RETURNING: TOKEN, KAYE WINKS’ SOLO SHOW AT SECOND CITY TRAINING CENTER’S BLACKOUT CABARET 10/22/17

Chi, IL LIVE Shows On Our Radar:

TOKEN, 

KAYE WINKS’ SOLO SHOW 

ABOUT BEING A LONE BLACK PERSON IN 

A WORLD OF WHITE,

RETURNS OCTOBER 22 AT SECOND CITY TRAINING CENTER’S BLACKOUT CABARET WITH Q&A HOSTED BY ERICA MANN RAMIS

Kaye Winks’ timely one-woman show Token is returning to The Second City Training Center for a one-night-only performance Sunday, October 22 at 8 p.m., followed by a Q&A hosted by Erica Mann Ramis, a member of Second City’s Harold Ramis Film School Advisory Board and facilitated by diversity trainer Jim Lew.

Token returns to The Second City Training Center after enjoying a sold-out run in its Judy’s Beat Lounge in May-June 2017 and touring to UCB Los Angeles, the Out of Bounds Comedy Festival in Austin, Texas, and United Solo Theatre Festival in New York City in August.

In Token, Winks shares her hilarious and often cringe worthy adventures in being that lone black person in a world of white. Through her colorful portrayals of family, friends, strangers and foes, Winks offers a satiric look at what it’s like to be the token black person. But white people aren’t her only target. Winks also casts a smart, funny and sometimes sobering lens on class clashes within the black community.

Token, directed by Schoen Smith, will be presented in The Blackout Cabaret at the Second City Training Center, 230 W. North Ave., 2nd floor, Chicago. Tickets are $13. For tickets and information, visit secondcity.com or call (312) 337-3992. 













Actual moments when Kaye Winks was the token black.


More about Token
“Token is unapologetically un-PC, but it’s fair in its political incorrectness because I pick on everyone equally,” says Winks. “The show actually brings people together by ‘telling it like it is.’”

The performance will be followed by a Q&A with Winks hosted by Erica Mann Ramis, wife of the late Second City alum and Hollywood icon Harold Ramis, and director Schoen Smith, facilitated by diversity trainer Jim Lew. The Q&A will serve as a town-hall type discussion of the show. Ramis attended a performance of Token in June and was inspired to get involved in hosting a dialogue with the audience.

“It’s such a brilliant and important piece, especially right now,” says Ramis.

Don’t miss Winks’ hilarious and relevant 60-minute takedown of the race discussion through the voices and stories of 30 characters we’ve all met at some point in our lives, followed by a lively Q&A.



Kaye Winks has been a token black since the day she was born in Midwestern suburbia to black Republicans. Today she is a stage and screen actress, writer, part-time funny person and full-time cat person. Winks trained at the Moscow Art Theater’s Stanislavsky School in association with the American Repertory Theater and Harvard University. Her improv training was at The Second City Chicago. She also studied physical comedy and clown with world-renowned French master teacher, Philippe Gaulier. She has been featured in national commercial and print campaigns for Honda, Sony and Hot Pockets among others. She has recently returned to Chicago following a six-year stint in LA.

Schoen Smith (director) is an actress, writer, producer and director. In May/June 2017, she directed a sold-out, month long run of Token at The Second City Chicago. She also premiered her original spoken word piece Hands Up at Collaboraction's 2016 PEACEBOOK Festival. Before moving to Chicago, she was Producing Director for DOMA Theatre Company in Los Angeles, and also produced the hit play Elevator in the inaugural Hollywood Fringe Festival. She is a co-producer on the award-winning documentary about homeless youth, American Street Kid, which won Best Social Impact Film at the Hollywood Film Festival and People's Choice Award and Power in Film Award at The Beloit International Film Festival this year. She is the former Director of Development for Collaboraction and the VP of Development for Venture Hill Entertainment, LLC.

Erica Mann Ramis (presenter), a writer, producer and philanthropist, was born in Los Angeles, CA and moved to Chicago over 20 years ago with her late husband, Harold Ramis, and their two children, Julian and Daniel. Erica currently serves as an active member of the Advisory Board for The Harold Ramis Film School, and was recently a featured artist in Chicago's PEACEBOOK Festival, for which a scene from her first play, Quiet Time, was produced at the Goodman Theatre. Erica co-produced, Joffrey - Mavericks of American Dance, a documentary about the Joffrey Ballet in 2012, and is currently collaborating on a yet-to-be titled film project about her late husband. Erica enjoys books, music, movies, meditation, and spending time with friends and family. She is an advocate for education, social justice and women's rights around the world.

Jim Lew (Q&A facilitator) has training experience that goes back years to his work with educational organizations and business since 1982. Currently his work in the important field of Diversity Awareness Training fills most of his time. Jim's background as an Asian-American, raised in the heartland of the Texas panhandle and later, Kansas, his experience learning to succeed socially to become president of his student-body at Grinnell College, his work in the public housing projects of Chicago and with the Indians of Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota all contribute to an ability not only to empathize with the experience of people of every cultural group, but also to help build the bridges that can lead to real growth and acceptance among a whole workforce.

For more, visit kayewinks.com or follow Winks on Twitter and Instagram : @kayewinks #tokenblack.

Five Blistering Nights of Reverend Horton Heat at City Winery Chicago 10/11-15

Chi, IL LIVE Shows On Our Radar:

The City Church of the Reverend Horton Heat featuring Unknown Hinson w/ special guests Koffin Kats - 10/11/17

Reverend Horton Heat, Riot Fest 2012

Photo credit for all shots: Bonnie Kenaz-Mara 

This Wednesday, we'll be ChiILin' in Chi, IL at City Winery for the first of a streak of five shows by Reverend Horton Heat with support by Unknown Hinson and Koffin Kats. Here at ChiIL Live Shows, we've seen Reverend Horton Heat many times over the years, but I'll have to say my favorite is still Riot Fest 2012 when I had press credentials and got to shoot them from the pit. They always put on an excellent, high energy, live show that's a must see for rockabilly lovers. We have press credentials once again for Wednesday's kick off to the City Winery run, so check back soon for our full review and photo recap. 

