Haven Theatre Company to Present Second Director's Haven at The Den Theatre
By: BWW News Desk Sep. 28, 2016
The Director's Haven, dedicated to putting early-career directors at the forefront, consists of three one-act plays produced and performed each night, each helmed by one emerging director. The productions include Tutus, directed by Alyssa White, Love in a Maze, directed by Zach Weinberg and Domestic Departure, directed by Carol Ann Tan.
Tickets are pay-what-you-can and may be purchased at directorshaven2016.brownpapertickets.com. For more information on the Directors Haven or Haven Theatre Company, visit HavenTheatreChicago.com.
In addition to offering the highest-quality productions on stage including the soon-to-be opened Chicago premiere of How We Got On, written by Idris Goodwin and directed by Jess McLeod, Arlene Hutton's Last Train to Nibroc and the Kyle Trent-directed Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Haven Theatre is also investing in the next generation of Chicago's artistic voices. The Director's Haven gives directors in the earliest stages of their professional careers a rare opportunity to take risks, hone their crafts and talents and share their vision through a fully staged production of a short play. Giving directors support to produce during their formative years, which includes a full design team, budget, marketing support and more, allows these artists to create quality work as well as provides a platform to further their artistic visibility through the creation of said work.
Each director chooses the production they will direct and is partnered with a mentor in the form of an established director from the Chicago theater scene. These mentors, identified by the directors along with Sobel, serve as resources and sounding-boards through each director's individual creative process.
"This year's Director's Haven builds on what Haven launched last year with an incredible roster of new directors and mentors," said Sobel. "We have seen the success of this program in action with many of last year's directors going on to direct new productions that have been lauded by audiences and critics alike, including Monty Cole's award-winning production of The Hairy Ape. The Director's Haven is invaluable to the next generation of directors as a rare opportunity to live and learn more about their craft in a institutionally supportive environment."
The 2016 Director's Haven showcases the following productions, directors and mentors:
The 2nd Annual Director's Haven
Previews: Friday, Oct. 28 and Saturday, Oct. 29 at 7:30 p.m.
Opening night: Sunday, Oct. 30 at 6:00 p.m.
Regular run: Sundays at 6:00 p.m., Monday - Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m.
No Performance Monday, Oct, 31
Closing: November 9
Regular Ticket Prices: Pay-What-You-Can
By Natalie Margolin
Directed by Alyssa White
Mentored by Marti Lyons (director, Gift Theatre Ensemble Member)
October 28 - November 9 The discovery of improv sends teenaged Sophie on a rapid pace journey towards adulthood. With constant offers from others to help develop her relationships, sexuality and sense of self, Sophie struggles to decipher what choices are really her own.
ABOUT ALYSSA WHITE
Alyssa White is a Chicago-based director. She has studied at Kenyon College and The National Theatre Institute. Since moving to Chicago, she has directed Power of Punctuation with The Electric Brain, assistant directed What to Listen For at The Side Project and has also worked with The New Colony and Theatre Seven of Chicago. She recently assisted Elly Green on Haven's production of The Distance.
Love in a Maze
Adapted by Zach Weinberg and Zoë DePreta
From Eliza Haywood's Fantomina
Directed by Zach Weinberg
Mentored by Max Truax (artistic director, Red Tape Theatre)
October 28 - November 9
In 1726, England, a bright and privileged young woman embarks on a sexual odyssey with a sole focus: whenever her beau grows bored of her, she dons another disguise to trick her fugitive lover back into bed. Told through movement, dialogue and song, Love in a Maze asks: "When it comes to sex who has the power, and what must be done to obtain it?"
ABOUT ZACH WEINBERG
Zach Weinberg is a Chicago-based theater director. A transplant from Maryland by way of Ohio's Oberlin College, he's been living and working in Chicago since late 2014. He spent much of 2015 directing performers in the use of spectacle objects at special events as Redmoon for Hire's Directing Apprentice. As a director, he has worked with The Oberlin Summer Theater Festival (Anne of Green Gables and The Secret Garden), The Public House Theater (Twelve Ways to Play) and the Iron Legs (Director/co-creator, Humanities). He has assisted at Oracle Productions (The America Play), The Actors Gymnasium (Circuscope) and Redmoon Theater (Winter Pageant 2014).
