Steppenwolf Presents 3rd Annual GARAGE REP Featuring Oohrah!, He Who

Steppenwolf Theatre Company is set to present its 3rd annual GARAGE REP, featuring three productions in rotating repertory by some of Chicago’s most innovative storefront companies: LiveWire Chicago, Theatre Zarko and The Inconvenience. GARAGE REP will play a ten-week run February 2 – April 8, 2012 in The Steppenwolf Garage, 1624 N. Halsted St. Three play passes for GARAGE REP are currently on sale; single tickets go on-sale Friday, December 9, 2011 at 11 am.

The GARAGE REP 2012 Productions & Companies:

February 2 – April 8, 2012
LiveWire Chicago presents
Oohrah!
By Bekah Brunstetter, directed by Brad Akin
Featuring Peter Esposito, Joel Ewing*, Madeline Long*, Melissa Engle, Josh Odor, Calliope Porter
and Ian R. Tranberg

Surprised by her husband’s early return from a tour in Iraq, Sara is unprepared for the complications of his re-entry into civilian life. Tension simmers around their gun-obsessed teenage daughter, Sara’s oddball live-in sister Abby, and Abby’s newest infatuation – a sexy, young Marine who’s keeping a secret. Oohrah! turns a comic eye to a homecoming gone awry.

Bekah Brunstetter’s plays include A Long and Happy Life (Naked Angels), Be a Good Little Widow (Ars Nova, Collaboraction), House of Home (Williamstown Theater Festival), Oohrah! (Off-Broadway at the Atlantic Theater) and Miss Lilly Gets Boned (Finborough Theater). She is a member of The Primary Stages Writer’s Group, a New Voices/New York Fellow with The Lark Play Development Center and the 2011 Playwright in Residence at the Finborough Theater, London. Brad Akin is a company member at Steep Theatre where he has directed productions including Greensboro: A Requiem, Insignificance, Book of Days, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot and Under the Blue Sky. He also directed Where We Were Born as part of Steppenwolf’s 2011 NEXT UP Rep. Akin holds an MFA in Directing from Northwestern University.

The Oohrah! production team includes: Anders Jacobson* and Judy Radovsky* (scenic design), Eric Branson* (lighting design), Stephen Ptacek (sound design), Maria DeFabo (props design), Kendra Miller (dramaturg), Mary Ellen Rieck (stage manager) and Cory Conrad* (production manager).

LiveWire Chicago is a collective of artists who create theatre that reflects the current cultural landscape of our community through productions of original and contemporary works. www.livewirechicago.com
*Denotes LiveWire Collective members

February 3 – April 8, 2012
The Inconvenience presents
Hit the Wall
By Ike Holter*, directed by Eric Hoff
Featuring Walter Owen Briggs*, Manny Buckley, Daniel Desmaris, Desmond Gray, Steve Lenz, Layne Manzer, Shannon Matesky, Rania Salem Manganaro, Arturo Soria and Mary Williamson*

It’s the summer of ’69 and the death of music icon Judy Garland has emboldened her gay followers. A routine police raid on an underground Greenwich Village hotspot erupts in to a full-scale riot, the impetus of the modern gay rights movement. That’s the well-known, oft-rehearsed myth of Stonewall, anyhow. Smash that myth against the vivid theatrical imagination of playwright Ike Holter, add a howling live rock ‘n roll band, and you get the world premiere play, Hit the Wall. Remixing this historic confrontation reveals ten unlikely revolutionaries, caught in the turmoil and fighting to claim “I was there.”

Ike Holter’s pieces have been presented with Nothing Without a Company, ATC, City Lit, Stage 773, EP Theater and Mixed Blood Theater. He's the two time recipient of the Lorraine Hansberry award for Playwriting from the Kennedy Center's ACTF festival and a Many Voices fellowship from The Playwrights Center. He has had four shows produced with The Inconvenience, where he is a company member. Eric Hoff is a director and an activist, whose mission is to explore the intersection of beautiful art and social justice. He is an alumnus of the Lincoln Center Theater Director's Lab. Next summer, he is directing What's the T? for About Face Youth Theatre. In New York, Eric serves as Operations Manager for ICE, the International Contemporary Ensemble and is a co-founder of The Accidentals.

