Pages

Showing posts with label Henrik Ibsen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Henrik Ibsen. Show all posts

Monday, February 26, 2018

OPENING: Robert Falls' New Adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People at Goodman Theatre

ROBERT FALLS DIRECTS A NEW ADAPTATION OF AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE,
HENRIK IBSEN’S TIMELESS MASTERPIECE, APPEARING MARCH 10 – APRIL 15 AT GOODMAN THEATRE


***PHILIP EARL JOHNSON AND SCOTT JAECK LEAD THE 14-MEMBER CAST ALONG WITH CHICAGO FAVORITES
DAVID DARLOW, ALLEN GILMORE, LARRY NEUMANN, JR., LANISE ANTOINE SHELLEY AND MORE***

Here at ChiIL Live Shows, it was our great pleasure to catch Goodman Theatre's world premiere production of Blind Date, directed by Goodman Theatre Artistic Director Robert Falls. We can't wait for March 19th, for the press opening of Falls new adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People. Both are all too timely, thought provoking political dramas. There's been a whole lot of Ibsen going on this year on stage in Chicago's storefront scene, and this larger budget, main stage production should crown them all. We particularly enjoyed Brett Neveu's acclaimed Traitor, based on An Enemy of the People, at A Red Orchid, earlier this year. I'm eager to see a full staging of the original so soon after AROT's modern day adaptation.

Nearly 150 years after Ibsen’s masterpiece first thrilled audiences, it “is startling how current the play's ideas feel" (The New York Times) as it examines the complexities of corruption, greed and destruction of the environment and remains “a play so necessary, so exhilarating to experience." (The Village Voice) Falls directs his adaptation, based on a translation by Eleanor Marx-Aveling, with a cast featuring Philip Earl Johnson as Thomas Stockmann, doctor and chief medical officer of the baths; Scott Jaeck as Peter Stockmann, Thomas’ older brother and town mayor; Lanise Antoine Shelley as Katherine, Thomas’ wife; Rebecca Hurd as Thomas’ daughter, Petra. Rounding out the cast are Jesse Bhamrah (Billing), David Darlow (Morten Kiil), Allen Gilmore (Aslaksen), Aubrey Deeker Hernandez (Hovstad), Larry Neumann, Jr. (The Drunk) and Carley Cornelius, Arya Daire, Guy Massey, Roderick Peeples and Dustin Whitehead as townspeople. The design team includes Todd Rosenthal (set), Ana Kuzmanic (costumes), Robert Wierzel (lights), Richard Woodbury (sound and original music). Alden Vasquez is the production stage manager. 

An Enemy of the People appears in the Goodman’s Albert Theatre March 10 – April 15. Tickets ($25 - $80; subject to change) are now on sale at GoodmanTheatre.org/Enemy, by phone at 312.443.3800 or at the box office (170 North Dearborn).

“Any theater artist will inevitably confront the genius of 19th century Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen and I’m thrilled to take on this challenge with an incredible ensemble of actors and designers,” said Artistic Director Robert Falls. “I was compelled to adapt and direct An Enemy of the People both by our country’s political tumult and by the play’s complex treatment of myriad topics—from how we view our fellow humans, to public good versus individual rights, to the pitfalls of democracy. Though the play was written nearly 150 years ago, I find its themes remarkably fresh and the questions it raises just as perplexing as they must have been to 19th century audiences.”

When a water contamination crisis puts their community in peril, two brothers—Dr. Stockmann (Johnson) and Mayor Stockmann ( Jaeck)—face off in a battle of political ambitions and moral integrity. Triggered by the criticism and controversy of his earlier plays—A Doll’s House (1879) and Ghosts (1882)—Ibsen authored An Enemy of the People as a partial response to his critics. He felt angry that his discussion of what he considered important was being scrutinized and determined to examine the underbellies of marriage, sex and middle class society.

Falls’ staging of An Enemy of the People is the latest in the Goodman’s six-decade history of producing Ibsen and works inspired by the writer’s plays. Most recently, Falls directed the 2005 world premiere of Dollhouse, a modern-day take on Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, adapted by Goodman Artistic Associate Rebecca Gilman. Previous Ibsen works at the Goodman also include Arthur Miller’s adaptation of An Enemy of the People (1980), A Doll’s House (1973), Hedda Gabler (1962) and The Master Builder (1953). Following this production, Falls will remount his Lyric Opera of Chicago production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni for the Dallas Opera (April 2018), and this summer, he will direct Stacy Keach as Ernest Hemingway in the return of Jim McGrath’s Pamplona.

ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT AND DIRECTOR
HENRIK IBSEN (Playwright, 1828 - 1906) was born in Skien, Norway, Ibsen was apprenticed at age 15 to an apothecary, a situ­ation he detested. He wrote poetry to escape his misery and at 20 attended the univer­sity in Christiania (now Oslo). Within a short time his plays were being published and produced at the Christiania Theatre. In 1851, he was appointed to the theater at Bergen, where he served as director, designer and resident playwright. After six years learning his craft in Bergen, Ibsen moved back to Christiania, again working as a theater manager and artistic advisor. Plays from this period, such as The Vikings at Helgeland (1858) and Loves Comedy  (1862), stirred up contro­versy on their first appearances. In 1864, Ibsen applied to the govern­ment for a poet's stipend; when it was refused, he exiled himself from Norway. The injustice he felt at this denial helped propel his two early masterpieces, the verse dramas Brand (1866) and Peer Gynt (1867). Ibsen spent most of his years of exile in Germany, though he frequently spent months at a time in Italy. He returned briefly to Norway for the publication of his huge epic Emperor and Galilean (1873). He published A Doll's House in 1879, followed by Ghosts (1881), An Enemy of the People (1882), The Wild Duck (1884), Rosmersholm (1886), The Lady from the Sea (1888), Hedda Gabler (1890),  The Master Builder (1892), Little Eyolf (1894) and John Gabriel Borkman (1896). When We Dead Awaken, Ibsen's last play and a grand culmination of his themes, appeared in 1900. He returned to Christiania in 1891 to live out his life and died in 1906 after suf­fering a physical and mental breakdown.

ROBERT FALLS (Goodman Theatre Artistic Director) previously directed at the Goodman the world premiere of Rogelio Martinez’s Blind Date. He also partnered with Goodman Playwright-in-Residence Seth Bockley to direct their world premiere adaptation of Roberto Bolaño’s 2666 (Jeff Award for Best Adaptation). Additional recent productions include The Iceman Cometh for the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Rebecca Gilman’s Luna Gale for the Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles, Measure for Measure and the world and off-Broadway premieres of Beth Henley’s The Jacksonian. Among his other credits are The Seagull, King Lear, Desire Under the Elms, John Logan’s Red, Jon Robin Baitz’s Three Hotels, Eric Bogosian’s Talk Radio and Conor McPherson’s Shining City; the world premieres of Richard Nelson’s Frank’s Home, Arthur Miller’s Finishing the Picture, Eric Bogosian’s Griller, Steve Tesich’s The Speed of Darkness and On the Open Road and Rebecca Gilman’s A True History of the Johnstown Flood, Blue Surge and Dollhouse; the American premiere of Alan Ayckbourn’s House and Garden; and the Broadway premiere of Elton John and Tim Rice’s Aida. Falls’ honors for directing include, among others, a Tony Award (Death of a Salesman), a Drama Desk Award (Long Day’s Journey into Night), an Obie Award (subUrbia), a Helen Hayes Award (King Lear) and multiple Jeff Awards (including a 2012 Jeff Award for The Iceman Cometh). For “outstanding contributions to theater,” Falls has been recognized with such prestigious honors as the Savva Morozov Diamond Award (Moscow Art Theatre), the O’Neill Medallion (Eugene O’Neill Society), the Distinguished Service to the Arts Award (Lawyers for the Creative Arts), the Illinois Arts Council Governor’s Award and induction into the Theater Hall of Fame.

