ACT OUT: Profile Theatre's Sweet and Sad Highly Recommended #Review

PHOTO CREDIT: Michael Brosilow    

Kate Harris (blue dress ), to her right is Eric Burgher sitting next to Kristin Ford and holding hands across the table with Harmony France. Darrell W. Cox is wearing a white shirt

PROFILES THEATRE

Sweet and Sad (Midwest Premiere)

by Richard Nelson

Directed by Joe Jahraus

ChiIL Live Shows had the great pleasure of seeing Sweet and Sad on opening night.   This is one of the most eloquent memorials to 9/11 out there.   The truths that lie in the things spoken, the things forgotten, and the things remembered but left unsaid, speak volumes.   Truly, memorials may stand and mark the scene of tragedies large enough to reshape the world,   but the purest memorials lie in the works of art, theatre, music, spoken and written word that arise from the effects on real people.    Sweet and Sad deals with losses as intimate and personal as the suicide of a child and the slow loss of a life time's worth of memories, and with mass losses like the death toll of 9/11 and our country's loss of innocence, invincibility and sense of security.  

Sweet and Sad 

is a 

thought provoking

must see.

The scene opens on a stark and barren stage, leaving everything to the audience's imagination.   Then the trappings of polite society are unfurled, physically and metaphorically, as an Oriental rug is rolled out, a table is set for a large, family brunch, and a buffet of real food is paraded out.   As the Apple extended family digs in to their meal and each other,  the audience becomes a fly on the wall, in this highly engaging, realistic, family ritual.   It's amazing just how effectively Profiles was able to pull off a theatre in the round production in their intimate, new space.   The banter and timing come off realistically, and there are certainly funny moments and more than a few chuckles of recognition of real life "characters".   

We thought Robert Breuler was a particular stand out with his zen-like, live in the moment, amnesiac.   

PHOTO CREDIT: Michael Brosilow    

Robert Breuler with cast

Of course, with another impending 9/11 anniversary next week and the election buzz in full swing, this show is as timely as ever.   In fact, they are adding a special extra 9/11 performance.

Tuesday, September 11 at 8 pm. The event will feature pre-show appetizers and cocktails at 6:30 pm and a post-show discussion with the cast and director.

PHOTO CREDIT: Michael Brosilow    

Darrell W. Cox standing over Robert Breuler

Sweet and Sad is an excellent choice to introduce The Main Stage, 4139 N. Broadway, next door to Profiles Theatre's long time home, now called The Alley Stage, 4147 N. Broadway.   The Second Stage, rental space, has now been transferred to Rare Terra Theatre Company as of August 15th.

Featuring Profiles ensemble members Darrell W. Cox and Eric Burgher with Robert Breuler, Kristin Ford, Harmony France and Kate Harris

August 17 – October 7, 2012

Profiles Theatre, The Main Stage, 4139 N. Broadway

Tickets: $30 - $40

Box Office: www.profilestheatre.org or (773) 549-1815

With Sweet and Sad, Tony Award-winning playwright Richard Nelson continues his series of plays exploring the immediate present and the ever-changing state of the nation. Over Sunday brunch on the tenth anniversary of 9/11, the Apple Family finds themselves talking about loss, remembrance and the family struggle to maintain its moral equilibrium in a world that no longer reflects its values.

Profiles Theatre’s production follows the highly acclaimed world premiere at The Public Theater in New York last season. Named one of the top ten plays of the year by the New York Times, New York Magazine and Bloomberg News, Sweet and Sad is part of Richard Nelson’s planned series of four works charting the changes undergone by an extended family from the village of Rhinebeck, New York. Beginning with That Hopey Changey Thing in 2010 and the upcoming Sorry opening at The Public Theater in October 2012, the plays take place in real time and have their World premiere on the dates they are set.

Regular Run: August 24 – October 7, 2012

Schedule: Thurs., Fri.: 8:00 p.m.

Saturday: 5:00 p.m. and 8:00p.m. (no 5pm show August 18 and 25)

Sunday: 7:00 p.m.

