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Showing posts with label Victory Gardens. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Victory Gardens. Show all posts

Thursday, September 9, 2021

SEASON ANNOUNCEMENT: Victory Gardens Theater 2021/2022 Season to Include 3 Mainstage Productions, a New Reading Series, and a New Play Festival

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Victory Gardens Theater announces plans for the 2021/2022 Season



Victory Gardens Theater announces their 2021/2022 Season, which will be presented in-person at the Biograph Theater in Lincoln Park. The season will feature three mainstage productions: Queen of the Night by travis tate, the World Premiere of In Every Generation by Ali Viterbi, and the Regional Premiere of cullud wattah by Erika Dickerson-Despenza.


Top row: travis tate, Ali Viterbi, Erika Dickerson-Despenza

Bottom row: Ken-Matt Martin, Devon de Mayo, Lili-Anne Brown 


In addition to the mainstage season, Victory Gardens presents the evolution of the Ignition Festival of New Plays, now renamed the Ignition New Play Program, sponsored by The Pritzker Pucker Family Foundation. The Ignition New Play Program consists of two events for the 2021/22 season: the Ignite Chicago reading series, offering free readings of new works between October 2021 and July 2022, and the 20/50 Festival in June 2022, featuring 3 new works by playwrights over 50, staged by VG Directors Inclusion Initiative Fellows.

Top row: Nygel D. Robinson, Brian Quijada, Ada A.

bottom row: Nicholas Pilapil, Gage Tarlton, Rhiana Yazzie


“We have lost so much in the past 18 months, and I don’t take for granted that those of us still living are blessed to have survived,” says Victory Gardens Artistic Director Ken-Matt Martin. “The pandemic has left many of us wondering, ‘How do we move forward?’ All of these plays feature families dealing with the fallout of situations beyond their control—much like the last 18 months we all just endured. These families move forward with love, humor, joy, and a commitment to healing long-held hurts. I am hopeful this season inspires those who see it to do the same.”

The Ignition New Play Program will include the 20/50 Festival and a yearlong new play reading series, Ignite Chicago. The 20/50 Festival will feature 3 playwrights over age 50, and all plays will be staged by the Directors Inclusion Initiative Fellows. Ignite Chicago readings will take place not only at Victory Gardens’ home in Lincoln Park, the Biograph Theater, but at partner locations throughout the city, to bring new plays into Chicago’s many

communities. “It was important to me to not only continue but expand the Theater’s commitment to new play development as we reopen, and credit goes to Roxanna Conner for her instrumental work in redeveloping Ignition for the future,” added Ken-Matt Martin.

“We’ll be offering more resources and opportunities for our Ignite Chicago playwrights, as well as creating a new festival devoted to those often overlooked in our industry: the veterans, and the next generation of up-and-coming artists. By bringing these two groups together, it creates a wonderful opportunity for collaboration and learning between artists who might not otherwise have the opportunity to create together,” shares Acting Managing Director Roxanna Conner.

Flex Passes to the 2021/22 Season are currently on sale at victorygardens.org or by phone at 773.871.3000, and offer 20% savings over single ticket prices. Single tickets will go on sale later this fall, and range from $29-$62. Registration for Ignition New Play Program events will be available at victorygardens.org approximately one month before each event.

In conjunction with a coalition of member theatres of the League of Chicago Theatres, Victory Gardens has new attendance policies in place for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic. Attendees to all in-person events will be asked to show proof of vaccination or negative COVID-19 test within the last 72 hours, and must remain masked for the duration of their time at the Biograph.

In addition to its onstage work, Victory Gardens has invested in inclusion, diversity, equity, accessibility, and anti-racism (IDEAA) projects over the past year. The outcome of this work has been numerous adjustments to artistic practices and policies, as well as new initiatives designed to make IDEAA an integral part of the Theater’s daily work. For full details on changes and projects to date, visit victorygardens.org/idea. 


Queen of the Night

By travis tate

Directed by Ken-Matt Martin

Saturday, January 29, 2022 - Sunday, March 13, 2022

Press Openings: Friday, February 4 and Saturday, February 5, 2022


A divorced father and his queer son head to the woods of southeastern Texas to relive the camping trips of earlier, easier days. But even without cell service, certain things are inescapable. Playwright travis tate explores masculinity and queerness through the lens of multi-generational Blackness, offering a hilarious, heart-rending family portrait about reckoning with the wilderness of a shared past, while facing an uncertain future. Staged

by Victory Gardens Artistic Director Ken-Matt Martin, Queen of the Night will kick off the 2021/22 Season.

The Queen of the Night design team includes: Sydney Lynne (Scenic), Rueben D. Echoles (Costumes), Sim Carpenter (Lights), and G Clausen (Sound).


World Premiere

In Every Generation

By Ali Viterbi

Directed by Devon de Mayo

Saturday, April 2, 2022 - Sunday, May 1, 2022

Press Opening: Friday, April 8, 2022

Each Passover, for four millennia, we ask: why is this night different from all other nights? And each year, the Levi-Katz clan has answered, while grappling with questions of race and religion that never seem to get resolved. The family finds strength in tradition (vegan brisket or no); but each year of celebration brings more pressing questions about the future: if trauma is generational, then must we be defined by it? Will we ever be free? Written by Ali Viterbi, In Every Generation was the 2019 winner of the National Jewish Playwriting Contest, and will have its world premiere at Victory Gardens, staged by Devon de Mayo (If I Forget, Victory Gardens).


Regional Premiere

cullud wattah

By Erika Dickerson-Despenza

Directed by Lili-Anne Brown

Saturday, June 11, 2022 - Sunday, July 17, 2022

Press Opening: Friday, June 17, 2022

Thanksgiving, 2016: Flint, Michigan has been without clean water for 936 days. Marion, a third-generation General Motors assembly line worker, worries over impending layoffs while struggling to fight the poison that floods her home—and her family's bodies. When her sister, Ainee, seeks restitution for lead poisoning, secrets bubble to the surface, threatening to capsize not only their family, but all of Vehicle City. Penned by award-winning playwright Erika Dickerson-Despenza, cullud wattah will be staged by Victory Gardens Resident Director Lili-Anne Brown (Lottery Day; School Girls: Or The African Mean Girls Play, Goodman Theatre).

The cullud wattah design team includes: Sydney Lynne (Scenic), Christine Pascual (Costumes), Jason Lynch (Lights), Trey Brazeal (Associate Lights), and Victoria Deiorio (Sound).

cullud wattah is sponsored by The Joseph and Bessie Feinberg Foundation.


