Victory Gardens Presents OEDIPUS EL REY, 6/29-7/29

Victory Gardens concludes its 2011-12 season with Oedipus el Rey, written by Luis Alfaro and directed by Artistic Director Chay Yew. The production runs June 29 – July 29, 2012 at the Victory Gardens Biograph Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue in Lincoln Park. The Press Opening is Monday, July 9, 2012 at 7:30 p.m.

In Luis Alfaro's thrilling reboot of the daddy of all tragedies, a young Chicano ex-con sets out to be the king of the Los Angeles gangland, fighting against the vicious cycle of fate and violence that awaits him. Set amid the sizzling rhythms and explosive violence of a California barrio, Luis Alfaro's Oedipus el Rey is a sexy, modern take on a classic.

"When I came to Chicago last July, there was much news coverage of gang violence in the Loop. Asked to select the last play of the 2011-12 season as the incoming artistic director, I immediately knew Luis Alfaro's Oedipus El Rey would the perfect play to address the issues of gang and prison culture, class, race and recidivism in Chicagoland," says Chay Yew. "In Oedipus el Rey, Luis Alfaro asks the questions of fate and violence, 'Is the fate of a person of a certain race and class to remain trapped in a system no matter how hard he or she tries to escape?' 'Is prison culture and violence cyclical?' 'Why is our system not working?' As Chicagoans, these problems remain very close to home, so asking these questions about what we can do as citizens to better understand our roles and gang violence are important and timely. Oedipus el Rey is a vivid and epic window into an underrepresented group of Americans-a view that I hope raises some very important questions about what we might do to heal our city and nation."

The cast includes Adam Poss (Oedipus); Arturo Soria (Creon); Charin Alvarez (Jocasta); Eddie Torres (Tiresias); Jessie David Perez (Coro); Madrid St. Angelo (Laius) and Steve Casillas (Coro).

The designers are Kevin Depinet (scenic); Jesse Klug (lighting); Mikhail Fiksel (sound); and David Hyman (costumes).