Added Performance: Tuesday, September 11 at 8 pm

Location: Profiles Theatre, The Main Stage, 4139 N. Broadway

Parking is available for $10 - $12 at 4100 N. Clarendon

(One block east of the theatre at the corner of Clarendon and Belle Plaine)

Ticket prices:  

Thursdays are $35, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays are $40; Tuesday, September 11 tickets are $40. Students and Senior Citizens receive a $5 discount on all performances; Group rates are available.

Box Office: Buy online at www.profilestheatre.org

or call (773) 549-1815

Now that Profiles has new digs, they're off to a great start to their 24th season, with two openings in rapid succession.   ChiIL Live Shows will be there for opening night of After tonight (9/5) and we'll have a full review shortly.

Profiles Theatre continues 24^th Season

with the Midwest premiere

 of After by Chad Beckim

directed by Matt Hawkins

Profiles Theatre announces the Midwest premiere of After by Chad Beckim, the second show of the company’s 2012-2013 season.  After, directed by guest artist Matt Hawkins, runs August 31-October 14, 2012.   Performances are held at Profiles original venue, The Alley Stage, 4147 N. Broadway.   

When a wrongfully imprisoned man is exonerated by DNA evidence after seventeen years in prison, he is forced to re-assimilate into a cold, foreign world of toothbrush shopping, doggy day care, and a friendship with an anxious young woman with secrets of her own. After is a compassionate portrait of a man struggling with the challenges of socializing and the anger he still feels for having his youth unjustly destroyed.

After, written by Chad Beckim, received its World premiere production in September 2011 by Partial Comfort Productions in New York where he is co-Founder and co-Artistic Director. His playwriting credits include …a matter of choice, `nami and Lights Rise on Grace which won Outstanding Play at the 2007 New York International Fringe Festival and finalist for the 2007 Princess Grace Award. Chad holds an MFA in Playwriting from Mac Wellman’s Brooklyn Colleges Program and in July 2007, he was named one of 50 Playwrights to Watch by the Dramatists Guild.

Matt Hawkins (director of Cabaret at The Hypocrites) directs for the first time at Profiles. The production features guest artists Alice da Cunha, Carlos Rogelio Diaz, J. Salome Martinez, Stephenie Park, Gabriel Ruiz and Foster Williams, Jr., all making their debut with Profiles Theatre.

“There’s a delicate balance to my work; a dark, often bare-knuckle aesthetic entwined with levity, heart and hope,” says playwright Chad Beckim.  “This is particularly true in the slippery landscape of After which demands a bold production team. Like any playwright, I’ve longed to find a home in Chicago, and am thrilled that Profiles Theatre—a company with a rich history of staging similarly daring voices and intrepid worlds – has carved out space for my baby.  I’m eager to see how audiences of such a theatrically savvy company in such a theatrically savvy town embrace this story.”

The designers are Dan Stratton (set), Bekki Lambrecht (lights), Jeffrey Levin (sound and original music), and Brittany Bodley (costumes).  Krissy Larson is the stage managerand Elise Spoerlein serves as assistant director.

After is the second production of Profiles Theatre’s 24^th season. The Midwest premiere of Sweet and Sad by Richard Nelson opens at Profiles Theatre’s Main Stage on August 24, 2012. The season also includes the 20^th Anniversary production of Hellcab by Will Kern, and the Midwest premieres of The Dream of the Burning Boy by David West Read andThe Break of Noon by Neil LaBute.

Tickets for After are $35 for Thursdays, $40 for Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Tickets are available by phone, (773) 549-1815, or online, www.profilestheatre.org.  Performances are Thursdays and Fridays at 8:00 p.m., Saturdays at 5:00 and 8:00 pm, Sundays at 7:00 p.m.

ACT OUT: After at Profiles Opening Night Tonight and Hamlet at Writers' Theatre

Opening:

After at Profiles Theatre
We can't wait for opening night TONIGHT, and we'll have a full review up shortly.    

When a wrongfully imprisoned man is exonerated by DNA evidence after seventeen years in prison, he is forced to re-assimilate into a cold, foreign world of toothbrush shopping, doggy day care, and a friendship with an anxious young woman with secrets of her own. After is a compassionate portrait of a man struggling with the challenges of socializing and the anger he still feels for having his youth unjustly destroyed.

Schedule: Thurs., Fri.: 8:00 p.m.
Saturday: 5:00 p.m. and 8:00p.m. (no 5pm show September 1 and 8)
Sunday: 7:00 p.m.

