EXTENDED: War Paint at The Goodman Theatre Now Slated to Run Through August 14

Chi, IL LIVE Shows On Our Radar:

TONY AWARD NOMINEES JOHN DOSSETT AND DOUGLAS SILLS JOIN THE CAST OF

WAR PAINT, A NEW MUSICAL 

STARRING PATTI LUPONE AND CHRISTINE EBERSOLE,

PREMIERING AT GOODMAN THEATRE

**DESIGN TEAM ANNOUNCED—SETS BY DAVID KORINS, COSTUMES BY CATHERINE ZUBER,

LIGHTING BY KENNETH POSNER, SOUND BY BRIAN RONAN**

ORCHESTRATIONS BY BRUCE COUGHLIN ** MUSIC DIRECTION BY LAWRENCE YURMAN**

***WAR PAINT EXTENDS BY POPULAR DEMAND THROUGH AUGUST 14, NEW BLOCK OF SEATS NOW AVAILABLE***

Goodman Theatre announces Broadway stars John Dossett and Douglas Sills will join the cast of War Paint, a new musical starring two-time Tony Award winners Patti LuPone and Christine Ebersole as Helena Rubinstein and Elizabeth Arden, respectively. Dossett will portray Tommy Lewis, Miss Arden’s husband and chief marketing officer, and Sills will portray the ambitious Harry Fleming, Madame Rubinstein’s clubby confidante and faithful ally.  

Also joining the project are David Korins (set design), Catherine Zuber (costume design), Kenneth Posner (lighting design) and Brian Ronan (sound design), as well as Bruce Coughlin (orchestrations) and Lawrence Yurman (music director). Due to high demand for tickets, the Goodman adds one extension week to the engagement, which will now run through August 14, 2016 in the 856-seat Albert Theatre; opening night is Monday, July 18. War Paint is a world premiere musical by librettist Doug Wright, composer Scott Frankel, lyricist Michael Korie, choreographer Christopher Gattelli and director Michael Greif. The musical is inspired by the book, War Paint, by Lindy Woodhead, and the documentary film, The Powder & the Glory, by Ann Carol Grossman and Arnie Reisman.

Tickets are on sale now; call 312.443.3800 or visit GoodmanTheatre.org/WarPaint. Group savings are available for parties of 15 or more; call 312.443.3820 or email Groups@GoodmanTheatre.org. The Goodman is grateful for the generosity of its sponsors: Allstate Insurance Company and JPMorgan Chase are Major Corporate Sponsors and ComEd is the Official Lighting Sponsor.

War Paint tells the story of cosmetics titans Helena Rubinstein (LuPone) and Elizabeth Arden (Ebersole), who defined beauty standards for the first half of the 20^th Century. Brilliant innovators with humble roots, both women were masters of self-invention who sacrificed everything to become the country’s first major female entrepreneurs. They were also fierce competitors, whose 50-year tug-of-war would give birth to an industry. From Fifth Avenue society to the halls of Congress, their remarkable rivalry was ruthless, relentless and legendary—pushing both women to build international empires in a world dominated by men. 

About the Artists

John Dossett’s (Tommy Lewis) Broadway credits include Chicago, Pippin, Newsies, Mamma Mia!, The Constant Wife, Democracy, Gypsy (Tony and Drama Desk Award nominations), Dinner at Eight, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Ragtime, Prelude to a Kiss, Mastergate, Fifth of July and King of Schnorrers. Off-Broadway credits include Giant (The Public Theater/Dallas Theater Center, Drama Desk Award nomination); Down the Road and White People (Atlantic Theater Company); Saved! (Playwrights Horizons); Hello Again and The Clean House (Lincoln Center Theater); Poster of Cosmos, Sunshine, Reckless, Child Byron and The Diviners (Circle Repertory Theatre) and Trudy Blue (MCC Theatre). National tour credits include Kiss of the Spider Woman. Regional credits include Newsies and Paper Moon (Paper Mill Playhouse), First Wives Club (The Old Globe), Dinner with Friends (Variety Arts), How I Learned to Drive (Philadelphia Theatre Company), Ragtime (Shubert Theatre) and Elmer Gantry and Captain’s Courageous (Ford's Theatre).

Douglas Sills (Harry Fleming) received Tony and Drama Desk Award nominations for his performance as the title character in The Scarlet Pimpernel on Broadway. Additional Broadway credits include Living on Love opposite Renee Fleming and Little Shop of Horrors (Drama League Award). National tour credits include The Scarlet Pimpernel (Ovation Award), The Addams Family, The Secret Garden and Into the Woods. Off-Broadway credits include My Favorite Year (York Theatre); Lady Be Good, Music in the Air and Carnival (Encores!); On the 20th Century and Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol (The Actors Fund) and Moonlight & Magnolias (Manhattan Theatre Club). Regional theater credits include His Girl Friday (La Jolla Playhouse), Ride the Tiger (Long Wharf Theater), White Noise (Royal George Theatre), Peter Pan (Paper Mill Playhouse), She Loves Me (Westport Country Playhouse), A Little Night Music (Kennedy Center), Much Ado About Nothing (South Coast Repertory), Mack & Mabel (Reprise LA) and numerous leading roles for the California Shakespeare Festival. Ms. Sills has appeared on television in recurring roles on CSI and The Closer, as well as Numb3rs, Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Will & Grace. Film credits include the upcoming feature Erotic Fire of the Unattainable and Deuce Bigelow: European Gigolo. He attended the University of Michigan and the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco.

Patti LuPone (Helena Rubinstein) most recently starred in Douglas Carter Beane’s Shows for Days, directed by Jerry Zaks, at Lincoln Center Theater. Her New York stage credits include Anna 1 in The Seven Deadly Sins (guest soloist with the NY City Ballet); Joanne in Company (NY Philharmonic); David Mamet’s The Anarchist; Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle Award nominations); Gypsy (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Drama League Awards); John Doyle’s production of Sweeney Todd (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle Award nominations); Passion; Candide; Can Can; Noises Off; Sweeney Todd (NY Philharmonic); The Old Neighborhood; Master Class; Patti LuPone on Broadway (Outer Critics Circle Award); Pal Joey; Anything Goes (Tony Award nomination, Drama Desk Award); Oliver!; Accidental Death of An Anarchist; The Woods;   Edmond; The Cradle Will Rock; Evita (Tony and Drama Desk Awards); Working; The Water Engine; and The Robber Bridegroom (Tony Award and Drama Desk nominations). London credits include Matters of the Heart, Master Class, Sunset Boulevard (Olivier Award nomination) and Les Misérables (Royal Shakespeare Company world premiere production) and The Cradle Will Rock (Olivier Award for both productions). Opera credits include Jake Heggie’s To Hell and Back (San Francisco’s Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, for the Los Angeles Opera), John Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles and Brecht-Weill’s The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (LA  Opera debut) and Marc Blitzstein’s Regina (Kennedy Center). Films include Parker, Union Square, City by the Sea, David Mamet’s Heist and State and Main, Just Looking, Summer of Sam, Driving Miss Daisy and Witness. TV credits include Penny Dreadful, Girls, American Horror Story: Coven, Ugly Betty, Will & Grace, Passion, and Sweeney Todd, Oz, Monday Night Mayhem, Evening At the Pops with John Williams and Yo Yo Ma, Frasier (Emmy Award nomination), Law & Order, The Water Engine, L.B.J. and Life Goes On. Recordings, in addition to original cast recordings include Patti LuPone Live, Matters of the Heart, The Lady With The Torch, Patti LuPone at Les Mouches and Far Away Places. LuPone is a founding member of the Drama Division of The Juilliard School and of John Houseman’s The Acting Company. She is the author of the New York Times best-seller, Patti LuPone: A Memoir.

