LiveWire's VisionFest 4 Play Submissions Now Open

For the first time, LiveWire Chicago Theatre presented a VisionFest Gallery Exhibit, and invited the public to view and vote for one artwork that would serve as the central inspiration for all new plays submitted to the 4th annual VisionFest, a short play festival to be presented in June 2012.

More than 2,000 people viewed the gallery in-person and online. Due to the overwhelming response, LiveWire selected two artworks with the most community support: Breanne Duffy’s Rockets, an oil paint and silkscreen on board, won the online poll; and Josephine Ferorelli’s Untitled, pen and tempera on paper, won the in-person vote.

You can view images at http://livewirechicago.wordpress.com/vf4-gallery/

Playwrights will be required to use either one of these images as inspiration for the original plays they submit to VisionFest 4: Where the Image Meets the Stage. LiveWire is accepting short play submissions for VisionFest now through May 5. To submit, visit livewirechicago.com/vision. VisionFest 4: Where the Image Meets the Stage will be presented in June of 2012. Exact dates and location will be announced at a future date.

Meet the Winning Artists
Breanne Duffy (Boston, MA) constructs ambiguous narratives out of ruptured urban landscapes. Combining the disparate techniques of Old Master painting, digital imaging and screen printing, her mixed media aesthetic forms an aggressive harmony between the classic and contemporary. Duffy earned an B.A. in Visual Art and the History of Art and Architecture from Brown University, with courses at the Rhode Island School of Design, and an MFA from the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY.

Josephine Ferorelli (Chicago) graduated from the University of Chicago in 2005. Recently she has focused on making illustrated books and cartoons. Her work has been exhibited in galleries including ALVA Gallery, Woman Made and ARC. Her ambition in drawing is to reproduce for others the dizzy, lost feeling she remembers from looking at certain picture books when she was younger. She has collaborated with Adam Weg, Gabrielle Fuentes and Vanya Schroeder on children's books, and she hopes to continue to make more.

The VisionFest Gallery Exhibit featured work by ten visual artists showcased at the Tom Robinson Gallery, 2416 W. North Ave., from Jan. 28 – Feb. 5.

“Each year we choose a different and unique guideline that will shape our short play festival, and this year it was thrilling to collaborate with the visual arts community. All of the artworks were so rich and complex, and we were honored at the volume of people who participated in the selection process. I can’t wait to see what the two winning works ignite in playwrights submitting to VisionFest,” Chris Zdenek, curator of VisionFest.

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