Stage Left Theatre Produces KINGSVILLE, Opens 10/19

Stage Left Theatre announces the upcoming World Premiere of Kingsville written by Andrew Hinderaker and directed by Artistic Director Vance Smith. Kingsville is the first production of Stage Left's 29th season, and also its first production as one of the resident companies at Theater Wit at 1229 W. Belmont. It opens Tuesday, October 19th at 7:30 PM, and runs through November 21st.

THE PLAY

The day after the Virginia Tech shooting, radio shows were flooded with calls from listeners, repeating the same argument, over and over: if the students had only been armed, the shooter would've been killed and no one else would have died. Kingsville dares to explore whether maybe, just maybe, those callers had a point. In a hypothetical America where children legally carry guns to class, one teacher must choose between opposing a policy he abhors and putting his own son at risk.

Kingsville was developed through our Downstage Left program and appeared in LeapFest 6. Hinderaker's previous work, Suicide, Incorporated, premiered at The Gift Theatre in June, 2010, to critical acclaim and sold out houses.

THE VENUE

After 15 years in its previous home on Sheffield, Stage Left Theatre is relocating to a new home as one of the resident companies at Theater Wit at 1229 W. Belmont. This venue will almost double its seating capacity, greatly expand design possibilities and offer patrons a much more elegant theater-going experiences with a coffee bar, valet parking, and ample restrooms. We will share the multi-space complex with three other resident companies: Shattered Globe Theatre, Boho Ensemble and Theatre Wit.

THE DEBATE

In the Spring of 2010, for our production of Here where Its' Safe, Stage Left reformatted our Sunday Symposium Series. Instead of post-show conversations with the director and playwright, we invited community speakers to engage the audience on a variety of social and political questions raised by the performance. The new format was highly successful and will be continued throughout Season 29. We will host this series immediately following Sunday performances with community representatives to be announced. Kingsville will spark discussion about topics including handgun control and modern societal concepts of strength and masculinity. We will also use online social networking and our website to extend the debate beyond the confines of the theater and the performance.

TICKETS, DATES & INFORMATION

Kingsville runs Thursdays through Saturdays at 8:00 PM, Sundays at 3:00 PM from 10/21/10 through 11/21/10. Tickets start at $22, and will be available through the Theater Wit box office. Opening Night is Tuesday, October 19th at 7:30 PM and tickets are $25. Previews are 10/15, 10/16 and 10/18 at 8:00 PM. Preview tickets are $10. Kingsville will be performed at Theatre Wit at 1229 W. Belmont in Chicago. The theatre is handicapped and CTA accessible via the Belmont El (Red & Brown).

THE PEOPLE

Andrew Hinderaker (playwright) is a Resident Playwright at Chicago Dramatists and a nominee for the 2010 New Voices in American Playwriting Award. Notable recognitions include Finalist/Semi-Finalist status at Sundance, PlayLabs, the Princess Grace Award, the Heideman Award, and the Austin Film Festival. His plays have been produced or developed in New York, Los Angeles, and throughout his hometown of Chicago, at such theaters as Steppenwolf, Victory Gardens, American Theater Company, the side project, and many others. His play, Suicide, Incorporated was selected for development at the 2008 Seven Devils Playwrights Conference and premiered at Chicago's The Gift Theatre in June 2010. Hinderaker holds a B.A. and M.A. in English from Stanford University and is currently pursuing his M.F.A. in Playwriting at the University of Texas in Austin.

Vance Smith (director) joined Stage Left as Artistic Director last September and recently directed Jayme McGhan's Mother Bear for LeapFest 7. As founder and Artistic Director of Black Sheep Productions, Vance directed Steve Spencer's Another Day in the Empire and Camp Freedom!, Andy Gershenzon's The End and produced Will Eno's The Flu Season. He has also directed workshops, one-acts and readings at Stage Left, Chicago Dramatists and the side project. As an actor Vance appeared at Stage Left in M.E.H. Lewis's Fellow Travellers and worked with Lifeline, Timeline, Hypocrites, Remy Bumppo, Northlight, Victory Gardens, Collaboraction, Factory, and many others. Vance attended the School at Steppenwolf in 2005 and graduated from Tulane University.

The cast includes SLT ensemble member Cat Dean as Audrey, as well as Nick DiLeonardi (Mike), John Ferrick (James), John Arthur Lewis (Wayne), Andrew Raia (Justin), John Rushing (Host).

The staff includes SLT ensemble members John Kohn III (lighting design), Adam Smith (sound design), Christopher Thompson (stage management), Zev Valancy (dramaturgy) and Jason Fleece (projection design), with guest artists Stephen Carmody (scenic design), Brenda Winstead (costume design), Douglas Kupferman (properties design), and Jaime Totti (assistant direction).

ABOUT STAGE LEFT

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. Through a full subscription season and Downstage Left, one of Chicago's most prolific new play development programs, Stage Left strives to ask provocative social and political questions by producing a mix of new works, regional premieres and timeless classics.

 

UPCOMING

An Enemy of the People - adapted by Arthur Miller from the play by Henrik Ibsen
What happens when one man's quest to do right is at odds with the best interests of his community? Can reason and science win out over rumor and fear? Arthur Miller asks these timeless questions in his powerful adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's classic, An Enemy of the People. When Dr. Stockmann makes a literally poisonous discovery, his brother, the Mayor, begins a war of innuendo and half-truths that threatens to tear their family-and their community-apart.

Runs: March 1 - April 3, 2011
Previews: February 25, 26, 28

 

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