GOSSAMER & More Set For Adventure Stage Chicago's 2009-2010 Season

Adventure Stage Chicago (ASC) proudly announces their 2009-2010 season, comprised of two exciting literary adaptations for audiences age 8 and older.

Nov. 7 - Dec. 17, 2009
Chicago Premiere!
GOSSAMER
by Lois Lowry
Directed by ASC ensemble member Brian Bell

Performance Schedule:
Previews: 10:30 a.m. Nov. 5 & 6.
Weekends: 2:00 p.m. every Saturday during run (no show Dec. 12).
Weekdays: 10:30 a.m. Nov. 10, 12, 17, 18, 19, 24 & Dec. 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 17.
Special Evening Performance: Friday, Nov. 27 at 7:00 p.m.

This fanciful and poignant play based on Lois Lowry's novel explores the power of dreams and the magical creatures that create them. An eager new Dream-Giver known only as Littlest One struggles to heal the hearts of an angry young boy, his grieving caregiver and his estranged mother before the haunting memories each of them carry become more than they can bear. But are the dreams Littlest One weaves strong enough to fortify and protect the fragile humans in her care? Beautifully staged using colorful masks and enchanting puppetry, GOSSAMER is recommended for ages 8 and older.

Lois Lowry was co-commissioned by Oregon Children's Theatre (Portland, OR) and First Stage Children's Theatre (Milwaukee, WI) to adapt her 2006 novel Gossamer for the stage. GOSSAMER premiered at First Stage in September 2008 and OCT in November 2008. Ms. Lowry began her career as a photographer and journalist before publishing her first children's book, A Summer to Die, in 1977. She has since written more than 30 books for children and has twice been awarded the prestigious Newbery Medal for Number the Stars in 1990 and The Giver in 1994. GOSSAMER is Ms. Lowry's first play.

Brian Bell has been directing and acting in Chicago for the last three years and is an ASC teaching artist and ensemble member. Previously he completed a directing internship with the Carrousel Theater an der Parkaue in Berlin, Germany, and went on to direct The Retreating World by Naomi Wallace at the Acud Theater in Berlin. Brian graduated with a B.A. in Theatre Performance from the University of North Texas, where he directed and adapted Woyzeck by Georg Buechner as a final thesis. In Chicago, Brian is the artistic director of Cabaret Vagabond and has worked with Lincoln Square Theatre, Darknight Productions, Piccolo Theatre, Apple Tree Theatre and Collaboraction. He is an alumnus of the Chicago Directors Lab. GOSSAMER is his first play with ASC.

April 10 - May 20, 2010
Midwest Premiere!
THE GHOSTS OF TREASURE ISLAND
Adapted by Eric Schmiedl from the novel Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
Music and lyrics by Captain Bogg and Salty
Directed by Amanda Delheimer (The Cay, The Ash Girl)

Performance Schedule:
Previews: 10:30 a.m. April 8 & 9.
Weekends: 2:00 p.m. every Saturday during run.
Weekdays: 10:30 a.m. April 13, 14, 15, 20, 22, 27, 29, 30 & May 4, 6, 7, 11, 12, 13, 18, 19, 20.
Special Evening Performance: Fri., May 7 at 7:00 p.m.

This rollicking new musical follows young cabin boy Jim Hawkins as he fights to survive while shipwrecked on a mysterious island. Accompanied by the singing shenanigans of a raucous band of pirate ghosts, Jim races to find notorious Captain Flint's fabled treasure before mutinous shipmates steal the fortune for themselves. Faced with danger at every turn, Jim persists on his quest armed with nothing but an old treasure map and an endless supply of courage. Sail the high seas with the crew of The Hispaniola in this rowdy adventure recommended for ages 8 and up.

Eric Schmiedl created GHOSTS OF TREASURE ISLAND with Portland, Oregon recording artists Captain Bogg and Salty for the Oregon Children's Theatre, where it premiered in April 2008. A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Mr. Schmiedl's plays have been produced by the Denver Center Theatre Company, The Cleveland Play House, the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, TheatreVirginia, New Stages Theatre, the Honolulu Theatre for Youth, BackStage Theatre in Chicago, Dobama Theatre, Karamu House, Theatre at Lime Kiln, and The Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati. His acclaimed adaptation of Kent Haruf's bestselling novel Plainsong won the 2008 Westword: Best of Denver Award for Best Dramatization of a Novel. He is currently working on a commission for the Denver Center Theatre Company, an adaptation of Kent Haruf's novel Eventide. Mr. Schmiedl is a member of The Cleveland Play House's Playwrights' Unit and is on the faculty of the Low-residency Master of Fine Arts in Writing program at Spalding University in Louisville, Kentucky. He is also the recipient of the Lisa Toishigawa Inoye Playwriting Award.

