THE GOLDEN GIRLS – THE LOST EPISODES THE HOLIDAY EDITION Through 1/10/2018

Chi, IL LIVE Shows On Our Radar:

Returning to Andersonville!

Hell in a Handbag Productions’ Hit World Premiere

THE GOLDEN GIRLS – THE LOST EPISODES

THE HOLIDAY EDITION

By David Cerda

Directed by Shade Murray, AJ Wright and David Lipschutz

Extended Again!

Through January 10, 2018 at Mary’s Attic

Break out the cheesecake and eggnog – Chicago’s favorite gals are headed back to Andersonville for the holidays, where it all began! Following an 18-week sell-out run, including six-weeks at Lakeview’s Stage 773, Hell in a Handbag Productions' campy world premiere parody THE GOLDEN GIRLS – THE LOST EPISODES will return to Mary’s Attic (5400 N. Clark St., Chicago) for six additional performances from December 6, 2017 – January 10, 2018. Written by David Cerda and directed by Shade Murray, AJ Wright and David Lipschutz, the campy parody of one of TV's most beloved sitcoms will feature the best of the original run – plus a new holiday-themed episode! THE GOLDEN GIRLS will run in conjunction with the return of Handbag’s holiday favorite RUDOLPH THE RED-HOSED REINDEER. Tickets for both productions are currently available at www.handbagproductions.org or by calling (800) 838-3006.  

Enjoy lost, never-before-seen episodes of The Golden Girls featuring Dorothy, Rose, Blanche, Sophia and all of the siblings, daughters, sons, characters and rare diseases that were mentioned once, but never again. The production also features The Golden Girls trivia and games to help fully embrace the Miami experience. 

THE GOLDEN GIRLS – THE LOST EPISODES will feature original cast members David Cerda as the forthright Dorothy, Ed Jones as the sweet airheaded Rose and Adrian Hadlock as the sharp tongued Sophia with newcomer Grant Drager as the lusty Blanche. The cast also includes Chazie Bly, Robert Williams and Michael Miller.

In keeping with the Handbag tradition, THE GOLDEN GIRLS – THE LOST EPISODES is an original parody of the beloved show. Our Golden Girls find themselves in situations never before seen on television – that’s why they’re lost episodes! Watch the girls band together as Rose struggles with a debilitating malady that threatens to tear them apart. See what happens when Blanche has a hot and steamy encounter with a jazzercise instructor. The holiday edition features a new episode where Rose meets Santa Claus.

The production team for THE GOLDEN GIRLS – THE LOST EPISODES includes: Roger Wykes (set design), Myron Elliot (costume design), Cat Wilson (lighting design), Sydney Genco (make-up design), Mealah Heidenreich and Adrian Hadlock.

Location: Mary’s Attic, 5400 N. Clark St., Chicago
Dates: Wednesday, December 6, Monday, December 18, Tuesday, December 19, Wednesday, December 27, Wednesday, January 3 and Wednesday January 10
Curtain times: 7:30 pm
Tickets: $25. VIP seats $35-$80. Group rates $21 for 10 or more. Ticket are currently available at or www.handbagproductions.org, or by calling (800) 838-3006.

About the Creative Team
 David Cerda (Playwright) is the co-founder and Artistic Director of Hell in a Handbag Productions. He has written and appeared in POSEIDON!  An Upside Down Musical, The Birds, Rudolph the Red-Hosed Reindeer, SCARRIE The Musical, Caged Dames, Lady X, How Whatever Happened to Baby Jane Happened, TROGG! A Rock and Roll Musical, Christmas Dearest, Scream, Queen! SCREAM!, The Rip Nelson Halloween Spooktacular , Sexy Baby and most recently the Jeff recommended Lady X The Musical. His plays have been produced around the country. He has also worked as a songwriter/lyricist with Amazon Films on an animated project and as an actor with various theater companies throughout the city of Chicago. Cerda was recently inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame for his contributions to Chicago theatre.

Shade Murray (Co-Director) is happy to be back at Hell In A Handbag, where he directed The Divine Sister. He is an ensemble member of A Red Orchid Theater, where he has directed the world premieres of Brett Neveu’s Pilgrim’s Progress and Ike Holter’s Sender, as well as productions of David Adjmi's 3C, Marisa Wegrzyn’s Mud Blue Sky and The Butcher of Baraboo, Annie Baker’s The Aliens, Nick Jones’ Trevor, Mike Leigh’s Abigail’s Party and Kimberly Akimbo by David Lindsay-Abaire. He also performed in the A Red Orchid production of The Mutilated. Other directing credits include Steppenwolf Theatre Company, The House Theater, Steep Theater, Second City, Writers’ Theater and elsewhere. Shade is a lecturer at University of Chicago and teaches at DePaul University and Actors’ Studio Chicago.

AJ Wright (Co-Director) is a graduate of Ball State University and proud ensemble member with Hell in a Handbag Productions where he also serves as Production Manager. Directing credits include:  The Golden Girls: The Lost Episodes (Late Night Edition), Caged Dames (Jeff Recommended), Christmas Dearest (Jeff Recommended), and Rudolph the Red-Hosed Reindeer (2011, 2012 & 2017). As an actor, he has been seen in Bewildered (Darrin G), The Golden Girls: The Lost Episodes (Blanche), Rip Nelson’s Holiday Spectacular (Peggy Lennon), Sexy Baby (Kyle Kennedy) and SCARRIE (Tommy Ross). AJ is also a member of the Jeff Committee and had the pleasure of writing and assistant directing the 44th Annual Non-Equity Joseph Jefferson Awards and looks forward to writing the 45th Annual ceremony in 2017. 

