGRIMS PROGRESS BY BRETT NEVEU AND SENDER BY IKE HOLTER; DADO DIRECTS THE MUTILATED BY TENNESSEE WILLIAMS

Here at ChiIL Live Shows, we're elated to see long time fav of ours, Brett Neveu will be back in rotation at A Red Orchid along with a host of stellar selections. He'll be in great company with Tennessee Williams's The Mutilated and the World Premiere of Sender by Ike Holter. Save the dates. 

A Red Orchid Theatre announces its 2015-2016 Season, including the World Premieres of Pilgrims Progress by Ensemble Member Brett Neveu (The Opponent), and Sender by Ike Holter, both directed by Ensemble Member Shade Murray (Mud Blue Sky, Accidentally like a Martyr) and The Mutilated by Tennessee Williams, directed by Ensemble Member Dado (Simpatico).  

Artistic Director Kirsten Fitzgerald comments, “We are twenty three and kickin’ hard. With two world premieres and a classic from arguably the most influential American playwright of the twentieth-century, I am thrilled to be digging ever deeper into the subjects of family, friendship and humanity at its most naked. There is truly nowhere to hide here at A Red Orchid Theatre. This season marks our first exploration of Williams, our eighth collaboration with Brett Neveu and our first with Ike Holter since his time as a box office volunteer many years ago. I could not be more excited about the challenges and the fun that each of these plays presents for our ensemble and our audiences alike.”  

A Red Orchid Theatre’s 2015-2016 Season includes:

World Premiere

PILGRIMS PROGRESS 

by Ensemble Member Brett Neveu 

Directed by Ensemble Member Shade Murray

Featuring Ensemble Member Kirsten Fitzgerald

October 15 – November 29, 2015

Previews October 15-18 

Press Opening Monday October 19 

It’s Thanksgiving Day and the McKee family is up to its eyeballs in hilarious drama. Between stirring the cranberries and debating pumpkin pie, parents Jim and Melissa relive their glory days. Meanwhile, their earth-poet Son and pregnant-teen Daughter navigate family contracts, holiday power grabs, and decades of thinly veiled deceit. For a family with such a strong appetite for tales, are their stories more important than the truth?  With homages to Albee, O’Neal, Williams and Shepard, the tension rides high and the carving knife does more than just cut the turkey.

THE MUTILATED 

by Tennessee Williams

Directed by Ensemble Member Dado

Featuring Ensemble Member Mierka Girten *additional ensemble casting TBA*

January 14 – February 28, 2016

Previews January 14-17

Press Opening Monday January 18

It’s Christmas Eve in New Orleans and Trinket Dugan is holed up at the Silver Dollar Hotel with a painful secret. Her only friend and confidant, Celeste, has just been released from jail and will stop at nothing to get back into her good graces, her pocket-book and her booze. Can their friendship survive the cruelty, the con men, hookers, cops, sailors and drunks? The Mutilated is one of Williams’ funniest and most moving plays, and according to Williams himself is “an allegory on the tragicomic subject of human existence on this risky planet.” -Esquire magazine 1965.

World Premiere

SENDER 

by Ike Holter  

Directed by Ensemble Member Shade Murray

Featuring Ensemble Member Steve Haggard

April 14 – May 29, 2016

Previews April 14–17

Press Opening Monday April 18

A World Premiere by one of Chicago’s hottest emerging playwrights. It’s summertime in Chicago. Over a year after his sensational death, a young man returns to his former apartment: alive, well, and with a new found ambition to fix what went wrong.  A miracle reunion turns into a catastrophic disaster as the past catches up with the present and old debts return, expecting payment in full.  What does growing-up mean and is it even desired in this day and age?

Ticket Information

A Red Orchid continues the FLASHPASS, giving subscribers a 20% ticket discount, reserved seats, ticket and date flexibility and invitations to special events, readings and more.  Three-show Flashpasses are $80 and include three tickets to use anyway during the regular run, excluding opening nights and Red Nights.  Three-show Red Night Flashpasses are $130 and include a ticket to each Red Night Opening and a post-show reception with the cast and creative team.  

Flashpasses may be purchased from the Box Office at 1531 N. Wells Street, Monday through Friday from 12 pm to 5:00 pm. Subscriptions may also be purchased by telephone during office hours by dialing (312) 943-8722, or online at www.aredorchidtheatre.org. Individual tickets will go on sale at a later date.

About A Red Orchid

A Red Orchid Theatre has served as an artistic focal point in the heart of the Old Town community of Chicago since 1993.  Chicago Magazine named Red Orchid Chicago’s Best Theatre Company of 2010. Over the past 22 years, its Resident Ensemble has welcomed into its fold an impressive array of award winning actors, playwrights and theatre artists with the firm belief that live theatre is the greatest sustenance for the human spirit. A Red Orchid is well known and highly acclaimed for its fearless approach to performance and design in the service of unflinchingly intimate stories. In addition to its professional season, the company also produces an annual OrKids (youth) project.

