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War and violence meet a trio of clowns when Guerra: A Clown Play comes to the Jay Pritzker Pavilion March 22-24, 2012 at 7:30 p.m. Presented by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, in partnership with the Chicago Office of Tourism and Culture, Guerra: A Clown Play is a collaboration among Chicago artists Seth Bockley andDevon de Mayo, and Mexico City-based Artús Chávez.
The program is a part of Millennium Park’s theater lab series, In the Works, which gives audiences a chance to sit on the stage of the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in a climate controlled environment and experience works in development by local theater artists. In the Works is supported by a grant from The Boeing Company.Tickets are $15 and available by calling 312.742.TIXS (8497) or by visiting millenniumpark.org. A discussion with the artists will follow the performance.
Guerra: A Clown Play is written and directed by Seth Bockley and Devon de Mayo and features Mexico City artists Artús Chávez,Fernando Córdova Hernández and Madeleine Sierra. The play, with clowns speaking English, Spanish and French, is a satirical war epic about man’s inhumanity to man, exemplified by a group of selfish, short-sighted and very human clowns who decide to go to war.The play’s first stage of development was made possible by the Theater Communication Group's “On the Road” grant in 2011. Bockley and de Mayo worked in Chicago and Mexico City with the actors, reflecting on personal encounters with violence and crime and comparing views of the military in Mexican and American culture. As co-directors, Bockley and de Mayo utilize improvisation, clowning and language to open a dialogue about the realities and absurdities of war.
Seth Bockley is a Chicago-based playwright, director and performer. His writing credits include February House, a collaboration with lyricist and composer Gabriel Kahane currently running at Long Wharf Theatre and opening at New York’s Public Theatre in May; adaptations of two George Saunders short stories, CommComm and Jon, as well as The Twins Would Like To Say (Dog & Pony) andLaika’s Coffin and Winter Pageant 2010 (Redmoon Theater). As a director, his credits include Jason Grote’s Civilization (all you can eat) and Grote’s 1001 as well as CommComm, Jon and numerous Redmoon events and spectacles. He is a recipient of Theater Communication Group’s “New Generations” grant, and teaches at the University of Chicago.Devon de Mayo is the Co-Artistic Director of Dog & Pony Theatre Company, where she directed Roadkill Confidential, The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabler, Clouds and devised and directed The Twins Would Like to Say and As Told by the Vivian Girls. Other directing credits include Collaboraction Theatre, ATC, Next Theatre, 2nd Story, Canal Café Theatre (London) and currently at the University of Chicago. She teaches at Northwestern University and is the Director of Education for Northlight Theatre. She holds an MFA in Directing from Middlesex University in London and has studied at the Russian Academy of Theatre Arts in Moscow and the Indonesian Institute for the Arts in Bali.
One of the missions of Millennium Park’s In the Works series is to develop new plays for a future production. Since its inception in October of 2009, four of its ten presentations have seen world premiere presentations, including Arlene Malinowski’s Aiming for Sainthood produced at Victory Gardens Theatre, Tanya Saracho’s El Nogalar at the Goodman Theatre, Hunger at Lifeline Theatre and TUTA Theatre Chicago’s Fulton Street Sessions at Chicago Dramatists. Later this spring, Lookingglass Theatre Company will presentEastland by Andy White, which debuted as part of In the Works last year. The final In the Works presentation this season will feature Columbia College Chicago’s Playwriting Program performing three evenings of new works from April 19-21, 2012.
For more information about the In the Works theater lab series, visit millenniumpark.org, call 312.742.1168, visit Millennium Park on Facebook or follow us on Twitter @Millennium_Park.
