Interrobang Theatre Project Announces 2017-18 Season: What is Truth?

Interrobang Theatre Project, dedicated to producing rarely seen shows with relevant themes and raw emotions, has announced its eighth season, featuring three plays that examine the fine line between reality and perception. This season, Interrobang invites audiences to ponder the particularly urgent question: What is Truth?

This fall, it's The Crucible meets 1984, as Interrobang's 2017/18 season launches with the Midwest premiere of Dawn King's darkly comic and politically relevant British drama FOXFINDER, directed by Literary Manager Margaret Knapp. Next winter, Interrobang's The RAW Series returns following last year's hit production of The Amish Project, with Lee Blessing's shocking and thought-provoking FOR THE LOYAL, directed by Co-Artistic Director James Yost. The season concludes in spring 2018 with a revival of Craig Wright's darkly funny and deadly serious Broadway hit GRACE, directed by Co-Artistic Director Georgette Verdin.

"Our guiding question this season isn't rhetorical," comment Co-Artistic Directors James Yost and Georgette Verdin. "Our nation is deeply and devastatingly divided following November's Presidential election. We're hopeful that the plays we've chosen this season are another way into pertinent conversations we're having as communities. Many of us feel angry, confused and fearful about the road ahead. We're inviting our audience to engage with us in dialogue, face to face, about the complex questions our three shows investigate and the resonances of those investigations in our own lives."

Interrobang Theatre Project's 2017/18 Season will be staged at The Athenaeum Theatre (Studio 2), 2936 N. Southport Ave. in Chicago. Tickets go on sale Sunday, June 4, 2017 at www.interrobangtheatreproject.org.

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Interrobang Theatre Project's 2017/18 Season includes:

September 28 - November 5, 2017

FOXFINDER - Midwest Premiere!

By Dawn King

Directed by Literary Manager Margaret Knapp

Press opening: Sunday, October 1, 2017 at 2 pm

In the not so distant future, the economy is failing, food is scarce and paranoia is in the air. Samuel and Judith Covey live in rural England, maintaining their government-controlled farm - in constant fear of losing it all. After an anonymous tip, William Bloor, a "Foxfinder," arrives to investigate a suspected contamination, threatening to uncover secrets of desire and regret that will change all of their lives forever.

Winter 2018

FOR THE LOYAL

By Lee Blessing

Directed by Co-Artistic Director James Yost

For Toby and Mia, college football and family are one and the same; he has a new coaching job for a top team, and they are happily expecting their first born. But when Toby gets Mia enmeshed in an unseemly team secret, she is forced to decide where her loyalties truly lie. Inspired by the Penn State sexual abuse scandal, FOR THE LOYAL takes an unconventional and provocative look at how one woman traverses a no-win situation.

FOR THE LOYAL is presented as part of Interrobang's The RAW Series. Think of it a bit like theatrical sashimi. Big ideas, bold flavors - everything you've come to expect from Interrobang Theatre Project - without the trimmings. We've stripped down the classic stage elements to put the story front and center. The RAW Series features passion-projects and bucket-list productions spearheaded by our talented ensemble. In addition to our regularly scheduled plays, The RAW Series aims to bring concise, actor-driven theater to the Chicago stage.

May 3 - June 3, 2018

GRACE

By Craig Wright

Directed by Co-Artistic Director Georgette Verdin

Press opening: Sunday, May 6, 2018 at 2 pm

Steve and Sarah have a plan. With nothing more than a little start-up cash and a lot of faith, the couple picks up from their Minnesota home to start a new life in sunny Florida, opening a chain of evangelically-themed motels to spread the good Word while reaping some divine financial benefits. Meanwhile, their new neighbor Sam is in an existential quandary of his own: recently widowed and badly injured, he's faithless, bitter and hardly in the mood for new friends, sent by God or otherwise. As their lives become entwined, and their destinies made clear, all three will come to question their own beliefs and fears.

