American Theater Company (ATC) announces a limited-run of Escape, a subscriber-only theatrical event featuring three recently-discovered short plays written by Tennessee Williams and three modern dances choreographed by DanszLoop Chicago Artistic Director Paula Frasz. Escape is directed by Artistic Director PJ Paparelli, and features ATC Ensemble Member Patrick Andrews and Joan Kohn, along with 14 other performers. The production will run November 3 - November 6, 2011 at American Theater Company, 1909 W Byron, Chicago, IL.
Press note: Escape is not intended to be a finished product or a fully-executed production. This presentation is produced without technical elements; only the minimal props, costumes, and lighting are incorporated. ATC and DanszLoop Chicago's intentions are to share this theatrical experiment with the Chicago theater community to gather feedback on whether this type of experiment has merit and should further be explored in a fully-realized production in the near future. Press are invited to attend on Friday, November 4, 2011 at 8:00PM.
America. 1940. Recently-discovered in the vaults of America's most prolific playwright, ATC pushes the boundaries of theatre by merging groundbreaking works from
Tennessee Williams with the power of modern dance. ATC Artistic Director
PJ Paparelli teams up with DanszLoop Chicago Artistic Director Paula Frasz to stage three theatrical explorations of escape in America: from white oppression in the Bible Belt, from a co-dependent mother and son in New England, to the bacchanal of Mardi Gras in New Orleans.
"With Escape, I am interested in sharing a theatrical experiment with the Chicago arts community. Using only the essential production elements, Paula and I are focused on exploring these three stories through high-stakes acting in Tennessee's extraordinary dialogue and exploring the emotional landscape of the characters through modern dance. We are eager to hear feedback from the community on the merits of the experiment and hope this project will inspire further collaborations between Chicago's theatre and dance communities, who have been separate for far too long," says Artistic Director
PJ Paparelli. "Escape is a gift to our subscribers for their loyalty. These three short plays, lost for almost forty years, capture a deep-seeded desire for freedom in a diverse set of characters and stories, including Tennessee's only all-African American published play. This unique experiment allows them to see these three rare Williams plays and three gorgeous modern dances in our intimate space. It's rare in Chicago to experience modern dance in such an intimate environment. We proudly bring the two forms together at ATC."
Escaped comprises three recently discovered
Tennessee Williams plays: "Summer by the Lake," "Auto-Da-Fe," and "Escape." "Summer by the Lake" features
Patrick Andrews as Donald Fenway, Joan Kohn as Mrs. Fenway, and Michelle Renee Thompson as Anna. "Auto-Da-Fe" features
Patrick Andrews as Eloi Duvenet and Joan Kohn as Madame Duvenet. "Escape" features
Marlon Washington as Big, Greg Marlow as Steve, and Jaquis Neal as Texas.
Escape features DanszLoop Chicago Company Members Natalie W, Margret Reynolds and Paul Christiano, with Kevin Dirckson, Ashleigh Muhammed, Michael Rioux, and
Daniel Gibson. Drummers are Dominique Louis and Freddy Weaver.
PJ Paparelli (Artistic Director/Director) Season 27 marks PJ's fifth season as Artistic Director of American Theater Company. ATC credits include The Original Grease, the World Premiere of Yeast Nation, Hedwig and the Angry Inch (highest grossing show in ATC history), True West (both Caucasian and African American casts), and the regional premiere of Speech & Debate (Jeff Nomination; TimeOut Chicago & New City Stage's top 10 productions of 2007). He made New City's "Top 50 Most Influential Theatre Players in Chicago of 2008." This season he will direct Distracted and has been commissioned to develop a documentary style theatre piece on Chicago's Public Housing with Congo Square and the National Public Housing Museum. From 2004-08, Paparelli was the Artistic Director of Perseverance Theatre in Juneau, Alaska. His directing credits include the World Premiere of Yeast Nation, Equus, The Who's Tommy, Hamlet, Twelfth Night, the premiere of a new version of Hair, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Voyage, and columbinus. In 2002, PJ founded the United States Theatre Project, where he conceived, co-wrote, and directed columbinus, which premiered at Round House Theatre and Perseverance, and ran Off-Broadway at NY Theatre Workshop. columbinus was nominated for 2
Lucille Lortel Awards, 5 Helen Hayes Awards, is published by Dramatic Publishing, and has seen over 30 productions around the world. Other directing credits include Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare Festival of St. Louis), Twelfth Night at Shakespeare Santa Cruz (2005 Newsweek's Top 5 summer productions), Merchant of Venice (American Shakespeare Center), Action (Circle Rep) and True West in Russian at the Moscow
Art Theatre School. Paparelli has worked in education and administration at
The Public Theatre, Pittsburgh Public, and Circle Rep, and has directed and/or taught Shakespeare at Juilliard, Bread Loaf School of English, NCSA, UAlaska-SE, UNC at Chapel Hill, Catholic U, UPenn, and Johns Hopkins. He holds a BFA in directing from Carnegie Mellon and graduate studies in acting at the Moscow
Art Theatre School. He is a member of the SSDC and is represented by
Creative Artists Agency.
