The Digital Offering ELEVATOR TOURS BY BARRIE COLE Available for Download May 1, 2024

ChiIL Live Shows On Our Radar 

The Digital Offering 

ELEVATOR TOURS

Part of 

HAMBURGERS AND DISAPPOINTMENT: PLAYS ABOUT ENOUGHNESS

A FESTIVAL OF WORKS BY BARRIE COLE

Available for Download May 1

Elevator Tours, written by Barrie Cole, originally directed by Jen Moniz and illustrated by Jules Darling, will receive its digital premiere Wednesday, May 1 as part of  Hamburgers and Disappointment: Plays about Enoughness, a festival of works by Barrie Cole playing in repertory, May 2 - 19 at 7:30 p.m., at Labyrinth Club, 3658 N. Pulaski Road.

 Sweetback Productions, in collaboration with Labyrinth Arts, is proud to announce Elevator Tours, written by Barrie Cole, originally directed by Jen Moniz and illustrated by Jules Darling, will receive its digital premiere Wednesday, May 1 as part of Hamburgers and Disappointment: Plays about Enoughness, a festival of works by Barrie Cole playing in repertory, May 2 - 19 at 7:30 p.m., at Labyrinth Club, 3658 N. Pulaski Road. The Festival includes four plays from Cole, performed in repertory: Performances of Schedule 1 includes I Love You Permanently and Fruit Tree Backpack runs on Thursdays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Schedule 2 that includes Capacity and Meaning is Tricky runs on Fridays and Sundays at 7:30 p.m. In addition, for those who may not be able to attend the festival, Elevator Tours, is available for digital download for $10 at BarrieCole.com. Press nights for Hamburgers and Disappointment: Plays about Enoughness are Schedule 1, Saturday, May 4 at 7:30 p.m., and schedule 2, Sunday, May 5 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $20 and are now on sale at SweetBackProductions.com.

“It's extremely exciting to have my work become available digitally to reach non-local audiences. Carolyn Hoerdemann and Colm O'Reilly are exquisite as ‘Ruth’ and ‘Will,’” said playwright Cole. “They were both in the original production and the past years have given their work more depth and nuance than ever. Also, new collaborators Jules Darling and Paul Brennan have made substantial contributions in realizing a new format with their beautiful artwork, attentive recording and editing.”

Hamburgers and Disappointment: Plays about Enoughness, is a new festival of four short, two-character plays by Chicago-based playwright, Barrie Cole performed in repertory and a digital offering:

 Photo of Carolyn Hoerdemann and Colm O’Reilly

DIGITAL OFFERING - available May 1 at BarrieCole.com

Elevator Tours

Written by Barrie Cole (she/her)

Originally directed by Jen Moniz (she/her)

Illustrations by Jules Darling (she/her)

Recorded and Edited by Paul Brennan (he/him)

A special audio play with animation. Ruth (Carolyn Hoerdemann, she/her) has just moved into a new apartment when her recently divorced friend Will (Colm O’Reilly, he/him), comes to stay with her. They discuss life as a spectacle, art and sex.

 

SCHEDULE 1

Performed on Thursdays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m.

Fruit Tree Backpack

Written by Barrie Cole (she/her)

Directed by Jayita Bhattacharya (she/her)

Ceil (Kristy Lockhart, she/her) and Anna (Julia Williams, she/her) traverse the various rooms inside the exhausting, sweet, metaphorical mansion of love.

 

I Love You Permanently

Written by Barrie Cole (she/her)

Directed by Jen Moniz (she/her)

Jay (Jeffrey Bivens, he/him) wants to be with Lee (Vicki Walden, she/her), but is unable to leave his abusive relationship. They meet one last time and try to find out if it is possible to have an entire relationship in the span of one cold night.

 

SCHEDULE 2

Performed on Fridays and Sundays at 7:30 p.m.

