Polarity Ensemble Theatre Launches 2015 Dionysos Cup Festival of New Plays Today

Polarity Ensemble Theatre presents its annual DIONYSOS CUP FESTIVAL OF NEW PLAYS tonight, July 9, through July 19 featuring workshop readings of four new full-length plays by Chicago-area playwrights as a part of a six-month long development process.

The festival is sponsored in partnership with the Greenhouse Theater Center at 2257 N. Lincoln Avenue, Chicago, where all the performances will take place. Tickets are $10 per performance or $15 for a full festival pass. Seating is general admission. For tickets and information visit www.petheatre.com or call the box office at 773-404-7336. [Please note: these are workshop readings and are not to be reviewed in the press.]

The festival includes ...AND EAT IT TOO by Aline Lathrop, directed by Hutch Pimentel, Josh Altman, Dramaturg; LEAVINGS by Gail Parrish, directed by Helen Young, Maggie Carlin, Dramaturg; GIRL FOUND by Barbara Lhota, directed by Dan Foss, Sarah Laeuchli, Dramaturg; and THE CHARISMA OF FLYING SAUCERS by Mary Beth Hoerner, directed by Rachel Ramirez, JD Caudill, Dramaturg. Rachel Ramirez is also the Festival Producer. Aaron Arbiter, Festival Assistant. Artistic Director: Richard Engling

The Schedule:

Thursday, July 9 @ 7:30pm: ...AND EAT IT TOO
Friday, July 10 @ 7:30pm: LEAVINGS
Saturday, July 11 @ 7:30pm: GIRL FOUND
Sunday, July 12 @ 2:30pm: THE CHARISMA OF FLYING SAUCERS

Thursday, July 16 @ 7:30pm: GIRL FOUND
Friday, July 17 @ 7:30pm: ...AND EAT IT TOO
Saturday, July 18 @ 7:30pm: THE CHARISMA OF FLYING SAUCERS
Sunday, July 19 @ 2:30pm: LEAVINGS

About the Festival:

2015 marks the eighth time Polarity has produced a DIONYSOS CUP FESTIVAL OF NEW PLAYS. The Festival provides a six month development process for the selected playwrights and affords them a series of feedback encounters with a director and dramaturg selected for their experience with new plays, as well as with the play-going public. Polarity regularly takes Dionysos Cup scripts to full production, including the 2015 production of ANNA IN THE AFTERLIFE by Richard Engling, MIRACLES IN THE FALL by Chuck O'Connor in 2014, the Jeff-winning NEVER THE BRIDESMAID by Bill Jepsen in 2013, EPHEMERA by Bryce Wissel and KABULITIS by Keith Anwar, both in 2011, THE GOOD HARVEST by Lisa Rosenthal in 2010, and THE WHITE AIRPLANE by Darren Callahan in 2009. Other Dionysos Cup scripts to reach world premiere productions include SAVAGE LAND by Josh Nordmark (titled LIARS OF US ALL in the Dionysos Cup) produced by Nothing Special Productions in 2008 and GHOST GARDENS by Steven Simoncic (titled ONCE UPON A TIME IN DETROIT in the Dionysos Cup) produced by Pegasus Theatre in 2015. OCTAGON by Kristiana Colón (the 2014 Dionysos Cup winner) is scheduled for a September/October 2015 production at London's Arcola Theatre produced by Supporting Wall in association with Tabula Rasa Theatre.

About the Plays:

...AND EAT IT TOO by Aline Lathrop
Sheila and Naomi are two young HIV research scientists who make opposite professional choices when they become mothers. But each must face new challenges to her marriage and to her sense of worth, as she tries to find her own way in this world of antiquated maternal expectations and modern opportunities that come with a price. The play asks how a mother, or anyone else today, may define important, meaningful work.
Cast: Sheila - Shelley Nixon, Naomi - Brennan Stacker, Doug - John Luzar, Mark - Julian Hester.

LEAVINGS by Gail Parrish
On her 111th birthday, the oldest woman from Mississippi is scheduled to speak to the governor, a descendent of her family's slaveholders. Believing that her family's many problems are caused by the unsettled and meddling ghosts of the past, Miss Bea sets out to convince the conservative governor to travel with her to the old homestead to settle the spirits before it's too late.
Cast: Thersa - Marisa Baldwin-Woodhouse, Mis Bea - Regina Whitehead-Mays, Benny/Rafe - Geno Walker, Narrator/Chareese/Tempe/Sally - Taylor Raye, Loren/Ellen - Laura Stephenson, Narrator/Abijah/Stanley Skinner - Ben Veatch, Narrator/Oseola/Ben/Q/Host - Kevin Patterson, Narrator/Slave Trader/Arthur/Assistant/Will/Conductor - Jake Baker.

GIRL FOUND by Barbara Lhota
A seventeen year-old girl who mysteriously went missing four years ago turns up in a youth shelter in Canada, with no memory of where she's been. Soon she recalls a name, Sophia Sobin, and a life she wants back. Her aunt, Ellie, and troubled mother, Eva, welcome her home, but subtle changes in Sophia's demeanor make others question. Who are you if you cannot remember your past? Sophia revives her damaged family, but chaotic past events bubble beneath the surface. Inspired by true life events, GIRL FOUND explores how perceptions can be distorted in the desperate pursuit of primal love.
Cast: Sophia Sobin - Galya Loeb, Ellie Sobin - Lisa Herceg, Eva Sobin - Laura Sturm, Noah Evans - Lionel Gentle, Dr. Martha Cole/Sam Ryan/Jane Frank/Jinx - Stephanie Sullivan, Yasmen/Alex Lee/Charlene Manning - Taylor Raye.

