Profiles Theatre Presents ANNAPURNA by Sharr White, Now Through 7/20

Profiles Theatre announces the Midwest premiere of Annapurna by Sharr White, opening at The Alley Stage, 4147 N. Broadway on June 12, 2014. Annapurna, directed by Profiles ensemble member Eric Burgher and featuring ensemble member Darrell W. Cox with guest artist Lia D. Mortensen, runs June 13, 2014 - July 20, 2014.

Note to press: The Press opening has changed. Press opening will be held on Sunday, June 22 at 7:00pm.

Twenty years ago, Emma walked out on her husband, cowboy-poet Ulysses, in the middle of the night. Now, hearing he's in dire straits, she tracks him down in the wilds of Colorado to find him living in a grungy trailer, working on his magnum opus, hooked to an oxygen tank, and cooking in the buff. Their reunion, charged by rage and compassion, brings back the worst and best of their former bond.

Annapurna received its critically-acclaimed world premeire at the Magic Theatre in San Francisco, California in 2011 and was a finalist for the Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award. The premiere was followed by a 2013 production at The Odyssey Theatre in Los Angeles starring Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman. The New Group opened the production Off-Broadway with Mullally and Offerman in April 2014 at the Acorn Theatre in New York.

Directed by Profiles ensemble member Eric Burgher, the cast of Annapurna features ensemble member Darrell W. Cox as Ulysses and guest artist Lia D. Mortensen as Emma.

"We are so excited to introduce playwright Sharr White to the Profiles audience," says director Eric Burgher. "This is a play that immediately appealed to me because of its heart, its relentlessness and its unapologetic sense of humor. His characters share both a rugged emotional honesty and a tender poetic beauty that make for the kind of visceral experience that draws us to the theatre. Filled with all the joy, pain, regret and hope that makes the exhilarating view worth the often terrifying climb."

The designers are Katie-Bell Springmann (set), Mike Durst and Claire Chrzan (lights), Jeffrey Levin (sound and original music), and Raquel Adorno (costumes).

Profiles Theatre concludes its 25th Anniversary Season with this Midwest premiere of Annapurna. The Midwest premiere of c*ckby Mike Bartlett is now playing in an extended run at the Main Stage, 4139 N. Broadway, through June 29, 2014. The 2014-2015 season opens with Reasons to be Happy by Neil LaBute, beginning August 22, 2014 .

Tickets for this limited run of Annapurna are $35 for Thursdays, $40 for Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Tickets are available by phone, (773) 549-1815, or online, www.profilestheatre.org. Performances are Thursdays and Fridays at 8:00 p.m., Saturdays at 5:00 and 8:00 pm, Sundays at 7:00 p.m.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

SHARR WHITE (Playwright) has written plays developed or produced at theatres across the country, including MTC Theatre, MCC Theatre, South Coast Repertory, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Marin Theatre Company, Lincoln Center Theater's Directors Lab, Key West Theatre Festival, and more. He has been honored with a Dr. Henry and Lillian Nesburn Award as part of the Julie Harris Award in Playwriting for The Escape Velocity of Savages, a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship for Six Years and the 2009 Skye Cooper New American Play Prize for Sunlight. The Other Place received the 2010 Playwrights First Award, the 2011 Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation's Theatre Visions Fund Award, and was an Outer Critics Circle award nominee for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play in a 2013 production featuring Laurie Metcalf.

ERIC BURGHER (Director) is an ensemble member of Profiles Theatre where he assistant directed the Midwest premiere of In God's Hat by Rhett Rossi, Hellcab by Will Kern (both 2012 and 2013 productions), the American premiere of Apple by Vern Thiessen, the Midwest premiere of Blackbird by Adam Rapp and the Midwest premiere of Snakebit by David Marshall Grant. He most recently directed an original piece for arciTEXT, a new play festival with The Arc Theatre. Eric is an Adjunct Faculty member at Columbia College Chicago where he teaches acting and has directed in two 24-Hour play festivals as well as full productions of Blood Wedding by Federico Garcia Lorca and The Shape of Things by Neil LaBute.