A Red Orchid Theatre is: Lance Baker, Kamal Angelo Bolden, Dado, Mike Durst, Jennifer Engstrom, Kirsten Fitzgerald, Joseph Fosco, Steve Haggard, Mierka Girten, Larry Grimm, Karen Kawa, Karen Kessler, Danny McCarthy, Shade Murray, Brett Neveu, Michael Shannon, Guy Van Swearingen, Doug Vickers and Natalie West

OPENING: Chicago Premiere of Red Handed Otter at A Red Orchid #opening

A RED ORCHID THEATRE PRESENTS 

THE CHICAGO PREMIERE OF

RED HANDED OTTER

BY ETHAN LIPTON

DIRECTED BY ENSEMBLE MEMBER DADO

APRIL 9 – MAY 24, 2015

ChiIL Live Shows will be there... will you?! Check back with us early and often. Our full review will be up after the press opening on April 13th. 

A Red Orchid Theatre continues its 22^nd Season with the Chicago premiere of Red Handed Otter, written by Ethan Lipton and directed by Dado.  The production runs April 9 – May 24, 2015 at A Red Orchid Theatre, 1531 N. Wells. 

Not long ago, Paul had a girlfriend, a cat, and few complaints. Now? Well, at least he’s got his health. In between shifts at their security guard posts, Paul’s work buddies try to cheer him up. In this comedy by one of New York’s hottest emerging playwrights, Paul’s friends’ awkward (and hilarious) attempts to console him may just prove that some comforts only come on four legs. 

Red Handed Otter premiered at Cherry Lane Theatre in NYC, 2012.

Dates: Previews: April 9 – 12, 2015

Regular Run: April 16 – May 24, 2015

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, $30-$35 regular run.  ($30Thurs, $35 Fri, Sat, Sun)

Box Office: Located at 1531 N. Wells Ave, Chicago, (312) 943-8722; or online www.aredorchidtheatre.org 

The cast of Red Handed Otter includes A Red Orchid Ensemble Members Mierka Girten and Guy Van Swearingen with Bob Kruse, Luce Metrius and Ashley Neil. 

The creative team for A Red Handed Otter includes Jim Moore (Scenic Design), Karen Kawa (Costume Design), Matt Gawryk (Lighting Design), Mikey Moran (Sound Design), Linda Sherfick (Props Master), Seth Henrickson (Video Director), David Wooley (Fight Director), Christa van Baale (Stage Manager), Arianna Soloway (Assistant Director) and Kyle Stoffers (Assistant Stage Manager).

About the Artists

Ethan Lipton (playwright)’s plays have been produced in New York, Los Angeles, Edinburgh, Boston, and Chicago (Luther at Steep). His Obie-Award winning song cycle No Place to Go premiered at the Public Theater’s Joe’s Pub in 2012 and was later produced by Two River Theatre (Red Bank, NJ) and the Gate (London). No Place to Go has since been presented in concert in more than 25 cities around the US and UK. Ethan was a member of the Public’s Emerging Writers Group and a Playwrights Realm Page One Fellow.  He is an associate artist of Clubbed Thumb and has received playwriting grants and commissions from NYFA, the NEA, Playwrights Horizons, NYSCA, True Love and Barrington Stage Company.  He has been a Kesselring nominee, a Kleban finalist and a Drama-Logue winner.  He has also worked with Elevator Repair Service (Gatz), Laurie Anderson and Matt Berninger. 

Dado (Director) is an ensemble member at A Red Orchid Theater and appeared on stage earlier this season in Strandline. She directed Simpatico here and more recently A Night Out for AROT's Incubator series. Other A Red Orchid productions include Megacosm, The Unseen, The Hothouse, The Seahorse, Fastest Clock in The Universe, and The Grey Zone. Dado is a Maggio Fellow and directed Fahrenheit 451 for Steppenwolf's Youth series as well as Coyote on a Fence and High Life for Shattered Globe at Victory Gardens.  Dado directed and acted in Hellcab at Famous Door and has been seen on stage at Trapdoor in First Ladies and Overweight, unimportant: Misshape - A European Supper, at Steppenwolf in The Duel and Pot Mom, and on television in an episode of Chicago Fire, Early Edition, Missing Persons, Turks and was edited out of an episode of Cupid . On the big screen she has been seen in US Marshalls and Payback.  Dado received an MFA in Visual Art from the University of Chicago.

Mierka Girten (Estelle) is a member of the Artistic Ensemble at A Red Orchid where she was most recently seen in Mud Blue Sky, Trevor and Simpatico.  Off-Broadway, she was seen in Mistakes Were Made with Michael Shannon and Sam Deutsch, after doing the world premiere right here at home. Also at A Red Orchid: Abigail’s Party, Weapon of Mass Impact, The Meek, Kimberly Akimbo and The Treatment. Other Chicago credits include: her one woman show With or Without Wings and work with Rivendell Theatre Company, Roadworks, The Hypocrites, Strawdog Theatre, Appletree, Circle Theatre, Livebait, Illinois Theatre Center, Provision, and Cobalt Ensemble.  Mierka toured the country in The Secret Garden and has been heard nationally, as an announcer and jingle singer on many radio and television commercials. Film credits include: The Manson Family, The Lake at Evening and The Drunk. Mierka is the founder of The Mookie Jam Foundation, benefiting artists with Multiple Sclerosis - because she is a daily warrior against the disease.

Bob Kruse (Randy) makes his first appearance with A Red Orchid.  He has previously worked with Vintage Theatre, Strange Tree Group, Eclipse, Wildclaw, Victory Gardens, Steppenwolf Garage, The Gift and The House Theatre. Bob is a graduate of Circle in the Square.

