Photo Flash: Chicago Dramatists’ LUCINDA’S BED

Chicago Dramatists enters its 31st Season with the world premiere of Resident Playwright Mia McCullough's twisted comedy, Lucinda's Bed. Lucinda is six years old, and all she wants is to be good. But when the Monster under her bed introduces himself one night, Lucinda finds out that staying good will be harder than she thinks. Even when she's grown and married, the Monster continues to turn up in the most peculiar places. Can she ever find goodness in her life, or will there always be something sinister lurking just beneath the covers?

Press Openings for Lucinda's Bed are Friday, October 9, 2009 at 8:00 PM and Saturday, October 10, 2009 at 8:00 PM, with regular performances through November 8th. Preview performances are October 1, 2, 3 & 8 at 8:00 PM. Performance times are Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 PM, and Sundays at 3:00 PM. Tickets are $30 for Fridays and Saturdays, $25 for Thursdays and Sundays, and $15 for previews. $10 Student and Industry tickets are available for Thursday and Sunday performances. Group rates are available. For tickets, call (312) 633-0630 or order online at www.chicagodramatists.org.

Since 1979, theatres and audiences have looked to Chicago Dramatists for the newest plays and most promising playwrights. Chicago Dramatists playwrights are being produced all over the country and the world, serving hundreds of thousands of theatre patrons each year. This fall, Chicago Dramatists 2007-08 production of A Steady Rain by Resident Playwright Keith Huff will open on Broadway featuring Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig.
The Play
Lucinda suffers from a chronic case of good-girl-itis. The monster under her bed, unfortunately, does not. As Lucinda tries to be good, the monster under her bed does everything he can, showing up at the most awkward and inopportune moments with perfect timing and panache, to make sure she is not. And, in a world where you're constantly meeting your monster face to face, it's hard to know who to trust. Can Lucinda successfully flirt the line between good and bad? Or will she make her bed and be forced to lie in it?

In this twisted comedy, Mia McCullough takes us to the many beds of Lucinda's life. From twin to full to queen, McCullough explores the need to be good and the temptation not to be, navigating growing up, growing old and the monsters that grow with us.

The Playwright
Mia McCullough's most recent productions include Since Africa at The Old Globe in San Diego (originally produced at Chicago Dramatists), Spare Change at Stage Left Theatre (Chicago) and in Steppenwolf Theatre's First Look Repertory, and Taking Care at the Victory Theatre in Los Angeles. Her plays have also been produced at Actors' Express (Atlanta), Mo'olelo Performing Arts Company (San Diego), InterAct (Philadelphia), and Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival, among others. Her break-through play Chagrin Falls garnered many awards including the American Theatre Critics Association Osborn Award, first prize in the Julie Harris Playwriting Competition, and a Joseph Jefferson Award for New Work. Chosen from hundreds of plays-in-progress, Lucinda's Bed was developed in part through readings and workshops at Chicago Dramatists.The Production Team

Jessi D. Hill will direct Lucinda's Bed. Ms. Hill recently served as Artistic Director of Stage Left Theatre Company. Her latest ChicaGo Productions include the world premiere new plays: David Scott Hay's The Violent Sex (Visions & Voices at Chicago Dramatists), Brett Neveu's Empty, Mia McCullough's Suicide and the Chicago Premiere of Mrs Mackenzie's Beginners Guide to the Blues by Patty Lynch and Kent Stephens (Jeff Nominated), all at Stage Left. Ms. Hill is currently based in New York City where she has directed and developed numerous new plays at companies such as The New Group, Flux Theatre Ensemble, and Diverse
City Theatre. She currently serves as the Literary Manager and Director of New Play Development for terraNOVA Collective NYC. Ms. Hill is the recipient of the 2008/09 Denham Fellowship from the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation and recently received her MFA in Directing from Yale School of Drama.

The cast for Lucinda's Bed includes Chicago Dramatists Associate Artist Doug MacKechnie (Adam), Elizabeth Laidlaw (Lucinda) and Lucas Neff (Monster).

The design team includes Grant Sabin (Set Designer), Diane Fairchild (Lighting Designer) Nick Keenan (Sound Designer), Jenniffer Thusing (Props Designer and Stage Manager), and Kat Doebler (Costume Designer).

Dates · Times · Tickets
Press Openings for Lucinda's Bed are Friday, October 9, 2009, at 8:00 PM and Saturday, October 10, 2009 at 8:00 PM, with regular performances through November 8th. Preview performances are October 1, 2, 3 & 8 at 8:00 PM. Performance times are Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 PM, and Sundays at 3:00 PM. Tickets are $30 for Fridays and Saturdays, $25 for Thursdays and Sundays, and $15 for previews. $10 Student and Industry tickets are available for Thursday and Sunday performances. Group rates are available. For tickets, call (312) 633-0630 or order online at www.chicagodramatists.org.

Chicago Dramatists is located five minutes from the Loop at 1105 W. Chicago Avenue, at the 24-hour Chicago Avenue stop of the Blue Line subway, and is just off the Ogden and Augusta exits of the Kennedy Expressway. There is street parking available and free reserved parking with ticket purchase.

For more information about Lucinda's Bed, contact Brian Loevner or Russ Tutterow at (312) 633-0630, or visit the theatre's website at www.chicagodramatists.org. 

Diane Fairchild, Robert Koon, Doug MacKechnie and Anna Bahow

Zoa Norman and Richard Perez

Doug MacKechnie, Elizabeth Laidlaw, and Lucas Neff

Neill Shanahan and family

Brian Loevner, Mia McCullough, Jessi Hill, Russ Tutterow

Brian Loevner, Terri Powell, Therese Weber, Board Member Zoa Norman

Doug MacKecknie and Cynthia Frahm

Brian Loevner, Doug MacKecknie and Will Dunne

Meade Palidofsky and Will Dunne

Elizabeth Laidlaw and Ann Filmer

Brian Leovner and Jessica Carsen

Lucas Neff

Patrice Fletcher, Janan Hanna, Barry Bennett