WORLD PREMIERE

Capacity

Written by Barrie Cole (she/her)

Capacity is a world premiere and completes Cole’s collection of two-person plays about relationships. The play explores a thorny friendship between a playwright (Kelly Anchors, she/her) and an actor (KellyAnn Corcoran, she/her) who were both, at different times, married to the same man.

Meaning is Tricky

Written by Barrie Cole (she/her)

Originally directed by Jen Moniz (she/her)

Roommates and former lovers Mark (David Isaacson, he/him) and Clare (Diana Slickman, she/her) navigate Clare's burgeoning new relationship with a TV-obsessed man in an open marriage whose wife operates a flower kiosk.

The creative team for Hamburgers and Disappointment: Plays about Enoughness includes: Pamela L. Parker(set/props designer, she/her); Diane Hamm (producer/lighting designer, she/her); Kelly Anchors (producer/costume designer, she/her); Paul Brennan (film/sound designer, he/him); Charlotte Lastra (stage manager, she/her); Hannah Tymosko (stage manager, she/her); Timothy Hiatt (photographer, he/him) and Jules Darling (graphic designer, they/them).

 

ABOUT BARRIE COLE, playwright

Barrie Cole has written 14 plays, numerous monologue works, as well as essays, hybrid-works and more. Her plays have been produced by Theater Oobleck, Curious Theatre Branch and others.The Chicago Reader said about Cole: “Her ambiguously concrete work layers childlike simplicity over seasoned melancholy to produce piercing, wondrous images of charming, discomfiting transformation.”  

 

ABOUT SWEETBACK PRODUCTIONS

Sweetback Productions was founded in 1994 by Kelly Anchors and Mike McKune. They started with a string of hit late night parodies of cult films that includes; Plan 9 From Outer Space, Female Trouble, Super Pussy Vixen, Go Faster! Kill! Kill!, Scarrie, The Musical!, The Birds and Freaks. Sweetback now focuses on more obscure and original work, most recently, Deep Fried and Suck My Nose, which featured three generations of family actors weaving their love through their pain while tap dancing and singing hymns; Bipolar Bitch, a mystical ride into psychosis and Dorothy Mae and the 1978 Holiday Rambler Ramblette, an outdoor extravaganza detailing Kelly’s roadtrip across the southwest during the Trump re-election season. Sweetback is beyond thrilled to be producing this festival of Barrie Cole’s plays, a playwright that Anchors was lucky enough to work with in Clumsy Sublime. Find them on Facebook.

ABOUT LABYRINTH ARTS AND PERFORMANCE COLLECTIVE

Labyrinth Arts and Performance Collective, a 501 c 3 not for profit, is organized for the purpose of building the creative community and developing wisdom through art. The Collective believes that making and sharing meaning is key to being with artistic projects as a means of interactive exchange towards meaningful experience and encourages consciousness. Risk taking requires compassion and holding space for fearless, free self-expression, the Collective believes that joy is the highest expression of being and inherent in all creative acts. And believes in artistic autonomy where the artistic project takes precedence over a single executive's vision. 

Recent past projects included the Labyrinth Film Fest 2024, variety shows 2023, music shows 2023, comedy showcases of John and Paul 2023 and play development in 2023. More information on their website or on Facebook.

Sweetback Productions, in collaboration with Labyrinth Arts, is proud to announce Hamburgers and Disappointment: Plays about Enoughness, a festival of works by Barrie Cole playing in repertory, May 2 - 19 at 7:30 p.m., at Labyrinth Club, 3658 N. Pulaski Road. Performances of Schedule 1 includes I Love You Permanently and Fruit Tree Backpack runs on Thursdays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Schedule 2 that includes Capacity and Meaning is Tricky runs on Fridays and Sundays at 7:30 p.m. In addition, for those who may not be able to attend, a digital play, Elevator Tours, will be available for digital download for $10. Press nights for Hamburgers and Disappointment: Plays about Enoughness are Schedule 1, Saturday, May 4 at 7:30 p.m., and schedule 2, Sunday, May 5 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $20 and are now on sale at SweetBackProductions.com.