Paula Frasz (Choreographer) is the Artistic Director of DanszLoop Chicago and has been a Mordine & Company featured dancer and featured dancer at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. She has been named Resident Choreographer of the Bosphorus Dance Company in Istanbul, Turkey and at the
Tennessee Williams Festival in Provincetown, MA. Her choreography has been commissioned by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Elgin Symphony Orchestra and the Fox Valley Symphony Orchestra. She is one of the founding choreographer's of Chicago's Next Dance Festival. She received the 1999
Ruth Page Award for Artistic Achievement in Choreography from the Chicago Dance Coalition, and the 2002 Artists Fellowship Award in Choreography from the Illinois
Arts Council. Ms. Frasz was a faculty member at the Dance Center of Columbia College for eight years. She is currently Professor of Dance at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, where she teaches Advanced Modern Technique, Choreography, Improvisation, Professional Seminar in Dance and Tap. She also teaches Musical Theatre and choreographs the musicals for the School of Theatre and Dance. Nominated for the 2012 Presidential Teaching Fellowship, this master teacher has also been in residence at many colleges and universities, including St. Mary's College in Notre Dame, IN., the University of Wisconsin at La Crosse, Southern Illinois University, Winona State University and St. Mary's College in Minnesota, Harper College and College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. In 2002, she started DanszLoop Chicago (nfp), a theatrical modern dance company performing in Chicago and the surrounding Metropolitan area. They performed at nearly 50 venues in their first year, and most recently at the American Theater Company in Chicago. DanszLoop Chicago specializes in adapting plays, including "The House of Bernarda Alba" "Lorita", "The Escape" and "Summer at the Lake". Frasz also received the 2002 Illinois
Arts Council Fellowship for Excellence in Choreography. Ms. Frasz holds a B.A. and an M.A. from Butler University. She graduated from the University of Illinois with an M.F.A. She is also a member of Actor's Equity Association and has served several terms on the Illinois
Arts Council Dance Panel. Her choreography has been presented in concert in Chicago, Boston and other venues in the USA as well as in France, and Austria. Most recently her choreography has been performed in the 2010 International Arts Festival in Istanbul, Turkey, the European Center for Culture and the Arts in 2010.
Patrick Andrews (Donald Fenway; Eloi Duvenet) is a proud ensemble member of American Theater Company since 2009. His ATC credits include Speech & Debate and The People's Temple. His additional Chicago credits include American Buffalo at
Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Do the Hustle at Writers' Theatre, Cabaret at Drury Lane Theatre Oakbrook, The Homosexuals and Stupid Kids at
About Face Theatre, The Snow Queen at
Victory Gardens Theater, Into the Woods at
Marriott Theatre Lincolnshire, Willy Wonka at
Chicago Shakespeare Theater, The Sparrow at The House Theatre, and Dorian at Bailiwick Chicago. Other regional credits include American Buffalo at
McCarter Theatre Center, Saved at Kansas City Repertory Theatre and West Side Story at
Walnut Street Theatre. Additionally, Mr. Andrews performed in the national tour of Broadway's Fosse. His selected choreography credits include Cherrywood, directed by
David Cromer at Mary-Arrchie Theatre; Queertopia at
About Face Theatre; Go, Dog. Go! at Chicago Children's Theatre; and Bible B-Sides with Sinnerman Ensemble. On television, he has appeared in The Chicago Code. Mr. Andrews is an artistic associate with
About Face Theatre, a member of the queer-electronic-f*#% band Daan and a member of Goldmine.
Title: Escape
Written by: Tennessee Williams
Directed by: PJ Paparelli
Choreography: Paula Frasz
Dates: Previews: Thursday, November 3 at 8:00PM
Press performance: Friday, November 4 at 8:00PM
Regular run: Saturday, November 5 at 3:00PM & 6:00PM and
Sunday, November 6 at 3:00PM & 6:00PM
Location: American Theater Company, 1909 W Byron St., Chicago
Tickets: Escape is available to subscribers only.
The $130 premium subscription will allow a patron to see Escape, along with It's A Wonderful Life: a Radio Play, Disgraced and Rent.
The $110 Thursday Evening, Saturday & Sunday Matinee Subscription will allow them to do the same.
The $125 Flex-Pass Subscription features three tickets that can be used in any combination for any of the remaining shows in the season.
Box Office: The Box Office is located at 1909 W Byron St., Chicago;
773.409.4125;
www.atcweb.org
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