Lucky Plush To Premiere RINK LIFE At Steppenwolf's 1700 Theatre

Chicago-based dance theater company Lucky Plush Productions, led by founder and Artistic Director Julia Rhoads, returns to Steppenwolf's 1700 Theatre this fall as part of Steppenwolf's LookOut Series with the world premiere of Rink Life.

This newest work by Lucky Plush brings the company's singular blend of technical choreography, casual dialogue, bold musicality, surprising humor, and socially relevant storytelling into a communal space that nods to the visual aesthetics and social dynamics of 1970's roller rink culture, where relationships and storylines are as transient as the world that contains them.

Performances are November 7-16 at Steppenwolf's 1700 Theatre, the 65-seat flexible venue connected to Steppenwolf's own Front Bar: Coffee and Drinks, 1700 N. Halsted St., Chicago.

Show times are Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m.; Sunday at 3:30 p.m. Press opening is Saturday, November 9 at 8 p.m. Industry night is Monday, November 11 at 7 p.m.

Tickets go on sale Thursday, September 19 at 11 a.m. Tickets are $15-$40, with discounts for students, seniors 62+, military personnel and industry. Steppenwolf RED and Black Card Members may use their cards as per Steppenwolf policies. For tickets and information, visit Steppenwolf.org or call (312) 335-1650.

i??i??Julia Rhoads' staging and choreography for Rink Life springs from an idiosyncratic, music-rich environment built from the spatial rules and social codes of 1970's roller rink culture. Launching from a collision of plot points in several one-act plays, the script-turned-libretto-created from passing conversations, distant whispers, pop-song earworms, and found scripts-is entirely spoken and sung live, with script and music samples from Charles Mee, Cat Stevens, James Brown, Paul McCartney and The Bee Gees. As the Lucky Plush ensemble sings full-throatedly to score their experiences, these source inspirations come together in the delightful and moving world of Rink Life, where people navigate relationships, self-expression, and rejection in real-time.

Rink Life is created and directed by Julia Rhoads and devised in collaboration with the company's triple-threat ensemble of dancer/actor/singers: Kara Brody, Michel Rodriguez Cintra, Elizabeth Luse, Jacinda Ratcliffe, Rodolfo Sánchez Sarracino, A. Raheim White and Meghann Rose Wilkinson. Leslie Buxbaum Danzig is collaborating director. Bethany Clearfield is vocal collaborator and coach. Lighting designer is Rachel Levy. Rachel Damon is production stage manager.

Rink Life is one of eight projects to receive a 2018 New England Foundation for the Arts' National Theater Project Production and Touring Award. It also earned lead funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and additional support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Development partners for Rink Life include Door Kinetic Arts Festival (Bailey's Harbor, WI), the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts, and Steppenwolf Theatre Company.

Lucky Plush Productions at the 1700 Theatre is presented as part of LookOut, Steppenwolf's performance series that presents the work of artists and companies across genre and form, emerging artists and performance legends, quintessential Chicago companies and young aspiring ensembles, familiar Steppenwolf faces and new friends. For more information, visit steppenwolf.org/lookout. i??