The Gift Theatre Closes 2011 Season with Caryl Churchill’s Cloud 9 10/3

Cloud 9 by Caryl Churchill opens at the Gift Theater October 17th. The show is directed by Gift ensemble member Maureen Payne-Hahner.

Featuring ensemble members Hillary Clemens, Alexandra Main, Kenny Mihlfried, Jay Worthington and guest artists Kurt Conroyd, Jessie Fisher and Dylan Stuckey.
What if those stiff-upper-lipped British colonials and oppressed natives in 19th century Africa expressed their deepest, darkest fantasies? What if those same characters appeared in 1979 London, but found that despite all of the era's sexual liberation, they were far from heaven? Churchill's gender-bending farce has left audiences in stitches and tears for over thirty years, and is now presented at The Gift in it's signature simple style.

Cloud 9 previews October 13th - October 16th, 2011. The Press Opening is Monday October 17 at 7:30 p.m. Regular performances run Thursday, October 20th through December 4th, 2011. Show times are Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 7:30pm with Sunday matinees at 2:30pm. Tickets are $20 - $30. Call (773) 283-7071 or buy online @ thegifttheatre.org.

NOTE: There are no shows on Friday, November 18th and Thursday, November 24th.
Preview tickets are $20. Regular run tickets are $30 for Thursday, Fridays and Saturday performances; and $25 for Sunday matinees. Student, Industry and Senior tickets are $20, good for Sunday performances. Group rates are available for parties of ten or more.

The Gift Theatre is conveniently located at 4802 N. Milwaukee in Chicago's Jefferson Park neighborhood - two storefronts north of Lawrence, on the west side of Milwaukee - and is easily accessible by the Kennedy Expressway, the Lawrence and Milwaukee buses, and the CTA Blue Line.
Maureen Payne-Hahner has previously directed The Countess and Talk Radio with The Gift. She most recently directed the New York off-broadway remount and Los Angeles production of A Number by Caryl Chruchill i/a/w NAATCO (2011).

The Set Designer is Courtney O'Neil. The Lighting Designer is Scott Pilsbury. The Sound Designer is Chris Kriz. The Costume Designer is Brani Ivanova and the Dialect Coach is Eva Breneman.

THE GIFT THEATRE is dedicated to telling great stories on stage with honesty and simplicity. Previous productions include Northwest Highway; Night and Her Stars; Lonesome West; Suicide, Inc.; One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest; Almost, Maine; Santa's Great American Depression Holiday Show! (2009 & 2010); Summer People; The Ruby Sunrise; Talk Radio; Stop/Kiss; Natural Gas; Streamers; W;t; The Last Days of Judas Iscariot; White People; Three Sisters; The Beauty Queen of Leenane; Blithe Spirit;365 Days/365 Plays; The Halloween Show; Long Day's Journey Into Night; The Glass Menagerie (Remount: Theatre on the Lake); The Good Thief; The Clearing; Hurlyburly; The Glass Menagerie; The Pavilion; A Young Man In Pieces; Language of Angels; 6; County Fair; The Countess; Alcatraz (Abbie Hoffman Festival); Orestes 2.0; and Boys' Life.

The Gift Theatre Company's 2011 season is made possible, in part, by generous contributions from The Alphawood Foundation, The Richard H. Driehaus

Foundation; The Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation; Ronald Greene

Memorial Fund; Chicago City Arts-Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs; Mirapaul Foundation; and the Illinois Arts Council, an agency of the State of Illinois.

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