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Invictus Theatre Company’s Cast announced for
THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH
playing October 29 – December 15
Invictus Theatre Company today announced the cast and production team for its season-closing presentation of THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH, Shakespeare’s tale of the seductive nature of power that combines Scottish history with magical realism. The tragedy’s three witches who warn Macbeth about his future will make their first appearance just before Halloween, with previews beginning on October 29, leading up to an opening on Monday, November 4 at 7 pm and playing through December 15.
THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH will be directed by Sarafina Vecchio, a Chicago-based actor and director, an educator with Acting Studio Chicago, and an adjunct professor at Chicago College of the Performing Arts. Vecchio earned a Post-Graduate Award in Teaching Shakespeare from The University of Warwick (UK, in conjunction with the Royal Shakespeare Company) and has been a guest instructor to Ontario, Canada's Stratford Festival. CHICAGO STAGE AND SCREEN’s Angela Allyn praised Vecchio’s text coaching for Invictus’ JULIUS CAESAR for being “as modern sounding as your favorite political podcast. You have heard these speeches before but never like this. This is a Caesar for everyone.” I'll be out for the press opening November 4th, so check back shortly after for my full review.
Vecchio’s cast will be led by Mikha’el Amin as Macbeth, seen most recently in the title role of Lincoln in Invictus’s TOPDOG/UNDERDOG. His previous roles with Invictus include Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in THE MOUNTAINTOP and Marc Antony in JULIUS CAESAR. Lady Macbeth will be played by Carolyn Kruse, whose experience in playing wicked women includes her role as Madame Defarge in Lifeline’s A TALE OF TWO CITIES, along with many other roles for such Chicago companies as The Artistic Home, Irish Theater of Chicago, and Redtwist Theatre. Also in the cast are Christy Arington (Witch 1), Tessa Dougherty (Witch 2), Julia Rowley (Witch 3), Michael B. Woods (Macduff), Diego Longoria (Malcolm), Joshua Razavi (Lennox), Aimee Kleiman (Rosse), Charlie Diaz (Banquo), Amber Dow (Servant), Joseph Beal (Seyton), Robert Koon (Actor 1: Duncan/Murderer 2/Old Siward), Michaela Shapiro (Actor 2: Kid Macduff/Young Siward/Lord/Soldier), Whitney Minarik (Actor 3: Captain/Lady Macduff/Doctor/Lord), and Layke Fowler (Actor 4: Lords/Soldiers/Fleance). Understudies are Steve Peebles (Macbeth), Laura Resinger (Lady Macbeth/Actor 3/Servant), Joshua Razavi (Banquo), Charlie Diaz (Macduff), Amber Dow (Rosse/Witch Swing), Layke Fowler (Malcolm), Alexandria Bressette (Actor 2/Actor 4/Witch Swing), and Craig Duff (Actor 1/Seyton/Lennox).
Top row (I-r): Mikha’el Amin, Christy Arington, Joseph Beal, Charlie Diaz,
Second row (I-r): Tessa Dougherty, Amber Dow, Layke Fowler, Aimee Kleiman,
Third row (l-r): Robert Koon, Carolyn Kruse, Diego Longoria, Whitney Minarik
Fourth row (l-r): Joshua Razavi, Julia Rowley, Michaela Shapiro, Michael B. Woods
Bottom row (l-r): Alexandria Bressette, Craig Duff, Steve Peebles, Laura Reisinger
The production team includes Jeff Award winner Petter Wahlbäck (Sound Designer), Cindy Moon (Costume Designer), Grace Weir (Stitcher), Hannah Wien (Lighting Designer), Hannah Bolstad (Master Electrician), Manuel Ortiz (Scenic Designer), Barbie Brown (Props Designer), Jay Donley and Amber Wuttke of Violent Delights (Fight/Intimacy Designers), Brandon Boler (Assistant Director), Rooney G. (Production Manager), Desiree Stypinski (Stage Manager), Becca Holloway (Casting Director), Mary Carroll Dougherty (Marketing Manager) and Ana Schedler (Graphic Designer). Charles Askenaizer is Artistic Director and Todd Henry Faulstich is Executive Producer.
Vecchio says, “Even though the production is set 1000 years in the past, the play’s many themes are still very current; especially the theme of unchecked ambition. My hope is this production will spark a rich conversation about what might drive a person to make dangerous choices in the name of success; and how we may avoid these events in the future.”
Invictus Theatre Company has been one of the most notable success stories among Chicago’s storefront theatres in spite of the challenges facing the theater community in recent years, When the pandemic shut down in-person performances just three years after the company’s founding, they responded with a thrillingly intimate Zoom production of ‘NIGHT, MOTHER. They returned from the pandemic by acquiring their own space – the former Frontier Theater, which they renamed in honor of the late founding company member Reginald Vaughn. In that space, they continued to build a reputation for intimate and honest interpretations of classics with fidelity to the original texts and close attention to character development. The company’s extraordinarily successful 2021-22 season netted the company five Jeff Awards for its 13 nominations.