The Hit the Wall production team includes: John Holt* (scenic design), Coral Gable (costume design), Jeff Glass (lighting design), Joe Court (sound design), John Cicora* and Ryan Murphy (music composition), Erin Kilmurray* (choreography), Ryan Bourque* (fight choreography), Kelly Kerwin (dramaturg), Ellen Willett (stage manager), Missi Davis* (production manager) and Gus Menary* (assistant director).

The Inconvenience is a community of interdisciplinary artists who seek to create a new way of experiencing art through a collaboration of music, theatre, dance, fine art and celebration. We create, produce, and curate work that challenges audience and artist perspectives and ignites social dialogue.
*Denotes The Inconvenience company members

February 4 – April 8, 2012
Theatre Zarko presents
He Who
Written and directed by Michael Montenegro*
Featuring Nancy Andria*, Karen Hoyer*, Laura Montenegro*, Ellen O'Keefe*, Noah Silver-Mathews* and Colleen Werle*

How do four brave and exhausted women share the burden of one grotesquely enormous baby? They struggle to nurture and restrain the giant darling. But the baby has an existential crisis, which sparks a fight for control. His tyrannical attempts to pit the women against each other ultimately test the limits of love. Darkly poetic and arresting, He Who brings together live performers, puppets and original music for an intimate audience experience. Master puppeteer Michael Montenegro conceives and directs this world premiere.

For over twenty years, Jeff Award-winning puppet artist Michael Montenegro has been developing his unique style in the Chicago area—both as a solo artist and as a collaborator with different theatre groups and commissioned projects, culminating in the recent formation of his own company, Theatre Zarko. Works include Iktu Blas, Dreams from an Upside Down Man and The Sublime Beauty of Hands.

The He Who production team in includes: Michael Montenegro* (scenic design, costume design and casting) Jeff Glass (lighting design) and Jude Mathews*, Ben Goldberger* and Steve Lieto* (music).

Theatre Zarko explores puppet and mask theatre as an innovative, developing art form, with a focus on building strong artistic relationships within the community. Our work expresses a strong visual point of view that plays with scale, metaphor, integral live music and a surrealistic expression of images and themes.
*DenotesTheatre Zarko company members

The GARAGE REP production team includes: Becky Mock (assistant production manager) and Maria Gerbino (technical director).

“These three innovating companies bring an uncommon mix of talent and creativity to Chicago’s storefront scene – they’re at the cutting edge of what makes Chicago such an exciting theater town,” comments Steppenwolf Artistic Producer Rebecca Rugg. “This year’s GARAGE REP productions are all in direct conversation with Steppenwolf’s season theme – Dispatches from the Homefront. We look forward to the ways these projects intersect with our broader consideration of how everyday lives are touched by war, coming home, winning and losing,” adds Rugg

Performance schedule:
The third annual GARAGE REP plays Wednesdays through Fridays at 8 pm; and Saturdays and Sundays at 4 pm and 8 pm. Please note: there will be an 8 pm performance on Tuesday 2/14; there will be a 1 pm performance on Saturday 2/18, Sunday 2/19, Saturday 4/7 and Sunday 4/8 (“three show marathon” days). The complete GARAGE REP schedule is as follows:

