Oracle Productions Announces New Community Outreach Programs, A Collaboration With Columbia Grads & More

Oracle Productions, NFP, makes announcements about a new community outreach program to bring their unique brand of performance into group living communities for seniors, upcoming artist workshops and classes, a collaboration with grad students from Columbia College, a new branding campaign, and their vision for Chicago theatre.

Last Tuesday, amidst a special performance of DISTURBED and spoonfuls of pumpkin ice cream from Bobtail Ice Cream, Oracle Productions announced a new brand of performance, several community outreach initiatives (details below), and a vision of the future for Chicago theatre. At an Open House party hosted by board member Joan Pritchard, the young non-profit theatre company celebrated the culmination of over a year's worth of restructuring, performance workshops, business planning, and re-branding their marketing strategies.

Oracle emerges a theatre reborn. They are committed to stimulating the same experience in Chicago audiences, and across American culture. Claiming that exposure to culture with artistic value, let alone moral value, is becoming rarer, Artistic Director Ben Fuchsen said, "So much of the output of our artists, especially in today's media, doesn't do justIce To the rich tapestry of creativity and imagination our society hosts...now is not the time for conservative choices. American artists must liberate American culture." He pointed out that cultural institutions play a key role in the progress of society - something that Chicago and America must continue promoting for the hope of a bright future.

Oracle envisions programming that reshapes American performance, bringing that theatre into the community so people from every segment of society can participate in the revitalization of American culture.

This vision shoulders Oracle's future. They began exploring it with the run of DISTURBED (closes November 1), will continue exploring through their productions of THE CASTLE by Howard Barker (January 23-March 6) and THE GHOST SONATA by Strindberg (May 8-June 19), and into the future by continuing work on their main stage, and in the community through outreach initiatives and alternative programming.

The most exciting announcement made during the brief presentation was the launching of Oracle's pilot outreach programs. Building on techniques developed during their 2008 hit, TERMEN VOX MACHINA, Oracle will produce touring programs for senior citizens confined to group living situations. Each program consists of old-time radio shows (like "The Shadow" or "The Green Hornet) performed by actors lip-synching and pantomiming to the audio playback over a portable PA system. This program, headed by Oracle's new Outreach Director Max Truax, has innumerable benefits, but Oracle is most interested in bringing a unique, community-focused Oracle experience to an audience that simply cannot make it to a performing arts venue (and making some new friends while they're at it). This initial phase is set to launch in February 2010, and further development plans are already in workshop.

Also beginning early next year, Oracle will offer Artist training courses. Teachers at Oracle are developing Yoga classes, Meditation classes, Butoh dance classes, as well as an Oracle workshop class tailored to meet the personal and financial needs of Artists and Performers. The Oracle collective strives to nourish the creative mind, the physical body, and the energetic spirit. Now, they will offer their unique brand of training to the rest of the community.

Oracle will continue its exploration of integrated video and multimedia as a design medium by partnering with Columbia College Department of Film and Video professor Ted Hardin and graduate students to develop installations for each main stage show at Oracle during the 2009-2010 season. Currently, eight original short films are on display in Oracle's lobby for DISTURBED patrons. Oracle directors Fuchsen, Truax, and Justin Warren will continue collaborating with Professor Hardin to mentor students in large-scale installations throughout the season.

Graphic Designers Angela Glyda and Lisa Liebelt spoke of Oracle's new branded image. The new logo can be found above. The new website is under construction. As a company member, Glyda conveyed the kind of experience she's had at Oracle can only be described as a rebirth. She acknowledged that Oracle patrons experience a similar feeling every time they attend shows. She and Liebelt conceived "theatre reborn" as an accurate description of the Oracle experience. They created the new branded look to represent Oracle's new direction, and to depict how Oracle will join other arts institutions in Chicago, and beyond, to re-enchant American culture.

The evening was rounded off with a performance of DISTURBED. This year's 15 minute Halloween spectacle looks different than anything seen before at Oracle. Continuing their tradition of conceptually provocative design collaborations, the company displayed a new level of physical depth in their performance canon. Utilizing movement techniques and aesthetics from Butoh, DISTURBED marks the beginning of a new brand of performance that is deeply physical, yielding a new personality to Oracle's stage pieces.

In summation, the Open House party was a chance for Oracle to reinstate their vision as a business in Chicago's non-profit community, and it was a memorable success. Fuchsen noted, "Everyone who comes in contact with Oracle will feel they've received something important, something deeply personal and unique. Oracle wants to move them to feel they can do something they never thought possible, to give them permission to regenerate their souls, bodies and their imaginations. Oracle wants them to feel reborn."

DISTURBED closes November 1, 2009.
THE CASTLE by Howard Barker previews January 22; runs January 23-March 6, 2010.
THE GHOST SONATA by August Strindberg previews May 7; runs May 8-June 19.

Be on the lookout for additional notices regarding Oracle's exciting outreach endeavors, as well as the new website at www.oracletheatre.org.

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