THE RAINMAKER, 'WONDERFUL LIFE', 'RIPPED' and More Set for American Blues Theater's 2015-16 Season
By: BWW News Desk Jan. 22, 2015
Season 30 includes:
Main Stage:
The Rainmaker, August 28 - September 27
It's A Wonderful Life: Live in Chicago!, November 20 - December 27
Looking Over the President's Shoulder, January 29 - March 6, 2016
Little Shop of Horrors, April 29 - May 29, 2016
Ripped: The Living Newspaper Festival, spring 2016
The Lincoln Project, throughout the year at Chicago Public Schools
"Since 1985, American Blues has brought Chicagoland audiences nearly 125 productions and 42 world premieres. Critically-acclaimed and lauded productions spanning three decades including the inaugural productions of Dogman's Last Stand, Stalag 17, The Flight of the Phoenix, Keely & Du, The Hairy Ape, Catch 22, Oklahoma, It's a Wonderful Life: Live in Chicago!, Tobacco Road, Hank Williams: Lost Highway and Native Son. This season we welcome returning artists, Co-founder Ed Blatchford and Ensemble Member James Still, and contributors with whom we are building a future, Timothy Douglas, Darren Canady and Chuck Smith. Our 30th season continues this legacy and captures the importance of hope as one bares witness to extraordinary events in a variety of circumstances. From trusting in hope and faith to see the end of a drought, to review one's life with the help of an angel, to being a silent participant in world events, to dreaming of a world "Somewhere That's Green" while a plant is devouring the neighborhood, seeing is believing!," said Artistic Director Gwendolyn Whiteside.
"Following the success of our development and the fully-staged production of Native Son, co-produced with Court Theatre, we are developing "The Response Rep," a call and response evening of plays that include Amiri Baraka's Dutchman and a world premiere, to be named soon. We are honored that Goodman Theater Resident Director Chuck Smith will direct both productions in fall of 2016. Through this new project, "The Response Rep," and our other artistic programs, American Blues continues our mission of extensive community service and arts education throughout the Chicago area," continued Whiteside.
The Rainmaker
Written by N. Richard Nash
Direction by Co-founding Ensemble Member Ed Blatchford
August 28 - September 27
Featuring American Blues artists Jim Leaming, Zach Kenney, Austin Cook, Steve Key (as Starbuck), guest artists Robert Brueler, Howie Johnson and Linsey Page Morton (as Lizzie)
Press night: Thursday, Sept. 3 at 7 p.m.
Performance schedule: Previews begin August 28; Performance schedule: Thursdays - Saturdays at 7:30 p.m.;
Sundays at 2:30 p.m. Ticket price: $19 - $49
"After 30 years, American Blues is still a vital part of the Chicago theater scene. I'm honored to return and represent the initial pulse - that first spark that Rick Cleveland, William Payne, Jim Leaming and I shared in 1985." - Ed Blatchford, director
N. Richard Nash's unabashedly optimistic play became a Broadway hit telling the story of plain and hardworking Lizzie Curry as she finds herself falling, against her better judgment, for a traveler who promises to bring rain to her family's ever-dry Texas town. "After nearly half a century, The Rainmaker still makes a handsome case for miracles," said the Los Angeles Times.
14th SMASH YEAR
It's a Wonderful Life: Live in Chicago!
Based on Frank Capra's film
Original Direction by Ensemble member Marty Higginbotham
Associate Direction by Producing Artistic Director Gwendolyn Whiteside
Music Direction by Michael Mahler
Featuring American Blues artists Zach Kenney (as George Bailey), Dara Cameron, Ian Paul Custer, Michael Mahler, John Mohrlein, James Joseph, Shawn Goudie and guest artist Amanda Tanguay (as Mary Bailey)
November 20 - December 27
Press night: Saturday, Nov. 28 at 4:30 p.m.
Performance schedule: Previews begin Nov 20; Performance schedule: Thursdays and Fridays at 7:30 p.m.; Saturdays at 4:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.; Sundays at 2:30 p.m. Additional holiday performances, TBA
Ticket price: $19 - $49For 14 years, the American Blues Theater Ensemble has treated Chicago audiences to a live radio broadcast of Frank Capra's iconic film It's a Wonderful Life. This year's production introduces Chicago to a new George and Mary Bailey, Zach Kenney and Amanda Tanguay. Kenney and Tanguay are joined by the incredible returning cast who recreates the entire town of Bedford Falls with Foley sounds effects, an original score and holiday carols. Critics call this "perfect Christmas theater" and "first class holiday fare." Following each performance, audiences enjoy a meet and greet with cast members with milk and cookies.
CHICAGO PREMIERE
Looking Over the President's Shoulder
Written by Artistic Affiliate James Still
Directed by Timothy Douglas
Featuring American Blues Ensemble Member Manny Buckley
January 29 - March 6, 2016
Press night: Thursday, Feb. 4 at 7 p.m.
Performance schedule: Previews begin January 29; Performance schedule: Thursdays - Saturdays at 7:30 p.m.;
Sundays at 2:30 p.m.
