Rivendell Announces 2019 Season

Rivendell Theatre Ensemble proudly announces the first two shows of its 2019 Season including the Midwest Premieres of I Wanna F**king Tear You Apart by Morgan Gould and directed by Jessica Fisch and Something Clean by Selina Fillinger and directed by Lauren Shouse. Something Clean is a co-production with Sideshow Theatre and will be performed at the Victory Gardens Richard Christiansen Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue in Chicago. I Wanna f-ing Tear You Apart and other Rivendell productions will be performed at Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, 5779 N. Ridge Avenue in Chicago. Casting and a third production will be announced at a later date.

In addition to the season, the 2019 Blue Jean Ball will take place on Thursday, April 4, 2019 at The Flower Firm, 451 N. Wood Street in Chicago. The event will be Co-Chaired by Andrea Herrera and Lisa Johnson. Ticket information and additional details to be announced.

The Rivendell 2019 Season is as follows:

The Midwest Premiere of

I Wanna F**king Tear You Apart

Written by Morgan Gould

Directed by Jessica Fisch

February 14 - March 23, 2019

Gala Openings: Sunday, February 24 at 6pm

Press Opening: Tuesday, February 26 at 7PM

Samantha and Leo are a team-best friends and roommates, fat girl and gay guy against the world-until a new friend upends their cozy co-dependent diet of mutual self-loathing and Grey's Anatomy marathons. An ode to the complications of friendship in its many fucked-up forms, with a special nod to a kind of love that sometimes looks a lot like rage.

Produced first at D.C.'s Studio Theatre, I Wanna F**king Tear You Apart challenges assumptions around niceness, beauty, and mainstream acceptance as it upends traditional narratives about fat women-Gould herself identifies openly as such-by putting a fat woman at its center. "I'm not chubby or big-boned," says Gould. "I'm fat. That's who I am".

Directed by Jessica Fisch, director of Rivendell's highly successful world premiere production of The Firebirds Take the Field, Gould's play is a wild ride with unforgettable characters that asks probing questions about friendships, fatness, bigotry, ambition, and the cost of living in a world that finds you unacceptable in some way.

The Midwest Premiere of

Something Clean

Written by Selina Fillinger

Directed by Lauren Shouse

a co-production with Sideshow Theatre at Victory Gardens Richard Christiansen Theater

June 16 - July 21, 2019

Charlotte has been a mother for nineteen years, a wife for three decades and a respectable community member her entire life. But when her son is incarcerated for sexual assault, Charlotte is forced to reckon with a brand new identity, both public and private. Desperate to find a way back to who she was, she seeks out work at a sexual assault crisis center and meets Joey, a volunteer coordinator and a survivor of assault himself, who allows her a glimpse of who she might be able to become. Can she find a new understanding of who she is? Or has someone else's crime defined her forever?

Inspired by today's headlines, Selina Fillinger's breathtaking new drama follows one woman's struggle to make sense of her own grief, intimacy, culpability and consent. Fillinger is an actor and writer as well as a graduate of Northwestern University. Other work Faceless (Northlight Theatre world premiere, Joseph Jeff Award-nominated, regional productions at Zeitgeist Theatre, St. Louis Repertory Theatre, and Park Theatre in London) and The Armor Plays: Cinched/Strapped.

Something Clean was commissioned and developed by Sideshow Theatre Company and will open at Sideshow following its upcoming world premiere at Roundabout Theatre Company, New York City, in spring 2019. The production reunites Rivendell with director Lauren Shouse, fresh off directing Rivendell's critically acclaimed production The Cake, for which she received an Equity Wing Jeff nomination for "Best Director" in addition to the production being honored with a Jeff nomination for "Best Production".

Subscription packages may be purchased at any time and include one ticket to the next three Rivendell mainstage productions. The Preview Pass is priced at $59 and the Performance Pass is $80. Benefits include: no-fee ticket exchange up to 48 hours prior to the performance, reserved seating, exclusive invites to Rivendell events, and a 10% discount for additional family and friends tickets purchased through the box office.

Single Tickets

General Admission

Previews: $28

Regular Run: $38

Student, Senior, Active Military, Veteran

Preview: $18

Regular Run: $28

Pay What You Can: Five seats (10% of the house) are available for each performance. Reservations are made on a first come, first served basis.

Location: Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, 5779 N. Ridge Avenue in Chicago.

Box Office: (773) 334-7728 or www.RivendellTheatre.org

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