David Lipschutz (Co-Director) is a proud company member, he has worked on nearly twenty Handbag productions. David previously directed the staged reading of Psycho Beach Party and assistant directed Miracle and Christmas Dearest. He has also directed/assistant directed with Underscore Theatre, Runaways Lab Theatre, Generic Theatre Company and BPB Co. (company member), where he will be directing the upcoming production of Speech & Debate. 

About Hell in a Handbag Productions
Hell in a Handbag is dedicated to the preservation, exploration, and celebration of works ingrained in the realm of popular culture via theatrical  productions through parody, music and homage. Handbag is a 501(c)(3) Not for Profit.

For additional information, visit www.handbagproductions.org.

OPENING: The Second City's She the People Is Back at Up Comedy Club 1/11-4/1/18

The Second City presents the return of

The Second City’s She the People: 

Girlfriends’ Guide to Sisters 

Doing it for Themselves

The hit sketch show is back to take on women’s issues with wit and wisdom

January 11 – April 1, 2018

*Run Time: 100 minutes (2 Acts with a brief intermission)**

Here at ChiIL Live Shows, we love sketch comedy and funny women. Can't wait to catch this remount of The Second City’s hit, She The People.

Back by popular demand, The Second City’s She the People: Girlfriends’ Guide to Sisters Doing It for Themselves, a sketch show created, designed and performed entirely by the women of Second City, returns to the stage in 2018. Under the direction of Carly Heffernan with musical direction by Mary Mahoney, She the People runs January 11 – April 1, 2018, in The Second City’s UP Comedy Club. Tickets start at $26 and can be purchased at the box office, by phone at (312) 662-4562 or online at www.secondcity.com. UP Comedy Club is located on the 3rd Floor of Piper’s Alley at 230 W North Ave, Chicago.

We’ll bet you 72 cents on the dollar (or much, much less!) you’ll cheer for the women of The Second City as they roast the patriarchy! This mimosa-and-madness-fueled foray takes on everything from having it all to having that sick feeling your government is trying to send you back to the Middle Ages. It’s time for women everywhere to collectively reclaim comedy!

She the People is written by Carisa Barreca, Marla Caceres, Carly Heffernan, Tien Tran and Lauren Walker. Casting will be announced at a later date. 

She the People plays on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm and Sundays at 7pm at UP Comedy Club, located at 230 W North Ave, 3rd Floor of Piper’s Alley, Chicago. Tickets, starting at $26, are available at the Second City Box Office (230 W. North Ave, First Floor, Piper's Alley), by phone at 312-337-3992 or online at www.secondcity.com.

About the Artists
CARLY HEFFERNAN (Director) is an award-winning alumna of The Second City Toronto, where she wrote and performed in four Mainstage revues. She recently co-wrote the hit show The Second City Guide to the Symphony and toured with it across Canada and the United States. She directed the critically acclaimed Second City Toronto Mainstage revue Come What Mayhem!, as well as The Second City Touring Company and several Norwegian Cruise Line shows. Carly currently writes for Second Jen (CityTV), The Irrelevant Show (CBC Radio) and Air Farce Canada 150 special (CBC).

MARY MAHONEY (Music Direction/ Sound Design) has worked as a Musical Director for sketch and improv comedy all over the continent while touring with Second City Theatricals aboard the Norwegian Dawn and The Second City Touring Company. A former music faculty member of Western Washington University, she is now a faculty member at The Second City Training Center.

ABBY BEGGS (Lighting Design) When she’s not in the booth at The Second City, she can be found stage managing, directing and composing music for theatre around town. Stage management credits include: L'enfant et les Sortilèges, L'incoronazione di Poppea (Roosevelt University), The Out of Tooners (Off-Color Theatre Company), Gallo (Guerilla Opera), Blue Window (Brown Box Theatre Project), The Scene, Good People and Barefoot in the Park (Dorset Theatre Festival), among others.

Tickets: Starting at $26
Groups of 16 visit the Group Events page for party package options.

Box Office: 230 W. North Ave, First Floor, Piper's Alley
phone at 312-337-3992 or online at www.secondcity.com.

About The Second City
Since opening its doors 1959, The Second City has grown to become the world’s premier comedy club, theater and school of improvisation, entertaining 1 million theatergoers a year around the globe. Alumni of The Second City’s resident stages, touring companies, and theatrical divisions include some of the biggest names in entertainment, and in addition to the sold-out shows playing nightly on resident stages in Chicago and Toronto, the comedy empire has staged productions with a wide range of illustrious creative partners and theatre companies, including the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Goodman Theatre, Center Theater Group Los Angeles, Portland Center Stage, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, La Jolla Playhouse, Woolly Mammoth Theatre, and even the Chicago Bulls.

OPENING: Chicago Premiere of NEVERMORE – The Imaginary Life and Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe at The Edge Theater Via Black Button Eyes 1/5-1/28/18

Chi, IL LIVE Shows On Our Radar:

Chicago Premiere!

Black Button Eyes Productions Presents

NEVERMORE – The Imaginary Life and 

Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe

Book, Music and Lyrics by Jonathan Christenson 

Directed by Ed Rutherford 

Music Direction by Nick Sula

Choreography by Derek Van Barham

January 5 – 28, 2018 at The Edge Theater

Following its hit production of SHOCKHEADED PETER, Black Button Eyes Productions is pleased to conclude its 2017-18 season with the Chicago premiere musical NEVERMORE – The Imaginary Life and Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe, the moving life story of the iconic American writer told through haunting music, poetic storytelling and stunning stagecraft, with book, music and lyrics by Jonathan Christenson. Directed by Producing Artistic Director Ed Rutherford, with music direction by Nick Sula and choreography by Derek Van Barham, NEVERMORE will play January 5 – 28, 2018 at The Edge Theater, 5451 N. Broadway in Chicago. Tickets are currently available at nevermorechicago.brownpapertickets.com. 

