Eclectic Full Contact Theatre to Launch Reading Series with THE CANDIDATE, SQUIRREL PLAYS

Eclectic Full Contact Theatre announced selections for their new work reading series, "First Contact", set to run February 19th and 26th at 6PM. The series will include free staged readings of new works by Chicago playwrights Jenny Seidelman and Mia McCullough.

Jenny Seidelman's "The Candidate" takes place in the run-up to the 2014 mid-term elections that, in a historic moment, swung the Senate from blue to red. African-American Nicole is working as the Assistant Communications Director for the campaign of Barbara, a white Republican running for Senate. When Nicole and her Latino husband Mateo are unexpectedly recruited to star in a campaign ad for Barbara, Nicole discovers that she is becoming uncertain of her own political leanings. With the campaign on the line, Nicole must decide where she stands - for the sake of her job, her family, and her candidate.

Sedielman's plays have been produced, developed, and received readings at Idle Muse Theatre Company, Ivy Theatre Company, Babes With Blades Theatre Company, Nylon Fusion Theatre Company, The Asylum Theatre, Ground UP Productions, Polarity Ensemble Theatre, Fury Theatre Company, 20% Theatre Company Chicago, Chicago One-Minute Play Festival (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016), Cold Basement Dramatics, American Theater Company, Horse Trade Theater Group, Women's Theatre Alliance of Chicago, Stockyards Theatre Project, WNEP Theater, and her alma mater, Knox College, among others. Jenny's screenplays have placed in the Top 10% and been named Quarterfinalists for BlueCat Screenplay Competition, Final Draft Big Break Screenwriting Contest, and the Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences).

"The Candidate" will be directed by EFCT company member Andrew Blaustein, and will be read on February 19th at 6PM.

Mia McCullough's "The Squirrel Plays" is a three play series. "Infestation" is the story of a loving couple's response to an unplanned and unwanted pregnancy via the metaphor of having a squirrel trapped in their attic. "Compensation" is an exploration of using public funds for abortion when the male half of the no-longer-so-loving couple decides that he wants the neighborhood association to cover some of the "extermination" costs. The couple finds themselves mending their relationship in "Eradication" as they fight back against neighborhood bigotry and violence aimed at an encroaching black squirrel population.

McCullough's plays have been produced in Chicago at Steppenwolf, Stage Left and Chicago Dramatists, and around the country at Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival, Actors Express (Atlanta), InterAct (Philadelphia), The Victory Theater (Los Angeles), and The Old Globe (San Diego), among others. She teaches playwriting and screenwriting at Northwestern University in the Creative Writing for the Media program, playwriting workshops in Chicago Public Schools through Chicago Dramatists where she is a Resident Playwright.

"The Squirrel Plays" will be directed by EFCT company member Michelle Annette, and will be read on February 26th at 6PM.

Both readings will take place at the Athenaeum Theatre's Studio Two 2936 N. Southport Avenue, Chicago IL 60657, and are free and open to the public. More information available at www.eclectic-theatre.com.

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