FRAT To Be Re-mounted At The Apartment Lounge 9/16-10/22

In response to unprecedented demand, The New Colony's FRAT by Evan Linder, the hit comedy that played to sold-out audiences in 2009, will be re-mounted in a commercial production at The Apartment Lounge in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood. Performances will begin Friday, September 16 and run through Saturday, October 22, 2011. The Press Opening will be Saturday, September 24 at 8:00 PM.

The 2009 production was widely praised by Chicago critics. In her review for the Chicago Tribune, Nina Metz said "The laughs come fast and furious. A deft and realistic portrayal of a campus subculture. Linder has written some terrifically naturalistic banter. (3-1/2 stars)." The Chicago Reader's Tony Adler called it "A robust environmental staging with nothing but sharp performances (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED)." Rory Leahy of Centerstage Chicago said it was "A MUST SEE. This stuff is as scary as it is fun. "

The new production of FRAT will reunite original director Andrew Hobgood, Artistic Director of The New Colony, with most of the cast from the 2009 World Premiere production. Hobgood says, "ever since we first did Frat, our audiences have been asking when we're planning to bring it back."

FRAT is based on the experiences of playwright Linder as a fraternity member at the College of Charleston in South Carolina. It follows the progress of four freshmen who pledge the fictitious "Theta Pi Psi" fraternity. In Hobgood's promenade staging, the audience is right in the middle of the world of fraternity rush parties, pledge education and initiation rituals. The environmental design by Kevin McClintock enhances the post-collegiate apartment décor of the nightclub, transforming it into a fraternity house that will take audiences back to their college days. Audiences will be invited to arrive one half-hour early for each performance for a "rush party" in which they can meet "the brothers" of Theta Pi as well as their fellow prospective members.

This will be the first commercial transfer of a play developed by The New Colony, the non-profit company that won the 2011 Broadway in Chicago Emerging Theater Award. FRAT will be presented by Hatmaker Theatrical Productions In association with The New Colony, Nathan Gardner and Karen Davidov.

Tickets are now on sale through the Greenhouse Theater Center at 2257 N. Lincoln Avenue (a block and a half south of Fullerton Avenue and immediately next door to The Apartment Lounge at 2251 N. Lincoln). Tickets, priced at $28.50, are available online at www.greenhousetheater.org, by phone at 773-404-7336 or in person at the Greenhouse Theater Center Box Office. Box Office Hours for phone and in-person sales are Wednesdays through Saturdays from Noon to 8 p.m. and Sundays from Noon to 4 p.m.

LISTING INFORMATION
Frat
By Evan Linder
Directed by Andrew Hobgood
September 26 through October 22, 2011
The Apartment Lounge
2251 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago
(Above the Lion Head Pub, next door to Greenhouse Theater Center)
www.frattheshow.com
www.facebook.com/NewColonysFrat
Twitter - @NewColonysFrat

Performance Times:
Previews: Friday and Saturday, September 16 and 17 at 8:00 p.m.; Friday, September 23 at 8:00 p.m.
Press Opening - Saturday, September 24 at 8:00 p.m.
Regular Run: Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m., Sunday at 3:00 p.m. Saturday, September 24 through October 22, 2011.
Tickets - $28.50, available online at www.greenhousetheater.org, in-person or by phone through Greenhouse Theater Center Box Office (open Wednesdays through Saturdays 12 Noon - 8 p.m., Sundays 12 Noon - 4 p.m.)
Groups (6+): groups@frattheshow.com
Public Transit/Parking: Red Line or Brown Line EL to Fullerton. Lincoln Avenue Bus #11 to Lincoln & Orchard, Fullerton Avenue Bus #74: to Lincoln and Belden. Parking: $6.00 discount parking is available at Children's Memorial Hospital, 2316 N. Lincoln and at Parking in the Park, 550 W. Webster with ticket stub or validation from Greenhouse Theater Center box office.

CAST: Joel Booster (Ross ), Will Cavedo (Fleet), Caitlin Chuckta (Katie), Pat Coakley (Todd), Jared Fernley (Blake), Steve Gensler (Benjamin), Meg Johns (Sara Catherine), Alexander Lane (Michael), Evan Linder(Andy), Thea Lux (Natalie), Wes Needham (Steven), Benno Nelson (Bennett), Henry Riggs (Dave), Brandon Ruiter (Luke), Tara Sissom (Amy), Kevin Stangler (Fulton), Gary Tiedemann(Jerry), Quinn White (Kevin).

CREATIVE TEAM: Andrew Hobgood, Director, Kevin McClintock (Set and Property Design).

ABOUT THE CREATIVE AND PRODUCTION TEAM

ANDREW HOBGOOD , DIRECTOR - Andrew is the founding Artistic Director of The New Colony and has directed their productions of Amelia Earhart, Jungle Princess, Frat, Hearts Full of Blood; co-wrote and directed Tupperware: An American Musical Fable and That Sordid Little Story. He won a 2006 FringeNYC award for Outstanding Musical for 58! A Comedy about Bike Messengering and a 2008 FringeNYC award for Outstanding Music and Lyrics for Love Is Dead: A NecRomantic Musical Comedy, which he also co-wrote and directed.

EVAN LINDER, AUTHOR/ACTOR - Evan is Associate Artistic Director of The New Colony and a proud graduate of the College of Charleston. He began his professional career as an Associate Company member at Playhouse on the Square in Memphis and has worked in Chicago with About Face Theater, the side project, Promethean Theater Ensemble and Bohemian Theater Ensemble. In addition to "FRAT," he is the author of New Colony's 11:11 (with Tara Sissom), The Warriors and 5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche (with Andrew Hobgood).

THE NEW COLONY - Founded in 2008, The New Colony is a Chicago-based non-profit theater company that strives to contribute original material to the American artistic canon and develop a new theater-going audience. Entering its fourth season, The New Colony has mounted nine fully-staged productions of original works, including Amelia Earhart: Jungle Princess, Frat, Tupperware: An American Musical Fable, Hearts Full of Blood; 11:11, That Sordid Little Story, Pancake Breakfast, The Warriors and Five Lesbians Eating a Quiche. In April, the company won the 2011 Broadway in Chicago Emerging Theater Award.

HATMAKER THEATRICAL PRODUCTIONS, LLC - Founded in 2011 by Executive Producer John Olson, Frat is Hatmaker's first production. Olson is a veteran of several Chicago advertising agencies and is also a freelance theater journalist. He is a contributing writer and associate editor of The Sondheim Review and Chicago theater critic for the website TalkinBroadway.com.