Millennium Park's Theater Lab Series Season Concludes With STAGING CHANGE, 4/19-21

Millennium Park's In the Works series concludes for the season with Staging Change, a trio of new works from Columbia College Chicago's Playwriting Program on April 19-21, 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 and Columbia College Chicago, the three evenings will showcase work by current and former Columbia College playwrights, directors and actors. In the Works is supported by a grant from The Boeing Company.

The series will take place indoors on the stage of the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in a climate controlled environment. On Thursday, April 19 at 7:30 p.m., audiences will get to see Rocky Road by Michael Allen Harris, directed by Geoffrey Jackson Scott; on Friday, April 20 at 7:30 p.m., they will view Everybody's Got a Story by Bill Hillman, directed by Tom Mula; and on the final night, Saturday, April 21 at 7:30 p.m., they will see The Runaway Gene by Skye Robinson Hillis, directed by Stephanie Shaw.

Tickets are $15 and available by calling 312.742.TIXS (8497) or by visiting millenniumpark.org. A discussion with the playwrights, actors and directors will follow each performance.

In Rocky Road, Dorothy Mae Walker receives an unexpected visit from an elderly stranger, whose presence forces Dorothy to face old demons in the midst of a festering family crisis. The Acting Company includes Dawn Renee Jones, Torian Miller and Christina Harper. Director Geoffrey Jackson Scott is a graduate of Columbia College's theater department with a concentration in directing; playwright Michael Allen Harris received a BFA in acting from Columbia College Chicago in 2011. Rocky Road will be produced as a main stage production at Columbia College next season.

Everybody's Got a Story is based on the true story of the bloody night the internationally-acclaimed, local storytelling series The Windy City Story Slam was created. Playwright Bill Hillmann is currently a student in the Playwriting Program at Columbia College Chicago.

In The Runaway Gene, a family's broken world is rocked by the return of their adult daughter Meg, who has been missing for 10 years. As Meg attempts to crawl back in through the cracks in the facade, each family member must confront their own yearning to escape and discover if their world can be made whole again. The performers include Brian Shaw, Bill O'Connor, Julia Neary, Lydia Ellis-Cuny and Keith Hinkley. The Runaway Gene playwright Skye Robinson Hillis graduated from Columbia College in 2011 with a BFA in directing; director Stephanie Shaw is a senior lecturer in the Columbia College theater department.

In the Works 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. One of its missions is to develop new plays for a future production. Since its inception in October of 2009, five of its ten presentations have seen world premiere presentations, including Arlene Malinowski'sAiming for Sainthood produced at Victory Gardens Theatre, Tanya Saracho's El Nogalar at the Goodman Theatre, Hunger at Lifeline Theatre, TUTA Theatre Chicago's Fulton Street Sessions at Chicago Dramatists and Plasticene's Graphomania at the Chopin Theatre. Later this spring, Lookingglass Theatre Company will present Eastland by Andy White, which debuted as part of In the Works last year.  

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.  

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