Lookingglass to Stage Federico Garcia Lorca's BLOOD WEDDING, 3/2-4/24

Lookingglass Theatre Company continues its 28^th Season with Federico García Lorca's Blood Wedding, translated by Michael Dewell and Carmen Zapata, and directed by Ensemble Member Daniel Ostling. Blood Wedding runs March 2 - April 24, 2016 at Lookingglass Theatre Company, located inside Chicago's historic Water Tower Water Works, 821 N. Michigan Ave. at Pearson.

"Dan is a true visionary as his incredible set designs attest," notes Artistic Director Heidi Stillman. "Much like Lorca was, Dan is a multi-faceted artist. His passion for this play and his unbridled imagination have us thrilled to support our fellow ensemble member as he makes his Lookingglass directorial debut with Blood Wedding."

The cast of Blood Wedding features Ensemble Members Eva Barr and Christine Mary Dunford, with Artistic Associates Kareem Bandealy (Moby Dick) and Troy West (Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo), and Atra Asdou (Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo), Chance Bone (Last Act of Lilka Kadison), Wendy Mateo (Big Lake Big City), Melisa Pereyra, Helen Sadler, Kevin Viol, Bubba Weiler and Troy West.

The creative team for Blood Wedding includes Ensemble Member Daniel Ostling (scenic design), Ensemble Member Mara Blumenfeld (costume design), TJ Gerckens (lighting design), Artistic Associate Josh Horvath (sound design), Artistic Associate Rick Sims (original music), Ensemble Member Tracy Walsh (choreography), Sarah Burnham (properties) and Tess Golden (Stage Manager).

When a young bride-to-be receives a visit from a former paramour on her wedding day, a family blood feud threatens the celebration and sparks a deadly dance of love and deception, family and revenge, beauty and betrayal.

Lorca - one of Spain's most revered and controversial dramatists - dared to pen a seductive tale of passion and vendetta in a rural Spanish community, one that speaks to any heart longing for true connection. Lookingglass celebrates Lorca's revolutionary theatrical vision and this bold and timeless work in an immersive experience lush with music, movement, and poetic storytelling.

"Blood Wedding (Dewell/Zapata, trans.)" is presented by special arrangement with SAMUEL FRENCH, INC.

About the Artists

Daniel Ostling (Director/Scenic Designer/Ensemble Member) DIRECTING: debut in 2011 with Jacques Brel... (Two River Theatre). LOOKINGGLASS: Has designed 22 plays including Lookingglass Alice, Title & Deed (sets/lights), North China Lover (sets/lights), Eastland: A New Musical, Ethan Frome, The Arabian Nights, Brothers Karamazov, Argonautika, Hillbilly Antigone, Secret in the Wings, Race, Hard Times, Eleven Rooms of Proust and Metamorphoses. REGIONAL: Goodman Theatre; Steppenwolf Theatre Company; Chicago Shakespeare Theater; McCarter Theatre; Huntington Theatre Company; Shakespeare Theatre Company (DC); American Conservatory Theatre (SF); Berkeley Repertory Theatre; Mark Taper Forum; La Jolla Playhouse; California Shakespeare Theater; Oregon Shakespeare Festival; Seattle Repertory Theatre; Portland Center Stage; Alley Theatre; Arena Stage; Guthrie Theater, The Old Globe, among others. NYC: Lincoln Center Theater; Public Theater; Playwrights Horizons; Shakespeare in the Park; New Victory Theater. BROADWAY: Clybourne Park (Tony Nomination), Metamorphoses (Tony Nomination). INTERNATIONAL: Donmar Warehouse and Barbican (London), Teatro alla Scala (Italy), Melbourne Theatre Company, Bunka Kaikan and Orchard Hall (Tokyo), Theatre Calgary. OPERA: Metropolitan Opera: La Sonnambula, Lucia di Lammermoor; Lyric Opera Chicago: Merry Widow, Philip Glass's Galileo Galilei (NYC/London/Chicago). TEACHING: Northwestern University.

