POINT BREAK LIVE! Begins Open-Ended Chicago Run 3/19

Point Break LIVE!, the internationally-lauded absurdist stage adaptation of the 1991 Keanu Reeves/Patrick Swayze extreme-sports blockbuster, surfs into the Windy City for an open-ended run beginning March 19. Point Break LIVE! is a high-action, punk-rock-style theatrical experience that comes complete with excessive gunfire, swearing, chase scenes, fight choreography, football tackles, fake blood, explosions, and of course an indoor monsoon. Mix all that with iconic quotes from the movie like "Utah, get me two," "I am an F-B-I Agent!" and "Are we gonna jump or jerk off?," add in the hotness factor of surfer dudes and female stunt doubles, and you have a night of absurdist theater that rivals anything by Samuel Beckett in terms of pure excitement and energy.

New Rock Theater Productions presents Point Break LIVE!-produced and directed by Eve Hars at New Rock Theater, 3931 N Elston Ave, Chicago (just south of Irving Park), a space specifically created for the show and shared with La Costa Theater Company. Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 9:30pm and Sundays at 6pm. The Press Opening is Sunday, March 21 at 6pm. Tickets are $15 (Sundays) and $20 (Fridays and Saturdays) and are available at pointbreaklive.com or by calling 866-811-4111.

Called "hilarious" by Variety and "uproarious" by the Los Angeles Times, Point Break LIVE! tells the story of former College-football-star-turned-FBI-agent, Johnny Utah, in pursuit of the surfing, bank robbing, skydiving, bare-hand-fighting adrenaline-junkie-cum-Zen-master Bodhi Sattva. In Point Break LIVE!, the lead role of Johnny Utah is played by an audience member. Anyone can volunteer and step up to the challenge of a grueling (meaning fairly ridiculous) audition process. Using the latest in Applause-o-Meter technology, the winner is chosen by the audience and goes on to star as action hero Johnny Utah for the night, reading all the lines off of cue cards. This method really catches the essential rawness of Keanu Reeves' acting style. When the action bursts out onto the street, the audience can keep track of it via a real-time feed from the Keanu Kam^TM. At the end of the show, the "volunteer Keanu" is handed a VHS tape of his or her performance.

"We are so excited to be bringing this show to Chicago," says producer and director Eve Hars. "I'm really amazed at the vitality of the indie theater scene here. It's like no place we've been. That has its advantages and challenges. On one hand, it seems like audiences here will really appreciate this kind of production, on the other, I think we need to make it the best possible show because Chicago audiences probably have a higher standard than other places. It can't just rely on the novelty of the concept because there are so many innovative, wild concepts being staged in this city all the time."

LA2day.com described Point Break LIVE! as "all-encompassing, wet, interactive, loud, extreme, and altogether awesome!" The audience is involved in the action to such a degree that HustlerOfCulture.com proclaimed, "Point Break LIVE! is the Rocky Horror Picture Show for our generation." The audience will get wet, will be robbed at gunpoint, will be spattered with fake blood and possibly even thrown on the floor by belligerent bank robbers or molested by over-sexed surfers. Someone might even get hit with a meatball sandwich. Survival Kits^TM, at $1 each, contain items to help audience members participate in "the ultimate ride," and include a plastic emergency poncho to protect them from the action that literally spills forth from the stage.

Originally conceived and staged in Seattle by Jaime Keeling, Point Break LIVE! has sold out in extended runs in Seattle, Minneapolis, New York City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. It is the longest-running theatrical production currently playing in L.A. The Los Angeles Times raves, "Point Break LIVE! shamelessly rides the gnarly breakers of travesty until viewers wipe out on the shoals of helpless laughter." The LA Weekly proclaims Point Break LIVE! "So hideously over the top, you can't stop laughing." LA.com says, "In a nutshell: About the most dead-on dose of hilarity to ever be on stage." And the San Francisco Examiner declares, "The fact that the movie is a surf saga and doesn't necessarily lend itself to an adaptation for the stage is what makes the show all the more ridiculous and a must-see."

