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Showing posts with label last call. Show all posts
Showing posts with label last call. Show all posts

Friday, January 27, 2017

LAST CALL: Chicago Puppet Fest End This Weekend

Chi, IL LIVE Shows On Our Radar:

FINAL WEEKEND! TICKETS ARE GOING FAST FOR FINAL PERFORMANCES OF THE CHICAGO INTERNATIONAL 
PUPPET THEATER FESTIVAL, CLOSING SUNDAY, JANUARY 29

The second Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival closes this weekend, Sunday, January 29. 

Contemporary puppets acts and artists from around the world, the U.S. and Chicago have been playing to sold out houses and critical acclaim since January 19, and tickets are going fact to this weekend's final events at Chicago-area venues large and small. 


Click here to watch the 1 min 25 sec video trailer

for the 2017 Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival




REVIEW:
I caught this excellent rendition of the tale made popular by Fantasia and Mickey Mouse's magic mop fiasco. This is a dark, edgier version that's not babyish at all, and appeals to older kids and adults. There's nothing objectionable for young children either. The story is primarily enacted with marionettes, with some shadow puppetry, chalk transitions, and a large mask and hands wearable "puppet". Recommended.
                       
Adventure Stage Chicago and Blair Thomas & Co. present Open Eye Figure Theatre of Minneapolis performing  The Sorcerer's Apprentice
at Adventure Stage Chicago, 1012 N. Noble St., Chicago
Friday, January 27 at 7 pm., Saturday, January 28 at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Tickets: $17; $12 ages 14 and under 
Run time: 60 minutes
Family friendly
      
Open Eye Figure Theatre's adaptation of The Sorcerer's Apprentice for the marionette stage is a look at youth, aging and the allure of power. Creator Michael Sommers uses Goethe's 1797 poem "Der Zauberlehrling" as inspiration, expanding on the young apprentice's mishaps and mistakes in this original work with a unique Open Eye approach. With its highly designed production, original score and masterful puppetry, this show appeals to both adults and children.



This Sunday I'll be out to check out one of the hottest tickets, Feathers of Fire: A Persian Epic, with five shows Thursday through Sunday in the newly renovated Studebaker Theatre in Chicago's historic Fine Arts Building, 410 S. Michigan Avenue. 

Feathers of Fire is a visually breathtaking cinematic shadow play for all ages. The play unfolds on a cinema-sized screen as an action-packed magical tale of star-crossed lovers from the 10th-century Persian epic "Shahnameh" ("The Book of Kings.") Inspired by Iranian visual traditions, creator Iranian-American filmmaker and graphic artist Hamid Rahmanian uses puppets, costumes, masks, scenography and digital animation to bring the story to life. 

Show times are Thursday and Friday, January 26 and 27 at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, January 28 at 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.; and Sunday, January 29 at 3 p.m. Tickets are $40; $30 student/senior. Run time is 70 minutes. 

Tickets to Feathers of Fire and all remaining festival events are now on sale at ChicagoPuppetFest.org or by calling 312.977.9483.

Following are listings for the remaining acts and artists performing citywide now through Sunday, January 29, the final day of the 2017 Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival: 



  












The free Festival Neighborhood Festival Tour presenting three puppet artists - Detroit's Interstate Arts' PLAY with your food, Montreal's Magali Chouinard in The White Woman, and Baltimore's Schroeder Cherry in Underground Railroad, Not A Subway -  at a different Chicago Park District venue today through Saturday. 

Garfield Park Conservatory, Jensen Room, 300 N. Central Park Ave., Chicago
Wednesday, January 25 at 4:30 p.m. (Schroeder Cherry), 5:30 p.m. (Interstate Arts) and 6:30 p.m. (Magali Chouinard)

Calumet Park, 9801 S. Ave. G, Chicago
Thursday, January 26 at 11:30 a.m. (Magali Chouinard), 12:30 p.m. (Interstate Arts) and 1:30 p.m. (Schroeder Cherry)

Marquette Park, 6700 S. Kedzie Ave., Chicago
Friday, January 27 at 5 p.m. (Schroeder Cherry), 6 p.m. (Magali Chouinard) and 
7 p.m. (Interstate Arts)

