Victory Gardens Theater Announces Public Programs For MIES JULIE

Artistic Director Chay Yew and Managing Director Erica Daniels announce Victory Gardens Theater's Public Programs line-up in conjunction with Mies Julie, written by Yaël Farber, directed by Dexter Bullard, and adapted from August Strindberg's Miss Julie. Mies Julie runs May 25 - June 24, 2018, with the press performance on Friday, June 1, 2018 at 7:30pm at Victory Gardens Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue.

Public Programs is an event series designed to enhance the audience experience by exploring themes and issues within Victory Gardens' productions. Connecting Victory Gardens to the world beyond the stage and rehearsal room, Public Programs bridge ideas, provoke dialogue and deepen the relationship between the audience and production.

Public Programs events are free and open to the public and do not require reservations.

About Mies Julie

Set in a remote South African desert, playwright Yaël Farber's award-winning adaptation of August Strindberg's classic Miss Julie has never "raged quite so fiercely," (The Guardian). It is Freedom Day, 18 years after the end of apartheid. Farm laborer John encounters his white Afrikaans master's daughter, Julie, on a feverish night fueled by heat, primal passion, and generation-deep resentment. The visceral struggles of contemporary South African society are revealed as a deadly attraction spirals violently out of control. Mies Julie is recommended for mature audiences, ages 18 and above.

Sunday, May 27 at 4:15 p.m.

THE BLACK EXPERIENCE: SOUTH AFRICA VS. THE STATES

Post-Show Panel Conversation with Mlondolozi Bradley Zondi (PhD candidate in the Department of Performance Studies at Northwestern University), and Fellow Aaron Todd Douglas (Marcelle McVay Management Fellow)

Mies Julie unearths South Africa's painful past, and forces us to deal with our own history of racial strife here in The United States. How is the experience of being Black in South Africa similar to being Black in America? How is it different? How have the parallel histories of these countries created an eerily similar separate but equal Black experience?

Thursday, May 31 at 8:45pm

INTIMACY ONSTAGE

Post-Show Panel Conversation with director Dexter Bullard and intimacy and violence coach Kristina Fluty

Mies Julie is a play full of violence, sex, and passion. Ever wonder how that gets staged? How do you negotiate violence and intimacy onstage? What about when they're entangled? And how do you do it while maintaining the safety of the actors, both physically and emotionally?

Wednesday, June 6 at 8:45pm

MEET THE CAST: FROM SOUTH AFRICA AND BACK

Post-Show Panel Conversation

August Strindberg's Miss Julie is one of the most renowned and produced plays of all time. But what is it like to play these iconic characters? With Farber's adaptation set in South Africa, how do American actors embody these characters with such a complex history? And with such a demanding piece, what is the physical vocabulary used in the room? Join us after the performance of Mies Julie for a panel discussion with the cast to talk about their experience of bringing the play to life.

Saturday, June 9 at 4:15pm

THE INTERSECTION OF #METOO AND #BLACKLIVESMATTER

Post-Show Panel Conversation with the Invisible Institute

Both the #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter movements were created to help heal the members of their communities that have been violently marginalized. Both of these movements have a common goal, so what happens when they intersect? In Mies Julie, we see two people experience systemic violence and how they navigate within it. The post-show panel will discuss the two movements that are vital to social change.

Thursday, June 14 at 8:45pm

UNSILENCE

Post-Show Panel Conversation with Unsilence

What stories of injustice do we see both onstage and in our own lives? Unsilence is an organization dedicated to breaking taboos and uplifting marginalized voices in order to illuminate stories of human rights. After this performance of Mies Julie, engage in an empowering learning experience to spark dialogue, support critical thinking, and build empathy in our community. This post-show experience seeks to inspire healing and social change - and it begins with you.