Original concept by Jaime Keeling

Original Production developed by Jaime Keeling and Jamie Hook

After receiving a BA in liberal arts from St. John's College, Jaime Keeling applied her well-rounded but unspecified education to the cult-like pursuit of championing the film arts...in Seattle. In her five years as Program Director of the film arts organization Northwest Film Forum (2001-2006), she did her best to bring year round visionary cinema to the screen, cultivate an inspired filmmaking community and throw killer parties-all managed on an itty-bitty budget. During this time she also created and produced the most successful live theater production in NWFF history: Point Break LIVE! Originally conceived in college as "jackass theater" on the quad, Point Break LIVE! found a stage in the summer of 2003 at NWFF's Little Theater. Currently Keeling lives in New York. She continues to work in the film industry, curate cinema for L Magazine's outdoor film series "Summer Screen," and perform with the double-dutch team.

Jamie Hook has spent over a decade producing and directing original works of film and theater. His film credits include The Naked Proof, Silence!, Brand Upon the Brain, Money Buys Happiness, and The Wright Brothers. On stage, he has produced and directed Dear Diane, Beyond Belief, Merry Christmas Anyways, Love Exciting Love, and Scott and Zelda. He is the founding director of the Northwest Film Forum in Seattle and the current director of Complicated, INC. in New York City.

Eve Hars (Producer, Director) came to theater by way of music, having played guitar in rock clubs for years in NYC. In 2007, she had just written a rock opera and felt it was time to get some theatrical experience when a chance encounter with an old friend, Jamie Hook, lead to her producing Point Break LIVE! in Manhattan. It was trial by fire but she managed to guide the production from an initial five week run to a four month run. Then with several of the cast members from NYC, she brought the show to LA where it has been running for over two years. In 2008, she and her LA production team opened another Point Break LIVE! in San Francisco where it has been running for over a year. Right now she is happy riding the PBL wave as far as it will go but hopes one day to produce that rock opera and thus complete the circle that lead her to PBL in the first place.

Steven Hill (Production Manager) has worked with The Body Politic, Idle Muse, Remy Bummpo, Prologue, and First Folio. In addition to his Design and Technical credits, he was formerly a certified Actor-Combatant in the Society of American Fight Directors.

Jay Berger (FBI Agent 1/Surfer Boy/Assistant Production Manager) is a graduate of Miami University. He has worked with the Brown/Trinity Rep Consortium in Providence, RI and has toured as an ensemble member with National Theater for Arts and Education. He was recently seen in Chicago in Rascal Children's Theater's production of Judith Lynn: A Story of the Sea. Greg Callozzo (Harp) has performed at the Annoyance, Donny's Skybox Theater, the Side Project, ComedySportz, Victory Gardens Greenhouse, and the iO. Nathanael Card plays "Roach." Leah Cowen (Director Kathryn Bigelow/Tyler) is a native Chicagoan. She has toured with Chicspeare Production Company as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Die Alte in A Bright Room Called Day, and the Baker's Wife in Into the Woods. Tracie Dahlke (Cue Card Girl/PA/Stunt Double) has a BA in theater from Colgate University and has worked with Freiburg Germany's Stadttheater. She has participated in Second City's Conservatory program as well as various films and Theater Productions in Chicago. Derek Elstro (Grommet) has performed with Hobo Junction Theatre in Bad Guys in Suits and The Regulars. Other credits include Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night's DreaM. Cody Evans (Nathanial) was born and raised on the North Side of Chicago and studied film at Columbia College. He has appeared in Hamlet and A Christmas Carol at Redtwist Theater and The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Diety at Victory Gardens. Colin Fewel (FBI Agent 2/Aussie Cop) hails from Kansas City, MO and the Loyola University Chicago Theatre program. Errol McLendon (Pappas) has been seen in Red Tape Theatre's Endgame and Enemy of the People, New World Rep's Betrayal, and Oak Park Village Player's You Can't Take It With You and as the Marquis de Sade in Quills. He is a company member of Red Tape Theatre. Matthew Peck (Bodhi) makes his Chicago debut. He recently received a BA in Drama from Kenyon College. He has also studied with the British American Drama Academy in London, UK.

 

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