Neil LaBute Joins Profiles Theatre for 2012-13 Season - Full Season Details

Artistic Directors Joe Jahraus and Darrell W. Cox have announced Profiles Theatre's 2012 - 2013 Season. They also announced that acclaimed playwright Neil LaBute and Steppenwolf ensemble member Rick Snyder joined Profiles as Resident Artists.

Five productions are planned for the upcoming 24th season, including the Midwest premieres of the award-winning Blood from a Stone in a newly revised version by playwright Tommy Nohilly, After by Chad Beckim, The Dream of the Burning Boy by David West Read and the Midwest premiere of Neil LaBute's controversial 2010 play The Break of Noon revised exclusively for Profiles Theatre. Additionally, one of Chicago theatre's longest running hits, Hellcab by Will Kern, returns for its 20th Anniversary production. These five productions alternate between Profiles' two venues, The Main Stage at 4139 N. Broadway and The Alley Stage at 4147 N. Broadway.

Darrell W. Cox comments, "We're so excited about the addition of Neil LaBute and Rick Snyder as Profiles Resident Artists, made even more special as they team up to introduce Chicago to the newly reworked version of The Break of Noon. As expressed on numerous occasions, no other writer has made a bigger impact on Profiles than our collaboration with Neil. Our work together made for some of the most gratifying artistic experiences in our history." Cox continues, "My first meeting with Rick Snyder in 2003 on a little show called Orange Flower Water at Steppenwolf would forever change me as an actor and consequently helped form the Profiles' aesthetic. In recent years, Rick directed some of the most visceral, engaging work in Profiles' history including the multiple Jeff Award-wining production of Killer Joe."

Joe Jahraus adds, "Our 24th season promises to be our most ambitious year yet. Now that we simultaneously operate two adjacent spaces, it gives us the opportunity to produce five works from an eclectic group of playwrights. Some may not have been possible in our original theatre. The two theatres allow us to produce works by established playwrights such as Neil LaBute and Will Kern while introducing Chicago audiences to three emerging playwrights whose works are equally hard hitting, moving and unforgettable. Tommy Nohilly will be working with us to make his debut play Blood From a Stone even more powerful than its Off Broadway premiere. After by Chad Beckim pulls no punches in its portrait of an exonerated man who lost half his life in prison and The Dream of the Burning Boy by David West Read examines the effect of a student's untimely death on his teacher and fellow classmates. Finally, we introduce Will Kern's Hellcab to a whole new generation because it's as fresh today as when it premiered twenty years ago and the perfect tribute to the Chicago theatre community. We are thrilled to take audiences for one more ride in Mr. Kern's cab."

Profiles Theatre concludes their 23rd season with the American premiere of In a Forest, Dark and Deep by Neil LaBute, opening April 19, 2012 at The Main Stage while the production of Bachelorette by Leslye Headland continues in an extended run through April 29, 2012 at The Alley Stage.

The 2012-2013 Profiles season includes:

BLOOD FROM A STONE
Midwest Premiere
by Tommy Nohilly
directed by Matt Hawkins
The Main Stage, 4139 N. Broadway
Previews: August 17 - 23, 2012
Run: August 24 - October 7, 2012

About the show: "Blood From a Stone, a stunning and shattering playwriting debut by Tommy Nohilly, is an electric and darkly comic portrayal of a troubled working-class family in New Britain, Connecticut. Travis visits his parents home to check on his brother Matt and his mother, only to find himself sucked into intractable conflicts and a whole household on the verge of implosion."

Tommy Nohilly, a former Marine, made his debut as a writer with Blood From a Stone when it received its World premiere in December 2011 with The New Group in New York. The production won an OBIE Award for Outstanding Performance by Ethan Hawke and an Outer Critics Circle Award Nomination for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play. As an actor, Tommy Nohilly appeared on TV's Law & Order and Third Watch as well as the films Reign Over Me and the Sundance winner The Believer.

AFTER
Midwest Premiere
by Chad Bekim
directed by Artistic Director Joe Jahraus
The Alley Stage, 4147 N. Broadway
Previews: September 21 - 26, 2012
Run: September 27 – November 4, 2012

About the show: "When a wrongfully imprisoned man is exonerated by DNA evidence after seventeen years in prison, he must re-assimilate into a cold, foreign world of toothbrush shopping, doggy day care, and a friendship with an anxious young woman with secrets of her own. After is a compassionate portrait of a man struggling with the challenges of socializing and the anger he still feels for having his youth unjustly destroyed."

