Photo Flash: The New Colony Hosts the World Premiere of FUN HARMLESS WARMACHINE

The New Colony, under the new artistic leadership of Fin Coe* and Stephanie Shum*, is pleased to launch its 2018-19 season with the world premiere of FUN HARMLESS WARMACHINE, written by Co-Artistic Director Fin Coe* and directed by James Fleming. This kinetic journey down the rabbit hole of online masculinity cults will play October 3 - November 4, 2018 at The New Colony's resident home, The Den Theatre's Upstairs Main Stage, 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood. Tickets are currently available at www.thenewcolony.org. The press opening is Tuesday, October 9 at 7:30 pm.

FUN HARMLESS WARMACHINE features Ayanna Bria Bakari, Travis Barnhart, Daniel Chenard, Robert Koon, Emily Marso, Victor Musoni, Londen Shannon and Laura Sturm.

By day, Tom works a dead end job for the man and can't get a date. But by night, he's top of the leader board, a master gamer. Othered and lonely, Tom is sucked into the Order of the Sword, an online community that seems to promise him his digital persona in real life. Developed through The New Colony's Writers' Room and inspired by Gamergate and online hate movements, FUN HARMLESS WARMACHINE is a cautionary tale of the power of fear and the seductive pull of the alt right.

Comments TNC Co-Artistic Director Stephanie Shum, "When Fin began working on this script as part of the 2015 Summer Session of The Writers' Room, we were immediately struck by the timeliness and depth of this story about online hate. More than three years later, as we prepare for its world premiere, it seems more prescient and current than ever."

The production team for FUN HARMLESS WARMACHINE includes: Sotirios Livaditis (scenic design), Rachel Sypniewski (costume design), Claire Chrzan (lighting design), Eric Backus (sound design and original music), Omer Abbas Salem* (props design), Zoe Benditt (dramaturg), James Fleming and the cast (choreography), Ella Silverman (assistant director), Brian Sprague (technical director), Jennifer Aparicio (stage manager) and Lili Bjorklund (assistant stage manager).

Photo Credit: Emily Schwartz