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ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

Dawn King (Foxfinder) is an award-winning writer working in theatre, film, TV and radio. Currently, Dawn is working on two plays; The Light and Salt, which is a commission from the National Theatre and will be performed by youth theatre groups around the country in 2018. She is also adapting her stage play Ciphers into a screenplay for Cowboy Films. Ciphers made the Brit List of the best 'yet to shoot' screenplays as selected by the UK film industry in 2016. Dawn is also redrafting the blacklisted screenplay Randle is Benign for Echo Lake Productions in the U.S. Dawn's previous work for the stage includes; an adaptation of Aldous Huxley's novel Brave New World, a co-production between the Royal and Derngate, Northampton and the Touring Consortium which toured the UK in 2014; Ciphers, a co-production between Out of Joint, Exeter Nothcott and The Bush Theatre which toured the UK in 2013/2014; and Foxfinder, produced by Papatango Theatre Company at The Finborough in 2011. Foxfinder won the Royal National Theatre Foundation Playwright Award 2013, the Papatango New Writing Competition 2011 and Most Promising Playwright, Off West End awards 2012. Dawn's short film The Kármán Line won 17 awards including the BIFA for Best Short and was BAFTA nominated in 2014.

Lee Blessing's (For the Loyal) play A Walk in the Woods was produced on Broadway and London's West End. His Off-Broadway productions include A Body of Water, Primary Stages; Going To St. Ives, Primary Stages (Outer Critic's Circle Award, Best Play, Obie for ensemble performance); Thief River, Signature Theatre (Drama Desk nomination, Best Play); Cobb, Lucille Lortel Theatre (Drama Desk award, best ensemble); Chesapeake, New York Stage and Film at Second Stage; Eleemosynary, Manhattan Theatre Company and Down the Road, the Weissberger Group at the Atlantic Theatre. The Signature Theatre dedicated its 1992-93 season to his work, consisting of Fortinbras, Lake Street Extension, Two Rooms and the world premiere of Patient A. Other world and regional premieres include an adaptation of Thornton Wilder's Heaven's My Destination, which had its world premiere at the Cleveland Play House, Great Falls in the Humana New Play Festival of The Actors Theatre of Louisville, A Body of Water at the Guthrie Theater and the Old Globe Theatre, Lonesome Hollow, Flag Day and Whores at the Contemporary American Theatre Festival, The Scottish Play at La Jolla Playhouse, Black Sheep at Florida Stage and The Winning Streak at George Street Playhouse. Other plays include Independence, Riches, Oldtimers Game, Nice People Dancing To Good Country Music and Perilous Night. Productions of Blessing's plays have earned awards such as The American Theater Critics Circle Award, the L.A. Drama Critics Award, The Great American Play Award, The Humanitas Award, and the George and Elisabeth Marton Award, among others. He has received nominations for Tony and Olivier awards, as well as the Pulitzer Prize. He heads the graduate playwriting program at Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University.

Craig Wright (Grace) is the author of Mistakes Were Made, which played at A Red Orchid Theatre, Hartford Stage, and the Barrow Street Theater; Blind, which played at Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre; The Gray Sisters, which played at Third Rail Rep; The Unseen, which was produced at Actors Theater of Louisville and Stages Rep with Lady, which was commissioned by and received its world premiere from the Northlight Theatre, and was subsequently produced at Rattlestick and around the country; Grace, which premiered at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company (nominated for the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding New Play); Recent Tragic Events, which debuted at Woolly and was produced at Playwrights Horizons (finalist for the American Theatre Critics New Play Award and the Helen Hayes Charles MacArthur Award for Outstanding New Play); Melissa Arctic, a contemporary adaptation of The Winter's Tale, which premiered at the Folger Theatre (2005 Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding New Play) and was done at Two River Theater; Main Street, commissioned and premiered by the Great American History Theatre; Orange Flower Water, produced at Steppenwolf (Chicago Sun-Times named it one of the Best of the Year); Molly's Delicious, which debuted at the Arden Theatre (Barrymore nomination for Best New Play) and played at Arizona Theatre Company; The Pavilion, which had dozens of productions around the country, including an extended run at Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre (Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding New Play). Mr. Wright received an Emmy nomination for an episode he wrote of Six Feet Under. He also wrote for Twilight, and served as writer and producer for Lost, Brothers & Sisters, United States of Tara, and his own series on ABC Dirty Sexy Money. A graduate of United Theological Seminary, Mr. Wright lives in Los Angeles and New York.