Location: Profiles Theatre, The Alley Stage, 4147 N. Broadway
Parking is available for $10 - $12 at 4100 N. Clarendon
(One block east of the theatre at the corner of Clarendon and Belle Plaine)

Ticket prices:
Thursdays are $35, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays are $40; Students and Senior Citizens receive a $5 discount on all performances; Group rates are available.
Box Office: Buy online at www.profilestheatre.org
or call (773) 549-1815

**Check out our prior coverage and full show details here.**

Writers’ Theatre presents

Hamlet

written by William Shakespeare

directed by Artistic Director Michael Halberstam

featuring Scott Parkinson in the title role

Writers’ Theatre, under the direction of Artistic Director Michael Halberstam and Executive Director Kathryn M. Lipuma, opens its 21^st season with Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare and directed by Artistic Director Michael Halberstam. The production runs September 4, 2012 – November 11, 2012 at Writers’ Theatre, 325 Tudor Court in Glencoe. 

The king is dead—murdered by his own brother, who has claimed the throne and the widowed queen. And the world goes on…but the Prince cannot. Shakespeare’s greatest tragedy is equal parts ghost story, political intrigue, doomed romance and murder mystery, driven by one of literature’s most intriguing, enigmatic and controversial characters.

**Check out our prior coverage and full show details here.**

Act Out: After Opens at Profiles Theatre 8/31/12

Profiles Theatre continues 24th Season
with the Midwest premiere
of After by Chad Beckim,
directed by Matt Hawkins
 
Profiles Theatre announces the Midwest premiere of After by Chad Beckim, the second show of the company’s 2012-2013 season. After, directed by guest artist Matt Hawkins, runs August 31-October 14, 2012.  Performances are held at Profiles original venue, The Alley Stage, 4147 N. Broadway.
 
When a wrongfully imprisoned man is exonerated by DNA evidence after seventeen years in prison, he is forced to re-assimilate into a cold, foreign world of toothbrush shopping, doggy day care, and a friendship with an anxious young woman with secrets of her own. After is a compassionate portrait of a man struggling with the challenges of socializing and the anger he still feels for having his youth unjustly destroyed.

After, written by Chad Beckim, received its World premiere production in September 2011 by Partial Comfort Productions in New York where he is co-Founder and co-Artistic Director. His playwriting credits include …a matter of choice, `nami and Lights Rise on Grace which won Outstanding Play at the 2007 New York International Fringe Festival and finalist for the 2007 Princess Grace Award. Chad holds an MFA in Playwriting from Mac Wellman’s Brooklyn Colleges Program and in July 2007, he was named one of 50 Playwrights to Watch by the Dramatists Guild.

Matt Hawkins (director of Cabaret at The Hypocrites) directs for the first time at Profiles. The production features guest artists Alice da Cunha, Carlos Rogelio Diaz, J. Salome Martinez, Stephenie Park, Gabriel Ruiz and Foster Williams, Jr., all making their debut with Profiles Theatre.

“There’s a delicate balance to my work; a dark, often bare-knuckle aesthetic entwined with levity, heart and hope,” says playwright Chad Beckim. “This is particularly true in the slippery landscape of After which demands a bold production team. Like any playwright, I’ve longed to find a home in Chicago, and am thrilled that Profiles Theatre—a company with a rich history of staging similarly daring voices and intrepid worlds – has carved out space for my baby. I’m eager to see how audiences of such a theatrically savvy company in such a theatrically savvy town embrace this story.”

The designers are Dan Stratton (set), Bekki Lambrecht (lights), Jeffrey Levin (sound and original music), and Brittany Bodley (costumes). Krissy Larson is the stage manager and Elise Spoerlein serves as assistant director.

After is the second production of Profiles Theatre’s 24th season. The Midwest premiere of Sweet and Sad by Richard Nelson opens at Profiles Theatre’s Main Stage on August 24, 2012. The season also includes the 20th Anniversary production of Hellcab by Will Kern, and the Midwest premieres of The Dream of the Burning Boy by David West Read and The Break of Noon by Neil LaBute.

