FEST ALERT: Pivot Arts FESTIVAL June 1 – 10, 2018 Ten Days of Innovative Performances Featuring Chicago Premiere of Rude Mechs

Chi IL Live Shows On Our Radar:

Pivot Arts Presents 6th annual

PIVOT ARTS FESTIVAL

June 1 – 10, 2018

Ten Days of Innovative Performances

Featuring Chicago Premiere of Rude Mechs

Pivot Arts is pleased to present the 6th annual PIVOT ARTS FESTIVAL, a celebration of contemporary performances and multi-disciplinary works presented throughout Chicago’s Uptown and Edgewater neighborhoods from June 1 – June 10, 2018. Tickets, ranging from free to $30, are currently available at www.pivotarts.org/festival. Three-show Festival passes are available for $40.

Pivots Arts Festival 2018 Montage – The 2018 Pivot Art Festival will include (top, l to r) Rude Mechs, The? Unicorn? Hour?, Shannon Stewart (bottom, l to r) BraveSoul Movement, Walkabout Theater and the Celebrate Community! Parade.

This year, the ten-day Festival features the Chicago premiere of Rude Mechs, a theater collective from Austin, TX, who have performed at major venues across the country – joined by top artistic innovators from Chicago and beyond. Performances include theater, dance, puppetry, multidisciplinary works, site-specific performances, performances for youth, discussions and showings of new works-in-progress from the Pivot Arts Incubator program, which has developed works such as Isaac Gomez’s La Ruta, to be performed at Steppenwolf Theatre next season. 

2018 Pivot Arts Festival Trailer from Pivot Arts on Vimeo.

The Festival also features the 4th annual “Celebrate Community!” Parade on Saturday, June 2 at 3 pm, kicking off at the Senn Park (1501 W. Thorndale Ave.) and culminating in performances and interactive workshops at Senn Playlot (1501 W. Elmdale Ave.) 


Festival Preview Party
Join Pivot Arts for a sneak peek of this year’s Festival at the Festival Kick-Off Party on Thursday, May 17 at Francesca’s Bryn Mawr, 1039 W. Bryn Mawr in Chicago. Tickets are $45 in advance and $50 at the door and include appetizers, drinks, entertainment, plus a silent auction. Tickets are available at www.pivotarts.org/festival. All proceeds support the festival.

The full 2018 PIVOT ARTS FESTIVAL Line-Up includes:


Nire Nah (pictured) Music artist Nire Nah will perform at the Festival Launch Party. Photo by Matthew Gregory Hollis.

Friday, June 1
Festival Launch: A Night That Pops! 
8 pm, FLATSstudio, 4612 N. Clifton St.
Tickets: $10 suggested donation. Ages 21+

The 2018 Festival kicks off with live music by Nire Nah, a visual art exhibition curated by FLATSstudio, and a series of eclectic pop-up performances including a hip-hop opera by Chicago Fringe Opera with BraveSoul Movement and Cassie Bowers’ one-on-one tarot readings in Arcana Obscura, along with other artists. Dance to a DJ following the performances. The celebration includes food and drinks.


Walkabout Theater (pictured) Walkabout Theater’s stilt walkers will perform Monuments following the Celebrate Community! Parade. Photo by Tria Smith.

Saturday June 2
Celebrate Community! Parade 
Featuring Walkabout Theater’s Monuments
3 pm, meet at Senn Park Baseball Diamond (Thorndale & Greenview Aves.)
3:30 pm, Parade to Senn Playlot (1501 W. Elmdale Ave.)
Tickets: FREE.

Pivot Arts 4th annual Celebrate Community! Parade culminates in a site-specific performance of Walkabout Theater’s Monuments, a stilt performance created with artistic buoys designed by Studio Gang architectural firm. The parade includes sculptural puppets, stilt-walkers and free theater and art workshops. This year’s participants include CircEsteem, Barrel of Monkeys, Dream Big Performing Arts Workshop, Merry Music Makers, Storytown Improv, Walkabout Theater, and more! 


Corey Smith Presents The New Prairie School
7 pm, Creative Co-Working/Colvin House, 5940 N. Sheridan Rd.
Tickets: $20/$15 with student ID ($30 for both The New Prairie School and You’re His Child).

Equal parts architectural tour, immersive theater and musical performance, The New Prairie School at the Colvin House brings audience members on a fantastical journey through an historic Sheridan Road Mansion. 


Emmy Bean Presents You’re His Child
Vanessa Valliere opens with The Life and Times of Terry
9 pm, Chicago Filmmakers, 5720 N. Ridge Ave.
Tickets: $20/$15 with student ID ($30 for both You’re His Child and The New Prairie School).

A heartfelt exploration of religion, family and song. Emmy Bean brings the history of her great-grandfather to life through archival recordings of his hymns, joining his voice and her own in live musical performance. Vanessa Valliere opens with The Life and Times of Terry, the tale of one woman’s search for love through clowning, puppetry, drawings, photos and audience participation. 

Sunday, June 3
Corey Smith Presents The New Prairie School
4 pm, Creative Co-Working/Colvin House, 5490 N. Sheridan Rd.
Tickets: $20/$15 with Student ID ($30 for both The New Prairie School and You’re His Child).
Enjoy a special $15 fixed price festival menu at The Growling Rabbit (5938 N. Broadway) in between performances. Reserve for the dinner by emailing marketing@pivotarts.org. 

Equal parts architectural tour, immersive theater and musical performance, The New Prairie School at the Colvin House brings audience members on a fantastical journey through an historic Sheridan Road Mansion.

Emmy Bean Presents You’re His Child
Vanessa Valliere opens with The Life and Times of Terry
7 pm, Chicago Filmmakers, 5720 N. Ridge Ave.
Tickets: $20/$15 with student ID ($30 for both You’re His Child and The New Prairie School).  
Enjoy a special $15 fixed price menu at The Growling Rabbit (5938 N. Broadway) in between performances.

A heartfelt exploration of religion, family and song. Emmy Bean brings the history of her great-grandfather to life through archival recordings of his hymns, joining his voice and her own in live musical performance. Vanessa Valliere opens with The Life and Times of Terry, the tale of one woman’s search for love through clowning, puppetry, drawings, photos and audience participation. 

 
Monday, June 4
Broad Night: Demystifying Women’s Health 
Hosted by Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health and Katy Collins
7:30 pm, Chicago Filmmakers, 5720 N. Ridge Ave.
Tickets: $15.

Broad Night kicks off with a showing from This Boat Called My Body, a play from the Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health about the abortion experiences of youth across the state, and a preview of Katy Collins’ web series The Doula Is In directed by Sarah Fornace and Julia Miller of Manual Cinema. Collins, doula to the internet, will field questions about women’s health. Post-performance discussion includes artists and Melissa Widen, Chair of the Board of Directors at Personal PAC.

Wednesday, June 6
A Discussion with Rude Mechs
6 pm, Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St.
Tickets: FREE.

Meet Rude Mechs, who arrive from Austin, TX for their Chicago premiere as part of the Pivot Arts Festival. Tanya Palmer, Goodman Theatre’s Director of New Play Development, moderates a discussion co-hosted by Pivot Arts and the Goodman about this nationally-celebrated theater company. Rude Mechs have performed at major venues across the country including Yale Repertory Theatre, Actors Theater of Louisville, Walker Arts Center, Wexner Center and more. 


Thursday, June 7
What’s Next: Anna Martine Whitehead / Shannon Stewart and Aurora Nealand
7 pm, The Mundelein Center at Loyola University, 1020 W. Sheridan Rd.
Tickets: $15 suggested donation.