Luce Metrius (Donald) made his A Red Orchid Theatre debut earlier this season in Accidentally Like a Martyr.  Other recent Chicago credits include All Our Tragic with The Hypocrites and Buzzer at The Goodman Theatre.  Luce understudied roles in Raisin in the Sun at TimeLine Theatre and was seen on stage in The March at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Iphigenia at Next Theatre Company, and Romeo & Juliet at Crowded Tub Collective. Mr. Metrius received his BA in acting from of Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University.

Ashley Neil (Angela) makes her A Red Orchid debut and is an ensemble member with Rivendell Theatre. She was most recently seen in The Life and Sort of Death of Eric Argile at Steep Theatre and before that in Men Should Weep with Griffin Theatre where she also did Stage Door.  Other Chicago credits include Reverb at Redtwist, 25 Saints with Pine Box, Living Newspaper at Jackalope and Christmas is for Fools with Step Up Productions.  With Rivendell Theatre Ashley has performed in Wrens, 26 Miles, The Walls, These Shining Lives and more.  Ashley is a graduate of the School at Steppenwolf and Columbia College.

Guy Van Swearingen (Paul) is an Ensemble Member and the founding Artistic Director at A Red Orchid Theatre, where he was last seen in Simpatico.  He has appeared in 14 other productions, including the World Premiere of The Opponent; first here at home and then in its remount Off-Broadway at 59E59th Theatre.  Guy has worked with many theaters in Chicago, including Steppenwolf, Lookingglass, Plasticene, Defiant Theatre, and Mary-Arrchie. Television credits include Chicago Fire, Underemployed, Detroit 1-8-7, The Beast, Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story, Early Edition and TURKS. Film: The Dilemma, Take Shelter, Janie Jones, Public Enemies, The Merry Gentleman, Mad Dog & Glory, The Negotiator, Ali, The Weatherman and Adam Rapp’s Blackbird.  Guy is also a Lieutenant for the Chicago Fire Department.

About A Red Orchid 

A Red Orchid Theatre has served as an artistic focal point in the heart of the Old Town community of Chicago since 1993.  Chicago Magazine named Red Orchid Chicago’s Best Theatre Company of 2010. Over the past 22 years, its Resident Ensemble has welcomed into its fold an impressive array of award winning actors, playwrights and theatre artists with the firm belief that live theatre is the greatest sustenance for the human spirit. A Red Orchid is well known for its highly-acclaimed experimental and cutting edge productions. In addition to its professional season, the company also maintains an exciting youth programming wing.

A Red Orchid Theatre is: Lance Baker, Kamal Angelo Bolden, Dado, Mike Durst, Jennifer Engstrom, Kirsten Fitzgerald, Joseph Fosco, Steve Haggard, Mierka Girten, Larry Grimm, Karen Kawa, Karen Kessler, Danny McCarthy, Shade Murray, Brett Neveu, Michael Shannon, Guy Van Swearingen, Doug Vickers and Natalie West.

OPENING: Accidentally, Like a Martyr at A Red Orchid #Theatre

A RED ORCHID THEATRE PRESENTS 

THE CHICAGO PREMIERE OF  

ACCIDENTALLY, LIKE A MARTYR

DIRECTED BY ENSEMBLE MEMBER SHADE MURRAY

JANUARY 15 – MARCH 1, 2015

A Red Orchid Theatre continues its 22^nd Season with the Chicago premiere of Accidentally, Like a Martyr, written by Grant James Varjas and directed by Ensemble Member Shade Murray and featuring Ensemble Members Steve Haggard, and Doug Vickers with David Cerda, Layne Manzer, Luce Metrius, Troy West and Dominique Worsley The production runs January 15 – March 1, 2015, at A Red Orchid Theatre, 1531 N. Wells.

In a dive-y gay bar on Manhattan’s lower east side the regulars and the restless others do battle, joke and drink their way through a lonely winter evening. Different generations and backgrounds collide, secrets are revealed and old wounds are torn anew as these survivors come to grips with life, loss and aging in the 21st century.  Family and friendship are the focus of this humor filled drama in the tradition of The Time of Your Life and Small Craft Warnings.

Dates: Previews: January 15 – 18, 2015

Press opening: Monday, January 19 at 7 p.m.

Regular Run: January 20 – March 1, 2015

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, $30-$35 regular run.  ($30Thurs, $35 Fri, Sat, Sun)

Box Office: Located at 1531 N. Wells Ave, Chicago, (312) 943-8722; or online www.aredorchidtheatre.org 

The creative team for Accidentally, Like a Martyr includes John Holt (Set Designer), Karen Kawa (Costume Designer), Rachel Levy (Lighting Designer), Brando Triantafillou (Sound Designer), Arianna Soloway (Props Designer) and S. G. Heller (Stage Manager).

