IN LOVE AND WARCRAFT and More Set for Halcyon Theatre's 10th Season

Halcyon Theatre announces a world premiere and two Chicago premieres as part of our Tenth Season in 2015/16.

Halcyon Theatre's Tenth Season will feature:

In Love and Warcraft by Madhuri Shekar
August/September 2015, Directed by Tlaloc Rivas

Evie Malone--gamer girl, college senior and confirmed virgin--has it all figured out. Not only does she command a top-ranked guild in Warcraft with her online boyfriend, she also makes a little cash on the side writing love letters for people who've screwed up their relationships. Love is like Warcraft, after all. It's all about strategies, game plans, and not taking stupid risks...

Estrella Cruz [the junkyard queen] by Charise Castro Smith
January/February 2016, Director TBA

A play about a mother and daughter. Also featuring: helpful tips on what to do if you get knocked up by the lord of the underworld and it turns out he's a little meh about the whole thing. Also about having Bette Davis as your imaginary best friend, a spunky heroine, some sex and loads of glamour.

Dreams of the Penny Gods by Callie Kimball
March/April 2016, Directed by co-founder and company member Jennifer Adams

Bug is just your average 13-year-old girl who happens to have been born into a criminal family that's hiding out in a storage facility. So naturally, she's transformed herself into a high priestess who's trying to raise the dead. On this particular summer day, her incantations seem to work, setting off an acceleration of events ending in a rough Armageddon that launches her into the world.

This will be the first season since 2007-08 that will not include an Alcyone Festival.

Our Spring 2015 production of The Wild Duck will be Halcyon's first production under a contract with Actors Equity Association (AEA) and our 15/16 season will continue under affiliation with AEA.

About the 2015/16 Playwrights:

Madhuri Shekhar: Madhuri Shekar is a playwright based in Los Angeles, born in the Bay Area, and brought up in Chennai, India. Her play A Nice Indian Boy was recently seen at Raskaka Theater in Chicago. She was the 2013/14 winner of the Kendeda Graduate Playwriting Award and an alumnus of the 2013/14 Center Theatre Group Writers' Workshop. She was a finalist for the 2013 Princess Grace Award for Playwriting, and the 2013 Many Voices Fellowship at the Playwrights Center. Her plays have been showcased or developed at the Kennedy Center, the Alliance Theatre, the Old Globe, Center Theatre Group, Playwrights Horizons and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. She received her MFA in Dramatic Writing from USC. Prior to her MFA, Madhuri received an MSc/MA in Global Media and Communications from the London School of Economics and USC. She consults in social media, content creation, and arts marketing.

Charise Castro Smith: Charise Castro Smith is a playwright and actress from Miami. Her plays include: Feathers and Teeth (Goodman Theatre New Stages) Estrella Cruz [The Junkyard Queen] (Ars Nova ANT Fest/ Yale Cabaret); Boomcracklefly (Miracle Theater in Portland, OR) and The Hunchback of Seville (Brown Trinity Playwrights Rep/ Washington Ensemble Theatre). As an actress, Ms. Castro Smith has appeared in Antony and Cleopatra (Royal Shakespeare Company/GableStage/Public Theater); Tartuffe (Westport Country Playhouse); An Enemy of the People (Baltimore's Center Stage) and on television in The Good Wife and Unforgettable (CBS). She is a member of New Georges' The JAM and an alumna of Ars Nova's Playgroup. Mrs. Castro Smith was a 2012/2013 Van Lier Fellow at New Dramatists. She received her MFA from Yale School of Drama and BA from Brown University.

Callie Kimball: Callie Kimball returns to Halcyon Theatre, where her play MAY 39TH was produced as part of The Alcyone Festival 2013. She graduated in 2012 from the first Playwriting MFA class at Hunter College, run by Tina Howe and Mark Bly. She was an O'Neill semi-finalist, a finalist for the Clubbed Thumb Biennial Award, and a 2012-13 Core Apprentice at The Playwrights' Center. Dreams of the Penny Gods, was selected for the 2013 Playwrights' Week at the Lark Play Development Center. Other plays have been produced, read, or developed at Washington Shakespeare Company, Lark Play Development Center, Project Y Theatre, the Kennedy Center, Lunar Energy Productions, Electric Pear Productions, The Brick Theater, Emerging Artists Theatre, Core Artist Ensemble, Absolute Theatre, Capital Fringe Festival, and elsewhere. She's written for NPR, Wired.com, Theatre Communications Group, & Dramatists Guild. She's received a MacDowell Fellowship, a Ludwig Vogelstein grant, and won the Rita & Burton Goldberg Playwriting Award two years in a row (sharing it with her three classmates the first time). She works as a Production Manager for NBCUniversal in New York City, and splits her time between New York and her home in Maine.

