Leigh Fondakowski News

Timeline Theatre Company's Chicago premiere of Leigh Fondakowski's documentary-style SPILL aims to show audiences the untold side of the story surrounding the April 2010 blowout and subsequent explosion of the Deepwater Horizon, a BP oil rig, in the Gulf of Mexico. The resulting oil spill was the worst in United States history, leaching nearly 5 million barrels of oil into the Gulf, leaving thousands of oiled animals for dead, and disrupting the livelihoods of many who relied on the body of water for fishing. Fondakowski's play aims to accomplish what great theater should: the interweaving of the personal and political. The play shows the human side of a widely publicized issue that audiences may previously have held at a distance. And Fondakowski, a member of the Tectonic Theater Project and the head writer on THE LARAMIE PROJECT, wisely and movingly devotes a good amount of SPILL's material to a lesser-known consequence of this devastating environment event: the lives of the 11 men who were taken in the explosion. These men were fathers, sons, siblings, and husbands who had inherently risky careers - but in the wake of the BP oil rig explosion and subsequent spill, they were soon forgotten by the mass media.

TimeLine Theatre Company continues its 19th season with the Midwest premiere of SPILL, an incredibly vivid, behind-the-news play revealing the untold stories of the people directly affected by the 2010 BP oil spill and the lasting impact of the largest environmental disaster in U.S. history. Scroll down for a first look at the cast in action!

TimeLine Theatre Company continues its 19th season with the Midwest premiere ofSPILL, an incredibly vivid, behind-the-news play revealing the untold stories of the people directly affected by the 2010 BP oil spill and the lasting impact of the largest environmental disaster in U.S. history.

Two Turns Theatre Company will present an intimate and freshly interpreted production of Doug Wright's Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning play, I Am My Own Wife, about the infamous German transvestite Charlotte von Mahlsdorf. Directed by Amy Corcoran and starring Drama Desk nominee Vince Gatton, the play will be performed in and among the furniture, art, clothing and taxidermy of RePOP (143 Roebling St., Brooklyn, NY 11211), Williamsburg's noted vintage shop. Performances begin tonight, September 23 and will run through October 4. I Am My Own Wife will perform Todays through Sundays at 7:30 p.m.

TimeLine Theatre Company continues its 19th season with the Midwest premiere ofSPILL, an incredibly vivid, behind-the-news play revealing the untold stories of the people directly affected by the 2010 BP oil spill and the lasting impact of the largest environmental disaster in U.S. history.

Two Turns Theatre Company will present an intimate and freshly interpreted production of Doug Wright's Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning play, I Am My Own Wife, about the infamous German transvestite Charlotte von Mahlsdorf. Directed by Amy Corcoran and starring Drama Desk nominee Vince Gatton, the play will be performed in and among the furniture, art, clothing and taxidermy of RePOP (143 Roebling St., Brooklyn, NY 11211), Williamsburg's noted vintage shop. Performances begin September 23 and will run through October 4. I Am My Own Wife will perform Wednesdays through Sundays at 7:30 p.m.

Following a record-breaking year of success for female and trans* playwrights, LA-based playwright/producer collective THE KILROYS has released its second annual LIST of industry-recommended new plays.

Local actors seeking to brush up their skills or acquire new ones will have a unique opportunity this spring at Long Wharf Theatre's Studio School to work with some of the American theatre's most innovative artists.

TimeLine Theatre Company, acclaimed for presenting plays inspired by history that connect to today's social and political issues, announces its 2015-16 season, which features the return to TimeLine's stage of Chicago legend Mike Nussbaum plus three plays new to Chicago: a new play from the head writer of THE LARAMIE PROJECT, one from the fast-rising playwright of DETROIT '67, and the first planned United States production of the 2014 Laurence Olivier Award winner for Best New Play.TimeLine Theatre's upcoming 2015-16 season includes:

Playwright Marcus Gardley has won the prestigious Will Glickman Award for The House that will not Stand, which received its world premiere at Berkeley Repertory Theatre in February 2014. Gardley and Berkeley Repertory Theatre will receive awards at Theatre Bay Area's Annual Conference on April 13, 2015 at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Gardley will also receive the award's $4,000 purse.

The Guthrie Theater presents the 7th House Theater production of Jonah and the Whale: A New Musical, a reimagining of the familiar Old Testament tale, set to original bluegrass and folk music.

New Georges announces its 23rd production season, which will include the January 2015 remount of Kate Benson's A Beautiful Day on the Banks of the Greatest of the Great Lakes and the World Premiere of Ariel Stess' Heartbreak in May 2015.

Marin Theatre Company, in association with Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, will stage August Wilson's Fences, the 1950s entry into his Century Cycle (also known as his Pittsburgh Cycle) - a decade-by-decade exploration of the black experience in 20th century America. Directed by Derrick Sanders, the Pulitzer Prize and two-time Tony Award-winning play will feature veteran film and television actor Carl Lumbly as Troy Maxson, Steven Anthony Jones, the artistic director of Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, as Jim Bono and award-winning actor, playwright and director Margo Hall as Rose, as well as Oregon Shakespeare Festival's Eddy Ray Jackson as Cory, Adrian Roberts as Gabriel, Tyee Tilghman as Lyons and two Marin City youths - Jade Sweeney, who attends Willow Creek Academy, and Makaelah Bashir, Bayside Martin Luther King, Jr. Academy - splitting the role of Raynell.

Swine Palace (Reilly Theatre, Tower Drive - LSU Campus) will produce the world premiere of Leigh Fondakowski's SPILL, which will play today, March 12-30, 2014. SPILL is a multimedia play inspired by the 2010 British Petroleum (BP) oil spill, the largest environmental disaster in U.S. history. The project is the co-creation of playwright/director Leigh Fondakowski and visual artist Reeva Wortel and is based on interviews, photographs and court documents collected in the aftermath of the spill.

Swine Palace, in association with The Study Group, is pleased to announce casting for the world premiere of Leigh Fondakowski's SPILL in March 2014.

Swine Palace (Reilly Theatre, Tower Drive - LSU Campus) will produce the world premiere of Leigh Fondakowski'sSPILL, which will play March 12-30, 2014. SPILL is a multimedia play inspired by the 2010 British Petroleum (BP) oil spill, the largest environmental disaster in U.S. history. The project is the co-creation of playwright/director Leigh Fondakowski and visual artist Reeva Wortel and is based on interviews, photographs and court documents collected in the aftermath of the spill.

The School of Arts and Enterprise-Department of Theatre presents the inaugural show of their 2013-14 season, the award winning The Laramie Project, by Moises Kaufman, Leigh Fondakowski, Greg Pierotti, Andy Paris and Stephen Belber. The Laramie Project is directed by Phil Miller, The School of Arts & Enterprise New Director of Theatre. The Laramie Project features an 11-member cast comprised of some of the brightest young actors in the San Gabriel Valley.

Marin Theatre Company, in association with Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, announces the casting of its spring production of August Wilson's Fences, directed by Derrick Sanders. Fences, which won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize and 1987 and 2010 Tony Awards, will feature veteran film and television actor Carl Lumbly as Troy Maxson, Steven Anthony Jones, the artistic director of Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, as Jim Bono and award-winning actor, playwright and director Margo Hall as Rose, as well as Oregon Shakespeare Festival's Eddy Ray Jackson as Cory, Adrian Roberts as Gabriel and Tyee Tilghman as Lyons. MTC's production of Fences will run from April 10 through May 4.