2nd Annual PARAGON Sci-Fi Play Festival to Feature 40 Shows

The 2nd annual Paragon-A Sci-Fi/Fantasy Theatre Short Play Festival stages 40 short plays showcasing 38 playwrights, 37 directors and 110 actors in just two days.

Produced by Otherworld Theatre (Best New Theatre Company, The Reader's Best of Chicago 2016), Paragon features new plays by up-and-coming writers like Emmy-award winning Chicago comedy writer Joe Janes (Grekkor the Alien, Hogan's Real Piesca), San Francisco playwright Stuart Bousel (Polyxena in Orbit) and New York sci-fi playwright Bella Poynton (The Visitation, Absolutely Unbelievable).

Directing A Place in the World by Marilyn Anne Campbell is Jonald Reyes, named Best Stage Director by the The Reader's Best of Chicago 2016 for directing MCL's Black Fish the Musical. Nathan Pease (actor and director at Idlemuse Theatre) directs James C. Ferguson's Crash Landing and Idlemuse artistic director Evan Jackson directs Bennett Ayres' All Made of Wines and Tears. Orion Couling (artistic director, Edge Theater) directs Christopher Donaldson's Dyna-Babe.

Otherworld Theatre artistic director Tiffany Keane Schaefer directs Poynton's The Visitation, Kelly Jean Fitzsimmons' All I Want is One More...Meanwhile and Liz Thompson's First. The company's managing director Mary-Kate Arnold directs George Smart's Worrier and the Not and development director Dylan Schaefer directs Hogan's Real Piesca by Joe Janes. Ensemble member Brendan Stallings directs Wasteland Hero by Kyle Encinas.

Chicago actor/writer/director Spenser Davis (credits include Broken Nose Theater and Mary-Arrchie Theater Co.) directs Extraordinary by Justin Verstraete and Sean Cummings.

Paragon is curated by Otherworld's literary manager Elliott Sowards, with lighting design and sound by Tiffany Keane Schaefer, who is also stage manager.

"Paragon was intended to be a small festival that would encourage science fiction/fantasy writers to bring their stories to the stage," says Sowards. "There has been an enormous response from playwrights as well as from the Chicago theater community. Paragon exploded into the largest festival of its kind in the world."

"We had submissions from all over the world," says Keane Schaefer. "Over 180 theatrical artists, both local and international, are collaborating to increase exposure for this under-served theater genre."

Now in its second year, Paragon celebrates the depth of human imagination by showcasing some of the world's best sci-fi writers, directed and performed by well-known artists from Chicago's theater community.

"Paragon has become an annual festival and unique event in Chicago's diverse cultural landscape," says Sowards.

All performances will be staged in the intimate Public House Theater, 3914 N. Clark St. in Wrigleyville. Tickets are on sale now at thepubtheatre.com/show/paragon-a-sci-fi-fantasy-play-festival/2016-10-01.

IF YOU GO:

Paragon-A Sci-Fi/Fantasy Theatre Short Play Festival
Conceived by Tiffany Keane Schaefer and Elliott Sowards
Curated by Elliott Sowards
Oct. 1 - Oct. 2, 2016
Press Openings Sat., Oct. 1, 11 am to 7:30 pm and Sun., Oct. 2, 11 am to 10:30 pm
Full Festival Schedule Available at www.otherworldtheatre.org/paragon

Tickets: Block tickets (break-to-break) can be purchased at the door for $7; Day passes are $15 to see shows Saturday, 11 am to 7 pm and Sunday, 11 am to 10:30 pm; Weekend passes are $22 for both days. Tickets (Day and Weekend Passes) are available at thepubtheatre.com/show/paragon-a-sci-fi-fantasy-play-festival/2016-10-01/ or at the door at Public House Theater.

Otherworld Theatre was founded in 2012 by artistic director Tiffany Keane Schaefer. In 2013, it curated and produced The Ray Bradbury Festival at Strawdog Theatre Company, staging its first show, Fahrenheit 451, as the headliner. It then staged Of Dice and Men by Cameron McNary at The Public House Theater, followed by Bella Poynton's The Aurora Project at The Right Brain Project. In 2015, it produced Queen Amarantha by Charles Busch at City Lit Theatre and Stuart Bousel's Gone Dark at Epworth United Methodist Church. Gone Dark, which concerns an 1899 reunion of vampire hunters, received critical acclaim. The Loyola Phoenix called it "a smart, well-acted and impeccably designed production that is sure to put you on The Edge of your seat." The Reader described the set as "old, dark, and decidedly creepy," and "a spot-on backdrop for a tale of forbidden love and faulty alliances." Otherworld Theatre has produced seven mainstage shows, including A Princess of Mars, currently at Berger Park until Sept. 24. Otherworld consistently produces smaller events within the theatre and geek communities. It produced Paragon: A Sci-Fi/Fantasy Theatre Short Play Festival in 2015 and has curated The Juggernaut Film Festival: A Sci-Fi/Fantasy Independent Film Festival since 2013. Otherworld Theater was named Best New Theater Company in The Reader's "Best of Chicago 2016."

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