The Ruckus Theater Announces Casting for 15 MINUTES

The Ruckus Theater announces casting for the world premiere of 15 Minutes starting June 2 at The Side Project Theatre in Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood. Devised and developed by a company of actors and writers during an eight-month creation process, the script of 15 Minutes is written by Ruckus Literary Manager Aaron Dean and Company Member Emeritus Mitch Vermeersch and is directed by Ruckus Artistic Director Allison Shoemaker.

The cast of six includes Ruckus Casting Director Timo Aker (Escape from the Haltsburg Boys Choir, Tell It & Speak It & Think It & Breathe It), Stevie Chaddock (The Gay American; Ka-Tet's In the Jungle of Cities), Associate Artistic Director Joshua Davis (The Gay American, Heist Play), Ensemble Member Elise Mayfield (The Gay American; Brain Surgeon's FlorIda DeVereaux...), Alyse Kittner (Escape from the Haltsburg Boys Choir; New Leaf's Curse of the Starving Class) and Ensemble Member Karie Miller (Sideshow's Heddatron; Genesis' In Love's Bright Coils). Performances of 15 Minutes begin June 2 (Opening Night is June 3) and run through June 26, 2011 at The Side Project Theatre (1439 W Jarvis Ave); performances are Thursday - Sunday at 7:30pm. Tickets ($10 for June 2 preview; $15 for the regular run) go on sale April 3 at ruckustheater.org or by phone at 773.769.RCKS (7257). The Ruckus is partially funded by the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.

In the world of 15 Minutes, you are who you friend. In a city built of glass and steel, cables and cameras, five people are about to meet a very strange man with some very strange ideas. There are rules, and there are risks, and there is something not quite right about this World's Fair-but you've got a golden ticket, and that could change the world.

Playwright and Ruckus Literary Manager Aaron Dean is a graduate of Michigan State University, where he studied theater and dabbled in Sociology and History. For The Ruckus, he has appeared in Heist Play, Tell It... and The Gay American. He has worked as a screenwriter, actor, nanny, janitor, musician, salesman, groundskeeper, canvasser for Greenpeace, baker, dishwasher, little league concession guy, tutor, cook, playwright, has unloaded many, many semi-trucks and co-hosted shows displaying patio furniture. His work as a playwright has been produced by The Ruckus and Brain Surgeon Theater.

Playwright Mitch Vermeersch hails originally from Clinton Township, Michigan. He has a BA in Creative Writing from Western Michigan University and sometimes a beard. His plays have been produced at Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo College, The Black Hills Theater in Grand Rapids, MI and The Hygienic Art Park in New London, CT. In 2007 he was a member of the National Theater Institute's Theatermakers Program at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, CT. He was a founding member of The Ruckus, which produced the world premiere of his play Heist Play as part of the 2009/2010 season.

Director Allison Shoemaker is a co-founder and the Artistic Director of The Ruckus. Directing credits for The Ruckus include Heist Play, The Gay American, Three Lennon Fugue, Apple Frog Baseball and that weird thing with the iPods. She also directed The Ruckus' recent contribution to Elvisbride 3D. Outside the Ruckusverse, Allison appeared in Jet Black Chevrolet (Curious Theatre Branch) and will contribute as one of a gaggle of playwrights to All Girl Moby Dick (The Mammals) this fall. When not fighting for truth, justice and the right of the playwright to revise in the rehearsal room, Allison writes things that sometimes get published. She likes that, too, but she likes this more.

About The Ruckus Theater

Made up of an industrious group of multidisciplinary miscreants, The Ruckus is composed of actors, directors, playwrights, musicians, casting directors, educators, banjo players, sock-knitters, publicity managers, grant writers, baristas, grad students, poets, computer fixers, appointment-makers and census-takers who aim to create a new kind of company-a casteless theater that blends the lines between playwright and actor, audience and company member. The Ruckus Theater is led by Artistic Director Allison Shoemaker, Associate Artistic Director Joshua Davis and Managing Director Jeffrey Fauver. Game on.

We're here to create, to examine, to invent, to explode-to create a ruckus. Our aim is to break down the old models of new work development in order to nurture new forms, great plays and better and smarter artists. We will work together to create vibrant and unexpected new work, spin terrific yarns and build a world in which two things are sacred: the rehearsal room and the audience member. We will be messy; we will be brave; we demand that our theater become both aspect and integral to our community. We will bring the ruckus.

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