Friday, June 15 at 8:45pm

DANCE! REVOLUTION!; A CELEBRATION OF SOUTH AFRICAN DANCE

Post-Show Workshop with Muntu Dance Theatre of Chicago

Dance has always been an important aspect of South African culture-from gumboot, to the Johannesburg ballet and to the festival dancing that forms the backdrop for Mies Julie. Muntu Dance will familiarize participants with South African dance, including umgubha and patha-patha. Participants will be immersed in an active post-show workshop.

Saturday, June 16 at 4:15pm

WHY POST-APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA MATTERS

Post-Show Panel Conversation

Mies Julie is set on Freedom Day-a South African holiday which commemorates the first democratic election and the end of apartheid in 1994. More than 20 years later, how has the country changed after its political transition? How much progress has been made and what obstacles are still being faced today? Join us after the performance for a discussion about the challenges and triumphs of contemporary South Africa.

About Victory Gardens Theater

Under the leadership of Artistic Director Chay Yew and Managing Director Erica Daniels, Victory Gardens is dedicated to artistic excellence while creating a vital, contemporary American Theater that is accessible and relevant to all people through productions of challenging new plays and musicals. Victory Gardens Theater is committed to the development, production and support of new plays that has been the mission of the theater since its founding, set forth by Dennis Za?ek, Marcelle McVay, and the original founders of Victory Gardens Theater.

Victory Gardens Theater is a leader in developing and producing new theater work and cultivating an inclusive Chicago theater community. Victory Gardens' core strengths are nurturing and producing dynamic and inspiring new plays, reflecting the diversity of our city's and nation's culture through engaging diverse communities, and in partnership with Chicago Public Schools, bringing art and culture to our city's active student population.

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. Located in the Lincoln Park neighborhood, Victory Gardens Biograph Theater includes the Za?ek-McVay Theater, a state-of-the-art 259-seat mainstage and the 109-seat studio theater on the second floor, named the Richard Christiansen Theater.

Victory Gardens Ensemble Playwrights include Luis Alfaro, Philip Dawkins, Marcus Gardley, Ike Holter, Samuel D. Hunter, Naomi Iizuka, Tanya Saracho and Laura Schellhardt. Each playwright has a seven-year residency at Victory Gardens Theater.

For more information about Victory Gardens, visit www.victorygardens.org. Follow us on Facebook at Facebook.com/victorygardens, Twitter @VictoryGardens and Instagram at instagram.com/victorygardenstheater/.

Victory Gardens Theater receives sustaining support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Joyce Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The REAM Foundation, Shubert Foundation, Venturous Theater Fund of the Tides Foundation, and Wallace Foundation. It receives major funding from Crown Family Philanthropies, Lloyd A. Fry Foundation, and Polk Bros. Foundation. Major funders also include:Allstate Insurance, Alphawood Foundation, Paul M. Angell Family Foundation, Edgerton Foundation, Exelon, Field Foundation of Illinois, Illinois Arts Council Agency, David Rockefeller Fund, Bill and Orli Staley Foundation, Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, Time Warner Foundation Inc., Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation. Additional funding this season is provided by: Alliance Bernstein, Charles H. and Bertha L. Boothroyd Foundation, Capital Group Private Client Services, Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation, The Chicago Foundation for Women, ComEd, Nathan Cummings Foundation, Golden Country Oriental Foods, John R. Halligan Charitable Fund, ITW, JCCC Foundation, Mayer Brown LLP, The McVay Foundation, Metropolitan Capital Bank & Trust, National Endowment for the Arts, Negaunee Foundation, Roberta Olshansky Charitable Fund, Origin Ventures, Pauls Foundation, PNC Financial Services Group, Prince Charitable Trusts, Seabury Foundation, Charles & M.R. Shapiro Foundation, Wrightwood Neighbors Association. In-kind support is provided by: Dimo's Pizza, Fiesta Mexicana, Italian Village Restaurants, Southwest Airlines, Roy's Furniture, Suite Home Chicago, and Whole Foods Market. This project is partially supported by an Incent Ovate Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events.

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