Walkabout Theater's THE CURE Set for Chicago Cultural Center, 6/1-18

Walkabout Theater Company, in association with the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, is pleased to present THE CURE, a new ensemble-devised work exploring our relationship with disease, resilience and our pursuit of immortality. Commissioned text by Emma Stanton is fused with interwoven narratives of movement, music, group choreography and funerary rites that investigate the fatigue of hope in the face of profound grief. Directed by Co-Artistic Director Kendra Miller with movement by Co-Artistic Director Thom Pasculli, THE CURE will play June 1 - 18, 2016 at The Sidney R. Yates Gallery at the Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St. in Chicago. All performances are free to the public. The press opening is Friday, June 3 at 8 pm.

THE CURE is created and performed by Walkabout ensemble members Nigel Brown, McCambridge Dowd-Whipple, Cooper Forsman, Dana Murphy, Katie Mazzini, Thom Pasculli and Paul Scudder with Anirudh Nair and Amba-Suhasini Jhala.

A decaying greenhouse beckons from the banks of a mighty river. A group of doctors, patients and figures from mythology are pulled from different moments in history into the shelter of its glass walls by a common search - they are all seeking a cure for their condition, something that will transcend certain fate and immobilize death. In this magical purgatory, haunted by mythic figures, snake-oil salesmen and angels, time is frozen and a bargain can be struck. The seekers must confront their own desire to stay stuck. How can we risk hope when a cure is nowhere to be found? What do we sacrifice when we fight to keep things the same? How much loss must we endure?

Following the ancient rhythms of Greek and Hindu mythology, set to a Viennese Waltz and pulling from the canon of 1980's heartbreak power ballads, and spinning through original movement and dance inspired by the orbit of the planetary realms and the laws from Kepler and Newton, THE CURE looks at how we plant the seeds of hope in an uncertain future and where we can find the strength to continue searching for a cure.

The Sidney R. Yates Gallery at the Chicago Cultural Center was originally the library's main reading room and was named for Illinois Congressman Sidney R. Yates (1909-2000), advocate for the arts.

THE CURE production team includes: Isaac Fosl-van Wyke (scenic design & visual art installation), Michael Banks (lighting design), Cooper Forsman (sound design) and Jeffery Hancock (costume design), Chris Herde and Camille Litalien (choreography), Dina Klahn (stage manager) and Alex Rodriguez (assistant director).

Photo by Matthew Gregory Hollis