Ticket price: $19 - $49"Long before the election of President Barack Obama, there was an African-American man who, for 21 years, had very much been running things at the White House. It is with great honor and eagerness that I return to Chicago to stage this intimate and moving tribute composed by longtime friend and colleague James Still." -- Timothy Douglas, director
Before Lee Daniels' "The Butler," playwright James Still shared the real-life, inspirational story of Alonzo Fields, grandson of a freed slave, who grew up in an all-black town in southern Indiana. Forced by the Depression to give up his dreams of becoming an opera singer, Fields accepts a job at the White House and served for 21 years. This tour-de-force solo play is told from the unique perspective of serving four U.S. presidents and their families: Herbert Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, and Dwight Eisenhower. "Gentle Americana, amiable, and dignified...the appeal is its peeking through the keyhole quality." -- The Washington Post
Little Shop of Horrors
Book and Lyrics by Howard Ashman
Music by Alan Menken
Direction by Jonathan Berry
Music Direction by Ensemble member Austin Cook
Featuring American Blues Ensemble members Michael Mahler (as Seymour), Dara Cameron (as Audrey) and Ed Kross (as Orin Scrivello)
April 29 - May 29, 2016
Press night: Friday, May 6 at 7 p.m.
Performance schedule: Previews begin April 29; Performance schedule: Thursdays & Fridays at 7:30 p.m.; Saturdays at 3:30 and
7:30 p.m.; Sundays at 2:30 p.m.
Ticket price: $19 - $49"I've loved Little Shop ever since I was a child, but my appreciation for it has grown. Beneath the glorious camp and the thrills, is a yearning cry from the poor who are struggling for the life they feel they deserve. I'm excited to work with this remarkable American Blues team to take this piece back to its roots and find the gritty, truthful heart at the center of all the fun." -- Jonathan Berry, director
Following the success of 2013's Hank Williams: Lost Highway, American Blues immediately planned to utilize the phenomenal musical talent of its company including Michael Mahler, Dara Cameron, Ed Kross and Austin Cook in another musical. Little Shop of Horrors seemed like a perfect fit for the skills and allows the company to produce a comedy with great music and a fun story. In this gleefully gruesome musical, Seymour, a poor florist's assistant, allows his craving for fame and fortune to seduce him to play nursemaid to a man-eating plant. The New York Times said Little Shop "leaves the audience ...feeling like Audrey II ... ravenous for more."
"THE RESPONSE REP"
Dutchman
Written by Amiri Baraka
World Premiere
Written by Artistic Affiliate Darren Canady
Direction by Chuck Smith
Featuring Artistic Affiliate Eric Lynch (Native Son)
Workshops and public readings throughout 2015 - 2016
Production September 2016Throughout the 2015 - 2016 season, American Blues Theater hosts workshops, live staged readings and other events featuring Amiri Baraka's award-winning Dutchman and a world premiere production by Artistic Affiliate Darren Canady, to be announced. These productions will be staged in repertory during American Blues' 2016 - 2017 season.
Ripped: The Living Newspaper Festival
May 23, 2016
Written and direction by various Chicago artists
The Lincoln Project
Adapted by Producing Artistic Director Gwendolyn Whiteside from Artistic Affiliate James Still's Pulitzer-nominated The Heavens Are Hung in Black
American Blues Theater's innovative and adaptive program aligns with Illinois Core Curriculum standards to engage 5th-10th graders about the life of Abraham Lincoln, specifically the events surrounding the "Emancipation Proclamation." Students read Still's script and the American Blues Theater study guide, watch scenes using professional actors, and participate in discussions. As part of this program, students also write and perform scenes inspired from current events. Since the program's launch in 2013, over 1,500 students have participated in the program.
ABOUT AMERICAN BLUES THEATER - American Blues Theater is the premier American theater producing visceral theatrical works while engaging its audience in missions of local service agencies. American Blues Theater illuminates the American ideas of freedom, equality, and opportunity in the plays produced and communities served.
The multi-generational and interdisciplined artists have established the second-oldest professional Equity Ensemble theater in Chicago. The 39-member Ensemble has 539 combined years of collaboration on stage. As of 2015, they've individually received nearly 150 Joseph Jefferson Awards and nominations that celebrate excellence in Chicago theater including the 2014 Jeff Awards for Production-Musical-Midsize, Hank Williams: Lost Highway; Actor in a Principal Role - Musical, Matthew Brumlow, Hank Williams: Lost Highway; Solo Performance, Gwendolyn Whiteside, Grounded; Music Direction, Malcolm Ruhl, Hank Williams: Lost Highway and Sound Design, Lindsay Jones, Grounded and over 22 Black Theatre Alliance Awards. The artists are honored with Pulitzer Prize nominations, Academy Awards, Golden Globe Awards, Emmy Awards and numerous other accolades.
The American Blues Theater Ensemble includes all four Founders Ed Blatchford, Rick Cleveland, James Leaming, and William Payne with Dawn Bach, Matthew Brumlow, Manny Buckley, Kate Buddeke, Sarah Burnham, Dara Cameron, Casey Campbell, Brian Claggett, Dennis Cockrum, Austin Cook, Laura Coover, Lauri Dahl, Kristin DeiTos, Joe Foust, Tom Geraty, Cheryl Graeff, Marty Higginbotham, Jaclyn Holsey, Lindsay Jones, Samantha Jones, Nambi E. Kelley, Kevin R. Kelly, Steve Key, Ed Kross, Warren Levon, Michael Mahler, Kelli Marino, Heather Meyers , John Mohrlein, Jim Ortlieb, Suzanne Petri, Carmen Roman, Editha Rosario, Sarah E. Ross and Gwendolyn Whiteside.
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