Step Up Productions' 3rd Annual HOLIDAZE Set for The Athenaeum Theatre, 11/20-12/20

'Tis the season! Step Up Productions is pleased to continue its 2015-16 season with the return of its wildly popular HOLIDAZE, a hilarious and heartwarming line-up of original holiday-themed short works by Jake Carr, MT Cozzola, Mia McCullough, Steven Simoncic, Steven Peterson and Joshua Rollins. Curated by Tara Branham, HOLIDAZE will play November 20 - December 20, 2015 at The Athenaeum Theatre, 2936 N. Southport Ave. in Chicago. Tickets go on sale Thursday, October 15 at www.stepupproductions.org or by calling The Athenaeum Box Office at (773) 935-6875. The press performance is Tuesday, November 24 at 8 pm.

Back by popular demand, Step Up's holiday round up returns for its third year! This series of touching and comedic short plays celebrates the holiday season and all the chaos, dysfunction and cheer that comes along with it.

As part of its mission, Step Up Productions donates a portion of proceeds from each of its production to organizations in and around Chicago that support issues often highlighted the shows. The partner charities for HOLIDAZE will be announced shortly.

The full HOLIDAZE 2015 line-up includes:

Tolerance vs. Temperance

By Mia McCullough

When Sabrina, who's five months sober, asks her historically considerate family to do Thanksgiving dinner sans alcohol she discovers that the family's tolerance for change does not extend to their drinking habits.

Your Better Half

By Jake Carr

Two young wives backpacking through Europe board an airport-bound train on Christmas morning. Confronted by a major turning point in their marriage, they become reluctant acquaintances with an older, eccentric British couple sitting opposite them. Bottled together in this small space, each pair examines how they communicate - or don't - amid the frenzied pace and rigorous expectations of the holiday season.

Later In The Strange

By Steven Simoncic

It is the first year without her. The now what year. The strange year. With a child locked in the bathroom, a pantsless patriarch and two grown siblings desperately trying to not act like children... a family sits down to have Christmas Eve dinner. Just like they always have.

Christmas Eve Eve

By MT Cozzola

Shay is anxious to make good at her new job, but she didn't bargain for colleague Tyna's massive holiday spirit - especially on the day before Christmas Eve. Both women learn the hard way that work families can be as complicated as the other kind, especially when gifts are involved.

Someplace Warm

By Steven Peterson

Carrie and Ted face another Chicago holiday season: cold, snow, ice, misery, arguments over family, arguments over gifts and arguments over arguments. How can they get to someplace warm?

This Is That Moment

By Joshua Rollins

Life changes in a moment. On Christmas Eve, two women confront the reality of their relationship and its future. A play about popcorn strings, time travel and life changing in an instant.

PRODUCTION DETAILS:

Title: HOLIDAZE

Location: The Athenaeum Theatre, 2936 N. Southport Ave., Chicago

Dates: Previews: Friday, November 20 at 8 pm, Saturday, November 21 at 8 pm and Monday, November 23 at 8 pm

Press performance: Tuesday, November 24 at 7:30 pm

Regular run: Friday, November 28 - Sunday, December 20, 2015

Curtain Times: Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm; Sundays at 2 pm. Please note: there will not be performances Thursday, November 26 (Thanksgiving) and Friday, November 27.

Tickets: Previews: $12. Regular run: $24. $17 seniors/students (with current ID), $20 rush tickets (one hour before curtain). Tickets go on sale Thursday, October 15 at www.stepupproductions.org or by calling The Athenaeum Box Office at (773) 935-6875.

About the Playwrights

Jake Carr has long worked as an ensemble deviser and writer, frequently with Genesis, a Chicago-based collection of interdisciplinary artists. Several of his pieces have been featured by GayCo Productions, a sketch and improv company where "gay" is the given instead of the punchline. His short horror film Cheap Plastic Mask (screenwriter, co-producer) is set to hit festivals in 2016. It's based on his radioplay of the same name, which was a finalist in WildClaw Theatre's annual Deathscribe festival. Jake is an Artistic Associate of Step Up, and has been seen on stage with the company in Darlin' and the inaugural production of Holidaze. He is proud to be an instructor with Black Box Acting.