Hamburgers and Disappointment: Plays about Enoughness, a festival of works by Barrie Cole playing in repertory, May 2 - 19th, 2024

ChiIL Live Shows On Our Radar

SWEETBACK PRODUCTIONS, IN COLLABORATION WITH LABYRINTH ARTS COLLECTIVE PRESENTS 

HAMBURGERS AND DISAPPOINTMENT: 

PLAYS ABOUT ENOUGHNESS 

A FESTIVAL OF WORKS BY BARRIE COLE, MAY 2 - 19

AT LABYRINTH ARTS PERFORMANCE COLLECTIVE

Cole’s Four Short Two-Character Plays, Including a World Premiere, Explore Relationships in all their Beautiful and Twisting Forms

Top row: Barrie Cole, playwright; Jayita Bhattacharya, director, FRUIT TREE BACKPACK; Kristy Lockhart, actor, FRUIT TREE BACKPACK

Second row: Julia Williams, actor FRUIT TREE BACKPACK; Jen Moniz, director, I LOVE YOU PERMANENTLY and MEANING IS TRICKY; Jeffrey Bivens, actor, I LOVE YOU PERMANENTLY

Third Row: Vicki Walden, actor, I LOVE YOU PERMANENTLY, Kelly Anchors, actor, CAPACITY; KellyAnn Corcoran, actor, CAPACITY;

Third row: David Isaacson and Diana Slickman, actors MEANING IS TRICKY; Carolyn Hoerdemann, actor, ELEVATOR TOURS

Fourth Row: Colm O’Reilly, actor, ELEVATOR TOURS

Sweetback Productions, in collaboration with Labyrinth Arts, is proud to announce Hamburgers and Disappointment: Plays about Enoughness, a festival of works by Barrie Cole playing in repertory, May 2 - 19 at 7:30 p.m., at Labyrinth Club, 3658 N. Pulaski Road. Performances of Schedule 1 includes I Love You Permanently and Fruit Tree Backpack runs on Thursdays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Schedule 2 that includes Capacity and Meaning is Tricky runs on Fridays and Sundays at 7:30 p.m. In addition, for those who may not be able to attend, a digital play, Elevator Tours, will be available for digital download for $10.  Press nights for Hamburgers and Disappointment: Plays about Enoughness are Schedule 1, Saturday, May 4 at 7:30 p.m., and schedule 2, Sunday, May 5 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $20 and are now on sale at SweetBackProductions.com.

“All of us at Labyrinth are proud to be co-producing this festival of Barrie Cole’s works,” said Artistic Director and Founder Diane Hamm of Labyrinth Arts. “We look forward to welcoming audiences, both familiar with her work and those experiencing them for the first time, to experience the complete relationship cycle created by Barrie.”  

Hamburgers and Disappointment: Plays about Enoughness, is a new festival of four short, two-character plays by Chicago-based playwright, Barrie Cole. The festival includes performances in repertory:

 

SCHEDULE 1

Performed on Thursdays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m.

Fruit Tree Backpack

Written by Barrie Cole (she/her) 

Directed by Jayita Bhattacharya (she/her)

Ceil (Kristy Lockhart, she/her) and Anna (Julia Williams, she/her) traverse the various rooms inside the exhausting, sweet, metaphorical mansion of love.

 

I Love You Permanently

Written by Barrie Cole (she/her) 

Directed by Jen Moniz (she/her) 

Jay (Jeffrey Bivens, he/him) wants to be with Lee (Vicki Walden, she/her), but is unable to leave his abusive relationship. They meet one last time and try to find out if it is possible to have an entire relationship in the span of one cold night.

 

SCHEDULE 2

Performed on Fridays and Sundays at 7:30 p.m.

WORLD PREMIERE

Capacity

Written by Barrie Cole (she/her) 

Capacity is a world premiere and completes Cole’s collection of two-person plays about relationships. The play explores a thorny friendship between a playwright (Kelly Anchors, she/her) and an actor (KellyAnn Corcoran, she/her) who were both, at different times, married to the same man.