Atra Asdou (Leonardo's Wife) Atra returns to Lookingglass Theatre, last appearing in Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo. Past performances: 1984 (Steppenwolf for Young Adults), A Christmas Carol (Goodman Theatre), Heartbreak House (Writers Theatre), Dirty (The Gift Theatre), Seminar (Haven Theatre), and Inana (TimeLine Theatre). Graduate of: Loyola University, Second City, and iO -where she is on the Harold team, SPIDER IN THE CAR. Atra is also 1/2 of the improv/sketch duo, THE PERM.

Kareem Bandealy (Leonardo/Artistic Associate) has previously appeared at Lookingglass in Moby Dick, The Little Prince, Big Lake Big City, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, The Last Act of Lilka Kadison, and Peter Pan. Chicago credits: A Christmas Carol (2014 and 2015), Rock 'N' Roll, Gas For Less and King Lear at Goodman Theatre; The Wheel at Steppenwolf Theatre Company; Oklahoma! at Paramount Theatre; The Good Book and The Illusion at Court Theatre; Hamlet, The Caretaker and Heartbreak House at Writers Theatre; A Midsummer Night's Dream, Edward II and Romeo and Juliet at Chicago Shakespeare Theater; Blood and Gifts at TimeLine Theatre; Othello (as Othello) at The Gift Theatre, and many others. Regional credits include The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Three Musketeers and The Tempest at Illinois Shakespeare Festival; Love's Labours Lost at Notre Dame Summer Shakespeare; Julius Caesar and Stuff Happens at Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre, and four seasons with Orlando Shakespeare Theater. He has appeared in several films including The Merry Gentleman directed by Michael Keaton, on TV in Chicago Fire, and is a recipient of the 2011 3Arts Artist Award.

Chance Bone (The Bridegroom) was last seen at Lookingglass in The Last Act of Lilka Kadison. Other credits: Cooperstown (Theatre Seven of Chicago; non-equity Jeff Award nominee), A Separate Peace, Three Sisters (Steppenwolf Theatre Company). He co-wrote the play The Casuals (Jackalope Theater) with Andrew Burden Swanson. This spring, you can hear his music in the film The Meddler (Directed by Lorene Scafaria; Sony Pictures Classics). He studied at the Theatre School at Depaul University and is represented by Gray Talent Group and Principato-Young Entertainment

Eva Barr (Neighbor/Maid/Ensemble Member) is a founding ensemble member who was last seen on the Lookingglass stage as Dr. Alice Howland in Still Alice. She is also an organic farmer on DreamAcres in Southeast Minnesota where she directs the Dreamery Rural Arts Initiative and Flourish Summer Camp, a program for youth that links the performing arts and agriculture (dreameryruralartsinitiative.org).

Christine Mary Dunford (The Bridegroom's Mother/Ensemble Member) has been an ensemble member since 1989 and has originated roles in nearly two dozen Lookingglass productions. In 2013 she directed her own original (Jeff Nominated) adaptation of Still Alice, a novel by Lisa Genova. Christine has taught with Lookingglass' Education and Community program since its inception. Christine is Director of the School of Theatre and Music at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and she co-founded and helps run the Memory Ensemble-a partnership between Lookingglass and Northwestern's Alzheimer's Disease Center (CNADC)-that uses improvisational performance activities to improve life for people with memory loss.

Wendy Mateo (Mother-in-law/Second girl) is a comedian, actor, writer, and producer. Wendy has been seen on comedy stages and videos as part of the duo: Dominizuelan. Dominizuelan can be seen all over stages in Chicago and was also featured in Latina Magazine. Wendy was last seen on stage in Don Chipotle directed by Jo Cattel and written by Juan Villa, and at Lookingglass in Big Lake Big City.