About:

THESE ARE STANDING ROOM SHOWS - Limited seating is available for $55 and standing room tickets are $28 in advance and $32 on the day of the show.

The undisputed Godfather of Psychobilly, The Reverend Horton Heat, invites its congregation to join them this October in Chicago for five white-hot nights as City Winery is transformed to The City Church of The Reverend Horton Heat.

Making the run even more special, each show will feature a unique line-up with very special guests. Get ready as hot rods, lowriders and choppers descend on Chicago's West Loop for The City Church of The Reverend Horton Heat.

10/11 - featuring Unknown Hinson w/ special guests Koffin Kats

Loaded guns, space heaters, and big skies. Welcome to the lethal littered landscape of Jim Heath’s imagination. True to his high evangelical calling, Jim is a Revelator, both revealing & reinterpreting the country-blues-rock roots of American music. He’s a time-travelling space-cowboy on an endless interstellar musical tour, and we are all the richer & “psychobillier” for getting to tag along.

Seeing REVEREND HORTON HEAT live is a transformative experience. Flames come off the guitars. Heat singes your skin. There’s nothing like the primal tribal rock & roll transfiguration of a Reverend Horton Heat show. Jim becomes a slicked-back 1950′s rock & roll shaman channeling Screamin’ Jay Hawkins through Buddy Holly, while Jimbo incinerates the Stand- Up Bass. And then there are the “Heatettes”. Those foxy rockabilly chicks dressed in poodle-skirts and cowboy boots slamming the night away. It’s like being magically transported into a Teen Exploitation picture from the 1950′s that’s currently taking place in the future.

Listening to the REVEREND HORTON HEAT is tantamount to injecting pure musical nitrous into the hot-rod engine of your heart. The Reverend’s commandants are simple. And no band on this, or any other, planet rocks harder, drives faster, or lives truer than the Reverend Horton Heat. These “itinerant preachers” actually practice what they preach. They live their lives by the Gospel of Rock & Roll.

From the High-Octane Spaghetti-Western Wall of Sound in “Big Sky” — to the dark driving frenetic paranoia of “400 Bucks” – to the brain-melting Western Psychedelic Garage purity of “Psychobilly Freakout” — The Rev’s music is the perfect soundtrack to the Drive-In Movie of your life.

Jim Heath & Jimbo Wallace have chewed up more road than the Google Maps drivers. For twenty-five Psychobilly years, they have blazed an indelible, unforgettable, and meteoric trail across the globe with their unique blend of musical virtuosity, legendary showmanship, and mythic imagery.

Rev your engines and catch the sermon on the road as it’s preached by everybody’s favorite Reverend.

Click HERE for tickets and more show info about the City Winery Chicago run.

OPENING: World Premiere of PUNK Via The New Colony at The Den Theatre

Chi, IL LIVE Shows On Our Radar:

The New Colony Presents the World Premiere of

PUNK

Written by Michael Allen Harris

Co-Directed by Diana Raiselis and Katrina Dion

October 4 – November 5, 2017 at The Den Theatre

(left to right) Kyle Encinas, Aaron Sanchez, Evie Riojas and Daniel Shtivelberg 

Photo by Evan Hanover. 

Tonight, ChiIL Live Shows will be ChiILin' at The Den with The New Colony for the press opening of prison drama, PUNK. We're looking forward to this world premiere and the thought provoking premise. Check back soon for our full review. 

The New Colony concludes its 2017 Season with the world premiere of Michael Allen Harris’ prison drama PUNK, co-directed by Diana Raiselis and Katrina Dion, playing October 4 – November 5, 2017 at The New Colony’s resident home, The Den Theatre’s Upstairs Main Stage, 1333 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood. Click HERE for tickets.

Regular run: Thursday, October 12 – Sunday, November 5, 2017 

Curtain times: Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm; Sundays at 3 pm

Industry Night: Monday, October 23 at 7:30 pm

Tickets: Regular run: $20. Students/seniors: 25% off. 

PUNK features Kyle Encinas, Keyanna Khatiblou, Monette McLin, Evie Riojas, Aaron Sanchez and Daniel Shtivelberg.

Set in a maximum-security prison in present day America, Punk is the story of a group of inmates who are protected and housed in a special unit for gay, bisexual and transgender inmates. Tensions rise when Travis, a young man sentenced to life in prison for the murder of a gay man, requests to transfer into the unit. Fear and suspicion hover over the inmates who call this unit home. 

The production team for PUNK includes: Eleanor Kahn (scenic design), Uriel Gomez, (costumes design), Eric Watkins (lighting design), Jeffery Levin (sound design), Sydney Achler (props design), Kyle Encinas (choreography), Ryan Oliviera (dramaturg), Uriel Gomez (technical director), Ali Drumm (production manager) and Rose Hamill (stage manager). 

(left to right) Evie Riojas and Daniel Shtivelberg in The New Colony’s world premiere of PUNK by Michael Allen Harris, co-directed by Diana Raiselis and Katrina Dion. Photo by Evan Hanover.  

About the Creative Team

Michael Allen Harris (Playwright) As a playwright, Michael has collaborated with Chicago theatre companies such as Broken Nose Theatre, Jackalope Theatre, Arc Theatre, Stage 773, Fine Print Theatre, Chicago Home Theater Festival and The New Colony. His play, Rocky Road, received its world premiere at the New Studio Theatre of Columbia College Chicago in March of 2013. It was the first production featured in the Main Stage season that was authored by an alumnus. His play, The Velvet Tabernacle, was featured in a development series on behalf of Fine Print Theatre. His most recent play, Kingdom, is currently involved in a season-long development on behalf of Broken Nose Theatre and received its first stage reading at Victory Gardens Richard Christiansen Theater. In February 2016, he was part of The New Colony’s Writer’s Room and completed the first draft of his full-length play Ascension. His short plays include: House of Samurai, They Let Him Bleed, Project Agatha and The Woman Who Stared into the Eyes of The Red Horseman. As an actor, Michael worked with Adventure Stage, Eclipse Theatre, Gift Theatre, Teatro Vista, The-Massive, Stone Soup Theatre Project, Infusion Theatre, Broken Nose Theatre and Cold Basement Dramatics. He was nominated for a BTAA for his performance as Fortune in Eclipse Theatre’s Jeff-nominated production of Ruined. He is a proud ensemble member of Eclipse Theatre Company and proudly represented by Lily’s Talent. 

