Chicago Theatre To Present VISIONFEST3: FEAST As Part Of The 3rd New Play Fest

Currently celebrating its 5th season under a new mission statement, LiveWire Chicago Theatre proudly presents its 3rd annual short play festival of new work that emphasizes audience feedback and community interaction. This year's "VisionFest3: Feast" celebrates the theme of "Feast" and will take place over two weekends, Nov 4 - 13, at the Tom Robinson Gallery, 2416 W. North Ave. Admission is a $10-15 suggested donation; details below. For more information on the festival, visit livewirechicago.com/vision.

New this year, LiveWire asked submitting playwrights to incorporate a certain phrase into their original work. The community was asked to propose phrase suggestions based on the theme of "Feast," and from those, LiveWire posted ten of the suggestions online. The company invited the public to vote for their preferred phrase. With 22% of the votes, the line, "I can't remember the last time we were all together," was the community favorite. From more than 100 play submissions, each uniquely incorporating the theme and line, six original works were selected for "Visionfest3: Feast."

LiveWire is excited to partner with the Tom Robinson Gallery, 2416 W. North Ave., a beautiful gallery space at the intersection of Western and North, for the festival. Complimentary wine and drinks will be provided.

"VisionFest3:Feast" Line-up:
THE KINK by Erin Barlow*, Directed by Emma Peterson

THE SHORT STRAW by Bilal Dardai, Directed by Joshua Aaron Weinstein*

A SUDDEN FLUKE OF PHYSICS by Mat Smart, Directed by Madeline Long*

GRETCHEN & REGINA performed by Hilary Williams and Emily Clairbourne

PICNIC MEETING SACK LUNCH REUNION by Brett Neveu, Directed by Megan O'Donoghue

JINXED by K. Alexa Mavromatis, Directed by Chris Zdenek*

The festival is curated by Chris Zdenek.* The (*) denotes LiveWire Chicago Theatre collective member. For more information, visit livewirechicago.com/vision.

"VisionFest3: Feast" will run Thursday - Saturday at 8 p.m., Nov. 4 - 13, 2010. Admission is $10 in advance; $15 at the door. Reservations can be made by calling LiveWire's Box Office at 312.533.4666 or by emailing livewirechicago@gmail.com.

LiveWire established "VisionFest" to expose new works to the community and get the community involved in new works. "VisionFest" audience members are offered the chance to provide feedback to the playwrights and artists on the development of the short plays presented. LiveWire provides programs with ample space for written feedback for each production. At the end of each performance, LiveWire collects the feedback and sends to the playwright at the end of the run. For the past two years the festival of new work has surrounded a shared theme or environment that has been chosen through a community vote.

THE PLAYWRIGHTS

Brett Neveu's recent productions include Gas for Less with the Goodman Theatre and Weapon of Mass Impact with A Red Orchid Theatre. His work has also been produced by The Royal Shakespeare Company, Strawdog Theatre, TimeLine Theatre Company, American Theatre Company, Spring Theatreworks, Aardvark Theatre and 29th Street Rep. Recent films include "The Earl" with Sikorafilms and "Exit, Clowny" with Jon Pon Flims. He is the recipient of the Goodman Theatre's Ofner Prize for New Work, the Emerging Artist Award from The League of Chicago Theatres and has developed plays with The New Group, The Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, Victory Gardens, The 42nd Street Workshop, The Marin Theatre and is a resident-alum with Chicago Dramatists. He is also an ensemble member of A Red Orchid Theatre and has been commissioned by The Royal Court Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Club (Sloan Commission), Steppenwolf Theatre Company, The Goodman Theatre, TimeLine Theatre Company, Writers' Theatre, Strawdog Theatre and has several of his plays published through Broadway Play Publishing.

Mat Smart is the author of 12 full-length plays, the book and lyrics of one musical and numerous one-acts. He is a past recipient of two Jerome Fellowships from the Playwrights' Center. This summer, Williamstown Theatre Festival produced the world premiere of his newest play, Samuel J. and K. This winter, Steppenwolf will produce the Midwest premiere of Samuel J. and K as part of their Steppenwolf Young Adult repertoire. Smart's The Hopper Collection won San Diego Playbill's award for Best New Play and was subsequently produced at Huntington Theatre Company in Boston and the Magic Theatre in San Francisco. It is published by Broadway Play Publishing and a monologue from the play appears in Smith and Kraus' "Best Women's Monologues 2008." Smart is a co-founder of Slant Theatre Project in New York City. He has been commissioned to write new plays by South Coast Rep and Huntington Theatre Company. A graduate of the University of Evansville, he holds an M.F.A. in Playwriting from University of California - San Diego. An avid Chicago Cubs fan, he has seen baseball games at 27 of the current MLB stadiums.

