La Red Music Theatre Announces Their Inaugural Summer Season In Highland Park

La Red Music Theatre will present its inaugural summer season this June, July, and August in Highland Park, IL. La Red's season will feature two full productions, three readings, and one special theatrical event, with productions presented at The Highland Park Community House, The Karger Center Theatre, and The Wilmette Theatre. Tickets to all events may be purchased at http://www.laredmusictheatre.org.

The season will feature two full productions, each a world premiere. B.R.A.T.T. Camp, by Bobby Cronin, will run from June 26-28 at the Highland Park Community House. This fresh and adventurous new pop-rock musical features five wayward teens shipped off to disciplinary camp, where hilarity and discovery ensue.

"B.R.A.T.T. Camp is one of the bravest new musicals around," says Jessica Redish, La Red's Artistic Director. "I've worked on B.R.A.T.T. Camp in various stages of its development in New York but wanted to fully flesh it out, on its feet. This will be the first time anyone has seen the piece in its fully produced stage. Awaiting rehearsals and production feels like waiting to open a huge gift."

The second production of the season, The 9/11 Report: A Bipartisan Musical Fantasia, conceived and adapted by Jessica Redish, with music and lyrics by Michael Mahler and spoken word poetry by Oron Stenesh, will run from July 22-August 2 at the Karger Center Theatre. This bold, experimental folk-rock musical explores the 9/11 Commission's Report and the myriad perspectives, agendas, and failures of imagination surrounding the darkest day in modern American history.

"I was intrigued by The 9/11 Report as a document, a book wherein the protagonist of the story is A Grave Mistake," says Redish. "I am equally intrigued by questions that remain unanswered, according to some families of the victims. Michael Mahler has written extremely moving, delicate music informing and asking questions related to that day. My hope is that the piece, told through music, story and dance, incites us to keep this important discussion alive."

Co-presented with Dee Dee Bird Productions, La Red's Alternative Reading Series will feature two edgy new musicals, presented at the Wilmette Theatre in Wilmette, IL. Happiness is the Problem: a Phonographic Novel by Jason Cady, with graphics by Nadia Berenstein will be presented on Wednesday, July 1 at 7:30 pm. The Church of Babel: a Fundamentalist Cabaret by Avi Fox-Rosen will be presented on Wednesday, July 29 at 7:30 pm. Tickets to these two events may be purchased at www.wilmettetheatre.com.

"These readings are in their earliest stages and we're excited to give them their start," says Redish. "The material is funky, fresh and spirited. Jason Cady's play on opera buffa is sure to delight and Avi Fox-Rosen's irreverent folk tunes are sure to intrigue."

La Red will present a staged reading of Summertime, adapted by Jessica Redish and Alan Schmuckler, with music and lyrics by Alan Schmuckler, based on the play by Charles L. Mee. This sweet, sophisticated musical will be presented on Monday, August 17 at 7:30pm at the Highland Park Community House.

"Alan Schmuckler's lush score is thrilling. We're excited to be adapting Chuck Mee's luscious play and premiering this musical with Chicago's finest music theatre talent," says Redish.

Due to popular demand, La Red will present a new incarnation of last summer's hit, The 48-Hour Musicals, in which an assortment of Chicago's brightest young musical theatre creators generate a series of mini musicals from a single source of inspiration, all in the span of two days. The 48-Hour Musicals: Famous Last Words will be presented on August 10 and 11 at 7:30 pm, at the Highland Park Community House.

"Community members had such fun last year and emailed asking for an encore! This year, quotes will be chosen at random from a book of historical figures' ‘fond farewells, deathbed diatribes and exclamations upon expiration," says Redish. "The writer or writing team has 24 hours to create a 15-minute musical with the quote as the final moment of their piece. The actors rehearse for another 24 hours. It's an exhilarating process where all artists involved are thrust into the crisis of creating and rehearsing, with little time to think or plan."

Tickets to this summer's events may be purchased via the La Red website at http://www.laredmusictheatre.org.

LA RED MUSIC THEATRE is a not-for-profit organization comprised of Chicago, Washington D.C., and New York-based creative professionals dedicated to the creation of new musicals, presented annually in a summer festival in Highland Park, IL. For more information on La Red Music Theatre, please visit http://www.laredmusictheatre.org.

 

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