Red Tape Theatre Co Presents BRAND, Previews 9/29

Chicago's avant-garde director, Max Truax, helms Henrik Ibsen's forgotten epic Brand. Old Testament rage battles modern complacence when a furious priest attempts to reform a small town steeped in corruption. When the town gives Brand the pulpit he desires, his ideals prove his undoing. Time Out Chicago hails Truax as "one of the most visually visionary directors in Chicago's storefront scene". Don't miss your chance to see him team up with the Chicago's most ambitious theatre company.

CAST:

Featuring ensemble members Carrie Drapac, Lona Livinston, Paul Miller, and Amanda Reader with Kevin Crispin, Todd Keich, Sarah Pretz, Cody Procter.

Production Team:

Max Truax (Director) with ensemble members Emily Guthrie (props), with Ben Fuchsen (Media Design), Jonathan Guillen (Sound Design), Mike Mroch (Scenic Design), Karen Thompson (Lighting Design), and Emily Waecker (Costume Design)

Max Truax

Max Truax currently serves as artistic director for Oracle Theatre Company. Recent directing credits include Woyzeck, The Ghost Sonata, The Adventures of Philip Marlowe: The Hairpin Turn, and Termen Vox Machina at Oracle Theatre, and Hamletmachine, A Couple of Poor Polish-Speaking Romanians, and No Darkness Round My Stone at Trap Door Theatre. Truax is a Resident Director at Trap Door Theatre and the Outreach Director for Oracle Productions. His production of A Couple of Poor Polish-Speaking Romanians performed at the Fun Underground Festival in Arad, Romania and at the Bagatela Theatre in Krakow, Poland.

Henrik Ibsen was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father" of modern drama and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre. His major works include Brand, Peer Gynt, An Enemy of the People, Emperor and Galilean, A Doll's House, Hedda Gabler, Ghosts, The Wild Duck, and Rosmersholm. Several of his plays were considered scandalous to many of his era, when European theater was required to model strict mores of family life and propriety. Ibsen's work examined the realities that lay behind many façades, revealing much that was disquieting to many contemporaries. It utilized a critical eye and free inquiry into the conditions of life and issues of morality. The poetic and cinematic play Peer Gynt, however, has strong surreal elements. Ibsen is often ranked as one of the truly great playwrights in the European tradition. Richard Hornby describes him as "a profound poetic dramatist-the best since Shakespeare". He influenced other playwrights and novelists such as George Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde, James Joyce, and Eugene O'Neill. Many critics consider him the greatest playwright since Shakespeare. Although most of his plays are set in Norway, Ibsen lived for 27 years in Italy and Germany, and rarely visited Norway during his most productive years.

ABOUT RED TAPE THEATRE:
Red Tape Theatre Company, now in its seventh season, is committed to the creation of new and experimental work. Red Tape's plays invite our audiences to reimagine their world. Red Tape's work serves a vital purpose in our community: to arrest attention and create empathy. Our ensemble collaborates with playwrights, musicians, dancers, and visual artists on our three annual productions. This work is supported by our Fresh Eyes Playwrights Workshop and the Chicago Fringe Artist Networking Night, both of which are produced annually. Red Tape is housed in St. Peter's Episcopal Church. The unique performance space allows us to continually reinvent the audience/artist relationship.

MORE INFORMATION: 

SHOW DATES: Previews 9/29-10/1

Opening 10/3

Closing 10/29

Additional Performances: October 22 and 29 at 2pm

TIMES: Regular Run Thurs-Sat at 7:30, Sun at 2:00

Industry Night - 10/10 at 7:30pm
TICKETS: $25 regular

$15 Student/Industry

$15 Preview

Online at www.redtapetheatre.org or at the box office

LOCATION: Red Tape Theatre 621 W. Belmont

To post a comment, you must register and login.