A Red Orchid Theatre Announces 2011-12 Season

A Red Orchid announces its 2011-2012 season, featuring the Chicago Premiere of Gina Gionfriddo's Becky Shaw, directed by Damon Kiely; The World Premiere of Ensemble Member Brett Neveu's Megacosm; and Marisa Wegrzyn's The Butcher of Baraboo directed by Shade Murray. A fourth production, slated for summer 2012 and to be performed by AROT's renowned Youth Ensemble, is yet to be announced.

A Red Orchid's ambitious 2011-12 Season is marked by high Ensemble participation: the season's 3 shows will include work by 12 of the company's 17 Ensemble Members. Becky Shaw will feature Ensemble Members Lance Baker, last seen in AROT's Machiavelli's The Mandrake; Jennifer Engstrom; and Mierka Girten, last seen in both the Chicago and New York productions of Craig Wright's Mistakes Were Made. Ensemble Member Brett Neveu's new work, Megacosm, will feature fellow Members Larry Grimm and Danny McCarthy, while The Butcher of Baraboo will reunite Shade Murray with Ensemble Members Kirsten Fitzgerald and Natalie West, all of whom worked together on the 2009 smash-hit production of Abigail's Party.
"I am thrilled to have so much of our Ensemble in the trenches with us this season, and every bit as excited to finally be working directly with Damon Kiely and Marisa Wegrzyn, whose work we have admired for so long," says Artistic Director Kirsten Fitzgerald. "I am also delighted to introduce Becky Shaw and Gina Gionfriddo to our audiences. With our 19th season here on Wells Street we return to that A Red Orchid edge I love so much, where humor and horror are not so far apart, and a cringe or gasp can follow a snicker or outright guffaw in less than a breath."

The A Red Orchid 2010-2011 season is:
The Chicago Premiere of
Becky Shaw
By Gina Gionfriddo
Directed by Damon Kiely
Featuring Ensemble Members Lance Baker, Jennifer Engstrom and Mierka Girten
September 23 - November 6, 2011
Press Opening Sunday, September 25, 2011 at 7pm

Sharp wit and shifting moral ground play out with the taut suspense of a psychological thriller. This Pulitzer-prize finalist and comedy of bad manners, tangled love and sex had its debut at the Humana Festival. When Suzanna decides to set her best friend Max up on a blind date with her husband's mysterious co-worker, Becky Shaw, she sets into motion a series of cataclysmic events forever transforming each of their lives.

The World Premiere of
Megacosm
By Brett Neveu
Directed by Dado
Featuring Ensemble Members Larry Grimm and Danny McCarthy
January 13 - February 19, 2012
Press Opening Sunday, January 15, 2012 at 7pm

With existential terror, Megacosm presents us with a world full of revolt and chaos both inside and out. An industrialist in the near future utilizes every means possible to get an inventor to sign over his revolutionary creation that will inevitably change the world. Corporate greed never met creative angst with such dramatic and hilarious results.

The Butcher of Baraboo
By Marisa Wegrzyn
Directed by Shade Murray
Featuring Ensemble Members Kirsten Fitzgerald and Natalie West
March 29-May 13, 2012
Press Opening Sunday, April 1, 2012 at 7pm

Skewed family values and the deep and dark secrets they create become a life force for Valerie, the infamous butcher of Baraboo, Wisconsin. Once her husband has gone missing everyone suspects she played a hand, especially her nosy sister-in-law who just happens to be the town sheriff. Enter the drug-pushing pharmacist daughter who just might hold the key to the ultimate unanswered questions.

About A Red Orchid
Since 1993 A Red Orchid Theatre has been an artistic mainstay of the Chicago theatre community; known and praised for its powerful ensemble, creative design and its gripping, intimate productions. The resident Ensemble maintains the conviction that passionately committed theatre will draw passionately committed audiences, and the 2009-2010 subscription season promises to bring Ensemble and audience even closer together.
A Red Orchid Theatre is: Lance Baker, Dado, Jennifer Engstrom, Kirsten Fitzgerald, Joseph Fosco, Steve Haggard, Mierka Girten, Larry Grimm, Karen Kawa, Karen Kessler, Danny McCarthy, Brett Neveu, Michael Shannon, Guy Van Swearingen, Doug Vickers, Tiffany Wilson and Craig Wright.
The A Red Orchid Youth Ensemble includes: Chaz Allen, Najwa Brown, Jackson Chalinor, Jaiden Falllo, Paola Lehman, Melanie Nielan, Adam Rebora, Kara Ryan, Elenna Sindler, Katie Jordan, Elita Ernstien, Alex Turner and Aria Szalai-Raymond.

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