Oohrah! Hit the Wall He Who
Thursday, 2/2 at 8 pm Friday, 2/3 at 8 pm Saturday 2/4 at 4 pm
Saturday, 2/4 at 8 pm Sunday, 2/5 at 4 pm Sunday, 2/5 at 8 pm
Friday, 2/10 at 8 pm Saturday, 2/11 at 4 pm Saturday, 2/11 at 8 pm
Sunday, 2/12 at 4 pm Sunday, 2/12 at 8 pm Tuesday, 2/14 at 8 pm
Wednesday, 2/15 at 8 pm Thursday, 2/16 at 8 pm Friday, 2/17 at 8 pm
Saturday, 2/18 at 4 pm** Saturday, 2/18 at 8 pm** Saturday, 2/18 at 1 pm**
Sunday, 2/19 at 8 pm** Sunday, 2/19 at 1 pm** Sunday, 2/19 at 4 pm**
Friday, 2/24 at 8 pm Wednesday, 2/22 at 8 pm Thursday, 2/23 at 8 pm
Saturday, 2/25 at 4 pm Saturday, 2/25 at 8 pm Sunday, 2/26 at 8 pm
Thursday, 3/1 at 8 pm Sunday, 2/26 at 4 pm Wednesday, 2/29 at 8 pm
Sunday, 3/4 at 8 pm Friday, 3/2 at 8 pm Saturday, 3/3 at 8 pm
Wednesday, 3/7 at 8 pm Saturday, 3/3 at 4 pm Sunday, 3/4 at 4 pm
Saturday, 3/10 at 8 pm Thursday, 3/8 at 8 pm Friday, 3/9 at 8 pm
Sunday, 3/11 at 4 pm Sunday, 3/11 at 8 pm Saturday, 3/10 at 4 pm
Friday, 3/16 at 8 pm Wednesday, 3/14 at 8 pm Thursday, 3/15 at 8 pm
Saturday, 3/17 at 4 pm Saturday, 3/17 at 8 pm Sunday, 3/18 at 8 pm
Thursday, 3/22 at 8 pm Sunday, 3/18 at 4pm Wednesday, 3/21 at 8 pm
Sunday, 3/25 at 8 pm Friday, 3/23 at 8 pm Saturday, 3/24 at 8 pm
Wednesday, 3/28 at 8 pm Saturday, 3/24 at 4 pm Sunday, 3/25 at 4 pm
Saturday, 3/31 at 8 pm Thursday, 3/29 at 8 pm Friday, 3/30 at 8 pm
Sunday, 4/1 at 4 pm Sunday, 4/1 at 8 pm Saturday, 3/31 at 4 pm
Friday, 4/6 at 8 pm Wednesday, 4/4 at 8 pm Thursday, 4/5 at 8 pm
Saturday, 4/7 at 1 pm** Saturday, 4/7 at 4 pm** Saturday, 4/7 at 8 pm**
Sunday, 4/8 at 4 pm** Sunday, 4/8 at 8 pm** Sunday, 4/8 at 1 pm**

**denotes “three show marathon” days

Tickets for GARAGE REP cost $20 per play (on-sale Friday, December 9, 2011) or $45 for a three play pass (currently on sale). Tickets are available through Audience Services at 1650 N. Halsted St. or by calling (312) 335-1650, online at www.steppenwolf.org/garage or via the Steppenwolf iPhone app. Group discounts are available by calling (312) 932-2422.

GARAGE REP HISTORY

Steppenwolf’s inaugural GARAGE REP, presented February 18 – April 25, 2010, included three productions in rotating repertory: Adore by XIII Pocket, punkplay by Pavement Group and The Twins Would Like To Say by Dog & Pony Theatre Company. The second annual GARAGE REP, presented February 11 – April 24, 2011, featured Heddatron by Sideshow Theatre Company, The Three Faces of Doctor Crippen by The Strange Tree Group and Sonnets for an Old Century by UrbanTheater Company.

The Steppenwolf Garage is dedicated to new plays, new artists and new audiences for the American theater. It offers artists the opportunity to present their work with the scale, space and resources it merits. For audiences, it provides opportunities to engage in multigenerational conversation about the new, provocative work emerging from Chicago’s diverse and vibrant theatre scene.

Support for the GARAGE REP comes through the “Leading for the Future Initiative,” a program of the Nonprofit Finance Fund, funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Chicago, IL (Martha Lavey, Artistic Director; David Hawkanson, Executive Director) is where great acting meets big ideas. Our passion is to tell stories about how we live now. Our mission is to engage audiences in an exchange of ideas that makes us think harder, laugh longer, feel more. The company was formed in 1976 by a collective of actors and is dedicated to an ethic of mutual respect and the development of artists through ongoing group work. Steppenwolf has grown into an internationally renowned ensemble of 43 artists who represent a remarkable generation of actors, directors and playwrights. For additional information, visit www.steppenwolf.org, www.facebook.com/SteppenwolfTheatre and www.twitter.com/SteppenwolfThtr.