A Red Orchid Theatre News

WP THEATER has announced the 15 artists selected for the 2020-2022 WP Lab. The two-year residency begins now and culminates with the biennial WP Pipeline Festival.

The Jeff Awards has announced the nominees for the 52nd annual awards for theater excellence that include 142 theater artists across 30 artistic and technical categories. The awards will be presented in an online program on Monday, November 9, 2020 at 7:00PM.

Learn more about all the streaming offerings, podcasts, classes, and more streaming from Chicago arts orgs this month.:

A Red Orchid Theatre and Porchlight Music Theatre announce the collaboration WAR OF THE WELL(e)S, an audio drama adaptation of the stage play written by Porchlight Artistic Director Michael Weber and directed by A Red Orchid Ensemble Member Lawrence Grimm.

The Chicago theater community is banding together to raise funds for The Chicago Theatre Workers Relief Fund, a League of Chicago Theatres initiative that directly assists theatre workers who have lost work as a result of COVID-19 and are facing financial uncertainty.

Lookingglass Theatre Company announces gglassclasses online, where students from Kindergarten-12th grade will learn from experienced Lookingglass Ensemble Members and Teaching Artists virtually, while creating collaborative performances and building specialized skills. During this challenging time, Lookingglass is committed to continuing to engage with students, inviting them to keep curious, to imagine, and to play while at home. Registration and additional information is now available at https://lookingglasstheatre.org/gglassclass/.

In response to the current COVID-19 pandemic, Chicago Children's Theatre, the city's largest professional theater devoted exclusively to children and families, is launching today a new YouTube channel, CCTv: Virtual Theatre and Learning from Chicago Children's Theatre.

A Statement from A Red Orchid Theatre:

Guerilla Opera's season starts Saturday, March 14, 2020! Experience a showcase of five world premiere one-act operas written by composers from Guerilla Opera's inaugural Emergence Composer Fellowship in Slosberg Recital Hall at Brandeis University in Waltham. Featured composers and librettists include: Leah Reid, Caroline Louise Miller, Daniel Reza Sabzghabaei (دانیال رضا سبزقبایی) and Mina Salehpour (librettist), Jeremy Rapaport-Stein, and Niko Yamamoto and Athanasia Giannetos (librettist).

The Minutes is officially in previews on Broadway! The cast of The Minutes includes Ian Barford, Blair Brown, Cliff Chamberlain, K. Todd Freeman, Armie Hammer, Tracy Letts, Danny McCarthy, Jessie Mueller, Sally Murphy, Austin Pendleton, Jeff Still.

A Red Orchid Theatre's (AROT) Ensemble, Board of Directors, and Staff proudly announce the 2020 Root Ball: Revisiting 1967 Old Town. The Root Ball will celebrate more than 25 years of fearless theatre-making while flashing back into 1960s. The 2020 Root Ball: Revisiting 1967 Old Town will be held on Thursday, March 5 from 6:00pm to 10:00pm at Galleria Marchetti, 825 W. Erie in Chicago.

The Second City has announced the addition of Adam Archer to its 108th Mainstage revue as he takes over the roles of former ensemble member Andrew Knox. Archer steps on to the historic stage with dynamite cast members Mary Catherine Curran, Sarah Dell'Amico, Asia Martin, Jordan Savusa, and Adam Schreck.

Eclipse Theatre Company announces the recipient of 2020's Eleventh Annual Corona Award: Mary Ann Thebus and Michael and Mona Heath. The Corona Award honors individuals and organizations which play an important role in supporting and nurturing the growth of the Chicago theatre community as well as small- to medium-sized theatres like Eclipse Theatre.

Victory Gardens Theater continues its 45th season with the Co-World Premiere of How to Defend Yourself by Liliana Padilla and directed by Marti Lyons. A Co-World Premiere with Actors Theatre of Louisville, How to Defend Yourself runs January 24 - February 23, 2020, with press performance on Friday, January 31, 2020 at 7:30pm at Victory Gardens Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue.

Lookingglass Theatre Company welcomes five new Ensemble Members and four new Artistic Associates into the Lookingglass family. Joining the Ensemble are Walter Briggs (Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Moby Dick), Kasey Foster (The Steadfast Tin Soldier, 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas), circus choreographer Sylvia Hernandez-DiStasi (The Steadfast Tin Soldier, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein), Anthony Irons (The Steadfast Tin Soldier, Act(s) of God), and composer and sound designer Andre Pluess (The Steadfast Tin Soldier, Eastland). New Artistic Associates include Cordelia Dewdney (Moby Dick, Hard Times), Wendy Mateo (Big Lake Big City, Beyond Caring), costume designer Sully Ratke (Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas) and Matthew C. Yee (Treasure Island, Moby Dick).

In Baraboo, Wisconsin, the ground is white with snow and the air is black with laughs. Valerie is the town butcher with an axe to grind. Her daughter Midge is a pharmacist whose clientele extends beyond the drug store. Over one cold February week, the town cop - who just happens to be Valerie's sister-in-law - will try to sniff out this family's secrets and lies.

A Red Orchid Theatre presents the Chicago premiere of Do You Feel Anger?, written by Mara Nelson-Greenberg and directed by Ensemble Member Jess McLeod. Do You Feel Anger? runs January 23 - March 15, 2020 at A Red Orchid Theatre, 1531 N Wells in Chicago. The press performances are scheduled for Saturday, February 1, 2020 at 3:00pm and 7:30pm. Single tickets for Do You Feel Anger? go on sale December 16, 2019.

The Chicago-based Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation (the Foundation)-an organization that offers unrestricted grants to Chicago theatre companies with budgets under $1 million-recently surveyed its small theatre grantees to reveal the large impact they make in Chicago. A total of 41 of Chicago's approximately 250 theatres participated in the Foundation's survey, representing a significant percentage of the city's storefront theatres.

Center Theatre Group has selected participants for the 2019-2020 L.A. Writers' Workshop, where local playwrights are invited to spend eight months in residence at the company researching and writing new works with the feedback from artistic staff and their fellow writers. The workshop, administrated by Center Theatre Group's Artistic Department, is designed to foster new voices, inspire playwrights to create their best work, encourage bold writing and build relationships among local playwrights, Center Theatre Group and the Los Angeles theatre community. 

In this 2019 Year of Chicago Theatre, small theatres across Chicago are taking major steps to be more inclusive, generous and accessible, reaffirming Chicago's growing reputation as the epicenter of storefront theatre in the United States. Many small theatres are evolving their company thanks in part to the Chicago-based Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation (the Foundation), which supports more than 50 Chicago small theatre companies with annual budgets below $1 million, to help theatres strengthen operations and focus on producing works and furthering initiatives that are relevant to both the artists and their neighborhood audiences.