Victory Garden Announes Final Two Plays for 2011 -12 Season

Artistic Director Chay Yew and Executive Director Jan Kallish announce the final selections for the 2011-2012 Victory Gardens season. Two plays-Ameriville written and performed by Universes, developed with and directed by Chay Yew and Oedipus el Rey by Luis Alfaro, directed by Chay Yew-have been added to the previously announced season.

The season will also include In the Next Room or the vibrator play by Sarah Ruhl; and We Are Proud to Present a Presentation..., a play developed as part of IGNITION by Jackie Sibblies Drury. What We're Up Against by Theresa Rebeck, which was previously announced, has been replaced due to scheduling conflicts.

"This is a new chapter at Victory Gardens. We are presenting new plays, bold theatrical works and forms through spoken word, hip hop, poetry, dance and music. Victory Gardens is making a commitment to passionate new American voices that celebrate, reflect and challenge the attitudes of our dynamic and diverse society," comments Artistic Director Chay Yew.

The 2011-2012 season includes:

Ameriville by Universes developed with and directed by Chay Yew
January 27-February 26, 2012

Performed by the celebrated performance ensemble Universes, this thrilling exploration of the American experience prowls the dark corners of our contemporary landscape and asks, "If Hurricane Katrina happened again, would we be ready?" An electrifying evening infused with hip-hop, song, poetry and dance, Ameriville is a passionate and hopeful vision of a community's responsibility to another amidst a nation in turmoil.

Oedipus el Rey by Luis Alfaro directed by Chay Yew
June 29-July 29, 2012

In Luis Alfaro's thrilling reboot of the daddy of all tragedies, a juvenile delinquent from South Central Los Angeles sets off on his journey to be the king of the gangland. Set amid the sizzling rhythms and explosive violence of a California barrio, the gripping story follows his family of ex-cons through the vicious cycle of fate and violence in which they find themselves trapped. Oedipus el Rey is a sexy, dangerous and modern Latino take on a classic.

The previously announced 2011-12 Victory Gardens Season includes:

In the Next Room or the vibrator play by Sarah Ruhl directed by Sandy Shinner
September 9 - October 9, 2011

Sarah Ruhl brings her Tony-nominated Broadway hit home to Chicago.

In the twilight of the Victorian age, a buzz worthy new medical device is developed to calm women with "hysteria." In fact, it has quite a stimulating effect when used in the home offices of Dr. Givings, that most modern of men. As he pioneers an intimate new therapy, his young wife becomes determined to investigate the experiments that have patient after patient leaving the procedure room with the rosy glow of pleasure. Ruhl's stylish comedy pulses and hums along as it dispels old-fashioned notions of female sexuality, intimacy and marriage at the dawn of the age of electricity.

We Are Proud to Present a Presentation About the Herero of Namibia, Formerly Known as South-West Africa, From the German Sudwestafrika, Between the Years 1884-1915 by Jackie Sibblies Drury directed by Eric Ting from Victory Gardens' 2010 IGNITION Festival
March 30 - April 29, 2012

Direct from IGNITION, the festival that brought you Pulitzer finalist The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity, comes this brave new work that sent chills and laughter through this summer's festival audiences.

When a group of actors gather together to give a presentation on a distant genocide, they realize that summaries based on history books aren't nearly enough to capture the complexity of human extermination-or human interaction. In an honest attempt to delve deeper, they crash into their own simmering fears and unconscious bigotry and come face to face with the potential for brutality in all of us.

IGNITION, Victory Gardens daring and hugely successful new play development initiative, was conceived to support the theater's mission of new play development and diversity. In the spring of 2010, 120 writers of color under 40 years of age from around the United States submitted new scripts for the first phase of IGNITION. The top six plays were then selected, workshopped and presented as staged readings in a weeklong festival later that same summer. From the top six, Jackie Sibblies Drury's We Are Proud to Present a Presentation... was selected to be part of Victory Gardens mainstage season.

Subscriptions and Flex Passes for Victory Gardens 2011-2012 season, offering up to 35% savings on single tickets, are on sale now on the company's website, www.victorygardens.org and by phone at the Victory Gardens Box Office at The Biograph, 2433 N. Lincoln, 773.871.3000 (TTY: 773.871.0682).

The Victory Gardens Biograph Theater is located at 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue, in the heart of Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood. Benefits of subscribing include convenient parking; easy access via CTA, ticket exchange privileges; invitations to special events, discounted series for educators, younger audiences and persons with disabilities and pre- and post-show deals at nearby restaurants and nightclubs.

About Victory Gardens Theater:

Under the leadership of Artistic Director Chay Yew and Executive Director Jan Kallish, Victory Gardens Theater is home to the bold voices of world premiere theater. The company features the work of its own 14-member Playwrights Ensemble, as well as that of exciting playwrights who are changing theater in the U.S. and abroad. Since its founding in 1974, the company has produced more world premieres than any other Chicago theater, a commitment recognized nationally when Victory Gardens received the 2001 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre. The company's dedication to developing, supporting and producing new work makes Victory Gardens an American Center for New Plays.

In 2006, Victory Gardens successfully completed an $11.8 million renovation of Chicago's famed Biograph Theater, and moved two blocks north from its longtime venue at 2257 N. Lincoln Avenue, to its beautiful new home in one of Chicago's most celebrated historic landmarks. Renamed Victory Gardens Biograph Theater, the new venue is a state-of-the-art 299-seat mainstage which has greatly expanded the company's artistic flexibility, while enhancing Victory Gardens' ability to welcome patrons old and new.

In 2009, Victory Gardens completed the second phase of renovation at the Biograph, building an intimate, new, 109-seat studio theater on the second floor. On March 1, 2010, at a special launch event for Victory Gardens $1 million Campaign for Growth, the theater's new studio was officially named the Richard Christiansen Theater, in honor of the Chicago Tribune chief critic emeritus and longtime champion of Chicago's live theater scene.  For more information, please visit: www.victorygardens.org/campaignforgrowth 

Victory Gardens Theater receives major funding from Alphawood Foundation, Chicago Community Trust, Shubert Foundation, Joyce Foundation, John T. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The Wallace Foundation, Allstate Insurance Company, The Boeing Company, Polk Bros. Foundation, and National Endowment for the Arts. Additional funding is provided by: Leo S. Guthman Fund, Motorola Foundation, REAM Foundation, Crown Family Philanthropies, Sara Lee Foundation, Illinois Arts Council (IAC, a state agency), Edgerton Foundation, James S. Kemper Foundation, Charles & M.R. Shapiro Foundation, and by Wrightwood Neighbors Conservation Association, 3Arts, Harry S. Black and Allon Fuller Fund, Charles H. and Bertha L. Boothroyd Foundation, John R. Halligan Charitable Fund, Illinois Tool Works, PNC Foundation, Elizabeth Cheney Foundation, a CityArts Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, and Irving Harris Foundation.

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