Diana Raiselis (Co-Director) is a Chicago-based director and community event producer.  Recent directing projects include Resolution (Pride Films & Plays), Punk (workshop production, The New Colony), THIRST: a climate change theater action (Jackalope) and festival premieres with Collaboraction, Jackalope, Prologue and Buzz22 Chicago. As a producer, she co-curates Slaymaker Loft's occasional new-work series party/theater/party, and has served on producing teams for events at Pritzker Pavilion, the Steppenwolf Garage and site-specific locations around Chicago. Proud alumna of Northwestern University and the Steppenwolf Professional Leadership Program. www.dianaraiselis.com

Katrina Dion (Co-Director) works as a director and teaching artist in Chicago. At Free Street Theater (FST), Katrina acts as the Operations and Youth Program Manager. In this position, she leads the high school ensemble in a conservatory level year long critical thinking and creation process focusing on issues affecting Chicago youth while managing the companies grants and financials. Katrina is also on staff with Albany Park Theater Project (APTP) as their lead academic tutor. Last year, Katrina had the pleasure of working with APTP on Learning Curve as a Production Assistant. Most recently, she directed Los Milagros/The Miracles Project, Checkmate and The Americans at FST; co-directed Cycle 3 of Every 28 Hours at The Goodman Theater along with Coya Paz; Zipped and Pelted at the Chicago Fringe Festival; and Convention or The Winos with The Wulfden. She has had the pleasure of assisting directors such as Bonnie Metzgar, Coya Paz and Krissy Vanderwarker. Katrina received her BFA in Theatre Arts with a concentration in directing with a minor in Mathematics from DePaul University. 

About The New Colony

The New Colony develops NEW ART and NEW ARTISTS in order to educate and build NEW AUDIENCES. Founded in 2008, The New Colony has established itself as “one of Chicago’s essential off-Loop companies” (Chicago Tribune) having developed and produced over 25 world-premiere plays and musicals garnering four Joseph Jefferson Awards, the 2011 Broadway in Chicago Emerging Theatre Award, and Best Overall Production at the 2012 New York International Fringe Festival. The New Colony is a resident company of The Den Theatre located in Wicker Park.

OPENING: NEW Lucky Plush ROOMING HOUSE Debuts in STEPPENWOLF’S 1700 THEATRE

Chi, IL LIVE Shows On Our Radar:

LUCKY PLUSH PRESENTS 

ROOMING HOUSE, 

NEW DANCE THEATER WORK DEBUTS NOVEMBER 4-18 

IN STEPPENWOLF’S 1700 THEATRE

(Front, from left) Lucky Plush dancers Kara Brody and Elizabeth Luse, with (rear) Meghann Wilkinson and Aaron R. White. Photo credit: Philamonjaro

Lucky Plush Productions present Rooming House, the newest dance theater work devised by Lucky Plush, premiering in Steppenwolf’s new 1700 Theatre. 

Rooming House is presented as part of Steppenwolf’s LookOut Series November 4-18, 2017 with 12 performances over a three-week run.

Here at ChiIL Live Shows we've adored Lucky Plush for years. We're also huge fans of Leslie Buxbaum Danzig and have covered her excellent work with 500 Clown, Actors Gymnasium, Chicago Children's Theatre and more. We can't wait to see their next new thing, Rooming House, in one of our favorite new spaces, Steppenwolf’s 80 seat, 1700 Theatre! The world needs more joy right now and I have a feeling Lucky Plush is about to bring it.

Rooming House is co-created by founder and artistic director Julia Rhoads and collaborating director Leslie Buxbaum Danzig (formerly of 500 Clown). Playful and personal, the work synthesizes contemporary dance and theater to create a dynamic blueprint for exploring the question: what makes a person do something that could have life changing consequences?

Rooming House begins with an intimate conversation among friends, slipping easily between Spanish and English, as they recall stories of people who’ve taken actions with potentially devastating costs. When the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice is mentioned, varied interpretations propel the group into a physically and psychologically complex game of whodunit, taking them down a rabbit hole into the lives of everyday people who do extraordinary things—from life endangering rescues, to defecting from Cuba, to letting go of someone you love. 



Rooming House in the studio! from Lucky Plush Productions on Vimeo.

In Rooming House, the myth and game structure offer familiar anchors that allow the audience to form expectations, which then can be broken as performers follow their idiosyncratic preoccupations and wrestle with the conditions of the performance – often being a source of comedy and delight for the audience.

“Lucky Plush Productions deeply values creating a welcoming relationship between stage and audience, delivering relatable content without compromising complexity. Steppenwolf’s 1700 Theatre is an ideal venue to create this intimate relationship, and we are incredibly excited to being one of the first dance events on its intimate stage as part of Steppenwolf’s LookOut series,” said Lucky Plush Artistic Director and Rooming House co-creator Julia Rhoads.



“Lucky Plush also values laughter and finds that it functions as an important release, a non-precious way to tackle difficult issues and a generator of excellent energy between performers and audience,” added Rhoads’s frequent collaborator Leslie Buxbaum Danzig.

(From left) Lucky Plush dancers Meghann Wilkinson, Rodolfo Sánchez Sarracino, Elizabeth Luse and Aaron R. White perform a sneak-peek scene of Rooming House at the company’s Plucky Lush benefit in May, 2017. Photo credit: Philamonjaro

Previews of Rooming House are Saturday, November 4 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, November 5 at 4 p.m. Press openings are Monday, November 6 at 7:30 p.m. and Thursday, November 9 at 8 p.m. Performances run through November 18: Thursday-Saturday at 8 p.m.; Sunday at 4 p.m. There is an Industry Night performance on Monday, November 13 at 7:30 p.m. and an added performance, Wednesday, November 15 at 8 p.m.

Tickets are $15-$40. Student tickets are $15. Industry tickets are $20 (Monday, November 13 only). Previews are $30. Seniors 62+ and active military tickets are $30. Regular performances are $40. Steppenwolf Red and Black Card holders may use their cards as per Steppenwolf policies. 

