the side project's historic 15th season will begin in November with a haunting two-show repertory in the spirit of the fall season. The plays, by local playwright Scott T. Barsotti and NY-based Mary Hamilton, will be helmed by Devon de Mayo and Josh Sobel, respectively -- two first-time collaborators for the side project who have gained attention in recent months as directors to watch.
Raven Theatre's production of Dividing the Estate, by the Pulitzer Prize and two-time Academy award winning playwright Horton Foote, will feature a cast of 13 actors from many of Chicago's most celebrated theater companies, according to Michael Menendian, Raven's co-Artistic Director. Foote's comedy-drama, which focuses on the feuds and disputes among members of a wealthy Texas family whose fortunes have declined, was his last new play to be presented on Broadway. That 2008 production was nominated for Tony Awards for Best Original Play and Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play (Hallie Foote). Raven Theatre, who produced Foote's The Trip to Bountiful in 2013, will be the first company to bring this acclaimed script to a Chicago stage. Raven associate artistic director Cody Estle (Raven's Brighton Beach Memoirs and Vieux Carre, The Artistic Home's Watch on the Rhine, Mary-Arrchie's Uncle Bob) will direct.
Wayward Productions has announced complete casting for the June 13th opening. Ensemble members Brittany Ellis (2013 Broadway World Chicago Nominee for Best Actress in a Play), Natalie DiCristofano, Ashley Yates, Megan See, Ashley Rose and Rush Marler are joined by Lauren Baker, Jennifer Betancourt, Nick Hill, Virginia Lee Marie Martinez, Emma Peterson, Eric Loughlin, Greg Wenz, Kathryn Acosta, Tony Jaksha, Jasonn Rose, Marissa Panzeri, Kelly Parker, Maximillian Lapine, Jill Oliver, Jazzma Pryor and Bailey Heinz.