Strawdog Theatre to Stage DESPERATE DOLLS, 11/23-12/23

Strawdog Theatre Company, Artistic Director Hank Boland and Hugen Hall Artistic Director Anderson Lawfer are proud to announce the second production in their 2014 - 2015 Hugen Hall season, Darren Callahan's Desperate Dolls, November 23 -- December 23, directed by Michael Driscoll at Hugen Hall in Strawdog Theatre Company, 3829 N. Broadway Street. Opening night performance is Monday, Nov. 24 at 8 p.m.

The performance schedule is Sundays at 12 p.m. and Sundays-Tuesdays at 8 p.m. Preview tickets are $10, single tickets are $15 and are currently on sale. Subscriptions, group, senior and student discounts are also available. Tickets may be ordered online at strawdog.org or by calling OvationTix toll-free: 866.811.4111.

Desperate Dolls takes audiences back to Hollywood, 1968, where three beautiful women are in big trouble. Sunny Jack Fennigan has the best intentions: to make female-led independent films that turn a quick buck at the box office. A powerful agent known only as "Captain" has a proposition that may be the answer to all his hopes. His three best prospects, girls who go by the monikers Matchbox, Pretty Sexy, and The Vil, are ripe for stardom but a dark trip through seedy motels and murder scenes threatens to turn their dreams into a twisted kind of nightmare.

The cast includes Alex Fisher, Hillary Marren, Joe Mack, Jim Poole, and Kelsey Rhiann Shipley. The production team also includes Strawdog Company members Jordan Kardasz, light designer; Heath Hays, sound designer; with guest artists Ashley Woods, set design; Raquel Adorno, costume design; Joel Sacramento, cinematographer; R&D Choreography, fight choreographers; Shannon Golden, stage manager; Sarah Illiatovitch-Goldman, assistant director; and Rebecca Grossman, production manager.

ABOUT MICHAEL DRISCOLL, director - Michael Driscoll recently directed the Jeff Recommended production of Carrie: The Musical at Bailiwick Chicago. He has also has directed Blithe Spirit (GoodLuck Macbeth Theatre Company), Up For It and For Another (American Theater Company's Big Shoulders Festival), A Plank In Reason (Prologue Theatre), the stage reading of Penumbra (Three Cat Productions) and The Last Five Years (Illinois State University). He has assistant directed the Jeff Award-winning production of The Original Grease and Rent (American Theater Company), Oh Coward! (Writers' Theatre), See What I Wanna See (Bailiwick Chicago/Steppenwolf Garage Rep), Detective Partner Hero Villain (Strawdog Theatre), Sunday in the Park with George (Porchlight Music Theatre), and The Complete Works... (Abridged) (Illinois Shakespeare Festival). Driscoll is also the director of education at Bailiwick Chicago and a teaching artist. He has taught with American Theater Company, Northlight, Bailiwick Chicago, StageCoach Theatre Arts School, and CCAP. He has presented his work, discussing theatre education's impact on urban school environments, at the National Convention of Teachers of English, Chicago Arts Educators Forum, and the regional Illinois Theatre in Our Schools conference. Driscoll is a graduate of the Teaching Artist Development Studio in Chicago, a professional development program designed to augment and refine the skills of the teaching artist. He is a graduate of Illinois State University where he studied theatre education and directing.

ABOUT DARREN CALLAHAN, playwright - Darren Callahan has written drama for the BBC, SyFy Channel, National Public Radio and Radio Pacifica New York. His stage plays include The White Airplane and Horror Academy, both published by Polarity Books, The Double Negative, Mad Scientist Double Feature (which includes the plays Mass Grave and Sub-Genre), and Beautiful Women in Terrible Trouble (which includes Witness to An Accident, Desperate Dolls, and Sources). Callahan's novels include The Audrey Green Chronicles trilogy, City of Human Remains and The Vanishing of Archie Gray and he has written the screenplays for Documentia, Nerves, Summer of Ghosts and The Battle for Carlyle. He is writer, director and composer of the film Under the Table. Also a musician, Callahan has released many records, including film soundtracks, on various labels.

ABOUT STRAWDOG THEATRE COMPANY - Since its founding in 1988, Strawdog Theatre Company has offered Chicagoland the premiere storefront theatre experience and garnered numerous Non-Equity Jeff Awards with its commitment to ensemble acting and an immersive design approach. The celebrated Company develops new work, re-imagines the classics, melds music with theatre, asks provocative questions and delivers their audience the unexpected.

ABOUT HUGEN HALL - Under Hugen Hall's Artistic Director Anderson Lawfer, Hugen Hall has grown from a cabaret space and Chicago's "Best Theater Bar" (Chicago Reader) to a fully functional performance and gallery space. Over the past two seasons of presenting productions, Lawfer has overseen, and often directed, various premieres and new productions varying from superheroes in conflict to zombie world domination to family fare with many of Chicago's leading talents. In addition, Hugen Hall has also displayed artwork from David Csicsko and other Chicago artists that reflect the action onstage.

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