About the 2015/16 Directors:

Tlaloc Rivas: Tlaloc Rivas is a writer, director, and theatre-maker who creates, develops and directs new plays focusing on the complexity, diversity and history of Latina/os in the United States and abroad. He also directs bilingual plays, classical and contemporary pieces, and new work by some of America's most exciting writers.

His commitment to playwrights and new play development is exemplified by his work with companies such as New Harmony Project, New Dramatists, El Teatro Campesino, Cornerstone Theater Company, INTAR, The Public Theater' (The Writer's Lab & New Work Now!), Iowa New Play Festival, Arkansas New Play Festival, Cherry Lane Theater, The Lark Play Development Center, 52nd Street Project, LAByrinth Theater Company, Primary Stages, Arden Theater Company, Dallas Theater Center, Amphibian Stage Productions, South Coast Repertory, Long Wharf Theater, Trinity Repertory Company, McCarter Theater, Shakespeare Santa Cruz and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

Originally from Tijuana, Mexico and raised in California, Tlaloc graduated with honors from the University of California Santa Cruz, and received his MFA in Directing from the University of Washington's School of Drama. He is an Assistant Professor of Directing at The University of Iowa and an Associate Member of Stage Directors and Choreographers, the national union for stage directors and choreographers.

Jenn Adams: Jenn Adams co-founded Halcyon Theatre and currently serves as the Director of Education and Community Engagement. With Halcyon, she has directed: The Visit, Haroun and the Sea of Stories, A Bold Stroke for a Wife, A Shroud for Lazarus, The Other Shore, The Invaders, Family Devotions, and The Emperor of the Moon. Other directing credits include: No Exit, Girl Gone, and Caucasian Chalk Circle, among others. As an actor, she has appeared in Trickster with Halcyon, and elsewhere in Raised in Captivity and A Bright Room Called Day.

No-Cost access for any audience member - A core part of Halcyon's vision, mission and values and why we make our work is eradicating borders and building an inclusive, global audience that reflects our neighborhood and city. Economic barriers can create a very real border for many in our communities. Inspired by Mixed Blood Theatre's Radical Hospitality and others, Halcyon provides no-cost access to all productions for any audience member.

There are two ways to see a performance:

1) First come, first served, no-cost admission: Halcyon holds a significant number of seats for no-cost admission on a first come, first served basis for each performance. To access these seats, provide your contact information at our box office. (The box office opens one hour prior to the show). Seating begins 30 minutes before show time and is open. There are no assigned seats.

2) Guaranteed admission: Audience members who want to guarantee entry to a performance can do so for a small fee paid in advance online on in person at our box office. ($20 for plays and $10 for the Ceyx Series.) Seating begins 30 minutes before show time and is open. There are no assigned seats.

About Halcyon - Mission: We are fiercely committed to making the stage as diverse as the city of Chicago; presenting new voices from inadequately represented communities, as well as recasting classic works to showcase their contemporary relevance.

Based in Chicago, Halcyon Theatre was formed in 2006 to connect people, transform our borders and ascend toward a more just union. Our artistic philosophy is driven by our continuing belief that at every point of human history where there has been an explosion of artistic creativity, it has happened when different cultures and traditions have met and learned from each other. Our work includes productions, along with the Ceyx Series. As an extension of our mission, we also provide a platform for artists to grow and reach their full potential: including our Compass Lab, and our Nest writing workshops and labs. We also help artists and groups with web development, advising and other services to help others build a platform to grow.

Advance tickets for The Wild Duck will go on sale March 1. Advance tickets for the 2015/16 season will go on sale in late summer 2015. To reserve guaranteed admission in advance to individual performances: https://halcyontheatre.tixato.com/buy.

To post a comment, you must register and login.