DARRELL W. COX (Ulysses) is an ensemble member and Artistic Director at Profiles where he was most recently seen in the Midwest Premiere of In God's Hat by Rhett Rossi. He received his fourth Joseph Jefferson Award for Actor in a Principal Role for his performance as Joe Cooper in Profiles' production of Killer Joe by Tracy Letts. Darrell has appeared at Steppenwolf in the World Premiere of Men of Tortuga (where he originated the role of Taggart), the Midwest Premiere of Orange Flower Water (which traveled to the Galway Arts Festival), and the World Premiere of Wendall Greene. He has also been seen at the Goodman in The Shawl and Home as part of the David Mamet Festival, American Theatre Company's Speed the Plow and Oleanna as part of the Mamet Repertory, as well as Jim Jones in the Midwest Premiere of The People's Temple and the World Premiere of Martin Furey's Shot at TimeLine, among others. He has won four Joseph Jefferson Awards for Principal Actor for his work in Profiles' productions of Killer Joe, Blackbird, Some Voices, and Eye of God. In addition, he has received two After Dark Awards for Outstanding Performance for Profiles' productions of Popcorn, and Carnal Knowledge. Darrell was seen last season in a recurring role as Uncle Ray on "Chicago Fire" on NBC and appeared in the film "AB-" , which premiered at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival and then appeared at Cannes, the Palm Springs International Film Festival and the Chicago International Film Festival, among others.

LIA D. MORTENSEN (Emma) is working with Profiles Theatre for the first time. Her other Chicago credits include An Inspector Calls and Night and Day with Remy Bumppo, Cymbeline with First Folio, Faith Healer with Den Theatre, Rabbit Hole for the Goodman Theatre, Big Meal for ATC, Ten Chimneys, Lady Windermere's Fan, Sky Girls and Talley's Folly with Northlight, Measure for Measure and All's Well That Ends Well for Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Closer and Faith Healer with Steppenwolf, Fighting Words at Rivendell, Well, A Doll's House, Macbeth and The Illusion at Next Theatre, Jacob, Hiding Place, Spoon River Anthology and Christmas Miracle of Jonathon Toomey with Provision Theatre and Ghosts, All's Well That Ends Well, Measure for Measure and Serious Money for Court Theatre. Lia's directing credits include Bus Stop and Quality of Life for Den Theatre as well as Jacob for Provision Theater. Her film credits include Food, Nightmare on Elm Street (2010) and Blink. Lia's television credits include roles on Crisis, Easy Abby, Chicago Fire, The Onion, Chicago Code and Family Practice. She is an ensemble member of the Den Theatre and Provision Theatre and will be appearing this fall in CST's Pericles.

ABOUT PROFILES THEATRE

Profiles Theatre, founded in 1988 by Artistic Director Joe Jahraus, joined shortly thereafter by Artistic Director Darrell W. Cox, was formed as an actor-driven theatre ensemble dedicated to creating provocative and emotionally truthful productions. Passionate about shaping an original vision for new works, they focused on performing World, American and Midwest premieres as well as rarely performed plays. Critically acclaimed hits, such as BLACKBIRD, FAT PIG, GRACELAND and the multiple Jeff Award-winning KILLER JOE, established Profiles as a destination for challenging and edgy theatre. Their unique collaboration with playwright Neil LaBute led the ensemble to perform an entire season of his plays in 2007-2008. Now a Resident Artist at Profiles, LaBute remains an unequivocal artistic influence on the ensemble.

After performing at 4147 North Broadway for more than two decades, Profiles acquired an adjacent theatre at 4139 North Broadway in 2012. Profiles' new theatre, The Main Stage, with its larger seating capacity, increased performance space and higher ceilings, accommodates more ambitious and technically demanding productions. Their long-time venue, renamed The Alley Stage, continues as the home for plays strengthened by a more intimate staging. Driven by an undiminished appetite for creating honest and resonant theatre, Profiles still seeks to present work that illuminates the determination and resiliency of the human spirit.

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