NEVERMORE features Kevin Webb as Edgar Allan Poe with Megan DeLay, Jessica Lauren Fisher, Ryan Lanning, Matt McNabb, Maiko Terazawa and Jeremy Trager.

Edgar Allan Poe’s life reads like one of his short stories: an unrelenting tale of misery and woe. His death is also shrouded in mystery. Was he just spectacularly unlucky, or did a supernatural shadow fall over his life? This Chicago premiere weaves fact and fiction into a tapestry of music and poetry.

The production team for NEVERMORE includes: Jeremy Hollis (scenic design, technical director) Beth Laske-Miller (costume design), Liz Cooper (lighting design), Robert Hornbostel (sound design), Catherine Woods (props design, puppet design) and Hazel McCabe-Flowers (stage manager).

Location: The Edge Theater, 5451 N. Broadway, Chicago
Regular run: Saturday, January 6 – Sunday, January 28, 2018
Curtain Times: Thursdays, Fridays & Saturdays at 7:30 pm; Sundays at 3 pm. 
*Please note: there will be added matinee performances on Saturday, January 13, Saturday, January 20 and Saturday, January 27 at 2 pm. 

Tickets: $30. Tickets are currently available at nevermorechicago.brownpapertickets.com. Tickets may also be purchased in person beginning one hour prior to each performance.

About the Artists:
Jonathan Christenson (Book, Music & Lyrics) is a director, writer and composer whose original musical plays have been presented at major theatres and festivals throughout the U.K., Australia, the U.S. and Canada. His work has been recognized with more than 40 British, Canadian and American awards and nominations, including a Lucille Lortel nomination for Outstanding New Musical of New York’s 2015 Off-Broadway season. His plays have been published by Playwrights Canada Press, Newest Press and Bayeaux Arts, recordings of his music can be found on iTunes and at Broadway Records, and his productions are featured in American Theatre, Maclean’s, CTR, PRISM International, Canada World View and All Stages. He was named one of “Alberta’s Fifty Most Influential People” by Venture Magazine and Alberta Playwrights Network chose him as one of Alberta’s one hundred most significant theatre artists of the past one hundred years.

Ed Rutherford (Director) recently directed Black Button Eyes’ Jeff-Recommended Shockheaded Peter, preceded by Amour (Chicago premiere), Goblin Marke, and Stephin Merrit's musical adaptation of Coraline (Midwest Premiere). In 2017, Ed also directed the Jeff-Recommend productions of The Liar with Promethean Theatre Ensemble and Paula Vogel’s The Baltimore Waltz at Brown Paper Box Co. He is an artistic associate at Promethean, where he additionally directed his own world premiere adaptation of the Peter S. Beagle fantasy novel The Last Unicorn, Brecht’s The Caucasian Chalk Circle and the company's inaugural production, Christopher Durang’s Beyond Therapy. As an actor, he has performed with Drury Lane Oakbrook, Porchlight, Theater Wit and many others. A graduate of Northwestern's theater program, he is currently completing his MBA at Kellogg.

Nick Sula (Music Director) is a pianist, arranger and award-winning music director for theater and cabaret. He is proud to return to Black Button Eyes where he performed as music director for Amour and Coraline. Recent theater credits include music direction at Porchlight Music Theatre, Pride Films and Plays, Bohemian Theatre Ensemble and Chicago Theatre Workshop. Nick is an instructor, music director and vocal coach at the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. He is also a member of the Chicago Cabaret Professionals, performing with vocalists at venues such as Davenport’s, Uptown Underground, Stage 773, Victory Gardens, The Twisted Vine and the Park West. www.nicksula.com

Derek Van Barham (Choreographer) is the Associate Artistic Director of Pride Films & Plays, a member of the Red Tape Theatre ensemble and a former Artistic Director of The Ruckus. For PFP, he has directed Angry Fags (Steppenwolf Garage Repertory), Songs from an Unmade Bed (Jeff nomination: Best Director of a Musical or Revue), PRISCILLA, Queen of the Desert: The Musical (co-directed by David Zak). He also wrote, directed and choreographed BITE: A Pucking Queer Cabaret and Kill Your Boyfriends. Other directing credits include Three Days of Rain (Boho), Miracle! by Dan Savage and Skooby Don't (Hell in a Handbag) and Trash (New American Folk Theatre). He has choreographed for Black Button Eyes (Shockheaded Peter, Coraline the Musical, Goblin Market, Amour), Permoveo (Albert Cashier), The Plagiarists, Inappropriate Theatre,and Salonathon. He can currently be seen improvising with the LGBT team Baby Wine (Fridays at The Annoyance). He was recently named one of Windy City Times 30 Under 30, recognizing individuals from Chicago's LGBTQ community. He holds an MFA from Chicago College of Performing Arts. www.derekvanbarham.com

About Black Button Eyes Productions
Along with the Jeff-Recommended Chicago storefront premiere of Shockheaded Peter, the other production of the 2017-2018 season, Nevermore continues Black Button Eyes Productions' mission to bring to Chicago premieres and seldom-seen works containing elements of fantasy, in which the magical and surreal invade reality. The company was founded in 2014 with the acclaimed Midwest Premiere of the musical Coraline, and continued in 2015 by producing the musical Goblin Market in its first Chicago production in over 15 years, attended by the author, Chicago native Polly Pen. In 2016 the company presented the Chicago premiere of the musical Amour.

