Jackalope Theatre Company Wraps 8th Season with 2016 LIVING NEWSPAPER FESTIVAL
By: BWW News Desk Aug. 12, 2016
Jackalope Theatre Company wraps up its 8th season with The 7th Annual Living Newspaper Festival. In homage to the 1930's Living Newspapers of the Federal Theatre Project, Jackalope has assembled an exciting group of Chicago playwrights, directors, and actors to dramatize stories ripped from recent newspaper headlines.
Presented for a five-performance limited engagement at The Frontier, 1106 W. Thorndale Ave, the festival will run August 25 - 29, Thursday - Monday at 7:30pm. Tickets are $10 and are on sale now via www.jackalopetheatre.org.
Hosted by Joel Ewing, Olivia Shine, and Ireon Roach, the 7th Annual Living Newspaper Festival is produced by Elana Boulos*, Andrew Burden Swanson*, and Kaiser Ahmed*. The Production Stage Manager is Andrew C. Donnelly, Lighting Design is by Claire Sangster*, Sound Design is by Will Quam, and Scenic Design is by Anthony Venturini. The Festival's articles are curated by Jon Cohen*. *denotes Jackalope company member
The 7th Annual Living Newspaper Festival Lineup:
DEAR MS. HUI: MY NAME IS CALAMITy West. MY CREDENTIALS CAN BE FOUND BELOW.
By CalamiTy West*
Directed by Monty Cole
Featuring: Leea Ayers, Sasha Smith, Danielle Stack*, and Sigrid Sutter
"Florida mosque is removed as a polling site after complaints and threats" - Washington Post, July 14, 2016
LEARNING IS FUN!
By Pat Whalen*
Directed by Tara Branham
Featuring: BRyan Bosque, Eric Gerard, Riley McIlveen, and Judy Steele
"CPS holds hearings about lead confirmed so far in 27 schools" - Chicago Sun Times, June 20, 2016
A BIG, BIG KNOWING
By Samantha Beach
Directed by Mara Stern
Featuring: Bryce Gangel and Naima Hebrail, with Projections by Corinne Bass*
"'You took away my worth': A sexual assault victim's powerful message to her Stanford attacker" - Washington Post, June 4, 2016
LOSTCO
By Aaron Loeb
Directed by Will Kiley*
Featuring: Adithi Chandrashekar, Ty Olwin, and Trey Wright
"Baldwin Joins Senators in Urging Senate Leadership to Support Funding for Gun Violence Prevention Research" - Milwaukee Courier, July 9, 2016
JULIET AND REESE
By Lavina Jadhwani
Directed by Cody Spellman
Featuring: Jack Miggins
"Dallas shooting suspect taunted officers, asked how many he had shot, police say" - Merced Sun-Star, July 10, 2016
GOTTA CATCH 'EM ALL
By Ike Holter
Directed by Shade Murray
Featuring: Diego Colón, Charlotte Mae Ellison, and Brad Smith
"Pokémon Go players venture into 9/11 Memorial, Holocaust Museum" - NY Daily News, July 13, 2016
About the Federal Theatre Project: With a history in the USSR and Germany in the early part of the century, the Living Newspaper was initiated in the United States in 1935 as part of the Federal Theatre Project. Its founders believed in the value of drama as an instrument of social change and the Living Newspapers became a highly effective new form, boldly producing plays that often brought to light social injustices, challenged ideals, and criticized the government.
In response to the Great Depression, Congress appropriated $4.8 billion for work relief and created agencies to administer the funds, including the Works Progress Administration. Despite being allocated less than one percent of WPA funding, the Federal Theatre Project employed approximately eight thousand Theatre professionals a year during its four-year run.
In an attempt to create new plays, the Federal Theatre Project often recruited new writers. One of the goals of the short-lived FTP was to create plays and provide training for aspiring writers, and the Living Newspapers fostered this on a grand scale. Even though insiders acknowledged that it is much easier to build a dam or teach a trade than it is to develop a playwright, the legacy of the FTP laid the groundwork for using theatre to invoke conversation on national themes.
Jackalope Theatre Company, now in its eighth season, is committed to cultivating theatre that manifests the adventure deploy rooted in the American mythos. The company, recipient of the 2015 Broadway in Chicago Emerging Theatre Award, produces three full-length plays in Broadway Armory Park each season, as well as a series of experimental, one-act, off-night, and late-night programming in The Frontier in Edgewater.
Like on Facebook at www.facebook.com/jackalopetheatrecompany, follow on Twitter at twitter.com/jackalopetc. For more information, visit www.jackalopetheatre.org.
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