For tickets and information, visit Steppenwolf.org, LuckyPlush.com or call (312) 335-1650.

(From left) Lucky Plush dancers Meghann Wilkinson, Elizabeth Luse, Rodolfo Sánchez Sarracino, Aaron R. White, Michel Rodriguez Cintra and Kara Brody.

Photo credit: Philamonjaro

The 1700 Theatre, 1700 N. Halsted St., Chicago, is Steppenwolf’s casual, intimate and flexible 80-seat space dedicated to showcasing the work of its ensemble and local companies like Lucky Plush. It is located immediately behind Front Bar: Coffee and Drinks, the company’s 2,500 square ft. café & bar.

The debut of Rooming House at Steppenwolf’s 1700 Theatre is part of LookOut, Steppenwolf’s new multi-genre performance series, presenting a wide variety of genres and shows, from dance to live music to spoken word and beyond, from a diverse array of voices, emerging and established alike. For more information, visit Steppenwolf.com/lookout.

Rooming House features Lucky Plush ensemble members Kara Brody, Michel Rodriguez Cintra, Elizabeth Luse, Rodolfo Sánchez Sarracino, Aaron R. White and Meghann Wilkinson. Original music is by Michael Caskey. Lighting design by Alexander Ridgers.

Rooming House received presentation support from Steppenwolf Theatre Company and The Yard (Martha’s Vineyard, MA); production residency support from Door Kinetic Festival (Bailey’s Harbor, WI), NC State LIVE (Raleigh, NC); seminar support from University of Chicago’s Center for Theater and Performance Studies; and project grants from National Endowment for the Arts, MacArthur International Connections Fund, Network of Ensemble Theaters and the Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation.



Julia Rhoads is the founding artistic director of Lucky Plush Productions. She has created more than 25 original works for Lucky Plush, several of which have toured extensively throughout the U.S. Additional choreography credits include Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Steppenwolf Theatre, Lookingglass Theatre, Walkabout Theater, Redmoon and River North Dance Chicago, among others. Rhoads is the recipient of an Alpert Award in Dance, a fellowship from the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography, a Chicago Dancemakers Forum lab award, a Cliff Dwellers Foundation choreography award, two Illinois Arts Council choreography fellowships, a Jacob K. Javits fellowship for graduate studies, and a 2014 Fractured Atlas Arts Entrepreneurship Award for spearheading Creative Partners, an innovative nonprofit financial model shared by Lucky Plush Productions, Eighth Blackbird and Blair Thomas & Company. Rhoads is a former member of San Francisco Ballet and ensemble member of XSIGHT! Performance Group. She received her BA in History from Northwestern University, her MFA in Performance from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and she has taught in the dance and theater programs of several Chicago-area colleges and universities. She is currently a part-time lecturer and dance advisor at the University of Chicago’s Department of Theater and Performance Studies.

 

Leslie Buxbaum Danzig is a collaborating director with Julia Rhoads/Lucky Plush Productions, where she co-created The Better Half and The Queue and is currently working on Rooming House. For over a decade, Danzig was co-founder and resident director of the Chicago-based physical theater company 500 Clown, whose shows (Macbeth, Frankenstein, Christmas and Elephant Deal) performed in Chicago at venues including Steppenwolf Theatre Company and Lookingglass Theatre, and toured throughout the U.S. Other directing credits include Quest at The Actors Gymnasium; Wild Sound, composed by Wilco’s Glenn Kotche for Third Coast Percussion, with performances at MCA Chicago, Metropolitan Museum of Art (NYC), National Forum of Music (Wroclaw), and De Doelen (Rotterdam); Damon Kiely's The Revel with the House Theatre; Redmoon's The Elephant and the Whale with Chicago Children's Theater (with Frank Maugeri); Redmoon’s Hunchback at New Victory Theater (NYC); and Float with About Face Theater. Prior to turning to directing, she toured nationally and internationally as an actor with NYC’s Elevator Repair Service. Danzig is Assistant Professor of Practice in Theater and Performance Studies, University of Chicago. She received her BA from Brown University and PhD in Performance Studies from Northwestern University, and trained in physical theater at Écoles Jacques Lecoq and Philippe Gaulier. Upcoming projects include creating an original circus-theater production and stage directing Paddle to the Sea with Third Coast Percussion.

About Lucky Plush Productions

Now entering its 18th season, Lucky Plush Productions (LuckyPlush.com) is a Chicago-based dance theater company led by founder and artistic director Julia Rhoads. Lucky Plush is committed to provoking and supporting an immediacy of presence – a palpable liveness – shared by performers in real-time with audiences. A unique hybrid of high-level dance and theater, Lucky Plush’s work is well-known for carefully crafting dramatic and rhythmic arcs, pushing its artists to move beyond the predictable by earning the exciting slippage between – and surprising coherence of – pedestrian action, realistic dialogue, abstract choreography and humor. Though rigorously composed, much of the company’s work feels like it is generated spontaneously.

Since its founding in 2000, Lucky Plush has created 30 original dance-theater works including 12 evening-length productions. In addition to regularly performing in Chicago, the company has presented in over 40 US cities from Maine to Hawaii, and its international partners span from New Zealand to Cuba. Commissioners include the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, Krannert Center at the University of Illinois, Flynn Center for the Performing Arts (VT), Links Hall Chicago, Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center (MD) and Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. Lucky Plush has also collaborated with Lookingglass Theatre, Redmoon, Walkabout Theater and M5.

Lucky Plush Productions is the first and only dance company to receive the prestigious MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions, a recognition of the company’s exceptional creativity and impact. Other awards include creation, residency, and touring awards from National Endowment for the Arts, National Dance Project, and National Performance Network; exchange awards from the MacArthur Foundation International Connections Fund; a presentation award from MetLife Foundation; and an achievement award from the Lester and Hope Abelson Fund for the Performing Arts at The Chicago Community Trust.

Press features include the Boston Globe's "10 Best Dance Performances of 2013," Chicago Public Radio's "Best of 2011"; the Chicago Reader's "Best of Chicago 2010"; Time Out Chicago's "The Decade's 10 Best Original Dance Works"; the Chicago Tribune's "Best of Dance 2008"; Chicago Sun Times' "Lasting memories in Dance" for 2005 and 2007, and a Time Out Chicago cover story "5 reasons to love dance in Chicago," among others. 

