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Tuesday, May 14, 2013
ACT OUT OPENING: The Actors Gymnasium Circus in Progress 5/18 Only #circus
Monday, May 13, 2013
ACT OUT OPENING: SPEECH & DEBATE AT ATC
AMERICAN THEATER COMPANY CONCLUDES 2012-2013 SEASON
WITH THE REPRISE OF
SPEECH & DEBATE
Written by Stephen Karam
Directed by Artistic Director PJ Paparelli
Oregon. 2007. In the midst of controversy and scandal three misfit teens form their high school's first debate club. This hilarious and touching comedy walks the fine line between adolescence and adulthood. ATC Artistic Director PJ Paparelli remounts his 2008 critically-acclaimed production, written by columbinus co-author and 2012 Pulitzer Prize finalist Stephen Karam.
American Theater Company concludes 2012-2013 Season with a revised remount of Speech & Debate, written by Stephen Karam, and directed by Artistic Director PJ Paparelli. Speech & Debate will run May 10 – June 23, 2013, at American Theater Company, 1909 W Byron St, Chicago, IL.
Speech & Debate is a quick-witted and timely comedy that tells the story of three misfits who team up to expose their teacher's online secrets while forming their high school's first Speech and Debate club. With a searing script by columbinus co-writer Stephen Karam, Artistic Director PJ Paparelli remounts this hysterical yet touching tale of three teens' quest for fame and free speech. Under newly-appointed Artistic Director PJ Paparelli’s direction, Speech & Debate made its Chicago Premiere at ATC in 2008 to critical and popular success, garnering 3 Jeff Award nominations for Best Mid-Size Play, Best Director, and Best Actress for Sadieh Rifai’s portrayal of Diwata.
This production replaces the previously announced restored & revised Hair, which has been moved to Spring 2014.
"Stephen Karam’s Speech & Debate was my first show in Chicago and the first time I worked with Ensemble member Sadieh Rifai – and there are not two funnier artists to collaborate with then Stephen & Sadieh,” Says Paparelli. “It is a unique theatrical experiment to produce this play right after our work together on columbinus. Both of Karam’s plays are searches for identity-- one extreme tragedy, one extreme comedy-- but both speak directly to American adolescent experience."
The production will feature original cast member Sadieh Rifai reprising her original role (Diwata), as well as Patrick Riley (Howie), Janet Ulrich Brooks (teacher/reporter), and Will Allan (Solomon) in their ATC debuts.
The creative team of Speech & Debate includes William Boles (Set Designer), Sally Dolembo (Costume Designer), Jesse Klug (Lighting Designer), Scotty Iseri & Lindsay Jones (Original Sound Design)
Andrew Wheatley (Sound Designer), Rasean Davonte Johnson (Projection Design). Deborah Chesterman is Stage Manager.
Sadieh Rifai (Diwata) is an ensemble member at American Theater Company where she has performed in columbinus, The Catholic Rep: Doubt and Agnes of God, The Amish Project, The Original Grease, Welcome to Arroyo’s, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Distracted, and Speech and Debate for which she won an After Dark Award for Outstanding Performance.
Other credits include The Piano Teacher (Next Theater), Merchant of Venice (Silk Road Theatre), Ski Dubai (Steppenwolf Theatre First Look) and understanding the role of Johanna Monevata in August: Osage County (Steppenwolf Theatre). Sadieh is a graduate of The School at Steppenwolf. Film credits include: the award winning The Wise Kids (New Fest, Out Fest and NYC LGBT Film Festival) and the feature film Nate and Margaret. She’s also a recurring character in the mockumentary Bad Sides, which was recently a finalist in the Chicago Comedy TV Pilot Competition. Sadieh was most recently awarded the Princess Grace Theater Award.
