Nathan Cooper, Brennan Dougherty & More to Join Lara Filip & Jason Collins in SIGNS OF LIFE at Victory Gardens Theater; Full Cast Announced

SIGNS OF LIFE, A Tale of Terezin, is thrilled to announce the full cast for its Chicago premiere this fall at the Zacek McVay Theater at Victory Gardens Theater (2433 N Lincoln Ave). SIGNS OF LIFE will play Chicago for a limited six week engagement September 18 - October 27, 2013.

Joining Lara Filip as Berta and Jason Collins as Kurt are Nathan Cooper, Brennan Dougherty, Matt Edmonds, Megan Long, Michael Joseph Mitchell, Doug Pawlik, and James Rank.

Rounding out the Chicago creative team with composer Joel Derfner, lyricist Len Schiff, librettist Peter Ullian, director Lisa Portes and musical director Mike Pettryare choreographer Julia Neary and Music Supervisor Paul Bogaev. SIGNS OF LIFEwill feature scenic and lighting design by Brian Sidney Bembridge, costume design by Elsa Hiltner, sound design by Mikhail Fiskel, projection design by Anna Henson, and orchestrations by Christian Imboden.

SIGNS OF LIFE, a new musical drama based on the true story of the Czech ghetto Theresienstadt, tells one of the most fascinating and least known stories of the Holocaust.

Originally founded by the Nazis, Theresienstadt was specifically designated for the academic and artistic Jews of Europe. In an attempt to deceive the Red Cross and sway public perception, the Nazis decided to "beautify" the ghetto and commission a propaganda film. SIGNS OF LIFE shows the struggles of the captives of Theresienstadt as they try to expose the truth through art and music--and in doing so, discover the humanity they all share.

The inception of the musical began when creator Virginia S. Criste chose to visit the ghetto Theresienstadt, located in what was then Czechoslovakia, to learn more about her grandparents, who spent their final years there. At that time, there was only a small exhibit and a depository of artifacts that they allowed her to view in the company of a Museum official. "Spending a day with the remnants of hand-drawn posters announcing show performances, cabaret tickets, albums of dorm life, and so much more was hard to forget," stated Criste.

Writing a musical about captives living in a ghetto during the Holocaust is not an easy task; the authors had to take a heartbreaking time in world history and turn it into a human story, a story infused with the life, spirit, and even humor of the people who lived these events. And when people see SIGNS OF LIFE, they see the emotion and humanity of this piece.

As a ghetto filled with artists, musicians and thespians, among others, a great deal of artwork arose from Theresienstadt that still exists today. SIGNS OF LIFEincorporates a number of pieces from the original artwork. "We want to use the visuals available to us to help tell the story," commented Criste.

SIGNS OF LIFE is a story that must be told, and it's never been told quite this way before. "It is an important story because it was an event of tremendous importance to Jewish, European, and Western history, and as such, is still important today, in knowing who we are and where we come from," said librettist Peter Ullian. "That said, living in a time as fraught as ours, a time of peril, violence, authoritarianism, sectarianism and genocide, a story about people trying to hold on to what makes them human, to bear witness to horror, and to struggle to make difficult moral choices, has a strong contemporary resonance."

"It's a story about what it's like to be caught in a web of tyranny and deception, and what people do mentally and emotionally to survive it; we want people to see it not only as a Holocaust story, but as a human story," concluded Criste.

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE
The performance schedule for SIGNS OF LIFE is as follows:
Wednesdays at 2:00 & 7:30 p.m.
Thursdays at 7:30 p.m.
Fridays at 8:00 p.m.
Saturdays at 5:00 & 8:30 p.m.
Sundays at 3:00 p.m.
Please note: Ticket prices and performance schedule are subject to change.

Tickets for SIGNS OF LIFE at the Victory Gardens Theater range from $45-$65. Discounted tickets are available for seniors ($25), students ($20) and survivors ($20). Individual tickets are available now by calling the Victory Gardens Theater box office at 773.871.3000 or online at www.victorygardens.org. Tickets are available for groups of 10 or more by calling Victory Gardens Theater Group Sales at 773.328.2136. For more information, visit www.signsoflifethemusical.com or www.victorygardens.org.

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