The Artistic Home Sets Cast for Post-Apocalyptic MACBETH, Beginning Next Month

Thirst comes in many flavors. Some men thirst for power and the taste is so strong they cannot see or hear reason for the want of it. Some thirst for revenge and the urge is so primal that weapons are soon wet with blood. Others just plain thirst for water, as they live in a time when to drink the water we take for granted is death, though it comes from faucets and rivers and lakes that once were fresh and clean and safe.

Macbeth, as presented by The Artistic Home, finds himself living in a world where all this is true. Inspired by the water crisis currently emerging right here in the Great Lakes region, Artistic Home ensemble member and director Scott Westerman has crafted a world where there is too much water and none of it is any good. Toxic, in fact. Clans scratch and claw for survival, Great Brita has a stronghold on the only source of clean water, and control of it is a deadly scheme that becomes one man's undoing.

"At the same time we started exploring the text, I became aware of WBEZ's After Water Project, which teamed fiction writers, scientists and journalists together to imagine Chicago and the Great Lakes region in a hundred years if some steps are not taken to protect our most precious resource - fresh, clean water," Westerman said. "The number of references to water in Macbeth is uncanny. These are issues that are currently playing out in cities like Detroit and Toledo and with the algae blooms in Lake Erie. When we started applying these very real events to the world of Macbeth, we knew staging this play, right now, was an imperative."

Opening February 22 and running through April 4, this cast will be led by Artistic Home ensemble member John Mossman in the title role. Mossman will be joined by Artistic Home ensemble members Maria Stephens, Frank Nall, Julian Hester and Skye Shrum. They are joined by guest artists Will Casey, Derek Herman, Tom Hickey, Eric Leonard, Jae K. Renfrow, Sean Wiberg, Allie Long, Jill Oliver and Brooke Hebert.

Scenic and light design will be by Jake Bray, sound design by Alex Monroe and John Corkill, costume design by Misti Bradford, prop design and set dressing by Aimee Plant and fight choreography by David Blixt. Larry Geni will serve as Scenic Artist and Effects Coordinator. Christopher Prentice will serve as assistant director/text coach and the

production will be stage managed by Wendy Beckwith.

All performances will take place at The Artistic Home 45-seat, which is located at 1376 W. Grand.

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