After, written by Chad Beckim, received its World premiere production in September 2011 by Partial Comfort Productions in New York where he is co-Founder and co-Artistic Director. His playwriting credits include …a matter of choice, 'nami and Lights Rise on Grace, winner of Outstanding Play at the 2007 New York International Fringe Festival and finalist for the 2007 Princess Grace Award. Chad holds an MFA in Playwriting from Mac Wellman's Brooklyn Colleges Program and in July 2007, he was named one of 50 Playwrights to Watch by the Dramatists Guild.

HELLCAB
by Will Kern
20th Anniversary Production
directed by Artistic Director Darrell W. Cox
The Main Stage, 4139 N. Broadway
Previews: November 9 - 14, 2012
Run: November 15 – December 23, 2012

About the show: "Hellcab portrays the story of a cab driver in for the longest night of his life as he transports a bizarre and mysterious array of customers through the gritty streets of Chicago. Playwright Will Kern draws from personal experience as a former cab driver to create this alternately frightening, hilarious and poignant journey. Throughout his long shift, the eclectic collection of passengers includes a trio of drug-addicts, a born-again couple, a smug lawyer, and a randy duo on their way to a motel. Set during a bitter cold Christmas Eve, Hellcab presents a rear-view image mirroring the passing parade of humanity."

Profiles presents the 20th Anniversary production of Kern's landmark play. First produced as a late-night show by Famous Door Theatre in 1992, the play was originally scheduled for twelve performances and ended up running for over nine years, becoming one of the longest running shows in Chicago theatre history. Hellcab, performed all over the U.S. and abroad, including Scotland, Israel, Singapore, and Ireland, won numerous awards, including a Fringe First at the Edinburgh Festival and was adapted for the screen by Mr. Kern in 1998.

THE DREAM OF THE BURNING BOY
Midwest Premiere
by David West Read
directed by Artistic Director Joe Jahraus
The Alley Stage
Previews January 18 – January 23, 2013
Runs January 24 – March 10, 2013

About the show: "Since the sudden death of his favorite student, high-school teacher Larry Morrow has been falling asleep at his desk and dreaming. The school's guidance counselor hangs inspirational posters designed to help everyone "process their emotions" while the student's sister and friends find little solace in their schoolwork. The Dream of the Burning Boy is a bittersweet story of choices made, opportunities lost, and finding the strength to move on."

The Dream of the Burning Boy received its World premiere in March 2011 as part of Roundabout Underground, Roundabout Theatre's initiative to nurture new plays by emerging writers. Playwright David West Read, a native of Toronto, currently resides as a Lila Acheson Wallace Playwriting Fellow at The Juilliard School, and a recent graduate of the MFA program in Dramatic Writing at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. The Dream of the Burning Boy was developed at the 2010 National Playwrights Conference at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center. Mr. Read currently works on a commission for South Coast Repertory.

THE BREAK OF NOON
Midwest Premiere
by Resident Artist Neil LaBute
directed by Resident Artist Rick Snyder
The Main Stage, 4139 N. Broadway
Previews April 5 – April 10, 2013
Runs April 11 – May 26, 2013

About the show: "What if God told you to be a better person but the world wouldn't allow it? Such is the dilemma facing John Smith, a run-of-the-mill white-collar businessman who survives an office shooting and is subsequently touched by what he believes to be a divine vision. His journey toward personal enlightenment-past greed, lust and the other deadly sins-turns tense, hilarious, profane, and heartbreaking. Exploring the narrow path to spiritual fulfillment, strewn with the funny, frantic failings of humankind, The Break of Noon showcases Neil LaBute at his discomforting best."

In 2010, The Break of Noon received its World premiere as a co-production with MCC Theater in New York and then transferred in 2011 to the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles. Neil LaBute plans to work with Profiles on an exclusive revised version of the script. The play received an Edgerton Foundation New American Plays Award.

This marks Profiles Theatre's tenth premiere of LaBute's work following the upcoming American premiere of In a Forest, Dark and Deep and acclaimed productions of reasons to be pretty, The Mercy Seat, and Fat Pig.

Parking is available for $10 - $12 at 4100 N. Clarendon (one block east of the theatre at the corner of Clarendon and Belle Plaine). Performances are Thursdays, Fridays at 8:00 pm, Saturdays at 5:00 and 8:00 p.m, Sundays at 7:00 p.m.

Ticket prices range from $30 - $40. Profiles Theatre offers a FLEX PASS for discounts on the season, now available at www.profilestheatre.org or (773) 549-1815. A Five Ticket Pass is $125; a Ten Ticket Pass is $200 (a savings of over $150) when ordered before August 31, 2012. Tickets can be used in any combination of quantity and date throughout the season with advance reservations.

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