Hamilton Park, 513 W. 72nd St., Chicago
Saturday, January 28 at 1 p.m. (Magali Chouinard), 2 p.m. (Interstate Arts) and
3 p.m. (Schroeder Cherry)    

                             
   
Center for Community Arts Partnerships at Columbia College Chicago presents Great Small Works performing Muntergang and Other Cheerful Downfalls
at the Dance Center at Columbia College, 1306 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago
Thursday through Saturday, January 26 - 28 at 7 p.m.
Tickets: $20; $10 student
Run time: 75 minutes
Family friendly

In a bilingual Yiddish-English play,  Muntergang and Other Cheerful Downfalls meditates on power dynamics by revisiting the performances of radical 20th-century puppeteers Zuni Maud and Yosi Cutler. Using original graphics and satirical scripts, Great Small Works combines new puppets and projections with original graphics and satirical scripts, introducing some Mae West and The Dybbuk along the way.
  
The Neo-Futurists present Vincent de Rooij and The Neo-Futurist Ensemble in 
Future Crash: a collision of short work by Vincent de Rooij and The Neo-Futurists 
at The Neo-Futurarium, 5153 N. Ashland Ave., Chicago
Thursday, Friday and Saturday, January 26-28 at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets: $25; $10 student/senior with ID
Run time: 70 minutes
Ages 14 and up

Future Crash collides Vincent de Rooij, puppeteer of site-specific performances and magician of the inanimate object, with The Neo-Futurists, purveyors of the first-person play and destroyers of the fourth wall. Traveling from the Netherlands, de Rooij will lead an ensemble in interdisciplinary collaboration, guiding the audience through a solar system of short work hidden throughout the Neo-Futurarium. 
                                                                              

  
Chicago Children's Theatre presents Manual Cinema's world premiere Magic City
at the new Chicago Children's Theatre, The Station, 100 S. Racine Ave., Chicago
Friday, January 27 at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.; Saturday, January 28 at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m.; Sunday, January 29 at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.
Tickets: $25
Run time: 60 minutes
Family friendly

With their newest work, the inaugural production in Chicago Children's Theatre's new West Loop home, The Station, Manual Cinema transforms Edith Nesbit's novel The Magic City into a live, cinematic shadow puppet experience. When a young girl moves into a new home, she entertains herself by building a city using household objects. Through some magic, she finds herself inside the city, surrounded by life. Using overhead projectors, paper shadow puppets, live actors in silhouette, miniature toy theater and a live music ensemble, Manual Cinema's Magic City modernizes the novel, building and illuminating a miniature city onstage that the audience explores themselves after every performance.



Links Hall and Rough House present Nasty, Brutish & Short: A Puppet Cabaret
at Links Hall, Studio B, 3111 N. Western Ave., Chicago
Friday and Saturday, January 27 and 28 at 11 p.m.
Run time: 1hour 20 minutes
Tickets: $10; $8 student/senior
Family friendly? No

Hit Links Hall for late night cabarets featuring short works by international festival artists, regional puppeteers and local talent. End your evening with a tasty selection of the raucous, raunchy, dark, sassy, sad and hilarious! 

The program provides a late-night hang out spot for the whole festival, an opportunity for out-of-town talent to bring shorter works, and a space for local artists. Each show features at least two mainstage festival artists bringing secondary short works, and at least two Nasty, Brutish & Short contributors.


Theater and Performance Studies and the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts present Puppet Quartet: UChicago Performance Lab residencies with Liz Joyce, Jesse Mooney-Bullock, Molly Ross and Michael Summers
at the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts, 915 E. 60th St., Chicago
Saturday, January 28, 4 p.m.
Tickets: Free to the public, no reservations required

An immersive afternoon of four works in development, in various sites of performance within the Logan Center for the Arts. Audiences will move from space to space to experience the four works by noted puppet artists Liz Joyce, Jesse Mooney-Bullock, Molly Ross and Micheal Sommers. 


