Philip Dawkins News

First Floor Theater (FFT) is thrilled to announce its third annual literary festival, KAFKAPALOOZA, a festival of nine world premiere plays, by some of Chicago's most exciting playwrights, inspired by the life and work of Franz Kafka. Over the past two years, the FFT LitFest has brought together some of Chicago's greatest writers, including Seth Bockley, Philip Dawkins, Bonnie Metzgar, Ike Holter, Morgan McNaught, and Paul Oakley Stovall, to respond to literary greats The Brothers Grimm and Mark Twain.

Steppenwolf Theatre Company is proud to announce the lineup for the 10th annual First Look, a program dedicated to new play development, August 11 - 16, 2015 in the Upstairs Theatre (1650 N Halsted St). Providing an early look at works-in-progress from some of the most dynamic playwrights in the field, First Look develops new plays for future production at Steppenwolf and other theaters across the country. Since its inception in 2005, First Look has developed 14 plays that have received subsequent world premiere productions at other theatres, as well as Sex with Strangers by Laura Eason, which premiered on the Steppenwolf stage.

The idea of love and what is meant to come of it usually implies a happy ending for the woman who falls in love with her soul-mate, or for the man who couldn't imagine a life without the daily practice of bestowing affection upon his beloved. Love is meant to bring out the best in people and allow them to flourish, implying that a greater and more joyous future is to come because fate has somehow brought them together for just such a reason: to be happy. What happens, though, when the concept of fate seems to be a bit more of an interference than it is a means of bringing people together towards the happiness they so desire? What is to be expected when every effort of moving forward and bringing love back into one's life becomes such an onerous task, such a fruitless endeavor that the concept of love becomes a personally unreachable goal? In what is both a fairly comical yet rather somber telling of a man who falls in love with three sisters and is perpetually left alone once each meets her untimely end, Failure: A Love Story triumphantly kicks off Cape Rep's 2015 season and will no doubt leave its audiences thinking that the only failure to be found in this show is solely found in its name.

Cape Rep Theatre presents the regional premier of Failure: A Love Story a comedy by Philip Dawkins, now through June 7th, 2015. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

Sideshow Theatre Company is pleased to announce its full 2015/16 Season, beginning this fall with the world premiere of Hansol Jung's surreal and mischievous new comedy NO MORE SAD THINGS, directed by Elly Green. Next winter, the season continues with another world premiere, David Jacobi's chilling new drama MAI DANG LAO directed by artistic associate Marti Lyons. The season concludes next spring with CAUGHT, a new, head-spinning collaboration with playwright Christopher Chen, Chicago's Xiong Art Gallery and director Seth Bockley. All three productions will be presented at Chicago's Victory Gardens Richard Christiansen Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Ave., where Sideshow continues its multi-year residency. For additional information and updates, visit www.sideshowtheatre.org.

Cape Rep Theatre will present the regional premier of Failure: A Love Story a comedy by Philip Dawkins, today, May 7th through June 7th: Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7 pm, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 2 pm; there are no performances on May 10, 13 or 20.

Victory Gardens Theater announces the final show of its 40th anniversary season, the Midwest Premiere of The Who and the What by Ayad Akhtar, directed by Ron OJ Parson.  The Who and the What runs June 12 - July 12, 2015 with the press performance on Friday, June 19, 2015, at Victory Gardens Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue.

Chicago Inclusion Project Founder and Producer Emjoy Gavino announces the launch of The Chicago Inclusion Project, a collective dedicated to championing inclusion and diversity in Chicago theatre.

Cape Rep Theatre will present the regional premier of Failure: A Love Story a comedy by Philip Dawkins, May 7th through June 7th: Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7 pm, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 2 pm; there are no performances on May 10, 13 or 20. Tickets are $28. Pay-What-You-Can-Night is the first Friday, May 8th. Group rates & Student Rush tickets also available. Call the box office for details. Cape Rep Indoor Theater. North Side Route 6A E. Brewster. 508.896.1888 or www.caperep.org.

