Walkabout Theater Company is celebrating summer with A PERSEPHONE PAGEANT, an outdoor spectacle performance weaving together mythic tales of nature gods and true stories of environmental justice. Join Walkabout as it travels from Chicago's Rainbow Beach to the North Shore with a family-friendly, immersive performance exploring the Great Lakes, their history with Chicago and the great victories and challenges associated with their preservation.
Three free performances will be presenTed August 20, 26 & 27, 2017 at three city parks through the Chicago Park District's "Night Out in the Parks" series. A special Persephone Project benefit performance will take place at the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts in Hyde Park on September 2, and the production will be featured at the Ragdale Foundation's Ring Performance in Lake Forest, IL on September 16.
In A PERSEPHONE PAGEANT we find ourselves in a mythical world that directly parallels our own: Persephone as Lake Michigan, Demeter as Land and Hades as Man's Creations. What happens when Man's Creations usurp and consume the water, and we the people disrupt the relationship between water and land?
For additional information visit www.walkabouttheater.org.
A PERSEPHONE PAGEANT is directed by Jessica Thebus, head of the Northwestern MFA Directing Program and Thom Pasculli*, Artistic Director of Walkabout Theater Company, and features work from Tria Smith (executive producer, pageant design), Mark Messing (composer) and Kristina Isabelle (stilt choreography), with original text from MacArthur Fellow Sarah Ruhl and Morgan McNaught and dramaturgy by Regina Victor.
A PERSEPHONE PAGEANT will feature Claire Bauman*, Nigel Brown*, McCambridge Dowd-Whipple*, Cooper Forsman*, Katie Mazzini*, Dana Murphy*, Anastacia Narrajos, Kelly Nesheim*, Thom Pasculli*, Alex Rodriguez*, Julia Santha, Lauren Torian and Regina Victor with special appearances by Tria Smith, Cynthia Castiglione, Mark Messing and Stephanie Pasculli.
*Denotes Walkabout company members.
The creative team for A PERSEPHONE PAGEANT includes Sue Haas and Kristy Leigh Hall (costume design), KT Shivak, Evan Barr and Jackie Valdez (puppet design), Julia Santha (assistant director/producer), Sam Virgilio (associate producer) and Dina Klahn* (production stage manager).
Photos by Evan Barr.
(left to right) Kelly Nesheim, Anastacia Narrajos and Lauren Torian as the People of the Earth in a publicity image for Walkabout Theater Company’s outdoor spectacle A PERSEPHONE PAGEANT. Photo by Evan Barr.
(pictured) Nigel Brown as the Lake Daughter in a publicity image for Walkabout Theater Company’s outdoor spectacle A PERSEPHONE PAGEANT. Photo by Evan Barr.
(left to right) Anastacia Narrajos, Dana Murphy and Claire Bauman in a publicity image for Walkabout Theater Company’s outdoor spectacle A PERSEPHONE PAGEANT. Photo by Evan Barr.
(left to right) Anastacia Narrajos, Dana Murphy, Kelly Nesheim, Claire Bauman, Cooper Forsman and Lauren Torian in a publicity image for Walkabout Theater Company’s outdoor spectacle A PERSEPHONE PAGEANT. Photo by Evan Barr.
Videos