Christine Ebersole (Elizabeth Arden), a native of Winnetka, received virtually every off-Broadway award and her second Tony Award for Leading Actress in a Musical for her dual performance as Edith Beale and Little Edie Beale in Grey Gardens. Other Broadway credits include her Tony Award-winning performance as Dorothy Brock in the smash hit revival 42nd Street, Dinner at Eight (Tony and Outer Critics Circle Award nominations), Steel Magnolias, On the Twentieth Century, I Love My Wife, Angel Street, Oklahoma, Camelot opposite Richard Burton, The Best Man and the recent revival of Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit, co-starring with Dame Angela Lansbury. She has starred in five City Center Encores! productions, and received an Obie Award and a Drama Desk Award nomination for her work in Alan Bennett's Talking Heads.  Ebersole has appeared in over 20 feature films including The Wolf Of Wall Street, Amadeus, Tootsie, Richie Rich, Black Sheep, My Favorite Martian, Dead Again, Folks!, True Crime, My Girl 2 and The Big Wedding, which also features an original composition that she wrote and sang for the end credits of the film. Her television credits include being a regular cast member of Saturday Night Live‘s 1981-82 season, the First Lady on the CBS hit show Madame Secretary, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, American Horror Story: Coven, Royal Pains, three seasons of Sullivan and Son for TBS, Ugly Betty, Law and Order: SVU, Boston Legal, Will & Grace, and she starred as Tessie Tura  in the TV movie Gypsy with Bette Midler. Ebersole has performed in the concert version of the opera The Grapes of Wrath at Carnegie Hall, and she appeared with the San Francisco Symphony at Carnegie Hall in a tribute to Leonard Bernstein. She performed at Boston's Symphony Hall and Tanglewood starring as Desiree Armfeldt in a concert version of A Little Night Music with the Boston Pops. In televised concerts, she has often appeared on PBS, including her star turns in Ira Gershwin at 100: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall and The Rodgers & Hart Story: Thou Swell, Thou Witty. She has performed on the Kennedy Center Honors, for Andrew Lloyd Webber and Jerry Herman. As a recording artist, she has released several albums including Live at the Cinegrill, Sunday in New York, In Your Dreams,Christine Ebersole Sings Noel Coward and Strings Attached. christineebersole.com

About the Creative Team

Director Michael Greif’s Broadway credits include Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey's Next to Normal and If/Then, as well as Never Gonna Dance, Grey Gardens and Rent. Recent work includes Benj Pasek, Justin Paul and Steven Levenson’s musical Dear Evan Hansen at Arena Stage (also upcoming at off-Broadway’s Second Stage Theatre), Katori Hall’s Our Lady of Kibeho and Angels in America at New York's Signature Theater, the premiere of Tony Kushner's The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide. .. at The Public Theater, and The Tempest, Winter's Tale, Romeo and Juliet at The Public's Delacorte Theater.  Regional work includes premieres and revivals at Williamstown Theatre Festival (10 seasons), La Jolla Playhouse (Artistic Director 1995-99), Goodman Theatre, Arena Stage, Center Stage, Mark Taper Forum, Dallas Theatre Center and Trinity Repertory Theatre. Work off-Broadway includes plays and musicals at The Public Theater, Second Stage, Playwrights Horizons, Roundabout Theater Compay, Manhattan Theatre Club, MCC, Signature and the New York Theater Workshop, where he is an artistic associate.  Education: B.S. Northwestern; M.F.A. UCSD.

Michael Korie (lyrics) was nominated for a Tony Award and received an Outer Critics Circle Award for his lyrics to Grey Gardens, created with composer Scott Frankel, book by Doug Wright, directed by Michael Greif, produced at Playwrights Horizons, and subsequently on Broadway, nationally and abroad. Grey Gardens premieres in January at London’s Southwark Playhouse. He wrote the lyrics to Far From Heaven with composer Frankel and playwright Richard Greenberg produced at Williamstown Festival, Playwrights Horizons and at Chicago’s Porchlight Theater later this season. Also with Frankel, lyrics to Happiness at Lincoln Center Theater, Meet Mister Future at Cardiff Festival, and Doll presented at Ravinia Festival. He co-wrote lyrics with Amy Powers to Doctor Zhivago produced internationally and on Broadway, and is currently collaborating on a new show with Tom Kitt and Donald Marguiles for Disney Theatricals. For opera, Korie adapted John Steinbeck’s novel for the libretto to The Grapes of Wrath, with composer Ricky Ian Gordon, and created original librettos to operas with composer Stewart Wallace including Harvey Milk, Hopper’s Wife, Where’s Dick? and Kabbalah. Their operas have been produced at San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Minnesota Opera, New York City Opera, BAM Next Wave Festival, Carnegie Hall and Disney Los Angeles Symphony Hall. Korie’s lyrics have received the Edward Kleban Prize, Jonathan Larson Award and the ASCAP Richard Rodgers Award. His songs with composer Frankel were featured at The Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage Broadway Today. He serves on the council of The Dramatists Guild and moderates the Dramatist Guild Musical Theater Fellows Program. MichaelKorie.com.

Scott Frankel (music) was nominated for Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for his work on Grey Gardens, which ran at Playwrights Horizons before moving to Broadway. Since then, the show has been performed regularly across the country as well as internationally. He has also written the music for Far From Heaven (Playwrights Horizons, Williamstown Theatre Festival), Finding Neverland (UK premiere, 2012), Happiness (Lincoln Center Theater), Doll (Ravinia Festival, Richard Rodgers Award) and Meet Mister Future (winner, Global Search for New Musicals), all with lyricist Michael Korie. Frankel is the recipient of the ASCAP Foundation Richard Rodgers New Horizons Award and the Frederick Loewe Award. He was the 2011-2012 Frances & William Schuman Fellow at The MacDowell Colony and is a graduate of Yale University.

Doug Wright (book) earned the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award for his play I Am My Own Wife. Other stage works include Grey Gardens (Tony Award nomination), The Little Mermaid and Hands on a Hardbody. Film credits include Quills, based on his Obie Award-winning play, nominated for three Academy Awards. Television credits include Tony Bennett: An American Classic, directed by Rob Marshall. Honors include the Benjamin Dank Prize, the American Academy of Arts and Letters; Tolerance Prize, Kulturforum Europa and the Paul Selvin Award, Writers Guild of America. Professional affiliations include president of the Dramatists Guild; member, Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers; board of the New York Theatre Workshop. Wright is married to singer/songwriter David Clement.

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), 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’s 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 community 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, Steve Scott, Chuck Smith, Regina Taylor, Henry Wishcamper and Mary Zimmerman. Joan Clifford is Chair of Goodman Theatre’s Board of Trustees, Swati Mehta is Women’s Board President and Gordon C.C. Liao is President of the Scenemakers Board for young professionals. 

Visit the Goodman virtually at GoodmanTheatre.org—including OnStage+ for insider information—and on Twitter (@GoodmanTheatre ), Facebook and Instagram.