Tickets for After are $35 for Thursdays, $40 for Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Tickets are available by phone, (773) 549-1815, or online, www.profilestheatre.org. Performances are Thursdays and Fridays at 8:00 p.m., Saturdays at 5:00 and 8:00 pm, Sundays at 7:00 p.m.
 

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

CHAD BECKIM (Playwright) is a New York City based playwright whose writing credits include …a matter of choice, `nami, Lights Rise on Grace (Winner, Outstanding Play, 2007 NY International Fringe Festival; Finalist for the 2007 Princess Grace Award; Finalist for Ojai Playwrights’ Conference), The Main(e) Play (Semi-Finalist, The O’Neill Festival, Optioned by Table Ten Films in 2010), That Men Do (Member of The Lark’s 2009 “Playwright’s Week” and Naked Angels “First Mondays” Series) and Mercy. He has also authored a number of shorts and one-acts, including The Fluffer and Marvel Super Hero Squad, both produced at Ars Nova, as well as Tha Bess Shit, Alexander Pays a Visit, Blac(c)ident, and Last First Kiss, which was adapted into a Columbia Grad film and produced in July, 2008. Chad holds an MFA in Playwrighting from Mac Wellman’s Brooklyn Colleges Program, and in July of 2007 was named one of “50 Playwrights to Watch” by the Dramatists Guild. His work has been published by Samuel French, Playscripts, Smith & Krauss, Autumn House Publications and in the Plays and Playwrights 2007 collection by NYTE. He is a former member of Ars Nova’s acclaimed “Play Group,” and is a co-Founder and co-Artistic Director of Partial Comfort Productions.

MATT HAWKINS (Director) has been a director/actor/fight choreographer in Chicago for the past eleven years. Favorite directing credits include Cabaret with The Hypocrites, Red Noses for Strawdog, On My Parents’ 100th Wedding Anniversary with Side Project, Alice, Fear for the Neo-Futurists, Cyrano and Hatfield and McCoy with The House Theatre. Other favorite projects include playing Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire at Writers’ Theatre and serving as the Movement Director for Peter Pan at Lookingglass. He has also worked with Steppenwolf, Court Theatre, The Royal Shakespeare Company, The Kennedy Center, Chicago Shakespeare, Stratford Shakespeare Festival, Redmoon, American Theatre Company, Steep, Pine Box, City Lit, Signal Ensemble, Adventure Stage, The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, Chicago Children’s Theatre and Old Town School of Folk Music. Matt has been an Adjunct Professor of Theater at Loyola and on faculty at the Conservatory at Act One Studios. He has taught at the University of Chicago, Roosevelt University, the University of Iowa and was the Guest Artist in Residency for the American Music Theatre Project at Northwestern University in 2010. Matt is a Founding Member of The House Theatre, an Artistic Associate and Resident Director with Strawdog, an Artistic Associate with 500 Clown and the recipient of five Jeff Awards. Later in the year he will direct Big Love at Strawdog and he will serve as fight director for Bengal Tiger At The Baghdad Zoo at Lookingglass. He is married to Stacy Stoltz.

ALICE DA CUNHA (Liz) is making her Profiles Theatre debut. She was recently seen in Dal Vivo at the Den Theatre and O Telefone Substituto for the Todos Festival, Lisbon. Her UK credits include This Much is True with Theatre 503, El Desierto at the CASA Festival, Aaron and Esther with Etcetera Theatre, Closing Time with Assembly Rooms at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival & Soho Theatre, Chairmania at Battersea Arts Centre, Anna in the Tropics with Hampstead Theatre, Faust with Bridewell Theatre, and Romeo & Juliet with Hazlitt Theatre. Alice’s film credits include The Iron Lady and Outpost: The Black Sun. She is an ensemble member of Dal Vivo and Artistic Consultant for Theater Un-Speak-Able. 
 
CARLOS ROGELIO DIAZ (Eddie) is appearing with Profiles for the first time. He is a Chicago native and most recently worked with Halcyon Theater's production of Freud Skating On Thin Ice directed by Henry Godinez, Adventure Stage Chicago's The Giver and The Fine Print Theater's At Ease. Previous collaborators have included Cock & Bull Theater, Aguijon Theater and the Bailiwick among others. Carlos is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Chicago, a member of SAG - AFTRA and represented by Paonessa Talent Agency.

