Act Out: Reduced Gold Star Tickets To Highly Recommended Sweet and Sad and Susan Swayne and the Bewildered Bride

We caught both of these excellent productions on their opening nights and highly recommend checking them out.   Read our recap of Susan Swayne and the Bewildered Bride right here.     Explore the Ever-Changing State of the Nation in Sweet and Sad Profiles Theatre (Chicago, IL)

Full Price: $35.00 - $40.00 LEARN MORE Our Price: $17.50 - $20.00

Experience Swashbuckling Susan Swayne and the Bewildered Bride Lincoln Square Theatre (Chicago, IL)

Full Price: $20.00 LEARN MORE Our Price: $10.00

Opening, Closing, Extended and Highly Recommended

Act Out:  

Opening Friday

 
PROFILES THEATRE
Sweet and Sad (Midwest Premiere)
by Richard Nelson
Directed by Joe Jahraus

 
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

Location: 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.

Closing (family friendly)

PINKALICIOUS Must Close On September 2!

**Check out ChiIL Mama's review and photo filled Feature (Pinkalicious Turns Gender Stereotypes On Their Heads) by clicking here**

**Check out our exclusive interview with Pinkalicious and her little brother here**
Emerald City Theatre Company's hit production of PINKALICIOUS was tickled pink to have so many extensions and spend over one year at the Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place.   But the time has come to say goodbye.
 

Still didn't see it, or want one last chance to chuckle along?   Catch em while you can.   Use code SUMMER when ordering to get $18 tickets!*

"Can't I have just one more?" When Pinkalicious eats one too many pink cupcakes, she catches a case of Pinkititis and turns pink from head to toe! It'll take the wisdom of her broccoli-eating little brother to help her get out of this predicament. Don't miss Chicago's Emerald City Theatre production of this smash hit musical based on the popular book by Elizabeth and Victoria Kann.

Best suited for theatre lovers 3 and up.

 

* Valid on all performances through September 2. Offer ends September 1 at 11:59pm. Not valid with any other offer or on previously purchased tickets. Subject to availability. Normal ticketing fees apply. Other restrictions may apply.

Extended

The Glass Menagerie
by Tennessee Williams
directed by Josh Altman
is EXTENDING for 2 weeks through September 16
Thu, Fri, Sat, 7:30pm; Sun, 3pm

 

Company member and Jeff Award-winner, Jacqueline Grandt, plays Amanda in Tennessee Williams' most intimate play, up close and personal at Redtwist

THE PLAY
In Williams' deeply personal-and autobiographical-memory play, Tom Wingfield reveals to us a critical moment in his family's life. Brimming with false hope and desperation, this vivid and penetrating drama explores the disguise of illusion and a family's struggle to survive. Redtwist approaches this American masterpiece from the unique perspective of its explosive storefront space to re-examine the dark secrets of a young man's family, the debris from which emerged the legendary American playwright.

CAST
Ryan Heindl as Tom Wingfield; Jacqueline Grandt as Amanda Wingfield; Sarah Mayhan as Laura Wingfield; Chris Daley as Jim O'Connor

STAFF
Josh Altman (Director); Allison Queen (Stage Manager); Olivia Baker (Assistant Stage Manager); Frank Sjodin (Tech Director); Henry Behel (Set Designer); Heather Gilbert (Lighting Designer); Christopher Kriz (Sound Designer); Kelsey Ettman (Costume Designer); Nick Heggestad (Prop Designer); Kevin McDonald (Dramaturg); Kathy Logelin (Dialect Coach); Garvin Jellison (Master Electrician); Mary Reynard Liss (Vocal Coach); Jan Ellen Graves (Graphic Design); Charles Bonilla (Box Office Manager); Justin Castellano (Production Manager); Brett Gould, Heather Brooke Scholten (Production Assistants); Michael Colucci & Jan Ellen Graves (Producers)

SCHEDULE
Runs: Thu, Fri, Sat, 7:30pm; Sun, 3pm
Closes: Sun, Sep 16, 3pm
Running Time: Approx. 2:15 hours, includes one intermission
Tickets: Thu, $25; Fri & Sun, $27; Sat, $30 (seniors & students $5 off)

DETAILS
Call: 773-728-7529
Email: reserve@redtwist.org
Website/Tickets: www.redtwist.org

Redtwist is located at 1044 W Bryn Mawr, 2 blks W of LSD, 2 blks E of the Red Line El station. Street parking (paybox/meters until 9pm) is available on Bryn Mawr, side streets, and Broadway. Please reserve 48 hours in advance. Credit cards accepted by phone and via Paypal to guarantee seating.