OPENING: THIS at Windy City Playhouse 6/15

Chi, IL LIVE Shows On Our Radar:

WINDY CITY PLAYHOUSE ANNOUNCES CASTING FOR THIS

BY HOUSE OF CARDS’ SCRIBE MELISSA JAMES GIBSON

DIRECTED BY DEERFIELD NATIVE CARL MENNINGER

PREVIEWS BEGIN JUNE 15

Windy City Playhouse, Chicago’s most sophisticated new theater, presents the off-Broadway hit This, a tart “melanchomedy” centering on four educated, artistically inclined thirtysomething New Yorkers whose longtime friendship is tested by an act of infidelity.  Writer, director and playwright Carl Menninger (a former Deerfield native) returns home from Washington, D.C. to direct this piercing, beautifully crafted new play for lovers of language by Melissa James Gibson. Previews for This begin Wednesday, June 15 at Windy City Playhouse, 3014 W. Irving Park.

Location:	Windy City Playhouse, 3014 W. Irving Park
Previews	Wednesday, June 15-Wednesday, June 22
Closing Performance	Sunday, August 28
Curtain	Wednesdays & Thursdays at 7:30pm Fridays & Saturdays at 8:00pm Sundays at 3:00pm
Tickets	Wednesday, Thursday & Sunday: $25 (“House”) & $45 (“Top Shelf”) Friday & Saturday: $35 & $55 Previews: $15 & $30 Call 773-891-8985; or visit http://windycityplayhouse.com/

The This cast includes Brian Grey (Jean-Pierre), Steve O’Connell (Tom), Tania Richard (Marrell), Amy Rubenstein (Jane), and Joe Zarrow (Alan), while its design team includes Katie-Bell Kenney (set), Kristy Leigh Hall (costumes), Jared Gooding (lights), Jeffrey Levin (sound) and Jamie Karas (props).

On the cusp of leaving their thirties and entering middle age, Jane and her old college pals could use some laughs. But when the reminiscing reveals secrets, and among friendships she finds adultery, Jane must come to terms with the people she thought she loved and the woman she thought she knew. In order to become whole again, Jane finds herself asking what this is all about.

ARTIST BIOS

Brian Grey’s (Jean-Pierre) Chicago credits include: Othello and Pericles (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre); The Wheel (Steppenwolf); The Oxford Roof Climber’s Rebellion (Jeff Award nomination, Caffeine Theatre); The Hyacinth Macaw (The Bridge); Closer (Spartan Theatre Company); Mr. Chickee’s Funny Money, Bud, Not Buddy, and The Houdini Box (Chicago Children’s Theatre); Heddatron (Sideshow Theatre/Steppenwolf Garage Rep); and Goodbye Cruel World (The Strange Tree Group). Mr. Grey trained at PCPA in Santa Maria, CA, and received his MFA from the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University.

Stephen O’Connell’s (Tom) Chicago credits include: An Issue of Blood (Victory Gardens); Dead Accounts (Jeff Award Nomination-Actor in a Principal Role, Step Up Productions); Henry V and Shakespeare's Greatest Hits! (Chicago Shakespeare); Amadeus (Jeff Award Nomination-Actor in a Principal Role, BoHo Theatre); The Killers Angels (Lifeline Theatre); Coriolanus (Jeff Award nomination–Actor in a Principal Role, The Hypocrites); Pygmalion (Stage Left Theatre, BoHo Theatre); Hostage Song (Signal Ensemble Theatre); and The Kid Thing (Chicago Dramatists, About Face Theatre); as well as productions with TimeLine Theatre Company, Red Tape Theatre, Metropolis Performing Arts Centre, Infusion Theatre Company, Theatre Wit, and BoHo Theatre, where he is an Artistic Affiliate. Steven is also a company member with Erasing The Distance, an arts organization that uses the power of performance to disarm stigma surrounding issues of mental health. Steve received his MFA in Acting from University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Tania Richard (Marrell) made her Broadway debut in Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s production of The Song of Jacob Zulu. Other credits include: Everyman and Nomathemba (Steppenwolf); two seasons of A Christmas Carol and understudying Disgraced (Goodman Theatre); Iphigenia at Aulis (The Court Theatre); understudying Doubt (Writers Theatre); Old Wine in New Bottles, Slaughterhouse 5, Cattle 0, Brother, Can You Spare Some Change?, and Studs Terkel’s Not Working (The Second City); the world premiere of Voyeurs de Venus (Black Theater Alliance Award nomination, Chicago Dramatists); The People’s Temple (American Theater Company); and Blues for an Alabama Sky and Valley Song (Drammy Award nomination, Portland Center Stage). Ms. Richard wrote and performed her solo show, Truth be Told, at Fleetwood Jourdain Theatre.

Amy Rubenstein (Jane) is originally from Chicago and graduated from Brandeis University’s Department of Theater, Magna Cum Laude. Upon graduation, she worked as an actress in Chicago, Los Angeles, and regional markets, earning her Actors Equity Association membership at the Human Race Theater Company in Dayton, Ohio. Favorite credits include: The Last Night of Ballyhoo (Long Beach Playhouse); We Just Moved in (The Complex); Steel Magnolias and Noon (Center Stage Theater); Macbeth (Fox Valley Shakespeare); and A Night Near the Sun (TinFish Theatre). TV/Film credits include: Cracking Up (Fox) and Nikki (The WB). Amy is the Artistic Director at Windy City Playhouse which has produced 5 productions since its launch in March of 2015, 4 of which were Jeff-recommended. Last season, Amy appeared as Jennie in the Jessica Thebus production of Chapter Two.

Joe Zarrow’s (Alan) favorite performances in Chicago include: Officer Don McMurchie in Buddy Cop 2 (Pavement Group); Edward Brennan in Sate & Madison: The Grid in The Chicago Landmark Project (Theatre Seven of Chicago); Schoolch in Bulrusher (Congo Square); Ezra Chater in Arcadia (New Leaf); Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream (Sankofa); and Dad in Walk Two Moons (Adventure Stage). His play Principal Principle (Stage Left Theatre / Theatre Seven of Chicago, Jeff Nomination for Best New Work) is available from Dramatic Publishing, and in Chicago his plays have also been produced by Walkabout Theatre, LiveWire Chicago Theatre, Tympanic Theatre, Broken Nose Theatre, and Collaboraction. Joe is a proud graduate of The School at Steppenwolf. You can find out more about his work at joezarrow.com. Love to Mary and Solly.

Melissa James Gibson’s (Playwright) plays include What Rhymes with America; This; [sic]; Suitcase or, Those That Resemble Flies from a Distance; Brooklyn Bridge (with a song by Barbara Brousal) and Current Nobody. Her work has been produced and/or developed at Playwrights Horizons, Center Theatre Group, Soho Rep, La Jolla Playhouse, The Children’s Theatre Company, Steppenwolf, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Seattle Rep and the Sundance Institute Theatre Lab among others, regionally and internationally. Commissions: Atlantic Theater Company; Manhattan Theater Club (Sloan Foundation); Second Stage Theatre. Honors: OBIE Award; Guggenheim Fellowship; Steinberg Playwright Award; Kesselring Prize; Whiting Writers Award; Lucille Lortel Foundation Playwrights’ Fellowship; LILLY Award; Jerome Fellow; MacDowell Colony Fellow; NEA/TCG Theatre Residency Program for Playwrights; Susan Smith Blackburn Prize finalist. MFA: Yale School of Drama; graduate of New Dramatists. Film: screenplay for Almost Christmas, starring Paul Giamatti, Paul Rudd and Sally Hawkins, directed by Phil Morrison. TV: writer of Netflix’s House of Cards and the FX show, The Americans, created by Joe Weisberg.