Accidentally, Like a Martyr premiered at The Paradise Factory in NYC, 2011

About the Artists

Grant James Varjas (Playwright) is the writer of the GLAAD nominated play 33 To Nothing which enjoyed a critically acclaimed Off-Broadway production directed by Randall Myer (Love, Janis), and Accidentally, Like A Martyr, a critic's favorite from 2012.  As an actor, Off-Broadway: The Shape Of Something Squashed (written/directed by Tom Noonan), Twelve Dreams (Lincoln Center); Franz Kafka's The Castle (Manhattan Ensemble Theater); Tesla's Letters; Killing Hand and Sockdolager (Ensemble Studio Theater); Accidentally, Like A Martyr; I Could Say More (Other Side Productions); 33 To Nothing.  Grant is a member of Moises Kaufman's Tectonic Theater and has collaborated with him on many projects, including “The Laramie Project" (HBO Films); The Common Pursuit (Roundabout Theater); and 33 Variations (CTG at the Ahmanson Theater with Jane Fonda).  Film:  "Peter and Vandy"; "Territory"; "Paradise Framed"; "Parallel Lives".  Television: "Sex and the City"; "Law & Order: Criminal Intent".  Grant is a board member of Tom Noonan's Paradise Factory Theater.

Shade Murray (Director) is a member of the artistic ensemble at A Red Orchid where he recently directed Marisa Wegrzyn’s Mud Blue Sky, Annie Baker’s The Aliens and Nick Jones’ Trevor. Also at AROT; The Butcher of Baraboo, Abigail's Party (Jeff Nomination, Director) and Kimberly Akimbo.  He recently had the pleasure of directing Mike Leigh’s Ecstasy for Cole Theatre, The Vandal at Steep Theatre, and Annie Bosh is Missing for Steppenwolf Theatre’s First Look. Other credits include End Days at Next Theatre, The Chosen (Jeff Nomination, Director), The Subject Was Roses at Writers' Theatre, Fatty Arbuckle... at Second City, The Petrified Forest, The Good Soul of Szechuan,  Marathon '33 and many more at Strawdog Theatre, Stupid Kids (Jeff Nomination, Director), Some Explicit Polaroids, Santaland Diaries, Never Swim Alone at Roadworks as well as productions at the MCA, Shattered Globe, About Face, Colbalt, Shakespeare's Motley Crew, Timberlake Playhouse and dance theatre in collaboration with MK and Birgitta Victorson. 

David Cerda (Scott) is the co-founder, resident playwright, and Artistic Director of Hell in a Handbag Productions, Chicago’s leading camp and parody theatre company. He was last seen on the stage as Suzanne Pleshette in his critically acclaimed adaption of Hitchcock’s The Birds. Cerda has been featured in numerous publications including NewCity’s top 50 Players in Chicago theater, and the Chicago Reader’s annual people issue and in for his body of work with Hell in a Handbag Productions.

Steve Haggard (Mark) was last seen at A Red Orchid Theatre in The Aliens and has been an ensemble member since 2007.  Other Orchid shows include Kimberly Akimbo and The Mandrake.  Chicago credits: Tribes (Steppenwolf); Wasteland (Timeline); Old Glory, The Subject Was Roses and Our Town (Writers’); Season’s Greetings and She Stoops to Conquer (Northlight Theatre); King Lear, As You Like It and Romeo and Juliet (Chicago Shakespeare).  Regional Credits: American Players, Milwaukee Repertory and Indiana Repertory.  Steve is a graduate of The Theatre School at DePaul University. Love to Kelsey, Mom and Q.

Layne Manzer (Brendan) was recently seen in Cole Theatre’s Ecstasy, by Mike Leigh directed by Shade Murray. He was in the original cast of Hit The Wall with The Inconvenience as part of Steppenwolf's 2012 Garage Rep and the remount in 2014. Other Chicago credits include The Jewels with TUTA Theatre, Assisted Living with Profiles Theatre, The Lady's Not for Burning with Theo Ubique, Our Bad Magnet with Mary-Arrchie as well as working with TimeLine Theatre, & Jackelope Theatre.  Film credits include the upcoming No Resolution and recently released feature film In Between Engagements.  Layne attended the School at Steppenwolf in 2009 and earned his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Luce Metrius (Jay) is making his A Red Orchid Theatre debut.  Recent Chicago credits include All Our Tragic with The Hypocrites and Buzzer at The Goodman Theatre.  Luce understudied roles in Raisin in the Sun at TimeLine Theatre Company and other Chicago credits include The March at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Iphigenia at Next Theatre Company, and Romeo & Juliet at Crowded Tub Collective. Mr. Metrius received his BA in acting from of Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University.

Doug Vickers (Charles) is an ensemble member at A Red Orchid Theatre, where he was most recently seen in Simpatico.  Other appearances at A Red Orchid include three plays by fellow ensemble member, Brett Neveu: Four Murders, Eric La Rue and The Meek, as well as Fatboy, Hunger and Thirst, The Grey Zone and more. Doug has also appeared at many other theatres around town, including Chicago Shakespeare (Comedy of Errors), Next Theatre (U.N. Inspector), Remy Bumpo (The Best Man) -Jeff Award for Cameo Performance, Famous Door, Raven, Trap Door, Hell in a Handbag, and Court Theatre. He's done various commercials over the years, and he appeared as a large red beanbag in a little known children's film.

Troy West (Edmund) has appeared previously at A Red Orchid Theatre in The Physicists, The Grey Zone, The Hothouse and BUG. Later Mr. West played in the OFF- BROADWAY run of BUG at the Barrow Street Theatre in New York. He has collaborated with Mr. Murray once before in the Roadworks production of Some Explicit Polaroids at Steppenwolf. Mr. West is an artistic associate with the Lookingglass Theatre Company in Chicago

Dominique Worsley (Jeffrey) is thrilled to make his A Red Orchid debut. He most recently performed as an understudy in Steppenwolf Theatre’s adaptation of Animal Farm. Other Chicago credits include Tartuffe  at Court Theatre, BlackTop Sky (performing understudy) at Steppenwolf Garage Rep. and Titus Andronicus with The Right Brain Project. He has a BFA from the University of Illinois where he also ran Track and Field.