A sneak peek at in-progress performances from Pivot Arts’ Incubator program at Loyola University. Anna Martine Whitehead premieres Notes On Territory, a multi-disciplinary movement piece on the history of containment architecture from prisons to gothic cathedrals. New Orleans-based dance and music artists Shannon Stewart and Aurora Nealand present their movement opera Hysteria and the Body Electric. Evening includes discussion with artists led by Tara Aisha Willis, Associate Curator of Performance at the Museum of Contemporary Art.

Friday June 8
Rude Mechs Present Not Every Mountain
7:30 pm, The Mundelein Center at Loyola University, 1020 W. Sheridan Rd.
Tickets: $30/$20 with student ID ($35 for both Not Every Mountain and The? Unicorn? Hour?)

The Chicago premiere of nationally-renowned theatre collective Rude Mechs’ debuting their new work Not Every Mountain, reflecting on change, permanence and our place in the natural world. Using pulleys, cranks, magnets and string, Rude Mechs simulate the life cycle of mountains on stage – an invocation of tectonic force and geological time.

The? Unicorn? Hour? (pictured) Leah Urzendowksi will present The? Unicorn? Hour? with Anthony Courser. Photo by Joe Mazza.

Leah Urzendowksi & Anthony Courser Present The? Unicorn? Hour?
9 pm, Bar 63, 6341 N. Broadway St.
Tickets: $15 ($35 for both The? Unicorn? Hour? And Not Every Mountain).



Inspired by childhood favorites Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood and Pee-wee’s Playhouse, The? Unicorn? Hour? is a creative experiment in unrestrained playfulness and joy. Get ready to say “yes” to an unbridled uplifting of the spirit!


Saturday, June 9
Arts and Activism
6:30 pm, Loyola University’s Institute for Environmental Sustainability, 6349 N. Kenmore Ave.
Tickets: FREE

Join Rude Mechs’ playwright, Kirk Lynn, along with Natural Resources Defense Council and Chicago Community Climate Partners in a discussion about art, climate change and environmental activism moderated by Rachel Bronson, President and CEO of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Then head to Rude Mechs’ Not Every Mountain for the 7:30pm show. Discussion takes place in Loyola’s new LEED certified, sustainable building. 




Rude Mechs (pictured) Rude Mechs will make their Chicago premiere with the new work Not Every Mountain. Photo by Bret Brookshire.


Rude Mechs Present Not Every Mountain
7:30 pm, The Mundelein Center at Loyola University, 1020 W. Sheridan Rd.
Tickets: $30/$20 with student ID ($35 for both Not Every Mountain and The? Unicorn? Hour?)

The Chicago premiere of nationally-renowned theatre collective Rude Mechs’ debuting their new work Not Every Mountain, reflecting on change, permanence and our place in the natural world. Using pulleys, cranks, magnets and string, Rude Mechs simulate the life cycle of mountains on stage – an invocation of tectonic force and geological time.

Leah Urzendowksi & Anthony Courser Present The? Unicorn? Hour?
9 pm, Bar 63, 6341 N. Broadway St.
Tickets: $15 ($35 for both The? Unicorn? Hour? and Not Every Mountain).

Inspired by childhood favorites Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood and Pee-wee’s Playhouse, The? Unicorn? Hour? is a creative experiment in unrestrained playfulness and joy. Get ready to say “yes” to an unbridled uplifting of the spirit!

 
Sunday, June 10
Ice Cream and Improv with Storytown Improv
11 am, Lickity Split Custard and Sweets, 6056 N. Broadway St.
Tickets: $10 (custard not included).

The 6th annual tradition of ice cream (well, custard…) with Storytown Improv! An all ages show where kids design the setting and help shape the story.

Community Courtyard Kick-Off
2 pm – 7 pm, Old Bethany Church Courtyard, 5944 N. Magnolia Ave.
Tickets: FREE.

Come early and enjoy family fun throughout the afternoon. The old Bethany Lutheran Church will be having its grand re-opening. The partners at Parish House are excited to show you what's to come of this historic building. Come meet the new owners, take a history-meets-future tour of the 50,000 square foot space, and have fun with your neighbors and neighboring businesses. All ages welcome.

 
What’s Next: Ginger Krebs Performance Project / Chicago Fringe Opera & BraveSoul Movement
7:30 pm, Parish House, 5944 N. Magnolia Ave.
Tickets: $15 suggested donation.

A sneak peek at in-progress works from Pivots Arts Incubator program. Ginger Krebs Performance Project presents Escapes and Reversals, reveling in the exertion of striving bodies through dance. 

Bravesoul Movement (pictured) BraveSoul Movement will team up with Chicago Fringe Opera for The Rossini Project, transforming The Barber of Seville into a hip hop dance party.

About Pivot Arts

Pivot Arts produces and presents contemporary, multidisciplinary performance. They develop new work and present performances throughout the year culminating in a multi-arts festival. Their vision is that of a vibrant community where unique collaborations between artists, businesses and organizations lead to the support and creation of innovative performance events. For additional information, visit www.pivotarts.org.

Shannon Stewart (pictured) Dance and music artists Shannon Stewart and Aurora Nealand will present their movement opera Hysteria and the Body Electric. Photo by Diogo De Lima.

REVIEW: “An Existential Cabaret” Via Brown Paper Box Co. at Mary’s Attic

Chi, IL Live Shows On Our Radar:


Brown Paper Box Co.’s 2018/2019 season poster designs by Artistic Associate Charlie Sheets.

“Inspired by life’s great mysteries presented in the regional premiere of Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ Pulitzer Prize finalist EVERYBODY, “An Existential Cabaret” continues Brown Paper Box Co.’s relationship with original cabaret series at Mary’s Attic in Andersonville. As we begin to explore life, love, and death through Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ modern morality play, guests at Mary’s Attic can expect to hear musical stylings inspired by EVERYBODY’s characters & themes including Love, Death, Stuff, Friendship, Family, Understanding, and even ‘God.’ Join the existential journey with the Brown Paper Box Co. family - and a few special guests.”

Review of "Existential Cabaret" Via Brown Paper Box Co. 
by Catherine Hellmann, Guest Critic

Although I didn’t understand the purpose of the “roles” in the shows, I learned a couple interesting facts from the “Existential Cabaret” by Brown Paper Box Co. on Saturday May 5. Comedian Rachel Reiman informed the audience that she “lost custody of her strap-on” after a breakup with her partner, and “that’s $130 I will never get back.” So I learned what a strap-on would set me back. Thanks, Rachel. Saves me a trip to the Pleasure Chest.

Rachel also had a great bit about how country music should have songs about two lesbians who move in together after two weeks and then have a “long, tumultuous six month breakup.” (Like the old joke a gay friend told me,”What does a lesbian bring on her second date? A moving van.”) 

Another cool fact I learned was how much I need to see some of the new musicals emerging from Broadway. I bought my tickets for the touring production of Waitress, but wish I could have heard the song “When He Sees Me,”  more clearly the other night. I also thought the duet from

SpongeBob Squarepants, The New Musical, “I Guess I’ll Miss You,” was very sweet. Informed they are Friends in Real Life, Emilie Modaff and Ben Kaye (in his bright yellow-SpongeBob-like suit) were adorable in their rendition. They had a cute rapport onstage together.

The talented Emilie Modaff stated before the Requiem song, from Dear Evan Hansen, “We’re going to sing it, and you should cry.” Hostess Kristi Szczepanek and Anna Schutz did a lovely job harmonizing on “I Will Never Leave You” from Side Show.

Two standouts in the lineup were original songs. Hannah Starr sang “Freeze” from her show BOOMBOX. The song explains how the character is bored during an improv game of “Freeze,” while her cast mates prattle on, and she debates when to join in. (Having witnessed a lot of Second City sketches recently with my daughters doing “Afterschool Matters,” I could really relate to this dilemma.)