Carl Menninger’s (Director) work in the theater spans writing, directing, and teaching. He holds a master’s degree from Emerson College and bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University. He currently serves as an Assistant Professor of Theatre and Musical Theatre at American University in Washington, D.C.; previously taught at The Berklee College of Music and Victory Gardens Theatre; and led the Deerfield High School Theater Department from 1994-2003. His directing credits include over 150 productions in Boston, Chicago, and Washington, and his original plays have been seen at American University and The Ganymede Fall Arts Festival. He is also co-author of Minding the Edge: Strategies for a Successful, Fulfilling Career as an Actor.  

About Windy City Playhouse

Windy City Playhouse, Chicago's newest not-for-profit Equity theater, aims to expand beyond the traditional theatergoing experience by offering audience members a night of high-quality entertainment with a full-service bar, in a lounge-like atmosphere. Windy City Playhouse premiered in March of 2015, with the inaugural production End Days. Lauded by audiences and critics alike, Windy City Playhouse promises to rock Chicago's theater scene.

Click HERE For More Information and to book your tickets. 

The Music Theatre Hosts The 4th Annual Chicago Film Critics Association (CFCA) Festival 5/20-26

Films On Our Radar:

The Chicago Film Critics Association (CFCA) Festival kicks off on Friday, May 20^th, 2016 at The Music Theatre!

This year's lineup will include 25 feature films and shorts. This programming brings together an eclectic array of films ranging from raucous comedies and foreign-made dramas to thought-provoking documentaries and midnight genre films.

Special guest appearances include Craig Robinson (Morris From America), Martin Starr (Operator), Anne Hamilton (American Fable), Ira Sachs (Little Men), Ti West (In a Valley of Violence), Michael Pena (War on Everyone) among others!

Now in its fourth year, the CFCA festival will run May 20-26th, 2016 and will be held once again at Chicago's historic Music Box Theatre. Click HERE for Program Scheduling.

Passes are also on sale HERE 

The CFCA will be programming the following titles as part of this year's program at The Music Box Theatre:

Beauty and the Beast

Christophe Gans, the director of such visually stunning films as "Brotherhood of the Wolf" and "Silent Hill," unites two of France's biggest stars, Vincent Cassel and Lea Seydoux, to produce this lavish live-action version of Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont's classic fantasy story that has already served as the basis for two classic screen adaptations from Jean Cocteau and Disney. For those of you who somehow missed those, it tells the story of a beautiful young woman who agrees to become the prisoner of a ferocious beast in order to save her beloved father's life and eventually learns that there is more to him than his gruff exterior would suggest.

The Blackcoat's Daughter

Set on a nearly deserted prep school campus during winter break, the debut feature from writer/director Oz Perkins (son of Anthony Perkins) follows two students (Kiernan Shipka and Lucy Boynton) who have been left behind and a young woman (Emma Roberts) who has just left the hospital and is hitchhiking towards the school with a seemingly good-natured couple (James Remar and Lauren Holly). Needless to say, something is clearly amiss but what exactly it is and how it connects these seemingly unrelated characters is what gave audiences a start when it premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it was formerly known as “February”.

Goat

Co-written by David Gordon Green and based on the memoir by Brad Land, this harrowing drama follows a 19-year-old boy, who, following a brutal assault, pledges the college fraternity to which his older brother belongs. As the hazing rituals grow more and more dangerous, he finds himself reconsidering his loyalty to both his brother and his new-found allies. Directed by former documentarian Andrew Neel and co-starring Nick Jonas and James Franco, the film offers an eye-opening look at some of the more appalling aspects of masculinity in contemporary society.

Hunt For the Wilderpeople

From Taika Waititi, the writer-director-star of "What We Do In The Shadows," comes the comedic coming-of-age story of Ricky (Julian Dennison), an unruly orphan boy who is dropped off at a remote farm with the latest in a long string of foster parents, the cheerful Aunt Bella and the more taciturn Uncle Hec (Sam Neill). For a while, everything works out fine, but when a tragedy strikes that threatens to remove Ricky to another family, he and Uncle Hec take off into the bush and, thanks to a series of odd events, unexpectedly find themselves at the center of a nationwide manhunt. 

Life, Animated

Based on the memoir by Ron Suskind, this documentary tells the story of his autistic son Owen and how they still managed to communicate with each other utilizing characters and dialogue from Disney animated films that were the only thing that seemed to truly engage the boy. Mixing live-action and animation, the film shows  how Owen was able to utilize his responses to these films as a way to explore his own personal feelings while growing up, and to help him as he makes his first steps towards adulthood and independence.

Morris From America

Directed by Chad Hartigan (whose previous feature, "This is Martin Bonner," was part of the first Chicago Critics Film Festival), this crowd-pleasing comedy follows the adolescent misadventures of a 13-year-old American boy (Markees Christmas) growing up in Germany while living with his father (Craig Robinson). This film was a hit at this year's Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award and a Special Jury Award for Individual Performance for Robinson.

Trash Fire

In this super-dark comedy with horrific overtones from Richard Bates Jr. (whose "Excision" managed to make even the most dedicated genre buffs squirm in their seats), Adrien Grenier stars as an unpleasant young man who, to please his pregnant girlfriend (Angela Trimbur) and prove that he can be a reliable father figure, agrees to visit the estranged grandmother (Fionnula Flanagan) and sister (Annalynn McCord) that are his only living relatives. Although the two make the trip in order to allow him to bury the hatchet at last, they soon discover that family ties can choke as well as bind. 

American Fable

American Fable is a fairytale thriller set in the 1980s Midwest farm crisis about a courageous girl living in a dark and sometimes magical world. When 11-year-old Gitty discovers that her beloved father is hiding a wealthy man in her family’s silo in order to save their struggling farm, she befriends the captive in secret and quickly becomes trapped between protecting her family and her soul.

Another Evil

After encountering a ghost in his family’s vacation home, a modern artist and his wife hire an “industrial-grade exorcist” to get rid of the beings. But he soon realizes that ridding the home of evil won’t be as simple as it seems.

Contemporary Color

In the summer of 2015, legendary musician David Byrne staged an event at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center to celebrate the art of Color Guard: synchronized dance routines involving flags, rifles, and sabers. Recruiting performers that include the likes of Saint Vincent, Nelly Furtado, Ad-Rock, and Ira Glass to collaborate on original pieces with 10 color guard teams from across the US and Canada.

Dark Night

The lives of six strangers intersect at a suburban Cineplex where a massacre occurs.

Demon

A bridegroom is possessed by an unquiet spirit in the midst of his own wedding celebration, in this clever take on the Jewish legend of the dybbuk.

Disorder

Vincent is an ex-soldier with PTSD who is hired to protect the wife and child of a wealthy Lebanese businessman while he’s out of town. Despite the apparent tranquility on Maryland, Vincent perceives an external threat.

First Girl I Loved

With Dylan Gelula (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) in attendance.

Seventeen-year-old Anne just fell in love with Sasha, the most popular girl at her LA public high school. But when Anne tells her best friend Clifton—who has always harbored a secret crush—he does his best to get in the way.

The Fits

While training at the gym 11-year-old tomboy Toni becomes entranced with a dance troupe. As she struggles to fit in she finds herself caught up in danger as the group begins to suffer from fainting spells and other violent fits.

In a Valley of Violence

With Writer/Director Ti West in attendance!