Lucky Plush managing director Kim Goldman works in tandem with artistic director Julia Rhoads to carry out the company’s mission. The current ensemble includes Kara Brody, Michel Rodriguez Cintra, Elizabeth Luse, Rodolfo Sánchez Sarracino, Aaron R. White and Meghann Wilkinson. 

SAVE THE DATES: Underscore Theatre Company's 2017-18 Season To Include a World Premiere, an Acclaimed Return and a 4th Festival

Chi, IL LIVE Shows On Our Radar:

CARRIE 2: THE RAGE, HAYMARKET: THE ANARCHIST’S SONGBOOK, and THE 4th annual

CHICAGO MUSICAL THEATRE FESTIVAL

(left to right) Victoria Olivier, Khaki Pixley, Royen Kent (center) Summer Hofford, David Kaplinsky, Tyler Merle Thompson and Mike Mazzocca in Underscore Theatre Company’s 2016 world premiere of HAYMARKET: THE ANARCHIST’S SONGBOOK. Photo by Evan Hanover.

(from Underscore’s original production of HAYMARKET)

Mark your calendars now. Underscore Theatre Company is at again, exploring stories of power and resonance through a musical lens. Here at ChiIL Live Shows we're eager to catch their campy CARRIE 2: THE RAGE world premiere, their remount of acclaimed HAYMARKET: THE ANARCHIST’S SONGBOOK, and their 4th CHICAGO MUSICAL THEATRE FESTIVAL. Check out the details below. Since its creation, Underscore has produced 46 new musicals in Chicago! 

Underscore Theatre Company is pleased to announce its full 2017-18 Season, kicking off this fall with CARRIE 2: THE RAGE (An Unauthorized Musical Parody), an irreverent, rock-infused send-up of Stephen King’s iconic horror film Carrie and its subsequent spin-off The Rage: Carrie 2, featuring a book, music and lyrics by Preston M. Allen. Co-directed by Isaac Loomer and Rachel Elise Johnson, with music direction by T.J. Anderson, CARRIE 2: THE RAGE will play October 13 – November 19, 2017 at The Arkham, 4609 N Clark St. in Chicago. Tickets on sale now at underscoretheatre.org.

This winter, Underscore is pleased to present its 4th annual CHICAGO MUSICAL THEATRE FESTIVAL, created to showcase and support the growing field of musical theatre creators from Chicago and beyond. After receiving more than 50 submissions, Underscore has chosen eight new musicals for this year’s Festival to be presented in full productions (full line-up below), plus several additional workshop productions. For 2018, the Festival moves to the Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave. in Chicago.


(front, center) LaKecia Harris with (left to right) Tyler Merle Thompson, David Kaplinsky, Victoria Olivier, Khaki Pixley and Summer Hofford in Underscore Theatre Company’s 2016 world premiere of HAYMARKET: THE ANARCHIST’S SONGBOOK. Photo by Evan Hanover.

Underscore’s 2017-18 Season will conclude next spring with a revival of its Jeff Award-nominated Best New Musical HAYMARKET: THE ANARCHIST’S SONGBOOK, the true story of Chicago’s infamous Haymarket massacre. With a book and lyrics by Alex Higgin-Houser and music by David Kornfeld, the actors accompany themselves to the stirring folk-infused score. Following a series of workshops in New York and Chicago, HAYMARKET will return with an updated book, new music and songs. Venue to be announced.


(front, center) LaKecia Harris with (left to right) Khaki Pixley, Mike Mazzocca, Victoria Olivier, David Kaplinsky, Summer Hofford and James Smart in Underscore Theatre Company’s 2016 world premiere of HAYMARKET: THE ANARCHIST’S SONGBOOK. Photo by Evan Hanover.

"As Chicago's only company dedicated exclusively to developing new musicals and to growing the Chicago new musicals community, we're thrilled to enter a phase where we're able to announce a full season, especially a season that covers such a wide range of what new musicals can be," remarked Underscore Artistic Director Alex Higgin-Houser. "With a musical parody in Carrie 2, a new genre for us, the revival of our biggest hit to-date in Haymarket, and eight exciting new works with this year's Chicago Musical Theatre Festival, we're doing our level best to broaden the playing field for new musicals in the city. It's incredibly exciting."

Underscore Theatre Company’s 2017-18 Season Includes:

October 13 – November 19, 2017 
CARRIE 2: THE RAGE (An Unauthorized Musical Parody)
Book, Musics and Lyrics by Preston M. Allen
Co-Directed by Isaac Loomer and Rachel Elise Johnson
Music Direction by T.J. Anderson
at The Arkham, 4609 N Clark St., Chicago



More than a decade after Carrie White burned her high school to the ground with her mind, goth teenager Rachel Lang has her own issues to deal with, and Sue Snell, Carrie’s former classmate and Rachel’s guidance counselor, must grapple with surprising similarities between the two outcasts before history repeats itself. Framed as a backer’s auction for a ridiculously ambitious Broadway production, this irreverent meta-musical pokes fun at the entire “Carrie” canon through a punchy, rock-infused score.




February 2018
The 4th annual CHICAGO MUSICAL THEATRE FESTIVAL
at Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave. in Chicago

The full line-up includes:

THE BUTCHER'S SON
Book, Music & Lyrics by Vi Nhan H. Tran

Born in Vietnam and raised in southwestern Kansas, Vi Nhan H. Tran is torn between the mysterious secrets of his heritage and the waving wheat fields of his adopted home. A poignant and humorous folk musical memoir, The Butcher’s Son chronicles the Tran family’s escape from Vietnam, imprisonment by the Khmer Rouge and resettlement in the cattle country of America. Tran weaves a thrilling refugee story and All-American tale of how family stories become family lore and where one family's search for a home ends.

GRINDR The Opera
Book, Music and Lyrics by Erik Ransom

Four gay men, seeking different types of connection, intersect to hilarious and calamitous results in this sung-through musical parody that puts the notorious gay hook-up app into the exaggerated world of opera. With musical styles ranging from contemporary pop to baroque, GRINDR The Opera is a daring, humorous look at the changing landscape of gay relationships, and the greatest catalyst for the shift: GRINDR.

