Strawdog's Presents Robert E. Sherwood's The Petrified Forest

Strawdog Theatre Company continues their 24th anniversary season with Robert E. Sherwood’s The Petrified Forest, directed by Shade Murray, February 23 – March 31, 2012 at the Strawdog Theatre, 3829 North Broadway Street. The performance schedule is Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 4 p.m. Preview performance tickets are $15 with performances Thursday, Feb. 23 and Friday, Feb. 24 at 8 p.m. There is a benefit performance, Saturday, Feb. 25 at 7 p.m., $50 tickets include access to post-performance reception. Opening/Press Night is Sunday, Feb. 26 at 4 p.m.

Tickets are $28 with group, senior and student discounts available. Thursday, March 1 at 8 p.m. is an industry performance where available tickets are $10 for people presenting resumes or headshots. Tickets may be ordered online at strawdog.org or by calling OvationTix toll-free: 866-811-4111.

Part crime drama, part political allegory, The Petrified Forest uses a tense roadside hostage drama to show both the rewards and the consequences of taking action during a time of widespread stagnation, national uncertainty and personal desperation. Written by Robert E. Sherwood, a playwright who would later in life become one of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s most valued speech-writers, The Petrified Forest is a Depression-era masterpiece which is alternately funny, romantic, thrilling and violent, but consistently political.

Director and Artistic Associate Shade Murray sees The Petrified Forest as “Sherwood's wake-up call to the revolutionary spirit that lives inside each artist and criminal, entrepreneur and immigrant, ideological teenager and grizzled war-veteran - in essence, each American.”
The cast features Strawdog Company Ensemble Members Jamie Vann (Duke), Paul Fagen (Squier) along with Caroline Neff (Gabby), Shane Kenyon (Boze), Walter Brody (Gramp), Ted Hoerl (Jason), Jim Poole (Mr. Chisholm), Janice O’Neill (Mrs. Chisholm), Brandon Saunders (Joseph), Ashley Alvarez (Paula), John Moran (Jackie), Adam Shalzi (Ruby), Travis Porchia (Pyles), David Daniels (1st Lineman/Deputy), March Pracht (2nd Lineman/Sherriff) and Jerry Bloom (Legion Commander).

The production team features Strawdog company members Shade Murray, director, Aly Greaves Amidei, costume designer; Misha Fiksel, sound designer as well as guests; Tyler Wilsey, production manager; Jordan Muller, stage manager; Nic Dimond, set designer; Brooke Larson, assistant set designer; Heather Gilbert, lighting designer; Matt Buettner, technical director; Aaron Cannon, master electrician and Eva Brenaman, dialect coach.

ABOUT SHADE MURRAY
Strawdog Artistic Associate Shade Murray’s directing credits include Abigail's Party at A Red Orchid (Jeff Nomination, Director), End Days at Next Theatre, The Chosen (Jeff Nomination, Director), The Subject Was Roses at Writers' Theatre, Fatty Arbuckle... at Second City, Good Soul of Szechuan, R.U.R., Marathon '33 (Jeff and After Dark Awards, ensemble), Detective
Story (Jeff Award, Production, Director, Ensemble), WRLS #5 and Our Country's Good at Strawdog Theatre, Stupid Kids (Jeff Nomination, Director), Some Explicit Polaroids, Santaland Diaries, Never Swim Alone at Roadworks as well as productions at the MCA, Shattered Globe, About Face, Colbalt, Shakespeare's Motley Crew, Timberlake Playhouse and dance theatre in collaboration with MK and Birgitta Victorson. Murray is an MFA candidate in directing at Northwestern University, an associate artist with A Red Orchid and Strawdog Theatre Companies and has taught at Northwestern University, DePaul University, Act One Studios, National Louis University, National High School Institute, Piven Workshop and the Actor's Gym.

ABOUT STRAWDOG THEATRE COMPANY
Strawdog Theatre Company, which welcomes Brandon Bruce as its new artistic director this season, is committed to ensemble acting and an immersive design approach, offering Chicago the premiere storefront theatre experience. The Company develops new work, re-imagines classic plays, explores new fusions of music and theatre, asks provocative questions, and delivers their audience the unexpected. Strawdog provides a home for their celebrated ensemble to work and play with the most sought after artists in Chicago theatre along with the best new talents in the city. Founded in 1988, the Strawdog ensemble has consistently produced shows built on authentic human connections, and the comfortable 70-seat theater in Lakeview is perfect for offering their audience a quintessential Chicago storefront theatre experience. “The whole wide world in a little black box.” Strawdog is a proud member of the NortHalsted Area Merchant Association, The Theatre Communications Group and the League of Chicago Theatres.

Strawdog Theatre Company was formed in 1988 by a group of actors who had performed together in a production of Euripides’s Helen at a (now defunct) theatre on the west side. The group took their name from Sam Peckinpah’s movie “Straw Dogs” (Theatresaurus Rex was, thankfully, the runner-up), and they produced their first show, Len Jenkin’s Five of Us at a (now defunct) space in Bucktown. Twenty-three years later, Strawdog Theatre Company has survived the ups and downs of Chicago theatre, and is still dedicated to bringing the truth to audiences through the committed work of an award-winning ensemble of actors and designers.

Strawdog Theatre Company’s production of Robert E. Sherwood’s The Petrified Forest, directed by Shade Murray, runs February 23 – March 31, 2012 at the Strawdog Theatre, 3829 North Broadway Street. The performance schedule is Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 4 p.m. Preview performance tickets are $15 with performances Thursday, Feb. 23 and Friday, Feb, 24 at 8 p.m. There is a benefit performance, Saturday, Feb. 25 at 7 p.m., $50 tickets include access to post-performance reception. Opening/Press Night is Sunday, Feb. 26 at 4 p.m.

Tickets are $28 with group, senior and student discounts available. Thursday, March 1 at 8 p.m. is an industry performance where available tickets are $10 for people presenting resumes or headshots. Tickets may be ordered online at strawdog.org or by calling OvationTix toll-free: 866-811-4111.

There is limited paid street parking and easily accessible on public transportation via the train: Red Line Sheridan stop or bus: 36-Broadway, 80-Irving Park and 151-Sheridan routes.