OPENING: CRUMBS FROM THE TABLE OF JOY at Raven Theatre East Stage October 4 – November 18, 2018

ChiIL Live Shows On Our Radar

Raven Theatre Presents 

CRUMBS FROM THE TABLE OF JOY

By Lynn Nottage

Directed by Tyrone Phillips

October 4 – November 18, 2018

I'll be out for the press performance October 8th, so check back soon for my full review. We're eager to see two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner, Lynn Nottage's period piece set in 1950's Brooklyn.

Raven Theatre is pleased to launch its 2018-19 season with CRUMBS FROM THE TABLE OF JOY by two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Lynn Nottage, directed by Tyrone Phillips. This sharp and boisterous drama about family, faith and revolution will play October 4 – November 18, 2018 on Raven’s 99-seat East Stage, 6157 N. Clark St. (at Granville) in Chicago. Tickets are currently available at www.raventheatre.com or by calling (773) 338-2177.

CRUMBS FROM THE TABLE OF JOY will feature Chanell Bell, Brianna Buckley, Brandi Jiminez Lee, Terence Sims and Emily Tate.

Brooklyn, 1950. Ernestine and Ermina Crump have moved to New York with their father, Godfrey, who is seeking spiritual guidance from a man called Father Divine. In the swirling, glamorous commotion of this new city, with calls for equal rights and communist rebellion hanging in the air, the girls begin a turbulent journey toward independence and a challenging future.

Comments Raven Theatre Artistic Director Cody Estle, “Lynn Nottage is a prolific writer and her work is a gift to all who encounter it. This is the first time Raven Theatre has produced one of her plays. As a theatre known for producing the classics of Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller, it seems only fitting to include Lynn’s voice among these greats. Set in 1950, Crumbs from the Table of Joy examines a family experiencing change in a country filled with racial and social turmoil. Audiences will connect with the struggles of this family, while getting a glimpse into a time in our past whose complexity resembles that of today.”

The production team for CRUMBS FROM THE TABLE OF JOY includes: Arnel Sancianco (scenic design), Christine Pascual (costume design), Kathy A. Perkins (lighting design), Matt Test (sound design), Mealah Heidenreich (props design), Jon Martinez (choreography), Eva Breneman (dialect coach), Megan Pirtle (wig design), Kanomé Jones (casting director), Alexis Taylor (assistant director), Cole von Glahn (production manager), Bobby Huggins (technical director), Wilhelm Peters (stage manager) and Sapier Weinglass (assistant stage manager).




Location: Raven Theatre East Stage, 6157 N. Clark St. (at Granville), Chicago

Dates: Previews: Thursday, October 4 at 7:30 pm, Friday, October 5 at 7:30 pm, Saturday, October 6 at 7:30 pm and Sunday, October 7 at 3 pm

Regular run: Thursday, October 11 – Sunday, November 18, 2018

Curtain Times: Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm; Sundays at 3 pm. 

Tickets: Previews $32 ($29 if purchased online). Regular run $46 ($43 if purchased online). Seniors/teachers $41 ($38 if purchased online). Students/active military and veterans $15. 

Every Thursday is “Under 30 Thursday,” when patrons under age 30 can purchase tickets for $15. Single tickets and subscriptions for the 2018-19 Season are currently available at www.raventheatre.com or by calling (773) 338-2177.

Touch Tour/Open Captioned performance: Sunday, November 4 at 3 pm. Touch tour begins at 1:45 pm.

Group tickets: Groups of 10 or more are $30 per person for Thursday and Friday performances and $35 per person for Saturday and Sunday performances. Student groups are $15 per person.

Plan Your Visit: 
Free parking is provided in a lot adjacent to the theatre – additional street parking is available. Nearest El station: Granville Red Line. Buses: #22 (Clark), #36 (Broadway), #151 (Sheridan), #155 (Devon), #84 (Peterson).



