Akvavit Theatre And Dramafronten Present RISING TEMPERATURES

Journey into a near-future dystopia where humans struggle to survive in an increasingly hostile environment as Akvavit Theatre and Dramafronten present RISING TEMPERATURES, four linked, site-specific world premiere Danish plays presented in Chicago's Andersonville neighborhood. The four short works are written by Danish playwrights Rhea Leman, Joan Rang Christensen, Kristian Halken and Jens Kløft and directed by Co-Artistic Director Breahan Pautsch*, Linsey Falls, Lindsay Tornquist and Lee Peters. RISING TEMPERATURES will play November 27 - 30, 2018. The tour begins at 5153 N. Clark St. #306 and travels to the Swedish American Museum (5211 N. Clark St.) and the Andersonville Galleria (5247 N. Clark St.). Tickets are currently available at chicagonordic.org.

RISING TEMPERATURES includes:

BLEEDING HEART

By Rhea Leman, Directed by Co-Artistic Director Breahan Pautsch*

Featuring: Mary Jo Bolduc, Kirstin Franklin* and Micah Kronlokken*

In the shadow of the environmental apocalypse four doctors who failed to save the world, struggle to save themselves.

SOLAR STORM

By Jens Kløft, Directed by Linsey Falls

Featuring: Madelyn Loehr*, Jeffrey Paschal and Pat Tinsley

In this light-hearted-apocalyptic comedy, a young couple expecting their first child takes shelter from a dangerous solar flare and encounters a shelter warden who believes the rulebook can save their lives - but can it?

ESCAPE

By Kristian Halken, Directed by Lindsay Tornquist

Featuring: Turner Frankosky, Jude Hansen and Lucy Pearce

Three friends struggle to escape a flooding Denmark. When the only way to survive is to escape, what would you give up to get out?

IT'S GETTING WARMER

By Joan Rang Christensen, Directed by Lee Peters

Featuring: Jessika Cummins, Christopher Donaldson and Noelle Klyce

As resources become limited and political tensions escalate, Denmark has become a dangerous place for people of color. A mixed-race family struggles with the question of whether to fight or flee: is it a question of life or death - or a question of right or wrong?

The production team for RISING TEMPERATURES includes: Lily Walls (costume design), Rhea Leman (dramaturg) and Sean Pruett-Jones (stage manager).

About the Playwrights

Rhea Leman, awarded winning playwright and director, was born and raised in New York City where she studied dance and theater before moving to Denmark in 1981. There, she formed and directed her theater company, Theater Tango until 1998. Since then she has been working as an independent playwright, screenwriter as well as theater, radio and TV director. Her most recent plays include: Hitler On The Roof, Gorilla, her libretto for the opera, The Rosenbergs, and her most recent work, Live! a life affirming play about death. In 2003, for a four-year period, Leman was appointed by the Danish Cultural Minister as the chairwoman of The Danish Theater Council and as a member of The Danish Arts Council. In 2009, Leman formed Dramafronten, a platform for new play development and presentation. Since then she has worked as artistic director towards promoting and producing new Danish plays in new ways and new places. Her own dramatic writings concentrate on very serious subjects presented in humoristic ways. She strives to hit home, but always aims to leaves the audience with a sense of hope.

Joan Rang Christensen is an award-winning playwright and poet, and she has written scripts for more than 40 stage plays and radio theater plays. Her work has been produced in various theaters in Denmark as well as in Sweden, at BBC Radio, England and WDR, Germany. Among her latest plays is Wings, which will be presented by Akvavit Theater in collaboration with Pangea World Theater in Minneapolis in February 2019. She has been a strong voice in the fight for ethnic diversity in Danish theater and is the founder and director of Johns Teater, whose plays are always based on ethnic, racial and gender equality in all aspect of the productions. Her next play, Tonight the war comes home, opens in Copenhagen in April 2019.

Kristian Halken is both an actor and a writer. From 1978-1982, he attended the National Theatre School of Denmark. His acting credits include: Twelfth Night (Shakespeare), William Shakespeare (Karen Jacobsen), Hamlet (Shakespeare), Ghosts (Henrik Ibsen). Film: Oldboys, Ninna and The Referee. TV: Borgen and Norskov. Writing credtis: Martin! Martin! Martin!, Who Killed Holger Danske and The 9th Seal. Awards: Reumert Awards: Best Supporting Actor 2001, 2003.

Jens Kløft, actor and playwright has studied theatre at Aarhus University in Denmark and at Dell´Arte School of Physical Theatre in Blue Lake, California. He has toured with his own theatre company all over Denmark and has performed at a vast number of international theatre festivals. He has written drama and satire for radio and television, and his recent play about the Danish participation in the Iraq war, premiered at the Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen, 2018.

About Akvavit Theatre

Akvavit Theatre is haunted by Nordic visions: deep forests and ice-blue seas, the patience of the glacier, the sudden fury of the volcano, the arctic light and silence. Seeking the universal through the voices of contemporary Nordic playwrights, Akvavit Theatre is a kind of homecoming, a connecting back to the lands whose people and cultures have for generations been a part of the great prairies of North America that we call home. And like our namesake beverage, Akvavit brings a "strong spirit" to the work that we produce. Skål, Skál, Kippis! For additional information, visit www.chicagonordic.org.

PHOTO CREDITS: The playwrights featured in Akvavit Theatre and Dramafronten's RISING TEMPERATURES include (left to right) Joan Rang Christensen, Kristian Halken, Jens Kløft and Rhea Leman.

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