REVIEW: FAIN'S INTIMATE EXCELLENT THIS WAY OUTTA SANTALAND UNEXPECTEDLY MOVING

Chi, IL LIVE Shows On Our Radar: 

MITCHELL FAIN’S HOLIDAY TELL-ALL 

THIS WAY OUTTA SANTALAND

IS BACK AT THEATER WIT WITH A FULL PRODUCTION,

THROUGH DECEMBER 30

Review:
It takes talent to talk a room full of strangers into feeling like friends. And it takes balls to shed the facade of playing roles others have written and tell your own backstory, warts and all, playing yourself. Mitchell Fain does all this and more. Whether he's kicking back on the Christmas set, relaxing in his bedroom slippers, or prancing across the stage in long time friend and former roommate Meghan Murphy's stiletto heels (Yes they have the same size feet!), Fain gives us the intimate treat of walking in his shoes for a few hours.

He is utterly at home on stage, playing himself, and he brings us home with him, for a drink, holiday song serenade with a few good friends, and tales of his childhood. The true chemistry of long time friendships shines through with easy camaraderie. Cameos by a rotating roster of Chicago cabaret powerhouses like Meghan Murphy, Vanessa Dunleavy and Amy Lewis Montgomery and madcap pianist Julie B. Nichols are also on tap, which is truly a treat. 

The set is dominated by a huge Christmas tree, all decked out for the holidays, a faux fireplace, a snowy window, a piano and mic ripe for holiday favorites and improv originals, and a cozy living room complete with blanket. It's an odd set up for a "Christmas special" seeing as how Fain is Jewish, and this is his story, but it works better than more schmaltzy Christian "meaning of the season" shows, as he hits a rare authenticity and joyful celebration of friends, festivities, and family, even when they're flawed. This is a holiday tale of the families we find and keep as our own, as much as it is of the families we come from.

I was expecting comedy, and Fain is a funny guy with a flair for the dramatic, and great comedic timing. Yet, I left feeling more moved and sentimental about the holidays than my usual Christmas jaded self ever gets. Since then, at least once a day, his stellar line about Christmas haunts me: "You need Jews to entertain and gays to decorate."

This show changes a bit each time, so it's a core of the same backstories along with a dose of audience inspired tangents and improv. Though certainly not kid appropriate, the press opening ended up being more sincere than snark and I left feeling like I'd just had one of those chance encounters at a party where you finally get past the small talk with someone you've known peripherally for years and genuinely get to know what they're all about.

THIS WAY OUTTA SANTALAND is both personal and universal in an exciting and relevant way, and a joy to see. Highly recommended.

Here at ChiIL Live Shows, we've enjoyed Mitchell J. Fain's annual holiday snark in The Santaland Diaries for years. I worked two seasons as an actor in a "santaland" set up in Ohio, with a trail of full blown improv fairy tale scenes leading up to Santa. We lost one alcoholic Santa after payday when he was a no show. The next, much more animated elf, was fired after the director and I walked in on him in an elevator actually smoking a crack pipe! As much as I empathize, and as funny as the Sedaris classic is, we're truly looking forward to the next iteration, as Fain returns as creator and performer of his own Very Special Xmas Special(tm), playing his own funny self in Chicago’s frothiest holiday show.

After an amazing workshop last year, Chicago's favorite holiday performer, Mitchell J. Fain, returns to Theater Wit with a full-blown, mainstage production of his hilarious and touching tell-all, This Way Outta Santaland (and other Xmas miracles). Press opening is Friday, November 24 at 7:30 p.m. Performances run through December 30.

For eight seasons as the star of Theater Wit’s The Santaland Diaries, Fain was forced to restrain his most anarchic, improvisatory impulses while constrained in stripey tights and a silly elf costume.

A tour-de-force blend of storytelling, improvisation, cabaret and cocktails, This Way Outta Santaland is a sweet, sentimental evening of hard truths that change night to night. Fain squeezes holiday tales from his audience, then swirls them with his own personal war stories about family, drunks, jewelry, funerals, the holiday spirits and more than 250 performances as Crumpet the Elf.

Chicago Theater Review hailed last season’s workshop production "Highly recommended. A brand new, indispensable tradition, at once hilarious, tragic, moving and profane."

Don’t miss This Way Outta Santaland, conceived and performed by Fain, in this new, fully decked-out production directed by Jeremy Wechsler, and designed by Julie B. Nichols (music), Courtney O’Neill (set), Mike Durst (lights) and Jeffrey Levin (sound).

Performances are November 24-December 30: Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m., Sunday at 3 p.m., with two added holiday week performances, Wednesday, December 20 and 27, at 7:30 p.m.

Theater Wit is located at 1229 N. Belmont, in the heart of the new Belmont Theatre District in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood.

The best way to secure seats to This Way Outta Santaland is to sign up for a Theater Wit Membership. Wit’s “all the theater you can eat” deal comes with special perks and lets members see as many plays at they want in any of Wit’s three spaces for one low monthly fee of $29/$22 for students. This includes shows presented at Wit by 2017-18 resident companies About Face, Kokandy Productions and Shattered Globe, and other top storefront and visiting companies.

Single tickets to This Way Outta Santaland are $28-$40.