Lookingglass Theatre Company presents Mr. and Mrs. Pennyworth
at the Water Tower Water Works, 821 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago
January 25-29: Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.; Thursday at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.;
Friday at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
Tickets: $35
Run time: 90 minutes
Family friendly - Recommended for ages 8+

Traveling storytellers Mr. and Mrs. Pennyworth captivate audiences with spellbinding tales. But one day, The Big Bad Wolf mysteriously dies before his story is complete. As fairytales disappear from their pages, Mr. and Mrs. Pennyworth must journey through the stories to restore order before they are lost forever. Written and directed by Doug Hara, with puppets by Blair Thomas.


The House Theatre of Chicago presents Diamond Dogs
at the Chopin Theatre, 1543 W. Division St., Chicago
January 26-29: Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 7 p.m.
Tickets: $15-$30
Run time: 2 hours

Diamond Dogs is a classic deadly-maze story set in Alastair Reynolds's Revelation Space Universe. Follow a future team of humans and transhumans as they investigate a mysterious alien tower, bent on brutally punishing all intruders. Body modification is the norm in the 26th century, and award-winning puppet designer Mary Robinette Kowal articulates and re-shapes actors' human forms into powerful mechanized players battling for their lives. Blood will spill.


About The Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival

Intent on establishing Chicago as a center for the advancement of the art of puppetry, the 11-day, city-wide Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival showcases an entertaining and eclectic array of puppet styles from around the world. Marionettes, shadow puppets, Bunraku puppets, tiny toy puppets, and distinctive, innovative styles of contemporary puppetry are just a few. 

The festival was founded by Chicago puppeteer Blair Thomas to celebrate and cultivate the city's reputation as a leader in the art of contemporary puppetry, and because there was no major international festival of its kind offered in any U.S. city. 

In sum, the 2017 Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival boasts 24 presenting partners, 22 venues, more than 25 artists from seven countries presenting 20 different shows and more than 90 total performances. 

The festival website, is your online gateway to learn about, and with its new, shared online box office, purchase your tickets to this world pageant of top puppet artists and shows. 

Sign up via the website to receive important festival updates. Track the festival hashtag, #ChiPuppetFest, like the festival on Facebook, or follow the festival on Twitter at @ChiPuppetFest or on Instagram

For information (only) during the festival, call the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival box office, (312) 554-9800.

For more information, visit chicagopuppetfest.org.

Sunday, October 16, 2016

LAST CALL: Wonderful Town at Goodman Heads Into Final Extension Dates

Chi, IL LIVE Shows On Our Radar:  

  Wonderful Town
MARY ZIMMERMAN’S MAJOR REVIVAL OF LEONARD BERNSTEIN’S CLASSIC MUSICAL, EXTENDED THROUGH OCTOBER 23 AT GOODMAN THEATRE



All good things must come to an end, and that includes Mary Zimmerman’s extended and highly recommended revival of Wonderful Town. Here at ChiIL Mama we adored this retro gem. I remember my mother singing me the songs from the production as a child, but I'd never seen it on stage. It held special meaning for her, since she saw it in New York, back in the early 60's! Before I was born, my parents relocated to New York from Cincinnati for a stint in their early 20's, when my father had a short term cross training there. The stellar acting, costumes, hilarious stylized set, and crazy catchy score brought those days back in glorious detail under the brilliant hands of director, Mary Zimmerman. 


I'm still laughing about and loving the standing Taxi cabs whizzing across the stage, as I'm humming bars of tunes from the show. Goodman's Wonderful Town is playful, energetic, enthusiastic and all around fun. This sister act is a must see! Highly recommended.



Wonderful Town, a musical by Leonard Bernstein, librettists Joseph A. Fields and Jerome Chodorov and lyricists Betty Comden and Adolph Green. Directed by Manilow Resident Director Mary Zimmerman at Goodman Theatre

Don't miss this. Wonderful Town is now entering it's final extension, so don't delay if you haven't caught it yet, or go again, while you still can. This production was laugh out loud funny and had the audience grinning and toe tapping to the catchy numbers and empathizing with the still too timely story lines of struggling creatives trying to make it in the big city. 


