AIMING FOR SAINTHOOD: A Solo Play for Hearing and Deaf Audiences Plays In Millennium Park

The one-woman, autobiographical show, Aiming for Sainthood, the third offering in Millennium Park's new theater lab series, In the Works, is coming to the Jay Pritzker Pavilion from March 25-27, 2010 at 7:30 p.m. Presented by Millennium Park and Chicago Dramatists, Aiming for Sainthood is written and performed by Chicago Dramatists Resident Playwright, Arlene Malinowski, who tells her story through sign language and voice, using both deaf and storytelling techniques. Chicago Dramatists' new Associate Artistic Director, Richard Perez, will direct.

As the hearing daughter of devoutly Catholic deaf parents, Malinowski learns to navigate the cross-cultural maze of the medical world and the deaf world, when, as an adult, she returns home to care for her cancer stricken mother. Aiming for Sainthood is about parents and children, deaf and hearing, love and forgiveness, faith and tolerance, and finding oneself.

With the In The Works series, audiences have a chance to sit on the stage of the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, experiencing works in development by local theater artists or companies. The series is supported by a grant from The Boeing Company Charitable Trust.

Aiming for Sainthood is the second of an autobiographical trilogy of solo plays that began with the award-winning What Does the Sun Sound Like. The play was commissioned by 16th Street Theater in Berwyn, Illinois, where it was performed as a reading for the Words In Motion-Festival in July, 2008, and further developed at Chicago Dramatists. Aiming for Sainthood will be produced later this season in Chicago at Victory Gardens Theater's new Studio Theater in a series of solo works.

Arlene Malinowski's solo plays have been produced and performed at St. Louis Center for Contemporary Art, HBO Workspace, Victory Gardens Theater, Ojai Solo Series, Santa Monica Playhouse, Blue Sphere Alliance, Las Vegas Cultural Arts Center, and at colleges nationwide. Her work has been honored with an L.A. Ovations nomination, an L.A. Weekly Award, and a Garland Award. She is a Resident Playwright with Chicago Dramatists.

Led by Artistic Director Russ Tutterow and Managing Director Brian Loevner, Chicago Dramatists, the playwrights' theatre, has devoted all of its resources for the past 30 years to its mission of developing new plays and nurturing playwrights. Last season, Chicago Dramatists' 200+ playwrights earned over 700 productions, readings, awards, and other honors at theatres in Chicago, around the country, and across the globe. Resident Playwright Keith Huff's play, A Steady Rain, (a Chicago Dramatists' hit world premiere from 2007-2008) opened on Broadway in fall, 2009. A national institution and a Chicago treasure, Chicago Dramatists enriches the lives of hundreds of thousands of theatre patrons every year. For more information about Chicago Dramatists, its productions, classes, developmental programs and more, go to www.chicagodramatists.org or call 312.633.0630.

Millennium Park is located in the heart of downtown Chicago. It is bordered by Michigan Ave. to the west, Columbus Dr. to the east, Randolph St. to the north and Monroe St. to the south. Convenient parking is located in the Millennium Park Garage (entrance on Columbus at Monroe or Randolph) and at the Grant Park North and East Monroe Garages, all located within a short walking distance of Millennium Park.

Millennium Park, managed and programmed by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, is an award-winning center for art, music, architecture and landscape design. The result of a unique partnership between the City of Chicago and the philanthropic community, the 24.5-acre park features the work of world-renowned architects, planners, artists and designers. Among Millennium Park's prominent features are the Frank Gehry-designed Jay Pritzker Pavilion, the most sophisticated outdoor concert venue of its kind in the United States; the interactive Crown Fountain by Jaume Plensa; the contemporary Lurie Garden designed by the team of Gustafson Guthrie Nichol, Piet Oudolf and Robert Israel; and Anish Kapoor's hugely popular Cloud Gate sculpture. Since its opening in July 2004, Millennium Park has welcomed more than 20 million people, making it one of the most popular destinations in Chicago.

For more information about Aiming for Sainthood and In the Works theater lab series which includes Moby Dick by Blair Thomas & Company (January 28-30, 2010) and Los Nogales by Teatro Vista (April 15-17, 2010), visit www.millenniumpark.org or call 312.742.1168.

 

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