TICKETS, DISCOUNTS AND SPECIAL EVENTS
Tickets ($25-80; subject to change) – GoodmanTheatre.org/Enemy; 312.443.3800; Fax: 312.443.3825; TTY/TDD: 312.443.3829
Box Office Hours –12noon - 5pm; on performance days, the box office remains open until 30 minutes past curtain
MezzTix – Half-price day-of-performance mezzanine tickets available at 10am online (promo code MEZZTIX) 
$10Tix – Student $10 day-of tickets; limit four, with valid student ID (promo code 10TIX)

Group Sales are available for parties 10 ; 312.443.3820
Gift Certificates – Available in any amount; GoodmanTheatre.org/GiftCertificates

ARTIST ENCOUNTER –March 11 at 5pm | Goodman Theatre
Tickets are $10 for general public; free for Goodman Members. Join Artistic Director Robert Falls for an in-depth conversation about the play. GoodmanTheatre.org/Enemy

ACCESSIBILITY AT THE GOODMAN
Touch Tour,  April 7 at 12:30pm – A presentation detailing the set, costume and character elements.
Audio Described Performance, April 7 at 2pm – The action/text is audibly enhanced for patrons via headset.
ASL Interpreted Performance, April 11 at 7:30pm – Professional ASL interpreter signs the action/text as played. 
Open Captioned Performance,  April 14 at 2pm – An LED sign presents dialogue in sync with the performance.
Visit GoodmanTheatre.org/Access for more information about Goodman Theatre’s accessibility efforts.

ABOUT GOODMAN THEATRE
AMERICA’S “BEST REGIONAL THEATRE” (Time magazine), Goodman Theatre is a premier not-for-profit organization distinguished by the excellence and scope of its artistic programming and civic engagement. Led by Artistic Director Robert Falls and Executive Director Roche Schulfer, the theater’s artistic priorities include new play development (more than 150 world or American premieres), large scale musical theater works and reimagined classics (celebrated revivals include Falls’ productions of Death of a Salesman and The Iceman Cometh). Goodman Theatre artists and productions have earned two Pulitzer Prizes, 22 Tony Awards, over 160 Jeff Awards and many more accolades. In addition, the Goodman is the first theater in the world to produce all 10 plays in August Wilson’s “American Century Cycle” and its annual holiday tradition A Christmas Carol, which celebrated its 40th anniversary this season, has created a new generation of theatergoers. The Goodman also frequently serves as a production partner with local off-Loop theaters and national and international companies by providing financial support or physical space for a variety of artistic endeavors.

Committed to three core values of Quality, Diversity and Community, the Goodman proactively makes inclusion the fabric of the institution and develops education and community engagement programs that support arts as education. This practice uses the process of artistic creation to inspire and empower youth, lifelong learners and audiences to find and/or enhance their voices, stories and abilities. The Goodman’s Alice Rapoport Center for Education and Engagement is the home of such programming, most offered free of charge, and has vastly expanded the theater’s ability to touch the lives of Chicagoland citizens (with 85% of youth participants coming from underserved communities) since its 2016 opening.

Goodman Theatre was founded by William O. Goodman and his family in honor of their son Kenneth, an important figure in Chicago’s cultural renaissance in the early 1900s. The Goodman family’s legacy lives on through the continued work and dedication of Kenneth’s family, including Albert Ivar Goodman, who with his late mother, Edith-Marie Appleton, contributed the necessary funds for the creation of the new Goodman center in 2000.

Today, Goodman Theatre leadership also includes the distinguished members of the Artistic Collective: Brian Dennehy, Rebecca Gilman, Henry Godinez, Dael Orlandersmith, Steve Scott, Chuck Smith, Regina Taylor, Henry Wishcamper and Mary Zimmerman. David W. Fox, Jr. is Chair of Goodman Theatre’s Board of Trustees, Cynthia K. Scholl is Women’s Board President and Justin A. Kulovsek is President of the Scenemakers Board for young professionals.

Join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram #EnemyChi

Wednesday, January 17, 2018

OPENING: Rare IBSEN Thriller PILLARS OF THE COMMUNITY Via Strawdog Theatre Through 3/3/18

Chi, IL LIVE Shows On Our Radar:

STRAWDOG THEATRE COMPANY PRESENTS 
HENRIK IBSEN’S 
PILLARS OF THE COMMUNITY, 
ADAPTED BY SAMUEL ADAMSON AND 
DIRECTED BY ENSEMBLE MEMBER ELLY GREEN

Photo by Jon Cole Media

JANUARY 19 - MARCH 3, 2018

The Rarely Performed Ibsen Thriller is the First Strawdog Production in its new home at 1802 W. Berenice 

Strawdog Theatre Company and Artistic Directors Michael Dailey, Heath Hays and Anderson Lawfer are proud to announce the cast and creative team for the second production in the 2017 – 2018 season, Henrik Ibsen’s Pillars of the Community by Samuel Adamson, January 19 - March 3, 2018 with direction by Strawdog ensemble member Elly Green. 