To purchase tickets, a Membership, or to inquire about Flex Pass options, visit TheaterWit.org or call the Theater Wit box office, (773) 975-8150.

Behind-the-scenes of This Way Outta Santaland

In addition to eight years in Theater Wit’s perennial holiday hit The Santaland Diaries, Mitchell J. Fain has also been seen in This at Theater Wit, Le Switch at About Face, at UP Comedy Club at The Second City as host of Best Musical, at La Jolla Playhouse with The Second City and at Actors Theatre of Louisville in Lookingglass Theatre’s Lookingglass Alice. Fain is an Artistic Associate of The Midnight Circus and About Face Theatre and former co-host of The Windy City Queercast. Other credits include Stilettos, Circus and Soul, Hamlet-The Musical, Henry VI, Hamlet, Comedy of Errors, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, As Bees in Honey Drown, Bitches, Hay Fever, The Mystery of Edwin Drood and The Lynching of Leo Frank. He also performed improv and sketch comedy on The Norwegian Star as a part of a Second City touring company.

Jeremy Wechsler (director) most recently staged Theater Wit’s Midwest premiere of Anne Washburn’s 10 Out of 12, last season’s holiday workshop of Mitchell Fain’s This Way Outta Santaland and the extended Midwest premiere of Mat Smart’s Naperville. Other directing credits at Wit include the company’s election night reading of The Trump Card by Mike Daisey, The New Sincerity by Alena Smith, The (curious case of the) Watson Intelligence by Madeleine George, Bad Jews by Joshua Harmon, Mr. Burns, a post-electric play by Anne Washburn, Madeline George’s Seven Homeless Mammoths Wander New England, and that show’s summer remount at Art Square Theatre in Las Vegas. Wechsler also staged Wit’s acclaimed Completeness and The Four of Us (Itamar Moses), Tigers Be Still (Kim Rosenstock), This (Melissa James Gibson), Spin (Penny Penniston), Feydeau-Si-Deau (Georges Feydeau), Men of Steel (Qui Nguyen), Thom Pain (Based on Nothing) (Will Eno), Two for the Show (James Fitzpatrick and Will Clinger) and The Santaland Diaries. A veteran director in Chicago with over 50 productions, his work has been nominated for and won multiple awards for design, performance, adaptation and best new plays. 

About Theater Wit

Theater Wit, Chicago’s “smart art” theater, is a major hub of the Chicago neighborhood theater scene, where audiences enjoy a smorgasbord of excellent productions in three, 99-seat spaces, see a parade of talented artists and mingle with audiences from all over Chicago.

In addition to This Way Out of Santaland, Theater Wit’s 2017-18 season opens with Significant Other by Joshua Harmon, author of Wit’s 2015 smash hit Bad Jews, about a gay man in New York whose girlfriends are all getting married, co-produced with About Face Theatre (November 2–December 10, 2017). Wit also presents America’s premiere monologist, Mike Daisey, three nights only, in three different shows commenting on the current state of the U.S.A.: This is Not Normal, The End of Journalism and The White Man’s Burden, November 16, 17 and 18.

2018 opens with Wit’s world premiere of The Antelope Party, Eric John Meyer’s comedy about adult fans of My Little Pony (January 5-February 24, 2018). Spring sees the Chicago debut of Women Laughing Alone with Salad, Sheila Callaghan’s meta-feminist satirical comedy about friendship, salad, sex, bodies, yoga, salad, men, envy, diets, salad, uppers and salad (March 9-April 29, 2018).

“A thrilling addition to Chicago’s roster of theaters” (Chicago Tribune) and “a terrific place to see a show” (New City), Theater Wit is now in its seventh season at its home at 1229 N. Belmont, in the heart of the new Belmont Theatre District in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood. In 2014, Theater Wit was awarded the National Theatre Award by the American Theatre Wing for strengthening the quality, diversity and dynamism of American theater.

The company’s most recent hits include 10 Out of 12 and Mr. Burns, a post-electric play by Anne Washburn, Naperville by Mat Smart, The New Sincerity by Alena Smith, Bad Jews by Joshua Harmon, The (curious case of the) Watson Intelligence and Seven Homeless Mammoths Wander New England by Madeleine George, and Completeness and The Four of Us by Itamar Moses.

To receive an “artisanal selection of consonants and vowels from Theater Wit,” sign up at TheaterWit.org/mailing for exclusive updates, flash deals and behind-the-scenes production scoop every few weeks.

THIS SUNDAY 12/10: FREE SUNDAY SCHOLARS LINE-UP FOR IN THE NEXT ROOM, OR THE VIBRATOR PLAY AFTER 2PM MATINEE

TIMELINE THEATRE COMPANY AMPS UP

FREE SUNDAY SCHOLARS LINE-UP FOR

IN THE NEXT ROOM, OR THE VIBRATOR PLAY

DR. LAUREN STREICHER, TERRI KAPSALIS TO TACKLE FEMALE “HYSTERIA” THEN AND NOW, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 10 AT STAGE 773

(top, from left) Dr. Lauren Streicher, Terri Kapsalis,

and (bottom) Rochelle Therrien and Melissa Canciller in TimeLine Theatre Company’s

IN THE NEXT ROOM, OR THE VIBRATOR PLAY. Production photo credit: Lara Goetsch

Noted women’s sexual health expert and TV personality Dr. Lauren Streicher, and educator Terri Kapsalis, author of "Hysteria, Witches, and The Wandering Uterus, Or Why I Teach 'The Yellow Wallpaper'" will headline TimeLine Theatre Company’s “Sunday Scholars” panel connected to IN THE NEXT ROOM, OR THE VIBRATOR PLAY, Sunday, December 10 at 4:30 p.m. at Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont Avenue, Chicago.

