Strauss-Led AT HOME AT THE ZOO Launches Victory Gardens '10-'11 Season

Victory Gardens Theater Artistic Director Dennis Zacek announced today exciting plans for the company's 38th season, promising "new and compelling stories that transform, entertain and reflect the human condition."

Edward Albee's At Home at the Zoo will receive its Chicago premiere, starring Peter Strauss, star of stage and screen, directed by Zacek, to launch Victory Gardens' 2010-2011 season followed by the Chicago premiere of Tree by Victory Gardens newcomer Julie Hébert. Chicago's #1 producer of new work will follow that up with two new plays by members of its resident Playwrights Ensemble - The Boys Room by Joel Drake Johnson and Charles Smith's The Gospel According to James. A fifth production is to be announced.

Subscriptions and Flex Passes for Victory Gardens' 2010-2011 season offering up to 35% savings on single tickets went on sale today on the company's brand new website, victorygardens.org or, call the Victory Gardens Box Office, 773.871.3000 (TTY: 773.871.0682) to subscribe over the phone or for further information.

The Victory Gardens Biograph Theater is located at 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue, in the heart of Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood. Benefits of subscribing include convenient parking, easy access via CTA, ticket exchange privileges, invitations to special events, discounted series for educators, younger audiences and persons with disabilities, pre- and post-show deals at nearby restaurants and nightclubs, and a complimentary subscription to Victory Magazine.

Victory Gardens Theater, founded in 1974, is the recipient of the 2001 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theater. For 36 years the theater's mission has been to develop new plays for the American Theater. Victory Gardens is a leader in its commitment to inclusion and diversity. Victory Gardens has a 14-member Playwrights Ensemble whose membership also reflects the diversity of the mission. The theater's home is the newly renovated Victory Gardens Biograph Theater, a 299-seat theater and a 109-seat studio theater with state of the art equipment.

Working with a $3.1 million annual budget in 2009-2010, Victory Gardens continues to expand its artistic and institutional boundaries under the guidance of Artistic Director Dennis Zacek, Executive Director Jan Kallish, Associate Artistic Director Sandy Shinner, and Board President Jeffrey Rappin.

Victory Gardens Theater is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, Illinois Arts Council (IAC), a stage agency, Illinois Humanities Council, and is partially supported by a CityArts Program 4 Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. Major funders also include the John T. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Shubert Foundation, Wallace Foundation, Polk Bros. Foundation, Joyce Foundation, Allstate Insurance Company, Alphawood Foundation, Motorola Foundation, REAM Foundation, and Crown Family Philanthropies.

Additional funding is provided by the Lloyd A. Fry Foundation, Kraft Foods, Prince Charitable Trusts, Sara Lee Foundation, Seigle Family Foundation, Charles and M.R. Shapiro Foundation, and by 3Arts, Harry S. Black and Allon Fuller Fund, Charles H. and Bertha L. Boothroyd Foundation, Elizabeth Cheney Foundation, Col. L.C. Christensen Foundation, John R. Halligan Fund, Illinois Tool Works (ITW), James S. Kemper Foundation, Albert Pick, Jr. Fund, Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, and Wrightwood Neighbors Association.

For complete information, visit victorygardens.org.

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