The Chicago Inclusion Project Announces Partnership with The Hypocrites

The Chicago Inclusion Project Founder and Producer Emjoy Gavino is thrilled to announce a new partnership between The Chicago Inclusion Project, a collective dedicated to championing inclusion and diversity in Chicago theater, and The Hypocrites, the off-loop theater company known for mounting bold productions that challenge preconceptions, re-interpreting classics and tackling ambitious new works.

The new partnership will expand on TCIP's casting consultation initiative, launched earlier this year. The American Theatre Company served as the pilot organization for this initiative, during the casting process of its upcoming productions of Men on Boats and Picnic. As with ATC, Emjoy Gavino andStephanie Diaz, who make up The Chicago Inclusion Project casting team, will lead an inclusive casting process in collaboration with The Hypocrites for all productions in the company's upcoming seasons.

"It is deeply gratifying for a respected and established theater company like The Hypocrites to truly embrace the idea of inclusion, not as a trend, but as an organizational practice," said Gavino. "We look forward to what our partnership can do within the Chicago community to further the conversation and illuminate new artists and voices."

Sean Graney, the Hypocrites' Artistic Director said, "I am thrilled to be partnering with The Chicago Inclusion Project for all of the Hypocrites' casting. I cannot imagine working with a more intelligent and insightful group of people. Together we will be increasingly devoted to hiring amazing artists, fighting institutional discrimination and moving beyond the current concepts of diversity."

For more information, visit www.thechicagoinclusionproject.com and www.the-hypocrites.com/

ABOUT THE CHICAGO INCLUSION PROJECT

Founded by Actor/Casting Director Emjoy Gavino, The Chicago Inclusion Project is a collective of artists, committed to creating inclusive theater experiences by bringing together Chicago artists and audiences normally separated by ethnic background, economic status, gender identity, physical ability and countless other barriers. By deliberately choosing the unexpected, both in play choices and in non-traditional casting, by cultivating a diverse audience by bringing new combinations of artists to as many communities in Chicago (and it surrounding suburbs) as possible and by choosing facilities for the multiple projects that are fully accessible and keeping price of tickets affordable, The Chicago Inclusion Project programming aims to unite diverse collections of Chicagoans.

For more information, visit www.thechicagoinclusionproject.com.

ABOUT THE HYPOCRITES

Artistic Director Sean Graney created The Hypocrites in 1997. The company is currently run by Graney and Executive Director Kelli Strickland. One of Chicago's premier off-Loop theater companies, The Hypocrites specializes in mounting bold productions that challenge preconceptions and redefining the role of the audience. The company has a reputation in Chicago for creating exciting, surprising, and deeply engaging theater as it re-interprets classics and tackles ambitious new works.

Their recent production of Graney's All Our Tragic, a twelve-hour adaptation combining all 32 surviving Greek Tragedies, garnered the company six 2015 Equity Jeff Awards in its first year of eligibility. Graney's musical adaptations of Gilbert & Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance, The Mikado and H.M.S. Pinafore have become audience and critic favorites, being remounted numerous times in Chicago as well as going on tour to American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.), Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville and Olney Theater Center. The company has grown significantly in the past few years, receiving acclaim for productions at the Steppenwolf Garage, Goodman Theatre, Museum of Contemporary Art, DCASE Storefront, Chopin Theater and nationally at American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.), Berkeley Repertory Theatre and Actors Theatre of Louisville.

The American Theatre Wing, best known as the creator of the Tony Awards, presented The Hypocrites with one of the 2013 National Theatre Company awards. The company's smash-hit production of Our Town, directed by David Cromer, transferred in 2009 to Off-Broadway, Los Angeles and Boston. Since the company's founding, The Hypocrites have produced over sixty mainstage productions and a dozen festival pieces, securing thirty-one Non-Equity Joseph Jefferson awards, six Equity Joseph Jefferson awards and two After Dark Awards.

For more information, visit and www.the-hypocrites.com.

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