Open Space Arts’ SCANDALOUS BOY Reveals Cast and Creative Team

The cast and creative team have been announced for Open Space Arts’ season-closing production of SCANDALOUS BOY, by David Atfield. This will be the “International Premiere” of the play, which had its 2014 world premiere in Atfield’s native Australia. The play is the story of the love between the emperor Hadrian and Antinous in pre-Christian Rome but framed in a twenty-first century setting, with the statue of Antinous coming to life in modern Australia to tell his story. SCANDALOUS BOY will be directed by Benjamin Mills and will open on Friday,  May 23 at 7:30 pm. It will play through June 8. All performances are at Open Space Arts’ hyper-intimate 20-seat theater at 1411 W Wilson, in Chicago.

Atfield’s play explains the context of the relationship between Hadrian and the much younger Antinous. In First Century, AD Rome, young men were often groomed by their mothers to become an “eronemos” (sexual companion) of wealthy male protectors. The relationship depicted in SCANDALOUS BOY thus has resonances for power-imbalanced couplings of any type – not just gay male relationships.

Mills’ cast will be led by Jordan Gleaves, as the Emperor Hadrian. Gleaves recently played the leading role of Floyd “Schoolboy” Barton in City Lit’s Jeff Award-winning production of August Wilson’s SEVEN GUITARS. Jose Alexander Martinez, who has served as Scenic Painter for such theatre companies as Timeline, Albany Park Theatre, and Theo Ubique, will make his Chicago acting debut in the title role of the “scandalous” Antinous. Jinyue "Yuna" Hu, seen recently in TUTA Theatre’s THE LONG CHRISTMAS DINNER, will play Antinous’ mother, Sabina. Antonio Cruz (BEYOND THE GARDEN GATE with The Imposters) will be Lucius, Hadrian’s trusted advisor and former lover. Emiliano Flores has been cast as Marcellus, Antinous’ contemporary and boyfriend.

The Production Team includes Dylan Tye Davis (Set Design), Brett Morgan (Costume Design), Lex Newman (Lighting Design), Santiago Quintana (Sound Design), Christa Retka (Intimacy Coordinator), Tadgh Mitchel (Social Media Coordinator), Veronica Kloss (Graphics), and Marz Allswede (Stage Manager).

The CANBERRA CRITICS CIRCLE called the World Premiere production “hugely entertaining, informative and refreshing” that “deserves to be seen beyond Canberra. It would be a shame if this play was sidelined into the realm of queer theatre, as it has much to say about the nature of love, and the manipulative power of a certain kind of love.” The SYDNEY MORNING HERALD called it “thoughtful and joyously explicit.”

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