Will Allan (Solomon) is making his American Theater Company debut with Speech & Debate. His recent Chicago credits include The Whale (Victory Gardens); Good People, The March, and A Separate Peace (Steppenwolf); The Seagull and Dartmoor Prison (Goodman); The History Boys (TimeLine Theatre - Jeff Award for Ensemble and Production); The Goat Or, Who Is Sylvia? (Remy Bumppo - Jeff Award for Production); and Romeo and Juliet and Much Ado About Nothing (First Folio). Will is an Associate Artist with TimeLine Theatre Company, a graduate of North Central College in Naperville, Illinois, and this fall, he will begin working toward his M.F.A. in Acting at the Yale School of Drama.
William Patrick Riley (Howie) is very excited to be making his Chicago theatre debut at American Theater Company. Regional credits: The Tempest (Hartford Stage); Ah, Wilderness! (Arena Stage); Hoover Comes Alive! (La Jolla Playhouse); Measure for Measure (A Noise Within). Other credits include: The Tempest, Twelfth Night, As You Like It (Shakespeare Santa Cruz); The Seagull, Camino Real, The Misanthrope, As You Like It (UCSD). Recent TV credits include appearances on Chicago Fire, Torchwood, 90210 and the HULU series Pretty/Tough. He is the co-founder and former Artistic Director of Lonesome No More! Theatre in Los Angeles, where he most recently directed a highly acclaimed production of Spring Awakening. Education: MFA, University of California, San Diego.
Janet Ulrich Brooks (reporter/teacher) was recently seen at Victory Gardens in Failure: A Love Story and Jacob & Jack. She is a TimeLine Company Member and has appeared there in more than 10 productions, most recently A Walk in the Woods and All My Sons. Other credits include South of Settling (Steppenwolf Theatre), Ten Chimneys (Northlight Theatre), The Original Grease (American Theater Co.), Pony (About Face Theatre), The Seagull and A True History of the Johnstown Flood (Goodman Theatre). Other Chicago credits include Golda’s Balcony (Pegasus Players, Non-Equity Jeff Award – Outstanding Solo Performance) and work with Strawdog Theatre, Steppenwolf for Young Adults, Writers' Theatre and Collaboraction. Janet's film credits include Fools, Conviction, Polish Bar, I Heart Shakey, and One Small Hitch, and her television credits include Boss, Underemployed, The Chicago Code and The Playboy Club.
Synopsis:
Speech & Debate is a quick-witted and timely comedy that tells the story of three misfits who team up to expose their teacher's online secrets while forming their high school's first Speech and Debate club. With a searing script by columbinus co-writer Stephen Karam, Artistic Director PJ Paparelli remounts this hysterical yet touching tale of three teens' quest for fame and free speech. Under newly-appointed Artistic Director PJ Paparelli’s direction, Speech & Debate made its Chicago Premiere at ATC in 2008 to critical and popular success, garnering 3 Jeff Award nominations for Best Mid-Size Play, Best Director, and Best Actress for Sadieh Rifai’s portrayal of Diwata.
Title: Speech & Debate
Written by: Stephen Karam
Directed by: Artistic Director PJ Paparelli
Featuring: Sadieh Rifai, Will Allan, Patrick Riley, and Janet Ulrich Brooks
Dates: May 10 – June 23, 2013
Press Performance: Monday, May 13, 2013 at 7pm
Schedule: Thursdays & Fridays: 8:00pm
Saturdays: 2:00pm & 8:00pm
Sundays: 2:00pm
Location: American Theater Company, 1909 W Byron St., Chicago
Tickets: Previews: $33
Regular run: Thurs, Sat matinees, Sun matinees $38
Fri & Sat evenings $43
Opening night including post-show reception $50
Box Office: The Box Office is located at 1909 W Byron St., Chicago;
773.409.4125; www.atcweb.org
AMERICAN THEATER COMPANY
American Theater Company is an ensemble of artists committed to producing new and classic American stories that ask the question, “What does it mean to be an American?”
American Theater Company is supported by a CityArts Program 2 Grant and a Cultural Outreach Program Grant from the City of Chicago Office of Tourism & Culture, Lloyd A. Fry Foundation, Illinois Arts Council, Pauls Foundation, Polk Bros. Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, and the generous support of Prince Charitable Trusts and Barbara Kipper.