“It’s Love!” Goodman Theatre adds eight performances of Mary Zimmerman’s revival of Wonderful Town, extending the show through October 23. Featuring a company of over 40 actors and musicians, the Goodman production of Leonard Bernstein ’s whimsical love letter to Manhattan marks the first major revival in more than 10 years. The musical is based upon the hit Broadway play My Sister Eileen by Joseph A. Fields and Jerome Chodorov and the autobiographical short stories by Ruth McKenney. Fields and Chodorov later collaborated with lyricists Betty Comden and Adolph Green to create Wonderful Town—the musical adaptation of the play, which features 20 Bernstein songs—including “Ohio,” One Hundred Easy Ways,” and “A Little Bit in Love.” 


For Wonderful Town tickets (starting at $25), call 312.443.3800, visit GoodmanTheatre.org/WonderfulTown or the box office (170 North Dearborn). Group savings are available for parties of 8 or more; call 312.443.3820 or email Groups@GoodmanTheatre.org

Extension Week Performance Schedule:
Tuesday, October 18 at 7:30pm
Wednesday, October 19 at 7:30pm
Thursday, October 20 at 7:30pm
Friday, October 21 at 8pm
Saturday, October 22 at 2pm and 8pm
Sunday, October 23 at 2pm and 7:30pm



Wonderful Town follows the adventure of sisters Eileen and Ruth, who leave Columbus, Ohio, in search of success in the Big Apple. Lauren Molina, who appeared as Cunegonde in Zimmerman’s acclaimed production of Candide (2010), portrays Eileen, a beautiful actress and hopeful romantic; and breakout Chicago star Bri Sudia (Far From Heaven, Porchlight Music Theater) makes her Goodman debut as Ruth, an aspiring, romantically-challenged journalist. Joining Molina and Sudia in the 26-member cast are Karl Hamilton as Robert Baker, the isolated editor of the Manhatter newspaper; Wade Elkins as Frank Lippencott and Steven Strafford as Chick Clark—two of Eileen’s love prospects and residents of the bohemian 1950s town; and Jordan Brown (Wreck), Amy J. Carle (Mrs. Wade), Matt DeCaro (Appopolous), Christina Hall (Violet), James Earl Jones II (Speedy Valenti), Kristin Villanueva (Helen) and George Andrew Wolff (Lonigan). Ensemble members include Nathaniel Braga, Ariana Cappuccitti, Sherriese Hamilton, Aaron Holland, Mark David Kaplan, Tiffany Krause, Kent M. Lewis, Russell Mernagh, Jeff Parker, Jody Reynard, Todd Rhoades, Lainie Sakakura, Ian Saunders and Erica Stephan.


Music director Doug Peck and associate music director/conductor Ben Johnson lead the 18-member orchestra. Chicago native and choreographer Alex Sanchez, whose work has been described as “spectacular–wildly ingenious and playful from start to finish” (Chicago Sun-Times), makes his Goodman debut. The creative team also includes Todd Rosenthal (sets), Ana Kuzmanic (costumes), T.J. Gerckens (lights) and Ray Nardelli (sound).  


About Goodman Theatre
Called America’s “Best Regional Theatre” by Time magazine, Goodman Theatre has won international recognition for its artists, productions and programs, and is a major cultural, educational and economic pillar in Chicago. Founded in 1925 by William O. Goodman and his family in honor of their son Kenneth (an important figure in Chicago’s cultural renaissance in the early 1900s) and represented today by descendant Albert Ivar Goodman, Goodman Theatre has garnered hundreds of awards for artistic achievement and community engagement, including: two Pulitzer Prizes, 22 Tony Awards (including “Outstanding Regional Theatre” in 1992), nearly 160 Joseph Jefferson Awards and more. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Robert Falls and Executive Director Roche Schulfer, the Goodman’s artistic priorities include new plays (more than 150 world or American premieres in the past 30 years), reimagined classics (including Falls’ nationally and internationally celebrated productions of Death of a Salesman, Long Day’s Journey into Night, King Lear and The Iceman Cometh, many in collaboration with actor Brian Dennehy), culturally specific work, musical theater (26 major productions in 20 years, including 10 world premieres) and international collaborations. Diversity and inclusion have been primary cornerstones of the Goodman’s mission for 30 years; over the past decade, 68% of the Goodman’s 35 world premieres were authored by women and/or playwrights of color, and the Goodman was the first theater in the world to produce all 10 plays in August Wilson’s “American Century Cycle.” Each year, the Goodman’s education and engagement programs serve thousands of students, teachers and life-long learners. In addition, for nearly four decades A Christmas Carol has led to the creation of a new generation of theatergoers in Chicago.