The other truly memorable, talented performer was Nire Nah, armed with a blue-green guitar and a poignant, raw, honest song called “Open Your Mouth” about overcoming addiction and depression. Her lyrics were simple but powerful: “I’m not a writer, not a fighter. Wish I was brighter.” She is a writer and a lovely songstress to watch. 

The overall show was a bit uneven. As my companion remarked,”Did you get the impression there were a lot of inside jokes we didn’t get?” Yes. This was especially evident during the second comedian’s segment. The audience was howling, but we were lost.

The cabaret ended on an awesome note, literally. Alex Madda sang “The Wizard and I” from Wicked. She brought the house down. 

“An Existential Cabaret” was a short, two day run, May 4 & 5. Save the dates for the Regional Premiere of EVERYBODY July 13th through August 12th.

Brown Paper Box Co. 2018/2019 Season

Following their Jeff Recommended run of They’re Playing Our Song and the Chicago Reader Recommended Speech & Debate, Brown Paper Box Co. is proud to announce its 2018/2019 season. With an exciting regional premiere fresh out of New York - cast by lottery each night live on stage, a Chicago storefront chamber musical premiere, a new cabaret at Mary’s Attic in Andersonville, and a Spring 2019 Special Event to be announced soon, BPBCo.’s upcoming season has a little bit of something for everyone & everybody.

"Our staff got about 6 pages into reading Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ EVERYBODY and immediately knew it was the perfect play for our new season,” says Artistic Director Kristi Szczepanek. “And when William & Stephanie brought us their bare-bones concept for Little Women the Musical, it seemed like a great compliment. Thematically, the shows are very different, but we hope to tie them together aesthetically, as we focus this year on our ‘theatre, plain and simple’ roots."

Additional information regarding tickets, casting, outreach, becoming a season donor, and auditions for Brown Paper Box Co.’s 2018/2019 season can be found by visiting www.BrownPaperBox.org.

Brown Paper Box Co. presents An Existential Cabaret
Host: Kristi Szczepanek, Accompanist: Emilie Modaff
May 4 and 5, 2018 
Mary’s Attic above Hamburger Mary’s

Inspired by life’s great mysteries presented in our first play in our 2018/2019 season, EVERYBODY, An Existential Cabaret will be a little different from our previous cabarets! As we begin to explore life, love, and morality through Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ modern morality play, guests at Mary’s Attic can expect to hear the musical stylings of Love, Death, Stuff, Friendship, Understanding, and even God — just to name a few. Join us on May 4th and 5th at Mary’s Attic to celebrate our season with the Brown Paper Box Co. family - and a few special guests!

EVERYBODY 
Regional Premiere
Playwright: Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
Director: Erin Shea Brady
July 13 - August 12, 2018
Pride Films & Plays’ The Buena 

This modern riff on the 15th-century morality play Everyman follows Everybody (chosen from the cast by lottery at each performance) as they travel down a road toward life’s greatest mystery. Making its regional premiere in Chicago following its 2017 world premiere off-Broadway, playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (Gloria, An Octoroon) bases his new play on a medieval morality play that instructs sinners on how to repent and seek redemption.

“EVERYBODY harnesses theatricality to drop these conversations into our laps in a way that is hopeful, engaging, and unique,” says director Erin Shea Brady. “The actors literally get to try on different roles. They literally get to step into different points of view, giving us a new opportunity to explore bias and conditioning. There will be some permutations of this piece that have never happened before, that an audience is seeing for the very first time. It’s a huge, exciting experiment and it is electric. EVERYBODY is in on the rarity, taking ‘different every night’ to a whole new level.”

Erin Shea Brady (Director) joined the BPBCo. team this year as Production Director. She is the founder of No Stakes Theater Project, an organization dedicated to supporting the creative risks of emerging artists, where she has produced several productions, staged readings, and initiatives since 2014. Directing credits include: Kander & Ebb's Cabaret, Sharr White’s Annapurna (staged reading) and Jim Cartwright’s The Rise and Fall of Little Voice (No Stakes Theater Project); Stands (Spartan Theater, staged reading) and Anna Schutz's Prodigy: A Modern Family Portrait (staged reading). In assistant direction and dramaturgy roles, Erin has worked on productions at the Goodman, TimeLine, A Red Orchid, Jackalope, Northlight, and Remy Bumppo. A graduate from the directing program at Columbia College Chicago, her training also includes internships at Steppenwolf (Casting Department), American Blues (Performance Intern, Waiting for Lefty), Northlight and A Red Orchid.  Erin is also a contributing critic at Newcity Stage and Perform.Ink and is hard at work on her new play, Revival.

LITTLE WOMEN The Musical
Music: Jason Howland, Lyrics: Mindi Dickstein Book: Allan Knee
Musical Direction: T.J. Anderson
Co-Directors: M. William Panek and Stephanie Rohr
Opening January 2019

This timeless, captivating story is brought to life in this Broadway chamber musical filled with personal discovery, heartache, hope and everlasting love. Based on Louisa May Alcott’s life, Little Women follows the adventures of sisters Jo, Meg, Beth, and Amy March. Jo is trying to sell her stories for publication, but the publishers are not interested. Her friend, Professor Bhaer, tells her that she has to do better and write more from herself. Begrudgingly taking this advice, Jo weaves the story of herself and her sisters and their experience growing up in Civil War America.

Under the co-direction of company members M. William Panek and Stephanie Rohr and musical direction of artistic associate T.J. Anderson, Brown Paper Box Co.’s production will focus on the season's mantra of "theatre, plain and simple." The "back to the basics" approach will re-orchestrate the Broadway score for single piano to transport Jo's memories and the events of the musical into her childhood attic. The bare-bones reimagining will elevate the March sisters’ relationships as important focal points rather than simple plot points. 

M. William Panek (Co-Director) is a proud graduate of the University of Illinois' Theatre Department. Most recent he collaborated with Zach Zimmerman on Luke Babylon: Christian Magician and Spell: An Interactive Solo Performance at iO Chicago, iO New York, The Duplex New York, and the Annoyance Theatre. Previously directing: Now. Here. This., [title of show] (Jeff Award Nominated), A New Brain, Aloha, Say the Pretty Girls, Godspell, To Tree (world premiere), Reefer Madness! The Musical in 2010, 2011, and 2012. Casting Associate: EVERYBODY, The Baltimore Waltz, Julius Caesar, Spike Heels. Cabaret: "Positively Present," "Mary'z With a Z," "Proud at Mary's" at Mary's Attic, "Spring Forward Fail Back" at Uncommon Ground, and "BPB Yearbook" "Character Breakdown" at Davenport's. William served as an artistic associate with The Orchard Project in Hunter, NY, production assistant for the 24-Hour Musicals at Joe's Pub, and the business management assistant at the Williamstown Theatre Festival.