GENESIS THEATRICAL PRODUCTIONS TO TAKE UP RESIDENCY AT THE NATIONAL PASTIME THEATER IN THE PRESTON BRADLEY CENTER
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GENESIS THEATRICAL PRODUCTIONS TO TAKE UP RESIDENCY AT THE NATIONAL PASTIME THEATER IN THE PRESTON BRADLEY CENTER
Genesis Theatrical Productions, whose mission is to find, develop and produce works that are new to Chicago, has announced that it will take up residency in the National Pastime Theater space in the Preston Bradley Center, 941 W. Lawrence, Chicago.
Genesis produced their production, of TUNNEL RAT, a the National Pastime space in 2012 and is planning both a staged reading series and a main stage production to go into the space beginning in late summer of 2013.
Genesis will become part of the efforts of National Pastime Theater and Alderman James Cappelman to create an arts center at the Preston Bradley Center and assist in the further development of the Uptown community in order to bring the arts to a highly diverse neighborhood.
For more information about Genesis Theatrical Productions, go to www.genesistheatricals.com or email info@genesistheatricals.com.
ACT OUT OPENING: CHICAGO DRAMATISTS PRESENTS “HOMECOMING 1972” 5/16
CHICAGO DRAMATISTS PRESENTS “HOMECOMING 1972”
BY RESIDENT PLAYWRIGHT ROBERT KOON
Four-Time Jeff Award Nominee and Associate Artist Kimberly Senior
Directs a World Premiere about a Young Veteran Coming Home
Directs a World Premiere about a Young Veteran Coming Home
Chicago Dramatists proudly closes its 34th season with Robert Koon’s “Homecoming 1972,” directed by Associate Artist Kimberly Senior, May 16 – June 23, 2013.
In “Homecoming 1972,” Frank limps out of the war in Vietnam and back into the world. In his small Midwestern hometown, he finds that his once-mundane world of football, cars and Sunday dinners has turned suddenly strange and threatening. Caught between the realities of war and the retrospective absurdities of his old life, he stares down the iconic celebration of returning local heroes at the high school homecoming game.
The source material for “Homecoming 1972” hits close to home for playwright Robert Koon whose family has a history of military service dating back to the Revolutionary War. “Like many Americans, I have strong military connections within my family and despite this play’s Vietnam-era setting I think modern audiences will have plenty to connect with,” he said. “We are no strangers to the uncertain realities of wartime and I hope ‘Homecoming 1972’ will call attention to veteran’s issues like mental health and unemployment.”
“As a longtime admirer of Chicago Dramatists’ fervent commitment to incubating important new works, I could not be more thrilled to be returning to bring Robert’s remarkable play to life with this outstanding group of collaborators,” says director Kimberly Senior. “Plays like ‘Homecoming 1972’ are vital to the theatrical landscape as they shed new light on important societal issues.”
“Homecoming 1972” marks Resident Playwright Robert Koon’s second production with Chicago Dramatists, which produced his play “St. Colm’s Inch” in 2005. About that production, The Chicago Tribune’s Chris Jones raved, “Few playwrights write the family fight as well as Robert Koon.” In 2005, Chicago Dramatists published another of Koon’s works, “Vintage Red and The Dust of The Road” in the anthology “New Plays from Chicago.”
“Homecoming 1972” will be directed by four-time Jeff Award nominee and Chicago Dramatists Associate Artist Kimberly Senior, whose innumerable Chicago-area and regional directing credits include the world premiere of Aline Lathrop’s “Feast” for Chicago Dramatists in 2007, “Want” and “The North Plan” for Steppenwolf Theatre Company, and “After the Revolution” and “The Overwhelming” for Next Theatre. In October 2012, Senior made her Lincoln Center Theater debut with a well-received production Ayad Akhtar’s “Disgraced” after directing its world premiere at Chicago’s American Theatre Company in January 2012. The New York Times’ Charles Isherwood praised the “sleek production directed by Kimberly Senior,” which starred The Daily Show’s Aasif Mandvi, as “a continuously engaging, vitally engaged play.”