Margaret Knapp (Foxfinder) is new to the Interrobang Theatre Project family and is happy to be working as the Literary Manager for the company, as well as directing her first ITP production. A proud Equity actor since 1992, Margaret has acted at various theaters in the Midwest such as the Apollo here in Chicago, Drury Lane-Oakbrook, The Unicorn Theater and Kansas City Rep in Kansas City, MO and The Human Race Theater in Dayton, OH. Her directing credits include: Uncle Vanya, Honey Brown Eyes, The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow, Rhinoceros, Museum by Tina Howe and The Eight: Reindeer Monologues starring TV and film actor Richard Kind. A graduate of UW-Madison (BA in Communications) and UMKC (MFA in Acting/Directing), Margaret also teaches Speech, Acting and Comparative Literature at various colleges in Illinois.

James Yost (For the Loyal) is a Joseph Jefferson Award nominated director and the Co-Artistic Director of Interrobang Theatre Project. He previously served as the producing artistic director for BareBones Theatre Group, a company he co-founded in 1998. Selected credits include: Mr. Marmalade, Psycho Beach Party, Debbie Does Dallas: The Musical, Skylight, The Graduate, The Play About the Baby, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Drift, bash; the latter-day plays, Squirrels, The Wizard of Oz, Lend Me A Tenor, Orson's Shadow, Glengarry Glen Ross, The Pitchfork Disney and Noises Off. For ITP, credits include Orange Flower Water (Jeff nomination for Best Supporting Actor, Joseph Wiens), Ibsen is Dead, The North Pool (Jeff nominated for best production and best director), Falling (Jeff nominated actors: Justin Tsatsa and Amy Johnson) and last season's critically acclaimed REALLY REALLY (named one of the best shows of 2015 by the Chicago Tribune). Other credits include True West by Sam Shepard for Shattered Globe. This summer he will direct Boeing Boeing for Davidson College. He teaches acting, directing, production design and film at the high school and collegiate level. He is published in Teaching Theatre Journal, a publication of Dramatics Magazine.

Georgette Verdin (Grace) Along with being the Co-Artistic Director of Interrobang Theatre Project, Georgette is a freelance director and the founding theatre teacher at Polaris Charter Academy, an Expeditionary Learning School in West Humboldt Park. Georgette helmed ITP's season seven production of the 2013 Yale Drama Series Winner Still by Jen Silverman. She also directed Katrina: Mother-in-Law of 'Em All by Rob Florence and the Jeff Recommended Recent Tragic Events by Craig Wright for Interrobang's sixth season. Georgette holds a Masters in Directing from Roosevelt University and a B.A. in Theatre Performance from McNeese State University in Lake Charles, LA. Most recently, she directed the Jeff Recommended production of Time Stands Still for AstonRep, which is running through June 11th at the Raven.

Now in its eighth season, Interrobang Theatre Project, under the artistic leadership of Georgette Verdin and James Yost, has been hailed by the Chicago Tribune as a "company to watch" and by Time Out Chicago as "one of Chicago's most promising young theatre companies." Season seven earned seven non-Equity Jeff Nominations, including Best Director, Production of a Play, Solo Performance and acting nominations for Lead Actor, Actress and Actor in a Supporting Role. Productions have included the world premiere of CalamiTy West's Ibsen is Dead (Jeff Recommended), and the Jeff Recommended The Pitchfork Disney, Orange Flower Water, Recent Tragic Events, The Amish Project, The North Pool, and Falling. Director James Yost's critically-acclaimed Really Really was one of six shows chosen for Chicago Tribune's list "Best of 2015 in Chicago Fringe Theater."

What's an interrobang? An interrobang is the combination of a question mark and an exclamation point, joining the Latin for "question" (interro) with a proofreading term for "exclamation" (bang). Through the plays we produce, Interrobang Theatre Project aims to pose worthwhile and exciting questions which challenge our understanding and assumptions of who we are and the world in which we live.

For more information, visit www.interrobangtheatreproject.org.

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