Short Plays by Neil LaBute Set for VICES AND VIRTUES at Profiles Theatre

Profiles Theatre continues its 27th season with VICES AND VIRTUES, two full evenings featuring eleven short plays by Resident Artist Neil LaBute, performing in rotating repertory. Each evening features Midwest and World premieres of some of LaBute's newest shorts, staged by individual directors and featuring an ensemble cast of twenty performers. Profiles' production runs at The Alley Stage, 4147 N. Broadway, January 14 - March 6, 2016 with the press opening for both programs on Sunday, January 24 beginning at 4 pm (VIRTUES) and 7pm (VICES).

An Evening of VICES. An Evening of VIRTUES. Running in rotating repertory, Profiles presents two full evenings of short works by Neil LaBute, each filled with many surprises, both virtuous and otherwise. Each evening features stories of lust and hate, humor and sadness, virtue and depravity. Through them all, "love" will be the dominant theme -- what it is, what it's not and how far it can be stretched.

The first evening, VICES, contains the World premieres of LaBute's "I'm Going to Stop Pretending That I Didn't Break Your Heart" and "Totally," as well as the Midwest premieres of "Happy Hour," "The Great War" and "Lovely Head."

The second evening, VIRTUES, includes six more Midwest premieres by LaBute, including "Good Luck (in Farsi)," "Romance," "Kandahar," "10-K," "Swallowing Bicycles" and "Mulberry Bush."

"It's so great to be working on another project with Profiles Theatre and it's especially nice to have it be two evenings of short works," says playwright Neil LaBute. "I love writing in this form and it's always hard

to find a home for this kind of piece. Thankfully, my collaboration with Profiles allows for this type of experimentation and creates a home for so many artists to work on this project at the same time. This is a really terrific way to start the new year!"

This marks Profiles Theatre's thirteenth collaboration with Resident Artist Neil LaBute. Previous productions include the American premiere of In a Forest, Dark and Deep and acclaimed Midwest premieres of Wrecks, reasons to be pretty, The Mercy Seat and Fat Pig as well as the World premiere of his revised stage version of In the Company of Men, recipient of a Joseph Jefferson Nomination for Best New Adaptation.

The directors for VICES AND VIRTUES include Bradley Bartolo, Tara Branham, Profiles ensemble member Eric Burgher, Brianne Duncan Fiore, Profiles Artistic Associate Jeff Gamlin, Profiles Artistic Director Joe Jahraus, Miles Mabry, Kay Martinovich, Andy Root, Benjamin Thiem and Scott Wolf. The ensemble cast includes many performers returing to Profiles, including Marilyn Bass (Dream of the Burning Boy), Betsy Bowman (The Jacksonian),Tamara Chambers (Hellcab), Tim Curtis (The Jacksonian), Rob Grabowski (Hellcab), Drew Halliday (Hellcab), Nik Kourtis (Cock), Eleni Pappageorge (Cock), Brennan Roche (In the Company of Men), Steve Silver (The Other Place), Adam Soule (Bachelorette) and Laura Berner Taylor (The Jacksonian). Making their Profiles Theatre debuts are Elizabeth Birnkrant, Sarah Brooks, Patrick Gannon, Brian Goodman, Brookelyn Hebert, Tom McGregor, Sarah Ruggles and Marie Weigle.

The designers are Greg Pinsoneault (set), Mike Rathbun (lights), Brandon Reed (sound), and Uriel Gomez (costumes). Amber R. Dettmers serves as production stage manager.

Tickets for either evening of VICES AND VIRTUES are $40 each. Patrons who purchase tickets to one evening may purchase a discounted ticket to the second program for $10 off regular price. Tickets are available by phone, (773) 549-1815, or online, www.profilestheatre.org. Performances for VICES are Thursdays at 8 pm, Saturdays at 5 pm and Sundays at 7 pm. Performances for VIRTUES are Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm, Sundays at 4 pm.

Profiles' 2015-16 season continues with the Midwest premieres of Jerusalem by Jez Butterworth, opening in February and The Village Bike by Penelope Skinner.