Sideshow Theatre Presents THEORIES OF THE SUN, Opens 9/9

Sideshow Theatre Company kicks off its 2010-2011 season with the MidwestPremiere of Kathleen Akerley's critically acclaimed Theories of the Sun. Part mystery and part sciencefiction, this "lyrical, melancholy new drama" (Washington Post) has twists and turns that will keepaudiences guessing until the very end.

About the Play It's 1963 and in a remote French hotel Barbara and Elizabeth Sweeny (an American mother anddaughter) undergo some peculiar medical testing by a brilliant and eccentric doctor who specializes inunusual diseases. Accompanied by a young Tom Stoppard, a whiskey-fueled Tennessee Williams, andthe mysterious scholar Mr. Asher, Elizabeth seeks to understand and cure her terrifying illness.

Blending bold theatricality and movement, Kathleen Akerley's script places each of the hotel's patrons into a directconfrontation with his or her deepest and most secret pains.

"Kathleen's voice is unique and brilliant, and her work is well-known in DC," says Artistic DirectorJonathan L. Green. "We are thrilled to be presenting her Midwest Premiere. Theories of the Sun is aboutthe gorgeous spiritual mysteries that go right back to the birth of myth and storytelling; it felt like theperfect kick-off for Sideshow's new season."

Theories of the Sun premiered in August 2008 with Longacre Lea in Washington, DC, and was called"lovely" by the Washington Post and a "mournful valentine to storytelling and the stage" by theWashington City Paper. The cast features Sideshow Artistic Associate Scottie Caldwell (Elizabeth Sweeny), Sideshow EnsembleMember Matt Fletcher (Tom Stoppard), Susie Griffith (Barbara Sweeny), Andy Luther (TennesseeWilliams), Andrew Marikis (The Proprietor), Michael Mercier (The American), Dylan Stuckey (Mr. Asher),and Jesse Young (Dr. Giraud). Actor biographies can be found at www.theoriesofthesun.com.

When and Where Press

Opening for Theories of the Sun is Thursday, September 9, 2010, at 7:30 PM, with regularper formances through October 3, 2010. Preview performances are September 5 th , 7 th and 8 th at 7:30PM. Performance times during the regular run are Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 PM, andSundays at 3:00 PM. There is a special industry performance on Monday, September 27 th at 7:30pmand an additional matinee on Saturday, October 2 nd at 3:00pm. All performances will be held at the newTheater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont. Tickets are $20 for all regular run performances, and $10 for previews.$15 Student and Industry tickets are available for select Thursday and Sunday performances.

For information, visit www.theoriesofthesun.com or www.sideshowtheatre.org. To purchase tickets, visit www.theaterwit.org or call the Theater Wit Box Office at (773) 975-8150. The Production Team Playwright Kathleen Akerley's writing credits include The Oogatz Man, and an adaptation of KurtVonnegut's Cat's Cradle for her own company, Longacre Lea. She has also written Two Party Brainstem, Out of Line, Maintenance is Death, and This Play's Title is Too Long to Fit on a Bumper Sticker (eXtreme eXchange), 1,925 Miles, Feet and Banquo's Dead, Jim (Source Festival), The Long Weight (HopeOperas) and readings of The Hungry Dry (Boston Center for the Arts) and Only Angels for Theatre J's 5x5Series.

Commissioned work includes The Yellow Leaf, In the Matter of the Pea, and Brief Let Me Be forRound House Theatre's Heyday Players. Ms. Akerley is a member of the playwriting collective LizardClaw. As a performer, Ms. Akerley has worked with Catalyst Theatre, Baltimore Shakespeare Festival,Olney Theatre Center, and with the Washington Shakespeare Company including where she played Hapgood in Hapgood (for which she received the Theater Lobby "Mary Goldwater" Award), and LadyMacbeth/Hecate in Jose Carrosquillo's 2007 production of Macbeth. She has directed regionally at SolasNua, The Keegan Theater, Theater Alliance, Catalyst Theatre, Rorschach Theatre, and BaltimoreShakespeare Festival.

She is the founder of Longacre Lea, a professional DC theater companyspecializing in physical productions of cerebral works. Ms. Akerley teaches directing at acting at variousvenues in the DC area.The Production Staff of Theories of the Sun includes Navid Afshar (Stage Manager), Angela Campos(Properties Designer), Emily Cooke (Production Assistant), Gina DiSalvo (Dramaturg), Sideshow ArtisticDirector Jonathan L. Green (Co-Director) David Hyman (Costume Designer), Jordan Kardasz (LightingDesigner), Sideshow Artistic Associate Christopher M. LaPorte (Sound Designer and Composer), EricLuchen (Set Designer), Sideshow Ensemble Member Megan A. Smith (Co-Director), and Katie Spelman(Choreographer).

Production team biographies can be found at www.theoriesofthesun.com.

About Sideshow

Founded in 2007, Sideshow Theatre Company‘s mission is to mine the collective unconscious of theworld we live in with limitless curiosity, drawing inspiration from the familiar stories, memories and imageswe all share to spark new conversation and bring our audiences together as adventurers in a communalexperience of exploration.

Sideshow's first production, Walt McGough's Dante Dies!! (and then thingsget weird), was hailed by the Daily Herald as "vivid, intimate, and visually arresting." Other Sideshowproductions include Everything Freezes: another winter's tale by Jonathan L. Green and WaltMcGough, Ekphrasis: Cave Walls to Soup Cans, by E. Warren Perry Jr, and Janet Burroway's "high-spirited success" (Time Out Chicago) Medea with Child.Sideshow's first company-devised work, Strangerland, is part of the DCA Incubator Series indevelopment in October, with a special one-night-only workshop performance on Monday, October 25 th , 2010. Sideshow will be producing Heddatron by Elizabeth Meriwether as part of Steppenwolf Theatre's2 nd Annual GARAGE REP in spring 2011.Sideshow also produces the Chicago League of Lady Arm Wrestlers (CLLAW), a popular interactivefundraising event that benefits Sideshow Theatre Company and local charities. CLLAW VII is Friday, September 24 th , 2010 at the Mystic Celt.For more information on CLLAW, visit www.sideshowtheatre.org/cllaw.

Sideshow is proud to have been awarded a $25,000 grant from the first Chase Community Givingprogram via Facebook in December 2009.

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