Ignite Chicago Reading Series

Readings will take place at Victory Gardens Theater and partner locations to be announced. All readings are free to attend, but RSVPs will be required, as capacity for each reading is limited.


October 2021: Mexodus by Nygel D. Robinson & Brian Quijada

November 2021: Tokens of Promise by Ada A.

December 2021: The Bottoming Process by Nicholas Pilapil

February 2022: exercise your demons: a play on the trauma of a gay male body by Gage Tarlton

July 2022: Nancy by Rhiana Yazzie


20/50 Festival

June 2022 at Victory Gardens Theater

Featuring 3 new works by playwrights over age 50. Full details to be announced next year.

For complete details on the 2021/2022 Season and artists, Flex Passes, and the Ignition New Play Program, please visit victorygardens.org.

Victory Gardens Theater receives major funding from Allstate Insurance, Alphawood Foundation, Crown Family Philanthropies, Exelon Corporation, Illinois Arts Council, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The Joyce Foundation, Lloyd A. Fry Foundation, Paul M. Angell Family Foundation, Polk Bros. Foundation, Prince Charitable Trusts, and The Shubert Foundation.

Victory Gardens also receives support from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events, Coffman Law Offices, Conant Family Foundation, Golden Country Oriental Food, Goldman Sachs, a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency, Mayer Brown LLP, The Charles H. and Bertha L. Boothroyd Foundation, and The Charles and M.R. Shapiro Foundation.

About Victory Gardens Theater

Under the leadership of Artistic Director Ken-Matt Martin and Acting Managing Director Roxanna Conner, Victory Gardens is dedicated to artistic excellence while creating a vital, contemporary American Theater that is accessible and relevant to all people through productions of challenging new plays and musicals. Victory Gardens Theater is committed to the development, production and support of new plays, which has been the mission of the theater since its founding, set forth by Dennis Začek, Marcelle McVay, and the original founders of Victory Gardens Theater, and continued by former Artistic Director Chay Yew.

Victory Gardens Theater is a leader in developing and producing new theater work and cultivating an inclusive Chicago theater community. Victory Gardens’ core strengths are nurturing and producing dynamic and inspiring new plays, reflecting the diversity of our city’s and nation’s culture through engaging diverse communities, and, in partnership with Chicago Public Schools, bringing art and culture to our city’s active student population.  

Since its founding in 1974, the company has produced more world premieres than any other Chicago theater, a commitment recognized nationally when Victory Gardens received the 2001 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre. Located in the Lincoln Park neighborhood, Victory Gardens Biograph Theater includes the Začek-McVay Theater, a state-of-the-art 259-seat mainstage, and the 109-seat studio theater on the second floor, named the Richard Christiansen Theater.

For more information about Victory Gardens, visit www.victorygardens.org.  Follow us on Facebook at Facebook.com/victorygardens, Twitter @VictoryGardens, and Instagram @victorygardenstheater.

Thursday, April 27, 2017

Chicago Celebrates and Mourns Martha Lavey This Friday With Marquee Dimming

CHICAGO THEATRES TO HONOR 
MARTHA LAVEY

Marquee lights dimmed and a moment of silence to be observed at theatres across Chicago and the suburbs

Friday, April 28, 2017
30 minutes before curtain time



WHAT: Chicago theatres in the city and suburbs will honor former Steppenwolf Artistic Director and ensemble member Martha Lavey by dimming the marquee lights and observing a moment of silence

WHEN: Friday, April 28, 2017, 30 minutes before the start time of the evening production at each theatre

WHERE: Theatres throughout Chicagoland, including Steppenwolf Theatre, Broadway in Chicago, Goodman Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Victory Gardens Theater, Northlight Theatre and Writers Theatre, among others.

DETAILS: Martha Lavey, who served as Artistic Director of Steppenwolf Theatre from 1995-2015, is considered to be one of the most important influencers in the history of Chicago theatre. As an actor and Artistic Director, Martha appeared in more than 30 productions at Steppenwolf and was known to support and nurture artists, administrators and other theatres throughout Chicago. She was a champion of the theatre community, and, as such, the community will remember and honor her with the light dimming and moment of silence.
  
OTHER: Steppenwolf’s curtain on Friday is at 7:30pm. The lights will be dimmed and a moment of silence will be observed at 7:00pm.  Member theatres of the League of Chicago Theatres will likewise participate in honor of Lavey’s extraordinary life and legacy.

Monday, March 20, 2017

OPENING: World Premiere of Queen Begins at Victory Gardens 4/14-5/14

Chi, IL LIVE Shows On Our Radar:

Victory Gardens Theater presents
the World Premiere of
Queen
By Madhuri Shekar
Directed by Joanie Schultz

April 14 – May 14, 2017




Victory Gardens Theater continues its 42nd season with the World Premiere of Queen, written by Madhuri Shekar and directed by Joanie Schultz. Queen runs April 14 – May 14, 2017, with the press performance on Friday, April 21, 2017, at 7:30 pm at Victory Gardens Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue. 

PhD candidates Sanam and Ariel have spent the better part of the last decade exhaustively researching vanishing bee populations across the globe. Just as these close friends are about to publish a career-defining paper, Sanam stumbles upon a miscalculation. What appears to be a small error could cause catastrophic damage to their reputations, careers, and friendship. Now, Sanam is confronted with an impossible choice: look the other way or stand by her principles and accept the consequences.

The cast of Queen includes Priya Mohanty (Sanam Shah), Darci Nalepa (Ariel Spiegel), Adam Poss (Arvind Patel) and Stephen Spencer (Dr. Philip Hayes).

The creative team includes Chelsea Warren (scenic design), Janice Pytel (costume design), Heather Gilbert (lighting design) and Thomas Dixon (sound design). Lynne Harris is the production stage manager.

Queen by Madhuri Shekar and directed by Joanie Schultz (Cocked, The Whale) returns to Victory Gardens Theater after enthralling audiences at the 2015 IGNITION Festival of New Plays.

”The current conversation around climate change, the disappearance of bees, and our nation’s response to environmental protection continues to be challenging on a daily basis," comments Artistic Director Chay Yew. ”However, it excites me that playwright Madhuri Shekar has kept this dialogue alive and urgent in the world premiere of Queen. With Madhuri's signature wit and her uncanny ability to weave a complex yet remarkably insightful story, this play is framed by two female PhD science students from different races who want nothing more than to protect our planet and the bees that inhabit it – even at the cost of their own friendship."