About the Artists:

Lynn Nottage (Playwright) received the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and three Tony Award nominations for her play Sweat. For her play Ruined, she received the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for drama, along with an Obie, the Lucille Lortel Award, New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award, Drama Desk Award, and Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Play (Manhattan Theatre Club, Goodman Theatre). Her other plays include Intimate Apparel (New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Play; Roundabout Theatre, CENTERSTAGE, South Coast Repertory); Fabulation, Or the Re-Education of Undine (Obie Award; Playwrights Horizons, London’s Tricycle Theatre); Crumbs from the Table of Joy; Las Meninas; Mud, River, Stone; Por’Knockers and Poof! Nottage is the recipient of numerous awards, including the 2007 MacArthur Foundation “Genius Grant,” the National Black Theatre Festival’s August Wilson Playwriting Award, the 2004 PEN/Laura Pels Award for Drama, and the 2005 Guggenheim Grant for Playwriting, as well as fellowships from the Lucille Lortel Foundation, Manhattan Theatre Club, New Dramatists, and New York Foundation for the Arts. She is a member of The Dramatists Guild, an alumna of New Dramatists and a graduate of Brown University and the Yale School of Drama, where she is a visiting lecturer. For additional information, visit www.lynnnottage.net.

Tyrone Phillips (Director) is the founding Artistic Director of Chicago's Definition Theatre Company. Named one of the Chicago Tribune's “Hot New Faces of 2015” and Newcity's “Players 2016: The Fifty People Who Really Perform for Chicago,” he is a graduate of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign where he received his BFA with honors. Directing credits include the critically-acclaimed production of Byhalia, Mississippi (Joseph Jefferson Awards nomination), which remounted to open the Steppenwolf 1700 Theatre, Dutchman (Definition Theatre), The MLK Project: The Fight for Civil Rights (Writers Theatre), 33 to Nothing (A Red Orchid Theatre), Dontrell, Who Kissed The Sea (Illinois Theatre), We the People, Our Town, Lord of the Flies, The Tempest (Niles North Theatre). You also may have seen his work as associate director for Red Velvet (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre) and as the assistant director for Trevor the Musical, Parade and The Mystery of Love and Sex (Writers Theatre). Tyrone also studied abroad at Shakespeare’s Globe and was an emerging professional resident at the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre where he worked on A Raisin in the Sun, The Mountaintop, and Clybourne Park. Tyrone is represented by Grossman and Jack Talent and was recently selected as one of Newcity's “Players—the 50 leaders of Chicago’s theater, dance, opera and comedy culture of 2018”. 

Quill Reading Series
Raven Theatre will present a staged reading of POOF! by Lynn Nottage, directed by Wardell Julius Clark on Wednesday, November 14 at 7:30 pm (reception at 7 pm). Quill is a series of four staged readings produced in tandem with each of the plays in Raven’s season. The readings provide an opportunity for audiences to engage further with the work of this season’s playwrights and explore their artistic voice on stage. Each Quill reading features a pre-show reception with complimentary wine provided by Income Tax. Admission is a suggested donation of $10.



About Raven Theatre

Raven Theatre tells stories of today and the past that connect us to our cultural landscape. Through its plays as well as its educational programming, Raven is committed to serving our communities’ needs through the arts.

Raven Theatre Company is funded in part by the Alphawood Foundation, Bayless Family Foundation, The MacArthur Fund for Arts and Culture at Prince, Polk Bros. Foundation, S&C Electric Company Fund, The Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, the PAV Fund and the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.

REVIEW: Nice Girl Sketchy Butcher at Raven Theatre Through 3/11/18

Chi, IL LIVE Shows On Our Radar: 

Chicago Premiere!

Raven Theatre Presents 

NICE GIRL

By Melissa Ross

Directed by Lauren Shouse

Through March 11, 2018


Production Photos by Michael Brosilow

Running time: 2 hours, including intermission

Review:  

Raven Theatre's latest, the Chicago premiere of Nice Girl, is written and directed by women and has multiple strong female relationships depicted on stage. We enjoyed this nostalgic nod to 80s fashions and foibles, from laughably awkward pre-Tinder singles bars to awful bow blouses. 

Nice Girl sweeps the audience back 30+ years to the 1984 childhood home of a bright, Jewish, suburban Boston girl, who never quite left the nest. The accents are instantly recognizable, as are the universal character types, emotional exchanges, and little life dramas.

