Chi, IL LIVE Shows On Our Radar:
THE HOUSE THEATRE OF CHICAGO ANNOUNCES CASTING
FOR SHAWN PFAUTSCH’S
HATFIELD & MCCOY,
WITH ALL-NEW MUSIC BY PFAUTSCH AND MATT KAHLER,
DIRECTED BY MATT HAWKINS,
JANUARY 19 – MARCH 11, 2018
This All-New Production of Hatfield & McCoy Now Features a Rich Score of Americana Music Spanning Bluegrass, Folk, Rock, and Pop. In an Homage to Romeo and Juliet, Political Divides Drive a Cycle of Violence Between Two Families
The House’s Company Member Matt Hawkins playing at the Chopin Upstairs Theatre, 1543 W. Division St., January 19 – March 11, 2018. Inspired by the true story of famous feuding families, and by Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet, the production features original songs by Pfautsch and Matt Kahler. Preview performances are Friday, Jan. 19 – Saturday, Jan. 27 following the regular schedule, barring matinees. (NOTE: The January 21 preview performance begins at 7 p.m). Opening/press night is Sunday, Jan. 28 at 7 p.m. The performance schedule is Thursdays and Fridays at 7:30 p.m., Saturdays at 3 and 8 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. Preview tickets are $20 and regular run tickets range from $30 – $50. Same-day tickets for students and industry professionals are $20 and available for all dates, seats permitting. For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit www.thehousetheatre.com or call 773.769.3832.
On the border of Kentucky and West Virginia, North and South, fact and fiction, two cabins both alike in dignity wage a whip-smart war of words and bullets. Hatfield & McCoy tells the true tale of the most infamous family feud in American history. Set at the close of the Civil War, a battle of Us versus Them catches two young lovers in a deadly cycle of violence.
Gunfire and romance escalate when young Rose Anna McCoy and Johnse Hatfield fall in love, marry in secret, and vow to reconcile their feuding families. Their tale of woe is served up with a heaping helping of original Americana tunes, connecting their past to our present.
New music created for the show represents Americana styles across generations, from bluegrass to 2017 pop. Hatfield & McCoy features a live band on stage comprised of synths, keyboards, an upright bass, fiddle, and guitar plus actors playing guitars, mandolins, banjos and vocals.
Hatfield & McCoy received its world premiere at The House in 2006. Workshops for the 2018 production were supported by University of Chicago’s UChicago Performance Lab.
The cast for Hatfield & McCoy includes: Robert D. Hardaway (Devil Anse Hatfield), Marika Mashburn* (Levicy Hatfield), Michael E. Smith* (Jim Vance), Jeff Mills (Bad Lias Hatfield), Kyle Whalen (Johnse Hatfield), Jenni M. Hadley (Hatfield Sister), Tia Pinson (Hatfield Sister, U/S Alifair), Ann Delaney (Hatfield Sister, U/S Jenni and Tia), Anish Jethmalani^ (Ol Ranl McCoy), Stacy Stoltz*^ (Sarah McCoy), Bradley Grant Smith (“Squirrel Huntin” Sam McCoy), Haley Bolithon (Rose Anna McCoy), Collin Quinn Rice (Calvin McCoy), Khloe Janel (Alifair McCoy), Cody Proctor (Asa “Harmon” McCoy), Tommy Malouf (Tolbert McCoy), Royen Kent (Pharmer McCoy), Kyle Ryan (Randolph “Bud” McCoy), Desmond Gray (Bill Staton) and Jamie Vann (Marshal Frank Phillips).
Additional understudies include Adam Benjamin (U/S Devil Anse Hatfield, Ol Ranl), Tobi Mattingly (U/S Levicy, Sarah), Jacob Fjare (U/S Jim, Bad Lias, Marshal), Andy Monson (U/S Bill Stanton, Harmon, Sam, Sibling Swing) and Ethan Peterson (U/S Sibling Swing).Musicians in Hatfield & McCoy include: Matthew Muñiz* (Music Director/Keyboard), Jake Saleh (Upright Bass), and Jess McIntosh (Fiddle).