Stephanie Rohr (Co-Director) has worked with BPBCo. as director of Spike Heels, assistant director of A New Brain, and coordinator for Spring Forward Fail Back cabaret. She has performed with BPBCo. in Godspell, Aloha Say the Pretty Girls, and [title of show]. Stephanie holds a BFA in Musical Theatre from Drake University and an MA in Classical Acting from Drama Centre London. She made her West End debut in Opera Up Close's Olivier Award winning production of La Boheme, and also performed at the Roundhouse Theatre and the Barbican Centre in London. Chicago credits include: High Fidelity (Refuge Theatre), Macbeth, Reservoir Dogs, and Predator: The Musical (Roundhouse Productions), Two Gentlemen of Verona (Spectralia Theatre), Jesus Camp (Cornservatory), Perfect Wedding and Secrets of a Soccer Mom (Towle Theater), and No Sex Please, We're British (JPAC). Stephanie also works as a private vocal coach, sings with The Moxie Sisters and The Bangers, and is a fiber artist and cross-stitch designer. (StephXstitch.com)

OPENING: Check Out The Pride Arts Center’s Summer Season; Headliners Include Melissa Young and Alan Palmer

Pride Arts Center special summer events to include cabarets, film screenings, comedy and WeFest

Headliners include Melissa Young and Alan Palmer

In addition to its just-announced “PAC Pride Fest” of five fully-staged plays, the Pride Arts Center will host another five special events and performances. The lineup will include the cabaret events OUT AND PROUD by Melissa Young, and Alan Palmer’s FABULOUS DIVAS OF HOLLYWOOD; Pride Films and Plays’ semi-annual WEFEST celebration of Chicago’s queer female, non-binary and trans artists., the final PRIDE FILM FESTIVAL of the ’17-18 season and an improv comedy show by CARDS AGAINST HUMANITY.

The Pride Arts Center’s summer season will kick off on Sunday, June 3 at 7:30 pm in the PAC’s Broadway venue with Melissa Young’s OUT AND PROUD: A RAINBOW CELEBRATION.  Young will perform and emcee a musical and comedic tour of LGBTQ history that will also feature in its cast Nick Sula, Daryl Nitz, Jeannie Tanner and Dan Riley, performing some of the most iconic songs of the LGBTQ movement.

The following weekend, impressionist Alan Palmer will perform his musical FABULOUS DIVAS OF BROADWAY for two nights only, on Friday June 8 and Saturday, June 9 in the 85-seat Broadway theater. With fast paced changes of beautiful costumes, wigs, thematic projections and a bevy of satirical songs, FABULOUS DIVAS OF BROADWAY parodies some of the biggest and best that Hollywood has to offer.With fast paced changes of beautiful costumes, wigs, thematic projections and a bevy of satirical songs, Alan Palmer’s impressions remind us why we all love to go to the movies and adore the leading women who star in them.
(Click on image to access high res photo of Alan Palmer)
The following week will see the final PRIDE FILM FESTIVAL of the 2017-18 season on Tuesday, June 12. Themed “Summer Shorts,” the screening will present a series of sexy and fun upbeat films for summer. The monthly film festival will then go on hiatus until November.

The next evening, on Wednesday, June 13, Pride Films and Plays will present its semi-annual inclusive, intersectional variety show celebrating the work of female, non-binary, and trans artists, WEFEST.

On Saturday, June 16, CARDS AGAINST HUMANITY LIVE will be performed in the Broadway at 10 pm. This irreverent night of improv comedy is inspired by the popular and politically incorrect party game “Cards Against Humanity.”

Tickets for all events are on sale now at  www.pridefilmsandplays.com or by phone at 866-411-4111 or 773-857-0222


PAC Cabaret Event
OUT AND PROUD: A RAINBOW CELEBRATION
Broadway Theater
Sunday, June 3, 2018 at 7:30PM
Broadway Theater
Pride Arts Center
4139 N Broadway
Chicago, IL 60613
Tickets: $30, Tickets available at www.pridefilmsandplays.com or by phone at 866-811-4111 or 773-857-0222.

Melissa Young’s tour of the LGBTQ movement through song and comedy returns with a little help from Chicago’s best Cabaret stars at the Pride Arts Center. Celebrate Pride month with Melissa Young and Nick Sula as they return with Young’s historical hit, OUT AND PROUD: A Rainbow Celebration. Nine years ago, Young performed the music of the World’s most loved LGBTQ icons to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, June 28, 1969 and now returns to celebrate the progress our country has made over the last nine years with help from some of her friends! Daryl Nitz, Jeannie Tanner and Dan Riley join Young and Sula this time around with proceeds benefiting Pride Films and Plays. Starting with Stonewall and Judy Garland, Young will follow the LGBTQ Rights timeline, matching icons to significant moments in history. Dolly Parton’s “Light of the Clear Blue Morning” in 1977 aligns with Anita Bryant and the S.O.C., Bette Midler’s “Do You Wanna Dance” aligns with a post Stonewall New York (1971-73) of Bathhouses and Gay-owned Discos. The creation of the Pride flag 1979/80 and Diana Ross’ “I’m Coming Out!” Young’s passion for the history and where the movement is today comes across with laughter, heart and great love. Reservations recommended. Young’s been seen all around town at Davenports, Hydrate, the Park West, 3160 and Drury Lane Water Tower and out of town at The Dunes Resort, Don’t Tell Mama in NYC, The Duplex NYC and The Stonewall Inn.



PAC Cabaret Event
FABULOUS DIVAS OF HOLLYWOOD
Starring and Created by Alan Palmer
Friday, June 8, 2018 and Saturday, June 9 at 10:30PM
Broadway Theater
Pride Arts Center
4139 N Broadway
Chicago, IL 60613
Tickets: Premium seats $25, General Admission $20
Tickets available at www.pridefilmsandplays.com or by phone at 866-811-4111 or 773-857-0222.

This outlandish, outrageous and out-and-out fun-filled show by the creative team behind the hit off-Broadway musical FABULOUS DIVAS OF BROADWAY parodies some of the biggest and best that Hollywood has to offer. With fast paced changes of beautiful costumes, wigs, thematic projections and a bevy of satirical songs, Alan Palmer’s impressions remind us why we all love to go to the movies and adore the leading women who star in them.

Beyond mimicry, beyond drag, ALAN PALMER’S FABULOUS DIVAS OF HOLLYWOOD is both reverent and irreverent.  A loving and hysterical tribute to the Prima Performers of Hollywood, it’s a must for all lovers of film!
His cast of 22 characterizations includes Cher, Meryl Streep, Audrey Hepburn, Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Judy Garland, Liza Minnelli, plus a few surprises
PAC Film Event

PRIDE FILM FESTIVAL - SUMMER SHORTS
Tuesday, June 12 – 7:30 pm
The Broadway, Pride Arts Center
4139 N Broadway
Chicago, IL 60613
Tickets: $15 Premium, $10 General Admission, $8 Seniors/Students/Military, are currently available at www.pridefilmsandplays.com or calling 1 866 811 4111 or 773-857-0222.

A series of sexy and fun upbeat films for summer. This will conclude our first year of monthly short films fests, which will return in November.

PAC Special Event
WEFEST
Wednesday, June 13, 2018 at 7:30 PM
Broadway Theater
Pride Arts Center
4139 N Broadway
Chicago, IL 60613
Tickets: Premium seats $15, General Admission $10
Tickets available at www.pridefilmsandplays.com or by phone at 866-811-4111 or 773-857-0222.

Pride Films and Plays’ semi-annual celebration of Chicago’s queer female, non-binary and trans artists. WeFest is an inclusive, intersectional variety show celebrating the work of female, non-binary, and trans artists.

PAC Special Event
CARDS AGAINST HUMANITY LIVE
Saturday, June 16, 2018 at 10:00PM
The Broadway, Pride Arts Center
4139 N Broadway
Chicago, IL 60613
Tickets, priced at $10, are currently available at www.pridefilmsandplays.com or calling 1 866 811 4111.

One Night Only! CARDS AGAINST HUMANITY LIVE Following three sell-out performances last year, CARDS AGAINST HUMANITY LIVE comes to Pride Arts Center Saturday June 16 at 10 pm. The irreverent night of improv comedy is inspired by the popular and politically incorrect party game “Cards Against Humanity.” After audience members pitch their ideas, the best suggestions are acted out by the Cards Against Humanity writers and a team of improvisers. The worst suggestions will be mercilessly ridiculed. Recommended for ages 18+.