Meaning is Tricky

Written by Barrie Cole (she/her) 

Originally directed by Jen Moniz (she/her)

Roommates and former lovers Mark (David Isaacson, he/him) and Clare (Diana Slickman, she/her) navigate Clare's burgeoning new relationship with a TV-obsessed man in an open marriage whose wife operates a flower kiosk.

  

AUDIO PLAY 

Elevator Tours 

Written by Barrie Cole (she/her) 

Originally directed by Jen Moniz (she/her)

A special audio play with animation. Ruth (Carolyn Hoerdemann, she/her) has just moved into a new apartment when her recently divorced friend Will (Colm O’Reilly, he/him), comes to stay with her. They discuss life as a spectacle, art and sex.

The creative team for Hamburgers and Disappointment: Plays about Enoughness includes: Pamela L. Parker(set/props designer, she/her); Diane Hamm (producer/lighting designer, she/her); Kelly Anchors (producer/costume designer, she/her); Paul Brennan (film/sound designer, he/him); Charlotte Lastra (stage manager, she/her); Hannah Tymosko(stage manager, she/her); Timothy Hiatt (photographer, he/him) and Jules Darling (graphic designer, they/them).

ABOUT BARRIE COLE, playwright

Barrie Cole has written 14 plays, numerous monologue works, as well as essays, hybrid-works and more. Her plays have been produced by Theater Oobleck, Curious Theatre Branch and others.The Chicago Reader said about Cole: “Her ambiguously concrete work layers childlike simplicity over seasoned melancholy to produce piercing, wondrous images of charming, discomfiting transformation.”  

ABOUT JEN MONIZ, director, I Love You Permanently

Jen Moniz is an immigration paralegal, artisan gelato maker and writer, performer, producer and director of fringe theater. She is originally from California and has called Chicago home for 17 years. She has previously directed Mexico, Room, Elevator Tours, On Loss, To Relax and Laugh, Meaning is Tricky and Reverse Gossip.

ABOUT JAYITA BHATTACHARYA, director, Fruit Tree Backpack

Jayita Bhattacharya is a multidisciplinary theatre artist originally from Southern California, who has made her home in Chicago as an ensemble member of Curious Theatre Branch. Directing credits include What Is Even Happening?!!! by Kristin Garrison, Lizzie Borden Is Smashing by Sue Cargill and The McGuffins Run the 440 by Beau O'Reilly. She wrote the plays To End to Seem to End, today like a kind of shivering and Should We Put It Out? (The Smoke). Bhattacharya has also appeared in numerous Curious and Rhinofest productions through the years, including The Skriker, 4:48 Psychosis, Evanston Which Is Over There, The Buzz that is the Buzz and most recently, the revival of Hit Me Like a Flower.

ABOUT SWEETBACK PRODUCTIONS

Sweetback Productions was founded in 1994 by Kelly Anchors and Mike McKune. They started with a string of hit late night parodies of cult films that includes; Plan 9 From Outer Space, Female Trouble, Super Pussy Vixen, Go Faster! Kill! Kill!, Scarrie, The Musical!, The Birds and Freaks. Sweetback now focuses on more obscure and original work, most recently, Deep Fried and Suck My Nose, which featured three generations of family actors weaving their love through their pain while tap dancing and singing hymns; Bipolar Bitch, a mystical ride into psychosis and Dorothy Mae and the 1978 Holiday Rambler Ramblette, an outdoor extravaganza detailing Kelly’s roadtrip across the southwest during the Trump re-election season. Sweetback is beyond thrilled to be producing this festival of Barrie Cole’s plays, a playwright that Anchors was lucky enough to work with in Clumsy Sublime. Find them on Facebook.

