The Rukus Brings TELL IT & SPEAK IT & THINK IT & BREATHE IT To The Side Project Theatre

Following The Ruckus Theater's wildy successful, soldout inaugural Chicago production-the world premiere of Heist Play by Mitch Vermeersch, directed by Allison Shoemaker-The Ruckus descends on The Side Project Theatre with a world premiere theatrical mixtape, Tell It & Speak It & Think It & Breathe It. Co-curated by The Ruckus Artistic Director Allison Shoemaker, Literary Manager Mitch Vermeersch and Artistic Associate Melissa Pryor and made up of bold new work from writers across the country, Tell It... is a collection of fourteen world premiere short plays staged by eleven directors with eighteen actors that find new and unexpected meaning in the lyrics of popular music. The company also uncovers common resonances between songs and the plays they inspire, seeking out the relationships between them sonically, lyrically and visually. Tell It... features accompanying live performances from local musicians, including Elvisbride, Louis and the Hunt and Mitch Mead, each providing their own interpretations of the songs examined. Tell It & Speak It & Think It & Breathe It is performed at The Side Project Theatre, October 25 - 28 & November 1 - 4, 2009. All performances are at 7:30pm, except November 1 at 2pm. Tickets are $10 and may be purchased online at RuckusTheater.org, by e-mail at tickets@ruckustheater.org or by phone at 773.769.RCKS(7257). 

A compilation of short "pl-ongs" or "s-lays" by theater artists from Chicago, New York, California and Michigan, Tell It... includes work my nine playwrights making their Chicago debuts and four playwrights making their world debuts. Over the course of the evening, audiences will experience work inspired by The Breeders, Johnny Cash, Leonard Cohen, Elvis Costello, The Cure, Depeche Mode, Bob Dylan, The Flaming Lips, Fleet Foxes, Paris Hilton, Hot Chip, Joni Mitchell, Neutral Milk Hotel, The New Pornographers, Yoko Ono, Parliament, Peaches, Pearl Jam, John Rutter, Paul Simon, Sir Mix-a-Lot, Cat Stevens, System of a Down, The White Stripes and Thom Yorke.

A portion of Tell It... also examines the impact of song selection on the audience's experience in Play, created by Allison Shoemaker, Joshua Davis, Kathryn Hribar and David Hornreich. During Play-a fusion of theater, music and dance-the audience is invited to don personal headphones and allow their song selection to influence what they experience visually. The Ruckus provides a suggested playlist for the evening, which the audience may download and bring to Tell It...; loaner mp3 players are also available the night of the performance.

"Human beings process music differently than anything else we encounter," said The Ruckus Artistic Director Allison Shoemaker. "As a result, the songs we hear and know and love become deeply entrenched in our personal and cultural histories. Mitch and I were fascinated by the idea of somehow divorcing familiar lyrics from their original context and pairing those histories with new and unexpected meanings and resonances. What happens when you allow the work of another artist to color your visual, auditory and lingual worlds? New characters, new themes, new places, but the original magic somehow lingers-like old flat-top, it comes grooving up slowly."

Co-curator Allison Shoemaker is the Artistic Director and a founding member of The Ruckus Theater. Directing credits for The Ruckus include Heist Play, Apple Frog Baseball, I Do Not Speak the Language, Three Lennon Fugue and the forthcoming Joshua's Play. Other directing credits include Private Eyes, Arbor Day and Am I Blue (York Arena Theatre). Allison also served as Producer for365 Days/Plays at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center. 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. Recent credits include admit2, The Pedestal and Chicago's own Contrary Magazine. She is overly fond of semicolons, 35mm film, science jokes, Walt Whitman and really excellent drummers.

Co-curator Mitch Vermeerch hails originally from Clinton Township MI. Plays produced by The Ruckus include I Do Not Speak the Language and this season's Heist Play. 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 is a founding member of The Ruckus Theater. He currently lives in Chicago where he performs music and roots against Chicago sports teams with a fervent passion.

Co-curator Melissa Pryor is currently a casting associate with TP&R Casting running sessions for commercial/film/TV/print and doling out 30-60 high fives daily. In Chicago she has performed in Heist Play with The Ruckus and the Jeff Award-nominated The Dining Room with New Leaf Theatre. She has served as a Vanguard member for The House Theatre of Chicago and teaches audition and monologue classes at Piven Theatre Workshop. She's also totally into figure drawing right now and refers to Saturdays as Naked Lady Drawing Day.