About the Artists
Madhuri Shekar (Playwright) is based in New York. Her plays include In Love and Warcraft, A Nice Indian Boy, Queen and Antigone, presented by the girls of St. Catherine’s. Her work has been produced, commissioned or developed at the Alliance Theatre, the Old Globe, Center Theatre Group, Victory Gardens, the Kennedy Center, Hedgebrook Playwrights Festival and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. She is currently a playwriting fellow at the Juilliard School and a member of the Ma-Yi Writers Lab. She co-created the Shakespearean web series Titus and Dronicus (titusanddronicus.com).

Joanie Schultz (Director) Victory Gardens Theater: Cocked, The Whale, Rest, Cocked. Regional: Sex with Strangers (Cleveland Play House); Lot's Wife (Kansas City Repertory Theatre); Hand to God (Studio Theatre). Chicago: Venus in Fur (Goodman Theatre); A Small Fire, The Cheats, Martyr, Luther (Steep Theatre); The Kid Thing (About Face Theatre/Chicago Dramatists); The Girl in the Yellow Dress (Next Theatre); Northanger Abbey (Remy Bumppo Theatre); Bruise Easy (American Theater Company); Spinning (Irish Theatre Chicago); Yankee Tavern (American Blues Theatre); Neighborhood 3 (Strawdog); The Hundred Flowers Project (Silk Road Rising), fml: How Carson McCullers Saved My Life (Steppenwolf for Young Adults); 2013 Co-Artistic Curator for Theater on the Lake. Opera: Bluebeard’s Castle, Der Kaiser von Atlantis, Acis and Galatea, Carmen. Artistic Director: WaterTower Theatre (Addison, TX); former Associate Artistic Producer at Victory Gardens Theater. Fellowships: Leadership U One-on-One Fellowship funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and administered by TCG, Drama League Fellowship, The Goodman Theatre’s Michael Maggio Directing Fellowship, SDCF Denham Fellowship, Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab. Ensemble Member at Steep Theatre. Theater Faculty Member at Columbia College and the University of Chicago. MFA in Directing (Northwestern University).

PRIYA MOHANTY (Sanam Shah) Collaboraction: Gender Breakdown. Rasaka Theatre: A Widow of No Importance, A Nice Indian Boy, Vanya (That’s Life). Rasaka Theatre & Vitalist Theatre: Multitudes. Cuckoo’s Theatre Project: Anon(ymous)

DARCI NALEPA (Ariel Spiegel) Victory Gardens Debut. Chicago Theater: A Life Extra Ordinary, Good for Otto, Othello, Thinner Than Water, Dirty (The Gift Theatre); Kill Floor (American Theater Company); Yankee Tavern (American Blues Theater); Northanger Abbey (Remy Bumppo); The Drunken City (Steppenwolf Theatre – Next Up); Flare Path, Company (Griffin Theatre); Love and Money (Steep Theatre). Film/TV: Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party, Chicago Fire, Shameless, Patriot.

ADAM POSS (Arvind Patel) Victory Gardens: Oedipus El Rey. Chicago credits: 2666, Teddy Ferrara, The Solid Sands Below, The Magic Play, A Christmas Carol (Goodman Theatre), 1984, Animals Out of Paper (Steppenwolf Theatre), The Lake Effect, Scorched (Silk Road Rising), The Beats (16th St. Theatre). Regional: The North Pool, The Lake Effect (Theatreworks Palo Alto), Macbeth (Actor’s Theatre of Louisville), Lot’s Wife (Kansas City Rep), The History Boys (Studio Theatre DC). Film /TV: The Middle Distance, The Drunk, King of URLS, Speed Dating, Shameless, Chicago Med, Chicago Fire, Chicago PD, Crisis, The Mob Doctor, The Chicago Code.

STEPHEN SPENCER (Dr. Philip Hayes). Chicago: Blizzard ’67 (16th Street); The Life of Galileo, Our Class, Night and Day (Remy Bumppo); Body+Blood (Gift Theatre); The Quality of Life (The Den & TOTL); Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Wait Until Dark (Court); Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (Congo Square/Goodman); The Liquid Moon (Chicago Dramatists/Associate Artist); Comedy of Errors, Love’s Labour’s Lost (OPFT). Regional: Blackbird (Riverside Theatre); Romeo & Juliet, The Winter's Tale (Illinois Shakespeare Festival); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare Rep); Heroes (Nebraska Rep). Also: Utah Shakespeare, The Asolo. Overseas: Medeamaterial (Moscow's Leninsky Komsomol Theatre); Battery (Edinburgh Festival Fringe). Film/TV: Empire, Public Enemies, Mr. Lonely, Greg’s Leg, Morning Due (Cannes).


Full Performance Schedule
Previews for Queen are April 14-20, 2017. Previews are $15-$40. The Press opening is Friday, April 21 at 7:30pm. Regular performances run April 22 – May14, 2017: Tuesday — Friday at 7:30pm; Saturday at 3pm and 7:30pm; Sunday at 3:00pm.  Regular performances are $15-$60.

Victory Gardens has partnered with mobile theater ticketing app TodayTix to offer free tickets for the first preview of Queen. Free Tickets will be available via TodayTix mobile lottery, launching one week before the first preview on Friday, April 8, 2017. Winners will be notified by email and push notification between 12:00pm and 3:00pm on the day of the first preview, Friday, April 14, 2017. 

Performances are at the Victory Gardens Biograph Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue, in the heart of Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood. For tickets and information, call the Victory Gardens Box Office, 773.871.3000, email tickets@victorygardens.org, or visit www.victorygardens.org. Ask the Box Office about student tickets ($15), senior, and Access. For group discounts, call 872.817.9087.

Public Programs
Public Programs is an event series designed to enhance your experience by exploring themes and issues within Victory Gardens Theater’s productions. Connecting our theater to the world beyond the stage and rehearsal room, Public Programs bridge ideas, provoke dialogue, and deepen the relationship between our audiences and our productions

A full and updated schedule of special events, post-show discussions and presentations centered on performances of Queen is available at www.victorygardens.org . All events are free unless otherwise noted. For more information, call 773.871.3000 or visit the Victory Gardens website.

AFTERWORDS
After every performance of QUEEN (unless otherwise noted)
Join us for one of our intimate post-show conversations. Led by members from the Victory Gardens community—artistic affiliates, subscribers, Artistic staff, Teen Arts Council members, The Council of Community Leaders, and community partners— reflect on what you’ve seen and share your response.