J. SALOME MARTINEZ, JR. (Monty) is making his Profiles and Chicago debut with After having recently moved from Los Angeles. Some of his theatre credits include As You Like It, Man of La Mancha, The Seagull and A Christmas Carol. Salome has also appeared on several television shows and films including Law & Order, Castle, the Emmy award-winning HBO mini-series Generation Kill, New York, I Love You and the Oscar Nominated film The Messenger. He received his BA in theatre from Barat College and his MFA in acting from the University of Florida.

STEPHENIE PARK (Susie) is making her Profiles debut in After. Last season she was an understudy in the Silk Road Rising original production of Re-Spiced: A Silk Road Cabaret, and prior to that, she came in 4th place on competitive cooking show America's Next Great Restaurant. Other recent productions include Carousel and The Wild Party with Penn Players. Stephenie’s upcoming appearances include the television series Boss, the independent film It's a Terrible Week for Singing and a staged reading of Cowboy vs. Samurai. When she is not acting, Stephenie is a musician and practicing attorney.

GABRIEL RUIZ (Warren) is a graduate of The Theatre School at DePaul University and a company member of Teatro Vista Theater Company. Gabriel was last seen in Blood and Gifts at The Lincoln Center Theater in New York. Chicago credits include Working at the Broadway Playhouse, Richard III and SS! A Midsummer Night's Dream at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Our Lady of the Underpass with Teatro Vista, Esperanza Rising for Chicago Children's Theater, and Why Torture is Wrong, and the People Who Love Them with Forward Theater Company in Madison, WI. He can also be seen as Dilip Singh in both seasons of Boss on Starz.

FOSTER WILLIAMS, JR. (Chap) is making his Profiles Theatre debut with After. He has appeared in such productions as The Man Who Saved New Orleans, Bedtime Story, Lifetimes on the Streets and Woman From the Town with ETA Creative Arts Foundation, The Amen Corner with Ray of Hope Theatre, Jitney and Two Trains Runing with Pegasus Players, Sketch Book 2007 with Collaboraction Theatre, The Haunted L for Quest Theatre Ensemble and A Black Man Named Joe with Black Theater Ensemble. Foster’s independent film credits include Dark and Never Say Yes to a Stranger.



Schedule: Thurs., Fri.: 8:00 p.m.
Saturday: 5:00 p.m. and 8:00p.m. (no 5pm show September 1 and 8)
Sunday: 7:00 p.m.

Location: Profiles Theatre, The Alley Stage, 4147 N. Broadway
Parking is available for $10 - $12 at 4100 N. Clarendon
(One block east of the theatre at the corner of Clarendon and Belle Plaine)

Ticket prices: Previews: $20
Regular Run: Thursdays are $35, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays are $40; Students and Senior Citizens receive a $5 discount on all performances; Group rates are available.
Box Office: Buy online at www.profilestheatre.org
or call (773) 549-1815


ABOUT PROFILES THEATRE

Profiles Theatre, founded in 1988 by Artistic Director Joe Jahraus, joined shortly thereafter by Artistic Director Darrell W. Cox, was formed as an actor-driven theatre ensemble dedicated to creating provocative and emotionally truthful productions. Passionate about shaping an original vision for new works, they focused on performing World, American and Midwest premieres as well as rarely performed plays. Critically acclaimed hits, such as Blackbird, Fat Pig and Graceland and the multiple Jeff Award-winning Killer Joe established Profiles as a destination for challenging and edgy theatre. Their unique collaboration with playwright Neil LaBute led the ensemble to perform an entire season of his plays in 2007-2008. Now a Resident Artist at Profiles, LaBute remains an unequivocal artistic influence on the ensemble.

After performing at 4147 North Broadway for more than two decades, Profiles acquired an adjacent theatre at 4139 North Broadway in 2012. Profiles’ new theatre, The Main Stage, with its larger seating capacity, increased performance space and higher ceilings, accommodates more ambitious and technically demanding productions. Their long-time venue, renamed The Alley Stage, continues as the home for plays strengthened by a more intimate staging. Driven by an undiminished appetite for creating honest and resonant theatre, Profiles still seeks to present work that illuminates the determination and resiliency of the human spirit.