A mysterious stranger, and a random act of violence drags a town of misfits and nitwits into the bloody crosshairs of revenge.

Into the Forest

With Director Patricia Rozema in attendance

In the not-too-distant future, two young women who live in a remote ancient forest discover the world around them is on the brink of an apocalypse. Informed only by rumor, they fight intruders, disease, loneliness and starvation.

Joshy

With Adam Pally in attendance

Josh treats what would have been his bachelor party as an opportunity to reconnect with his friends.

Little Men

With Writer/Director Ira Sachs in attendance!

A new pair of best friends have their bond tested by their parents’ battle over a dress shop lease.

Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World

Werner Herzog’s exploration of the Internet and the connected world.

My Blind Brother

The rivalry between two brothers reaches a fever pitch during a charity swim competition.

Nuts!

The mostly true story of Dr. John Romulus Brinkley, an eccentric genius who built an empire with his goat-testicle impotence cure and a million-watt radio station.

Operator

CLOSING NIGHT FILM!

With Martin Starr, Writer/Director Logan Kibens and Writer Sharon Greene in attendance!

Joe (Martin Starr) is a programmer and self-quantifier who uses the data he collects to make sense of the world and control his panic attacks. He and his wife Emily (Mae Whitman), a member of the Neo-Futurists, are happily married until they start working together on a project that promises to replicate Emily’s personality. What begins as a collaboration that strengthens their relationship quickly spirals into a technological love triangle in this dark comedy about love in the age of anxiety shot on location in Andersonville.

The Other Half

Nickie Bellow (Tom Cullen) is a self-destructive drifter, ever mourning the disappearance of his younger brother. Then he meets Emily (Tatiana Maslany) and the two form an immediate, inseparable bond – it is love at first sight deepened by a shared sense of sorrow. After a short amount of time, his PTSD and her bipolar disorder surface complicating their new-found intimacy. For Nickie and Emily, time does not heal all wounds, but could real love indeed conquer all?

For the most current details, along with information on the festival as a whole and a look back at previous years, please go to www.chicagocriticsfilmfestival.com

About The CFCA-

The CFCA has always been dedicated to supporting and celebrating quality filmmaking that has something to say about our world, our lives, and our society. In the past, while it supported and fought for the continued role of film critics in the media, the CFCA's primary public interaction was through the announcement of its annual film awards each December. In recent years, however, the CFCA moved aggressively to expand its presence on the Chicago arts scene and to promote critical thin king about cinema to a wider base. In 2012, in addition to re-launching a late-winter awards ceremony, CFCA members presented numerous film screenings at theaters like the Studio Movie Grill in Wheaton, and Muvico Theaters Rosemont 18 in Rosemont. Illinois. CFCA members also team-taught a new Young People's Film Criticism Workshop at Facets Multimedia that emphasized not just film analysis and criticism, but also writing skills to middle- and high-school students, many of whom were attending the course on lower-income scholarships. With this film festival, we intend to take the next step.

About The Music Box Theatre-

For the last two decades, the Music Box Theatre has been the premiere venue in Chicago for independent and foreign films. It currently has the largest theater space operated full time in the city. The Music Box Theatre is independently owned and operated by the Southport Music Box Corporation. SMBC, through its Music Box Films division, also distributes foreign and independent films in the theatrical, DVD and television markets throughout the United States.

Follow The Music Box Theatre on Instagram @musicboxchicago and Twitter @musicboxtheatre