HONEY, HONEY
Pre-show celebration | Post-show conversation
April 18, 2017
Reception begins at 6:30pm in the Victory Gardens lobby
Post-Show conversation to follow the evening performance of Queen
Avocados, coffee, cilantro, strawberries, and, yes, honey. All foods that we enjoy because of bees. What do we lose when we lose bees? Join us for a pre-show honey tasting and beekeeping demonstrations, featuring urban beekeepers in Chicago. After the performance of QUEEN, join local beekeepers to talk about the loss of bees from a more personal perspective.

YAAAS QUEEN
Pre-show celebration | Post-show conversation
April 19, 2017
Reception begins at 6:30pm in the Victory Gardens lobby
Post-Show conversation to follow the evening performance of Queen
STEM: Science, technology, engineering, mathematics. Just 25% of the workforce in these fields is comprised of women. Join us for a pre-show celebration to recognize the women like Sanam and Ariel who have pushed ahead in a field that continually tries to shut them out. After this performance of QUEEN, join us for a discussion with local scholars, researchers, and scientists about their work and experiences in the field.

ARTIST TALK WITH MADHURI SHEKAR
Post-show conversation
April 20, 2017 | Following the evening performance of Queen
Have you ever wondered what goes into writing a play like QUEEN? Join playwright Madhuri Shekar and
our Director of New Play Development Isaac Gomez as they delve into the process of developing a new
play from the ground up.

EARTH DAY
Pre-show celebration
April 22, 2017 | 6:30pm in the Victory Gardens Lobby
Every day should be Earth Day! How can we make daily changes to care for our planet? Join us for an
evening of interactive events including a food waste composting demo, Zero Waste Challenge performances from local artists and activists whose work centers around the environment. Then, join us for an evening performance of QUEEN. Each ticket includes a gift bag with seeds to help you start your
bee-friendly garden and other fun favors!

FROM STEM TO STEAM
April 29, 2017 | Following the evening performance of Queen
Art and science are often seen from the opposite ends of the education spectrum. But they are
more connected than we may think. Science and art are both methods to understand our place in the world and why things happen the way they do. Join us after tonight’s performance of QUEEN for a
post-show full of science-related poetry; applying math and science to the arts, applying art to math and
science.

COLLEGE NIGHT
Pre-show celebration | Post-show conversation
May 12, 2017
Reception begins at 6:30pm in the Victory Gardens lobby
Post-Show conversation to follow the evening performance of Queen
Gender parity is just one issue that the scientists in QUEEN, Sanam and Ariel, face throughout their careers. Even among the struggle, there is joy and pride to be found in the work that they did and will continue to do. Their fight is not just fictional: women comprise only 25% of the workforce in STEM fields.
Join us for a night of short plays written and performed by Chicago college students from Northwestern,
DePaul, University of Chicago, and Columbia, reflecting on the challenges that women face in their professional lives.

BEE IN THE KNOW
May 13, 2017 | Following the evening performance of Queen
In our current political climate, the issue of climate change is an often contentious one. A clear partisan
issue, what does this mean in the years to come? How is climate change affecting our day to day lives
and how can we get involved? Join us after tonight’s performance of QUEEN as we talk with local
scientists, activists, and scholars and dive into climate change and its effect on the bee population, as
well as on our futures.

For more information about Victory Gardens, visit www.victorygardens.org.  Follow us on Facebook at Facebook.com/victorygardens, Twitter @VictoryGardens and Instagram at instagram.com/victorygardenstheater/

Lead Production Sponsor The William and Orli Staley Foundation
  
Production Sponsors: Edgerton Foundation; Author Anupy Singla, Co-founder Indian As Apple Pie; Metropolitan Capital Bank, NEA Art Works, REAM Foundation, Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust

Student Matinee and Youth Engagement Sponsors Exelon and AllState

Season Sponsors: Allstate, Alphawood Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Doris Duke Charitable Trust, Exelon, Harold & Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, The Joyce Foundation, The Mellon Foundation, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The Prince Charitable Trust, The REAM Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, and The Wallace Foundation

Travel Sponsor: Southwest Airlines
                                               
Queen is the recipient of an Edgerton Foundation New Play Award.



About Victory Gardens Theater
Under the leadership of Artistic Director Chay Yew and Managing Director Erica Daniels, Victory Gardens is dedicated to artistic excellence while creating a vital, contemporary American Theater that is accessible and relevant to all people through productions of challenging new plays and musicals.  Victory Gardens Theater is committed to the development, production and support of new plays that has been the mission of the theater since its founding, set forth by Dennis Začek, Marcelle McVay, and the original founders of Victory Gardens Theater.

Victory Gardens Theater is a leader in developing and producing new theater work and cultivating an inclusive Chicago theater community. Victory Gardens’ core strengths are nurturing and producing dynamic and inspiring new plays, reflecting the diversity of our city’s and nation’s culture through engaging diverse communities, and in partnership with Chicago Public Schools, bringing art and culture to our city’s active student population.  

Since its founding in 1974, the company has produced more world premieres than any other Chicago theater, a commitment recognized nationally when Victory Gardens received the 2001 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre. Located in the Lincoln Park neighborhood, Victory Gardens Biograph Theater includes the Začek-McVay Theater, a state-of-the-art 259-seat mainstage and the 109-seat studio theater on the second floor, named the Richard Christiansen Theater.

Victory Gardens Ensemble Playwrights include Luis Alfaro, Philip Dawkins, Marcus Gardley, Ike Holter, Samuel D. Hunter, Naomi Iizuka, Tanya Saracho and Laura Schellhardt. Each playwright has a seven-year residency at Victory Gardens Theater.

The Playwrights Ensemble Alumni includes Claudia Allen, Lonnie Carter, Steve Carter, Gloria Bond Clunie, Dean Corrin, Nilo Cruz, Joel Drake Johnson, John Logan, Nicholas Patricca, Douglas Post, James Sherman, Charles Smith, Jeffrey Sweet and Kristine Thatcher.




Victory Gardens Theater receives major funding from The Wallace Foundation, Alphawood Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, The Shubert Foundation, The REAM Foundation, The Joyce Foundation, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Allstate Insurance, Polk Bros. Foundation, Crown Family Philanthropies, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The William and Orli Staley Foundation, and The National Endowment for the Arts. Additional funding is provided by: Abbot Downing & Wells Fargo, Alliance Bernstein, The Charles H. and Bertha L. Boothroyd Foundation, Exelon, The Lloyd A. Fry Foundation, John R. Halligan Charitable Fund, Illinois Arts Council, Illinois Tool Works, Italian Village Restaurants, Mayer Brown LLP, The McVay Foundation, LLP, The Prince Charitable Trusts, The Saints, Charles & M.R. Shapiro Foundation, Southwest Airlines, The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, Whole Foods Market, and Wrightwood Neighbors Conservation Association.