About A Red Orchid 

A Red Orchid Theatre has served as an artistic focal point in the heart of the Old Town community of Chicago since 1993.  Chicago Magazine named Red Orchid Chicago’s Best Theatre Company of 2010. Over the past 22 years, its Resident Ensemble has welcomed into its fold an impressive array of award winning actors, playwrights and theatre artists with the firm belief that live theatre is the greatest sustenance for the human spirit. A Red Orchid is well known and highly acclaimed for its fearless approach to performance and design in the service of unflinchingly intimate stories. In addition to its professional season, the company also produces an annual youth project.

A Red Orchid Theatre is: Lance Baker, Kamal Angelo Bolden, Dado, Mike Durst, Jennifer Engstrom, Kirsten Fitzgerald, Joseph Fosco, Steve Haggard, Mierka Girten, Larry Grimm, Karen Kawa, Karen Kessler, Danny McCarthy, Shade Murray, Brett Neveu, Michael Shannon, Guy Van Swearingen, Doug Vickers and Natalie West

ACT OUT OPENING: Mud Blue Sky at A Red Orchid

A RED ORCHID THEATRE PRESENTS 

THE CHICAGO PREMIERE OF 

MUD BLUE SKY  

BY MARISA WEGRZYN

Here at ChiIL Live Shows we've long turned to A Red Orchid for consistently cutting edge, world class productions.

Regular Run: April 18 – May 25, 2014

Schedule:     Thursdays: 8:00 p.m.

Fridays: 8:00 p.m.

Saturdays: 8:00 p.m. (4pm matinee added on Saturday, April 19)  

Sundays: 3:00 p.m. (No performance on Easter Sunday, April 20) 

Location: A Red Orchid Theatre, 1531 N. Wells Ave.

Tickets: $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 

A Red Orchid Theatre presents the Chicago Premiere of Mud Blue Sky written by Marisa Wegrzyn and directed by Ensemble Member Shade Murray. The production will feature AROT Ensemble Members Natalie West, Mierka Girten and Kirsten Fitzgerald, and will run April 9 – May 25, 2014 at A Red Orchid Theatre, 1531 N. Wells.

A high school pot dealer abandons his prom night to crash the hotel room reunion between three flight attendants (all old enough to be his mother). Booze is poured, herb is smoked, the room blurs and futures, careers, and kindness snap sharply into focus. We suggest that you keep your seat belt fastened throughout the performance, as you are certain to experience turbulence. Local Playwright Marisa Wegrzyn's profoundly compassionate and fiercely witty play makes its Chicago Premiere. 

“Mud Blue Sky is both fierce and compassionate,” comments Artistic Director Kirsten Fitzgerald. “I find these two qualities at the core of Marisa’s work and am thrilled to be collaborating with her and with my fellow Orchids to bring it to Chicago. The previous work we have all done together allows us to challenge each other and the play all the more.”

Mud Blue Sky features Ensemble Members Kirsten Fitzgerald (Angie), Mierka Girten (Sam) and Natalie West (Beth), with Matt Farabee (Jonathan). Fitzgerald, Girten and West were last seen together at A Red Orchid together in the Company’s smash-hit production of Abigail’s Party, also directed by Shade Murray. West, Fitzgerald and Murray also collaborated on Wegrzyn’s Butcher of Baraboo in 2012.

The creative team for Mud Blue Sky includes Jackie Penrod (scenic), Ensemble Member Karen Kawa (costumes), Ensemble Member Mike Durst (lighting), Brando Triantafillou (sound), Corinne Bass (props), Stephanie Heller (stage manager), Jessie Roth (assistant director) and Brian Sauer (technical director).

Marisa Wegrzyn (playwright) Productions include The Butcher of Baraboo (A Red Orchid Theatre & Steppenwolf Theatre's First Look Rep); Diversey Harbor; Killing Women; The Chicago Landmark Project: State & Madison; The Grid (Theatre Seven); Hickorydickory; Ten Cent Night (Chicago Dramatists); Psalms of a Questionable Nature (Rivendell Theatre).Her plays have been produced Off Broadway at Second Stage, at Actors Theatre of Louisville's Humana Festival, Moxie Theatre (San Diego), The Road Theatre (Los Angeles), CENTERSTAGE Baltimore. She's been commissioned by Yale Repertory Theatre and Steppenwolf Theatre. Chicago Reader named her Best Playwright in the 2008 "Best of Chicago" issue, and she received the 2009 Wendy Wasserstein Playwriting Prize. She was a writer for the TV drama "Mind Games" on ABC, a contributor to The Paper Machete Live Magazine, a resident playwright at Chicago Dramatists, and a founding company member of Theatre Seven of Chicago.