Domestic Departure
Written and directed by Carol Ann Tan
Mentored by Chay Yew (artistic director, Victory Gardens Theater)
October 28 - November 9
An international college student must decide between returning to his city of birth or moving to the country he has come to love. But when his father unexpectedly passes away, his entire family is forced to confront the consequences of loss and leaving.
ABOUT CAROL ANN TAN
Carol Ann Tan is a Chicago-based director, writer, and actor. She holds a B.A. in English Language and Literature from the University of Chicago, where she wrote and directed the original plays Domestic Departure (Olga and Paul Menn Foundation Prize, 2nd place) and Apartment Complex in order to create more opportunities for Asian artists to tell their own stories on their own terms. She was last seen on stage in Lifeline Theatre's Fillet of Solo 2016 as a writer and solo performer. She has worked with Collaboraction and TimeLine Theatre and is a member of the Literary Circle at American Theater Company.
Josh Sobel is artistic director of Haven Theatre, as well as an ensemble member with Strawdog Theatre Company, where he directed Paula Vogel's The Long Christmas Ride Home along with the world premieres of The Hunting of the Snark (subsequently remounted with Chicago's "Night Out In The Parks" and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland), Best Beloved: The Just So Stories and The Pied Piper in Strawdog's Hugen Hall. Directing credits include work at Steep Theatre, Chicago Dramatists, A Red Orchid Theatre, LiveWire Chicago Theatre, Collaboraction's Sketchbook, WildClaw Theatre, The Ruckus, Tympanic Theatre, Polarity Ensemble Theatre, The Fine Print Theatre Company, the side project, Citadel Theatre, The Greenhouse Theater Center, Abbie-Fest and New Leaf Theatre. From 2010 - 2013 he served as associate director of the National Theater Institute summer "Theatermakers" program at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center. Sobel is the recipient of a Stage Directors and Choreographers (SDC) Observership on Hamlet at Writers' Theatre and is an associate member of SDC.
Founded by Carol Cohen and Cody Estle, Haven Theatre Company is driven by a commitment to the next generation, new canon and social profit. Haven presents the highest quality theater to Chicago audiences through producing and promoting plays and performances that are staking their claim as the immediate future of this art form, and by investing in those at the very beginning of their professional journeys. Last fall, Haven's sold-out run of Arlene Hutton's Last Train to Nibroc, received a coveted four-star review from Chris Jones of the Chicago Tribune, who proclaimed the production "deserves to be the sleeper hit of the summer." Nibroc also received three Joseph Jefferson Award nominations (the company's first Jeff-eligible production) and received the prize for Best Principal Actress in a Play. In 2015, Haven launched "The Director's Haven," a unique initiative built to better support the career development and community visibility of directors at the very earliest stages of their professional journeys. Additionally, Haven has produced highly lauded productions of Deborah Bruce's The Distance (U.S. Premiere), Theresa Rebeck's Seminar (Chicago Premiere), Catherine Treischmann's Hot Georgia Sunday (Chicago Premiere), Stephen Belber's Don't Go Gentle (Chicago Premiere) and Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
Haven Theatre Company and Artistic Director Josh Sobel are proud to announce the Director's Haven for 2016, an emerging director's showcase, October 28 - November 9, at The Den Theatre, 1333 N. Milwaukee Ave. The Director's Haven, dedicated to putting early-career directors at the forefront, consists of three one-act plays produced and performed each night, each helmed by one emerging director. The productions include Tutus, directed by Alyssa White, Love in a Maze, directed by Zach Weinberg and Domestic Departure, directed by Carol Ann Tan. Tickets are pay-what-you-can and may be purchased at directorshaven2016.brownpapertickets.com. For more information on the Directors Haven or Haven Theatre Company, visit HavenTheatreChicago.com.
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