Tuesday, January 31, 2017

OPENING: Teatro Vista Presents the World Premiere of The Wolf at The End of The Block at Victory Gardens


Chi, IL LIVE Shows On Our Radar:


IKE HOLTER'S INTENSE NEW THRILLER 
THE WOLF AT THE END OF THE BLOCK 
IS TEATRO VISTA'S NEXT WORLD PREMIERE, 
JANUARY 28-MARCH 5, 2017


Here at ChiIL Live Shows, we've thoroughly enjoyed Ike Holter's works so far, and his unique vision, so we're eager to check out this world premiere. We will be out for the press opening, so check back soon for our full review.

Chicago. Fall. One night, a boarded up bar on the dark side of the block becomes a terrifying crime scene. 
In the next 48 hours, the neighborhood digs deep 
into escalating mystery, working against time to separate fact from fiction. 
But as the clock ticks down, the clues spiral into a razor sharp jigsaw, 
and what began as a simple mystery 
quickly twists into a personal, pointed and political thriller.  

That's the highly charged set-up for the newest work by acclaimed Chicago playwright Ike Holter, author of such contemporary hits as Hit the WallExit Strategy and Sender.
    
Teatro Vista, Chicago's leading Latinx professional company, commissioned The Wolf at The End of The Block, and will present its world premiere January 28 through March 5, 2017 at Chicago's Victory Gardens Theater. 

Teatro Vista Ensemble members Sandra Márquez and Gabriel Ruíz, along with Bear Bellinger, James D. Farruggio and Ayssette Muñoz will star in Holter's in-the-moment exploration of racial profiling, media manipulation and family relationships. 

Ricardo Gutiérrez, Teatro Vista Executive Artistic Director and director of The Wolf at The End of The Block, says "get ready for a riveting new, full-length play from one of Chicago's hottest young playwrights The story is set in Chicago and has five characters, three of which are Latino. Holter's play is brutally raw, funny and deftly pierces universal truths."


The production team for The Wolf at The End of The Block includes Milo Bue (set), Uriel Gómez (costumes), Diane D. Fairchild (lights), Erik Backus (sound) and Jamie Karas(props). Stage manager is Stephanie Hurovitz.

Teatro Vista will debut The Wolf at The End of The Block in the Richard Christiansen Theater at Victory Gardens, located at 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue at the historic Biograph Theater in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood. 

Previews are Saturday, January 28 at 7:30 p.m., Sunday, January 29 at 3 p.m., and Wednesday through Thursday, February 1-3 at 7:30 p.m.

Opening Night is Saturday, February 4 at 7:30 p.m. 

Performances run through March 5: Thursday through Saturday at 
7:30 p.m., and Sunday at 3 p.m. 

Preview are $20. Performances are $25-$30. Student tickets are $15. Senior tickets are $18. Up to 20 Early Bird tickets are available on a first come, first served basis for $18. Use code EARLYBIRD. 

For tickets and information on group rates, visit TeatroVista.org, call the Victory Gardens box office, (773) 871-3000, or visit Tuesday through Friday, 1 p.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday, 12 p.m. to 
6 p.m., or Sunday, 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Metered, street and valet parking is available near the Biograph. The theater is easily accessed on the CTA Red, Purple and Brown lines via the Fullerton stop. The CTA 8 Halsted and 74 Fullerton buses also stop at Fullerton and Halsted, 1/2 block south of the theater. For more information, visit VictoryGardens.org/PlanYourVisit.


Behind the scenes of  
The Wolf at The End of The Block


Playwright Ike Holter's work has been produced at The Steppenwolf Garage, A Red Orchid, The New Colony and The Inconvenience, where he is a founding member and resident writer. He's received fellowships and commissions from the Goodman Theater, the Kennedy Center and The Playwrights Center. His show Hit the Wall played at Steppenwolf Garage, Off-Broadway at The Barrow Street Theater in New York, and recently enjoyed an extended run at the Lily Tomlin Center in L.A. Jackalope Theatre premiered his play Exit Strategy which played to sold-out houses and transferred to Michigan's 3 Oaks Theater Festival. It was produced at Philadelphia Stages and transferred Off Broadway to Primary Stages last spring. His most recent play Sender was a smash hit last season for A Red Orchid. Holter was named the "Chicagoan of the Year in Theater 2014" by the Chicago Tribune. His monologues have been published in The New Yorker and several editions of Applause Books. He was recently named one of Victory Gardens' newest ensemble playwrights.

Teatro Vista Executive Artistic Director Ricardo Gutiérrez (director) most recently staged the company's 2016-17 season opener, Mando Alvarado's Parachute Men, also the inaugural production of the Latina/o Theatre Commons' new El Fuego Initiative. Other Teatro Vista directing credits include In The Time of the Butterflies, Between You, Me & The Lampshade, A View From The Bridge, Momma's Boyz, i put the fear of mexico in 'em and La Mágica Posada. He is co-founder of the Alliance of Latinx Theatre Artists of Chicago (ALTA), a service organization dedicated to promoting and fostering Latinx theatre artists in Chicago. As an actor, Gutiérrez just returned from performing Destiny of Desire at South Coast Repertory, which will be remounted in March at the Goodman Theatre. He also appeared in In The Heights at the Paramount and in the world premieres of Song For The Disappeared and Fish Men at the Goodman. He has performed on stage at the Actors Theatre in Louisville, Denver Center Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, Victory Gardens and Lookingglass Theatre. TV credits include Chicago PD, Sirens and Boss. Before joining Teatro Vista, Gutiérrez served as the artistic director of Nosotros in Los Angeles and The Canterbury Theatre in Indiana.


Meet the cast
Gabriel Ruiz (Abe) is a graduate of the DePaul Theatre School and a proud ensemble member of Teatro Vista. Chicago credits include White Tie Ball for Teatro Vista, Singin' in the Rain and City of Angels at Marriott, Man in the Ring and Agamemnon at Court Theater, Arcadia and Company at Writers' Theatre, The Upstairs Concierge at Goodman Theater, Creditors at Remy Bumpo Theater, How Long Will I Cry?, Motherfucker with the Hat and The Way West at Steppenwolf, Sita Ram for the Chicago Children's Choir, Working: The Musical at The Broadway Playhouse, Richard III at Chicago Shakespeare Theater and Arabian Nights at Lookingglass Theater. Regional credits include Native Gardens at The Cincinnati Playhouse, Harvey at Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Why Torture is Wrong, and the People Who Love Them at Forward Theater Company and Blood and Gifts at The Lincoln Center in New York. He can also be seen as Dilip Singh in both seasons of Boss on the Starz Network.