MT Cozzola is a resident playwright at Chicago Dramatists, where she is preparing for a workshop of her play Dance for Beginners. Her work has been called "haunting" (Time Out Chicago), "gleefully camp" (Revelation Perth International Film Festival) and "Scooby Doo camp meets Wes Anderson irony" (Hell's Half Mile), and her play St. George on the Bus won the 2015 New Plays from the Heartland Festival. Her play Twin Set, which won an Illinois Arts Council Award, premieres at The Side Project in October 2015.

Mia McCullough's plays have been produced at theatres across the country including Steppenwolf, Chicago Dramatists and Stage Left (Chicago), The Old Globe and Mo'olelo Performing Arts Company (San Diego), InterAct (Philadelphia), SIS Productions (Seattle) and the Red Fern Theatre (New York). Last season, the Goodman Theatre commissioned Mia to write a new play, Wisdom From Everything, as part of the Playwrights Unit. Most recently, her Squirrels Plays received a developmental reading in New York with Red Fern Theatre Company. Mia's plays have been published by Broadway Play Publishing, Smith & Kraus, and Chicago Dramatists. She also writes screenplays and dabbles in stand-up comedy.

Steven Peterson's recent productions include Affluence (Theatre 40, Los Angeles), The Invasion of Skokie (Chicago Dramatists, revived by Shpiel Theatre), A Couple of Nobodies (The Artistic Home, revival at Step Up Productions) and the workshop production of Lydia Lindstrom (Raven Theatre). His plays have appeared at the new play festivals of Cleveland Play House, Utah Shakespeare Festival, the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center Theatre, Centre Stage (Greenville SC) and Theatre Ariel (Philadelphia). Steve is a two-time winner of the Julie Harris Playwright Award, a resident playwright at Chicago Dramatists and a member of the Dramatists Guild of America.

Joshua Rolins' play Concealed Carry was selected for the 2013 Seven Devils' Playwrighting Conference with ID Theatre. His play A Girl With Sun in Her Eyes debuted in Chicago in 2011 with Pine Box Theater Company. Other works include American Rex, which premiered with Chicago Street Theatre and was a finalist for the Eugene O'Neill Playwrights Conference and 25 Saints, which completed a run at Victory Garden's Greenhouse Theatre in Chicago in 2013 and a sold-out run with Azeotrope Theatre in Seattle. Darlin' debuted in 2014 with Step-Up Productions in Chicago. His latest, Hot Sauce Jesus was a finalist for the 2015 Eugene O'Neill Playwrights Conference. He currently has film and television projects in development in Los Angeles.

Steven Simoncic's plays have been produced and developed at The Goodman, Victory Gardens, The Second City, 16th Street, Stageplays NY and Soho Theatre London. Steven's play Heat Wave received a critically acclaimed production at Steppenwolf Theatre's 2015 Garage Rep and Once Upon a Time in Detroit was a semi-finalist for the O'Neill National Playwrights Conference. Ghost Gardens was a semi-finalist for the 2015 Global Age Project at Aurora Theatre and Broken Fences was selected as a finalist for the 2015 Woodward/Newman Drama Award. His play Toxic Donut recently won the NAAA Playwriting Festival at The London Central School for Dramatics.

About Step Up Productions

Step Up Productions is a non-profit theater company with a mission to communicate stories authentically, inspiring audiences to identify and embrace their own personal truths.

Step Up became a non-profit, in part, to better serve other non-profit organizations in and around Chicago that are committed to helping others become self-sufficient. Step Up donates a portion of its proceeds to organizations that support issues often highlighted in its productions.

For additional information, visit www.stepupproductions.org.

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