Chicago New Festival Will Kick Off With SASHA DUNE

Three Cat Productions has begun readings this week on Sasha Dune, a new play by Lisa Scott and the first of seven being workshopped as part of Three Cat's Chicago New Work Festival. The Players will begin rehearsals this week at the Berger Park Coach House Theater at 6205 N. Sheridan Rd, Chicago, IL 60660. The final reading will be at 7:00 p.m., Saturday, March 30. Tickets are $10. All rehearsals are open and the public is encouraged to attend for a suggested donation.

Playwright Lisa Scott is a Network Playwright with the Chicago Dramatists. She has been working on Sasha Dune for seven years. Set in a post-war, combat-ravaged midwest America, the script discusses passion, honor, and sympathy pitted against the bleakness of solitude after the modern world has fallen apart.

The Chicago New Work Festival, running through May 18, is part of Three Cat Productions' efforts to showcase Chicago playwrights, foster relationships between Chicago playwrights and directors, and to bring new work programming to the Edgewater area. It is also Three Cat's first run of major programming since partnering with the Chicago Park District's Berger Park Cultural Center in February.

The second installments of the Chicago New Work Festival will be Light by Jarrin Davis, Kate's Dates by Kate Loftus, adapted by JD Ostergaard, Investigate and Protect by Liz Ellison, Endangered by David Alex, The Newlyweds by Wendy Schmidt and Joint Attention by Pat Curtis. Directors Jason Paul Smith, John Glover, Jacque Lueken, Jarrin Davis, Barbe Marshall and John Buranosky will partner with the playwrights to stage the performances.

Three Cat Productions' 2013 season also includes Bab Fab, the 6th Annual Barbra Streisand Birthday Concert on April 20; Chicago Solo, a showcase for individual performances running June 5 - 15; and Cabaret on the Lake, Fridays in June and July. Three Cat Education, the education arm of Three Cat Productions, will be running a spring youth production of The Stinky Cheese Man on May 18 and 19 and summer theater camps from June 17 to August 16.

Tickets for the performance are $10 and more information are available at the Chicago Park District Berger Park Coach House Theater at 6205 N. Sheridan Rd, Chicago IL 60660, online at www.threecatproductions.com, by emailing jsmith@threecatproductions.com or by calling (312) 970-9840.