Free Book Release at Victory Gardens Biograph 6/30

Victory Gardens Theater and Northwestern University Press will celebrate the release of ensemble playwright Jeffrey Sweet's new
collection, The Value of Names and Other Plays, with a special book release party Monday, June 30 at 6 pm at the Victory Gardens Biograph Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue, Chicago. The event is free, but reservations are recommended. To reserve your spot, call the Victory Gardens Box Office, 773.871.3000 or send email to events@victorygardens.org.

Sweet, Chicago Reader theater critic Albert Williams, the Victory Gardens artistic team, and special guests from Chicago's theater community will discuss Sweet's new anthology and his long association with Victory Gardens. Top Chicago actors will read scenes from several of the plays included in the anthology. Following the on-stage presentation, Sweet will sign copies of the book during a reception in the Biograph lobby, catered by Nan's Sushi and Chinese. Signed copies of The Value of Names and Other Plays will be sold at the event with a one-night only discount of 10% off the regular price of $29.95.

The Value of Names and Other Plays is a collection of Sweet's most popular works, a majority of which premiered at Victory Gardens.  The plays include comedy-dramas The Value of Names and Bluff as well as explorations of war and peace in Berlin '45, Court-Martial at Fort Devens and The Action Against Sol Schumann. The anthology also features a forward by former Chicago Tribune Chief Critic Richard Christiansen.

Jeffrey Sweet has been affiliated with Victory Gardens Theater for more than twenty-five years. The world premiere of his play, Class Dismissed, will be presented as part of the 2008-2009 season at Victory Gardens from March 20 -April 26, 2009. VG premieres include Porch, Ties, The Value of Names, Stops Along the Way, Hard Feelings, With and Without, Flyovers, The Action Against Sol Schumann, Immoral Imperatives, Bluff, Berlin '45 and Court Martial at Fort Devens. These and other plays have been produced around the world. He has served three terms on the Council of the Dramatists Guild and is on the faculty of the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. His writing has won numerous honors, including the Outer Critics Circle Award, a "Best Plays" designation, the Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays Award, two American Theatre Critics Association Playwriting Prizes, the Joseph Jefferson Award, the Society of Midland Authors Award, the Writers Guild of America Award, and an Emmy nomination.

For more information about Victory Gardens Theater, go to http://www.victorygardens.org

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