Catch the buzz at TimeLine’s free Sunday Scholars event, which follows immediately after the 2 p.m. matinee of its current hit production of Sarah Ruhl’s intimate and humorous play about a Victorian era doctor, his sexually repressed wife, and the invention of a new piece of electrical machinery meant to treat the common affliction of female “hysteria.”

Streicher is an Associate Clinical Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Northwestern University’s medical school, The Feinberg School of Medicine; the medical director of the Northwestern Medicine Center for Sexual Medicine and Menopause; and a noted TV personality.

Kapsalis is the author of Jane Addams’ Travel Medicine Kit, The Hysterical Alphabet, and Public Privates: Performing Gynecology from Both Ends of the Speculum; a co-founder of Theater Oobleck; and a collective member at Chicago Women’s Health Center.

Both will bring their deep expertise to TimeLine’s “Sunday Scholars,” and delve into the story and themes of sexual awakening and female equality found in Ruhl’s IN THE NEXT ROOM, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and a Tony Award nominee for Best Play.

TimeLine Company Member Maren Robinson, who served as dramaturg on the production, will moderate the panel, followed by audience Q&A.

Rochelle Therrien and Anish Jethmalani in TimeLine Theatre Company’s IN THE NEXT ROOM, OR THE VIBRATOR PLAY. Credit: Lara Goetsch

Inspired by the book The Technology of Orgasm by Rachel P. Maines, Sarah Ruhl’s IN THE NEXT ROOM, OR THE VIBRATOR PLAY is set in the 1880s, when Thomas Edison’s invention of the electric light began to change the fabric of daily life. Inspired by Edison’s discovery, scientist and inventor Dr. Givings experiments with a piece of machinery to treat the increasingly common affliction of female hysteria. When he starts to see a new patient regularly, his wife’s curiosity with the invention and what occurs “in the next room” grows, leading to discoveries of her own. This intimate and humorous story of self-discovery reveals that human connection is not simply a means to an end, but a vital part of life itself.

ChiIL Live Shows' Review: TimeLine Theatre Company In the Next Room, or the vibrator play

**Wow! Hysterical historical gem on sexuality science vs. sensuality at the dawn of the electric light! ** 

When I heard what playwright Sarah Ruhl was tackling IN THE NEXT ROOM, OR THE VIBRATOR PLAY, I was excited to see it. I enjoy her thought provoking writing style immensely. She has the wit and wisdom to delve deeply into the psychology of human behavior and relationships while keeping things delightfully funny. 

We were drawn in by the great lobby display of a vintage vibrator and hilarious ads. Since the 773 space is shared by several shows simultaneously Timeline couldn't do their customary full blown lobby installation, so there's an on line component, which is an up side for those not in Chicago, or theatre goers who want to learn more, or were short on time to peruse the lobby at show time.

It's thrilling that Ruhl’s IN THE NEXT ROOM is now a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and a Tony Award nominee for Best Play. This is an era and an area of study woefully underrepresented on stage, particularly from women's point of view and it's at once enlightening and amusing how much sexually bumbling and clueless male scientists presumed they knew about women physically, emotionally and mentally. It's funny that many men still haven't caught up, in over a century!

It's particularly striking that the 1880's were bringing illumination in the form of the brand new electric light, and how the fears and excitement over this advent mirrored the evolution of vibrators. There were naysayers who wanted to maintain the relative darkness and mystique of candlelight and thought that romance and gentility would be lost in the bright wash of electric light. Some thought it would be dangerous or harmful. Yet, once lights became more familiar, people found them quite useful and superior to the dangers and drawbacks of candlelight.





The Victorian era costumes in Timeline Theatre's production are absolutely delightful, as is the attention to detail in the set design and props. All "treatments" are tastefully and modestly done, so the production never crosses into exploitive or prurient realms, and stays story based. The entire cast is phenomenal, making this period piece a joy to see. The chemistry on stage is palpable and it's fascinating to see the relationships developing among unlikely friends. This production brings in racial tensions, class issues, motherhood, lesbian attractions, the agonies of having to hire a wet nurse and having to be one, infant love and loss, loneliness, orgasms, and maladies, real and perceived. Even the link between creativity, creative blocks, loss, and sexual tension are explored. Ultimately, women take charge of their own methods and means of satiation, and the tightly wound doctor learns the sensual joys of letting go and doing something out of character and out of doors, one snowy evening with his passionate wife. This is an utterly satisfying play and a unique night out. Highly recommended.



Here’s what the critics are saying about TimeLine’s fresh new staging of IN THE NEXT ROOM, OR THE VIBRATOR PLAY:

"Plugged in and amped up...it's like director Mechelle Moe

took the show and gave it a firmer shove toward the

right spot for the here and now. 3 stars!”

-Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune, full review

"A charming and titillating look at life

in the bad old 19th century…

where clueless men misunderstand female sexuality.”

-Nancy Bishop, Third Coast Review, full review

“Hot stuff, fundamental stuff

and surprisingly funny stuff."

-Jonathan Abarbanel, Windy City Times, full review

IN THE NEXT ROOM, OR THE VIBRATOR PLAY runs through December 16 at Stage 773. Single tickets are $42.50-$56.50. Student discount is 35% off regular price with valid ID. TimeLine also offers $25 tickets to U.S. military personnel, veterans, first responders, and their spouses and family. Discounted rates for groups of 10 or more are also available. For tickets and information, visit timelinetheatre.com or call the Stage 773 Box Office at (773) 327-5252.

