Pavement Group Stages World Premiere of HARRY & THE THIEF, Now thru 11/10

Pavement Group will develop and produce the world premiere "Harry & the Thief" at The Den Theatre tonight, October 10 - November 10, 2013, written by emerging playwright Sigrid Gilmer and directed by Krissy Vanderwarker, Co-Artistic Director of Dog & Pony Theatre Company. An audacious historical time travel play about Harriet Tubman, "Harry & the Thief" is chock full of Bruckheimer-worthy dialogue and slapstick humor - think "Django Unchained" meets "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure".

In a very different America, plans are underway to conquer the future by changing the past - they have only one chance to get it right. In this on-stage action movie meets time travel all-around genre mash-up comedy, a thief is blackmailed into going back in time to deliver a cache of arms to Harriet Tubman and change the course of history. What she finds is a band of slaves on the run, a pair of starry-eyEd White male slave owners, and an exhausted Harry aching for retirement. With little regard to cultural sensitivity, "Harry & the Thief" takes an absurd look at America's collective history and throws a pie in its face.

Performances will run tonight, October 10 - November 10, 2013, Thursdays through Saturdays at 8p.m. and Sundays at 6p.m. Press opening is Monday, October 14 at 8p.m. All performances will be at The Den Theatre at 1333 N Milwaukee.

This announcement comes in anticipation of Pavement Group's 3rd Annual Karaoke Showdown, coming Sunday, June 23, 2013 to Weeds Tavern at 1555 N Dayton Street. Representatives from some of Chicago's hottest storefront theatre companies will battle for karaoke glory, judged by Mary Hollis Inboden, Geoffrey Jackson Scott (Dir. New Play Development at Victory Gardens Theater), and Michael Patrick Thornton (Artistic Director at The Gift Theatre). Contestants include About Face, Buzz22, Dog & Pony Theatre Company, The Inconvenience, Mary Arrchie, Natural Gas, Pine Box, Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, Shattered Globe, The Strange Tree Group, Strawdog Theatre Company, and Theatre Seven of Chicago. $10 admission can be purchased at the door or in advance at pavementgroup.org.

Writing from a place that believes in the alchemy of live bodies on stage, Sigrid Gilmer's plays are dark, funny, personal musings and perversions of cultural norms that joyfully give the finger to the status quo. Her plays include: Harry & the Thief, Seed: A Weird Act of Faith, Black Simulacra, Patty: The Revival (Book), It's All Bueno, The Hub of the Universe, Black Girl Rising, Axiom and The Great White Way. Sigrid has worked with Katselas Theatre Company, Cornerstone Theater Company, Watts Village Theatre, Company of Angles, and Clubbed Thumb Theatre Company. Ms. Gilmer has studied theatre at Cal State LA and Cal Arts.

Krissy Vanderwarker is the Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director of Dog & Pony Theatre. D&P directing credits: Counterfeiters, The Dinner Party Project (in collaboration with Ada Street Restaurant), God's Ear, As Told by the Vivian Girls, Mr. Marmalade, Ape, Osama the Hero, Crumble (Lay Me Down, Justin Timberlake) and As Much As You Can. Other directing credits: Bethany (First Look Festival/Steppenwolf), As Fat As You Can (Next Theatre), CLEAR (About Face Theatre) and What Once We Felt (About Face). She has a MFA in Directing from The Theatre School at DePaul University.

Founded in 2006, Pavement Group is a Chicago based collaborative of theatre artists who look nationally for emerging voices to produce fresh plays that make contact with new audiences. The company is committed to immediate and immersive work that is thought provoking, not thought providing. Pavement Group was most recently one of the five finalists of the Broadway in Chicago and League of Chicago Theatres Emerging Theatre Award. Pavement Group includes Brittany Barnes (Managing Director), Cyd Blakewell, Jeff Kelley, Mary Krupka (Producing Director), Alexander Lane, Keith Neagle (Casting Director), Aimee Plant, and Tim Schoen. Artistic Associates include Mallery Avidon, Sam Bailey, Monica Brown, Matt Farabee, Leah Karpel, Laura Lapidus, Jessica London-Shields, Michael Salinas, Cassy Sanders, Jake Szczepaniak, Janna Webber, and Joe Zarrow.

For more information visit www.pavementgroup.org.