Sandra Marquez (Frida) is an actor, director and educator, as well as a longtime ensemble member and former Associate Artistic Director (1998-2006) of Teatro Vista. Earlier this season she played Clytemnestra in Court Theater's production of Electra. Last spring she joined the ensemble of Steppenwolf Theater where she most recently appeared in the world premiere of Mary Page Marlowe by Tracy Letts. As an actor Marquez has worked at respected venues in Chicago and beyond including the Goodman, Steppenwolf, Victory Gardens, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Madison Repertory and New York's off-Broadway house, Second Stage Theater, Uptown. Next summer she will play Clytemnestra in Iphigenia at Aulis for the remount of Court's production at the Getty Villa in California. Film and TV credits include The Big Bang Theory, Chicago Code, Boss, Chicago Med and Timer. She has been a member of the theater faculty at Northwestern University since 1995. As a director, Marquez' credits include Teatro Vista's production of Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner by Luis Alfaro and the critically acclaimed production of Our Lady of the Underpass by Tanya Saracho, which went on to receive a Jeff nomination for best production. More recently she directed Manana Comes (Chicago premiere) by Elizabeth Irwin (Teatro Vista), and Men on the Verge of Hispanic Breakdown by Guillermo Rodriguez (Pride Films and Plays).

James D. Farruggio (James) has performed in Of Mice and Men and To Kill a Mockingbird (Steppenwolf for Young Adults), Show Boat (Lyric Opera of Chicago), Bethany, Streamers, Stop/Kiss, The Ruby Sunrise, Suicide, Incorporated, Northwest Highway; Oh, The Humanity (and other exclamations), Almost Maine, Vigils and Broadsword as well as Ten.2012, Ten.2013 and Ten.2014 (The Gift Theatre), The Kentucky Cycle (Infamous Commonwealth Theatre) and Stage Door (Griffin Theatre). Film and television credits include APB, Batman Dark Knight, The Beast, Prison Break, Crisis, Chicago PD and The Playboy Club.

Ayssette Muñoz (Miranda), selected by the Chicago Tribune's Chris Jones as one of 2015's "Top 10 Hot New Faces of Chicago Theatre," is an artistic associate at Teatro Vista, where her credits include Maria Teresa in In the Time of the Butterflies, Amparo in Between You, Me & The Lampshade, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet and Catherine in A View from the Bridge. Other local credits include Adriana in The Comedy of Errors (Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival), Hope in Urinetown (Thirteen O'Clock Theatre), Juliet (u/s) in Romeo and Juliet (Chicago Shakespeare Theater), Marisol in the staged reading of Marisol (Goodman Theater Latino Festival), and an episode of Chicago PD.  

Bear Bellinger (Nunley) is making his Teatro Vista debut. He has been seen in Chicago productions with The Inconvenience, The Hypocrites (The Adding Machine), Chicago Children's Theatre (Mr. Chickee's Funny Money), Paramount Theatre (Miss Saigon) and Court Theatre among others. 


More about Teatro Vista's 2016-17 season

Following The Wolf at The End of The Block, Teatro Vista's season finale is the world premiere of La Havana Madrid, a theatrical, cinematic and musical history of Latinx Caribbeans in Chicago by ensemble member Sandra Delgado. Fellow ensemble member Cheryl Lynn Bruce directs Delgado's immersive documentary theater experience, complete with live music, based on the true story of the 1960's Chicago nightclub, La Havana Madrid. Previews begin April 14. Press opening is Saturday, April 22 at 8 p.m. Performances run through May 21.


About Teatro Vista

Teatro Vista (TeatroVista.org) produces, develops and commissions plays that explore the wealth and variety of the human experience from a Latinx perspective. The company provides work and professional advancement opportunities for Latinx theatre artists, with special emphasis on the company's ensemble members, and seeks to enhance the curricular goals of Chicago students through theatre. 

Teatro Vista was recently celebrated as one of "Chicago's Cultural Leaders" by the Arts & Business Council of Chicago and received the League of Chicago Theatre's Artistic Leadership Award.                                                                        
Teatro Vista's primary focus is producing new works by Latinx theatre artists and presenting classic plays featuring artists of color. Its artistic vision is shaped by the company's ensemble members, a group of multi-generational, multi-ethnic and multi-disciplinary artists. They inform Teatro Vista's artistic aesthetic by devising original works as well as by selecting plays with themes that are engaging and relevant to Chicago's diverse population.

Teatro Vista founded in 1990 by Edward Torres and Henry Godinez. As Teatro Vista's first Artistic Director, Godinez guided the company during the formative years. He helped stage successful productions and establish vital relationships with other theatre companies and artists. When Godinez stepped down, Torres was appointed Artistic Director. Under Torres' direction, Teatro Vista used the stage to engage, connect and challenge audience members using the company's mission as his guide. In 2012, Torres moved to New York and the Board of Directors promoted longtime Associate Artistic Director Ricardo Gutiérrez to the position of Executive Artistic Director.

In addition to Gutiérrez, Teatro Vista ensemble members include Charín Álvarez, Max Arciniega, Desmín Borges, Cheryl Lynn Bruce, Ramón Camín, Ivonne Coll, Laura Dahl, Sandra Delgado, Liza Fernández, Khanisha Foster, Erik Juárez, Jon Lyon, Sandra Márquez, Joe Minoso, Christina Nieves, Marvin Quijada, Tommy Rivera-Vega, Gabriel Ruíz, Cecilia Suarez and co-founder Edward Torres. 

Teatro Vista's Board of Directors includes Ezequiel "Zeek" Agosto, President; Rodrigo García and Rosanna Márquez, Vice Presidents; Joan Pantsios, Secretary; Tom Vega-Byrnes, Treasurer; and Bhuvana Badrinathan, José Antonio Cruz, Edgar Delgado, Ricardo Gutiérrez, Yolanda Hardy and Kareem Mohamednur.

Teatro Vista is supported by The Joyce Foundation, Alphawood Foundation, Paul M. Angell Family Foundation, The MacArthur Fund for Arts & Culture at the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events of the City of Chicago, The Shubert Foundation, TheGaylord and Dorothy Donnelly Foundation and The Saints.


Purple Group and Cumberland Irving are Teatro Vista's Headline Season Sponsors. Teatro Vista is a Victory Gardens Resident Theater.