Goodman Theatre’s leadership includes the Artistic Collective: Brian Dennehy, Rebecca Gilman, Henry Godinez, Dael Orlandersmith, Steve Scott, Chuck Smith, Regina Taylor, Henry Wishcamper and Mary Zimmerman. Joan Clifford is Chair of Goodman Theatre’s Board of Trustees, Cynthia Klem Scholl is Women’s Board President, and Justin A. Kulovsek is President of the Scenemakers Board for young professionals.


Visit the Goodman virtually at GoodmanTheatre.org, and on Twitter (@GoodmanTheatre), Facebook and Instagram.

Saturday, October 8, 2016

CHEERS LIVE ON STAGE TO PLAY FINAL PERFORMANCE THIS SUNDAY

The Producers of CHEERS LIVE ON STAGE just announced that the critically acclaimed show will be concluding its run, early, in Chicago on Sunday, October 9. The Producers expect to make an announcement about additional touring partners and a route for a 2017/18 national tour in the coming weeks.



Patrons who have tickets for performances after October 9 will receive a refund by contacting their point of purchase. For any questions, please call Broadway In Chicago at 312-977-1702, Monday through Friday, 10 am – 5 pm 
Under license by CBS Consumer Products and produced by Stageworks Media and TROIKA Entertainment, CHEERS LIVE ON STAGE is a two-act comedy based on the best and most memorable moments from the Emmy® Award-winning classic hit TV series.

 ™ & © 2016 A CBS Company. CHEERS and related marks and logos are trademarks of A CBS Company. All Rights Reserved.

Saturday, September 24, 2016

REVIEW: American Blues Theater's Dutchman/TRANSit Delivers Through 9/25

Chi, IL LIVE Shows On Our Radar:

Dutchman 
by Amiri Baraka 
TRANSit 
by Darren Canady  



                    Now running through September 25, 2016



Keep your arms and legs inside the train at all times. You're in for a ride! These transit tales are full of bullying, hate crimes, race, gender, and social issues. Here at ChiIL Live Shows we loved this perfect pairing. Highly recommended.

The acting in both shows is superb and the sets are incredibly clever. In a swift transfer during intermission, the audience is effectively transported forward 50 years to present day New York City, for a world premiere commissioned work that meshes well with the thought provoking intensity and energy of the still too timely Dutchman. We truly adored TRANSit, too, from the clever play on words in the title, through the cringeworthy climax. 

I shared an apartment with a transgender woman back in the mid 90's, and this portrayal was spot on. Before I got to know her well, I'd had many gay friends who had experienced violence and bullying from peers and society, but most found a safe haven in the gay community and their partner choices. As a pre op "Third World Girl", she had been attacked numerous times, even severely enough to be hospitalized. Yet she was not attracted to gay men and most drawn to just the type of young, straight, homophobic thugs most likely to bring her bodily harm, just like the characters in TRANSit. I called them her "Neanderthals". Every time she got close enough to a guy to get intimate, it had the potential of turning into a violent betrayal when they discovered her physical truths didn't match her facade. This is an incredibly intense set of plays, especially presented in tandem. Kudos to American Blues for giving a voice and space to the darker side of our culture, with two stellar shows, and opening some eyes and minds. 




