Casting Set for The New Colony's Fantasy Adventure PSYCHONAUT LIBRARIANS

The New Colony launches its 2017 Season with the fantasy adventure PSYCHONAUT LIBRARIANS by Sean Kelly, directed by Krissy Vanderwarker, playing January 11 - February 12, 2017 at The New Colony's resident home, The Den Theatre's Upstairs Main Stage, 1333 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood. Tickets go on sale Monday, November 14, 2016 at www.thenewcolony.org. The press opening is Monday, January 16 at 7:30 pm.

PSYCHONAUT LIBRARIANS will feature David Cerda, Matt Farabee, Jack McCabe, Morgan McNaught, Carlos Olmedo, Christine Mayland Perkins and Michael Peters.

The library is closed. The curtains are drawn. A Bunsen burner flicks on in the dark. The librarians sip their glowing elixir and the room spins with color and light. One more time. One last fight at the barrier between reality... and the anyverse.

"We added Psychonaut Librarians to our season because we love Sean's ability to tackle issues our audiences are wrestling with in their normal lives, but through the lens of fantastical imagination," comments Co-Artistic Director Andrew Hobgood. "When deciding on the director to partner with Sean on this project - Krissy quickly became the obvious choice. She is one of the most proven directors of new works on the Chicago storefront scene and has tackled some of the most bizarre and imaginative new plays to hit Chicago in the last decade."

The production team for PSYCHONAUT LIBRARIANS includes: Yeaji Kim (scenic and projections design), Kate Kamphausen (costume design), Alexander Ridgers (lighting design), Matthew Muniz (sound design and original score), Daniel Dempsey (puppet design), Sam Krey (violence design), Monica Thomas (choreography), Carl Ulaszek (props design, production manager, technical director), Monica M. Brown (stage manager) and Kira Gaudynski (asst. stage manager).

Sean Kelly (Playwright) is a Chicago-born writer and director. He is currently leading a collaboration of nearly 50 artists in the creation of 100 new stories - deep stories told in silly ways. He has written and directed at Porchlight Music Theatre, Victory Gardens, Collaboraction, The Old Town School of Folk Music and his home, The New Colony.

Krissy Vanderwarker (Director) is a freelance director most recently of Thaddeus & Slocum: A Vaudeville Adventure at Lookingglass. She is also the Co-Artistic Director of Dog & Pony Theatre Co. D&P directing credits include: Breach, Counterfeiters, The Dinner Party Project, God's Ear, As Told by the Vivian Girls, Mr. Marmalade, Ape, Osama the Hero, Crumble (Lay Me Down, Justin Timberlake) and As Much As You Can. Other professional directing credits include: Harry & The Thief (Pavement Group), The Grown-Up (Shattered Globe), CLEAR (About Face Theatre), What Once We Felt (About Face Theatre) and As Much As You Can (Hendel Productions West). She graduated with her MFA in Directing from The Theatre School at DePaul University and is on faculty there now. krissyvanderwarker.com

The New Colony develops NEW ART and NEW ARTISTS in order to educate and build NEW AUDIENCES. Founded in 2008, The New Colony has established itself as "one of Chicago's essential off-Loop companies" (Chicago Tribune) having developed and produced over 25 world-premiere plays and musicals garnering four Joseph Jefferson Awards, the 2011 Broadway in Chicago Emerging Theatre Award, and Best Overall Production at the 2012 New York International Fringe Festival. The New Colony is a resident company of The Den Theatre located in Wicker Park.

Pictured: The cast of The New Colony's world premiere of PSYCHONAUT LIBRARIANS (top, l to r) David Cerda, Matt Farabee, Jack McCabe and Morgan McNaught and (bottom, l to r) Carlos Olmedo, Christine Mayland Perkins and Michael Peters.

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