PERFECTLY VICTORIAN
Book and Lyrics by Bryan Adam and Matthew Kelly, Music by Bryan Adam

When submissive Lady Sterling encounters one of her sexologist husband Dr. Wood Sterling’s newest patients, a demur man who wishes more than anything else to be a woman, she finds herself actively challenging the rigid roles prescribed by Victorian virtue. Within time, she meets all of Sterling’s patients and encourages them to pursue their diverse sexual identities. What follows is a heartfelt and hilarious challenge to Victorian principles, with Lady impersonating an esteemed French doctor and organizing a bordello pairing patients with the wives of her husband’s cheating colleagues, all in an effort to challenge the painful double standards of the time. 

IRON IRENE: A MUSICAL FABLE
Book by Liz Falstreau, Lyrics by Liz Falstreau and Ashley Flanagan, Music by Ashley Flanagan

Set during the years following the American Civil War, Iron Irene tells the story of two sisters and their fight for family, equality and a better world. Upon the death of their parents, Cassie DeLanie is sent from her home in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to live in southwestern Wyoming with her sister, Irene. Together, the sisters must learn to adjust to this new world while still attempting to maintain the beliefs and identities of their childhood. Their adventures will lead them to Wyoming’s shining moment: being the first U.S. territory to grant women’s suffrage.

LIBERATORS: AN AMERICAN MUSICAL
Book and Lyrics by Eric C. Jones, Music by Alex Winkler and Bradley Dean Whyte

A powerful rock musical about forgiveness, restoration, the power of friendship and what it means to be a family. This moving tale intersects and moves back and forth throughout 70 years and tells the story through the viewpoints of three unlikely men from different religious and ethnic backgrounds who are connected through a priceless family heirloom: a gold pocket watch. From the start of WWII to post-911 America, the lives of these characters will forever be changed during the historic liberation of Buchenwald and Dachau. Liberators: An American Musical encourages you to believe that even the most unlikely person can make a difference.

MUSICAL THERAPY
Music and Lyrics by Joey Katsiroubas, Book by Dan Hass

Theresa is a young, single couples’ counselor in Chicago. While she’s great (well, okay) at keeping couples together, she can’t seem to lock down a guy for herself. And the fact that she tends to get attached (well, neurotic) after just one date doesn’t help either. Cut to Mr. Wonderful moving into the office next door: beautiful, bulgy-biceped Will. It’s obsession at first sight, and no obstacle or girlfriend is going to keep Theresa from being with him. She’ll ruin relationships, sabotage dates, push people out of the closet – mixing and matching her clients until it’s just Wonderful and her. Forever. And ever. 

THE BALLAD OF LEFTY & CRABBE
Book by Brian Huther, Ben Auxier and Seth Macchi, Music and Lyrics by Ben Auxier and Brian Huther, Arrangements by Ryan McCall

Set in the 1920s during the decline of Vaudeville and the rise of Hollywood, The Ballad of Lefty & Crabbe tracks the journey of an ultra-sharp but down-on-their-luck comedy duo as they navigate the rapidly changing world of entertainment. With a cast of eight portraying nearly fifty characters, audiences will quickly lose themselves in this absurd and delightful comic world and leave with smiles on their faces.

“TRU” 
Book, Music, and Lyrics by David Gosz and Leo Fotos

Through intricate characters and intimate music, “TRU” paints a picture of how hauntingly beautiful life can be. “TRU” explores the joys and challenges of the many relationships that are formed throughout one’s life, testing the various forms of love – between a man and his father, between a granddaughter and her grandmother, between a woman and her art, between a student and his teacher, between a man and himself. Walking hand in hand with reality, “TRU” toes the line between what is unbelievable and what is true.

May 2018
HAYMARKET: THE ANARCHIST’S SONGBOOK
Book and Lyrics by Alex Higgin-Houser 
Music by David Kornfeld
Venue to be announced.

Underscore brings back its highly acclaimed Jeff Award-nominated “Best New Musical.” HAYMARKET: THE ANARCHIST’S SONGBOOK tells the Chicago story of the nation’s first Red Scare through the eyes of Lucy Parsons, daughter of a slave and widow of anarchist martyr Albert Parsons. On the last day of her life, and accompanied by the folk-music-playing ghosts of her past, Lucy revisits the Haymarket Affair and the unjust trial that followed it in an attempt to make peace with history. 

About the Artists

Preston M. Allen: Book, Music and Lyrics, CARRIE 2: THE RAGE (An Unauthorized Musical Parody) is a writer, composer, lyricist and bizarrely avid Carrie fan based in New York City. Their work has been featured at the New York Musical Festival, Musical Theatre Factory, Feinstein's/54 Below, Joe's Pub, Laurie Beechman Theatre, Signature Theatre, York Theatre ("Tune In Time" winner), Gallery Players and Second City Chicago. Preston conceived and wrote book, music and lyrics for We Are The Tigers, A New Musical (Hudson Backstage Theatre, L.A. Stage Alliance Ovation winner for Best Lyrics/Composition, nominee for Best Production and Music Direction), Remission (NYMF Developmental Reading Series), CARRIE  2: THE RAGE (An Unauthorized Musical Parody) (Feinstein's/54 Below) and My Gay Killer Husband: A Lifetime Original Musical (Boo Festival Award Winner). Additional projects include book/lyrics for Franklin Pierce: Dragon Slayer (composer Will Buck, Sound Bites 4.0 Selection), music/lyrics for Bradical and the Pink Socks (Diverging Elements), music/lyrics for The Hunted: Encore (LA Webfest Outstanding Score), book/music/lyrics for The Untitled Agent 355 Project with collaborator Jessica Kahkoska (Marion International Fellowship Recipient) and a collaboration with composer/lyricist Rob Rokicki. Preston is a graduate of the Second City Chicago Comedy Studies Program and alum of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop.