THE CHARISMA OF FLYING SAUCERS by Mary Beth Hoerner
It's 1958, New Mexico, and people are seeing funny things in the sky. The father of modern psychology can't explain it, and neither can the Reverend, the Sheriff, the Crackpot, the Major, or D., a woman who may have fallen from the sky. She can't remember. Join the cast of THE CHARISMA OF FLYING SAUCERS as they try to figure out what, if anything, is out there, and how would it affect your life if you knew the answer?
Cast: Sheriff - Mike Newquist, D. - Laura Berner Taylor, David - Rich Holton, Major Vale - Rian Jairell, Dr. Speck - Charles Palia, Carl Jung - Richard Engling, Jay Allan - Jake Baker, Patsy - Maria Margaglione.

About the Playwrights
Aline Lathrop's plays have been produced or developed at numerous theaters in Chicago and across the country. Her play, MERCHILD, will be produced by 16th Street Theater, where she is currently the Playwright in Residence. CHRISTMAS AT THE STAPLES CENTER was commissioned by Step Up Productions and produced as part of their Holidaze show this season. BORDELLO (a Susan Smith Blackburn Prize nominee), received its world premiere at Chicago Dramatists, as did FEAST (one of the "Top 5 Best New Plays," New City Magazine; First Prize, New Plays Festival, Centre Stage - South Carolina). TOYOTA TERCEL and PURITY BALL received workshop productions with Artistic Home's Cut to the Chase Series. A PIECE OF BONE received its Jeff-recommended world premiere at Circle Theatre of Forest Park. Ms. Lathrop has also developed plays at Abingdon Theatre Company, American Theatre Company, Boarshead Theatre, Centre Stage-South Carolina, the Chicago Cultural Center, Columbia College, Famous Door Theatre Company, Northwestern University, Stage Left Theatre Company, Ten Grand Productions, and Theatre Seven. Her work has been published by Smith & Krauss. She is the recipient of an Illinois Arts Council fellowship and a Dr. Donahue Tremaine grant. The playwright is a graduate of the Northwestern University Theatre Department, a member of the Dramatists Guild, and a Chicago Dramatists Resident Playwright. She resides in Chicago with her husband and their two young daughters.

Gail Parrish is a playwright whose plays have been produced nationally and internationally. Her awards and honors include grand prize in the Black Gospel Play Association's National Stage Play Competition for BRINGING BACK JOSEPHINE; grand prize in Daimler-Chrysler's Dreambuilder's National Playwriting Competition for ELEVATOR; a Midwest Emmy nomination (writing) for the ELEVATOR screenplay; selection to Juneteenth Legacy Theatre's Jamboree of New Plays sponsored by the Actor's Theater of Louisville; grand prize in the National Playwriting Competition sponsored by Black Writers in Production of Kalamazoo, Michigan. ELEVATOR was selected as the Wiesbaden, Germany entry into the U.S. Army's European One-Act Play Festival. Ms. Parrish has been an active member of Extra Mile Playwrights (Detroit), and Black Women Playwrights (Washington, DC), Michigan Playwrights and sits on the board of Coming to the Table. She was born and raised in Chicago and currently lives in Oswego, Illinois with her husband, Maurice. She is the mother of Ted, Andy, Brandon and Cara Parrish, and the grandmother of Evan Gale.

Barbara Lhota is a member of the Dramatists Guild and a network playwright with Pride Films and Plays and Chicago Dramatists. She received an M.F.A. from Brandeis University, where she was an artist-in-residence and taught playwriting. Her plays have been produced in Boston, Chicago, New York and throughout the country. Her play, 180 DEGREE RULE, co-written with M.E.H. Lewis (a Pride Films and Plays Finalist, Chicago, 2013) will be produced spring 2016 with Babes With Blades Theatre Company directed by Rachel Edwards Harvith. Recent productions and readings include WARPED (Stage Left Theatre, Chicago, 2013), PERSONAL PENCHANTS (The Open Theatre, Boston, 2014; City Theatre, Miami, 2013; The Women's Theatre Project, Miami, 2013), ECHO (New American Voices Series, The Landing Theatre, Houston, 2014), ALL GOOD CHILDREN GO TO HEAVEN co-written with M.E.H Lewis (Chicago Dramatists Saturday Series, 2014), and 85 BILLION NEURONS TO FOREVER (Women's Theatre Alliance, Chicago, 2015 and upcoming development with LezPlay's Elizabeth Swanson). Ms. Lhota has a number of publishing credits including four volumes of short plays with Smith & Kraus. She has over 50 monologues published with Meriwether, Pioneer Press and Smith & Kraus. Her full-length play, THE VANISHED, is published with Chicago Dramaworks. Her plays STRANGERS AND ROMANCE are published in WOMEN PLAYWRIGHTS: THE BEST PLAYS OF 2001. She is a past recipient of Mimi and Harold Steinberg Award for Playwriting for HANGING BY A THREAD and was a semi-finalist for A Room of Her Own - Shakespeare's Sister Fellowship.

Mary Beth Hoerner is a Chicago playwright and award-winning fiction writer.
Her full-length play ATOMIC HONEYMOON was performed at the CORNservatory
in Chicago, and she was the recipient of a Ragdale residency in playwriting. Her short fiction and nonfiction have appeared in a variety of publications, and her memoir, NIGHT GAMES, appears in the anthology CUBBIE BLUES: 100 YEARS OF WAITING TILL NEXT YEAR. She freelanced extensively for the CHICAGO TRIBUNE and co-founded The Chicago Way literary reading series. She is a board member of 2nd Story and a network playwright at Chicago Dramatists. Her education includes an M.A. in English from the University of Illinois, Champaign, and an M.F.A. in creative writing from Columbia College Chicago.

Visit www.petheatre.com for more information.

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