Shade Murray (Director) directed Annie Baker’s The Aliens and Nick Jones’ Trevor at A Red Orchid as well as The Butcher of Baraboo, Abigail's Party (Jeff Nomination, Director) and Kimberly Akimbo.  He recently had the pleasure of directing Annie Bosh is Missing for Steppenwolf Theatre’s First Look.  Other credits include End Days at Next Theatre, The Chosen (Jeff Nomination, Director), The Subject Was Roses at Writers' Theatre, Fatty Arbuckle... at Second City, The Petrified Forest, The Good Soul of Szechuan, R.U.R., Marathon '33 (Jeff and After Dark Awards, ensemble), Detective Story (Jeff Award, Production, Director, Ensemble), WRLS #5, and Our Country's Good at Strawdog Theatre, Stupid Kids (Jeff Nomination, Director), Some Explicit Polaroids, Santaland Diaries, Never Swim Alone at Roadworks as well as productions at the MCA, Shattered Globe, About Face, Colbalt, Shakespeare's Motley Crew, Timberlake Playhouse and dance theatre in collaboration with MK and Birgitta Victorson. Shade is an MFA candidate in directing at Northwestern University, an associate artist with A Red Orchid and Strawdog Theatre Companies and has taught at Northwestern University, DePaul University, Act One Studios, National Louis University, National High School Institute, Piven Workshop and the Actor's Gym.

Matt Farabee (Jonathan) Chicago credits include:  punkplay (Steppenwolf Garage); Skylight (Court Theater); MilkMilkLemonade (Pavement Group); Elizabeth Rex (Chicago Shakespeare); Tigers Be Still (Theater Wit); The Shadow Over Innsmouth(WildClaw Theatre); The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek (Eclipse Theatre Company).  Off Broadway: A Bright New Boise (Partial Comfort). Regional: Lord of the Flies; One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Round House Theatre).  He is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Kirsten Fitzgerald (Angie) is a member of the Artistic Ensemble at A Red Orchid and the current Artistic Director.  Her performances here at home include The Butcher of Baraboo, The New Electric Ballroom, Abigail's Party, The Sea Horse [Jeff Award], Pumpgirl, Weapon of Mass Impact, Mr. Bundy, The Killer and more. Other Chicago credits include Appropriate (Victory Gardens), Clybourne Park, The Elephant Man, and A Streetcar Named Desire (Steppenwolf Theatre); Major Barbara (Remy Bumppo); Romeo and Juliet (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre); Flaming Guns of the Purple Sage (Defiant Theatre);  A Moon for the Misbegotten (Circle Theatre) in addition to work with Next, Goodman, Shattered Globe, Famous Door, Plasticene and the Utah Shakespeare Festival among others. Kirsten teaches acting at DePaul University and Columbia College.  She can be seen on TV right now in Sirens (USA- Thursdays 9:00c) and has worked on Chicago Fire (NBC), ER (NBC) and Underemployed (MTV).

MIERKA GIRTEN (Sam) was last seen in Trevor and in Simpatico at A Red Orchid Theatre where she is an ensemble member. Off-Broadway, she was seen in Mistakes Were Made with Michael Shannon and Sam Deutsch, after doing the world premiere right here at home. Also at A Red Orchid: Abigail’s Party, Weapon of Mass Impact, The Meek, Kimberly Akimbo and The Treatment. Other Chicago credits include:  her one woman show With or Without Wings, The Walls at Rivendell Theatre Company, A View From The Bridge at ATC, The Book Of Liz with Roadworks, The Danube, Edmond, Marat Sade and A Blood Wedding with The Hypocrites, Into The Woods at Porchlight, Marathon 33 and Subterranean Love Story at Strawdog Theatre, in addition to work with Appletree, Circle Theatre, Livebait, Illinois Theatre Center, Provision, and Cobalt Ensemble.  Mierka toured the country in The Secret Garden and has been heard nationally, as an announcer and jingle singer on many radio and television commercials. Film credits include: The Manson Family, The Lake at Evening and The Drunk. Mierka is the founder of The Mookie Jam Foundation, benefiting artists with Multiple Sclerosis - because she is a daily warrior against the disease. Perseverance furthers. 

Natalie West (Beth) is a member of the ensemble at A Red Orchid. She most recently appeared in Sons of the Prophet at American Theatre Company. Previous productions include Side Man (Steppenwolf), The Man Who Came to Dinner (Steppenwolf and The Barbican in London), House and Garden (Goodman), How I Learned to Drive (Northlight), God of Hell (Next), The Guys (Piven), and several shows with Remains Theatre where she was an ensemble member for many years. Natalie was a regular on the television show Roseanne as Crystal. Films include Nate and Margaret, Poker House, Life Sentence and Bushwhacked. Natalie is the recipient of three Jeff Awards for supporting actress for Butcher of Baraboo and Abigail's Party at A Red Orchid and Life and Limb at Wisdom Bridge. She holds a MSW from Loyola University Chicago and a BA in Theatre from Indiana University. She also attended Webber Douglas Drama Academy in London.

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.  It was named Best Theatre of 2010 by Chicago Magazine. The resident Ensemble maintains the conviction that live theatre is the greatest sustenance for the human spirit, and the 2013-2014 subscription season promises to bring Ensemble and audience even closer together.

A Red Orchid Theatre is: Lance Baker, Kamal Angelo Bolden, Dado, Mike Durst, Jennifer Engstrom, Kirsten Fitzgerald, Joseph Fosco, Steve Haggard, Mierka Girten, Larry Grimm, Karen Kawa, Karen Kessler, Danny McCarthy, Shade Murray, Brett Neveu, Michael Shannon, Guy Van Swearingen, Doug Vickers, Natalie West and Craig Wright.