Isaac Loomer: Co-Director, CARRIE 2: THE RAGE (An Unauthorized Musical Parody) Originally from MN, he is excited to be putting on his director hat with long time friend Rachel Johnson for the first time since moving to Chicago. He has been obsessed with musical theatre for as far back as he can remember and is thrilled to be working on the world premiere of The Rage: Carrie 2. One of the the things that drew him to the project is a love of the famously flopped musical version of Carrie, and after reading the script to The Rage knew that it would succeed where it's predecessor had failed. It's a show that relishes in the Carrie-verse's successes and flops while still maintaining a clear relevant message for any era.

Rachel Elise Johnson: Co-Director, CARRIE 2: THE RAGE (An Unauthorized Musical Parody) – most recently assistant directed Underscore’s world premiere of My Name is Annie King. She also serves as Underscore’s Company Manager and has been performing in the Chicago theatre community since moving here from California.

T.J. Anderson: Music Director, CARRIE 2: THE RAGE (An Unauthorized Musical Parody) Recent music direction credits include Shockheaded Peter (Black Button Eyes Productions), Now. Here. This., [title of show], A New Brain (Brown Paper Box Co.) and Borderlands (Underscore Theatre Company). He has also recently been seen onstage as an actor in productions with Brown Paper Box Co., City Lit Theater Company and 20% Theater Company. T.J. is an artistic associate with Brown Paper Box Co. and a trumpet player throughout the city.

Alex Higgin-Houser: Book and Lyrics, Haymarket: The Anarchist’s Songbook – is a director, librettist and arts administrator based out of Chicago. As Artistic Director and founding ensemble member of Underscore Theatre Company, Alex has most recently produced My Name is Annie King (2017, Director) Tonya and Nancy: The Rock Opera (2016, Producer), Haymarket: The Anarchist's Songbook (Jeff Nominee, Best New Musical; 2016, Creator, Book/Lyrics) The Story of a Story: The Untold Story (Jeff Nominee, Best New Work; 2015, Producer), Borderlands (2015, Director) and the Chicago Musical Theatre Festival (2014 - 2016, Festival Director). Altogether, with Underscore Theatre Company, Alex has produced or co-produced nearly 50 musicals in the Chicago storefront arena. Alongside regular collaborators Laura Stratford, David Kornfeld and Brendan Siegfried, Alex has authored or co-authored six world-premiere musicals, most recently Numbers Nerds at the New York Musicals Festival (2017, Lyrics).

David Kornfeld: Music, Haymarket: The Anarchist’s Songbook – received his BA in composition from Carleton College and is currently pursuing his MFA in Musical Theatre Writing at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. His musicals include Haymarket: the Anarchist’s Songbook (Jeff Nominated: Best New Work), Liberal Arts: the Musical!, Grounds: a Fresh-Brewed Musical, Pr0ne: a Hardcore, Amateur Musical, and Numbers Nerds, which premiered this summer at NYMF. His Chicago collaborations include Loyola University, Open Door Rep, Li'l Buds Theatre Company, Theatre-Hikes, The Cabaret Project, Stone Soup, Chicago Mammals, CPA Theatricals, Whiskey Wry, weAre Productions, comedienne Brittny Congleton, the Hip Young Gunslingers Big Band, and many more. He is a co-founder of Underscore Theatre. www.davidkornfeld.com

About Underscore Theatre Company 
Founded in 2011, Underscore Theatre Company is a team of producing artists dedicated to exploring stories of power and resonance through a musical lens; fostering the development of new musicals; and bolstering Chicago’s role as a national leader in musical theatre. Since its creation, Underscore has produced 46 new musicals in Chicago. Underscore is proud to be Chicago's home for new musicals.

New Name, Same Hamilton: Introducing Broadway In Chicago’s newly named CIBC Theatre

Where the heck is Chicago's CIBC Theatre? Never heard of it? We're here to help. One of the joys of corporate naming, especially theaters named for banks, is that we never have time to tire of an old moniker, before a merger or acquisition changes things up. Yes, Hamilton continues, and the songs remain the same. Only the theatre's changed names. Don't freak out if your tickets say The PrivateBank Theatre either. They're perfectly valid for the newly named CIBC Theatre.



Broadway In Chicago announced that The PrivateBank Theatre at 18 W. Monroe will have a new name and Marquee as the CIBC Theatre. This represents The PrivateBank name change to CIBC under a unified brand globally following their June acquisition.

Lou Raizin, President of Broadway In Chicago said, “We are happy that CIBC will continue to support Broadway In Chicago's mission to attract the best shows like HAMILTON.  Their sponsorship of the CIBC Theatre represents a commitment to Chicago and its vibrant theatre community."

“We are proud to show our commitment to a strong and vibrant Chicago with our continued sponsorship of Broadway In Chicago and the CIBC Theatre.  We also are excited that, through this partnership, we are able to continue to provide arts education opportunities for students throughout Chicagoland," said Larry D. Richman, Senior Executive Vice-President and Group Head, CIBC U.S. Region and President and CEO, CIBC Bank USA.

ABOUT CIBC
CIBC is a leading Canadian-based global financial institution with 11 million personal banking, business, public sector and institutional clients. Across Personal and Small Business Banking, Commercial Banking and Wealth Management, and Capital Markets businesses, CIBC offers a full range of advice, solutions and services through its leading digital banking network, and locations across Canada, in the United States and around the world.  Ongoing news releases and more information about CIBC can be found at www.cibc.com/ca/media-centre.

ABOUT BROADWAY IN CHICAGO
Broadway In Chicago was created in July 2000 and over the past 17 years has grown to be one of the largest commercial touring homes in the country.  A Nederlander Presentation, Broadway In Chicago lights up the Chicago Theatre District entertaining up to 1.7 million people annually in five theatres. Broadway In Chicago presents a full range of entertainment, including musicals and plays, on the stages of five of the finest theatres in Chicago’s Loop including the Cadillac Palace Theatre, CIBC Theatre, Oriental Theatre, and just off the Magnificent Mile, the Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place as well as presenting Broadway shows at The Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University.  For more information, visit www.BroadwayInChicago.com.

 Facebook @BroadwayInChicago ● Twitter @broadwaychicago ● Instagram @broadwayinchicago ● #broadwayinchicago

Midwest Premiere of FOXFINDER Via Interrobang Theatre Project At The Athenaeum Theatre Through 11/5

Chi, IL LIVE Shows On Our Radar:

Midwest Premiere!

