Sideshow Theatre Company to Present 9 CIRCLES, 8/29-10/6

Sideshow Theatre Company, in association with the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, is pleased to open its 2013-14 season with the Chicago premiere of 9 CIRCLES by Bill Cain, directed by Marti Lyons, playing August 29 - October 6, 2013 at The DCASE Storefront Theater, 66 E. Randolph St. in Chicago. Tickets go on sale Monday, July 22 at www.sideshowtheatre.org.

9 CIRCLES features Sideshow Artistic Associate Andy Luther (Sideshow's The Gacy Play) with Andrew Goetten (ATC's The Big Meal) Amanda Powell (UrbanTheatre's Brainpeople) and Jude Roche (The Hypocrites' Coriolanus).

Private Daniel Reeves was never good at anything but being in the army. Now he stands accused of a horrific war crime and has been disowned by the nation that recruited him. As he sits in a cell and awaits his day of judgment, time seems to expand and contract around him, while a surreal progression of lawyers, clergy and his own memories carry him deeper and deeper into his crimes. Can he find any light to guide him out of the darkness, or will the weight of his own sin bind him down? Sideshow returns to its roots - examining Dante's Inferno with a startling and searingly relevant Chicago premiere that provides a razor-sharp look at the search for life in a place that seems made to extinguish it.

"When the company first read 9 Circles aloud, we were transfixed, breathless, blown away," comments Artistic Director Jonathan L. Green. "Bill Cain's script is a spellbinding mix of contemporary language and an ancient, eternal struggle - how does one endure having committed an unbearable sin? We're thrilled to kick off our seventh season with director Marti Lyons at the helm of what promises to be a vital, knock-out Chicago premiere," add Green.

The production team for 9 CIRCLES includes: Courtney O'Neill (set designer), Kristin DeiTos (costume designer), Mac Vaughey (lighting designer), Artistic Associate Christopher M. LaPorte (sound designer) and Benjamin W. Dawson (production manager).

It is the mission of Sideshow Theatre Company to mine The Collective Unconscious of the world we live in with limitless curiosity, drawing inspiration from the familiar stories, memories and images we all share to spark new conversation and bring our audiences together as adventurers in a communal experience of exploration.

From its first production, 2008's Dante Dies!! (and then things get weird), to its Jeff Award-winning productions of Roland Schimmelpfennig's Idomeneus (named one of the best plays of 2012 by Time Out Chicago and the Chicago Sun-Times) and Elizabeth Meriwether's runaway robotic hit Heddatron (part of Steppenwolf's second annual GARAGE REP), Sideshow has consistently produced engaging, transcendent works across Chicago. In 2014, Sideshow will begin a multi-year residency at Victory Gardens in the historic Biograph Theatre.

Sideshow also produces the Chicago League of Lady Arm Wrestlers (CLLAW), a wildly-popular interactive fundraising event that benefits Sideshow Theatre Company and other local charities. CLLAW has been featured in The Washington Post, Time Out Chicago, Penthouse Magazine, Chicago Magazine, Chicago Sun-Times and on WGN Morning News, ABC's Windy City Live and CBS 2 Chicago. For more information about CLLAW, visit www.cllaw.org.

For additional information on Sideshow Theatre Company, visit www.sideshowtheatre.org.