Highly Recommended

BABES WITH BLADES KICKS OFF 15th ANNIVERSARY SEASON  WITH “SUSAN SWAYNE AND THE BEWILDERED BRIDE”

 WORLD PREMIERE OF REINA HARDY’S VICTORIAN DETECTIVE COMEDY

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

Dig Sherlock in skirts, and cutthroat killers in corsettes?   Then you must see Susan Swayne and The Bewildered Bride.   There's plenty of Victorian murder, mayhem and mystery afoot in this detective drama.  And the gender bending, cross dressing is worthy of The Bard himself.

ChiIL Live Shows had the great privileged of checkin' out opening night and we were thoroughly entertained.   The stage combat and sword play is  exhilarating and intense while the characters are as amusing as they are confusing.   We enjoyed the well written script and quirky sleuthing.   From opium dens to underwear duels, this show is highly recommended!   There are some mature sexual themes and simulated violence but nothing too over the top for older kids.   If in doubt, come check it out first.

Babes With Blades Theatre Company (BWBTC), Chicago’s all-female stage combat ensemble, will open their 15th anniversary season with the world premiere of “Susan Swayne and the Bewildered Bride” by Reina Hardy, directed by Dan Foss.  

It’s 1888 in London, and the Society of Lady Detectives meets discreetly to indulge its members’  tastes for swordplay and sleuthing.  As the genteel club considers a disturbing series of murders in the Whitechapel district, a frantic heiress turns up with a startling accusation towards one of their own.  Society member Susan Swayne takes the case, defying societal norms and pursuing the truth through the Victorian streets.  

Combat sequences from violence designer/BWBTC ensemble member Libby Beyreis will feature smallsword and bartitsu (a Victorian mixed martial art influenced by jujitsu and savate).  

Tickets are $20 for regular performances, students and seniors $12.
 
Originally submitted to BWBTC’s inaugural Joining Sword & Pen Playwriting Competition in 2005, “Susan Swayne and the Bewildered Bride” began as a one-act play inspired by a print of Emile Bayard’s “An Affair of Honor.”  The script was selected for the company’s New Plays Development Program in 2009 and became a full-length play through a series of three readings and feedback sessions.  Director Foss describes the resulting script as “a quirky Victorian detective comedy.”
  
 
The cast includes BWBTC ensemble members Lisa Herceg, Kimberly Logan, and  Megan Schemmel, joined by guest artists Kathryn Acosta, Justine Serino, and Kelly Yacono.

TICKETS ON SALE NOW for Reina Hardy’s Susan Swayne and the Bewildered Bride: CLICK!

“Susan Swayne and the Bewildered Bride” opened on Saturday, August 18 at 8:00 p.m. at the Lincoln Square Theatre, 4754 N. Leavitt (inside Berry Memorial UMC, lower level).   The show runs Thursday-Saturday at 8 p.m., August 23  to September 22.  In addition, there will be Saturday matinees on September 1, 8, and 15 at 2:00 p.m.

For tickets, call 773-904-0391 or to go http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/222921.

Play Locally Tonight: Babes With Blades and Mucca Pazza

CHECK OUT OUR MUCCA PAZZA PHOTO FILLED PAST COVERAGE AND SAFETY FIFTH ALBUM REVIEW RIGHT HERE.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 18, 2012 - 11:00PM

DOORS 10:30 PM / SHOW 11:00 PM 

17 & OVER, VALID ID REQUIRED FOR ENTRY. 

HTTP://MUCCA-PAZZA.ORG/

HTTP://OCCIDENTALBROTHERS.COM/

Twisted metal and piles of slag behind them, shish boom bah!

Chicago’s Mucca Pazza marches on, from the steel mill parking lots of Chicago across the nation. Wielding homemade headgear amps and shouting surreal algebraic cheers, the dozens-strong band insists on Safety Fifth (Electric Cowbell Records; June 12, 2012).

They march in formation, rip through drum cadences, bust out cinematic stories, and incite mass dance outbreaks. They channel everything from Bartok to a love-struck Godzilla, re-imagine the uptight 19th-century march, and make up soundtracks for classic Egyptian movies that never happened. Not bad for an eccentric gang of loud-and-proud, self-proclaimed band geeks.

