6-5-09
Bad Times and Good Times
While the theatre community mourns Will Shutz, the dance community also suffered the loss of one of their own. Laura Maceika, a company member with Chicago Dance Crash, took her own life in early May, at age 21. Maceika made her debut with CDC at age 19 in “Ghost Play.” In a blog entry at the CDC web site, artistic director Kyle Vincent Terry described her as “the bird in flight.” Maceika’s family requests that memorials be directed to the Out of the Darkness Overnight national walk for suicide prevention, scheduled June 27-28. For more information on the walk, visit http://www.theovernight.org/. We send our deepest sympathies to all who knew Laura.
In happier news, David Cromer’s production of Our Town in New York continues to pluck award-season plums. Cromer picked up an Obie for direction (the second year in a row for him—he won last year for Adding Machine), and Jennifer Grace’s performance as Emily Webb snagged a Theatre World Award, given to performers making their New York debut.
Playwright/performer Jon Steinhagen tells us that he received first prize in the Julie Harris Playwriting Award competition, presented by the Beverly Hills Theatre Guild. The prize (officially known as “the Janet and Maxwell Salter Award”) went to Steinhagen for his play The Analytical Engine. There is good news for the younger generation as well: Free Street Theatre announces that one of their alum, Christoph Horton Abiel, has been accepted into the highly competitive professional acting program at Juilliard. Free Street holds auditions for their next two-year youth theatre practices program on Saturday, June 6, at Pulaski Park, 1419 W. Blackhawk. Call 773/772-7248 or visit www.freestreet.org for info.
Some changes at the administrative level to report. Carl Occhipinti, artistic director for Village Players Theatre in Oak Park, announces that he will be departing at the end of August. During his tenure, the company has raised its profile with world-premiere musicals and an ambitious “black box” series. Currently, they are presenting the cult hit Bat Boy: The Musical. No word on a replacement yet.
A decidedly larger company also has big news. Polly Carl joins Steppenwolf in the newly created position of director of artistic development, where she will take over and expand upon the duties of Ed Sobel, the company’s director of new play development, who has been living out of town for some time. Carl’s impressive resume includes 11 years at the Playwrights’ Center of Minneapolis, the last seven as producing artistic director. In other Steppenwolf news, last summer’s production of Superior Donuts by Tracy Letts is Broadway-bound this fall, again under the direction of Tina Landau and with reportedly much of the original cast intact. If August: Osage County keeps running (and with Phylicia Rashad stepping into the role of Violet Weston, that’s a good possibility), Mr. Letts could have two shows on the Great White Way simultaneously.
Want to see Helen Mirren at Steppenwolf? Well, you can! Sort of. On Monday, July 13, the company presents the exclusive Chicago screening of Racine’s Phedre, starring the luminous Ms. Mirren and directed by Nicholas Hytner at the National Theatre. Tickets to the general public, priced at $20, went on sale June 1. Hurry up and call 312/335-1650 if you want to score ducats of your own. The screening also features behind-the-scenes footage. It’s part of “NT Live,” a new initiative aimed at broadcasting performances of plays that have been taped live around the world (similar to the Metropolitan Opera Live program). In other cinematic news, longtime Chicago playwright Claudia Allen’s Hannah Free has been turned into a film with an Allen-penned screenplay and directed by Wendy Jo Carlton. Shot entirely on location in Chicago (Allen co-produced along with Windy City Times publisher Tracy Baim) and starring Sharon Gless, the movie gets its world premiere at the Frameline Film Festival in San Francisco, hosted by Rosie O’Donnell, on June 28. If you’re out that way (pun not intended, honestly!), go to www.frameline.org for information.
Provision Theater has been provided with a new long term home at the Duncan YMCA, 1001 W. Roosevelt, formerly the home of Congo Square Theatre. The company hosts an open house June 12, beginning at 6 p.m., to show off the new digs, and the first show will be a remount of their hit, Harry Chapin’s Cotton Patch Gospel. For info on the open house (tickets $50), call 800/838-3006 or visit www.provisiontheater.org.
Lots of opportunities to support small and midsize companies this weekend. Tonight at 5:30, Teatro Vista hosts a shindig at the National Museum of Mexican Art, 1852 W. 19th St. Tickets are $50 at 312/666-4659 or visit www.teatrovista.org. Tomorrow night, June 6, Strawdog Theatre hosts “Casino Night 2009,” which features drinks and games of chance with the theme of “Black Tie, Blue Collar – High Rollers, Low Stakes.” You can take a gamble from 6 p.m.-2 a.m. for $15 admission at the door or visit www.strawdog.org for a 2-for-$20 deal. Saint Sebastian Players also has a fundraiser tomorrow night called “If We Were a Rich Theatre,” featuring cabaret performances, at their home at St. Bonaventure Church, 1625 W. Diversey. Tickets are $30 and reservations can be made at 773/404-7922. And finally, the Neo-Futurists offer up their annual Pride Weekend benefit tonight and tomorrow night with 30 Queer Plays in 60 Straight Minutes, with proceeds benefiting both the Neos and About Face Theatre. Tickets are $20 at 773/275-5255.
Later in the month, you can help out Piven Theatre—they are hosting a benefit at Rockit Bar and Grill, 22 W. Hubbard, on June 20. Jeremy Piven hosts, and tickets are $125 (that can buy a lot of sushi—oh c’mon, you knew that was coming!) Call 847/866-8049 or visit www.piventheatre.org.
Skokie Theatre launches a program to provide free tickets to members of the U.S. armed forces, veterans, and their families. If you’d like to help with this admirable initiative, send donations to: Skokie Theatre Music Foundation, 7924 N. Lincoln Ave., Skokie, 60077.
Finally, one of our very favorite solo performers makes a rare return stage-side. Cheryl Trykv, vet of “This American Life” and the Big Goddess Pow-Wows, tears it up with this retrospective show, called Capiche and featuring the best of her work from the Clinton era to the present. Grab a dry martini and enjoy Trykv’s even drier wit in all its glory every Tuesday and Wednesday in June at Davenports, 1383 N. Milwaukee. Tickets are $20 at 773/278-1830.
Got news? Send it to kerryreid@comcast.net and no one gets hurt. Capiche?