Captain Bogg & Salty began as a pirate-themed, children's concept CD by Kevin Hendrickson and Loren Hoskins in 1999. The band now includes five members with diverse backgrounds in musical theater, sketch comedy, and children's theater. As members of Young Audiences, Captain Bogg & Salty regularly perform in schools. The band is just as likely to be found in rock clubs, performing the same material for an adult audience. The band also headlines the annual Portland Pirate Festival. "Emphatical Piratical" is the crew's new album of nautical pop and pirate-rock. The release follows the 2005 NAPPA gold award-winning "Pegleg Tango," "Prelude to a Mutiny," and their debut album, "Bedtime Stories for Pirates."

Amanda Delheimer is a freelance director, choreographer, writer, and educator. She previously directed Sideways Stories from the Wayside School, And Then They Came For Me: Remembering the World of Anne Frank, The Ash Girl and The Cay for ASC, where she is a teaching artist. She has worked with Steppenwolf, Court Theater, Next Theater, Pegasus Players Theater, Redmoon, Collaboraction, Roadworks, Strawdog, Serendipity Theatre Company, Red Hen Productions, Teatro Vista, and Striding Lion InterArts Workshop, among others. Ms. Delheimer is the Artistic Director of Serendipity Theatre and an Artistic Associate with Collaboraction Theater. Ms. Delheimer has also trained in a variety of schools of physical theater - including Viewpoints, Suzuki, Lecoq, and Commedia dell 'Arte - and endeavors to infuse her work with the physical and visceral immediacy that has drawn her to those schools of training. Ms. Delheimer has taught with Pegasus Players for the past five years, and as the Artistic Director of Serendipity runs Second Story, a festival of wine, music, and storytelling that pairs up four original stories with four tastes of wine and live music in one cohesive evening of performance. The festival is in its seventh year.

Adventure Stage Chicago's mission is to create dynamic theatre for young audiences that activates the imagination, inspires dialogue and celebrates community among families, educators and artists. ASC is Chicago's only professional theatre company dedicated solely to theatrical programming for young people ages 8-14 and the adults in their lives. As artists, ASC seeks to produce renowned stories as well as cultivate new work. As educators, Adventure Stage Chicago endeavors to be a model for professional development through workshops, residencies and other resources that offer concrete ways to infuse theatre in the classroom. This is ASC's sixth season. (The first three seasons were produced under the name Vittum Theater.)

ASC has received numerous honors from local and national organizations since its inception in 2004, including:
Two-time Finalist for the Broadway In Chicago Emerging Theater Award
Participant in the New Visions/New Voices Festival at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, Washington D.C.
Zeta Phi Eta Winifred Ward Award for Outstanding New Children's Theatre Company from the American Alliance for Theatre and Education
Three-time Recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts Access to Artistic Excellence Grant
Adventure Stage Chicago is a program of Northwestern University Settlement House, the oldest continually operating settlement house in Chicago. Throughout its 118-year history, the Settlement has remained committed to providing resources that empower our neighbors to overcome the obstacles of poverty. ASC extends this mission by presenting Chicago's young audiences, educators and families with an affordable artistic experience rooted in performance. Last season, ASC served 9,000 students from 82 schools throughout the Chicagoland area.

Each Adventure Stage Chicago production presents weekday performances primarily for school groups, as well as Saturday matinees for the general public. All performances include a post-show audience talkback with the cast.

Adventure Stage Chicago also conducts a pre-show Family Workshop before the first and last Saturday of each show's run. The workshop begins one hour before the performance and is recommended for children ages 8-12. Tickets are $5 per participant, and adults are encouraged to join their smaller companions. Attendees leave the workshop excited and equipped to engage in the world of the play they are about to see.

All shows are performed at Vittum Theater, 1012 N. Noble St., in the heart of Chicago's West Town neighborhood. Free parking is available, and the theater is close to the Noble St. stop on the #56 Milwaukee bus line and the Division stop on the CTA Blue Line. The theater is wheelchair accessible.

Tickets for all shows are $17.00 for adults, $12.00 children aged 14 and under, $10.00 previews and $8.00 school groups. Other group discounts available. Passport to Adventure subscriptions are available beginning in mid-September. For tickets or more information, call (773) 342-4141 or visit www.adventurestage.org.

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