Last fall NATURAL GAS, the five-year-old house improv team of The Gift Theatre, took up an open run on Friday nights at Wicker Park's The Den Theatre, performing entirely improvised group sets in addition to their standing Wednesday night set at The Gift in Jefferson Park. Now, NATURAL GAS presents YOU & ME-a two-person, entirely improvised show featuring NATURAL GAS ensemble member/The Gift artistic director Michael Patrick Thornton with a special guest from the Chicago improv/theatre community. Upcoming performances of YOU & ME are Fridays Feb. 28 (with NATURAL GAS' Jim Kozyra), March 14 (with Susan Messing) and April 4 (with Keith Neagle) at 10:30 p.m. An ongoing schedule can be found at thegifttheatre.org/shows-events/gas-the-den.
The Gift Theatre Artistic Director Michael Patrick Thornton announces the Chicago premiere of Thinner Than Water written by Melissa Ross and directed by The Gift ensemble member John Gawlik (2013 Jeff Award winner for When the Rain Stops Falling at Circle Theatre). The production marks Thornton's return to The Gift main stage since ensemble member Andrew Hinderaker's Jeff Nominated Dirty in 2012. Thornton recently appeared in Les Waters' production of Our Town at Actors Theatre of Louisville. Thornton joins guest artists Donna McGough (last seen in Coriolanus with The Hypocrites) and Darci Nalepa (Dirty) and fellow Gift ensemble members Brittany Burch (The Lonesome West), Paul D'Addario (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest), Gabriel Franken (Broadsword), Lynda Newton (Absolute Hell) and Jay Worthington (Vigils).
Artistic Director Les Waters and Managing Director Jennifer Bielstein have announced that Actors Theatre continues its 50th Anniversary Season with Thornton Wilder's Our Town. Widely regarded as one of the finest plays ever written by an American, Our Town will be directed by Obie-award winning director Les Waters. The production, part of the Brown-Forman Series, will begin previews tonight, January 21, open on January 23 and run through February 9, 2014.
TEN, The Gift Theatre's annual season kickoff celebration of ten 10-minute plays, returns January 9-19, 2014. This year's ten-minute play premieres by The Gift and guests were curated by artistic director Michael Patrick Thornton and associate artistic director Paul D'Addario. Tickets to TEN are free for all at http://thegifttheatre.org/, however subscribers have the first opportunity to reserve.
Artistic Director Les Waters and Managing Director Jennifer Bielstein have announced that Actors Theatre continues its 50th Anniversary Season with Thornton Wilder's Our Town. Widely regarded as one of the finest plays ever written by an American, Our Town will be directed by Obie-award winning director Les Waters. The production, part of the Brown-Forman Series, will begin previews on January 21, open on January 23 and run through February 9, 2014.
NATURAL GAS, the five-year-old house improv team of The Gift Theatre, has taken up residence Friday nights at Wicker Park's The Den Theatre. NATURAL GAS @ The Den shows will alternate between entirely improvised group sets (NATURAL GAS) and a two-person, entirely improvised show featuring Michael Patrick Thornton with a guest (NATURAL GAS presents: YOU & ME (Michael Patrick Thornton)). On Friday, November 29, special guest Ed Flynn joins Thornton's two-person show. An updated schedule can be found at thegifttheatre.org/shows-events/gas-the-den
To commemorate the 75th anniversary of Orson Welles' spectacular, historic Halloween media hoax about Martians invading the earth, the Gift Theatre offers an alternate re-imagining of the infamous 1938 radio broadcast of H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds. Artistic Director Michael Patrick Thornton's staged re-creation of Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre on the Air broadcast is updated with locations shifted to 1938 Chicago. The performances, part of the Chicago Park District's Classics in the Parks series, will feature live music by the Chicago City Wide Symphony Orchestra and Foley artists creating sound effects as it celebrates the Golden Age of American radio. H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds, A Radio Drama will be staged Oct. 30-Nov. 2 at Jefferson Memorial Park, 4822 N. Long Ave and Nov. 7-9 at Lincoln Park Cultural Center, N. Lincoln Park West. Suitable for ages 6 and up. Admission is free, but reservations are recommended. 773-283-7071
The Gift Theatre artistic director and co-founder Michael Patrick Thornton proudly announces its 2014 season featuring two Chicago premieres and the theater's first staging of Shakespeare. The season includes Bethany, reuniting the writer and director of the 2013 Gift Theatre hit Mine. Bethany premiered Off-Broadway in January to raves with America Ferrara in the title role. The Gift Season Subscriptions, starting at $75, offer theatergoers the opportunity to be part of the exciting revolution of The Gift and Chicago's Northwest Side; Jefferson Park was recently recognized by the Chicago Sun-Times and Nadig Press as 'Chicago's newest theater district.'
Pavement Group will develop and produce the world premiere 'Harry & the Thief' at The Den Theatre tonight, October 10 - November 10, 2013, written by emerging playwright Sigrid Gilmer and directed by Krissy Vanderwarker, Co-Artistic Director of Dog & Pony Theatre Company. An audacious historical time travel play about Harriet Tubman, 'Harry & the Thief' is chock full of Bruckheimer-worthy dialogue and slapstick humor - think 'Django Unchained' meets 'Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure'.