The company continued its upward trajectory with its 2022-23 season. That season began with intimate, yet full-scale, stagings of the epics JULIUS CAESAR and THE CRUCIBLE along with the two-hander THE MOUNTAINTOP. After a fire in July 2023 made the Reginald Vaughn Theatre unusable, the company relocated in 2024 to the Windy City Playhouse, where it has produced the critically acclaimed and popular hits TOPDOG/UNDERDOG (“…intense, grueling, and hilarious” – TALKIN’ BROADWAY), THREE SISTERS (“performances are universally first-rate” – CHICAGO READER) and the Chicago premiere of NETWORK (“a memorable production of an important and illuminating play” – NEW CITY).
Tickets for Invictus's THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH are $25 for previews October 29 - November 3, and all Mondays (except opening night November 4); and $38 for general admission opening night and Fridays through Sundays for the regular run. Tickets are on sale now at https://www.onthestage.tickets/show/invictus-theatre-company/.
THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH
by William Shakespeare
Adapted and Directed by Sarafina Vecchio
October 29 – December 15, 2024
Previews: Tuesday 10/29/24, Friday 11/1/24, Saturday 11/2/24 @ 7pm; and Saturday 11/2/24, Sunday 11/3/24 @ 2pm.
Press Opening Monday 11/4/24 @ 7pm
Regular performances Fridays, Saturdays, and Mondays @ 7pm and Saturdays, Sundays @ 2pm through 12/15/24
Performances at Windy City Playhouse, 3014 W. Irving Park Road, Chicago
Ticket prices: $25 for previews and Mondays (except opening night November 4), and $38 for general admission opening night November 4 and Fridays through Sundays for the regular run.
Info at www.invictustheatreco.com
Tickets at https://www.onthestage.tickets/show/invictus-theatre-company/
One of Shakespeare's most popular and enduring tragedies. A brave Scottish general named Macbeth receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders King Duncan and takes the Scottish throne for himself. Forced to commit more and more murders to protect himself from enmity and suspicion, he soon becomes a tyrannical ruler. The bloodbath and consequent civil war swiftly take Macbeth and Lady Macbeth into the realms of madness and death.
BIOS
Sarafina Vecchio (Director) is an actor, director, and educator who has worked in Chicago and the surrounding area for over 25 years. She holds a Post-Graduate Award in Teaching Shakespeare from The University of Warwick in conjunction with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Coventry, England. She earned her Bachelor's in Theatre from Roosevelt University and studied classical acting at Richmond College in London. She is a long time faculty member with Acting Studio Chicago and is also an adjunct professor at Chicago College of the Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. She is also honored to have been invited as a guest instructor to Ontario, Canada's Stratford Festival, where she taught their acting company techniques in Shakespeare instruction. As a performer and creative, Sarafina has worked locally with many companies, including: Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Shattered Globe, Lakeside Shakespeare, Drury Lane, TimeLine, Remy Bumppo, Irish Theatre of Chicago, Oak Park Festival Theatre, Invictus, Speaking Ring, The Other Theatre Company, Steel Beam, and Janus. She is a proud member of SAG-AFTRA.
Charles Askenaizer (Artistic Director) is the Founding Artistic Director of Invictus Theatre. He won the 2022 Jeff Award (Non-Equity Wing) for his direction of the company’s WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?, which also won Jeff Awards for Production of a Play, Scenic Design (Kevin Rolfs), and Performer in a Supporting Role – Play (Rachel Livingston). Other recent directing credits include THREE SISTERS, NETWORK, THE CRUCIBLE, JULIUS CAESAR, and HAMLET (Invictus Theatre), readings with Chicago Dramatists, 'NIGHT, MOTHER (Associate Director-Invictus Theatre), THE MERCHANT OF VENICE (Invictus Theatre), OTHELLO: THE MOOR OF VENICE (Invictus Theatre), TITUS ANDRONICUS (Bare Knuckles Theater), JULIUS CAESAR (Associate Director- Brown Paper Box) , TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA (Reutan Collective), and THE DIFFERENCE (Reading-Piccolo Theatre). Charles has worked with Citadel Theatre, Teatro Vista, the Artistic Home, City Lit, Raven, Brown Paper Box, Chicago Dramatists, the Side Project and many more.
Charles graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in Theatre and Communications. He has worked professionally in Chicago as an actor, director, and teacher for over 10 years.
ABOUT INVICTUS THEATRE COMPANY
At Invictus Theatre Company, our mission is to create theatre that promotes a better understanding of language: its poetry, its rhythm, its resonance; through diverse works by diverse artists. We respect the power of heightened language: spoken, written, sung; to express the breadth of the human condition. We work to harness the power of language: to promote diversity, to engender respect, to foster collaboration; and to empower our communities to share their voices.
Invictus Theatre Company incorporated in January 2017 and received its 501(c)(3) nonprofit status in February 2017. A diverse group of Chicago actors and directors founded Invictus with the vision to empower their communities through theatrical productions of heightened language. We are committed to the idea that our productions should reflect the communities we represent, and, to that end, we are committed to non-discriminatory hiring practices. In working with local artists, designers, and production teams, Invictus Theatre Company does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, ability, nationality, citizenship, religion, or any other status protected by law.