The creative and design team for Hatfield & McCoy includes: Matt Hawkins* (director), Shawn Pfautsch* (writer, co-composer), Madison Smith (assistant director), Lee Keenan* (scenic/lighting designer), Ellie Terrell (associate scenic designer, props designer), Emily McConnell (costume designer), Grover Hollway (sound designer), Matt Kahler (co-composer), Katherine Scott (choreographer), Marika Mashburn* (casting director) and Lauren Baston* (stage manager).
*Company Member with The House ^Actor’s Equity Association Member
ABOUT SHAWN PFAUTSCH, Playwright, Co-Composer
Pfautsch is a playwright, musician, actor and a veteran company member of The House Theatre of Chicago, enlisting from the very beginning in 2000. His full-length plays, Season on the Line, The Attempters, and Hatfield & McCoy have all received their world premieres with The House. As an actor, he has been on stage around Chicago at: The House (Death & Harry Houdini, Cyrano, Thieves Like Us) Steppenwolf (Theatrical Essays), Chicago Children’s Theatre (A Year with Frog and Toad, Frederick), and The Hypocrites (Gilbert & Sullivan Rep). As part of The Hypocrites’ Gilbert & Sullivan rep, he has performed around the country, from Boston to Berkeley, Louisville and the DC area and most recently in New York City (Skirball Center at NYU) and Pasadena Playhouse. His short plays and one-acts have been produced in Chicago as well as Texas, Florida and Iowa.
ABOUT MATT HAWKINS, director
Hawkins is a Chicago-based director, actor, fight choreographer and movement director. He is a Founding Member of The House Theatre of Chicago and an Artistic Associate with Strawdog Theatre Company. Over the past fifteen years he has worked with theatres such as the Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford Festival, Kennedy Center, South Coast Rep, American Players’ Theatre, Drury Lane, Marriott, Paramount, Steppenwolf, Goodman, Lookingglass, Court Theatre and Writers Theatre. He has also worked extensively with Chicago Shakespeare and their education department, by serving as the director and voice/movement director of the Chicago Public Schools program, which was the recipient of the Humanities Youth Program Award in 2014, awarded by The White House and First Lady Michelle Obama. He holds a BFA in acting from Southern Methodist University and an MFA in directing from The University of Iowa. He has been nominated for thirteen Jeff Awards and has received five. Later this year he will direct and choreograph Spring Awakening (Notre Dame) and choreograph violence for Macbeth (Chicago Shakespeare). He is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Notre Dame, where he serves as head of musical theatre for the Department of Film, Television, and Theatre. He is married to actor/director/documentarian Stacy Stoltz.
ABOUT MATT KAHLER (Co-Composer)
Matt Kahler’s regional credits as a performer include The Pirates of Penzance (Actors Theater of Louisville; American Repertory Theater). Chicago credits include Animal Farm (Steppenwolf), Equivocation (Victory Gardens Theater); Hank Williams: Lost Highway (American Blues), Coriolanus, HMS Pinafore, The Mikado, Frankenstein (The Hypocrites); Richard III, Macbeth, Comedy of Errors (Lakeside Shakespeare Theatre); and Watership Down (Lifeline Theater).
ABOUT THE HOUSE THEATRE OF CHICAGO
The House is Chicago's premier home for intimate, original works of epic story and stagecraft. Founded and led by Artistic Director Nathan Allen and driven by an interdisciplinary ensemble of Chicago’s next generation of great storytellers, The House aims to become a laboratory and platform for the evolution of the American theatre as an inclusive and popular artform.
The House was founded in 2001 by a group of friends to explore connections between Community and Storytelling through a unique theatrical experience. Since becoming eligible in 2004, The House has been nominated for 70 Joseph Jefferson Awards (22 wins), became the first recipient of Broadway in Chicago’s Emerging Theater Award in 2007, and was awarded a
2014 National Theatre Company Grant by the American Theatre Wing, founder of the Tony Awards. The 16th year of original work is underway and The House continues its mission to unite Chicago in the spirit of Community through amazing feats of Storytelling.