 

ABOUT PRIDE FILMS AND PLAYS
Pride Films and Plays creates diverse new work (or work that is new to Chicago) with LGBTQ+ characters or themes that is essential viewing for all audiences. We accomplish this mission through fully-staged productions, writing contests and staged readings, and filming one short film each season.

PFP is the primary tenant in the Pride Arts Center (PAC), which connects and promotes other artists who share our values, creating a safe environment for all. PAC books one-night events or limited runs, cabaret, film, dance, comedy, and other events. PAC opened in 2016 and consists of two performance spaces: The Buena at 4147 N. Broadway which has 50 seats and The Broadway at 4139 N. Broadway which has 85 seats.
                                                                                                  
Pride Films and Plays is supported by The MacArthur Fund for Arts & Culture at The Richard Driehaus Foundation, The Illinois Arts Council, City of Chicago’s City Arts Fund, the Elliott Fredland Charitable Trust, Proud to Run, the AmazonSmile Foundation, Arts and Business Foundation, Tap Root Foundation and Alphawood Foundation. 

PFP is a member of the Smart Growth Program of the Chicago Community Trust. Pride Films and Plays is a member of the LGBT Chamber of Commerce of Illinois and The League of Chicago Theatres.

For more information, visit www.pridefilmsandplays.com or call 1.800.737.0984.


ABOUT PRIDE ARTS CENTER

PRIDE ARTS CENTER has become an important part of the arts environment in the Buena Park neighborhood and beyond. In addition to performances by PFP, (www.pridefilmsandplays.com), PAC hosts monthly events including play readings, film screenings, cabaret nights, and variety shows. Guest productions are also included in the PAC schedule. Find a full calendar of everything happening at PAC here. http://pridefilmsandplays.com/calendar/

SAVE THE DATES: Brown Paper Box Co.'s 2018/2019 Season Kicks Off This Weekend 5/4 & 5/518

Chi IL Live Shows On Our Radar:

Brown Paper Box Co. 2018/2019 Season

Brown Paper Box Co.’s 2018/2019 season poster designs by Artistic Associate Charlie Sheets.

Following their Jeff Recommended run of They’re Playing Our Song and the Chicago Reader Recommended Speech & Debate, Brown Paper Box Co. is proud to announce its 2018/2019 season. With an exciting regional premiere fresh out of New York - cast by lottery each night live on stage, a Chicago storefront chamber musical premiere, a new cabaret at Mary’s Attic in Andersonville, and a Spring 2019 Special Event to be announced soon, BPBCo.’s upcoming season has a little bit of something for everyone & everybody.

"Our staff got about 6 pages into reading Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ EVERYBODY and immediately knew it was the perfect play for our new season,” says Artistic Director Kristi Szczepanek. “And when William & Stephanie brought us their bare-bones concept for Little Women the Musical, it seemed like a great compliment. Thematically, the shows are very different, but we hope to tie them together aesthetically, as we focus this year on our ‘theatre, plain and simple’ roots."

Additional information regarding tickets, casting, outreach, becoming a season donor, and auditions for Brown Paper Box Co.’s 2018/2019 season can be found by visiting www.BrownPaperBox.org.

Brown Paper Box Co. presents An Existential Cabaret
Host: Kristi Szczepanek, Accompanist: Emilie Modaff
May 4 and 5, 2018 
Mary’s Attic above Hamburger Mary’s

Inspired by life’s great mysteries presented in our first play in our 2018/2019 season, EVERYBODY, An Existential Cabaret will be a little different from our previous cabarets! As we begin to explore life, love, and morality through Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ modern morality play, guests at Mary’s Attic can expect to hear the musical stylings of Love, Death, Stuff, Friendship, Understanding, and even God — just to name a few. Join us on May 4th and 5th at Mary’s Attic to celebrate our season with the Brown Paper Box Co. family - and a few special guests!

EVERYBODY 
Regional Premiere
Playwright: Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
Director: Erin Shea Brady
July 13 - August 12, 2018
Pride Films & Plays’ The Buena 

This modern riff on the 15th-century morality play Everyman follows Everybody (chosen from the cast by lottery at each performance) as they travel down a road toward life’s greatest mystery. Making its regional premiere in Chicago following its 2017 world premiere off-Broadway, playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (Gloria, An Octoroon) bases his new play on a medieval morality play that instructs sinners on how to repent and seek redemption.

“EVERYBODY harnesses theatricality to drop these conversations into our laps in a way that is hopeful, engaging, and unique,” says director Erin Shea Brady. “The actors literally get to try on different roles. They literally get to step into different points of view, giving us a new opportunity to explore bias and conditioning. There will be some permutations of this piece that have never happened before, that an audience is seeing for the very first time. It’s a huge, exciting experiment and it is electric. EVERYBODY is in on the rarity, taking ‘different every night’ to a whole new level.”

Erin Shea Brady (Director) joined the BPBCo. team this year as Production Director. She is the founder of No Stakes Theater Project, an organization dedicated to supporting the creative risks of emerging artists, where she has produced several productions, staged readings, and initiatives since 2014. Directing credits include: Kander & Ebb's Cabaret, Sharr White’s Annapurna (staged reading) and Jim Cartwright’s The Rise and Fall of Little Voice (No Stakes Theater Project); Stands (Spartan Theater, staged reading) and Anna Schutz's Prodigy: A Modern Family Portrait (staged reading). In assistant direction and dramaturgy roles, Erin has worked on productions at the Goodman, TimeLine, A Red Orchid, Jackalope, Northlight, and Remy Bumppo. A graduate from the directing program at Columbia College Chicago, her training also includes internships at Steppenwolf (Casting Department), American Blues (Performance Intern, Waiting for Lefty), Northlight and A Red Orchid.  Erin is also a contributing critic at Newcity Stage and Perform.Ink and is hard at work on her new play, Revival.

LITTLE WOMEN The Musical
Music: Jason Howland, Lyrics: Mindi Dickstein Book: Allan Knee
Musical Direction: T.J. Anderson
Co-Directors: M. William Panek and Stephanie Rohr
Opening January 2019

This timeless, captivating story is brought to life in this Broadway chamber musical filled with personal discovery, heartache, hope and everlasting love. Based on Louisa May Alcott’s life, Little Women follows the adventures of sisters Jo, Meg, Beth, and Amy March. Jo is trying to sell her stories for publication, but the publishers are not interested. Her friend, Professor Bhaer, tells her that she has to do better and write more from herself. Begrudgingly taking this advice, Jo weaves the story of herself and her sisters and their experience growing up in Civil War America.

Under the co-direction of company members M. William Panek and Stephanie Rohr and musical direction of artistic associate T.J. Anderson, Brown Paper Box Co.’s production will focus on the season's mantra of "theatre, plain and simple." The "back to the basics" approach will re-orchestrate the Broadway score for single piano to transport Jo's memories and the events of the musical into her childhood attic. The bare-bones reimagining will elevate the March sisters’ relationships as important focal points rather than simple plot points. 

M. William Panek (Co-Director) is a proud graduate of the University of Illinois' Theatre Department. Most recent he collaborated with Zach Zimmerman on Luke Babylon: Christian Magician and Spell: An Interactive Solo Performance at iO Chicago, iO New York, The Duplex New York, and the Annoyance Theatre. Previously directing: Now. Here. This., [title of show] (Jeff Award Nominated), A New Brain, Aloha, Say the Pretty Girls, Godspell, To Tree (world premiere), Reefer Madness! The Musical in 2010, 2011, and 2012. Casting Associate: EVERYBODY, The Baltimore Waltz, Julius Caesar, Spike Heels. Cabaret: "Positively Present," "Mary'z With a Z," "Proud at Mary's" at Mary's Attic, "Spring Forward Fail Back" at Uncommon Ground, and "BPB Yearbook" "Character Breakdown" at Davenport's. William served as an artistic associate with The Orchard Project in Hunter, NY, production assistant for the 24-Hour Musicals at Joe's Pub, and the business management assistant at the Williamstown Theatre Festival.

