GLORY DAYS Makes Chicago Premiere Tonight

Men under the age of 25 are hardly the demographic for attending Broadway musicals, let alone writing one, but Nick Blaemire and James Gardiner did just that when their musical Glory Days ran on Broadway in May 2008. The Broadway production followed a World Premiere at the prestigious Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia in January of that year. Reviewing that production, The Washington Post's Peter Marks said" this fresh and vivacious one-act musical... gets down to the real and surprisingly moving business of the evening: nailing the intense sensation of inadequacy that boys can experience on the precipice of manhood." The consensus among the New York critics, shared by the show's many admirers, is that this four-character musical about late-teen male angst was better suited for smaller venues than a Broadway house. It closed after 17 previews and one regular performance.

Refuge Theatre Project, a new company founded last fall by Ross Egan and Morgan Glynn Briggs, believes it will find its audience among the hipsters of Wicker Park when they stage the musical's Chicago Premiere in Room 300 of Collaboraction Theatre's space in the Flatiron Arts Building in August. The production, to be directed by Matt Dominguez (Men Exposed at Redtwist and The Royale at American Theater Company) will be performed in the venue's club like setting and patrons will be allowed - even encouraged - to bring their own beverages. The environment s both inside the venue and outside on the street will establish a tone far less staid than a Broadway theater.

The Glory Days cast will include Hunter Lindner (Jedlicka Performing Arts Center, 2014 graduate of North Central College) as Jack, Roy Brown (a recent graduate of New York's Academy of Musical and Dramatic Art with credits including Cats at Theo Ubique, Hair and Ragtime at Big Noise) as Andy, Will Wilhelm (a Northwestern University musical theater graduate with credits including Jesus Christ Superstar with Theo Ubique, and Lost in Yonkers at Northlight) as Skip, and Brad Atkinson (Columbia College) as Will.

DETAILS:

Glory Days
Music and lyrics by Nick Blaemire, Book by James Gardiner
Directed by Matt Dominguez
Technical Director Michelle Manni
TONIGHT, August 27 - September 20, 2015
Thursdays - Saturdays 7:30 pm, Sundays 6 pm
PRESS OPENING Saturday, August 29 at 7:30 pm

Room 300, Collaboraction
In the Flat Iron Arts Building
1579 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago
Tickets $20.00, Available online at refugetheatre.com

Refuge Theatre Project strives to utilize the appeal of musical theatre to foster a broader and more accessible theatre community. We aim to further our mission by producing contemporary musical theatre that is free from anything extra. We tell stories about people dealing with life in a way that is meaningful and fun. Musical theatre for real people.

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