Interrobang Theatre Project Hosts U.S. Premiere of OUT OF LOVE

Interrobang Theatre Project launches its tenth anniversary season, "No Man's Land," with the U.S. premiere of Elinor Cook's fiery British drama OUT OF LOVE, directed by Artistic Director Georgette Verdin*. Cook deftly portrays a female friendship through all its ups and downs, and the effects of a patriarchal society on the emotional trajectory of young women.

OUT OF LOVE will play August 16 - September 14, 2019 at ITP's resident home, Rivendell Theatre, 5779 N. Ridge Ave. in Chicago's Edgewater neighborhood. Tickets are currently available at interrobangtheatreproject.org or by calling (312) 219-4140. The press opening is Monday, August 19 at 8 pm.

The cast includes ensemble members Sarah Gise* and Laura Berner Taylor* with Peter Gertas.

Trust. Betrayal. Loyalty. Humiliation. That's what friends are for. Grace and Lorna have been inseparable since childhood, and vow one day to get out of their small English town and make something of themselves. But the world has different plans. An honest and brutal depiction of companionship, rivalry and the fiery bond that exists between women, Out of Love bravely examines one life-long friendship in all its beautiful, gory complexity.

Comments Artistic Director Georgette Verdin, "Out of Love explores one formidable friendship between two women over three decades. Cook's non-linear snapshots reject the typical portrait of life-long friendship for one that is messy and achingly truthful."

The production team to date includes Sotirios Lavaditis (scenic design), Steph Taylor (costume design), Michelle Benda (lighting design), Erik Siegling (sound designer/original composition), Claire Yearman* (violence/intimacy designer), Elise Kauzlaric (dialect coach), Jamie Kreppein (assistant director), Richie Vavrina (production manager), Elana Elyce* (artistic producer), Abigail Reed (technical director), Blake Cordell (master electrician) and Albert "Beep" Trefts (stage manager).

*Denotes Interrobang Theatre Project Ensemble Member or Artistic Associate.

About the Artists:

Elinor Cook (Playwright) was the winner of the George Devine Award 2013 for Most Promising Playwright and a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Award 2018. Elinor is currently writing an episode of Killing Eve series 3 and has recent commissions from Fiery Angel/Paines Plough and Audible. Out of Love, Elinor's commission for Paines Plough Roundabout Season, ran at the Orange Tree Theatre, having opened at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival last summer and then toured the UK. She was recently commissioned by The Donmar Warehouse to adapt Henrik Ibsen's The Lady from the Sea, which was directed by Kwame Kwei-Armah for the Donmar's Autumn/Winter 2017 season. Previous work includes: Extra Yarn (Orange Tree Theatre), Pilgrims (HighTide Festival, The Yard, Theatre Clwyd), Ten Weeks and Image of an Unknown Woman (Gate Theatre), The Boy Preference (Royal National Theatre Connections 2015), The Girl's Guide to Saving the World (HighTide Festival) and This Is Where We Got To When You Came In (Bush Theatre). For television: The Secrets, directed by Dominic Savage for Working Title/BBC1.

Georgette Verdin (Director) has served as Artistic Director since 2015. She is also a freelance director, theater and speech educator and arts integration specialist. She was the founding theatre teacher at Polaris Charter Academy an Expeditionary Learning school on Chicago's west side where she taught full-time for eight years. Recent directing credits include the Yale Drama Series winners Utility by Emily Schwend and Still by Jen Silverman, the Jeff-Recommended productions of Grace and Recent Tragic Events by Craig Wright (Interrobang) and Time Stands Still by Donald Margulies (AstonRep). Assistant Directing credits include 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas (Lookingglass Theatre Company), Phoebe In Winter (Facility Theatre) and A Christmas Carol (Goodman Theatre). Upcoming projects include assistant directing Bernhardt/Hamlet at Goodman Theatre (Fall) and associate directing Eden Prairie, 1971 at Raven Theatre (Spring 2020). Georgette holds a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Performance from McNeese State University (Lake Charles, LA) and a Master in Directing from Roosevelt University (Chicago).

PHOTO CREDIT: (left to right) Laura Berner Taylor and Sarah Gise in a publicity image for Interrobang Theatre Project's U.S. premiere of OUT OF LOVE. Photo by Zoë Verdin.

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