Moira Beagle, Julie Cowden and More Set for The Ruckus' FACING ANGELA, Beg. Tonight

The Ruckus Theater presents the world premiere of Facing Angela starting tonight, June 29 at The Athenaeum Theatre (2936 N. Southport) in Chicago's Lake View neighborhood. First written ten years ago and re-imagined through a recent workshop with The Ruckus, Facing Angela is written by Season 4 featured playwright Scott T. Barsotti and is directed by Kyra Lewandowski.

The cast of six includes Moira Beagle (Strangeloop Theatre, WildClaw Theatre), Ruckus Artist in Residence Julie Cowden (The Ruckus, The Mammals), Ruckus Artist in Residence Casey Cunningham (Lifeline Theatre, WildClaw Theatre), Susan Myburgh (Tympanic Theatre, Right Brain Project), Neal Starbird (Interrobang Theatre, The Ruckus), and Christine Vrem-Ydstie (Tympanic Theatre, The Ruckus).

Angela has lost her face. Acquiring a new face alters more than skin and tissue, cutting into Angela's relationship with her husband, Wes, and mutating her sense of self. As Angela re-constructs, re-invents, and re-defines her identity, Wes ceases to recognize the woman he loves, and doubts whether he really knows himself either. This re-imagining of Barsotti's 2003 play, explored over the course of the season with the cast and company, will delve deep into how we recognize ourselves and those we go to bed with, and the collateral damage of transformative change.

Performances of Facing Angela begin June 29, with previews on June 27 and 28, and runs through July 28, 2013 at The Athenaeum Theatre (2936 N. Southport); performances are Thursday - Sunday at 8pm. In observance of Independence Day, there will not be a show on July 4. There will be an industry performance on Mon. July 8 at 8pm. Tickets for preview performances are $12; tickets for all other performances are $17 and go on sale May 27 at athenaeumtheatre.org.

Playwright Scott T. Barsotti is a writer and performer originally from Pittsburgh, PA. Scott's plays include The Revenants, Kill Me, Jet Black Chevrolet, Brewed, McMeekin Finds Out, and adaptations of Robert Louis Stevenson's The Body Snatcher, H.P. Lovecraft's The Shadow Over Innsmouth, and Geoffrey Hayes' children's story The Mystery of the Pirate Ghost. Scott's work has been performed all around Chicago and nationwide, produced and/or developed by WildClaw Theatre, Curious Theatre Branch, Lifeline Theatre, The Route 66 Theatre Company, Chicago Dramatists, Theatre Seven of Chicago, Tympanic Theatre, Collaboraction, Happy Medium Theatre, Pittsburgh Playwrights, and The Visceral Company among others. Scott is the featured playwright of The Ruckus' 2013 season. As a performer, Scott has appeared with WildClaw, Curious, The Mammals, Lifeline, WNEP Theater, Victory Gardens, Collaboraction, and Pavement Group to name a few, and has directed movement for WildClaw and Strawdog. Scott is a company member of WildClaw Theatre and Curious Theatre Branch, and a Resident Playwright at Chicago Dramatists. For more information about Scott T. Barsotti, visit his website at http://scottbarsotti.wordpress.com.

Director Kyra Lewandowski is jazzed to be working with The Ruckus again after directing a workshop of Joe Musso's Conk & Bone with them last Fall. Kyra was last seen directing When You're Dead by Chris Bowers for Tympanic Theatre's "Deliver Us From Nowhere" festival. Previous directing credits include Verse Chorus Verse by Randall Colburn (also with Tympanic Theatre), Sam Shepard's Curse of the Starving Class with New Leaf Theatre (where she was a company member 2005-2011), Burka Betty by Joe Janes (featured at Donny's Skybox and Strawdog's Hugen Hall), Gone Flyin' by Tyler Monroe at Citylit Theatre, Polaroid Stories by Naomi Iizuka with Village Players Theatre, as well as shows with WNEP, Appetite Theatre, Rivendell Theatre, Teatro Vista, the side project, Griffin Theatre, Infusion Theatre, Hobo Junction Productions, and 20% Theatre. She is a BFA Theatre graduate of the University of Colorado.

Founded by an industrious group of Michigan ex-pats, The Ruckus is composed of actors, directors, playwrights, musicians, casting directors, publicity managers, grant writers, baristas, grad students, poets, computer fixers, appointment-makers and census-takers who aim to create a new kind of company-a casteless theater that blends the lines between playwright and actor, audience and company member. The Ruckus Theater is led by Artistic Director Allison Shoemaker, Associate Artistic Director Joshua Davis, and a company and ensemble of artists in Chicago and around the world.

We're here to create, to examine, to invent, to explode-to create a ruckus. The Ruckus develops new work and the artists who create that work. Our ensemble breaks down the walls of traditional methods to nurture new plays and challenge exceptional artists. We believe in creating our process for every project from the ground up. We commit to the growth of our ensemble, the artists we collaborate with, and the plays we develop. We aim to deepen the cultural bedrock of our community by giving megaphones to new voices and by making theater affordable. By fostering conversations that rip through the curtain, we aim to lead both artist and audience down an unexpected path with art that doesn't play by the rules.

See how the company makes a ruckus all over the internet on its blog, iruckus.blogspot.com; at facebook.com/theruckustheater; view the photostream at flickr.com/ruckustheater; follow the company's tweets at twitter.com/ruckustheater; and spend hours at youtube.com/theruckustheater.

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