ACT OUT OPENING: U.S. Premiere of Solstice Opens TONIGHT at A Red Orchid

Solstice

By Zinnie Harris 

*U.S. Premiere* 

January 9 – February 23, 2014

We'll be there tonight reviewing for ChiIL Live Shows, and we'll have a full review here shortly.

In a war-torn world, in an unnamed city divided by a river–and religion, politics, and money– a devout candlemaker, his sick wife, and their son struggle to survive.  When they learn of a plan for their side of the river to be mined for minerals, and, worse, that their son has taken drastic action against their oppressors, their lives dramatically change.  Zinnie Harris’ otherworldly play explores terrorism and a family attempting to keep ahold of their faith and each other in a world torn apart by violence and inequality–a world we often fear ours becoming.

Directed by Ensemble Member Karen Kessler

Featuring Ensemble Members Larry Grimm & Kirsten Fitzgerald with Artistic Associate Steve Schine

ACT OUT EXTENDED: The Aliens at Red Orchid #Review

DUE TO TICKET DEMAND,

A RED ORCHID THEATRE EXTENDS THE CHICAGO PREMIERE OF

THE ALIENS

Playwright, Annie Baker knows how to get inside your head.  She's not afraid of pauses, lengthy silence and OCD rants designed to make the audience squirm.   And once her plays get under your skin, they stay there.   Come see the highly recommended Chi-town premiere of The Aliens, now extended due to high ticket demand.   

ChiIL Live Shows caught opening night and we were blown away.  Context makes a huge difference in perception and pacing is everything.   If someone sits in meditation as a monk, they're revered and respected.   If someone does the same behind a dumpster, they're a bum.  A highly ritualized tea ceremony performed for enlightenment is derelict or desired, just because the who and where changes.   The Aliens truly takes you on a deep, tangent filled journey with it's troubled trio of entirely endearing characters.

This familiar journey of failed musicians, writers and intellectuals unfolds in a "secret garden" of barren land, behind the stinking dumpsters of the Green Sheep Coffee House.   It's striking and perfect that the friends hang out in back by choice, since they hate the conventional music and vibe inside.   They choose instead to create their own space, and rituals, mentally and physically, in the land outside.

We highly recommend catching The Aliens.   You'll never hear the word ladder the same way again.

The Chicago Premiere of The Aliens by Annie Baker Directed by Artistic Associate Shade Murray Featuring Ensemble Member Steve Haggard with Brad Akin and Michael Finley. January 17-March 16, 2013 Shows Thursday-Saturday at 8:00pm and Sunday at 3:00pm Click To Purchase Tickets or call the box office at (312) 943-8722

A Red Orchid Theatre announces new performance dates for its hit Chicago Premiere production of Annie Baker’s The Aliens, directed by Shade Murray.  Due to high ticket demand, the production is now extended through Saturday, March 16, 2013 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.

All day every day, two slackers hang out behind a coffee shop by the dumpsters.  These guys have elevated loitering to an almost Buddhist “tea ceremony” level, where music, Bukowski, sex, travel, philosophy, friendship, and ambition - or lack thereof - are intensely meditated upon while the busy world rushes by.  Enter a 17 year-old barista-cum-disciple, and so begins a summer where no one moves but everything changes. 

The Aliens features A Red Orchid Ensemble Member Steve Haggard (Jasper), with Brad Akin (KJ), and Michael Finley (Evan).

Title:               The Aliens

Written by:        Annie Baker

Directed by:      Artistic Associate Shade Murray

Featuring:         Ensemble Member Steve Haggard, with Brad Akin and Michael Finley

Dates:              

                                    Regular Run:               January 22 – March 3, 2013

           

EXTENSION:   Now extended through Saturday, March 16, 2013.

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),

$50 Red Night Opening & Reception on January 25 at 8 p.m.

Box Office:       Located at 1531 N. Wells Ave, Chicago, (312) 943-8722; or online www.aredorchidtheatre.org

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.

ACT OUT OPENING: A Red Orchid Theatre Presents The Aliens

Michael Finley (Evan), Steve Haggard (Jasper), and Brad Akin (KJ) 

                                                          

A RED ORCHID THEATRE CONTINUES ITS 20^TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON WITH

THE CHICAGO PREMIERE OF THE ALIENS

WRITTEN BY ANNIE BAKER AND DIRECTED BY SHADE MURRAY

FEATURING ENSEMBLE MEMBER STEVE HAGGARD, WITH BRAD AKIN, AND MICHAEL FINLEY

JANUARY 17 – MARCH 3, 2013

A Red Orchid Theatre is one of our ChiILpicks for consistently cutting edge, professional theatre.   We dig ensemble member, Brett Neveu's, macabre and darkly insightful works and have seen many of his shows here over the years.    We're also looking forward to The Chicago premiere of The Aliens, by Annie Baker, opening next week. 

A Red Orchid Theatre presents the Chicago premiere of The Aliens, written by Annie Baker and directed by Artistic Associate Shade Murray. The production will run January 17 – March 3, 2013 at A Red Orchid Theatre, 1531 N. Wells.  

All day every day, two slackers hang out behind a coffee shop by the dumpsters.  These guys have elevated loitering to an almost Buddhist “tea ceremony” level, where music, Bukowski, sex, travel, philosophy, friendship, and ambition (or lack thereof) are intensely meditated upon while the busy world rushes by.  Enter a 17 year-old barrista-cum-disciple, and so begins a summer where no one moves but everything changes. 

