Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble Returns To The Stage

Classes will now begin at 10am EST to accommodate the Fall schedules of teachers and participants.

Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble has announced its return to the stage and kick of its two-year 20th Anniversary retrospective season with a live remount of its September 2003 production of "The Yellow Wallpaper," choreographed and Directed by Executive Artistic Director Ellyzabeth Adler with the cast.

This show will be performed on a split bill with RE|dance Group's "The Attic Room," choreographed by Michael Estanich. Performances will be held Fridays and Saturdays, November 5 - 20, in the Auditorium at Ebenezer Lutheran Church, 1650 W. Foster Ave.

Tickets are on sale now for $20 general admission (adult non-students), $13 student general admission (high school students over the age of 16 and college students) and free general admission (under the age of 16). Ticket sales online end two-hours before the performance but will be available at the door for $25. Information and tickets are available at Danztheatre.org.

Based on Charlotte Perkins Gilman's gripping 1890 short story, this new interpretation will be positioned as a tale of a 2021 post-pandemic landscape. When one woman in the throes of postpartum depression also battles with her own rapidly vanishing sanity, her physician husband gives her the "rest cure." As she retires to her bedroom, she becomes hypnotically fixated on the yellow wallpaper patterns that eventually take on the forms of other trapped women. These women reflect her depression and confinement through both monologues and modern dance as she hypnotically follows the patterns in the paper. The familiar feeling of mental and physical isolation will leave audiences embracing the freedom of a world still reeling from the effects of COVID-19.

Executive Artistic Director Adler wanted to remount this production of "The Yellow Wallpaper" to open the 20th anniversary retrospective season, which will be celebrated through 2022, as a response to the global pandemic. "After a year of shelter in place, many people feel they are similar to these women in the yellow wallpaper, longing for connection and community. Being a single mother by choice, I had my support system in place to help me through the first several months of my daughter's life," said Adler. "When shelter in place happened, my baby was two weeks old. I saw only my doula for six weeks. In the middle of the night, when my baby would cry, I would walk around my house feeling trapped yet scared to go outside because of COVID-19. One day, staring hopelessly at my bookshelf, I saw a copy of "The Yellow Wallpaper." I realized I was living this book. Our world is living this book. My hope through remounting this production with a new understanding is to offer a communal grieving for this last year, but also to build collective understanding and healing."

The cast of "The Yellow Wallpaper" includes Cheryl Nowlin (woman) and Venice Averyheart, Sarah Franzel, Ellyzabeth Adler and Shalaka Kulkarnari (wallpaper ensemble), Andrew Kain Miller (John) and Ginger Leopoldo (Jennie).

The creative team for "The Yellow Wallpaper" includes Ellyzabeth Adler (choreographer, co-script adapter, costume designer, director and set designer);; Amanda Healy Collins (co-script adapter); Joe Griffin (original sound design); Tim Hort (original sound design); John Borowski (sound designer for 2021): Siobhan Kealy (art gallery curator) and Joshua Paul Weckesser (lighting design and technical director).

Also performed with "The Yellow Wallpaper"

RE|dance Group

"The Attic Room"

Choreographed by Michael Estanich and performed by RE|dance group

"The Attic Room" is an intimate dance story of escape and desire. The dance theatre work for seven dancers reveals the thin line between resignation and hope. Images unfold through sharp dancing and poetic text in a space filled with the forgotten memories of the past.

The production includes an art gallery reflecting the show's particular themes. The gallery opens at 7:30 p.m. and closes 30 minutes after the performance ends. Also in the gallery area will be representatives of Chicago organizations that complement and expand on the subject matter of each performance.

Featured visual artists in the gallery of the Auditorium include Tien Austin, Melon Fernsebner, Harvey Hayes, Siobhan Kealy, Jennifer Krause, Kayla Placencio, Cristal Tucker, Tom White and Dorothy Zhu.

Following current guidelines from federal, state and local government and its agencies, audience members must show proof of vaccination or wear a mask at all times during the performances. All performers and participants in this CDE performance are vaccinated and will perform without masks.

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