The Ruckus Theater is making some noise by producing a world-premiere musical during its second season in Chicago: Escape from the Haltsburg Boys Choir, book by Aaron Dean, music by Jason Rico, lyrics by Aaron Dean and Jason Rico, directed by Tympanic Theatre Artistic Director Daniel Caffrey. Led by an ensemble cast of twelve, Escape... is a coming-of-age story in the tradition of The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, The Chocolate War and, most closely, Stand By Me. Escape from the Haltsburg Boys Choir-workshopped by The Ruckus in June 2010-is performed at The Side Project Theatre (1439 W Jarvis Ave) and will close January 30, 2011.
The Ruckus' first musical, Escape from the Haltsburg Boys Choir sends us on a perilous journey with a group of boys on the verge of adulthood. While the boys are not unlike those you might meet on a Chicago street corner today, the world in which they exist is more akin to that of The Brothers Grimm. To our intrepid young escapees, the Tatzelwürm is nearly as terrifying as their heartless choirmaster, the Witch as mysterious as the first pangs of love and lust and the sweet smell of freedom as lovely as a beautiful young face. Escape... combines the fantastical with the all-too familiar and the result is a painfully honest, surprising, affecting and seriously funny portrayal of the pain and beauty of adolescence and the beginnings of sexual awakening. If that weren't enough, there's a sadistic groundskeeper, a hallucinogenic mountain-dwelling invertebrate, shape-shifters, kidnappers and more testicular humor than you can shake a stick at.Director Daniel Caffrey is the Artistic Director of Tympanic Theatre Company, which he founded in 2006 after moving to Chicago. He has directed for Tympanic, iO, the side project, and is thrilled to be back with The Ruckus after directing his own short play Pogo for Tell It & Speak It & Think It & Breathe It in 2009. As a playwright, his work has been produced by ARFTCO, Chicago Dramatists, Dramatis Personae, Dream Theatre, Hobo Junction, Infusion Theatre, MOB Productions, The Rough House, Tympanic and WildClaw. He occasionally acts and is a Staff Writer for the music publication Consequence Of Sound www.consequenceofsound.net.
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