“We look like a marching band and occasionally behave like a marching band, but we don’t sound like one,” explains Gary Kalar, mandolin player and member of Mucca Pazza’s “freak” section of stringed instruments and accordion. “We care about the music we play; it’s not a novelty thing. We just don’t fit into any hyphenated genre.”

“We’re a marching band that thinks we’re a rock band,” exclaims sousaphone player Mark Messing.

This May and June, Mucca Pazza will rock New York, Washington DC, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Louisville, and, of course, Chicago, with a live show too big to stay on stage.

Why play a gritty factory parking lot for free every Sunday morning?

“We figured no one would bother us in an industrial area,” reflects Messing. “It was also weirdly inspiring to be there, by ourselves on the Chicago River, among all these big scrap yards. We felt like we were putting together something from scrap.

“We came together in a whole bunch of ways. The connections were pretty random,” explains trombonist Elanor Leskiw. “Some of us met while protesting the war here in Chicago. Many of us are involved in theater and music for theater. About seven of us wanted to explore playing original compositions and just have an outlet. As a composer, you don’t have an ensemble to try out new music, unless you’re at an academic institution or orchestra. It grew from there. We were having so much fun playing at the parking lot at noon. People would show up to listen every week, with donuts and coffee.”

“All the rock bands and the singer-songwriters have a place to be, but we grew up in school bands,” Messing adds. “We had to come up with our own alternative that was fun.”

The alternative evolved during those impromptu Sunday sessions, melding a devil-may-care rock vibe with the devil’s-in-the-details focus and precision of the best marching bands. Cheerleaders praising the wonders of integers and verbs—or staging bold rallying cries against the Dewey decimal system—became part of the team, as did a motley crew of unexpected instruments.

For example, when guitarist Jeff Thomas approached the band, psyched about the music but dismayed that he only played guitar, the helmet amp was born: a hockey helmet DIY-melded with a tiny loudspeaker. “The hockey helmet has this strange resonance, which was odd at first,” laughs Thomas, “but it frees you.” The same setup allows mandolin, accordion, and violin to march alongside the brass, glockenspiel, and drum corps, and sparked the Mucca Pazza section lovingly dubbed “the freaks.”

Freakdom adds a fresh layer to the marching band sound, as funky guitar lines talk back (“March Anormale,” a slightly twisted take on 19th-century military band music) or the accordion sets the pace (the whimsical beauty of “Tube Sock Tango”).

Like the band, the music also came together from disparate, awesome bits: Quirky winks at TV shows’ theme songs (“Maui Waui 5-0” is a 70s-style car chase of a romp, for example) meet garage band songs gone drum and brass (the bad-ass “Boss Taurus”). A fascination with the work of Ennio Morricone (audible in “Hang ‘Em Where I Can See ‘Em”) crosses paths with a red-hot tango of love between the Mummy and Godzilla (the Tom Waitsian “Monster Tango”).

The fluid movement between genres, styles, and influences matches the band’s mobility. Even when performing in canoes on the Chicago River—the wild idea of an environmental non-profit that put the band in boats—the group uses formations familiar from their band geek days and high-energy drum cadences (like “Coolashell”) to transition from place to place, from piece to piece. They can also set a whole audience marching—sometimes right off the street and into the club.

This dynamism is tangible in the music and makes for an audience experience that’s up close and personal. “I never moved around much when I played in rock bands. I was chained to an amp,” notes Thomas with a smile. “The helmet was liberating. I could explore my body more, and it actually affected the way I played. Because of the directional quality of the helmet, I have to get really close to people. When I perform in the audience, I love getting obnoxiously close.”

Personal space issues aside, Mucca Pazza pushes the envelope, bringing punk aesthetics to the parade and marching band chops to the rock club. “We were marching in the Kentucky Derby parade in Louisville, with all these 100-member marching bands,” Thomas recounts. “We’d march like a regular band and then with a whistle blow make these random honking noises. At the point when a TV newscaster started to announce us on the air, we started honking away, and the announcer stopped mid-band name. He said, ‘I don’t think we’ve seen anything quite like this before.’”

Theatre that leaves a mark......

If you're not already intrigued and entranced with that tag line....    What can we say to convince you.    We'll be catching opening night tonight and we'll have a full review up for you in the very near future.    We've been fans of Babes With Blades for years and highly recommend their high energy, fight laden shows.   They're kicking off their 15th anniversary season in style

TICKETS ON SALE NOW for Reina Hardy’s Susan Swayne and the Bewildered Bride: CLICK!