Tell It & Speak It & Think It & Breathe It
Short plays inspired by great lyrics
Co-curated by Allison Shoemaker, Mitch Vermeersch & Melissa Pryor
October 25 - 28 & November 1 - 4, 2009 at The Side Project Theatre (1439 W Jarvis Ave)

Performance Schedule
Week 1 Week 2
Sunday, October 25 7:30pm Sunday, November 1 2pm
Monday, October 26 7:30pm Monday, November 2 7:30pm
Tuesday, October 27 7:30pm Tuesday, November 3 7:30pm
Wednesday, October 28 7:30pm Wednesday, November 4 7:30pm

CAST
Timuçin Aker Kathryn Hribar
Mark Campbell Brian Hurst
Julie Cowden Brian Judkins
Joshua Davis Byron Melton
Aaron Dean Jes Mercer
McKenzie Gerber Kevin Murray
Boyd Harris Jon Penick
Annie Hogan Ethan Saks
David Hornreich Oliver Sava

Full bio information for the company is available upon request.

SET LIST
Baby Got Back by Jeff Green, a remix of "Baby Got Back" by Sir Mix-a-Lot
Directed by Phil Baranski
WASHINGTON.........................Timuçin Aker
FRED......................................Brian Judkins

Cartoon Graveyard by Seth Miller, a remix of "You Can Call Me Al" by Paul Simon
Directed by Allison Shoemaker
JANE/ALAN...............................Julie Cowden
BRUCE/ORSON.........................Timuçin Aker

Case of You by Joshua Davis, a remix of "A Case of You" by Joni Mitchell
Directed by Cassy Sanders
JONI.........................................Jes Mercer
LEONARD..................................Brian Hurst
PERSON IN LINE.........................Oliver Sava

Do You Love Me Now? by Allie Gruner, a remix of "Do You Love Me Now?" by The Breeders
Directed by Bridget Dougherty
MAN........................................Boyd Harris
WOMAN...................................Annie Hogan

The Former Things by Aaron Dean, a remix of "Alison" by Elvis Costello
Directed by Mitch Vermeersch
BLAINE......................................Aaron Dean
KIM..........................................Jes Mercer
MAN.........................................Brian Hurst

The Gods Are Crazy Blind by Matthew Wilson, a remix of "Stars are Blind" by Paris Hilton
Directed by Brian Ruby
LEGLESS MAN..........................David Hornreich
FAT MAN..................................Aaron Dean

Last Date by Joel Gelman, a remix of "She Don't Use Jelly" by The Flaming Lips
Directed by Brian Ruby
MAN.......................................Boyd Harris
WOMAN...................................Annie Hogan

My Brother, The School Shooter by Steve Feffer, a remix of "Jeremy" by Pearl Jam
Directed by Erica Weiss
RUTH........................................Annie Hogan
DEVORA....................................Julie Cowden
MICHAEL...................................Mark Campbell

Personal Jesus by Jeffrey Fauver, a remix of "Personal Jesus" by Depeche Mode
Directed by Bridget Dougherty
Yoko Ono...............................Joshua Davis
TOMMY,...................................Byron Melton

Play, created by Allison Shoemaker, Joshua Davis, Kathryn Hribar and David Hornreich

Pogo by Daniel Caffrey, a remix of "Bounce" by System of a Down
Directed by Daniel Caffrey
NOX........................................,.Kevin Murray
ARROW.....................................McKenzie Gerber
POLICE OFFICER.......................Jon Penick

Simple Way Café by Jessie Spear, a remix of "Tea for the Tillerman" by Cat Stevens
Directed by Jeffrey Fauver
WAITER.....................................Ethan Saks
TILLERMAN................................Boyd Harris
SUN...........................................David Hornreich
WOMAN.....................................Julie Cowden

So Many Allies by Timuçin Aker, a remix of "Atoms for Peace" by Thom Yorke
Directed by Julie Ritchey
TIMUÇIN...................................Timuçin Aker

Untitled by Kristian O'Hare, a remix of "Untitled" by The Cure and "Buckets of Rain" by Bob Dylan
Directed by Amanda Cowper
STAGGER..................................Ethan Saks
TROUT......................................Brian Judkins
CARD........................................Oliver Sava
DAD..........................................Mark Campbell

About The Ruckus Theater

Chicago is officially one theater company richer after The Ruckus Theater recently karate-chopped and high-fived its way into the Central Time Zone. Made up of an industrious group of Michigan ex-pats, The Ruckus is composed of actors, directors, playwrights, musicians, casting directors, 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 and Managing Director Ryan Dolley.

The company's inaugural Chicago season is produced as part of the side project's Visiting Artist Series and is comprised of three world-premiere productions: Heist Play by Mitch Vermeersch, Tell It & Speak It & Think It & Breathe It devised by members of the company and contributing artists, and Linear A by Ryan Dolley. In addition, The Ruckus presents two workshop productions:Joshua's Play by Ryan Dolley in collaboration with Filament Theatre Ensemble and 11-Detroit devised by members of the company. Prior to The Ruckus' recent move to Chicago the company was based in Kalamazoo MI, where it produced such popularly acclaimed productions as Apple Frog Baseball, The Retreating World and Fore Play, in addition to a developmental reading of Linear A by Ryan Dolley at Barrow Street Theatre in New York.

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.