OPENING: GOODMAN THEATRE'S THE SIGN IN SIDNEY BRUSTEIN’S WINDOW

Chi, IL LIVE Shows On Our Radar: THE SIGN IN SIDNEY BRUSTEIN’S WINDOW THE FINAL WORK OF ICONIC AMERICAN PLAYWRIGHT LORRAINE HANSBERRY, DIRECTED BY ANNE KAUFFMAN, APPEARS AT GOODMAN THEATRE APRIL 30 – JUNE 5 **THE MAJOR REVIVAL IS THE CENTERPIECE OF A CITYWIDE CELEBRATION OF LORRAINE HANSBERRY CURATED BY CHUCK SMITH** Goodman Theatre presents The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window by Lorraine Hansberry, the famed author of A Raisin in the Sun and one of Chicago’s first great playwrights. Obie Award winner Anne Kauffman directs this major revival of Hansberry’s final work, which premiered on Broadway just three months before her untimely death in 1965 at age 34. The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window follows Sidney Brustein in Greenwich Village, 1964: a magnet for ideals and activism of every stripe. At its center is Brustein’s apartment, the gathering place for an eclectic group of bohemians during a time of rapid change. As Sidney gets increasingly swept up in the radical issues of the day, however, he ignores the equally dangerous tension mounting between himself and his wife Iris, the one person he holds most dear. The production is the centerpiece of The Lorraine Hansberry Celebration throughout the month of May curated by Resident Director Chuck Smith. The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window runs April 30 – June 5, 2016.  Opening Night is Monday, May 9. Tickets ($25-$75, as well as special $10 student tickets), are on sale now; visit GoodmanTheatre.org/TheSign, call 312.443.3800 or purchase in person at the Box Office at 170 N. Dearborn. Goodman Theatre Women’s Board is the Major Production Sponsor, Edelman and ITW are Corporate Sponsor Partners, and WBEZ 91.5 is the Media Partner. Casting update: Chris Stack appears in the role of Sidney Brustein. As previously announced, the cast also includes Diane Davis (Iris), Travis A. Knight (Alton), Kristen Magee (Gloria), Miriam Silverman (Mavis), Phillip Edward Van Lear (Max), Guy Van Swearingen (Wally O’Hara) and Grant James Varjas (David). “Chicago native Lorraine Hansberry is, of course, best known for A Raisin in the Sun, her searing and revelatory portrait of the Younger family and its pursuit of the American dream. Although the characters in her equally ambitious but rarely-produced The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window occupy another place and time—Greenwich Village in the turbulent 1960s--they are also dreamers who yearn to secure their rightful place in the American landscape,” said Artistic Director Robert Falls. The questions that Hansberry posed more than 50 years ago remain just as relevant in 2016:  What are the core values of our society? Who among those in power speaks my truth?  Should I take action or watch passively from the sidelines? We welcome the opportunity to revisit these essential questions with Anne Kauffman’s exciting new production of The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window, and to celebrate Lorraine Hansberry’s legacy as one of America’s most important playwrights.”              In a New York Times piece days before the 1964 premiere, Hansberry described the play as “a genuine portrait of the milieu.” The politically prescient and powerful work by an iconic American playwright, The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window eerily reflects today’s political climate, including Sidney’s warning, “The world is about to crack right down the middle. We’ve gotta change—or fall in the crack.” Hansberry’s heartfelt and perceptive play holds a mirror up to the injustice and corruption of the contemporary world.    "When I met Anne close to 10 years ago, her passion and commitment to the play was abundantly clear. I view this edition as an examination of Lorraine’s wishes and intentions, and a chance to find the most effective ways to achieve them. We couldn’t be happier that the Goodman jumped on board to produce it,” said Joi Gresham, Executive Director & Trustee, Lorraine Hansberry Literary Trust. "Lorraine was dying when she wrote this play. She was thinking about the end of her life, the things to which she was most committed, and what it meant to be fully engaged in the world. Those powerful questions are reaching us here and now in 2016.” The production’s design elements capture the New York energy of a world under constant construction. Kevin Depinet’s mostly realistic set will appear to float above the stage by opening the trap room below Sidney’s apartment and utilizing Justin Townsend ’s light design to illuminate the empty space beneath the apartment’s floor. The set’s verticality also includes an elaborate maze of scaffolding above the apartment to allow for the dreamscape moments of the play. The design team also includes Alison Siple (costumes) and Mikhail Fiksel (sound). Briana Fahey is the production stage manager. ACCESSIBILITY AT GOODMAN THEATRE May 18, American Sign Language Interpreted Performance –7:30pm; Enter the promo code SIGN when purchasing May 28, Touch Tour Presentation – 12:30pm; a presentation detailing the set, costume and character elements; Audio Described Performance – 2pm; the action/text is audibly enhanced for patrons via headset. June 4, Open Captioned Performance – 2pm; an LED sign presents dialogue in sync with the performance. Visit Goodman Theatre.org/Access for more information about Goodman Theatre’s accessibility efforts. TICKETS & DISCOUNTS Tickets ($25-$75) –GoodmanTheatre.org/TheSign; 312.443.3800; Fax: 312.443.3825; TTY/TDD: 312.443.3829 MezzTix – Half-price day-of-performance mezzanine tickets available at 10am online (promo code MEZZTIX)  $10Tix – Student $10 day-of-performance tickets available at 10am online; limit four, with valid student ID (promo code 10TIX) Group Sales – Discounted tickets for parties of 10+ call 312.443.3820 Gift Certificates – Available in any amount: GoodmanTheatre.org/GiftCertificates Box Office Hours –12noon - 5pm; on performance days, the office remains open until 30 minutes past curtain) About Lorraine Hansberry Born in Chicago, Lorraine Hansberry made history in 1959 as the first African American female playwright to have a work produced on Broadway with A Raisin in the Sun.  The play’s success led Hansberry, at age 29, to become the youngest American playwright, the fifth woman and the only African American to win the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play of the Year. In addition to earning a Tony Award nomination for the play, Hansberry wrote the screenplay for its 1961 film adaptation, which won a special award at the Cannes Film Festival and earned Hansberry a Writers Guild of America Award. Her second play to be produced on Broadway, The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window, was in its early run when Hansberry died of cancer at age 34 in 1965.  To Be Young, Gifted and Black, an autobiographical portrait in her own words adapted by her former husband and literary executor Robert Nemiroff, was posthumously produced in 1969. In 1970, Les Blancs,  her play about African colonization, ran on Broadway to critical acclaim. At her death, she left behind file cabinets holding her public and private correspondence, speeches, journals and various manuscripts, including an almost complete novel. Her published writings also include The Drinking Gourd; What Use Are Flowers?; and The Movement, a photo history of the civil rights movement.  About Anne Kauffman Obie Award-winning director Anne Kauffman’s production highlights include Smokefall at Goodman Theatre; You Got Older with P73; The Nether at MCC; Somewhere Fun at Vineyard Theatre; Your Mother’s Copy of the Kama Sutra,  Detroit and Maple and Vine at Playwrights Horizons; Belleville at New York Theatre Workshop, Yale Repertory Theatre and Steppenwolf Theatre Company; Tales from My Parents’ Divorce at the Williamstown Theatre Festival and The Flea Theater; This Wide Night at Naked Angels; Becky Shaw,  Cherokee and Body Awareness at The Wilma Theater; Slowgirl and Stunning at LCT3; Sixty Miles to Silver Lake with Page 73 Productions at Soho Rep; God’s Ear at Vineyard Theatre and New Georges; The Thugs at Soho Rep and the musical 100 Days at Z Space. Kauffman is a recipient of the Joan and Joseph F. Cullman Award for Extraordinary Creativity, the Alan Schneider Director Award and several Barrymore awards. She is a program associate with Sundance Theater Institute, a New York Theatre Workshop Usual Suspect, a member of Soho Rep’s Artistic Council, on the New Georges’ Kitchen Cabinet, an alumna of the Lincoln Center Directors Lab and the Drama League, a founding member of The Civilians and an associate artist with Clubbed Thumb. 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), 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’s 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 numerous education and community engagement programs—including the innovative Student Subscription Series, now in its 30th year—serve thousands of students, teachers, life-long learners and special constituencies. In addition, for nearly four decades the annual holiday tradition of A Christmas Carol has led to the creation of a new generation of theatergoers in Chicago. Goodman Theatre’s leadership includes the distinguished members of the Artistic Collective: Brian Dennehy, Rebecca Gilman, Henry Godinez, Steve Scott, Chuck Smith, Regina Taylor, Henry Wishcamper and Mary Zimmerman. Joan Clifford is Chair of Goodman Theatre’s Board of Trustees, Swati Mehta is Women’s Board President and Gordon C.C. Liao is President of the Scenemakers Board for young professionals. Visit the Goodman virtually at GoodmanTheatre.org, and on Twitter (@GoodmanTheatre), Facebook and Instagram.

OPENING: LOOKINGGLASS THEATRE COMPANY'S THADDEUS AND SLOCUM: A VAUDEVILLE ADVENTURE 6/1

LOOKINGGLASS THEATRE COMPANY PRESENTS

THE WORLD PREMIERE OF

THADDEUS AND SLOCUM: 

A VAUDEVILLE ADVENTURE

WRITTEN BY ENSEMBLE MEMBER KEVIN DOUGLAS

CO-DIRECTED BY ENSEMBLE MEMBER J. NICOLE BROOKS AND KRISSY VANDERWARKER

June 1 – August 14, 2016



Chi, IL LIVE Shows On Our Radar:

Lookingglass Theatre Company continues its 28^th Season with Thaddeus and Slocum: A Vaudeville Adventure, written by Ensemble Member Kevin Douglas, and co-directed by Ensemble Member J. Nicole Brooks and Krissy Vanderwarker. Thaddeus and Slocum: A Vaudeville Adventure runs June 1 – August 14, 2016 at Lookingglass Theatre Company, located inside Chicago's historic Water Tower Water Works, 821 N. Michigan Ave. at Pearson. 

It’s 1908 and Chicago’s Majestic Theatre is the jewel of the vaudeville circuit. The only thing stopping Thaddeus and Slocum from becoming the next great stage act is as simple – and complicated – as black and white. Will laughter triumph and friendship endure as racial boundaries threaten to destroy their dreams of making the “big time?” Lookingglass dives deep into the divided heart of American show biz for a daring cavalcade of slapstick, song and dance, and burlesque as two best friends risk everything to make it to the top together.

Times: 

Wednesdays: 7:30 p.m.

Thursdays: 2:00 p.m. (June 23, 30; July 7, 21; Aug. 4 only) 7:30 p.m.

Fridays: 7:30 p.m.

Saturdays: 2:00 p.m. (except June 4, 11) 7:30 p.m.

Sundays: 2:00 p.m. (except June 12)

7:30 p.m. (June 19, 26; July 3, 17, 31)

Accessible Performances: Touch Tour/Audio Described performance, July 7 at 7:30 p.m. (Tour begins at 6 p.m.)

Open Captioned performance, July 14 at 7:30 p.m. lookingglasstheatre.org/access

Location: Lookingglass Theatre Company, located inside Chicago's historic

Water Tower Water Works, 821 N. Michigan Ave. at Pearson.