Several shows are already SOLD OUT, so don’t delay – get your tix today!

BABES WITH BLADES KICKS OFF 15^th ANNIVERSARY SEASON  WITH “SUSAN SWAYNE AND THE BEWILDERED BRIDE”

WORLD PREMIERE OF REINA HARDY’S VICTORIAN DETECTIVE COMEDY

   

  

Babes With Blades Theatre Company (BWBTC), Chicago’s all-female stage combat ensemble, will open their 15^th anniversary season with the world premiere of “Susan Swayne and the Bewildered Bride” by Reina Hardy, directed by Dan Foss.  It’s 1888 in London, and the Society of Lady Detectives meets discreetly to indulge its members’  tastes for swordplay and sleuthing.  As the genteel club considers a disturbing series of murders in the Whitechapel district, a frantic heiress turns up with a startling accusation towards one of their own.  Society member Susan Swayne takes the case, defying societal norms and pursuing the truth through the Victorian streets.  Combat sequences from violence designer/BWBTC ensemble member Libby Beyreis will feature smallsword and bartitsu (a Victorian mixed martial art influenced by jujitsu and savate).  Tickets are $8 for previews or $20 for regular performances, students and seniors $12.

  

Originally submitted to BWBTC’s inaugural Joining Sword & Pen Playwriting Competition in 2005, “Susan Swayne and the Bewildered Bride” began as a one-act play inspired by a print of Emile Bayard’s “An Affair of Honor.”  The script was selected for the company’s New Plays Development Program in 2009 and became a full-length play through a series of three readings and feedback sessions.  Director Foss describes the resulting script as “a quirky Victorian detective comedy.”

   

  

The cast includes BWBTC ensemble members Lisa Herceg, Kimberly Logan, and  Megan Schemmel, joined by guest artists Kathryn Acosta, Justine Serino, and Kelly Yacono.

    

 Production staff includes  Leigh Barrett* (Lighting Designer/BWBTC Artistic Director), Libby Beyreis* (Violence Designer), Matthew Cummings (Props Designer), Alison Dornheggen* (Production Manager), Dan Foss (Director), Gillian N. Humiston* (Assistant Violence Designer), Christopher Kriz (Sound Designer), Dennis Mae (Scenic Designer), Tara Malpass (Stage Manager), Kjerstine McHugh* (Assistant Director), and Kimberly Morris (Costume Designer).

     *Denotes BWB Ensemble Member

    

 “Susan Swayne and the Bewildered Bride” will open on Saturday, August 18 at 8:00 p.m. at the Lincoln Square Theatre, 4754 N. Leavitt (inside Berry Memorial UMC, lower level).  Previews are Saturday, August 11 and Friday, August 17 at 8 p.m.  The show runs Thursday-Saturday at 8 p.m., August 23  to September 22.  In addition, there will be Saturday matinees on September 1, 8, and 15 at 2:00 p.m.

For tickets, call 773-904-0391 or to go http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/222921.

Key Bios:

Dan Foss (Director) has been involved in the development of "Susan Swayne and the Bewildered Bride" since spring of 2009 and is thrilled to finally be bringing it to life with Babes With Blades.  Recent directing experience includes "Erratica" with American Demigods (also by Reina Hardy), "Vanishing Points" with Point of Contention, and various projects with Appetite Theatre Company, The Side Project, Hobo Junction, Rogue Theater Company, and Rascal Children's Theater.  You may recognize Dan from his brief return to the stage as Uncle Saul in BWBTC’s production of "The Double" last fall.  He is also the Secretary of BWBTC’s Board of Directors.

Libby Beyreis (Violence Designer) has been fighting on stage since 1994, and is proud to be a company member of Babes With Blades.  She has designed violence for companies including Idle Muse, Strangeloop, The DIVISION, Focal Point Theater Company, Chase Park, Free Street, as well as a number shows with the Babes, most recently Romeo & Juliet and The Double.

Kjerstine McHugh (Assistant Director) is tickled to be working on this wonderful script with such an amazing group of artists. She hopes that she gets more stuff right than she gets wrong on this, her second foray into the wonderful world of not stage managing.

Babes With Blades Theatre Company will complete its 15^th anniversary season in spring of 2013 with an all-female “Julius Caesar.”

Photo credit:  Steven Townshend

Kelly Yacono (Left) as Katherine Denn and Lisa Herceg (Right) as Susan Swayne