About the Production
“Homecoming 1972” is written by Robert Koons and directed by Kimberly Senior featuring Matt Holzfeind as Frank, Greta Honold as Maria, Brett Schneider as Joe, Julian Hester as The Kid, and Molly Glynn as Darla.
“Homecoming 1972” will begin previews May 16. Press openings will be Friday, May 24 and Saturday, May 25 at 8 p.m. Performances are Thursdays – Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. through June 23. Tickets are $32 and student tickets are $15 for all Thursday performances. To purchase tickets or for more information visit www.chicagodramatists.org or call 312-633-0630. Both opening night performances are sponsored by Branch 27.
About the Playwright
Robert Koon is a Resident Playwright at Chicago Dramatists, where he also serves as the company dramaturg. Chicago Dramatists produced his play “St. Colm's Inch” and published his play “Vintage Red and The Dust of The Road” (Joseph Jefferson Award Citation for New Work, American Theatre Critics Steinberg Award nominee) in their anthology New Plays from Chicago. Robert's other work includes “Odin's Horse” (Joseph Jefferson Award nominee, 2004 national award for ecodrama), “The Point of Honor,” “Changing Attire,” “Solstice,” and “Looking West from Fira.” His most recent play, “Menorca,” was produced at 16th Street Theatre in the fall of 2010.
Robert's work has been featured at the Ashland New Plays Festival, Playwrights Week at the Lark Theatre (New York), the Dayton Playhouse FutureFest, Stage Left Theatre's (Chicago) LeapFest, Mirror Stage's (Seattle) Feed Your Mind Series, Earth Matters On Stage, the Pittsburgh Ecodrama Festival, and Estrogen Fest in Chicago. He has been awarded creative residencies at the Ragdale Foundation in Lake Forest, Illinois, and the William Inge Center for the Arts in Independence, Kansas. He teaches regularly in the Playwrights Studio at Chicago Dramatists, and has also taught at The Theatre School at DePaul University, Aurora University, Independence (Kansas) Community College, Northlight Theatre's Open Door Ensemble, The Off-Campus Writers Workshop, Theatre of Western Springs, Timber Lake Playhouse, and the Ashland (Oregon) New Plays Festival. Dramaturgical credits include Stageworks Theatre in Tampa, Florida and Indiana Theatre Works. He is a member of The Dramatists Guild of America.
Robert's work has been featured at the Ashland New Plays Festival, Playwrights Week at the Lark Theatre (New York), the Dayton Playhouse FutureFest, Stage Left Theatre's (Chicago) LeapFest, Mirror Stage's (Seattle) Feed Your Mind Series, Earth Matters On Stage, the Pittsburgh Ecodrama Festival, and Estrogen Fest in Chicago. He has been awarded creative residencies at the Ragdale Foundation in Lake Forest, Illinois, and the William Inge Center for the Arts in Independence, Kansas. He teaches regularly in the Playwrights Studio at Chicago Dramatists, and has also taught at The Theatre School at DePaul University, Aurora University, Independence (Kansas) Community College, Northlight Theatre's Open Door Ensemble, The Off-Campus Writers Workshop, Theatre of Western Springs, Timber Lake Playhouse, and the Ashland (Oregon) New Plays Festival. Dramaturgical credits include Stageworks Theatre in Tampa, Florida and Indiana Theatre Works. He is a member of The Dramatists Guild of America.
About the Director
Kimberly Senior is an Artistic Associate at Next Theatre, Strawdog Theatre, and Chicago Dramatists. As a director, Kimberly’s Chicago credits have earned her four Joseph Jefferson nominations and include “Want” and “The North Plan” at Steppenwolf, “Madagascar,” “The Overwhelming” and “The Busy World is Hushed” at Next, “Waiting for Lefty” at American Blues, “Old Times,” “The Conquest of the South Pole,” “Uncle Vanya,” “Cherry Orchard,” “Three Sisters,” “Fuddy Meers” and “Knives in Hens” at Strawdog, “Bad Dates” and “Mouse Cop” at Fox Valley Repertory, “Bug” and “The Pillowman” at Redtwist, “Thieves Like Us” at The House, “All My Sons” and “Dolly West's Kitchen” at TimeLine, among others. Upcoming Chicago productions include “The Whipping Man,” currently playing at Northlight Theatre through February 24, 2013.