Monday, November 7, 2016

OPENING: World Premiere Roz and Ray at Victory Gardens Theater

Chi, IL LIVE Shows On Our Radar:

Victory Gardens Theater announces casting for 
The World Premiere of 
Roz and Ray
By Karen Hartman
Directed by Artistic Director Chay Yew

November 11-December 11, 2016



Victory Gardens Theater continues its 42st season with the world premiere of Roz and Ray, written by Karen Hartman and directed by Artistic Director Chay Yew. Roz and Ray features Mary Beth Fisher (Roz) and James Vincent Meredith (Ray). This World Premiere runs November 11 - December 11, 2016, with the press performance on Friday, November 18, 2016, at 7:30 pm at Victory Gardens Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue.

"Karen Hartman’s searing Roz and Ray is an intimate and epic play about an ambitious doctor and a father who fight for the lives of his hemophiliac boys against the backdrop of the AIDS epidemic and pharmaceutical malpractice," states Artistic Director Chay Yew. "Karen is one of American Theatre's foremost political playwrights and I'm proud to give a home to this relevant and moving new play at Victory Gardens."

In 1976, Ray, a newly single parent of twin hemophiliac boys, has only one goal: keep his sons alive. His days are filled with endless trips to the hospital, rigorous testing, and frequent blood transfusions. This all changes when Ray meets Roz, an optimistic and caring doctor with a miracle drug. Roz appears to be Ray’s savior until the miracle turns into a nightmare. Roz and Ray tells the profound story of love, trust, sacrifice, and forgiveness between two friends. Victory Gardens Theater’s Artistic Director Chay Yew (The Gospel of Lovingkindness, Death and the Maiden) pairs with playwright Karen Hartman to unearth a tragic and little-known event in medical history.

Full Performance Schedule
Previews for Roz and Ray are November 11 - 17, 2016. Previews are $15-$40. The Press opening is Friday, November 18 at 7:30pm. Regular performances run November 19 – December 11, 2016: Tuesday — Friday at 7:30pm; Saturday at 3pm and 7:30pm; Sunday at 3:00pm.  Regular performances are $15-$60. Box Office: The Box Office is located at 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue, Chicago.
773.871.3000; www.victorygardens.org.
Victory Gardens has partnered with mobile theater ticketing app TodayTix to offer free tickets for the first preview of Roz and Ray. Free Tickets will be available via TodayTix mobile lottery, launching one week before the first preview. Winners will be notified by email and push notification between 12:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. on the day of the first preview.

Performances are at the Victory Gardens Biograph Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue, in the heart of Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood. For tickets and information, call the Victory Gardens Box Office, 773.871.3000, email tickets@victorygardens.org, or visit www.victorygardens.org. Ask the Box Office about student tickets ($15), senior, and Access. For group discounts, call 872.817.9087.

The creative team includes Timothy Mackabee (Scenic Design), Christine Pascual (Costume Design), Diane Fairchild (Lighting Design), Chris Kriz (Sound Design), Alec Long (Properties Design), Arianna Soloway (Assistant Director),  and Isaac Gomez (Dramaturgy). The Production Stage Manager is Amanda Davis. 

About the Artists
Karen Hartman (Playwright) 
Karen Hartman has four productions of three world premieres next season: Roz and Ray at Seattle Rep and Victory Gardens, The Book of Joseph at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, and Project Dawn at People’s Light. In 2014-15 she held the Playwright Center’s McKnight Residency and Commission. Some other works: Goldie, Max, and Milk (Steinberg and Carbonell nominations), Goliath (Dorothy Silver New Play Prize), Gum, Leah’s Train, Going Gone (N.E.A. New Play Grant); Girl Under Grain (Best Drama in NY Fringe); Wild Kate, ALICE: Tales of a Curious Girl (Music by Gina Leishman, AT&T Onstage Award); Troy Women; and MotherBone, score by Graham Reynolds (Frederick Loewe Award). Publications: Theater Communications Group, Dramatists Play Service, Playscripts, Backstage Books, and NoPassport Press. Awards: Hedgebrook, Sustainable Arts, Rockefeller Foundation at Bellagio, the N.E.A., Helen Merrill Foundation, Daryl Roth "Creative Spirit" Award, Hodder Fellowship, Jerome Fellowship, Fulbright Scholarship. Her prose has been published in the New York Times and The Washington Post. Alumna of New Dramatists and longtime Brooklynite, now Senior Artist in Residence at the UW School of Drama.  www.karenhartman.org

Chay Yew (Director/Artistic Director) Chay joined Victory Gardens as Artistic Director in July 2011. Victory Gardens Theater: The House That Will Not Stand, Hillary and Clinton, Death and the Maiden, An Issue of Blood, The Gospel of Lovingkindness, Mojada, Oedipus el Rey, Universes’ Ameriville. Chicago: Dartmoor Prison, Black N Blue Boys/Broken Men (Goodman Theatre); Po Boy Tango (Northlight Theatre); work at The Public Theater, Playwrights Horizons, The Playwrights Realm, New York Theatre Workshop, National Asian American Theatre Company, Ma-Yi Theatre Company. Regional: Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, The Kennedy Center; Mark Taper Forum, American Conservatory Theater, Huntington Theatre Company, Long Wharf Theatre, Denver Center Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Empty Space Theatre, Portland Center Stage, Cornerstone Theatre Company, Singapore Repertory Theatre, Boston Court, East West Players amongst others. His opera credits include world premieres of Osvaldo Golijov and David Henry Hwang’s Ainadamar (co-production with the Tanglewood Music Center, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic); and Rob Zuidam’s Rage of d’Amours (Tanglewood Music Center). Chay is a recipient of the Obie Award and DramaLogue Award for Direction. As a playwright, his plays include Porcelain, A Language of Their Own, Red, A Beautiful Country, Wonderland, Question 27 Question 28, A Distant Shore, 17, and Visible Cities. His other work includes adaptions of A Winter People (based on Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard) and Lorca’s The House of Bernarda Alba, and a musical Long Season. His performance works include Viven and Her Shadows and Home: Places between Asia and America. His plays have been produced at The Public Theater, Mark Taper Forum, Manhattan Theatre Club, Long Wharf Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, Intiman Theatre, Wilma Theatre, Dallas Theatre Center, Portland Center Stage, amongst many others. Overseas, his plays have been produced by the Royal Court Theatre (London), Fattore K and Napoli Teatro Festival (Naples, Italy), La Mama (Melbourne, Australia), Four Arts (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), Singapore Repertory Theatre, Toy Factory, Checkpoint Theatre, and Theatre-Works (Singapore). He is also the recipient of the London Fringe Award for Best Playwright and Best Play, George and Elisabeth Marton Playwriting Award, GLAAD Media Award, Made in America Award, AEA/SAG/AFTRA Diversity Honor, and Robert Chesley Award. His plays Porcelain, A Language of Their Own, and The Hyphenated American Plays are published by Grove Press. He recently edited Version 3.0: An Anthology of Contemporary Asian American Plays for TCG Publications. He was the founding director of the Taper’s Asian Theatre Workshop and producer of Taper, Too. Chay is also an alumnus of New Dramatists and serves on the Executive Board of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, and Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events’ Cultural Advisory Council.

