Stage Left Theatre Announces 30th Season, Kicks Off With Farragut North

Stage Left Theatre (SLT) is pleased to announce the programming for its 30th season. The approach of a milestone birthday inspires a lot of reminiscing, but the company is committed to making sure that its programming remains highly relevant to the current state of the country. Artistic Director Vance Smith says, "We are excited to offer these two very different perspectives on the wrought tensions and high stakes of our corporate and political climate from two of the most exciting young playwrights working today."

Both mainstage productions examine extreme actions in extreme circumstances. Beau Willimon's Farragut North provides a behind the scenes look at the cynical back-stabbing that goes into electing our nation's highest office, which is a valuable discussion as the country heads into the 2012 election season. The Fisherman takes us far from Washington, D.C. - to the banks of the Minnesota River, where working class men have their dreams crushed when their crumbling union caves to corporate demands. Smith says, "Jayme McGhan's examination of union and corporate ethics was already powerful when it first appeared in LeapFest 5 three years ago, and has sadly only grown more relevant since."

ABOUT THE PLAYS

Farragut North
by Beau Willimon, directed by Artistic Director Vance Smith
September 3 - October 9, 2011

"The question you gotta ask yourself is whether you want friends, or whether you want to work for the President." --Tom Duffy, Farragut North

Stephen Bellamy is a wunderkind press secretary who has built a career that men twice his age would envy. During a tight presidential primary race, Stephen's meteoric rise falls prey to the backroom politics of more seasoned operatives. Farragut North is a fast-paced, hugely entertaining drama about the lust for power and the costs one will endure to achieve it.

Beau Willimon is a playwright and screenwriter. Farragut North had its world premiere at the Atlantic Theater Company in New York in November 2008 and subsequently had its West Coast premiere at The Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles. Farragut North has been adapted into a screenplay entitled The Ides of March that will open in the fall of 2011 starring Ryan Gosling, Marisa Tomei, Paul Giamatti, Phillip Seymour Hoffman and George Clooney (who is also directing). His play Spirit Control received a world premeire last fall at the Manhattan Theatre Club, He has written films for Warner Brothers and Fox 2000, and recently wrote the television pilot "House of Cards" produced by and starring Kevin Spacey. Mr. Willimon is a recipient of the Lila Acheson Wallace Juilliard Playwriting Fellowship, two-time winner of the Lincoln Center Le Comte du Nouy Award, the Seymour Brick Memorial Playwriting Prize, winner of the 2005 Dayton Playhouse FutureFest, and was a 2008 Playwright-in-Residence at the Donmar Warehouse in London. A resident of Brooklyn, Beau holds a B.A. from Columbia University and an M.F.A. in playwriting from Columbia University's School of the Arts.

The Fisherman
by Jayme McGhan, directed by ensemble member Drew Martin
February 18th - April 1, 2011

For brothers Carl and Chucky Lund, retirement means building a cabin on Pequot Lake, the perfect place for fishing while listening to the Twins lose (again). But that dream is destroyed when they are forced out of their jobs and pensions by the airline to which they've devoted their lives. With his back against the wall, Carl begins to question how far a man can be pushed before he pushes back.

Jayme McGhan is an award-winning playwright from Chicago, IL. His plays have been produced and developed across the country at theatres like Irish Repertory Theatre, The Kennedy Center, Washington Shakespeare Co., Cleveland Public Theatre, Stage Left Theatre, Mortar Theatre, Hot City Theatre, Yellow Tree Theatre, Cockroach Theatre, Forestburgh Playhouse, Chased by an Elephant Theatre and many more. His play Mother Bear (developed by Stage Left as part of LeapFest 7) received a world premiere with Chicago's Mortar Theatre in late May and has also been optioned for film with a 2012 shoot date. Jayme is the former Regional Representative of The Dramatists Guild to the Twin Cities and is currently an Assistant Professor of Theatre at Concordia University, Chicago. He holds an M.F.A in playwriting from UNLV.

LeapFest 9
May 15 - June 3, 2011
See what's next in Chicago theatre - LeapFest's first eight years have so far graduated fourteen
plays to world premiere productions in Chicago and beyond, with three of these receiving the
Jeff Award for Best New Work. Join us for a 9th smash year, when five new plays "take the
leap" in development in this three-week festival of politically- minded new work.

 

Also, a late-night holiday comedy:

The Eight Reindeer Monologues
by Jeff Goode, dates TBA

Scandal erupts at the North Pole when one of Santa's eight tiny reindeer accuses him of sexual harassment. As the press descends, the other reindeer demand to reveal their stories, and a horrific tale of corruption and perversion emerges.

Stage Left brings this hilarious, international theatrical sensation back to the city where it was first produced in a limited run, late-night production.

ABOUT THE COMPANY

Founded in 1982, Stage Left Theatre is committed to nurturing voices for the American theatre by developing and producing plays that raise debate and challenge perspectives on political and social issues.

 

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