Sophia Michelle Bastounes (Little Girl) is a junior at Lincoln Park High School and an active member of their artistic community. This is Sophia's first production with Lookingglass Theatre. She previously attended an acting day-camp at Lookingglass and participated in a production of The Sound of Music with the Menomonee Club. Sophia regularly participates in a poetry competition in Chicago known as Louder Than a Bomb.

Melisa Pereyra (The Moon/The Girl) makes her Chicago debut at Lookingglass. She is originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina and is a member of the Core Acting Company at American Players Theatre in Spring Green, WI. She holds an M.F.A. in Classical Acting from Illinois State University, a B.F.A. from Utah State University, and trained in the UK at Shakespeare's Globe and with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Regionally, she has worked several seasons with American Players Theatre, Utah Shakespeare Festival, Illinois Shakespeare Festival, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, and Sacramento Theatre Company.

Helen Sadler (Bride) makes her debut performance at Lookingglass Theatre. Recent theatre credits include: One Man Two Guv'nors (Berkeley Repertory Theatre, South Coast Repertory), The Night Alive, Tribes (Steppenwolf Theatre Company), The Whale (South Coast Repertory), Cymbeline (A Noise Within), Sense and Sensibility (Actors Theatre of Louisville, Northlight Theatre), The Maids (Writers Theatre), Blasted (A Red Orchid Theatre), Buried Child, A Taste of Honey and Hyde in Hollywood (Shattered Globe Theatre), War (Seanachaí Theatre Company), Feydeau-Si-Deau (Theater Wit), Radiance (Geffen Playhouse). TV credits: Revenge, True Blood. Film credits: Thrill Ride, Too Late, Contagion, All the Marbles, Cass, Heavy, The Coldest Winter, Wednesday's Child, Credits, Keen, Hush Your Mouth. Voice credits include: Game of Thrones, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Star Wars: The Old Republic, The Elder Scrolls. Helen received her B.A. from University of Bristol and trained at The Poor School, London.

Kevin Viol (Woodcutter Two/Young Man Two) makes his Lookingglass debut in Blood Wedding. His last stage appearance was as Kai in The Grown Up (Shattered Globe Theatre). Kevin is a company member of Shattered Globe Theatre and has previously appeared in The Whaleship Essex, Mill Fire, Taste of Honey, Dealer's Choice, and House of Blue Leaves, among others. He has also worked with Victory Gardens Theater, Remy Bumppo Theatre Company, and TUTA. He is a local filmmaker and works in many aspects of production, including writing, producing and editing.

Bubba Weiler (Woodcutter One, Young Man One) has been seen in Chicago productions including: To Kill a Mockingbird (Steppenwolf Theatre Company); Talking Pictures, The Actor (Goodman Theatre); The Original Grease (American Theater Company); A Guide for the Perplexed, A Park in Our House, I Sailed with Magellan (Victory Gardens Theater); Graceland (Profiles Theater); Picnic (Writers Theatre); Hecuba (Chicago Shakespeare Theater); Oliver! (Marriott Theatre); and Dandelion Wine (Chicago Children's Theatre). New York theatre credits include The Burnt Part Boys (Vineyard Theatre); and Goldor & Mythyka: A Hero is Born (New Georges). TV and Film credits include Unforgettable (CBS), The Mysteries of Laura (NBC), The Slap (NBC), and America (Sony/Lifetime).

Troy West (The Bride's Father/Artistic Associate) made his debut at Lookingglass in George in 1998 and has been an artistic associate of the theatre since 2003. At Steppenwolf Theatre Company, West appeared in the original productions of August: Osage County (also on Broadway, London and Sydney) and Picasso at the Lapin Agile (also Off-Broadway, Los Angeles and San Francisco). Other Chicago and regional credits include: A Red Orchid Theatre, American Conservatory Theater, Remains Theater, Famous Door, Goodman Theatre, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Portland Center Stage and Theatre By The Sea, among others. TV and movies include: Early Edition, Chicago PD, Nash Bridges, The "Canned" Film Festival, Advantage Weinberg and Unusual Phenomena.