Mary Beth Fisher (Roz) Chicago: Long Day’s Journey Into Night, Angels in America, Three Tall Women, The Year of Magical Thinking (Jeff Award), The Wild Duck, What the Butler Saw, Arcadia, Travesties, The Importance of Being Earnest (Court Theatre); Domesticated (Jeff Nomination), Dead Man’s Cell Phone, The Dresser and The Memory of Water (Steppenwolf); Marvin’s Room, The Night of the Iguana, Light up the Sky, Design for Living, Spinning Into Butter, Boy Gets Girl, The Guys, The Rose Tattoo, Heartbreak House, Dinner with Friends, The Clean House, Frank’s Home, Rock ‘n’ Roll, The Seagull, God of Carnage, Luna Gale, The Little Foxes, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (Goodman Theatre); The Taming of the Shrew (Chicago Shakespeare Theater); The Laramie Project, The Little Dog Laughed, Theatre District (About Face Theatre); The Marriage of Figaro (Remy Bumppo Theatre Company); My Own Stranger (Writers Theatre); White Guy on the Bus, Away (Northlight Theatre). TV/Film: Sense8, Chicago Justice, Chicago Fire, Chicago Code, State of Romance, Without a Trace, Numb3rs, Prison Break, NYPD Blue, Profiler, Early Edition, Formosa Betrayed, Dragonfly, Trauma.

James Vincent Meredith (Ray) Broadway: Superior Donuts (Music Box). Off-Broadway, The Bluest Eye (Duke). National Tour: 3 years as Mafala Hatimbi in Book of Mormon. Chicago: Between Riverside and Crazy, The Crucible, Clybourne Park, Hot L Baltimore, Tempest, The Pain and the Itch (Steppenwolf, ensemble member); Othello, Julius Caesar, Measure for Measure, Much Ado About Nothing (Chicago Shakespeare Theater); Othello, The Duchess of Malfi (Writers Theatre). TV: Betrayal, Chicago Code, Law and Order SVU, BOSS.

Accessible Performances
Word for Word (open caption) performances Friday, November 25 at 7:30pm, Saturday, November 26 at 3:00pm, and Wednesday, November 30 at 2:00pm
Audio Description performances Friday, November 25 at 7:30pm (Touch tour at 6:00pm), Sunday, December 4 at 3:00pm (Touch tour at 1:30pm)
ASL Interpreted and Word for Word (open caption) performance Friday, November 25 at 7:30pm. 

Public Programs
A full and updated schedule of special events, post-show discussions and presentations centered on performances of Roz and Ray is available at www.victorygardens.org . All events are free unless otherwise noted. For more information, call 773.871.3000 or visit the Victory Gardens website.

Public Programs is an event series designed to enhance your experience by exploring themes and issues in Victory Gardens’ plays. Connecting our theater to the world beyond the stage and rehearsal room, Public Programs bridge ideas, provoke dialogue, and deepen the relationship between our audiences and our productions.


Season Sponsors: Allstate, Alphawood Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Doris Duke Charitable Trust, Exelon, Harold & Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, The Joyce Foundation, The Mellon Foundation, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The Prince Charitable Trust, The REAM Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, and The Wallace Foundation. Travel Sponsor: Southwest Airlines 

Under the leadership of Artistic Director Chay Yew, Victory Gardens is dedicated to artistic excellence while creating a vital, contemporary American Theater that is accessible and relevant to all people through productions of challenging new plays and musicals.  Victory Gardens Theater is committed to the development, production and support of new plays that has been the mission of the theater since its founding, set forth by Dennis Začek, Marcelle McVay, and the original founders of Victory Gardens Theater.

Victory Gardens Theater is a leader in developing and producing new theater work and cultivating an inclusive Chicago theater community. Victory Gardens’ core strengths are nurturing and producing dynamic and inspiring new plays, reflecting the diversity of our city’s and nation’s culture through engaging diverse communities, and in partnership with Chicago Public Schools, bringing art and culture to our city’s active student population.  

Since its founding in 1974, the company has produced more world premieres than any other Chicago theater, a commitment recognized nationally when Victory Gardens received the 2001 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre. Located in the Lincoln Park neighborhood, Victory Gardens Biograph Theater includes the Začek-McVay Theater, a state-of-the-art 259-seat mainstage and the 109-seat studio theater on the second floor, named the Richard Christiansen Theater.

Victory Gardens Ensemble Playwrights include Luis Alfaro, Philip Dawkins, Marcus Gardley, Ike Holter, Samuel D. Hunter, Naomi Iizuka, Tanya Saracho and Laura Schellhardt. Each playwright has a seven-year residency at Victory Gardens Theater. 

The Playwrights Ensemble Alumni includes Claudia Allen, Lonnie Carter, Steve Carter, Gloria Bond Clunie, Dean Corrin, Nilo Cruz, Joel Drake Johnson, John Logan, Nicholas Patricca, Douglas Post, James Sherman, Charles Smith, Jeffrey Sweet and Kristine Thatcher.

For more information about Victory Gardens, visit www.victorygardens.org.  Follow us on Facebook at Facebook.com/victorygardens, Twitter @VictoryGardens and Instagram at instagram.com/victorygardenstheater/


Victory Gardens Theater receives major funding from The Wallace Foundation, Alphawood Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, The Shubert Foundation, The REAM Foundation, The Joyce Foundation, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Allstate Insurance, Polk Bros. Foundation, Crown Family Philanthropies, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The William and Orli Staley Foundation, and The National Endowment for the Arts. Additional funding is provided by: Abbot Downing & Wells Fargo, Alliance Bernstein, The Charles H. and Bertha L. Boothroyd Foundation, Exelon, The Lloyd A. Fry Foundation, John R. Halligan Charitable Fund, Illinois Arts Council, Illinois Tool Works, Italian Village Restaurants, Mayer Brown LLP, The McVay Foundation, LLP, The Prince Charitable Trusts, The Saints, Charles & M.R. Shapiro Foundation, Southwest Airlines, The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, Whole Foods Market, and Wrightwood Neighbors Conservation Association.

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