Stephanie Rohr (Co-Director) has worked with BPBCo. as director of Spike Heels, assistant director of A New Brain, and coordinator for Spring Forward Fail Back cabaret. She has performed with BPBCo. in Godspell, Aloha Say the Pretty Girls, and [title of show]. Stephanie holds a BFA in Musical Theatre from Drake University and an MA in Classical Acting from Drama Centre London. She made her West End debut in Opera Up Close's Olivier Award winning production of La Boheme, and also performed at the Roundhouse Theatre and the Barbican Centre in London. Chicago credits include: High Fidelity (Refuge Theatre), Macbeth, Reservoir Dogs, and Predator: The Musical (Roundhouse Productions), Two Gentlemen of Verona (Spectralia Theatre), Jesus Camp (Cornservatory), Perfect Wedding and Secrets of a Soccer Mom (Towle Theater), and No Sex Please, We're British (JPAC). Stephanie also works as a private vocal coach, sings with The Moxie Sisters and The Bangers, and is a fiber artist and cross-stitch designer. (StephXstitch.com)

OPENING: Having Our Say at Goodman Theatre Through June 10th, 2018

ChiIL Live Shows On Our Radar:

EXPERIENCE A CENTURY OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY ON STAGE IN 

HAVING OUR SAY: THE DELANY SISTERS’ FIRST 100 YEARS, 

FEATURING ELLA JOYCE AS BESSIE AND MARIE THOMAS AS SADIE

 

***SPECIAL EVENTS INCLUDE MAY 10 “SORORITY SISTERS NIGHT,” MAY 13 “ARTIST ENCOUNTER,” MAY 23 “HAVING YOUR SAY” ESTATE PLANNING SEMINAR AND MORE***

As a long time admirer of director Chuck Smith’s work, I'm very much looking forward to catching Goodman's latest. We'll be out for the press opening May 14th. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Delany centenarians' New York Times bestselling memoir. We're eager to hear a century of wisdom and history from the immortalized experiences of Bessie (1891 – 1995) and Sadie (1889 –1999). 

Goodman Theatre celebrates the lives of “two strong, vibrant women dispensing joy and wisdom” (Chicago Tribune) in a major revival of Emily Mann’s Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters’ First 100 Years. Directed by the Goodman’s longtime Resident Director Chuck Smith, the production features Ella Joyce and Marie Thomas as the Delany centenarians, Bessie (1891 – 1995) and Sadie (1889 –1999), respectively. 

The sisters were discovered in 1991 when Amy Hill Hearth interviewed them for The New York Times. Following the article, the trio co-authored the book, Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters’ First 100 Years—a New York Times bestseller and heartfelt reflection of their family history and triumphs over prejudices in times of social unrest. Mann adapted it for the stage, first at McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton, New Jersey and then to Broadway, where it ran for 317 performances. 

Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters’ First 100 Years appears May 5 – June 10, 2018 in the Albert Theatre (opening night is Monday, May 14). Tickets ($20 - $75; subject to change) are now on sale at GoodmanTheatre.org/HavingOurSay, by phone at 312.443. 3800 or at the box office (170 North Dearborn). ComEd is the Major Corporate Sponsor, Conagra Brands Foundation is the Major Production Sponsor and ITW and PwC are the Corporate Sponsor Partners. 

“While many plays deal with a particular moment in time, Having Our Say encapsulates more than a century of America, introducing us to two women who serve as discerning, loving narrators of both their personal story and of our nation’s history,” said Artistic Director Robert Falls. “For 25 years, Chuck Smith’s work has given audiences the unparalleled opportunity to explore the 19th and 20th centuries through the lens of the African American experience—and I’m thrilled to present his interpretation of this deeply moving and vital play.”

This year marks the 25th anniversary of their New York Times bestselling memoir, which serves as a narrative of a century-long swath of triumphs, stagnations and progress in 20th century America. Born in 1889 and 1891 in North Carolina, Sarah “Sadie” L. Delany and A. Elizabeth “Bessie” Delany lived together for more than 100 years and were two of 10 children born to Henry and Nanny Delany. Their father was born a slave in 1858, and later became the country’s first African American Episcopal bishop and vice principal of St. Augustine’s College in Raleigh, North Carolina. Their mother also worked at St. Augustine’s as a matron, and the sisters spent their childhood on the campus before moving to New York City to pursue educations and careers. Sadie was a schoolteacher---the first African American permitted to teach high school-level domestic science in New York City—until her retirement in 1960. She passed away at the age of 109 in 1999. In 1923, Bessie became the second African American woman to work as a dentist in New York City. Throughout her tenure, she never once raised her prices from $2 for a cleaning and $5 for a silver filling. She retired in 1950 and later passed away at the age of 104 in 1995.

“I think the sisters’ stories and points of view have become even more important over time, we need to listen to one another, and especially to our wise elders, now more than ever”, said Hearth, who recently published her 10th book, Streetcar to Justice: How Elizabeth Jennings Won the Right to Ride in New York, which is dedicated in part to the sisters. “The sisters had an enormous impact on my life. I don’t take on any new writing projects unless I think Sadie and Bessie would approve.”

The production design element features Linda Buchanan’s turntable set that alternates between the Delany kitchen and living room, which houses more than 70 photo frames—some of which illuminate with historical images using projections designed by Mike Tutaj. The design team also includes Birgit Rattenborg Wise (costumes), John Culbert (lights) and Ray Nardelli (sound). Kimberly Ann McCann is the production stage manager.

TICKETS, DISCOUNTS AND SPECIAL EVENTS

Tickets ($20-$75) – GoodmanTheatre.org/HavingOurSay; 312.443.3800; Fax: 312.443.3825; TTY/TDD: 312.443.3829
Box Office Hours –12noon - 5pm; on performance days, the box office remains open until 30 minutes past curtain
MezzTix – Half-price day-of-performance mezzanine tickets available at 10am online (promo code MEZZTIX) 
$10Tix – Student $10 day-of-performance tickets; limit four, with valid student ID (promo code 10TIX)
Group Sales are available for parties 10 ; 312.443.3820
Gift Certificates – Available in any amount; GoodmanTheatre.org/GiftCertificates

PROJECT CONECT BENEFIT – May 5 at 5pm | Petterino’s (150 North Dearborn)
Tickets are $45-50. Project CoNect hosts “theater night” surrounding the major revival of Having Our Say. Join members of Project CoNect and director Chuck Smith for a pre-show reception, followed by the 8pm performance. Project CoNect is a community-based non-profit organization dedicated to empowering individuals through educational programming. Tickets can be found at Projectconect.org

SORORITY SISTERS NIGHT – May 10 at 6pm | The Alice Center
Tickets are $25. The Delany sisters were devoted members of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated. Celebrate sisterhood with complimentary drinks and hors d'oeuvres, followed by the 7:30pm performance and post-show discussion.

ARTIST ENCOUNTER – May 13 at 2pm | The Alice Center
Tickets are free for members; $10 for general public. Artist Encounters bring together audiences and Goodman artists in an intimate environment for a behind-the-scenes look at the plays and the playmaking process. Join director Chuck Smith as he discusses the process of bringing Having Our Say to life.