We enjoyed the relationship between grown 37 year old daughter, Josephine Rosen (Lucy Carapetyan) and her mother, Francine (Lynne Baker) who both alternate between annoyance and attachment with each other. Jo gave up a scholarship to Radcliffe in her Freshman year of college and came home to care for her dying father, and never went back. Now she's been stuck for 20 years, living with her mother who is healthy, but willfully dependent and homebound by choice. Her life consists of a dead-end secretarial job, jazzercise, and sparring with and mothering her mother. Jo does the cooking, cleaning and financial support, even scheduling doctors appointments her mother choses to miss.

I've been seeing the sandwich generation portrayed for decades, late marrying couples stuck caring for both their young children and aging parents. Recently, however, I've seen quite a few shows that even stop short of that phenomenon. This genre explores young adults who came home, sometimes to care for ailing or dying parents and got stuck, never getting their own love lives or careers off the ground. As college loans and the cost of living soar, and nursing home/home costs skyrocket as well, this is a familiar dilemma to many.

Nice girl is full of fun characters including the wacky work friend, smack talking, free spirit, Sherry (Stella Martin), who also has a thinly veiled aching loneliness and vulnerability under her hilarious exterior. Then there's the butcher, good looking, flirty former classmate and separated father of two teens, Donny (Benjamin Sprunger). 

Without giving away some delicious plot twists, suffice it to say, Donny's a player with a regrettable past and squandered potential of his own to deal with. Nice Girl is a delightful adventure about learning to say yes to getting out of your comfort zone and getting unstuck, while still trusting your instincts when it's time to say no. Come find out when getting stood up for a date is actually the best thing that could possibly happen.

Catch Nice Girl through 3/11/18 in Raven Theatre's intimate 105-seat East Stage, 6157 N. Clark St. (at Granville).

CAST

Lucy Carapetyan as Josephine

Lynne Baker as Francine

Stella Martin as Sherry

Benjamin Sprunger as Donnie

Understudies

Katherine Swan

Anne Wrider

Devri Chism

Mike Newquist

Raven Theatre is pleased to continue its 35th anniversary season with the Chicago premiere of Melissa Ross’s humorous and heartfelt play NICE GIRL, directed by Lauren Shouse, playing January 24 – March 11, 2018 in Raven’s East Stage, 6157 N. Clark St. (at Granville) in Chicago. Tickets are currently available at www.raventheatre.com or by calling (773) 338-2177. 

NICE GIRL features Lynne Baker, Lucy Carapetyan, Stella Martin and Benjamin Sprunger.

It’s 1984 and Josephine Rosen finds herself stuck in her job, her spinsterhood and her mom’s house at age 37. But when a new friendship and a budding romance bring her the possibility of change, she takes tentative steps towards a new life with one powerful word: Yes. A play about the tragedy and joy of figuring out who you are, and letting go of who you were supposed to be.

The production team for NICE GIRL includes: Lauren Nigri (scenic design), Nöel Huntzinger (costume design), Rebecca Jeffords (lighting design), Sarah Putts (sound design), John Buranosky (properties design), Jason Martin (dialect specialist), Sydney Achler (scenic artist), Jordan Pokorney (assistant director) and Wilhelm Peters (stage manager).

Location: 
Raven Theatre East Stage, 6157 N. Clark St. (at Granville), Chicago

Dates: 
Regular run: Friday, February 2 – Sunday, March 11, 2018
Curtain Times: Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm; Sundays at 3 pm. 

Tickets: Previews $32 ($29 if purchased online). Regular run $46 ($43 if purchased online). Seniors/teachers $41 ($38 if purchased online). Students/active military and veterans $15. Every Thursday is “Under 30 Thursday,” when patrons under age 30 can purchase tickets for $15. Single tickets and season subscriptions for both the 2017-18 Season and 2018-19 Season are currently available at www.raventheatre.com or by calling (773) 338-2177.

Group tickets: Groups of 10 or more are $30 per person for Thursday and Friday performances and $35 per person for Saturday and Sunday performances. Student groups are $15 per person.

Plan Your Visit: 
Free parking is provided in a lot adjacent to the theatre – additional street parking is available. Nearest El station: Granville Red Line, Buses: #22 (Clark), #36 (Broadway), #151 (Sheridan), #155 (Devon), #84 (Peterson).

