AstonRep Theatre Company Presents 10th Annual WRITER'S SERIES

AstonRep Theatre Company is pleased to present its 10th annual WRITER'S SERIES, a daylong festival of staged readings of new works by local writers. This year's series will showcase three productions by Siena Marilyn Ledger, Jenny Seidelman and Levi Shrader on Saturday, December 1, 2018 from 12 pm - 5 pm at The Vagabond School of the Arts, 4001 N. Ravenswood Ave. #504 in Chicago. Patrons are invited to attend individual readings - or stay for the entire event. Readings are free but donations will be accepted. No reservations required. For additional information, visit www.astonrep.com or call (773) 828-9129.

The 2018 WRITER'S SERIES Line-Up includes:

11:30 pm

MAN AND MOON

By Siena Marilyn Ledger, Directed by James Fleming

Featuring Ada Grey and Jaq Seifert

Recently diagnosed with breast cancer, a transitioning man meets a young girl with a deep passion for outer space in the waiting room of a hospital's Oncology Unit. Together they learn to navigate their own changing bodies and lives as they fit within the context of space and time.

1:30 pm

THE CANDIDATE

By Jenny Seidelman, Directed by Dana Anderson*

Featuring Maggie Antonijevic, Lynne Baker, Mary Mikva, Phoebe Moore and Mark Tacderas

The Candidate takes place in the run-up to the 2014 mid-term elections that, in a historic moment, swung the Senate from blue to red. African-American Nicole is working as the Assistant Communications Director for the campaign of Barbara, a white Republican running for Senate. When Nicole and her Latino husband Mateo are unexpectedly recruited to star in a campaign ad for Barbara, Nicole discovers that she is becoming uncertain of her own political leanings. With the campaign on the line, Nicole must decide where she stands - for the sake of her job, her family and her candidate.

3:30 pm

SNAKEROOT

By Levi Shrader, Directed by Robert Tobin*

Featuring James Hesla, Robin Margolis, Billy Sullivan and Ben Veatch

Orphaned by the 1967 collapse of the Silver Bridge in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, Sissy and her dysfunctional brother Howie, have only ever known a life of deprivation and poverty. Barely subsisting on the social security checks Sissy draws every month for heart trouble, she supplements the paltry checks with scant earnings from digging and selling medicinal roots she finds in the mountains near their shack. Now, in 1997, from a chance encounter with an earnest and well-meaning, if misguided, agent from the National Park Services, Sissy learns of the rare and extremely valuable Snakeroot, and pins to it her hopes of one day building a real home for herself and her brother. However, the secret passions of the men around her, to win her affections or locate the elusive Mothman, conspire and collide to derail Sissy's dream of ever having a real home to call her home.

*Denotes AstonRep Company Member

About the Playwrights

Siena Marilyn Ledger (Man and Moon) is a playwright and actor from San Diego, CA. She graduated from California State University Fullerton's BFA Acting program where she studied in-depth the Stanislavski Method and gained a broad taste in theatrical styles. Much of her work is metaphorical and symbolic and shows a penchant for exploring disease and the process of dying. Siena finds beauty in the sound of words, concepts of time and the commonalities between human beings and major objects of the universe. Siena's works include her first play, The Empty Space, which was recently produced abroad in Wales and a full-length play, Man and Moon, which tackles the subject of breast cancer and loss shown through the eyes a transitioning man and a young girl with a passion for outer space. Her most recent play, Inosculation was performed at the Hollywood Fringe Festival and depicts a visceral relationship between two antithetical aspects of the same person. Siena is based out of Chicago and is a member of Chicago Dramatist's second class of Tutterow Fellows.

Levi Shrader (Snakeroot) is a writer, musician, actor and educator living and working in Chicago. He has been seen previously in productions with (re)discover theatre co. and the Barrens Theatre Co., the curated art show the Sh*thole, and various music venues around the city. When not writing or performing, Levi is a first-grade teacher.

Jenny Seidelman (The Candidate) is a Chicago-based playwright. Her work has been produced, developed and received readings at Eclectic Full Contact Theatre, Idle Muse Theatre Company, Ivy Theatre Company, Gorilla Tango Theater, Babes with Blades, Nylon Fusion, The Asylum Theatre, Ground UP Productions, Polarity Ensemble Theatre and Cold Basement Dramatics, among others. She is a recipient of grants from the Illinois Arts Council and the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and is a member of the Dramatists Guild.

About AstonRep Theatre Company:

AstonRep Theatre Company was formed in the summer of 2008. Since then, the company has produced 21 full-length productions and nine annual Writers' Series. AstonRep Theatre Company is an ensemble of artists committed to creating exciting, intimate theatrical experiences that go beyond the front door to challenge audiences and spark discussion where the show is not the end of the experience: it is just the beginning.

PHOTO CREDIT: AstonRep Theatre Company's 10th annual WRITER'S SERIES will feature staged readings by (left to right) Siena Marilyn Ledger, Jenny Seidelman and Levi Shrader.