Azusa Productions Presents 'Onto Infinity!'

Brandon Hayes directs the tale of a May/December romance inspired by mathematics, poetry and the infinite possibilities of love.

A young man's consuming passion for the woman he loves and his fascination with infinity take center stage in Azusa Productions' Onto Infinity by David Alex, directed by Brandon Hayes. Onto Infinity plays at the Victory Gardens Greenhouse July 17 - August 24, 2008 (opening night is July 18). Performances of Onto Infinity run Thursday - Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 3pm. Ticket prices range from $15 (students, seniors and industry) - $20 and are available by calling the Victory Gardens Box Office at 773-871-3000.

"I am excited to present the Chicago premiere of this wise and moving play by David Alex, one of Chicago's hardest working playwrights," said Artistic Director Maggie Speer. "And I'm pleased to pair David with Brandon Hayes for their second collaboration."

Onto Infinity is the poignant story of a brilliant young mathematician and athlete, Don (Luke Wager), who falls in love with his former English teacher, Deborah (Amy Anderson)—a woman twenty years his senior. While their friends skeptically look on, Don and Deborah forge a modern "marriage of true minds" blending philosophy, mathematics and poetry to create a new vocabulary of love and the infinite—until life's physical reality intrudes. Onto Infinity premiered at Bowen Park Theatre in 2002. It was the winner of the First Place Das Goldkiel Award from Buntville Crew Theatre, a Finalist in the South Carolina Playwrights Festival and a Semi-finalist in the Jewel Box Theatre Playwriting Competition. It was workshopped at the Midwest branch of the O'Neill Festival (Prop Thtr) and by Elgin's Talisman Theatre Company and given staged readings by Victory Gardens Theater and the New Jersey Repertory Company.

David Alex's (playwright) award-winning plays have been staged in several cities. He has received two grants from the Illinois Arts Council and one from the Pilgrim Foundation, an award for plays that deal with issues of moral significance. Past productions include Ends, an African-American Theatre Festival Award Winner (University of Louisville), By the Rivers of Babylon, The Lutwidge Canvass, The Tinker Wins, and The Leather Belt. Eroica, which has placed in five writing competitions, will be workshopped this summer in Elgin, IL. He has written eighteen one-acts, most of which have been staged. Dramatic Publishing has published two of his plays and one monologue. He is a former Secretary of the Illinois Theatre Association and Chicago Alliance for Playwrights as well as a current member of the Joseph Jefferson Committee.

Brandon Hayes (director) most recently collaborated with David Alex on the premiere of La commedia e finita. at the Bailiwick Directors Festival in January. Directing credits in his native metropolitan Detroit include the premiere and subsequent revival of Faith by Nathaniel Wright and the premiere of Wright's Bathroom Humor and Pushing Daisies; Tony Kushner's Angels in America, Part One: Millennium Approaches and Part Two: Perestroika (Dearborn Press & Guide Editor's Award nominee); and Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Much Ado About Nothing and Twelfth Night. His most recent Chicago credit is a new staging of Pushing Daisies at the Bailiwick Directors Festival in June 2008.

Amy Anderson (Deborah), an Evanston resident, most recently appeared in Thymely Theatre's production of Stage Door, and has appeared in Azusa Productions' Hardboiled: Stories of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, as well as Chicago's first-ever Shakespeare Sonnet Marathon. Her Chicago credits include Bobbi Michele in Last of the Red Hot Lovers, Night of January 16th, Dark of the Moon, Auntie Mame and The Serpent; regional credits include Lady Macbeth in Macbeth (Sunbridge College), A Chorus Line; Steel Magnolias, and I Remember Mama; TV and film credits include The Untouchables and 587: The Great Train Robbery. 

Marcus Davis (Johnny) makes his Chicago debut with Onto Infinity. He is in the Theatre Program at Columbia College. Lori Howard (Gwen) performed in a staged reading of Onto Infinity in 2005. Her Chicago credits include Criminal Hearts, Holiday, 7Love (True Love's Ways), and Barefoot in the Park. She is a member of Stockyards Theatre Project. Evan Lipkin (Craig) is a recent graduate of Western Michigan University, where he studied theatre performance. In June, Lipkin made his Chicago debut as Ernie in Pushing Daisies at the Bailiwick Directors Festival. Luke Wager (Don) recently relocated to Chicago from Buffalo, NY where he served as production manager for Road Less Traveled Productions. His numerous acting credits include Prospero in The Tempest and Orgon in Tartuffe, as well as The Dining Room and The Peddler's Bones. Larry Wiley (Grandfather) was last seen on stage as Kit Carson in Provision Theatre's production of The Time of Your Life. A veteran of over 100 stage productions, he has had the privilege of working with Writer's Theatre, Griffin Theatre, Raven Theatre, Piven Theatre, Stage Left, The Eclipse Theatre, Collaboraction and The Side Project, among others. Wiley has appeared as George in Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf?, Atticus Fitch in To Kill a Mockingbird and Morris in God's Favorite. Other Chicago credits include Golden Boy, Road To Mecca, Astounding Science Fiction, Ah Wilderness, Riding the Dolphin and Skyscraper. Wiley's film credits include Suburbia, George and the Flies and Incident at Black Rock.
The design team for Onto Infinity includes Joseph Glueckert (Set Design), [TBD] (Costume Design), Aimee Hanyzewski (Lighting Design) and Scott Miller (Sound Design).

Azusa Productions was originally founded as a free-wheeling ensemble of experienced theatre professionals committed to presenting stories that examine, reflect, and celebrate the diverse universality of humanity's shared experience—stories about everything from A to Z in the USA and beyond. We are also committed to creating opportunities for emerging and early career theatre artists by providing a forum that both nurtures our artists and inspires them to actively strive for excellence. Always having presented exciting and compelling theatre productions, we are best known for our popular and critically-acclaimed productions of the works of Quentin Tarantino (Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction) and Sam Shepard (A Lie of the Mind, La Turista, Back Bog Beast Bait, Chicago, Icarus' Mother, Killer's Head, The Unseen Hand and Fool for Love).With the Chicago premiere of Onto Infinity, we are pleased to have the opportunity to continue nurturing emerging and early career artists and presenting excellent, provocative productions that will never bore you.

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