Stage 773 is located one-half block west of the corner of Belmont and Racine and immediately east of Theater Wit in Chicago’s Lakeview East neighborhood. The theater is accessible via the CTA El stop at Belmont (Red/Brown/Purple lines). CTA bus #77-Belmont stops at Racine. Valet parking is available for $12 and there is also limited free and metered street parking nearby. Visit timelinetheatre.com for complete directions and parking information. Stage 773 is accessible for people with disabilities.    



TimeLine’s IN THE NEXT ROOM, OR THE VIBRATOR PLAY is directed by TimeLine Company Member Mechelle Moe. The cast features TimeLine Associate Artist Anish Jethmalani (Dr. Givings), Edgar Sanchez (Leo Irving), Dana Tretta (Annie), Melissa Canciller (Sabrina Daldry), Joel Ewing (Mr. Daldry), Krystel McNeil (Elizabeth) and Rochelle Therrien (Catherine Givings).The production team includes Sarah JHP Watkins (Scenic Designer), Alison Siple (Costume Designer), Brandon Wardell (Lighting Designer), Andrew Hansen (Original Music / Sound Designer), Vivian Knouse (Properties Designer), Katie Cordts (Wig Designer), Eva Breneman (Dialect Designer), Maren Robinson (Dramaturg), Jared Bellot (Assistant Director), Daniel Parsons (Production Assistant), and Miranda Anderson (Stage Manager).

What's the buzz about TimeLine's Theatre's

IN THE NEXT ROOM, OR THE VIBRATOR PLAY?

Watch the teaser video:

A peek at IN THE NEXT ROOM, OR THE VIBRATOR PLAY

PANELIST BIOGRAPHIES
Theater maker and educator Terri Kapsalis is the author of Jane Addams' Travel Medicine Kit, The Hysterical Alphabet, and Public Privates: Performing Gynecology from Both Ends of the Speculum. As a collective member at Chicago Women’s Health Center, she co-founded TGAP (Trans Greater Access Project) and the Integrative Medicine Program. Since 2000, she has taught a renowned course at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago titled "The Wandering Uterus: Journeys through Gender, Race, and Medicine." Her essay “Hysteria, Witches, and The Wandering Uterus: A Brief History, or Why I Teach ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’” was published on Literary Hub in April 2017. A co-founder of Theater Oobleck, she has performed in over 35 productions.  

Lauren Streicher, MD is an Associate Clinical Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Northwestern University’s medical school, The Feinberg School of Medicine and the medical director of the Northwestern Medicine Center for Sexual Medicine and Menopause. Her clinical interests include all aspects of women’s health but Dr. Streicher has a particular interest and expertise in menopause and sexual health. She frequently speaks and writes about the history of medicine including her recent lecture at a national medical conference on The History and Current Medical Use of the Vibrator. She is the author of Sex Rx: Hormones, Health and Your Best Sex Ever which includes a chapter on the history of the vibrator. Dr. Streicher has also published The Essential Guide to Hysterectomy. She appears weekly on WGN Morning News and is a frequent guest on shows such as The Dr. Oz Show, The Steve Harvey Show, The Today Show and Good Morning America. She is a Fellow in the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, a member of the Sexual Medicine Society of North America, Inc., The International Society for the Study of Women’s Sexual Health, The Scientific Network on Female Sexual Health and Cancer, and is a Certified Menopause Practitioner of The North American Menopause Society.  

Klingon Christmas Carol at Raven Theatre Via E.D.G.E THEATRE

E.D.G.E THEATRE PRESENTS   

Klingon Christmas Carol,   

ADAPTED BY 

CHRISTOPHER KIDDER-MOSTROM & SASHA WARREN ,

AT Raven Theatre, November 30th-December 17th

Get your geek on with a rendition of Christmas Carol like no other! Here at ChiIL Live Shows, we caught A Klingon Christmas Carol a few years back and were astonished. It plays out like a foreign language movie with subtitles, yet the carefully crafted script and translation is far from gibberish. The Klingon values of courage and honor shine through and the language is impressive, to say the least. This is a must see for Star Trek fans and anyone who enjoys pop culture, unique takes on holiday classics, and a fun night out.

A Klingon Christmas Carol, written by Christopher Kidder-Mostrom & Sasha Warren, and translated by Laura Thurston, Bill Hedrick, Christopher Kidder-Mostrom & Chris Lipscombe. This production is directed by John Gleason Teske and performs  November 30th-December 17th at Raven Theatre, 6157 N Clark St, Chicago, IL.  

The performance schedule is Thursdays and Saturdays at 8:00PM and Sundays at 2:00PM (with a special Friday performance on December 1st at 8:00PM). Tickets are $22 and may be purchased at edgeoforion.com/purchase-tickets/.

A Klingon Christmas Carol is the first play to be performed entirely in Klingon, a constructed language first appearing in Star Trek. It is the Charles Dickens classic tale of ghosts and redemption, adapted to reflect the Klingon values of courage and honor, and then translated into Klingon (performed with English supertitles).

The cast of  Kllingon Christmas Carol includes  Jamie Spagnola (Narrator); Tony Bunnell SQUJA’ (Scrooge); Matt Calhoun QACHIT (Cratchit); Justin Blankenship VRED (Fred); Andrea Hansen EMLI (Mrs. Cratchit); Alexander C. Ferguson BEN QEYLIS QA' (Christmas Past); Rhys Read DAHJAJ QEYLIS QA' (Christmas Present); Kreg Kennon PIQ QEYLIS QA' (Christmas Yet-To-Come); Angela Rak

SQUJA' QUP (Young Scrooge); Darrick Jackson VESIWIQ (Fezziwig); Mandi Corrao VAN (Fan); Cat McKay BEL (Belle); John Mobley MARLI'(Marley); Erin Caswell SUY (Weapon Merchant/Old Joe); Lucinda Lodder Lindstrom TIMHOM (Tiny   Tim).