About the Artists
Melissa Ross’s (Playwright) Plays include Thinner Than Water, A Life Extra Ordinary, Nice Girl, An Entomologist’s Love Story and Of Good Stock. Thinner Than Water and Nice Girl were both originally produced by LAByrinth Theater Company. Thinner Than Water is included in the anthology “New Playwrights: Best Plays of 2011” by Smith and Kraus. Nice Girl was a finalist for the Francesca Primus Prize and is in Applause’s  “Best Plays of 2015.” Of Good Stock received its world premiere at South Coast Repertory as a part of the Pacific Playwrights Festival followed by a production at Manhattan Theater Club. A Life Extra Ordinary premiered with The Gift Theatre Fall of 2016. An Entomologist’s Love Story is an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Commission and an Edgerton New Play award recipient, and will premiere at The San Francisco Playhouse Spring of 2018. Her short play Jack was a part of Summer Shorts 2017 and will be published by Dramatists Play Service. Melissa’s plays have been developed with The Amoralists, The Cherry Lane Theater, Colt Coeur, Dorset Theater Festival, The Gift Theatre, Iama Theatre Company, The Juilliard School, Labyrinth Theater Company, LCT3, Manhattan Theater Club, Montana Rep, New York Stage and Film, The New Group, South Coast Repertory, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater and the TheatreWorks Palo Alto New Works Festival. She is twice commissioned by both South Coast Repertory and Manhattan Theater Club. Melissa is a graduate of Bennington College and the Lila Acheson Wallace Playwriting Program at The Juilliard School, a two-time winner of the Le Comte de Nouy Prize and a proud member of LAByrinth Theater Company.

Lauren Shouse (Director) is the Artistic Associate and Literary Manager at Northlight Theatre. Her recent directing credits include: The Legend of Georgia McBride at Northlight Theatre, Betrayal at Raven Theatre, Rapture, Blister, Burn, Superior Donuts and A Christmas Story at Nashville Repertory Theatre, the world premiere of Long Way Down with 3Ps productions (nominated for American Theatre Critics Association Steinberg New Play Award 2011); the world premiere of Religion and Rubber Ducks with Ovvio Arte; Parallel Lives, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, The Last Five Years and Chess in Concert with Street Theatre Company; the world premiere of Rear Widow at Chaffin's Barn Theatre and Sylvia Plath’s 3 Women. As Artistic Associate at Nashville Rep, Lauren directed the Ingram New Works Play Lab and Festival, which developed new works by John Patrick Shanley, David Auburn, Steven Dietz and Victoria Stewart. Lauren also co-founded Ten Minute Playhouse, a company that produced short plays by local playwrights. Before moving to Nashville, Lauren lived in London, UK and worked with Producer/Director Hugh Wooldridge. Her work abroad includes: Production Executive for The Night of 1000 Voices (celebrating John Kander and Fred Ebb and starring Joel Grey with Avenue Q) at The Royal Albert Hall; Production Executive of An Evening with Michael Parkinson at The Theatre Royal - Windsor, Children's Director/Assistant to the Director of A Gift of Music, and Assistant Director of The Night of 1000 Voices at The Odyssey Arena in Belfast, Ireland. Lauren holds an MA in Performance Studies from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill where she adapted and directed The Time Traveler’s Wife. She received her MFA in theatre directing at Northwestern University where she directed Stop Kiss, Eurydice and In the Next Room or the Vibrator Play. In Chicago, Lauren has also worked with Steppenwolf Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Lookingglass Theatre, Rivendell Theatre, Sideshow Theatre, Route 66, Chicago Dramatists, The Gift and Stage Left Theatre.www.laurenshousedirects.com

About Raven Theatre
Raven Theatre tells stories of today and the past that connect us to our cultural landscape. Through its plays as well as its educational programming, Raven is committed to serving our communities’ needs through the arts.

Raven Theatre Company is funded in part by the Alphawood Foundation, Dramatists Guild Fund, Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation, The MacArthur Fund for Arts and Culture at Prince, Polk Bros. Foundation, The Arts Work Fund for Organizational Development, S&C Electric, The Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, the PAV Fund and the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.