  

Prices: 

Previews are $20 - $40

Regular Run is $40 - $75

Cabaret Pit Seats are $20 for patrons under 35 years old

Cabaret Pit Seating: For this production, Lookingglass designers recreated a Vaudeville theater, complete with a “cabaret pit” surrounding the stage. Patrons in these seats will be part of the show, seated in wooden chairs with actors constantly moving around them. For the under 35 crowd, these seats are just $20. Patrons must present ID when picking up tickets.

A limited number of student tickets are available the day of the show for $20 with valid student ID.

Groups of 8 or more patrons save up to 20%. Call 773-477-9257 X 125 or email groupsales@lookingglasstheatre.org for details.

Box Office: Buy online at lookingglasstheatre.org

or by phone at (312) 337-0665

The Lookingglass box office is located at Water Tower Water Works,

821 N. Michigan Ave.

“Thaddeus and Slocum has been developed over the last few years at Lookingglass, and we have watched its growth with excitement and anticipation,” comments Artistic Director Heidi Stillman. “The play is both thoroughly relevant and an old-time show business adventure; at once a comedy and deadly serious. We’re so excited to see the singular voice of our Ensemble Member Kevin Douglas, his utterly unique and daring vision, and his bold tackling of subject matter that lies at the divided heart of American culture on our stage.”

“I grew up watching old comedies and movie musicals. As I got older, I began to realize that most of the people in these movies didn’t look like me, except for slaves, maids, butlers and Sidney Potier,” says playwright Kevin Douglas. “When I started to consider what it would look like to create a comedy, set in Chicago during the height of the Vaudeville era that featured a black lead (who wasn’t a slave or in a position of servitude), Thaddeus and Slocum was born. The play deals with provocative topics like racism, inequality and blackface. Blackface was common in the Vaudeville circuit in 1908. White people who wore blackface in the early 20th century wore it because they were imitating black people; it was an instance of appropriation. Many black entertainers of the period wore it because they wanted to take it back—re-appropriation. Many blacks didn’t want to wear it, but they dreamed of working in Vaudeville and that was one of the few ways into the industry. In writing these issues into the script, I wanted the play to be historically accurate and reflect social norms and the cultural climate of the era. I didn’t want to sugarcoat it.”

The cast of Thaddeus and Slocum features Ensemble Members Lawrence E. DiStasi and Raymond Fox, with Molly Brennan (Lookingglass Alice), Adam Brown (ONCE on Broadway), Sharriese Hamilton, Tosin Morohunfola, Christina Nieves, Monica Raymund (NBC’s Chicago Fire), Samuel Taylor (Lookingglass Alice) and Travis Turner (Steppenwolf’s The Flick).

The creative team includes Collette Pollard (scenic design), Samantha Jones (costume design), Christine A. Binder (lighting design), Josh Horvath (sound design), Rick Sims (composer), Katie Spelman (choreographer), Sylvia Hernandez-DiStasi (circus choreographer), Ryan Bourque (fight choreographer) and Sarah Burnham (properties design). Narda Alcorn is the stage manager and Tess Golden is the assistant stage manager.

About the Artists

KEVIN DOUGLAS (Playwright/Ensemble Member) has been a Lookingglass Theatre Company Ensemble Member since 2013. He has performed in numerous Lookingglass productions, including: Black Diamond, Lookingglass Alice, Around the World in 80 Days (Jeff Nomination for Best Supporting Actor), Our Town (Co-Directed by Anna D. Shapiro and Jessica Thebus), The Great Fire, and Mr. Rickey Calls a Meeting (Jeff Nomination for Best Ensemble). Kevin has written a number of sketch comedy shows, including: Blaxploitation: The Remix and Blaxploitation 2: You know how we deux!, No Experience Necessary, and Reality Check, which he also co-directed. Kevin co-wrote an independent film that is in post-production, titled Call Center.

J. NICOLE BROOKS (Director/Ensemble Member) directs this new work for Lookingglass alongside Krissy Vanderwarker and Kevin Douglas. As a director Nicky has staged critically-acclaimed productions of Black Diamond: The Years the Locusts Have Eaten and Mr. Rickey Calls a Meeting, and was associate director to David Schwimmer for Laura Eason’s Sex With Strangers. She is a published author (Black Diamond; Bloomsbury Publishing and recently Fedra; University of Wisconsin–Madison) with several commissions in development, including the untitled Yuri Kochiyama project, Her Honor Jane Byrne, and Brer Rabbit. Recent acting credits include: Tina in Death Tax at Lookingglass Theatre with Deanna Dunagan, and Nina in Immediate Family directed by Phylicia Rashad. Nicky is native to Chicago, but also lives in Los Angeles and Brooklyn.

KRISSY VANDERWARKER (Director) is a freelance director and the Co-Artistic Director of Dog & Pony Theatre Co. (D&P). D&P directing credits include Breach, Counterfeiters, The Dinner Party Project, God’s Ear, As Told by the Vivian Girls, Mr. Marmalade, Ape, Osama the Hero, Crumble (Lay Me Down, Justin Timberlake) and As Much As You Can. Other professional directing credits include: Harry & The Thief (Pavement Group); The Grown-Up (Shattered Globe Theatre); Bethany (First Look/Steppenwolf Theatre Company); As Fat As You Can (Next Theatre Company); CLEAR, What Once We Felt (About Face Theatre); and As Much As You Can (Hendel Productions West). She graduated with her MFA in Directing from The Theatre School at DePaul University and is currently on faculty.

MOLLY BRENNAN (Abby/Sarah) is an actor, singer and clown. She returns to Lookingglass where previously she has played a Red Queen and a Pirate. In addition to performing Off-Broadway in NYC, she has worked at Second City, Lyric Opera, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Goodman Theatre, Red Tape Theatre, About Face Theatre, Factory Theater, House Theatre and 500 Clown. She was most recently seen in the Neo-futurists’ Pop Waits, an original devised CLQWN MUTINY piece with pARTner Malic White. She performs at Salonathon, co-curates the Kinky Butch Witching Hour and sings with Mainstream Velour.

ADAM WESLEY BROWN (Rufus/Johnny/Musician) makes his Lookingglass debut. Chicago: The Tempest, Henry VIII, Julius Caesar (Chicago Shakespeare Theater); Long Way Go Down (Jackalope Theatre, Jeff Award Best Actor Nominee). Regional: Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (Helen Hayes Best Actor Nominee), A Midsummer’s Night Dream (Folger Theatre); A Christmas Carol (Actors Theatre of Louisville). Broadway: Once. Film: Keith Urban’s 30 Song in 30 Days. Adam’s debut album is available on iTunes—Adam Wesley Brown: Live at Bowery Poetry.

LAWRENCE E. DISTASI (Frank/Ensemble Member) last appeared onstage at Lookingglass as Long John Silver in Mary Zimmerman’s Treasure Island. He is a co-founder of The Actors Gymnasium Circus and Performing Arts School as well as an Ensemble Member and co-founder of Lookingglass Theatre Company. Larry has performed in over 30 Lookingglass productions, among them the Tony Award-winning production Metamorphoses, and the Jeff Award-winning productions Lookingglass Alice, The Arabian Nights and Hard Times. He directed and adapted The Baron in the Trees, for which he received a Jeff Nomination in Adaptation. Larry has appeared on television, in film and in a Philip Glass Opera called Galileo Galilei. He received his B.A. in Theatre from Northwestern University.