ABOUT LABYRINTH ARTS AND PERFORMANCE COLLECTIVE

Labyrinth Arts and Performance Collective, a 501 c 3 not for profit, is organized for the purpose of building the creative community and developing wisdom through art.  The Collective believes that making and sharing meaning is key to being with artistic projects as a means of interactive exchange towards meaningful experience and encourages consciousness.  Risk taking requires compassion and holding space for fearless, free self-expression, the Collective believes that joy is the highest expression of being and inherent in all creative acts. And believes in artistic autonomy where the artistic project takes precedence over a single executive's vision.  

Recent past projects included the Labyrinth Film Fest 2024, variety shows 2023, music shows 2023, comedy showcases of John and Paul 2023 and play development in 2023. More information on their website or on Facebook. 

OPENING: Barrie Cole's Reverse Gossip To Launch Walnut Spaceship Studio, Bridgeport Arts Center April 26-May 11, 2019

AUDIENCE EAVESDROPS ON SECRET PHONE CONVERSATIONS IN NEWEST PRODUCTION BY PLAYWRIGHT BARRIE COLE

“Reverse Gossip” opens April 26; Premiere Production in

Walnut Spaceship Studio, Bridgeport Arts Center

Barrie Cole pictured, Photo credit: Jen Moniz

Playwright Barrie Cole was intrigued by one-sided phone conversations in public spaces, but felt they could be juicier for those who enjoy eavesdropping (who doesn’t?). That is the inspiration for “Reverse Gossip” written by Cole and directed by Jen Moniz. “Reverse Gossip” opens April 26 and is the inaugural production at and by Walnut Spaceship Studio, Bridgeport Arts Center, 1200 W. 35th Street, Suite 1430 “Reverse Gossip” runs through May 11 with performances on Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. Tickets are $20 and are available at ReverseGossip.BrownPaperTickets.com.

“Reverse Gossip” began in 2014 when Cole wrote a series of monologues meant to function as one side of a telephone conversation. Working with her longtime collaborator and director Moniz, they enlisted dozens of actors, photographers and videographers to participate in the public performance of these monologues on the city’s transit system. They took to the trains and conducted a wide ranging live performance experiment multiple times over the course of a two year period. In 2017, the first staged version of this monologue project premiered at the Prop Theatre as part of the Rhinoceros Theater Festival.

“Riding public transit, it’s impossible to not overhear phone conversations,” Cole said. “But usually those conversations were about mundane things. I wanted to hear conversations that were funny or strange, conversations about looking, feeling, and being human, conversations about making sense of the world so I decided to write some and I thought they might make an interesting performance. I thought what if phones, which usually distance people on the train from each other, could be used to bring people together instead?”

For this production of “Reverse Gossip” the audience is seated as if on a train to submerse the viewers into the voyeuristic experience. “Reverse Gossip” is performed by Brook Celeste, KellyAnn Corcoran, Cat Jarboe, T-Roy Martin, Ira Murfin, Briavael O’Reilly, Robert Puccinelli, Miles Oliver Sennett, and Vicki Walden.

Walnut Spaceship Studio is a new performance venue and production company operating out of Bridgeport Arts Center. The venue is curated and operated by Paul Leisen, who is also the producer for “Reverse Gossip”.

Tickets are $20 and are available at ReverseGossip.BrownPaperTickets.com There is free parking in a lot and on the street. There is an industry night on Monday, May 6 at 8 p.m. and a pay-what-you-can option at the door. 

BIOS
Brook Celeste (actor) performs regularly at Prop Thtr and with Curious Theater Branch. She recently played the deranged and spectacular Hosty Bodine in Savannah Reich’s “Pestilence: Wow!”

Barrie Cole (playwright) is a playwright, writer, and performer. Some of her plays include: “Reality is an Activity”, “Meaning is Tricky”, “Elevator Tours”, “Fruit Tree Backpack”, “I Love You Permanently”, “Clumsy Sublime”, “To Relax and Laugh”, “Something Made Up”, “Peacock Jazz” and many others. Also a writer of multiple essays, short stories, and performance works, she has performed or read her work at many live literary events and venues around town including: Write Club, Story Sessions, Essay Fiesta, Paper Machete, This Much is True, Truth or Lie, and more. Earlier this year she performed a collection of solo pieces, entitled “Language Can Fly” at the Prop Theatre. 