Previews are Friday Jan. 19 and 25, Saturday, Jan. 20 and 27, Thursday,  Jan. 25  at 8 p.m. and Sunday January 21 and 28 at 4 p.m. Opening Night is Monday, Jan. 29 at 8 p.m. The Access Performance, featuring audio description and open captioning is Sunday, Feb. 4 at 4 p.m., with a pre-show Touch Tour at 2:45 p.m. Industry Night is Monday, Feb. 5 at 8 p.m. 

Regular run performances are Thursdays - Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 4 p.m. Preview tickets are $18 and regular run tickets are $35-$40. Tickets to performances of Pillars of the Community are currently available at www.strawdog.org.

Adamson’s acclaimed adaptation of the 1877 Ibsen play tells the story of the return of a fugitive brother  that puts the future of wealthy businessman Karsten Bernick in peril. Details of a long-buried sex scandal and embezzlement come to the surface and force Bernick to face his family, his community and his demons. Adamson's version was first produced at the National Theatre and starred Damien Lewis. Strawdog’s 2018 version is the inaugural production in its new home on Berenice and includes the return of Elly Green who previously directed After Miss Julie and The Night Season at Strawdog.

The Pillars of the Community cast includes Strawdog Ensemble Members Nicole Bloomsmith, Kamille Dawkins, Carmine Grisolia, Michaela Petro, and John Henry Roberts with guest artists Kroydell Galima, Michael Kingston, Asia Jackson, Patrick TJ Kelly, Robert Koon, Allison Latta, Dan McGeehan, Priya Mohanty, Morayo Orija, Londen Shannon, Gage Wallaceand Schanora Wimpie.

The Pillars of the Community design team includes Strawdog Ensemble Members Elly Green, director and John Kelly, lighting designerwith guest artists Arianna Soloway, assistant director; John Wilson, set designer; Uriel Gomez, costumer designer; Morgan Lake, sound designer and Leah Hummel, props designer.

ABOUT ELLY GREEN, DIRECTOR
Elly Green previously directed The Night Season and After Miss Julie for Strawdog, and recently joined the company as an ensemble member. In 2018, she will also be directing You for Me for You by Mia Chung, for Sideshow Theatre.  Other directing credits include: The Woman in Black (Wildclaw), The Distance (Haven), No More Sad Things (Sideshow), The Woman Before (Trap Door), Rabbit (Stage Left), Happy (Redtwist), Unwilling and Hostile Instruments (Theatre Seven) and The Tomkat Project (Playground & NY Fringe).  Green trained in London and her United Kingdom credits include: Our Country’s Good, My Balloon Beats Your Astronaut, Beyond Therapy, About Tommy, Copenhagen, Skylight, The Beach and The Zoo Story. She is also an artistic associate with Stage Left and Sideshow Theatre.