“I love the way that Annie Baker’s plays seem to reset the pace, almost suspending time to allow for an incredibly close, almost secret-feeling, look into the souls of her characters,” said Artistic Director Kirsten Fitzgerald.  “This play is a gift.  Annie truly has a way of speaking to and drawing humans with such compassion, and I cannot wait to have her in the room.”

The Aliens features A Red Orchid Ensemble Member Steve Haggard (Jasper), with Brad Akin (KJ), and Michael Finley (Evan).

The creative team includes Dan Stratton (Set Designer), Joanna Melville (Costume Designer), Heather Gilbert (Lighting Designer), Brando Triantafillou (Sound Designer), Toni Kendrick (Props Designer), Jim Moore (Technical Director), S. G. Heller (Stage Manager), Alexis Jade Links (Production Manager) and Skye Robinson-Hillis (Assistant Director).

About the artists

Annie Baker (Playwright) grew up in Amherst, Massachusetts. Her full-length plays include Body Awareness (Atlantic Theater Company, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominations for Best Play/Emerging Playwright), Circle Mirror Transformation (Playwrights Horizons, OBIE Award for Best New American Play, Drama Desk nomination for Best Play), The Aliens (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, OBIE Award for Best New American Play), and Nocturna. Her work has also been developed and produced at New York Theatre Workshop, MCC, Soho Rep, the Orchard Project, the Ontological-Hysteric, Ars Nova, the Huntington, South Coast Rep, the Magic Theater, the Cape Cod Theatre Project, the Bay Area Playwrights Festival, and the Sundance Institute Theatre Lab in Utah and Ucross, Wyoming. Annie is a member of New Dramatists, MCC’s Playwrights Coalition, and EST, and an alumna of Youngblood, Ars Nova’s Play Group, and the Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab. Recent honors include a New York Drama Critics Circle Special Citation, a Susan Smith Blackburn Prize nomination, a Time Warner Storytelling Fellowship, a MacDowell Fellowship, and commissions from Center Theatre Group and Playwrights Horizons. She received her MFA from Mac Wellman’s playwriting program at Brooklyn College.

Shade Murray's (Director) directing credits include Abigail's Party (Jeff Nomination, Director) and The Butcher of Baraboo at A Red Orchid, End Days at Next Theatre, The Chosen (Jeff Nomination, Director), The Subject Was Roses at Writers' Theatre, Fatty Arbuckle... at Second City, The Petrified Forest, The Good Soul of Szechuan, R.U.R., Marathon '33 (Jeff and After Dark Awards, ensemble), Detective Story (Jeff Award, Production, Director, Ensemble), and Our Country's Good at Strawdog Theatre, Stupid Kids (Jeff Nomination, Director), Some Explicit Polaroids, Santaland Diaries, Never Swim Alone at Roadworks as well as productions at the MCA, Shattered Globe, About Face, Colbalt, Shakespeare's Motley Crew, Timberlake Playhouse and dance theatre in collaboration with MK and Birgitta Victorson. Shade is an MFA candidate in directing at Northwestern University, an associate artist with A Red Orchid and Strawdog Theatre Companies and has taught at Northwestern University, DePaul University, Act One Studios, National Louis University, National High School Institute, Piven Workshop and the Actor's Gym.

Brad Akin (KJ) is an actor, director and teacher based in Chicago. This marks his A Red Orchid debut. Brad is a company member of Steep Theatre Company, where he also serves as Literary Manager.  Acting credits include Breathing Corpses, The Night Heron, Incident at Vichy, Icarus's Mother (Steep). Directing credits include Under The Blue Sky, Greensboro: A Requiem, Insignificance, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot,Book of Days (Steep); Where We're Born (Steppenwolf); and OOHRAH! (LiveWire Chicago).

Michael Finley (Evan) is currently in his third year of theatre, film, and anthropology studies at Northwestern University.  Previous credits include A Christmas Carol and High School Musical at Metropolis and You Can't Take It With You at Northwestern Theatre Interpretation Centre.

Steve Haggard (Jasper) is an ensemble member at A Red Orchid where he was last seen in The Mandrake and Kimberly Akimbo.  His Chicago credits include the world premiere of Wasteland (Timeline Theatre),Season’s Greetings and She Stoops to Conquer (Northlight Theatre), Romeo and Juliet and As You Like It (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre), Old Glory, The Subject Was Roses and Our Town  (Writers’ Theatre) and has also performed for The Goodman, Next Theatre, Milwaukee Rep, Remy Bumppo and Indiana Rep. He has spent the last few summer seasons with American Players Theatre in Spring Green Wisconsin where he was seen in The Admirable Crichton, The Tempest, Ah Wilderness, Hay Fever and The comedy of Errors.  He is a graduate of DePaul University.

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.

Dates:             Previews:                     January 17 – January 20, 2013

                                    Regular Run:                January 22 – March 3, 2013

Red Night Opening:      Friday January 25 at 8 p.m.    

   

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),

$50 Red Night Opening & Reception on January 25 at 8 p.m.

Box Office:     Located at 1531 N. Wells Ave, Chicago, (312) 943-8722; or online www.aredorchidtheatre.org

Michael Finley (Evan), Brad Akin (KJ) and Steve Haggard (Jasper)