Chicago Musical Theater Writers Reddyk & Krupp Will Present: HILDEGARD Live Album Recording

Chicago musical writing team Reddyk & Krupp are presenting a live album recording of their latest musical -- Hildegard: An Unfinished Revolution. The concert will be performed at Sleeping Village (3734 W. Belmont Ave.) on Sunday, December 8, 2019 at 7:30 pm.

Hildegard: An Unfinished Revolution is a concept album about the life of Hildegard von Bingen, a 12th-century abbess and someday-saint. Hildegard was a composer, philosopher, visionary, and pre-Reformation reformer. The musical tells her story through her own music, remixed and reworked into modern pop arrangements.

Written by Davyd Reddyk and Ethan Krupp (Church of Modern Love), Hildegard: An Unfinished Revolution is directed by Elizabeth Swanson (Head Over Heels, I Know My Own Heart) with music direction by Heidi Joosten. This concert will feature performances by A. Nikki Greelee as Hildegard, Nik Whitcomb (The Total Bent) as Volmar, and Paige Daigle (Lizzie) as Richardis alongside Caitlyn Cerza (Head Over Heels), Megan Elk (Hello, Again), Andi Sharavsky (Little Women), Marco Braun, Clara Flaherty (Mahalia Jackson: Moving
Thru The Light), and Gabriella Fernandez.

Actor A. Nikki Greenlee, who has played Hildegard in all Chicago performances, says this about the musical: "We have been fed a specific recipe of what is faith, what is feminine and whose stories are important enough to tell- whose contributions matter most. It feels revolutionary for THIS story to be about a woman. Hildegard feels like a gift to the girls and women who keep having questions and keep seeking answers."

"I'm thrilled to present this show in a music venue rather than a theater," said writer Ethan Krupp. "It's a show about music, and playing at Sleeping Village lets us highlight how this musical has developed in a new way."

"2019 has been such a roller coaster in Hildegard's development," said director Elizabeth Swanson. "We're delighted by how much stronger this musical has become through workshopping with the Chicago cast and Princeton student cast. We can't wait to showcase what we've been working on."

Reddyk & Krupp have been developing Hildegard: An Unfinished Revolution since spring 2018 alongside Swanson. The creative team took act one of the musical to the 2018 Chicago Fringe Festival, winning two audience choice awards. The project earned an Individual Artists Program grant from Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) in March 2019. After receiving the grant, the creative team spent a week in development at Prop Thtr this past July followed by a ten-day residency at Princeton University's Lewis Center for the Arts in September.

Reddyk & Krupp are known in Chicago for two other original musicals: Church of Modern Love (dir. Jon Martinez, Den Theater, July 2018) and The Thanksgiving Circumcision (dir. Erin Island, MCL Chicago, November 2015). The writing team has also produced cabarets at Feinstein's/54 Below in New York and Intermission Theatre in Madison, WI.

Hildegard: An Unfinished Revolution -- Live Album Recording is partially supported by an Individual Artists Program Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events, as well as a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency, a state agency through federal funds provided by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Tickets can be purchased at sleeping-village.com.

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