ABOUT SAMUEL ADAMSON, PLAYWRIGHT
Samuel Adamson’s work in theatre includes book and lyrics for The Light Princess (music by Tori Amos), Southwark Fair, a new version of Ibsen’s Pillars of the Community and Mrs Affleck (from Ibsen’s Little Eyolf) all at the National Theatre, as well as Frank & Ferdinand for NT Connections. He is artistic associate on the Tony award-winning stage adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s War Horse (Lincoln Center Theater, New York; Princess of Wales Theatre, Toronto; US tour; Australian tour; United Kingdom tour). Other plays and adaptations include: Gabriel (Shakespeare’s Globe), Fish and Company (Soho Theatre/National Youth Theatre), Clocks and Whistles (Bush Theatre and New York, Time Out award), Drink, Dance, Laugh and Lie (Bush/Channel 4), Grace Note (Peter Hall Company/Old Vic), Some Kind of Bliss (Trafalgar Studios and Brits Off Broadway, New York), Tomorrow Week (BBC Radio 3), Breakfast at Tiffany’s (from Truman Capote’s novella; Theatre Royal, Haymarket), Running Wild (Chichester Festival Theatre); as well as original contributions to Hoard Festival (New Vic, Stoke), 24 Hour Plays (Old Vic), A Chain Play (Almeida), Urban Scrawl (Theatre 503/TheatreVoice) and Decade (Headlong). His play of All About My Mother (from Pedro Almodóvar’s film; Old Vic Theatre; 2008 Whatsonstage Theatregoers’ Choice Best New Play) has been translated into many languages and is performed regularly around the world. Versions include: Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya (West Yorkshire Playhouse), The Cherry Orchard (Oxford Stage Company/Riverside Studios), Three Sisters (OSC tour and West End), Ibsen’s A Doll’s House (Southwark Playhouse, Northcott Theatre Exeter and Dundee Rep), Schnitzler’s Professor Bernhardi (Dumbfounded/Arcola Theatre; also adapted for BBC Radio 3), Bernhard Studlar’s Transdanubia Dreaming (National Theatre Studio) and Ostrovsky’s Larisa and the Merchants (InSite Performance/Arcola Theatre). As textual advisor/dramaturg, productions include The Alchemist, Saint Joan and All’s Well That Ends Well at the National Theatre, Heartbreak House at Watford Palace Theatre and The Taming of the Shrew at Shakespeare’s Globe. Current work includes book and lyrics for a new musical with music by Adrian Sutton. Film includes “Running for River”(Directional Studios/Krug), and, currently, the screenplay of “The Light Princess.” Faber and Faber publish his plays. He was writer in residence at the Bush Theatre in 1997-8.

SEASON 30: IDENTITY
Who are you to you? And how far are you willing to go to edit yourself into what you want people to see? For our 30th season, we introduce Chicago to three bold works that delve deep into what it means to determine one's own identity.

ABOUT STRAWDOG THEATRE COMPANY
Since its founding in 1988, Strawdog Theatre Company has offered Chicagoland the premiere storefront theatre experience and garnered numerous Non-Equity Jeff Awards with its commitment to ensemble acting and an immersive design approach. The celebrated Company develops new work, re-imagines the classics, melds music with theatre, asks provocative questions and delivers their audience the unexpected. 

Pillars of the Community was made possible in part by Executive Producer Daniel Cyganowski, in memory of Carol K. Cyganowski, and by the Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation.

Strawdog Theatre Company is supported in part by The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, the Alphawood Foundation, Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, and the annual support of businesses and individuals.

Saturday, October 21, 2017

REVIEW: Ghosts of Ibsen and Gore Galore at Akvavit's Ghosts and Zombies Through 10/29/17

Chi, IL LIVE Shows On Our Radar:

Akvavit Theatre Presents 
GHOSTS & zombies
By Henrik Ibsen & Gustav Tegby
Translated by Chad Eric Bergman
 


(left to right)  Micah Kronlokken, Victor Bayona and Marsha Harman with the cast of Akvavit Theatre’s production of GHOSTS & zombies. 
All Photos by Karl Clifton-Soderstrom.

Review:
I must say, this is the most thought provoking production with a blood splatter zone that I've ever seen. There are enough ax murders to make Lizzy Borden blush, and quite a few deaths by gunfire too. What's an outwardly fine, upstanding, philanthropic family without a few skeletons in the closet and in this case, zombies in the cellar as well? Ghosts and Zombies is high camp, to be sure, yet the script is surprisingly multilayered and nuanced.


(left to right) Marsha Harman, Christiane Schaldemose and Micah Kronlokken 

Staging is quite clever, with ample windows for optimal zombie viewing and access. The cellar is also a great off stage space, ripe for the imagining. Though a one room set is all that's shown, the four off stage spaces are brought vividly to life.



(left to right) Victor Bayona, Marsha Harman and Jeremy Trager 


Pastor Manders (Jeremy Trager) is a fascinating character in both his arrogance and fanaticism. His character flaws and courses of action speak volumes, and his facial expressions and agonizing transformation are something to see. This is as much a fight against internal as external monsters. 