KellyAnn Corcoran (actor) has been acting directing and writing in Chicago theater since 1992. Most recently she directed, “The True Cost” for Still Point Theater Collective and is currently performing in “BiPolar Bitch.” Her essays can be found on Wattpad.com and Medium.com.

Cat Jarboe (actor) a performer that uses public transportation on a frequent basis with wildly mixed feelings. She can usually be seen walking to stations and scowling. She is very humbled to be a part of this production with such a talented group of rascals.

Paul Leisen (producer) is a designer, academic philosopher, and developer. He carries a BS in Speech/Theatre from Northwestern University, and has a background in Chicago fringe theatre performance, and design. He has worked with the Curious Theatre Branch, Theatre Oobleck, and the Rhinoceros Theatre Festival. He recently designed and built the Dollop Coffee empire, and earned his PhD in social political Philosophy from Loyola University.   

T-Roy Martin (actor) is a musician and actor. He is a founding member of The Billy Goat Experiment Theatre Company, a member of The Curious Theatre Branch, and has worked with Theatre Oobleck, Prop Theatre, Teatro Vista, and other companies around the city. He strums and sings with the bands 80 Foots and The Crooked Mouth.

Jen Moniz (director) is a theatrical director, producer, and stage manager. She has collaborated with Barrie Cole on a number of projects, including the original productions of “Reality is an Activity”, “Meaning is Tricky”, “Elevator Tours”, “Clumsy Sublime”, and a remount of “To Relax and Laugh”. In 2015, she began collaborating with Cole on a guerilla performance art project which evolved into this staging.

Ira S. Murfin (actor) is a theatre and performance scholar, artist, and public programmer. He is currently Assistant Director for Programming with the Guild Literary Complex, a PreAmble Scholar at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, and performance editor for the journal Requited. Critical and scholarly publications include Performance Research, Journal of American Drama & Theatre, Theatre Topics, andTheatre Journal. His performance work has been presented by MCA Chicago, Links Hall, Rhinoceros Theatre Festival, Chicago Cultural Center, Block Museum of Art, Tritriangle, and Sector 2337, among other places. He holds the Interdisciplinary PhD in Theatre & Drama from Northwestern University and an MFA in Writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Briavael O’Reilly (actor) has been doing theater in some form for most of her life and was most recently seen in “The Skriker” at the Rhinoceros Theater Festival. She invites you to eavesdrop on her weekly as Bri the Barefoot DJ on CHIRP Radio. Catch O’Reilly next onstage this fall with Curious Theater Branch.

Robert Puccinelli (actor) has been involved in this project since it was performed on trains throughout the city. He is an actor, stand-up comedian, filmmaker, photographer, and adjunct professor of digital media at Depaul University where he also received his MFA.

Miles Oliver Sennett (actor), originally from the Pacific Northwest, has close ties with Prop Thtr where he most recently house managed "2 Unfortunate 2 Travel" directed by Zach Wineberg. On stage he often performs under the name Steak Richardson, a pseudonym for his self described "Neo Western" found text performance art act. Steak has performed in Portland, Seattle, Los Angeles, and Chicago and has collaborated with Adult Swim's David Lieba Hart. Additionally, he currently hosts "I Hate Mondays", a monthly presentation of short new experimental work by a variety of up and coming artists.

Vicki Walden (actor) is an ensemble member of Curious Theatre Branch, where her most recent credits include: “(Not) Another Day”, “One Boppa”, “Ionesco’s Rhinoceros”, and “March!”. She appeared in Cole’s “Reality is an Activity” and “Clumsy Sublime”. Walden has performed in a host of shows as an ensemble member of Cook County Theatre Department, Lucky Pierre, and DOG, a theater company. She also plays bass in The Crooked Mouth.