Bilal Dardai is a playwright and performance artist currently residing in Evanston. Dardai has been an ensemble member with The Neo-Futurists for the past six years, where he has written, directed and performed in a number of productions, including Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind, Contraption and Crisis: A Musical Game Show. Redeemers marks his third world-premiere production with New Leaf Theatre, following 2007's Vox Pandora and last year's adaptation of The Man Who Was Thursday, which received a Non-Equity Jeff nomination for Best New Work - Adaptation.

Alexa Mavromatis play The Back Room was the 2008 third place winner of the David Mark Cohen National Playwriting Award, presented by the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival and the Association for Theatre in Higher Education. She is also the author of several short plays including Bastard (a finalist for The Actors Theatre of Louisville's Heideman Award in 2008), Bone China (produced internationally and included in the Smith & Kraus anthology 2006: The Best Ten-Minute Plays for Two Actors), and a new post-apocalyptic comedy, Jinxed. Alexa is a member of the Dramatists Guild, Theatre Communications Group and Rhombus Playwrights.

About Livewire Chicago Theatre
LiveWire Chicago Theatre continues its 5th season under the new mission statement: LiveWire Chicago is a collective of artists who create theatre that reflects the current cultural landscape of our community through productions of original and contemporary works.

LiveWire's kicked off its 5th season under this mission with the critically acclaimed world premiere of Emily Dendinger's Hideous Progeny, part of the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs' 2010 fall season at the Chicago DCA Theater's Storefront Theater. Progeny received 4 stars from Time Out's Zac Thompson who praised the new work to be "a seamless blend of fact and fantasy, Progeny accomplishes for the Romantics what Tom Stoppard did for Elizabethans in Shakespeare in Love." Monica Westin exclaimed that, "Dendinger's dialogue is inventive and Stoppard-esque in her vivid, updated reimagining. [Director, Jessica] Hutchinson's direction is equally fresh... while actors bring the energy and claws appropriate to the party."

In the spring, LiveWire presents the Chicago premiere of The 13th of Paris written by Mat Smart and directed by Hyprocrites' company member StEve Wilson. The production will take place at The Greenhouse Theater Center in the Upstairs Mainstage, March 12 - April 17, 2011. Media Opening: Saturday, March 12 at 8 p.m.

Anxious about the state of his relationship, Vincent impulsively stands up a date with his longtime girlfriend. He packs a suitcase full of his grandparents' love letters and hops on a plane to Paris - the very city where his grandparents lived and fell in love. In this charming and theatrical piece from Naperville native Mat Smart, Vincent embarks on a journey to find out if the love he imagines is possible.

The 13th of Paris was originally commissioned and developed by South Coast Repertory with support from the Elizabeth George Foundation. The writing of The 13th of Paris was supported in part by the 2006 Conference of The New Harmony Project. The play received its world premiere at City Theatre in Pittsburgh, Pa. produced by Artistic Director Tracy Bridgen and Managing Director Greg Quinlan. It has since been produced at Seattle Public Theatre, Horizon Theatre in Atlanta, The Public Theatre of Maine and The Warehouse Theatre in Greenville, S.C. "The 13th of Paris" premiered at Pittsburgh's City Theatre and was the recipient of an Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award. It will soon be published by Dramatic Publishing.

The performance schedule is Thursdays - Saturdays at 8 p.m.; Sundays at 3 p.m. (No performances March 17-20; Additional performance on Monday, March 21 at 8 p.m.) Regular performance schedule resumes March 24. Tickets: $20 general admission; $15 for seniors, students and industry. For more information, visit livewirechicago.com.

LiveWire Collective Members
Sebastian Aguirre, Erin Barlow, SuzAnne Bracken, Eric Branson, Brian Cicirello, Cory Conrad, Joel Ewing (Managing Director), Erin Fast, Amber Hilgenkamp, Anders Jacobson, Becca Lasser, Madeline Long, Allison McNeela, Deborah Proud, Glenn Proud (Artistic Director), Judy Radovsky, Joshua Aaron Weinstein (Executive Director) and Chris Zdenek.

For more information, visit livewirechicago.com.

 

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