 (left to right)  Victor Bayona and Jeremy Trager

There are even feminist overtones, as the smart and capable family matriarch, Mrs. Helene Alving (Marsha Harman), struggles with the soul eating burden of a philandering, drunk, ailing husband, and a lack of recognition for her own accomplishments. Victor Bayona is as horrifying as he is hilarious as zombie Chamberlain Alving. Chafing against the constraints of duty, responsibility and expectation for too many years, Helene Alving is driven, determined and delightfully jaded. Just as she seems finally free to escape the ghosts of hidden family secrets and the zombies of burdensome living relatives, history is doomed to repeat. 


(back, l to r) Micah Kronlokken and Marsha Harman with the cast of Akvavit Theatre’s production of GHOSTS & zombies. 


Catch GHOSTS & zombies while you still can. They'll be lurching off into the darkness after 10/29, just in time for Halloween.



Directed by Co-Artistic Director Breahan Pautsch
September 28 - October 29, 2017 at Strawdog Theatre Company

Here at ChiIL Live Shows we're ready for the fall chill in the air and a touch of the macabre. We're also jazzed for Akvavit's latest, an updated spin on Ibsen by contemporary Swedish playwright, Gustav Tegby. 

I'm descended from Swedes who came to Chicago on a boat so rickety it sank on the return voyage! This is my heritage and ancestry and I adore the Akvavit's poetic mission statement. 

About Akvavit Theatre
Akvavit Theatre is haunted by Nordic visions: deep forests and ice-blue seas, the patience of the glacier, the sudden fury of the volcano, the arctic light and silence. Seeking the universal through the voices of contemporary Nordic playwrights, Akvavit Theatre is a kind of homecoming, a connecting back to the lands whose people and cultures have for generations been a part of the great prairies of North America that we call home. And like our namesake beverage, Akvavit brings a “strong spirit” to the work that we produce. Skål, Skál, Kippis! For additional information, visit www.chicagonordic.org.


 (front, l to r) Almanya Narula, Marsha Harman and Micah Kronlokken 
with (back) Victor Bayona  


Just in time to get you in the Halloween spirit, Akvavit Theatre is pleased to present GHOSTS & zombies, by Henrik Ibsen and Gustav Tegby, in a new American translation by Chad Eric Bergman*, directed by Co-Artistic Director Breahan Pautsch*. This dark and hilarious contemporary Swedish twist on Ibsen’s Norwegian classic Ghosts, will play September 28 - October 29, 2017 at the new Strawdog Theatre Company, 1802 W. Berenice in Chicago. Tickets on sale at chicagonordic.org.

GHOSTS & zombies will feature Marsha Harman as Mrs. Helene Alving, Victor Bayona as Chamberlain Alving, Jeremy Trager as Pastor Manders, Joshua K. Harris as Carpenter Engstrand, Micah Kronlokken* as Osvald and Almanya Narula as Regine with and ensemble including Jessica Kearney, Dylan M. Lainez, Madelyn Loehr*, Christiane Schaldemose, Erik Schiller and Tyler Skafgaard.

GHOSTS & zombies puts a blood-curdling spin on Ibsen's classic drama, Ghosts. As in the original, Mrs. Alving is preparing to open an orphanage in her husband's memory, while welcoming her son home from a long absence. However, things soon take a turn for the weird and scary as their country estate becomes overrun by the un-dead. Haunted by the ghosts of her past, Mrs. Alving now finds herself confronted by zombies that she is forced to stand and fight. GHOSTS & zombies shows us that we can try to bury the parts of our life we would rather forget, but we cannot control whether they walk again – slowly, hungrily – in our direction.



(left to right)  Almanya Narula, Micah Kronlokken and Marsha Harman

The production team for GHOSTS & zombies includes: Chad Eric Bergman* (set design), Rachel Sypniewski (costume design), David Goodman-Edberg (lighting design), Nigel Harsch* (sound designer), Leticha Guillaud (properties design), Kirstin Franklin* (casting director), Bethany Weise (asst. costume designer), R&D Choreography (violence design), Christiane Schaldemose (music direction), Chris Waldron (asst. director), Amy Hopkins (production manager), Harrison Ornelas (technical director), Hannah Harper-Smith (stage manager) and Katy Grabarski (asst. stage manager).

Location: Strawdog Theatre Company,1802 W. Berenice, Chicago
Dates: Preview: Thursday, September 28 at 8 pm
Regular run: Saturday, September 30 – Sunday, October 29, 2017
Curtain Times: Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm; Sundays at 4 pm.

