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