Cast & Crew Set for Tympanic Theatre's BLUEBERRY TOAST, Opening Next Month

Following its critically acclaimed eighth season, Tympanic is excited to begin its ninth season with the dark comedy, BLUEBERRY TOAST, a play by Mary Laws (MFA, Yale School of Drama, AMC's Preacher), directed by artistic associate Michael Carnow.

BLUEBERRY TOAST will play February 13 - March 13, 2016 at The Athenaeum Theatre, 2936 N. Southport Ave. in Chicago. Tickets are available at www.tympanictheatre.org or by calling the Athenaeum box office at 773- 935-6875.

BLUEBERRY TOAST will feature Chris Acevedo*, Allie Long, Christopher Meister, Kelly Parker*, Libby Conkle, and Sergio Soltero*.

In BLUEBERRY TOAST, it's a Sunday morning in a sunny, suburban kitchen. Barb is making breakfast for her husband, Walt. Their children, Jack and Jill, are busy writing a play. When Barb and Walt disagree over a seemingly innocuous piece of blueberry toast, the veneer of their polished existence begins to crack and what's underneath might eat them for breakfast.

The production team for BLUEBERRY TOAST includes: Michael Lewis (scenic design), Katie Friedman (costume design), Claire Sangster (lighting design), Dan Caffrey* (sound design), Jon Beal (violence design), Eric Shoemaker (prop design) Rebecca Crystal (movement choreographer), Michael Sanow (technical director), Eric Turner (production manager), Erin Altekruse* (stage manager), and Raymond Hutchison (asst. stage manager).

Mary Laws is a native of Texas. Her plays include Bird Fire Fly, Blueberry Toast (Yale School of Drama), Wonderful (Tympanic Theatre Company), The Drive (Tympanic Theatre Company), What A Very Pretty Pageant!, Stand (an autumn play) (The American Laboratory), The Trapeze Artist (Baylor University), and This. (Yale Cabaret). Her work has been read/developed by Baylor University, Theater Masters National MFA Playwrights Festival, the American Laboratory, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, the Endstation Theatre Playwrights Initiative, The Cherry Lane, Le Pave? d'Orsay in Paris, and The Horton Foote American Playwrights Festival. For three years she served as literary associate at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater in New York. In addition, she has mentored for the Yale/Co-Op Eugene O'Neill Playwriting Program, the Dwight/Edgewood Project in New Haven, and taught Playwriting at Wesleyan University. She also served as a Deacon at the University Church in Yale. In 2014, Mary signed on as co-screenwriter with Nicolas Winding Refn on his next film The Neon Demon, which recently shot in LA. She currently writes for the upcoming AMC Drama Preacher. MFA, Yale School of Drama. BFA, Baylor University.

Michael Carnow* is a Tympanic Artistic Associate, who has directed pieces in Today We Escape and Deliver Us From Nowhere. Elsewhere in Chicago, he has directed for The Gift Theatre, American Blues Theatre, American Theatre Company, WNEP Theatre, and The Whiskey Rebellion Theatre. In Detroit, he was nominated for a Wilde Award for the Best Production of a New Play for Snowbound and his production of A Trois was a Patron's Pick at the Windsor International Fringe Festival. In collaboration with PopUP Theatrics, he has collaborated with artists in Romania, Australia and Nigeria, and his work has been seen in New York, Mexico and Scotland. He founded two new works festivals: GPS (the Gay Play Series) at the Ringwald Theatre in Ferndale, MI and Quickies at Brandeis University.

After moving to Chicago in the Fall of 2006, a handful of fellow alumni from Florida State University founded The Tympanic Theatre Company. Producing seven seasons thus far of thrilling new work, the collective has since expanded to 31 members and associates, and is helmed by Artistic Director Chris Acevedo.

Besides being a resident company at the side project from 2007 to 2011, Tympanic has been nationally recognized by American Theatre Magazine for their short play festival Today We Escape - a collection of short plays each inspired by a track from Radiohead's album OK Computer, participated in the Department of Cultural Affairs' Incubator Series, extensively workshopping Randall Colburn's Verse Chorus Verse (directed by Kyra Lewandowski) before mounting the full world premiere, as well as Mary Arrchie's Abbie Hoffman Festival and Curious Theatre Branch's Rhino Fest. Recent productions include Today We Escape, The Midwest Premiere of Jackie Sibblies Drury's Social Creatures, Deliver Us From Nowhere - a collection of short plays each based on a song from Bruce Springsteen's album Nebraska, the World Premiere of Dan Caffrey's Sandalwood (directed by Aaron Henrickson and co-produced with the side project), the world premiere of Scott T. Barsotti's Brewed, (directed by Anna C. Bahow and co-produced with The Ruckus), and the Midwest Premiere of Shaun Prendergast's The True History Of The Tragic Life And Triumphant Death Of Julia Pastrana, The Ugliest Woman In The World (directed by Joshua Ellison), which was performed entirely in the dark.

The Tympanic Theatre Company is dedicated to producing new and developed work with fantastical, frightening, or absurd subject matter that provokes, inspires, and entertains. Through our use of vibrant storytelling, dynamic language, and colorful characters, we invite our audience to plunge headfirst with us into theatrical worlds that are fresh, energetic, and visceral. For more information visit www.tympanictheatre.org.

Poster Design by Josh Mikel

*denotes Tympanic Company Member or Artistic Associate

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