Tickets: Regular Run: $25. Students/seniors/industry $15. Tickets available at chicagonordic.org.

*Denotes Akvavit Theatre company members.

Akvavit Theatre is also pleased to announce the addition of new company member Madelyn Loehr and associate company member Maggie Fullilove-Nugent.


(left to right) Marsha Harman, Almanya Narula, Victor Bayona and Micah Kronlokken

Artist Biographies
Gustav Tegby (Playwright) was born in Umeå, Sweden in 1980, where he also grew up. He has written about twenty plays played at, among others, Drama, Malmö City Theater, Uppsala City Theater and a number of different free groups across Sweden, as well as in Finland and the USA. Among the titles noted, Gargantua was released to Bibu in 2014 and Everyone Loves Bernie Madoff, a raid scene version of the true and completely unlikely story of Wall Street's greatest scammers. The latter was set up on three different theaters and was also filmed for SVT's project Pulse in Sweden. As a dramatist, Gustav has been interested in popular culture, and especially for the horror genre – he has among other things given Ibsen's Gengångare an odd twist in his variant Ghosts & zombies, where the infection of Mrs. Alving's son is drawn to something worse than syphilis. In the summer of 2016 he was one of the authors of Sweden's Radio Drama's major success, The Voices of the Dead, a fictional horror documentary in eight parts. Gustav had previously run the Drama Cup for many years. He also works as a dramaturg at the National Theater.

Chad Eric Bergman (Translator) actively collaborates in the Chicago storefront scene having worked with Stage Left, Live Bait, Chicago Dramatists, MPAACT, parker, Plasticene and Akvavit in various artistic ways. He has been an artist in residence at the Ragdale Foundation and the University of Chicago’s Summer Incubator. He spent a year in Finland on a Fulbright exploring bilingual theatre. At North Park University, he has been developing a theatre curriculum that is based on the Chicago storefront theatre model.

Breahan Eve Pautsch (Director) is originally from Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. She earned her BA in Theatre and English at UW-Madison and has been working in Chicago as an actor and director since 2003. She has been a company member with Akvavit Theatre since 2011, where she served as Literary Manager and Director of Development for several years before taking the position of co-Artistic Director at the beginning of 2017. She is also a company member with Indie Boots Theatre.  



Wednesday, September 27, 2017

OPENING: Ibsen & Tegby's GHOSTS & zombies Via Akvavit Theatre at Strawdog Theatre Company

Chi, IL LIVE Shows On Our Radar:

Casting Announced!
Akvavit Theatre Presents 
GHOSTS & zombies
By Henrik Ibsen & Gustav Tegby
Translated by Chad Eric Bergman
 



Directed by Co-Artistic Director Breahan Pautsch
September 28 - October 29, 2017 at Strawdog Theatre Company

Here at ChiIL Live Shows we're ready for the fall chill in the air and a touch of the macabre. We're also jazzed for Akvavit's latest, an updated spin on Ibsen by contemporary Swedish playwright, Gustav Tegby. I'm descended from Swedes who came to Chicago on a boat so rickety it sank on the return voyage! This is my heritage and ancestry and I adore the Akvavit's poetic mission statement. Can't wait to catch GHOSTS & zombies.

About Akvavit Theatre
Akvavit Theatre is haunted by Nordic visions: deep forests and ice-blue seas, the patience of the glacier, the sudden fury of the volcano, the arctic light and silence. Seeking the universal through the voices of contemporary Nordic playwrights, Akvavit Theatre is a kind of homecoming, a connecting back to the lands whose people and cultures have for generations been a part of the great prairies of North America that we call home. And like our namesake beverage, Akvavit brings a “strong spirit” to the work that we produce. Skål, Skál, Kippis! For additional information, visit www.chicagonordic.org.

Just in time to get you in the Halloween spirit, Akvavit Theatre is pleased to present GHOSTS & zombies, by Henrik Ibsen and Gustav Tegby, in a new American translation by Chad Eric Bergman*, directed by Co-Artistic Director Breahan Pautsch*. This dark and hilarious contemporary Swedish twist on Ibsen’s Norwegian classic Ghosts, will play September 28 - October 29, 2017 at the new Strawdog Theatre Company, 1802 W. Berenice in Chicago. Tickets on sale at chicagonordic.org.