Olney Theatre Center Artistic Director Jason Loewith announced the company would revamp and expand its traditional subscription format while producing an ambitious slate of three seasons and nine productions for the Theatre's 2014 76th Season. Three "mini-seasons" will feature Rolling World Premieres, 20th century American classics, four extraordinary musicals, and an outdoor Shakespeare production beneath the stars.
Natural Gas turns five years old in August. Nearly every Wednesday since August 2008, the house improv team of The Gift Theatre has taken one suggestion from the audience to create an entirely improvised world of comedy that is wild, randy and appropriately inappropriate. For the next month a roster of special guest improvisers will join Natural Gas Ensemble members Kyle Zornes, Dan Aho, Ed Flynn, Jim Kozyra, Joey Lesiak, Kirby O'Connell, Carly Olson, John Pantlind, Aemilia Scott, Amy Speckien and Michael Patrick Thornton on the Gift stage for world class Chicago improv in Jefferson Park.
The Gift Theatre artistic director Michael Patrick Thornton has announced casting for the Chicago premiere of Broadsword: A Heavy Metal Play written by Marco Ramirez (Orange is the New Black; Sons of Anarchy) and directed by Keira Fromm. Guest artists Chuck Spencer (Jeff Award-winner for Redtwist's Man From Nebraska) and Pavement Group's Cyd Blakewell (currently co-starring in Mine) join The Gift Ensemble members John Kelly Connolly (The Lonesome West), James D. Farruggio (Suicide, Inc.), Gabriel Franken (Mine) and John Gawlik (The Lonesome West).
New mother Mari has a devoted husband, a reassuring midwife and a mom who can't wait to babysit. But she can't shake the feeling that there's something strange about her newborn daughter. Chicago's The Gift Theatre Company births a world of new motherhood, where doubt and certainty blur, in the Chicago premiere of Laura Marks' thrilling, haunting and terrifying Mine, directed by Marti Lyons. Mine makes its Chicago premiere now through August 11, 2013, at The Gift Theatre, 4802 N. Milwaukee Avenue (at Lawrence) in Chicago. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast onstage below!
Pavement Group will develop and produce the world premiere "Harry & the Thief" at The Den Theatre October 10 - November 10, 2013, written by emerging playwright Sigrid Gilmer and directed by Krissy Vanderwarker, Co-Artistic Director of Dog & Pony Theatre Company. An audacious historical time travel play about Harriet Tubman, "Harry & the Thief" is chock full of Bruckheimer-worthy dialogue and slapstick humor - think "Django Unchained" meets "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure".
New mother Mari has a devoted husband, a reassuring midwife and a mom who can't wait to babysit. But she can't shake the feeling that there's something strange about her newborn daughter. Chicago's The Gift Theatre Company births a world of new motherhood, where doubt and certainty blur, in the Chicago premiere of Laura Marks' thrilling, haunting and terrifying Mine, directed byMarti Lyons. Mine makes its Chicago Premiere tonight, June 13 - August 11 at The Gift Theatre, 4802 N. Milwaukee Ave (at Lawrence) in Chicago. Press opening is Monday, June 17.
New mother Mari has a devoted husband, a reassuring midwife and a mom who can't wait to babysit. But she can't shake the feeling that there's something strange about her newborn daughter. Chicago's The Gift Theatre Company births a world of new motherhood, where doubt and certainty blur, in the Chicago premiere of Laura Marks' thrilling, haunting and terrifying Mine, directed byMarti Lyons. Mine makes its Chicago Premiere June 13 - August 11 at The Gift Theatre, 4802 N. Milwaukee Ave (at Lawrence) in Chicago. Press opening is Monday, June 17.
Natural Gas, the house improv team of The Gift Theatre, begins its open run at The Second City this Sunday, April 21 at 8 p.m. The first installment, Natural Gas: Thornes, will be an entirely improvised two-man set starring The Gift Theatre artistic director Michael Patrick Thornton and Natural Gas Artistic Director Kyle Zornes (currently starring in Vigils at The Gift, directed by Erica Weiss).
Artistic Director of Chicago Opera Theater, Andreas Mitisek, Artistic Director of the dance troupe The Seldoms, Carrie Hanson, actor from ABC's "Private Practice" and artistic director of The Gift Theatre, Michael Patrick Thornton and chef Homaro Cantu of Moto. The opening act is Steve Dawson and Diane Christiansen of Dolly Varden. Appetizer and entree tastings for the audience are from Moto are paired with wine from Domane Wachau and chocolate by Vosges.
The Gift Theatre has announced its 11th season, beginning January 2013. The season opens with a celebration of short world premieres and then presents three radically different productions dealing with the most universal of human crises: death, birth, and the mystery of what lies beyond.
The Gift Theatre has announced its 11th season, beginning January 2013. The season opens with a celebration of short world premieres and then presents three radically different productions dealing with the most universal of human crises: death, birth, and the mystery of what lies beyond.