RAYMOND FOX (Gerry/Ensemble Member) recently appeared in The Hammer Trinity with The House Theatre of Chicago in Miami, FL (Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami). His many Lookingglass credits include Moby Dick and Metamorphoses, a play he performed across the country including Off and on Broadway (Second Stage Theatre and Circle in the Square Theatre). Additional regional credits: TimeLine Theatre (Equity Jeff Award, Supporting Actor- Play for Blood and Gifts), Goodman Theatre, Court Theatre, Remy Bumppo Theatre Company, Tectonic Theater Project/About Face Theatre, Route 66 Theatre, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Next Theatre Company, First Folio Theatre, Meadow Brook Theatre, Arden Theatre Company, Arena Stage, Mark Taper Forum, McCarter Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, American Repertory Theater, Hartford Stage, and Canada’s Stratford Festival.

SHARRIESE HAMILTON (Nellie) makes her Lookingglass Theatre debut. Sharriese hails from Okemos, MI with a B.A. in Theatre from Michigan State University. Chicago credits include: Sister Act (The Marriott Theatre); Pericles (Chicago Shakespeare Theater); How To Succeed, Ain’t Misbehavin’, Pal Joey, A Class Act (Porchlight Music Theatre); The Wild Party, See What I Wanna See, and Passing Strange (Bailiwick Chicago); All Shook Up (Theatre at the Center); Jesus Christ Superstar (Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre); We Three Lizas (About Face Theatre); and various roles with the Chicago based children’s theatre, GreatWorks Theatre Company. Regional credits include: HAIR (McLeod Summer Playhouse); Spamalot, Working, The 25th Annual Putnum County Spelling Bee, and Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story (Timber Lake Playhouse).

TOSIN MOROHUNFOLA (Zeke) is the founder of the Multicultural Theatre Initiative, where he served as Artistic Director for two years, including producing four of his own original plays. His stage appearances include Goodman Theatre, Northlight Theatre, New Victory Theater (Off-Broadway), Court Theatre, Unicorn Theatre, Creede Repertory Theatre, Heart of America Shakespeare Festival and the Coterie Theatre, where he was Resident Artist for two years. In 2014, Tosin was honored with “Best Supporting Actor” from the Black Theater Alliance for his role in The Gospel of Lovingkindness at Victory Gardens Theater. In 2015 he wrote and directed his own film, On Sight. Other films include: Destination Planet Negro and If Night Comes. On television, he’s appeared on Chicago Med (NBC), Empire (FOX) and Chicago Fire (NBC). Tosin’s also a member of Those People Comedy, and represented by Stewart Talent Chicago.

CHRISTINA NIEVES (Isabella beginning 7/20) makes her Lookingglass debut. Christina has recently relocated to New York City, where she did the Off-Broadway premiere of Exit Strategy at Primary Stages. Chicago theatrical credits include: The House on Mango Street (Steppenwolf Theatre Company); El Nogalar, The Sins of Sor Juana (Goodman Theatre); West Side Story, Les Miserables (Drury Lane Theatre); In The Heights (Paramount Theatre); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Chicago Shakespeare Theater); Dee Snider’s Rock & Roll Christmas Tale (Broadway Playhouse), Depraved New World (The Second City), Welcome to Arroyo’s (American Theater Company). Christina is an Ensemble Member with Teatro Vista and a graduate of The Theatre School at DePaul University.

MONICA RAYMUND (Isabella through 7/17) stars as Gabrielle Dawson in NBC’s Chicago Fire. A graduate of The Juilliard School, she starred for three seasons on the FOX drama Lie to Me. Other notable credits include Happy Baby and Arbitrage, as well as a recurring role on The Good Wife. Monica starred in the musical Like Water for Chocolate (Sundance Theatre Lab) and Boleros for the Disenchanted (Huntington Theatre Company). Monica is the founder and president of SISU Theatrical Productions, a director for the upcoming campaign The Hidden Tears Project, and is also on the board of MOGUL, an online news aggregator and publishing platform for women.

SAMUEL TAYLOR (Slocum) returns to Lookingglass, where he last appeared in Lookingglass Alice. He is a Stakeholding Partner in the Back Room Shakespeare Project. Chicago credits include: The Feast: An Intimate Tempest and Hunchback (Redmoon Theater); Hot L Baltimore (Steppenwolf Theatre Company); and several productions at Chicago Shakespeare Theater. Regional credits include: Doctor’s Dilemma (American Players Theatre); Christmas Carol (Actors Theatre of Louisville); The Boys Next Door (Syracuse Stage), and Henry V on tour with The Acting Company. TV Credits include appearances on Boardwalk Empire, Chicago PD, Mob Doctor, and Crisis.

TRAVIS TURNER (Thaddeus) makes his Lookingglass debut with Thaddeus and Slocum. Recent Chicago credits: The Flick (Steppenwolf Theatre Company); The Upstairs Concierge (Goodman Theatre); Twist Your Dickens (The Second City/Goodman Theatre); Tartuffe and The Misanthrope (Court Theatre); Bud, Not Buddy (Chicago Children’s Theatre). Second City credits include the Hubbard Street Dance Chicago collaboration The Art of Falling, seen at the Harris Theater and also the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles, as well as revues at La Jolla Playhouse, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company and Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. Travis is a graduate of Northwestern University.

Audience Engagement and Public Programs

Lookingglass has put together a coalition of individuals and organizations to design programming and content that will explore the racial and social issues presented in Thaddeus and Slocum and expand our understanding of the world of 1908 and our current realities of 2016. 

These include:

Facilitated post-show discussions with the audience after every performance;

The REFLECT series of Sunday panel-discussions, featuring a wide array of topics, including the history of vaudeville, Chicago’s segregated history, the role of blackface in American entertainment, and others. These panel discussions are free and open to the public, and take place directly following the 2 p.m. matinee at Lookingglass Theatre. REFLECT panels will take place June 19 and 26; July 10, 17, 24, and 31; and August 7, 2016. 

Community partners for Thaddeus and Slocum include the Chicago History Museum, the DuSable Museum of African-American History, Facing History and Ourselves, the Rebuild Foundation, and WBEZ 91.5 Chicago. 

Click here for dramaturgical resources available on the Lookingglass website.

  

About Lookingglass Theatre Company

Inventive.  Collaborative.  Transformative. Lookingglass Theatre Company, recipient of the 2011 Regional Theatre Tony Award, was founded in 1988 by eight Northwestern University students. Now in its 28^th season, Lookingglass is home to a multi-disciplined ensemble of artists who create story-centered theatrical work that is physical, aurally rich and visually metaphoric. The Company has staged 62 world premieres, received 101 Joseph Jefferson awards and nominations, and work premiered at Lookingglass has been produced in New York City, Los Angeles, Seattle, Berkeley, Philadelphia, Princeton, Hartford, Kansas City, Washington D.C., and St. Louis. Lookingglass original scripts have been produced across the United States.

The Lookingglass Theatre in Chicago's landmark Water Tower Water Works opened in June 2003. In addition to developing and presenting ensemble work, Lookingglass Education and Community programs encourage creativity, teamwork and confidence with thousands of community members each year.

Lookingglass Theatre Company continues to expand its artistic, financial and institutional boundaries under the guidance of Artistic Director Heidi Stillman, Executive Director Rachel Kraft, Producing Director Philip R. Smith, Connectivity and Engagement Director Andrew White, General Manager Michele Anderson, a 24-member artistic ensemble, 15 artistic associates, 11 production affiliates, an administrative staff and a dedicated board of directors led by Chairman John McGowan of CTC| myCFO (a part of BMO Financial Group) and President Nancy Timmers, civic leader and philanthropist. For more information, visit lookingglasstheatre.org.