16th Street Theater Extends EM Lewis' THE GUN SHOW Through 8/9

16th Street Theater announced the one week extension of EM Lewis' THE GUN SHOW directed by Kevin Christopher Fox now thru August 9 at North Berwyn Park District's 16th Street Theater, 6420 16th Street in Berwyn. Artistic Associate and actor Juan Francisco Villa turns the spotlight on Lewis' relationship with guns as he shares true stories from the playwright's personal experiences with firearms -- from a farming community in rural Oregon to Los Angeles and New York City.

Juan Francisco Villa plays Ms. Lewis in the play. Villa tells the story as if he is her. Until he reveals her identity, and points her out: sitting in the audience.

THE GUN SHOW is in one act with two parts. Running time is 75 minutes.

EM LEWIS (Author) received the 2012 Fellowship in Playwriting from the New Jersey State Council for the Arts, the 2010-2011 Hodder Fellowship at Princeton University, and both the Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award for Song of Extinction and the Primus Prize for Heads from the American Theater Critics Association. Her plays have been produced around the world, and published by Samuel French. She is a member of the Dramatists Guild. Recent productions include Song of Extinction at the Guthrie; Heads at the Pittsburgh Playhouse; Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday at HotCity Theater in St. Louis, and the world premieres of The Study (or Reading to Vegetables) at University of Washington and True Story at Passage Theater in New Jersey. Current projects include an epic Antarctic adventure story called Magellanica: A New and Accurate Map of the World, which she worked on with director Kevin Fox at the William Inge Center for the Arts in the spring, and an intimate two-person play called The Stone Languages. She is a resident artist in American Lyric Theater's 2013-2014 Composer Librettist Development Program, and her first chamber opera "The Resurrection Engine," written with composer Evan Meier, will be performed in New York City in June 2014. She lives in Oregon. www.emlewisplaywright.com

KEVIN CHRISTOPHER FOX (Director) is an actor and director based in Chicago and glad to be back with you at 16th Street where he directed Accidental Rapture and Pull of the Moon. Chicago directing: the US Premeire of Lay Me Down Softly by Billy Roche, and Hughie (Seanachai), Widowers' Houses and Androcles and the Lion (ShawChicago), St. Crispin's Day (Strawdog, 4 Jeff nominations including Best Production), Arms and the Man and Betrayal (Oak Park Festival), The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (Gift Theatre Company), Beggars in the House of Plenty (Mary-Arrchie),Widowers' Houses (TimeLine), Patient No. 1 (WNEP), and his debut Buicks (Precious Mettle). Regional: At TheatreSquared (Fayetteville, Arkansas, named a 2011 Top Ten Emerging Professional Theatres by the American Theatre Wing) world premieres of Sundown Town by Kevin Cohea and The Spiritualist by Robert Ford, along with Fall of the House, a youth production of Macbeth (Lady M was 11 and amazing), and development workshops for plays by Kevin Cohea, Robert Ford, Troy and Jonny Schremmer, and Susan Felder; Macbeth (Montana Shakespeare in the Parks, Shakespeare in the Schools, adapted and directed); served as co-director for the remount of Nick Sandys' Chamber Opera Chicago production of Persuasion, and toured with it to England, Chicago and New York. This winter he was a guest artist in residence at the William Inge Festival and Center for the Arts where he worked on two new plays by EM Lewis. www.kevinchristopherfox.com

Artistic Associate JUAN FRANCISCO VILLA (Actor) was last seen at 16th Street in their Teatro Vista Co-Production of his Empanada for a Dream where he received a Solo Performance Jeff Nomination for his autobiographical solo play. Empanada was produced at The Los Angeles Theater Center and will go international with a 2014 production in Toronto. He was in Goodman Theater's The Upstairs Concierge by Teatro Vista Resident Playwright Kristoffer Diaz. Juan originated the role of Jason at Victory Gardens in the 2013 New Works Jeff Awarded World Premiere of Mojada by Luis Alfaro, directed by Victory Gardens Artistic Director Chay Yew. He also worked at the Goodman Latino Fest with Pulitzer Prize Winner, Quiara Alegria-Hudes' Water by the Spoonful. He performed at the Steppenwolf Summer First Look Series with Your Name Will Follow You by Carlos Murrillo. www.juanfranciscovilla.com

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