Joseph Jefferson Award recommended



“PROFOUND IN CONCEPTION. Daring! High-stakes pairing. Timeless complexities.” – Chicago Tribune

TRANSit is the PERFECT JUXTAPOSITION to Dutchman. These train rides are filled with the RAW, UNCUT issues of our society.” – Newcity

“BEST BETS for fall theater - a double bill of PROVOCATION!” – Chicago Reader

“RIVETING, EXPLOSIVE, & TRUTHFUL!!” – Chicago Critic

“THRILLING THEATER.” – Windy City Times

“MUCH-VITAL STAGING with thoroughly MODERN TWIST!” – Chicago Theatre Review



Dutchman / TRANSit
All photos to the credit of Michael Brosilow


AUGUST 26 — SEPTEMBER 25, 2016
2 PLAYS. 1 RIDE.
Dutchman by: Amiri Baraka
Dutchman Directed by: Chuck Smith
TRANSit by: Darren Canady
TRANSit Directed by: Lisa Portes

Experience two powerful plays in one event. See Dutchman—one of the most important plays in 20th-century culture to take on race relations. Then inspired by Baraka’s pivotal work, watch the world-premiere commission TRANSit, about an encounter between two strangers that reveals more than planned when an explosive mix of identity, sex, and betrayal is unleashed. Featuring Ensemble member Manny Buckley. To learn more about Dutchman / TRANSit, read our Backstage Guide.

PERFORMANCE INFO
This production must close September 25, 2016.
(773) 404-7336 box office
  • Thursday: 7:30pm
  • Friday: 7:30pm
  • Saturday: 3:00pm & 7:30pm
  • Sunday: 2:30pm
There's an additional performance on  9/12 @ 7:30pm 
Duration: Runs 2 hours with one intermission.
  • Location: Greenhouse Theater Center at 2257 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago
  • Ticket Price: $19-$49
  • Recommended for ages 14 yrs +;
  • Adult language & themes, and violence.
  • Town Halls: We offer free post-show events on Sundays and other events. Learn more.

ARTISTS

CAST
(in order of appearance): Michael Pogue (“Clay” in Dutchman), Amanda Drinkall (“Lula” in Dutchman), Manny Buckley* (“Veronica” in TRANSit), Jake Szczepaniak(“Luke” in TRANSit), and Edgar Miguel Sanchez (“Lalo” in TRANSit). ENSEMBLE (in alphabetical order): Grant Carriker, Sawyer Krause, Warren Levon, Kirstin McGinnis,and Nicola Rinow.

    PRODUCTION TEAM: Amiri Baraka (playwright of Dutchman), Chuck Smith (director of Dutchman), Darren Canady* (playwright of TRANSit), Lisa Portes (director ofTRANSit), Sarah E. Ross* (scenic), Sarah Hughey* (lights), Christopher J. Neville* (costumes), Thomas Dixon (sound), Alec Long (properties), Ricardo Garcia (dance choreographer), Vincent Teninty (fight director), and Kevin Gregory Dwyer (production stage manager).


        Schedule: 
        Thursday: 7:30 p.m.
        Friday: 7:30 p.m.
        Saturday:  3:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
        Sunday: 2:30 p.m.

        Location: Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave. in Chicago
        Ticket prices: $19 - $49
        Box Office: Buy online at AmericanBluesTheater.com or by calling 773.404.7336.

        Thursday, September 15, 2016

        LAST CALL: Irrational Tales Ends 9/18

        Chi, IL LIVE Shows On Our Radar:

        REVIEW: Get Lit With Irrational Tales





        Though simple in scale, this production makes a great date night for lit geeks. Denman has adapted heavy hitters like Nathanial Hawthorne, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Clark Ashton Smith, rounding out the show with an original piece, Reflections. We had the chance to catch opening night of Irrational Tales at The Broadway and it's refreshing to see some classic and original tales of terror that don't involve the disturbing real life tales that recently shuttered Profiles in this very space. We're happy to support the new ownership, Pride Arts Center, and look forward to seeing what they bring to the space. 

        Sure, the show's campy and low budget, but that's part of it's charm. Although I do wish they'd gone with actual liquid, since they're drinking in just about every story, and the mime pouring and drinking was distracting. The story telling is fun, though, and with tickets going for just $15, you'll still have cash to grab drinks and dinner before or after the show.

        This show is a bit of a homecoming for David Denman, the Artistic Director of Clock Theater, and author of the 4th piece in this production. He was a company member of the National Pastime Theater who had the space for years before Profiles. The past is prologue and Profiles is past. Now it's Clock Theater's time. Come on out and support the arts.

