ATC Announces Launch of THE SILVER PROJECT, 2/8

American Theater Company (ATC) is proud to announce that the first installment of its 25th Anniversary celebration, The Silver Project, will include world premiere plays by playwrights Steven Belber, Itamar Moses, Yussef El Guindi, Stephen Karam and BrIan Tucker.

The first Silver Project presentation will take place at American Theater Company, 1909 W. Byron Street, Chicago on Monday, February 8, 2010 at 7:30 p.m.

To celebrate the company's 25th Anniversary, Artistic Director PJ Paparelli asked over 30 playwrights across the country to choose a year between 1985 and 2010 and write a short play that explores the company's mission: "what does it mean to be an American?" Directed and performed by over 50 Chicago artists, the plays will be presented in five parts throughout the year and as a complete cycle during the National Theatre Communications Group Conference June 16-20, 2010 here in Chicago.

"ATC is proud to launch our SILVER PROJECT with world premieres from five of the country's most innovative playwrights. From Rudy Guilliani's radical clean up of New York City to a school satire sparked from the Bush/Kerry debate to collateral damage caused by Hurricane Katrina and 9/11, Part I explores pivotal American events in the 00's from five diverse perspectives."

The program for the initial showcase on February 8th will include:

Year 2000: Quality of life, written by Steven Belber, directed by Jason W. Gerace.
Year 2001: There Was So Much We Were Going To Do, written by Itamar Moses, directed by Jeremy Wechsler
Year 2003: So Unlike Me, written by Yussef El Guindi, directed by Eric Ziegenhagen
Year 2004: Pee in the School by Stephen Karam, directed by Jesse Young
Year 2005: Famous Blue Raincoat, written by BrIan Tucker, directed by Derrick Sanders

Stephen Belber's work as a playwright has been produced on Broadway and in over 25 countries. His plays include Match (Tony nomination for Frank Langella); Tape (Time Out's Top Ten Plays 2001); McReele (Roundabout Theater); Geometry of Fire, (Rattlestick); Fault Lines (Cherry Lane) and A Small, Melodramatic Story (LAByrinth Theater Company). He was an Associate Writer on The Laramie Project (Drama Desk and Lortel nominations), and co-writer on the more recent Laramie Project Epilogue. Movies include Tape, directed by Richard Linklater; The Laramie Project (Associate Writer/Emmy Nomination for screenwriting); Drifting Elegant and Management, which he also directed, starring Jennifer Aniston and Steve Zahn. Currently developing screen adaptations of both Match and McReele. Television includes Rescue Me and Law and Order SVU (staff writer). He is a proud member of both Tectonic Theater Project and the LAByrinth Theater Company.

Yussef El Guindi's plays include Jihad Jones and the Kalashnikov Babes, (Golden Thread Productions, InterAct Theater, and Kitchen Dog Theater), Our Enemies: Lively Scenes of Love and Combat (Silk Road Theatre Project, Jeff Nominated), Ten Acrobats in an Amazing Leap of Faith (Silk Road Theatre Project), Back of the Throat (Theater Schmeater), and an upcoming production of Language Rooms (Wilma Theater). His play, Ten Acrobats in an Amazing Leap of Faith, is included in Salaam/Peace: An Anthology of Middle-Eastern-American Playwrights, published by TCG in 2009. Yussef holds an MFA from Carnegie-Mellon University and was playwright-in-residence at Duke University.

Stephen Karam is the author of Speech & Debate which was produced off-broadway by Roundabout Theatre Company as the inaugural production of Roundabout Underground. He is the co-author of columbinus (2006 Helen Hayes nomination), which ran off-broadway at New York Theatre Workshop following a co-production by Round House/Perseverance Theaters. His latest play was commissioned by Roundabout Theatre Company and will have its world premiere in their 2010-2011 season. Current projects: screenplay of Speech & Debate for Overture Films and the libretto for an original chamber opera with composer Nico Muhly.

Itamar Moses is the author of the full-length plays Outrage, Bach At Leipzig, Celebrity Row, The Four of Us, Yellowjackets, Back Back Back, and Completeness, and various short plays and one-acts. His work has appeared Off-Broadway and at regional theatres across the U.S. and Canada. Moses holds an MFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU and has taught playwriting at Yale and NYU. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, MCC Playwrights Coalition, Naked Angels Mag 7, and is a New York Theatre Workshop Usual Suspect. He was born in Berkeley, California, and now lives in Brooklyn, New York.

BrIan Tucker is a graduate of The Juilliard School's Playwrights Program, in New York, where he was a Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Fellow. Tucker's other plays include The ST. James Infirmary, Sins of the Father, The Great Defeat of Coltrane Grey, and Bathing Van Gogh. Tucker's work in film includes Broken City, currently in development with Mandate Pictures, and an adaptation of the Korean film Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance for Warner Bros. He resides in New York City.

The first Silver Project performance will be at American Theater Company, 1909 W. Byron Street in Chicago on Monday, February 8, 2010 at 7:30pm.

Parking is available on the street and at the metered lot on the corner of Lincoln and Berenice. ATC is wheelchair accessible. This is a free event. Please call the Box Office at 773-409-4124 to make a reservation. ATC's box office is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. on performance Saturdays and from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. on performance Sundays. For further information, call 773-409-4125 or visit www.atcweb.org.

AMERICAN THEATER COMPANY

American Theater Company is an ensemble of artists committed to producing new and classic American stories that ask the question, "What does it mean to be an American?"

American Theater Company is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency, and CityArts II. Additional valuable support is provided by the Alphawood Foundation, the Bruce B. Boyd Foundation, Chicago Community Trust, the Elizabeth Morse Charitable Trust, the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, the Mayer and Morris Kaplan Family Foundation, the Polk Bros. Foundation, and Prince Charitable Trust.

# # #

SEASON 25

Chicago Premiere
DISTRACTED
Written by Lisa Loomer
Directed by PJ Paparelli
Playing January 28 - February 28

World Premiere
WELCOME TO ARROYO'S
Written by Kristoffer Diaz
Directed by Jaime Castaneda
Playing April 15 - May 16

Photo of Steve Belber.

 

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