HAVING YOUR SAY ESTATE PLANNING SEMINAR – May 23 at 11:30am | The Alice Center
Tickets are free. Join Goodman Theatre for an afternoon of insights, artistic conversation and lunch. Learn from estate planning professions and a moderated discussion with artists from Having Our Say. 

ACCESSIBILITY AT THE GOODMAN

Touch Tour,  June 2 at 12:30pm – A presentation detailing the set, costume and character elements
Audio Described Performance, June 2 at 2pm – The action/text is audibly enhanced for patrons via headset
ASL Interpreted Performance, June 6 at 7:30pm – Professional ASL interpreter signs the action/text as played 
Open Captioned Performance,  June 9 at 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.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Emily Mann (Playwright) most recently collaborated with the Goodman on The Convert  during the 2011/2012 Season. She is a multi-award-winning director and playwright in her 28th season as artistic director and resident playwright of McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton, New Jersey. Under Mann’s leadership, McCarter was honored with the 1994 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theater. Her nearly 50 McCarter directing credits include productions by Shakespeare, Chekhov, Ibsen and Williams and the recent world premieres of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express; Baby Doll; Five Mile Lake; The Convert; The How and the Why; Miss Witherspoon and Me, Myself & I. This spring, Mann will direct the McCarter-commissioned world premiere of Christopher Durang’s Turning Off the Morning News. Broadway credits include A Streetcar Named Desire, Anna in the Tropics, Execution of Justice and Having Our Say. Her plays include Having Our Say, adapted from the book by Sarah L. Delany and A. Elizabeth Delany with Amy Hill Hearth; Execution of Justice; Still Life; Annulla, An Autobiography; Greensboro (A Requiem); Meshugah; Mrs. Packard and Hoodwinked (a Primer on Radical Islamism). She is currently writing a play with Gloria Steinem and the stage adaptation of The Pianist.  Adaptations include Baby Doll, Scenes from a Marriage, Uncle Vanya, The Cherry Orchard, A Seagull in the Hamptons, The House of Bernarda Alba,  Antigone. Awards and honors received include Peabody, Hull Warriner, NAACP, Obie's, Guggenheim; Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle nominations, a Princeton University Honorary Doctorate of Arts, a Helen Merrill Distinguished Playwrights' Award, and the Margo Jones Award given to a "citizen-of-the-theater who has demonstrated a lifetime commitment to the encouragement of the living theatre everywhere.”

Chuck Smith (Director) is a member of Goodman Theatre’s Board of Trustees and is Goodman Theatre’s Resident Director. He is also a resident director at the Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe in Sarasota, Florida. Goodman credits include the Chicago premieres of Objects in the Mirror; Pullman Porter Blues; By the Way, Meet Vera Stark; Race; The Good Negro; Proof and The Story; the world premieres of By the Music of the Spheres and The Gift Horse; James Baldwin’s The Amen Corner, which transferred to Boston’s Huntington Theatre Company, where it won the Independent Reviewers of New England (IRNE) Award for Best Direction; A Raisin in the Sun; Blues for an Alabama Sky; August Wilson’s Two Trains Running and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom; Ain’t Misbehavin’; the 1993 to 1995 productions of A Christmas Carol; Crumbs From the Table of Joy; Vivisections from a Blown Mind and The Meeting. He served as dramaturg for the Goodman’s world-premiere production of August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean. He directed the New York premiere of Knock Me a Kiss and The Hooch for the New Federal Theatre and the world premiere of Knock Me a Kiss at Chicago’s Victory Gardens Theater, where his other directing credits include Master Harold... and the Boys, Home, Dame Lorraine and Eden, for which he received a Jeff Award nomination. Regionally, Smith directed Death and the King’s Horseman (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), Birdie Blue (Seattle Repertory Theatre), The Story (Milwaukee Repertory Theater), Blues for an Alabama Sky (Alabama Shakespeare Festival) and The Last Season (Robey Theatre Company). At Columbia College he was facilitator of the Theodore Ward Prize playwriting contest for 20 years and editor of the contest anthologies Seven Black Plays and Best Black Plays. He won a Chicago Emmy Award as associate producer/theatrical director for the NBC teleplay Crime of Innocence and was theatrical director for the Emmy-winning Fast Break to Glory and the Emmy-nominated The Martin Luther King Suite. He was a founding member of the Chicago Theatre Company, where he served as artistic director for four seasons and directed the Jeff-nominated Suspenders and the Jeff-winning musical Po’. His directing credits include productions at Fisk University, Roosevelt University, Eclipse Theatre, ETA, Black Ensemble Theater, Northlight Theatre, MPAACT, Congo Square Theatre Company, The New Regal Theater, Kuumba Theatre Company, Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre, Pegasus Players, the Timber Lake Playhouse in Mt. Carroll, Illinois and the University of Wisconsin in Madison. He is a 2003 inductee into the Chicago State University Gwendolyn Brooks Center’s Literary Hall of Fame and a 2001 Chicago Tribune Chicagoan of the Year. He is the proud recipient of the 1982 Paul Robeson Award and the 1997 Award of Merit presented by the Black Theater Alliance of Chicago.

Amy Hill Hearth is a New York Times  Bestselling Author, and an American Library Association “Notable Book” and Peabody Award Winner. She is also a Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, USA Today and Publisher's Weekly Bestselling Author. Hearth's most recent book, Streetcar to Justice: How Elizabeth Jennings Won the Right to Ride in New York, was published Jan. 2, 2018. Written for middle-grade to adult readers, the book tells the all-but-forgotten story of Elizabeth Jennings, a black schoolteacher who refused to leave a segregated streetcar in Manhattan in 1854, setting into motion a historic court case and the first major step in ending segregation in public transportation in New York.  She is the author of two novels, Miss Dreamsville and the Collier County Women’s Literary Society and Miss Dreamsville and the Lost Heiress of Collier County,  both published by Simon & Schuster's Atria Books imprint, as well as seven nonfiction books including Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters’ First 100 Years, a blockbuster bestseller which spawned a Broadway play and television film. She is the co-author of Know Your Power: A Message to America’s Daughters by the first female speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Rep. Nancy Pelosi.  Having Our Say, called a "classic oral history" by Newsweek magazine, remains a staple in American classrooms. The book is the story of two very wise and candid centenarian sisters, Sarah L. and A. Elizabeth Delany, whose father was born into slavery in the American South. The book was a New York Times Bestseller for 113 weeks. Hearth was an advisor on the Broadway play adaptation of Having Our Say, which earned three Tony Award nominations including Best Play. Hearth served again as advisor when the book was adapted for a CBS Sunday Night Movie in 1999. Directed by Academy Award winner Lynne Littman, the film starred Ruby Dee, Diahann Carroll, and Amy Madigan. Hearth's real-life role was portrayed by Madigan. Hearth began her career in the newspaper business. Having Our Say, in fact, began as a story she wrote about the then-unknown Delany Sisters for The New York Times. As a reporter who had always been interested in telling the stories of older people, she eagerly followed up on several leads about the mysterious and reclusive pair. When she finally met them, her hopes of an interview almost didn't work out, as she later told The New York Times  in a story published on April 2, 1995: "They didn't think they were important enough. I had to convince them and gave this little impromptu speech - that I thought it was very important that people from their generation be represented, especially black women who hadn't had much opportunity. I guess my enthusiasm rubbed off." Hearth attended the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, majoring in Sociology, then transferred to the University of Tampa, Fla., where she earned a B.A. in Writing and was editor of the college newspaper. Her first newspaper job was assistant arts and entertainment editor at The Berkshire Eagle in Pittsfield, Mass. She was, also, an intern in investigative journalism at Tampa Magazine in spring 1982. Her first fulltime reporting job was in Florida at the Daytona Beach News-Journal  (where she met her future husband when she interviewed him for a story). After relocating to the New York area, she wrote 88 bylined news and feature stories for The New York Times including her article on the Delany Sisters. Amyhillhearth.com