The  Klingon Christmas Carol production team includes  Shauna Warren,  stage manager; Rachel Flesher, fight director; Peter McManus, set designer and  David Trudeau, lighting designer.

ABOUT E.D.G.E. THEATRE
E.D.G.E.’s anachronism stands for “Esteem Development through Greater Expectations”. Using the theatre arts, they educate and entertain to foster the tools of social change. E.D.G.E has a goal of finding every participant’s personal best and holding them accountable to it. E.D.G.E. main thrust is developing theatre for marginalized communities and to bring a message of non-violence, civic and social change through exploration of the theatre arts. E.D.G.E.’s four sectors are: E.D.G.E Core, company produced classes offered on a select curriculum in theatre, social skills, history and stage combat; E.D.G.E. Satellite, 

E.D.G.E programs produced, collaborated or sub contracted by an outside produced program; E.D.G.E Troupe, a professional actor program providing a training ground for interns from our marginalized community to observe the highest standards of professionalism and be part of the process and E.D.G.E Workshops, limited time commitment programs are meant to harness their educational and entertainment abilities in a workshop environment. These programs are targeted for school assemblies, conventions, and camps.

SAVE THE DATES: 2 Days Only THE ILLUSIONISTS PRESENT ADAM TRENT at Cadillac Palace Theatre 3/16 & 17 2018

ADAM TRENT BRINGS NEXT GENERATION OF MAGIC TO CHICAGO

BREAKOUT STAR FROM WORLD’S BEST-SELLING MAGIC SHOW, “THE ILLUSIONISTS,”

PLAYS CADILLAC PALACE THEATRE

MARCH 16-17, 2018

Broadway In Chicago and the producers of the world’s best-selling touring magic show, THE ILLUSIONISTS, are delighted to announce that Broadway and television star Adam Trent will bring his signature brand of magic and illusion to Chicago in THE ILLUSIONISTS PRESENT ADAM TRENT, an immersive entertainment extravaganza of magic, comedy and music designed to entertain the entire family. The stage spectacle is touring more than 60 cities and will play Broadway In Chicago’s Cadillac Palace Theatre (151 W. Randolph) for a limited two-day engagement March 16 and 17, 2018. Individual tickets will go on sale at a later date.

Showcasing his “futuristic” brand of magic, Trent has mesmerized live audiences around the globe, in person and as a featured guest on America’s Got Talent, The Today Show, Ellen, the Travel Channel and Disney Channel among countless other TV appearances. The 31-year-old also stars in his own recently launched 10-episode TV series ‘The Road Trick’ on Red Bull TV.



Trent inaugurated the first 2 years of THE ILLUSIONISTS’ record breaking Broadway runs, which served as a launching pad for his own live show and tour. “I am so excited to hit the road and bring an entirely new show to audiences around the world,” says Trent, who has always thought that magic should be entertaining first and tricky second. He doesn’t want people to remember “tricks” as much as the laughs and memories made with the performance. “This will be a show like you’ve never seen.”

THE ILLUSIONISTS PRESENT ADAM TRENT is produced by MagicSpace Entertainment and The Works Entertainment. “Adam Trent is unlike any magician working today, a funny, witty and accomplished entertainer — the next David Copperfield meets Justin Timberlake,” says creative producer Simon Painter. “He has a knack for electrifying giant television and theatre audiences with his unique brand of magic.”

For more information and a tentative tour schedule, visit AdamTrent.com. Follow @AdamTrentMagic on all social media platforms for tour info.



ABOUT MAGICSPACE ENTERTAINMENT
MagicSpace Entertainment is headed by Lee D. Marshall, Joe Marsh, John Ballard, Steve Boulay and Bruce Granath and has been producing and presenting national tours, Broadway shows, concerts and museum exhibits worldwide for over 30 years. Consistently one of the top promoters in North America, MagicSpace Entertainment typically produces and presents more than 250 events in 75 cities per year.  They have offices in Park City and Salt Lake City, UT. www.magicspace.net

ABOUT THE WORKS ENTERTAINMENT
The Works Entertainment established and led by Creative Producer Simon Painter and Executive Producer Tim Lawson, is one of the most successful live entertainment companies in the world, creating, presenting and producing first class entertainment throughout over 300 cities and 30 countries.  Their award-winning shows including The Illusionists, Le Noir and Circus 1903 have smashed box office records multiple times around the world from Sydney to Mexico to London and Broadway. 

TICKET INFORMATION
Individual tickets for THE ILLUSIONISTS PRESENT ADAM TRENT at the Cadillac Palace Theatre will go on sale at a later date. Tickets are available now for groups of 10 or more by calling Broadway In Chicago Group Sales at (312) 977-1710.  Tickets are available at all Broadway In Chicago Box Offices (24 W. Randolph St., 151 W. Randolph St., 18 W. Monroe St. and 175 E. Chestnut), the Broadway In Chicago Ticket Line at (800) 775-2000 and online at www.BroadwayInChicago.com.  For more information, visitwww.BroadwayInChicago.com.

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 Theater District entertaining well 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 and presenting Broadway shows at The Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University.

For more information, visit www.BroadwayInChicago.com.