New Brew Performs Select Scenes From: The Curse of the Rat King: Trav S.D. (libretto) and David Mallamud (music) have been collaborating on this campy comic opera since 2010. It is a post-modern mash-up of Universal horror films, The Pied Piper of Hamelin, the operas of Gilbert and Sullivan, the writings of Sigmund Freud, and numerous other elements. On the bill with him will be selections from Three Way, by David Cote (libretto) and Robert Paterson (music), which has been described as “a kind of NC-17 Il trittico”, and two works with lyrics by UTC#61's Edward Einhorn: The Velvet Oratorio (music by Henry Akona) and Money Lab (music by Avner Finberg).

The World Premiere of An Issue of Blood by Marcus Gardley, directed by Chay Yew, was penned by Gardley in response to recent events and social injustices. An Issue of Blood runs tonight, April 3 - May 3, 2015 with the press performance on Friday, April 10, 2015, at Victory Gardens Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue.

(Philadelphia, PA) PlayPenn, Philadelphia's nationally recognized professional new play development organization, will hold its 11th annual New Play Development Conference from July 7 - July 26, 2015 at Drexel University in Philadelphia. The Conference, including three weeks of intensive work on six works-in-progress, will offer staged readings open to the public. The six selected plays and playwrights are:

New Brew Performs Select Scenes From: The Curse of the Rat King: Trav S.D. (libretto) and David Mallamud (music) have been collaborating on this campy comic opera since 2010. It is a post-modern mash-up of Universal horror films, The Pied Piper of Hamelin, the operas of Gilbert and Sullivan, the writings of Sigmund Freud, and numerous other elements. On the bill with him will be selections from Three Way, by David Cote (libretto) and Robert Paterson (music), which has been described as “a kind of NC-17 Il trittico”, and two works with lyrics by UTC#61's Edward Einhorn: The Velvet Oratorio (music by Henry Akona) and Money Lab (music by Avner Finberg).

Cape Rep Theatre is celebrating its 30th Anniversary Season with an exciting line up of plays and musicals, including a world premier and two regional premiers.

Victory Gardens Theater, under the continued leadership of Artistic Director Chay Yew and Managing Director Christopher Mannelli, announces the lineup for its 2015-2016 Season.

Artistic Director Chay Yew and Managing Director Chris Mannelli announce a change to the 2014-2015 season: The World Premiere of An Issue of Blood by Marcus Gardley, directed by Chay Yew, will replace the previously announced World Premiere of A Wonder In My Soul. An Issue of Blood was penned by Gardley in response to recent events and social injustices. An Issue of Blood runs April 3 - May 3, 2015 with the press performance on Friday, April 10, 2015, at Victory Gardens Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue.

After last season's successful run of the San Francisco Premiere of Jon Robin Baitz' The Paris Letter, New Conservatory Theatre Center presents Baitz' Pulitzer Prize Finalist, Other Desert Cities, directed by Aturo Catricala. In this "witty, deeply enjoyable family drama" (The New York Times) Brooke announces to her prominent Republican parents she is about to publish a memoir on an explosive chapter in the family's history, drawing a line in the Palm Springs sand and daring them all to cross it. As Baitz brings dysfunctional family drama to blazingly witty and gripping new heights, NCTC's intimate Decker Theatre brings the passion, drama, and superbly crafted blow darts of wit closer to the audience than ever.

Casting has been completed for Red Tape Theatre's (RTT) upcoming Chicago Premiere of The Walk Across America for Mother Earth. (Full cast list below) Tickets are on sale now at www.steppenwolf.org and 312.335.1650. All performances will be held at the Steppenwolf Garage Theatre located at 1624 N Halsted St, as part of the sixth annual Garage Rep. General Admission tickets are $20, with a limited number of discounted student tickets for each performance and 'Pay What You Can' tickets for Wednesday performances only. A complete performance schedule of the 2015 Garage Rep can be found at www.steppenwolf.org.

Continuing its 40th Anniversary Season, Victory Gardens Theater announces the World Premiere of Samsara by Lauren Yee, directed by Seth Bockley. Samsara runs February 6 - March 8, 2015 with the press performance on Friday, February 13, 2015, at Victory Gardens Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue.

A new crop of local talent joins Goodman Theatre's artistic team for the 2014/2015 Season.