ABOUT GOODMAN THEATRE
AMERICA’S “BEST REGIONAL THEATRE” (Time magazine), Goodman Theatre is a premier not-for-profit organization distinguished by the excellence and scope of its artistic programming and civic engagement. Led by Artistic Director Robert Falls and Executive Director Roche Schulfer, the theater’s artistic priorities include new play development (more than 150 world or American premieres), large scale musical theater works and reimagined classics (celebrated revivals include Falls’ productions of Death of a Salesman and The Iceman Cometh). Goodman Theatre artists and productions have earned two Pulitzer Prizes, 22 Tony Awards, over 160 Jeff Awards and many more accolades. In addition, the Goodman is the first theater in the world to produce all 10 plays in August Wilson’s “American Century Cycle” and its annual holiday tradition A Christmas Carol, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this season, has created a new generation of theatergoers. The Goodman also frequently serves as a production partner with local off-Loop theaters and national and international companies by providing financial support or physical space for a variety of artistic endeavors.

Committed to three core values of Quality, Diversity and Community, the Goodman proactively makes inclusion the fabric of the institution and develops education and community engagement programs that support arts as education. This practice uses the process of artistic creation to inspire and empower youth, lifelong learners and audiences to find and/or enhance their voices, stories and abilities. The Goodman’s Alice Rapoport Center for Education and Engagement is the home of such programming, most offered free of charge, and has vastly expanded the theater’s ability to touch the lives of Chicagoland citizens (with 85% of youth participants coming from underserved communities) since its 2016 opening.

Goodman Theatre was founded 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. The Goodman family’s legacy lives on through the continued work and dedication of Kenneth’s family, including Albert Ivar Goodman, who with his late mother, Edith-Marie Appleton, contributed the necessary funds for the creation of the new Goodman center in 2000.

Today, Goodman Theatre leadership also includes the distinguished members of the Artistic Collective: Brian Dennehy, Rebecca Gilman, Henry Godinez, Dael Orlandersmith, Steve Scott, Chuck Smith, Regina Taylor, Henry Wishcamper and Mary Zimmerman. David W. Fox, Jr. is Chair of Goodman Theatre’s Board of Trustees, Cynthia K. Scholl is Women’s Board President and Justin A. Kulovsek is President of the Scenemakers Board for young professionals.

OPENING: HAMLET Via The Gift Theatre 6/1-7/29/18

Chi IL Live Shows On Our Radar:

The Gift Theatre 

HAMLET

By William Shakespeare

Directed by Guest Artist Monty Cole

June 1 – July 29, 2018

Here at ChiIL Live Shows, we've long been big fans of Gift Theatre's little space. They're outliers from all the cities various theatre districts, but well worth the trek to Jefferson Park on Chicago's northwest side. They've made a go of it for 17 seasons, with intimate, excellent, and award winning productions. Gift often likes to play vertically with multilayered shows, physically and mentally. We're eager to catch their take on Hamlet.

The Gift Theatre is pleased to announce casting for William Shakespeare’s HAMLET, directed by guest artist Monty Cole. The Gift’s production of the Bard’s great tragedy will crack open the mind of one of western drama's most fascinating and complex characters. 

The cast of The Gift Theatre’s HAMLET includes (top, l to r) John Kelly Connolly, Robert Cornelius, Shanésia Davis, Gregory Fenner and Daniel Kyri (bottom, l to r) Martel Manning, Casey Morris, Jake Szczepaniak, Hannah Toriumi and Netta Walker.

HAMLET will feature Daniel Kyri as Hamlet with Gift ensemble members John Kelly Connolly* as Claudius, Gregory Fenner* as Laertes, Martel Manning* as Guildenstern and Hannah Toriumi* as Rosencrantz, and guest artists Robert Cornelius as Ghost/Polonius, Shanésia Davis as Gertrude, Casey Morris as Horatio, Jake Szczepaniak as Fortinbras/Marcellus/Gravedigger and Netta Walker as Ophelia.

HAMLET will play June 1 – July 29, 2018 at 4802 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago’s Jefferson Park neighborhood. Single tickets and season subscriptions are currently available by calling the Gift’s box office at 773-283-7071 or visiting thegifttheatre.org. The press opening is Thursday, June 7 at 7:30 pm

After the death of his dad, a young black man named Hamlet returns home to grieve and seek revenge. Fighting against the injustice of his father's murder and the powers that want him out of the picture, Hamlet quickly loses power and sanity. 

Director Monty Cole comments, “Over the last year, this script has only become more personal to me and my production team. What makes this Hamlet unique isn’t necessarily “a new spin” from me but rather a process of personalization from incredibly respected Chicago artists working to make this 400 year old story feel prescient.”

Artistic Director Michael Patrick Thornton adds, “Experiencing Shakespeare at The Gift is electrifying. In our intimate space, we can deliver performances that mirror Hamlet’s advice to the players: stripped-down, clear, lyrical, and conversational. To be mere feet away from Hamlet’s heartache and blazing mind would be gift enough; with the colossal talents of these artists, our HAMLET will be one for the ages.”

The production team for HAMLET includes: William Boles (scenic design), Samantha Jones (costume design) Claire Chrzan and Michelle Benda (lighting design) Jeffery Levin (sound design) and Michael Petersen, Ph.D. (dramaturg).  

Location: The Gift Theatre, 4802 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago
Dates: Previews: Friday, June 1 at 7:30 pm, Saturday, June 2 at 7:30 pm, Sunday, June 3 at 2:30 pm and Wednesday, June 6 at 7:30 pm
Press openings: Thursday, June 7 at 7:30 pm
Regular run: Friday, June 8 – Sunday, July 29, 2018
Curtain Times: Thursdays and Fridays at 7:30 pm; Saturdays at 3:30 pm & 7:30 pm; Sundays at 2:30 pm. Please note: there will not be a 3:30 pm performance on Saturday, June 9.

Tickets: Previews $25. Regular run $35 – $40. Single and season subscriptions are currently available by calling the Gift’s box office at 773-283-7071 or visiting thegifttheatre.org.

*Denotes Gift Theatre ensemble member

About the Director
Monty Cole is a director based in Chicago and Los Angeles. Cole has directed for The Goodman Theatre, Victory Gardens Theater, American Theatre Company, Definition Theater Company/ALTA, The House Theatre of Chicago, the Chicago Theater Marathon, California Institute of the Arts and others. Cole directed the critically acclaimed and Jeff Award winning production of The Hairy Ape for Oracle Productions. Monty is working with collaborator and choreographer Breon Arzell on revitalizing In Dahomey, the first black written and performed Broadway musical from 1903 for the Center for New Performance. Recently, he directed Kiss by Guillermo Calderon at the California Institute of the Arts where he is currently an MFA2 Directing candidate.

About The Gift Theatre
The Gift’s 17th season consists of Stacy Osei-Kuffour’s world premiere of Hang Man, directed by Jess McLeod (March 2 – April 29, 2018); Shakespeare’s Hamlet, directed by Monty Cole (June 1 – July 29, 2018); and the Midwest premiere of Tony Award-winning playwright and ensemble member David Rabe’s Cosmologies, directed by Artistic Director Michael Patrick Thornton (October 12 –December 9, 2018). The Gift subscribers ("Gifters") receive admission to three shows, free parking at Gale Street Inn, free admission to all Wednesday night “Natural Gas” improv shows and invitations to special subscriber-only special events. Subscribe at thegifttheatre.org or by calling (773) 283-7071.