GHOSTS & zombies will feature Marsha Harman as Mrs. Helene Alving, Victor Bayona as Chamberlain Alving, Jeremy Trager as Pastor Manders, Joshua K. Harris as Carpenter Engstrand, Micah Kronlokken* as Osvald and Almanya Narula as Regine with and ensemble including Jessica Kearney, Dylan M. Lainez, Madelyn Loehr*, Christiane Schaldemose, Erik Schiller and Tyler Skafgaard.

GHOSTS & zombies puts a blood-curdling spin on Ibsen's classic drama, Ghosts. As in the original, Mrs. Alving is preparing to open an orphanage in her husband's memory, while welcoming her son home from a long absence. However, things soon take a turn for the weird and scary as their country estate becomes overrun by the un-dead. Haunted by the ghosts of her past, Mrs. Alving now finds herself confronted by zombies that she is forced to stand and fight. GHOSTS & zombies shows us that we can try to bury the parts of our life we would rather forget, but we cannot control whether they walk again – slowly, hungrily – in our direction.

The production team for GHOSTS & zombies includes: Chad Eric Bergman* (set design), Rachel Sypniewski (costume design), David Goodman-Edberg (lighting design), Nigel Harsch* (sound designer), Leticha Guillaud (properties design), Kirstin Franklin* (casting director), Bethany Weise (asst. costume designer), R&D Choreography (violence design), Christiane Schaldemose (music direction), Chris Waldron (asst. director), Amy Hopkins (production manager), Harrison Ornelas (technical director), Hannah Harper-Smith (stage manager) and Katy Grabarski (asst. stage manager).

Location: Strawdog Theatre Company,1802 W. Berenice, Chicago
Dates: Preview: Thursday, September 28 at 8 pm
Regular run: Saturday, September 30 – Sunday, October 29, 2017
Curtain Times: Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm; Sundays at 4 pm. 
Tickets: Previews: $10. Regular Run: $25. Students/seniors/industry $15. Tickets go on sale Friday, September 1, 2017 available at chicagonordic.org.

*Denotes Akvavit Theatre company members.

Akvavit Theatre is also pleased to announce the addition of new company member Madelyn Loehr and associate company member Maggie Fullilove-Nugent.

Artist Biographies
Gustav Tegby (Playwright) was born in Umeå, Sweden in 1980, where he also grew up. He has written about twenty plays played at, among others, Drama, Malmö City Theater, Uppsala City Theater and a number of different free groups across Sweden, as well as in Finland and the USA. Among the titles noted, Gargantua was released to Bibu in 2014 and Everyone Loves Bernie Madoff, a raid scene version of the true and completely unlikely story of Wall Street's greatest scammers. The latter was set up on three different theaters and was also filmed for SVT's project Pulse in Sweden. As a dramatist, Gustav has been interested in popular culture, and especially for the horror genre – he has among other things given Ibsen's Gengångare an odd twist in his variant Ghosts & zombies, where the infection of Mrs. Alving's son is drawn to something worse than syphilis. In the summer of 2016 he was one of the authors of Sweden's Radio Drama's major success, The Voices of the Dead, a fictional horror documentary in eight parts. Gustav had previously run the Drama Cup for many years. He also works as a dramaturg at the National Theater.

Chad Eric Bergman (Translator) actively collaborates in the Chicago storefront scene having worked with Stage Left, Live Bait, Chicago Dramatists, MPAACT, parker, Plasticene and Akvavit in various artistic ways. He has been an artist in residence at the Ragdale Foundation and the University of Chicago’s Summer Incubator. He spent a year in Finland on a Fulbright exploring bilingual theatre. At North Park University, he has been developing a theatre curriculum that is based on the Chicago storefront theatre model.

Breahan Eve Pautsch (Director) is originally from Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. She earned her BA in Theatre and English at UW-Madison and has been working in Chicago as an actor and director since 2003. She has been a company member with Akvavit Theatre since 2011, where she served as Literary Manager and Director of Development for several years before taking the position of co-Artistic Director at the beginning of 2017. She is also a company member with Indie Boots Theatre.  



Google Analytics