        Irrational Tales
        The Broadway

        4139 N. Broadway
Chicago IL
        Through September 18, 2016


        Part of The Pride Arts Center 
        Thursdays Fridays Saturdays 8 PM. Sundays 3 PM.

Tickets $15



        CHICAGO READER
        "Too many fake British accents and huffy turnings on the heel mar David Denman and Clock Theater's macabre revue Irrational Tales. Denman barely revises three works of spooky American short fiction, rounded up to four with something of his own, "Reflections."
        Most of the pieces could have used more actual adaptation, but there's one exception: "The Gorgon" by Clark Ashton Smith, which first appeared as a short story in the April 1932 edition of the pulp magazine Weird Tales. That it does beautifully as a one-act, clearly edging out midcareer works by Nathaniel Hawthorne and F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a testament to the unbalanced calculus of theatrical adaptation. The only genuine fear I felt throughout Tales came in "Gorgon" while watching Jennifer Cheung play a witch—her vituperative cackles are excellent. —Max Maller


        Clock Theater Live

        Clock Theater endeavors to combine compelling storytelling, with strong use of all the productions elements, to create a memoriable theatrical experience.

        Clock Painting and Design

        In his scenic designs, as well as his personal work, David Denman likes to avoid subjects that are over-approached, using color and contrast a strong sense of drawing and perspective.

        History

        A Chicago-based theater and film production company, established in 1999, David Denman's Clock Productions has produced The Visit(1998), Einstein's Dreams (2000), Savage Love (2001), The Big Funk (2001), Mommy Abdula's Miraculous Traveling Carnival of Wonders (2002), Ocean Sea (2003), The Pinter Plays (2003), The Three Sisters (2003), The Love of a Good Man (2004), Einstein's Dreams (2005), *The Firebugs and the Good Citizen (2006), *The Magician (2007), The Quiltmaker's Gift (2007), *Alice of the House of Carol (2009), The Tumultuous Tale of the Tragically Transparent Tunic (2010), Six Scary Tales (2010), *Street Scene (2010), Six More Scary Tales (2011) and Counterpoint (2012).

        indicates co-production with The National Pastime Theater
        Chicago venues include The National Pastime TheaterChopin TheaterAthenaeum Theater and City Lit; regional venues includeKalamazoo Civic CenterThunder Bay Theater, and the Whitehall Theater.
        David Denman, founder of Clock Productions, is also a set designer and a painter. In 1994 he became a member of the National Pastime Theater Company in Chicago. In 1998, he formed Clock Productions, becoming its Artistic Director and co-producing with other companies, as well as mounting shows on his own.
        David is the writer for the Scary Tales series, adapting old campfire tales, folk tales, and urban legends for the stage.




        CLOCK THEATER TO OPEN THE BROADWAY 
           (FORMERLY PROFILES THEATRE)
            PART OF THE PRIDE ARTS CENTER

        Clock Theater will be the first theater company to make use of The Broadway, (formerly Profiles Theatre) at 4139 N. Broadway, Chicago, part of the Pride Arts Center

        Artistic Director of Clock Theater, David Denman, was a company member of the National Pastime Theater which resided in the space for many years prior to Profiles moving in. Says Denman, “ It is very ironic that as a former resident of the space with National Pastime, my theater is returning to the space once again.”

        Clock’s production of “Irrational Tales” includes a number of vignettes based on stories of terror.  Included in the stories are “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, “The Gorgon” by Aston Clarke Smith,  “A Diamond as Big as the Ritz” based on a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald and “Reflections.”

        The production runs through September 18 with performances on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm and Sundays at 3pm. Tickets are $15.

        Appearing in the production, which is produced and adapted by David Denman and directed by Lesley Fisher Chapman, are CJ Chapman, Jennifer Cheung, Amanda Forman, David Meldman, Sarah Mergener, Whitney Pipes and Mark West.   Stage Manager is Amber Mandley, Costume Design by Arin Mulvaney, Lighting  and Mask Design by Ben Dionysus, Sound Design by Sheri Tatar, Fight Choreography by Danielle Stahl and Scenic Design by David Denman. 



        Tickets are available through Brown Paper Tickets at www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2556728.

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