Artemisia Sets 2016-17 Theatre Season

Artemisia, a Chicago Theatre that produces visionary, female-driven plays, announces its 2016-17 Theatre Season, featuring its annual Fall Festival, a cutting-edge world premiere chosen by the 2015 Fall Festival audience and a bold new feminist twist on Shakespeare.

"I'm thrilled to present this incredible line-of dynamic women-driven theatre, all performed in Edgewater," says Julie Proudfoot, founder and Executive Artistic Director.

Artemisia's Her Story is Our Story, Fall Festival 2016 features six all-new women-driven plays with dynamic leading characters seeking full production. From this thrilling line-up, the audience chooses the theatre's next world premiere. "It's an ambitious search every year," says Proudfoot, who heads a team of gifted dramaturges that look for the best and boldest feminist plays they can find. The six previously unproduced plays are then staged as readings September 22, 23, 24, 29, 30 and October 1 at 7:30 pm. A full schedule of plays will be available at artemisiatheatre.org May 15 with reservations opening August 1. Admission to the festival is free, but donations are encouraged.

Joining in the worldwide celebrations marking the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death, Shakespeare 400, Artemisia bends gender in Shrewish, Barbara Zahora's modern adaptation of Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew. "How exciting to reframe the debate around Katherina's taming by making her a man, Petruchio a woman, and Shakespeare's players a girl gang with an attitude," says Zahora, who will also direct the production. Shattering gender norms and turning up the heat on the battle of the sexes, Shrewish runs November 4-20, 2016, with performances Thursdays, Fridays & Saturdays at 7:30 pm and Sundays at 6:00 pm. There is a special, one-time only matinee at 2pm on November 5th.

The undisputed audience favorite from Artemisia's 2015 Fall Festival, Visiting, written by Ed Proudfoot, is a Pandora's picnic basket of suicidal tendencies, family secrets and buried memories. This world premiere takes an unflinching look at a high school senior's struggle with depression. "This is a beautifully personal, relatable and starkly hopeful play," says director Steve Scott, "and I think it's deeply significant that the story is told by all-female cast of characters." Visiting opens April 14, 2017, and runs through May 7, 2017. Performances are Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 7:30 pm and Sunday at 6:00 pm, with an additional matinee on Saturdays at 2:00 pm. Purchase tickets for Visiting beginning August 1.

Artemisia is a proud, new member of the award-winning Edgewater Theatre District and performs its entire 2016-17 Theatre Season at the beautiful Edge Theatre, located at 5451 N. Broadway in Edgewater. To purchase tickets and for further information visit artemisiatheatre.org or call Artemisia's Box Office at (312) 725-3780.

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