Interrobang Theatre Project Presents

FOXFINDER

By Dawn King

Directed by Margaret Knapp

September 28 – November 5, 2017 at The Athenaeum Theatre

(left to right) Jack Olin, Alexandra Fisher and David Anthony Marshall in Interrobang Theatre Project's Midwest premiere of FOXFINDER. Photo by Emily Schwartz.

Interrobang Theatre Project launches its 2017-18 Season, exploring the urgent question “What is Truth?,” with the Midwest premiere of Dawn King's darkly comic and politically relevant British drama FOXFINDER, directed by Literary Manager Margaret Knapp. FOXFINDER will play September 28 – November 5, 2017 at The Athenaeum Theatre (Studio 2), 2936 N. Southport Ave. in Chicago. Tickets are currently available at www.interrobangtheatre.org, by calling (773) 935-6875 or in person at The Athenaeum Theatre Box Office. 

FOXFINDER features Alexandra Fisher, David Anthony Marshall, Jack Olin and Alanna Rogers.

In the not so distant future, the economy is failing, food is scarce and paranoia is in the air. Samuel and Judith Covey live in rural England, maintaining their government-controlled farm – in constant fear of losing it all. After an anonymous tip, William Bloor, a "Foxfinder," arrives to investigate a suspected contamination, threatening to uncover secrets of desire and regret that will change all of their lives forever. 

Comments Director Margaret Knapp, "Although it flirts with thematic elements like the examination of a police state in today's society, the effects of global warming, and religious zealotism, at it's core Foxfinder is about the battle against the forces of nature, both external and internal, and how when these forces threaten to overwhelm us, we look for someone, or something, to blame."

The production team for FOXFINDER includes: Eric Luchen (scenic design), Melissa Perkins (costume design), John Kelly (lighting design), Jesse Case (sound design), Pauline Oleksy (properties design) Georgette Verdin* (asst. director), Claire Yearman* (fight choreographer), Lindsay Bartlett (dialect coach) and Victoria Bustoz (stage manager).

*Denotes Interrobang Theatre Project Company Member. 

(left to right) Jack Olin, David Anthony Marshall and Alexandra Fisher 
Photo by Emily Schwartz.

Location: The Athenaeum Theatre (Studio 2), 2936 N. Southport Ave., Chicago

Regular run: Thursday, October 5 – Sunday, November 5, 2017
Curtain Times: Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm; Sundays at 2 pm. 

Tickets: Previews: September 28: pay-what-you can, October 1: $17. Regular run: $32; Students $17 (with ID), Seniors $17. (Ticket prices include $2 Athenaeum Theatre restoration fee). 


Tickets are currently available at www.interrobangtheatre.org, by calling (773) 935-6875 or in person at The Athenaeum Theatre Box Office.

About the Creative Team

Dawn King (Playwright) is an award-winning writer working in theatre, film, TV and radio. Currently, Dawn is working on two plays; The Light and Salt, which is a commission from the National Theatre and will be performed by youth theatre groups around the country in 2018. She is also adapting her stage play Ciphers into a screenplay for Cowboy Films. Ciphers made the Brit List of the best ‘yet to shoot’ screenplays as selected by the UK film industry in 2016. Dawn is also redrafting the blacklisted screenplay Randle is Benign for Echo Lake Productions in the U.S. Dawn’s previous work for the stage includes; an adaptation of Aldous Huxley’s novel Brave New World, a co-production between the Royal and Derngate, Northampton and the Touring Consortium which toured the UK in 2014; Ciphers, a co-production between Out of Joint, Exeter Nothcott and The Bush Theatre which toured the UK in 2013/2014; and Foxfinder, produced by Papatango Theatre Company at The Finborough in 2011. Foxfinder won the Royal National Theatre Foundation Playwright Award 2013, the Papatango New Writing Competition 2011 and Most Promising Playwright, Off West End awards 2012. Dawn’s short film The Kármán Line won 17 awards including the BIFA for Best Short and was BAFTA nominated in 2014.

Margaret Knapp (Director) is new to the Interrobang Theatre Project family and is happy to be working as the Literary Manager for the company, as well as directing her first ITP production. A proud Equity actor since 1992, Margaret has acted at various theaters in the Midwest such as the Apollo here in Chicago, Drury Lane-Oakbrook, The Unicorn Theater and Kansas City Rep in Kansas City, MO and The Human Race Theater in Dayton, OH. Her directing credits include: Uncle Vanya, Honey Brown Eyes, The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow, Rhinoceros, Museum by Tina Howe and The Eight: Reindeer Monologues starring TV and film actor Richard Kind. A graduate of UW-Madison (BA in Communications) and UMKC (MFA in Acting/Directing), Margaret also teaches Speech, Acting and Comparative Literature at various colleges in Illinois.

(left to right) Jack Olin and Alexandra Fisher in Interrobang Theatre Project's Midwest premiere of FOXFINDER. Photo by Emily Schwartz.

About Interrobang Theatre Project

Now in its eighth season, Interrobang Theatre Project, under the artistic leadership of Georgette Verdin and James Yost, has been hailed by the Chicago Tribune as a “company to watch” and by Time Out Chicago as “one of Chicago’s most promising young theatre companies.” Season seven earned seven non-Equity Jeff Nominations, including Best Director, Production of a Play, Solo Performance and acting nominations for Lead Actor, Actress and Actor in a Supporting Role. Productions have included the world premiere of Calamity West’s Ibsen is Dead (Jeff Recommended), and the Jeff Recommended The Pitchfork Disney, Orange Flower Water, Recent Tragic Events, The Amish Project, The North Pool, and Falling. Director James Yost’s critically-acclaimed Really Really was one of six shows chosen for Chicago Tribune’s list "Best of 2015 in Chicago Fringe Theater.”

What’s an interrobang?
An interrobang is the combination of a question mark and an exclamation point, joining the Latin for “question” (interro) with a proofreading term for “exclamation” (bang). Through the plays we produce, Interrobang Theatre Project aims to pose worthwhile and exciting questions which challenge our understanding and assumptions of who we are and the world in which we live. 

For more information, please visit www.interrobangtheatreproject.org.