Genesis Ensemble's First Production Is THE SECRETS PROJECT

Chicago's newest performance collective, the Genesis Ensemble, presents its inaugural production: The Secrets Project, playing March 4 - 28, 2009 at Peter Jones Gallery, 1806 W. Cuyler (behind the Irving Park Brown Line). The press performance is Saturday, March 7 at 7:30 p.m.

We all have secrets-the ones we tell, the ones we keep, the ones we read, the ones we wonder about. The Secrets Project is an exploration of our humanity through secrets. Genesis Ensemble investigates the nuanced personal, social and political impact secrets have on our lives through devised performance.

The Secrets Project is collectively written by the Genesis Ensemble, directed by Lindsey Barlag and features emerging Chicago performers Christopher Acevedo, Amanda Jane Dunne, Jennifer Leininger, Josh Lesser, Cece Miller, Kat Paddock and Rebecca Ribich. The performance is community generated, ensemble created, audience interactive-taking the audience on an explorative theatrical journey.

The Secrets Project plays March 4 - 28, 2009. The performance schedule is as follows: Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. Previews: Wednesday, March 4 & Thursday, March 5. Press opening: Saturday, March 7. There is a suggested donation of $10. Tickets can be reserved in advance by e-mailing genesis.ensemble@gmail.com. Seats may also be available the day of the performance at Peter Jones Gallery.

Genesis Ensemble seeks to open hearts and minds to the stories that are the human experience. They seek to propel conversation and action in our communities. They seek to be bold, passionate, and entertaining. They aspire to tear down, build again, breaThe Life into the new and polish the old.

Genesis Ensemble is a collective of actors, directors, writers, teaching artists and performance artists that devise work specifically for Chicago audiences. They hope to give emerging theatre artists and community activists a voice and create work that bridges the gap between performer and audience. They have worked formally and informally together over the past 4-years. At Miami University they founded a theatre company focused on generating debate around controversial topics with the Walking Theatre Project. In the spring of 2008 they created a performance installation piece inspired by Tom Horan's play Curious Dangerous that was performed at The Mill Theatre's Etcetera Festival and became the lobby installation for Collision's run of the play at EP Theatre. In August of 2008 they performed a short piece titled Midsummer 2.0 for the Femme 2008 Conference at the Center on Halsted. The Secrets Project is their first full-length project that recently received a two-night workshop at Around the Coyote Gallery in Wicker Park as a special event for their new play-reading series.

Lindsey Barlag (Director) Chicago credits include working in various creative capacities with Big Picture Group, Collision Theatre, The Center for Cultural Interchange, Dream Theatre, Greasy Joan & Co., Steppenwolf Theatre Company, and Writers' Theatre. Genesis Ensemble's The Secrets Project marks Lindsey's full-length directorial debut in Chicago. In the education field she has developed and taught workshops and residencies for Steppenwolf Theatre Company's high school programming and Young Adult Council. As the Education and Community Liaison for Writer's Theatre, Lindsey facilitated the tour and post-show discussions of The MLK Project: The Fight for Civil Rights. For Fringe Benefits Theatre in L.A., Lindsey works as a teaching artist nationally and internationally. In 2008 she traveled to The Central School for Speech and Drama in London, England and Central Queensland University in Bundaberg, Australia to facilitate Theatre for Social Justice Playwriting Institutes. Before coming to Chicago, Lindsey served as Co-Artistic Director of The Walking Theatre Project, a theatre collective in Oxford, Ohio committed to using art and theatre to raise awareness of social issues, create dialogue, and express the values, interests, and concerns of particular communities. Lindsey directed the company's community-generated work surrounding Ohio's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage and in recognition of the company's work was invited to perform at the 2006 International Pedagogy of the Oppressed Conference in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. She has trained in community-generated, devised theatre and facilitation work with Julian Boal (Theatre of the Oppressed), Norma Bowles (Fringe Benefits Theatre), and Michael Rohd (Sojourn Theatre). She is currently the Education Associate for Steppenwolf Theatre Company. Lindsey earned her BA in Theatre from Miami University.

For more information, visit www.genesisensemble.org .

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