The Agency Theater Collective of Chicago to Present CHAGRIN FALLS

The Agency Theater Collective is pleased to announce the fall production of Chagrin Falls, written by Mia McCullough and directed by Sommer Austin, October 22 - December 4, at the Den Theatre, 1333 N. Milwaukee Ave.

Previews are Saturday, Oct. 22 at 7:30 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 23 at 3 p.m., Monday, Oct. 24 at 7:30 p.m. and Thursday, Oct. 27 at 7:30 p.m. Opening night is Friday, Oct. 28 at 7:30 p.m., press are also invited to the final preview Thursday, Oct. 27 at 7:30 p.m. The performance schedule is Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. The running time is two hours and 10 minutes. There is no performance Thursday, Nov. 24 due to Thanksgiving Day. Ticket prices for previews are $20 and for the regular run $28. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit www.wearetheagency.org or call 773.680.4596.

Winner of the 2001 American Theatre Critics Association Osborn Award Chagrin Falls has also received a Joseph Jefferson Award and After Dark Award for Best New Work (2002), as well as a Cincinnati Entertainment Award for Best Production and first prize in the Julie Harris Playwriting Competition.

To live in Chagrin Falls, Oklahoma is to be in the killing business. The town's major employers are a cattle slaughterhouse and a penitentiary where lethal injection is administered. Whether they work at the slaughterhouse, play preacher or guard to death row inmates, or merely offer a bed and a hot meal to those visiting the prison, each resident of Chagrin Falls makes their living off of death and captivity.

A week prior to a particular execution, an Asian-American graduate student comes to town - purportedly to do a story on a man who is scheduled to die. As this would-be journalist interviews a cross-section of the population she finds her subjects revealing.

far more than their opinions on capital punishment. She is repelled by the recently retired slaughterhouse employee's morbid humor and his strangely intense interest in her background. She is seduced by one prison guard's painful tale of sacrifice, and is comforted by the naiveté and kindness of another. Though she never gets what she came for, when she witnesses the execution she becomes one of them: a participant in the killing, an honorary resident of Chagrin Falls.

The Agency Theater Collective Chagrin Falls Acting Company includes: Denise Hoeflich as "Irene," Robert Koon as "Riley," Karissa J. Murrell Myers as "Patrice," Cody Lucas as "Thaddeus," Merrick Robison as "Henry," Joe Lino as "Reverend."

The artistic and production staff of Chagrin Falls includes: Sommer Austin, direction; Jeri Frederickson and Alicia Hynes, production; Jackie Bautista, stage production; Cordie Nelson and Alex Molnar, assistant stage direction; Greg Pinsoneault, set design; Ellie Humphrys, lighting design; Kate Jacobsen, costume design; Niki Dreistadt, sound design; Ryan Brankin, composing; Alec Long, property design; Sara Faye Richmond, art direction; Aram Monisoff, dialect coach; Cody Lucas, graphic design; Andrew Gallant, artistic director of The Agency; Tim Touhy, company manager of The Agency.

ABOUT Mia McCullough, playwright

A playwright, screenwriter/filmmaker, and occasionally a stand-up comedian, McCullough's plays have been seen at theatres around the country including Steppenwolf, Goodman Theatre, Chicago Dramatists and Stage Left in Chicago, The Old Globe and Mo'olelo Performing Arts Company in San Diego, Red Fern and Ensemble Studio Theatre in New York, InterAct and PlayPenn in Philadelphia, and the Victory Theater and the Road Theatre in Los Angeles. Both Chagrin Falls and her play Impenetrable were finalists for the ATCA Steinberg Award. Some of her plays have been published by Broadway Play Publishing, Smith & Kraus, and Chicago Dramatists. McCullough recently wrote and published a book on the creative writing process called Transforming Reality and her short film Parallel premiered at the Midwest Independent Film Fest in August. She is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild, an emeritus ensemble member with Stage Left Theatre and a resident playwright alumna at Chicago Dramatists.

ABOUT SOMMER AUSTIN, director

Certified instructor of the Meisner Approach to Acting and co-founder/owner of Green Shirt Studio, Sommer Austin has made her mark in the improv/comedy, theatre and production worlds. Austin received her Bachelor's in Theatre Arts from the University of Iowa and has a Master's of Fine Arts degree in Acting from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Austin has worked with theatre superstars including Mary Overlie, Ping Chong, and Dr. Jonathan Miller. She was assistant director to Michael Patrick Thornton on the world premiere of David Rabe's Good for Otto at The Gift Theatre and recently was assistant director to Dexter Bullard on Annie Baker's The Flick at Steppenwolf Theatre. Austin was a founding member of The Agency Theater Collective, and she continues to manage, direct and act with them. She has appeared in The Agency's productions of Paradise Lost, Out of Tune Confessional (which she also co-wrote), and At The Center.

Founded in 2010, The Agency Theater Collective creates relevant, authentic work with a focus on new or rarely produced plays. Past productions include Copi's Four Twins, Clifford Odets' Paradise Lost, Out of Tune Confessional, I Wish to Apologize to the People of Illinois, At the Center, Truth in Context (Non-Equity Jeff Award nominee for Best New Work in 2015/2016), and The Spirit of '76. The Agency also hosts "No Shame Theatre," a weekly theatrical open mic, every Saturday night at The Lincoln Loft. The Agency Theater Collective hold these principles sacred: revelation, paradox, humor, mischief and collaboration.

Pictured Cody Lucas, MerRick Robinson and Robert Koon as "Thaddeus," "Riley" and "Henry". Photo by Andrew Gallant.

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