As an educator, Kimberly spent 10 years as both an administrator and Resident Artist with Steppenwolf for Young Adults. In addition, Kimberly either ran programs or taught for Court Theater, Northlight Theater, Redmoon Theater, Roadworks Productions, Victory Gardens, Metropolis, Act One Studios, and Acting Studio Chicago. At Columbia College she teaches Chekhov, Dramaturgy and Text Analysis. She is the recipient of Columbia College's 2010 Excellence in Teaching Award. Kimberly has served as Program Director and as a dramaturg for Steppenwolf's First Look Repertory of New Work.
About Chicago Dramatists
Since 1979, Chicago Dramatists has been dedicated to a single mission—the development and advancement of playwrights and new plays that contribute to the American theatre repertory and enrich the lives of audiences across the country. Simply put, Chicago Dramatists is a safe and creative place where playwrights, theatre artists, audiences, producers, and donors can join forces to build the theatre of the future.
Through workshops, readings, classes, and special programs, we provide opportunities for beginning and established dramatists to develop their work, expand their professional affiliations, showcase their plays to the theatre marketplace, and collaborate with actors, directors, and audiences during the creative process. And by the same token, we offer theatres and audiences a convenient central resource to discover the plays and playwrights that will shape the theatre of the twenty-first century.
ACT OUT OPENING: BLACK ENSEMBLE THEATER PRESENTS “IN MEMORY OF HOWLIN WOLF”
BLACK ENSEMBLE THEATER PRESENTS
“IN MEMORY OF HOWLIN WOLF”
(AIN’T NO CRYING THE BLUES)
AT THE BLACK ENSEMBLE THEATER CULTURAL CENTER
June 1 – August 11, 2013
Black Ensemble Theater announces In Memory of Howlin Wolf (Ain’t No Crying the Blues), written by Black Ensemble Theater Founder and CEO Jackie Taylor, directed by Associate Director Rueben Echoles, and starring Rick Stone one of the stars of the classic movie Cooley High . In Memory of Howlin Wolf will be presented at the new Black Ensemble Theater Cultural Center, 4450 N. Clark Street in Chicago, June 1 – August 11, 2013. The official press opening is scheduled for Sunday, June 9, 2013 at 3:00PM.
When Rick Stone (Cooley High) first performed as Howlin Wolf, Hedy Weiss of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote, "It's Rick Stone who consistently knocks your socks off in his terrifically sustained performance. And as he moves through Wolf's hits—Red Rooster, Goin' Down Slow, I Ain't Superstitious, Baby Please Don't Go and more—it's the audience that begins howlin' loudest." Now Rick Stone returns to do it again in this new story reflecting the life and times of one of the greatest blues singers the world has ever known - Howlin Wolf.
Title: In Memory of Howlin Wolf (Ain’t No Crying the Blues)
Written by: Black Ensemble Theater Founder and CEO Jackie Taylor
Directed by: Associate Director Rueben Echoles
Featuring: Rick Stone
Dates: June 1 – August 11, 2013
Press Performance: Sunday, June 9, 2013 at 3:00 p.m.
Schedule: Wed & Thurs: 7:30 p.m.
Friday: 8:00 p.m.
Saturday: 3:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.
Sunday: 3:00 p.m.
Location: Black Ensemble Theater Cultural Center, 4450 N. Clark Street.
Valet parking is available.
Ticket prices: $55 on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturday matinees; and $65 on Fridays, Saturday evenings, and Sunday matinees. A 10% discount is available for students, seniors, veterans and groups.
