Photo Flash: First Look - Strawdog's CHARLES IVES TAKE ME HOME, Opening 5/19

Strawdog Theatre Company and Interim Artistic Director Hank Boland announced the final production to their 2013 - 2014 season, Jessica Dickey's Charles Ives Take Me Home, May 9 - June 21, direction by Keira Fromm with music direction by Strawdog Theatre Company Member Mike Przygoda and original music composition by Christopher Kriz, at Strawdog Theatre Company, 3829 N. Broadway Street. Preview performance tickets are $15 and continue tonight, Thursday, May 15 and Friday, May 16 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, May 18 at 4 p.m. There is a Board Preview performance, Saturday, May 17 at 7 p.m., with $50 tickets that include access to a post-performance reception. Opening/press night is Monday, May 19 at 8 p.m. Industry night is Monday, June 2 at 8 p.m. The performance schedule is Thursdays - Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 4 p.m. Single tickets are $28 and are currently on sale. Subscriptions, group, senior and student discounts are also available. Tickets may be ordered online at strawdog.org or by calling OvationTix toll-free: 866-811-4111.

Strawdog concludes its 26th season with their fourth production, Charles Ives Take Me Home. When a father's love of music clashes with his daughter's passion for basketball, long-dead modernist composer Charles Ives is the perfect referee. Featuring Ives pieces performed by Dave Belden including "Variations On America," "The Unanswered Question," "Things Our Fathers Loved (from 114 Songs)," "Sonata for violin and piano no. 4," and "The Concord Sonata." Charles Ives Take Me Home is a comic and poignant story of dissonance, defense and devotion.

Charles Ives Take Me Home was nominated for the prestigious Susan Blackburn Prize and was first produced by Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre in NYC in June 2012 and was met with praise from audiences and critics alike. Charles Isherwood of The New York Times wrote "Charles Ives Take Me Home suggests she [Dickey] is a talent to watch: her writing has freshness, economy, an occasional cheeky vulgarity and a fine measure of poetic insight" andThe New Yorker described the play as "honest, vulgar, funny and smart...Like an Ives sonata -- sometimes jagged, sometimes lyrical-- the play is an accomplished, affecting composition."

The cast includes Strawdog ensemble member Jamie Vann with guest artists Dave Belden and Samantha Chavara.

Photos by Chris Ocken