The Neo-Futurists to Open PSEUDO-CHUM, 10/20

Be better than the shark. Keep your mind. This is Pseudo-Chum. Opening night is Monday, October 20 at The Neo-Futurarium at 5153 N. Ashland.

The stage blood is in the water. Pseudo-Chum is three plays-within-a-play that juxtaposes the creation (The Rehearsal) and the production (The Performance) of Chum with the destruction of the playwright (The Interview). The Interview is the story of the playwright who wrote the play Chum as a protest against the government-sanctioned systematic destruction of sharks along the coast of Australia. Is the playwright a bold activist or a shark-like opportunist? Or is he just a high functioning alcoholic spiraling into an abyss? The Performance is the play Chum, the story of a shark fishing family lost at sea struggling over the impending death of the patriarch. Tensions flare and violence ensues. The Rehearsal shows the true nature of the actors who will sell their souls in exchange for success. Fame, like chum, attracts the sharks.

Sean Benjamin states, "We wrote Pseudo-Chum because in life and in art we are sometimes the shark and sometimes the chum, mostly both at the same time. This play is a heightened version of my life...though, sadly, it didn't have to be heightened much."

Carolyn Benjamin adds, "Pseudo-Chum showcases how easily things can get out of control when you lose sight of what is truly important in life. Success, both professionally and financially, is nice... but if you look around you and don't like who and what you see... is the life you've created worth living?"

Sean Benjamin (Writer/Director) began his Chicago career at iO (performing with house team Georgia Pacific) and joined The Neo-Futurists in 1996 writing and performing in Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind for thirteen years. In 2002, he co-founded Drinking & Writing Theater. He has co-written (with Steve Mosqueda) and performed in the Drinking & Writing series (Drinking & Writing, The Nobel Experiment, To Cure A Hangover, The 12 Steps of Christmas, and The City That Drinks) as well as the plays BEER!, God vs. Hall & Oates, A Beer Carol, Barnstormers, and The Brewprints. Other writing and performance credits include Devolution, Missing Parts, The Santa Abductions, Poker Night at the White House, 44 Plays for 44 Presidents (cowriter), SEX! (creator/ cowriter), and The Earliest Known Photo of Men Drinking Beer. He produces the events The Drinking & Writing Festival, Tied House Film Festival, and Beerfly Alleyfight. His next play, opening in 2015, is Illusionois.

Carolyn Benjamin (Writer/Director) received her BFA from the University of Southern Mississippi and relocated to Chicago in 2001. She has been the Assistant Director to Tracy Letts (People Annihilation, or My Liver is Senseless); Sean Griffin (Opera Povera); and Sean Benjamin (The Earliest Known Photo of Men Drinking Beer). She collaborates with Catherine Sullivan and Sean Griffin and most recently performed in Opera Povera: To Valerie Solanas and Marilyn Monroe in Recognition of Their Desperation (LA). Work with the pair includes Ice Floes of Franz Josef Land (film/NYC), The Audimax and Volksbuhne Manifestations (Germany), The Chittendens (film), Triangle of Need (film), Opened House (Taiwan), Cold Spring (NY). A former company member of Trap Door Theatre, performances include Nana, Katzelmacher, The Fourth Sister, The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant, and Request Programme (2006 Top Female Performance, NEWCITY). She is featured in Drinking & Writing's A Beer Carol, God vs. Hall & Oates, Barnstormers, American Variety, and The Earliest Known Photo of Men Drinking Beer.

The cast of Pseudo-Chum includes: Amy Berkovec (Ellie/Amy) who has worked in Boston at Centastage Theatre Company, Emerson Stage and Shadywood Road Productions; Alison Connelly (Director/Justine/Alison) who is a regular performer with I Saw You at Town Hall Pub and recently joined American Variety with Carolyn & Alison with Drinking & Writing Theater; Beth Kander (Ruth/Beth) who has worked in Jackson, Mississippi, and is a Downstage Left resident playwright with Stage Left Theatre; Aaron Lawson (Nathan/Aaron) who has worked with Adventure Stage, The Whiskey Rebellion Theatre, Hell in a Handbag and Bruised Orange as well as Sean (The Playwright/Sean) and Carolyn (The Interviewer/Carolyn) Benjamin.

The Pseudo-Chum staff includes: Ewelina Dobiesz (Set Designer), Ivy Reid (Lighting Designer), and Sean and Carolyn Benjamin as Prop and Costume Designers. Gary Damico serves as Stage Manager/Assistant Director and Skye Fort serves as Assistant Stage Manager.