Sideshow Theatre Presents YOU FOR ME FOR YOU

Sideshow Theatre Company is pleased to launch its 2021 season with a one-night-only benefit screening of its 2018 hit You For Me For You, written by Mia Chung and directed by Ensemble Member Elly Green*. The archival recording of this imaginative production will stream Sunday, February 28, 2021 at 7 pm CST via sideshowtheatre.org, as well as the company's YouTube and Twitch channels. Tickets (pay-what-you-can) are currently available at sideshowtheatre.org.

Sideshow is also partnering with Paramount Catering to offer meal add-ons the night of the benefit. Prices start at $40, including delivery for one person, and meals can be donated to those in need starting at $30. Vegetarian and meat options are available. Sideshow will be providing its own donation of free meals to those in need through Farm, Food, Famlias during the month of March, and the meals patrons donate will be added to this number.

You For Me For You features Sideshow company members Patrick Agada* (Man from the South), Katy Carolina Collins* (Liz) and Helen Joo Lee* (Minhee) with Gordon Chow (Doctor, Well, Rice Musician), John Lu (Smuggler, Frog, Yongsup) and Jin Park (Junhee).

Two North Korean sisters plan an elaborate escape from the "Best Nation in the World," only to be separated at the border. Now in two strange and separate worlds filled with outrageous characters, they must navigate barriers of language and bureaucracy, reckon with the ways that culture and country can shape us, and discover that survival requires sacrifice.

The production team for You For Me For You includes: William Boles* (scenic design), Izumi Inaba (costume design), Cat Wilson (lighting design), Christopher M. LaPorte (sound design), Jessica Mondres (properties design), Ben Chang (dramaturg), Chad Hain (technical director), Ellen Willett* (production manager) and Jean E. Compton (stage manager).

Comments Sideshow Artistic Director Regina Victor, "You For Me For You by Mia Chung is one of the first Sideshow plays I saw when I came to this city. It was my first introduction to Elly Green's visually stunning, innovative and heart rending directing. Several current and former artistic associates were a part of this show, so it seemed like the perfect way to celebrate the complex wholeness of our company. When we were thinking about how to stream You For Me For You, we kept discussing the play's heart, which is about displacement, relocation, hospitality and home. A home is a hearth, a place of safety, food, and warmth. Everyone deserves a hearth, and a seat at a table."

Victor adds, "We had partnered with Paramount catering for an event that was put on pause due to the pandemic. Rather than let the partnership and resources go to waste, we got creative and decided to use the funds to provide meals for those in need. And we are inviting our audiences to join us, donate a meal, and make an even bigger impact. Even if nobody donates a single meal, or donates a single dollar to Sideshow, Sideshow and Paramount will still be feeding hundreds of people. It's our way of expressing gratitude for all that has been given to us, for what is given freely always returns. We have to hold each other up, or the whole thing falls down."

*Denotes Sideshow Company Member.

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