Box Office: Buy online at www.ticketmaster.com or call (773) 769-4451
The Black Ensemble Theater
Founded in 1976, by the phenomenal producer, playwright and actress Jackie Taylor, Black Ensemble Theater is the only African American theater located in the culturally, racially and ethnically diverse north side Uptown community. Through its Five Play Season of Excellence, The Black Ensemble Theater dazzles audiences locally, nationally and internationally with outstanding original musicals that are entertaining, educational and uplifting. The Black Ensemble Theater has produced more than 100 productions and employed over 5,000 artists.
On November 18, 2011, The Black Ensemble Theater Cultural Center opened and is able to accommodate larger-scale productions, bigger audiences and a wider range of educational programming. The new facility includes amenities such as a 299-seat main stage theater (double the capacity of the original venue); 14 offices, classroom space; rehearsal hall, dance studio, scene shop, costume shop, and wardrobe rooms; seven dressing rooms; rehearsal room for musicians; front lobby space with concession areas; and an indoor parking garage. In addition, a 150-seat studio theater, which will serve as an experimental stage for the work of the Black Playwright Initiative (BPI), is in development as part of a long range strategic plan for the Black Ensemble Theater Cultural Center.
The mission of the Black Ensemble Theater Company is to eradicate racism and its devastating effects upon society through the theater arts. For more information on the Black Ensemble Theater Company, please visit www.BlackEnsembleTheater.org or call 773-769-4451.
ACT OUT OPENING: Chicago Premiere Reverb at Redtwist
REVERB
By Leslye Headland
Directed by Jonathan Berry
Opens at Redtwist Theatre Saturday, May 18, at 3pm
Redtwist announces the Chicago premiere of Reverb, a darkly comic, brutal dissection of the deadly force of wrath in the playwright's cycle of the Seven Deadly Sins
Featuring Redtwist company member and two-time, Jeff Award-winner, Peter Oyloe
PLAY
Jeff-Award winning director, Jonathan Berry, directs the Chicago premiere of Reverb, the story of a rising young musician and his girlfriend/muse as they try to clear the decks of their own dysfunctional pasts, while the reverberations keep these soulmates locked in a vicious maze of loving tenderness and mortal combat.
CAST
Brittany Burch (Lydia), Chris Chmelik (Shane), Ashley Neal (Ivy), Peter Oyloe (Dorian), Nick Vidal (Hank), Mary Williamson (June)
STAFF
Jonathan Berry (Director), Will Crouse (Assistant Director), Allison Queen (Stage Manager), Olivia Baker (Assistant Stage Manager), Elizabeth Penrose (Assistant Stage Manager), Sarah Burnham (Production Manager), Frank Sjodin (Tech Director), Joe Schermoly (Set Designer), Brandon Wardell (Lighting Designer), Christopher Kriz (Sound Designer), Peter Oyloe and Christopher Kriz (Original Music) Emily McConnell (Costume Designer), Jeff Shields (Prop Designer), Ryan Bourque (Fight Designer), Mary Reynard (Vocal Coach), Kevin McDonald (Dramaturg), Garvin Jellison (Master Electrician), Alan Weusthoff (Set Assistant), Peter Oyloe (Graphic Designer), Jan Ellen Graves (Marketing), Charles Bonilla (Box Office Manager), E. Malcolm Martinez (Box Office Associate), Johnny Garcia (Associate Producer), Michael Colucci & Jan Ellen Graves (Producers)
SCHEDULE
Opens: Sat, May 18, 3pm
Runs: Thu, Fri, Sat, 7:30pm; Sun, 3pm
Note: no evening performance on Sat, May 18 and no performance on Sun, May 19
Closes: Sun, June 23
Running Time: Approximately 90 minutes, no intermission
Previews: $15; Wed, Thu, Fri, May 15, 16, 17, at 7:30pm
Tickets: Thursdays, $25; Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, $30 (seniors & students $5 off)
Group Rates: Special discounts for groups of 10 or more, and groups of 25 or more
DETAILS
Call: 773-728-7529
Website/Tickets: www.redtwist.org
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