THE ORCHESTRA and NOTHING OF ME Set for Akvavit Theatre's 2015-16 Season

Akvavit Theatre presents Okko Leo's The Orchestra, December 11-January 10, 2015-16 at the Rivendell Theatre, 5779 N. Ridge Avenue, Chicago, IL 60660. Arne Lygre's Nothing of Me; dates and location in Spring 2016 TBD. Visit www.akvavittheatre.org for updates and more information.

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THE ORCHESTRA

The Orchestra involves a group of has-been rockers playing a wedding for peanuts as they see an opportunity for one last push for fame when a band-mate's famous sister visits them at a gig. It's "Fargo meets This Is Spinal Tap" in a performance that has all of Finland in a buzz-and that is saying something in a land where extroverted Finns look at your shoes when they talk!

Okko Leo (Playwright) is a Helsinki-based playwright and dramaturge who graduated from the Finnish Theatre Academy in 2011. He has written for both stage and radio, and his plays have been performed in many of Finland's best-known professional theatres, including the Finnish National Theatre and KOM Theatre in Helsinki, as well as in theatres abroad. Leo's plays often explore themes of communication, language, identity and social structures.

Brad Akin (Director) is a Chicago-based director and educator. An ensemble member at Steep Theatre Company since 2005, Brad has directed several productions with his artistic family including the Chicago premieres of Linda McLean's strangers, babies; David Eldridge's Under the Blue Sky; Stephen Adly Guirgis's The Last Days of Judas Iscariot and Emily Mann's Greensboro: A Requiem. Outside his Steep home, Brad directed the Chicago premieres of Lucy Thurber's Where We're Born and Bekah Brunstetter's OOHRAH! (with LiveWire Chicago) at Steppenwolf's Garage Theatre. Other companies Brad has had the pleasure of directing plays, readings and workshops for include WildClaw, The Poor Theatre, Sideshow, Dog & Pony, 2nd Story, Pivot Arts and Bowen Park Theatre. Every summer, Brad has the great privilege of challenging the best and the brightest high school seniors of North Carolina as the theatre instructor for the NC Governor's School.

Cast of The Orchestra:

Tony St.Clair - Halla

Jim Poole - Jase

Steve Herson - Rane

Josiah Kumpost - Timi

Bergen Anderson* - Simone

*Denotes company member of Akvavit Theatre

NOTHING OF ME

Nothing of Me, Arne Lygre's new play, is a post-modern ghost story. In a playful yet haunting style, Lygre delves into the bond of love, its force and its dead-ends, using ruthlessly telltale dialogue. The play warns us of the danger we are all guilty of when we imprison others within our expectations through the very love we feel for them.

Arne Lygre (Playwright) made his debut in 1998 with the play Mother and Me and Men. Since then he has written six other plays, which have been staged and published in several countries around the world. Man Without Purpose was directed by Claude Régy at Odeon Théâtre in Paris in 2007/08. I Disappear premiered at La Colline Théâtre National in November 2011, directed by Stéphane Braunschweig. For his collection of short stories, In Time, Lygre received the prestigious Brageprisen Norwegian literary award in 2004. He has also written two novels, A Last Face and My Dead Man, both of which were very well received by the critics. He was awarded the Mads Wiels Nygaards Legacy literary award in 2010.

Chad Eric Bergman (Director) is Producing Artistic Director of Akvavit Theatre, director of MISHAP! and Kokkola, and scenic designer for most of Akvavit's productions. He actively collaborates in the Chicago storefront scene, having worked with Stage Left, Live Bait, Chicago Dramatists, MPAACT, parker and Plasticene in various artistic ways. Bergman has been an artist in residence at the Ragdale Foundation and the University of Chicago's Summer Incubator. He spent a year in Finland on a Fulbright exploring bilingual theatre.

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Akvavit Theatre is a new voice in the Chicago theatre scene. Taking as our inspiration the striking landscapes of the five Nordic countries -- harnessing the force of the glacier, in its powerful seeming stillness, the volcano, in its sudden white-hot eruption, and the arctic silence in between -- we strive to find the universal through the voices of the Nordic world. This is our contribution to the American mosaic. And like our namesake drink, Akvavit brings a "strong spirit" to the plays, workshops and events that we produce. Ska?l, Ska?l, Kippis!

For more information about Akvavit Theatre, visit www.akvavittheatre.org.

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