Strawdog's GREAT EXPECTATIONS Returns on Halloween

Strawdog Theatre Company and Artistic Director Hank Boland are proud to announce the second mainstage production in its 2014 - 2015 season, the remount of Charles Dickens' classic Great Expectations, adapted by Gale Childs Daly and directed by Jason W. Gerace, tonight, October 31 - December 13, at Strawdog Theatre, 3829 N. Broadway St.

Preview performance tickets are $15 with performances tonight, Oct. 31, Saturday, Nov. 1, Thursday, Nov 6, and Friday Nov. 7 at 8 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 9 at 4 p.m. There is a Board Preview Event, Saturday, Nov. 8 at 7 p.m., with $50 tickets that include access to a post-performance reception. Opening/Press night is Monday, Nov. 10 at 8 p.m. Industry night is Monday, Nov. 17 at 8 p.m. and a fully accessible performance at Victory Gardens is Wednesday, Dec.10, 2014 at 8 p.m. with touch tour at 6:45 p.m. The performance schedule is Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 4 p.m. Single Tickets are $28 and on sale now. Subscriptions, group, senior and student discounts are also available. Tickets may be ordered online at strawdog.org or by calling 773.528.9696.

Great Expectations played to capacity crowds in its initial run and extensions, as well as having a sold out remount at Theatre on the Lake in summer 2014. It is also the recipient of the 2013-2014 Joseph Jefferson Award for Outstanding Direction by Jason Gerace. Gerace returns to Strawdog to remount Gale Childs Daly's bold reinvention of the classic novel where a cast of six (Amanda Drinkall, Caleb Fullen, Mary Winn Heider, Cody Proctor, Paige Smith and Mike Tepeli) quick-change their way through nearly 40 characters. Great Expectations, a masterpiece of Victorian literature tells the story of an orphan named Pip. Plucked from poverty and thrust into the upper class, lawyers and other minions hide Pip's benefactor's identity and motives as he tries to find love and a living in his radically changed circumstances ultimately revealing a fascinating web of secret identities and hidden pasts.

Additional Great Expectations cast included Taryn Rosenquist, violinist; Bridget Schreiber, u/s Narrator/Estella and u/s Narrator/Miss Havisham; Travis Barnhart, u/s Joe; Kyle Curry, u/s Magwitch; and Jeff Kurysz, u/s Pip and Narrator/Herbert.

The production crew includes ensemble members John Kelly, light designer; Brittany Dee Bodley, costume design; Sam Hubbard, fight choreographer; Mike Mroch*, production manger with Joanna Iwanicka, set design; Janelle Boudreau, props design/asst. set design; Hilary Holbrook, music director; Kathy Logelin, dialect coach; Sarah Hoeferlin, stage manager; Ian Olsen, technical director; and Kristof Janezic, master electrician.

Strawdog Theatre Company has partnered with the Access Project at Victory Gardens to present select fully accessible productions from its 2014 - 2015 season at Victory Gardens Biograph Theater, in the Prince Charitable Trust Rehearsal Room, 2433 N. Lincoln Ave. The

Great Expectations performance, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2014 at 8 p.m. with touch tour at 6:45 p.m., is fully wheelchair accessible. Audio description, open captioning and a touch tour of elements from the production will also be provided. Immediately following that night'sperformance there is a post show discussion.

Future Fully Accessible performances include the world premiere adaptations of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Thursday, April 2, 2015 at 8 p.m. and The Pied Piper, Thursday, June 18, 2015 at 8 p.m. All touch tours begin at 6:45 p.m.

ABOUT JASON W. GERACE - Jason W. Gerace has directed and associate directed for theater companies throughout Chicagoland including Profiles Theatre, Fox Valley Repertory, American Theater Company, Northlight Theatre and at RedTwist where he directed the Chicago premieres of Opus. He was born in Anchorage, Alaska and holds an MFA in directing from The University of Oklahoma. His credits include Hamlet (Oklahoma Summer Shakespeare), The Miracle Worker (Theatrikos), Love Letters (Theatre Works), Antigone, A Midsummer Night's Dream (Theatre for Young People), and Godspell (New School for the Arts). Gerace also assisted PJ Paparelli on his Chicago debut, the regional premiere of Speech & Debate, which was nominated for a Jeff Award for direction of a play. He was awarded the Rupel J. Jones award for excellence in directing for his production of Someone Who'll Watch Over Me, and again for directing his own original work, The Arthur Miller Project for OU University Theatre. He is an associate member of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society and a member of The Arthur Miller Society. He is currently artistic associate at American Theater Company.

ABOUT GALE CHILDS DALY - Gale Childs Daly has an MFA in Theatre from Goodman School of Drama at the Art Institute of Chicago (now DePaul University). She has worked with Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Great River Shakespeare Festival and directed the FreshINK dramatic reading God of Carnage and the main stage production of Hamlet for the University of Wisconsin.

ABOUT STRAWDOG THEATRE COMPANY - Since its founding in 1988, Strawdog Theatre Company has offered Chicagoland the premiere storefront theatre experience and garnered numerous Non-Equity Jeff Awards with its commitment to ensemble acting and an immersive design approach. The celebrated Company develops new work, re-imagines the classics, melds music with theatre, asks provocative questions and delivers their audience the unexpected.

All productions, plus ongoing late night offerings, are presented at Strawdog's space in the heart of Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood, 3829 N. Broadway Street. Tickets are available at 773.528.9696 or www.strawdog.org. The neighborhood has limited paid parking and is easily accessible by public transportation (via the Red Line Sheridan stop, plus 36-Broadway, 80-Irving Park, and 151-Sheridan buses).

Strawdog Theatre Company's Great Expectations, adapted by Gale Childs Daly and directed by Jason W. Gerace, October 31 - December 13, at Strawdog Theatre, 3829 N. Broadway St. Preview performance tickets are $15 with performances Friday, Oct. 31, Saturday, Nov. 1, Thursday, Nov 6, and Friday Nov. 7 at 8 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 9 at 4 p.m. There is a Board Preview Event, Saturday, Nov. 8 at 7 p.m., with $50 tickets that include access to a post-performance reception. Opening/Press night is Monday, Nov. 10 at 8 p.m. Industry night is Monday, Nov. 17 at 8 p.m. a fully accessible performance at Victory Gardens is Wednesday, Dec.10 at 8 p.m. with touch tour at 6:45 p.m. The performance schedule is Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 4 p.m. Single Tickets are $28 and on sale now. Subscriptions, group, senior and student discounts are also available. Tickets may be ordered online at strawdog.org or by calling 773.528.9696.

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