The New Colony's 5 LESBIANS EATING A QUICHE Plays Chicago Now thru 8/5; Heads to FringeNYC 8/10

John Arthur Pinckard, the Tony Award-Winning Producer of Clybourne Park,has joined with The New Colony, 2011 Broadway In Chicago Emerging Theater Award-recipient, to announce the acceptance of last summer's critically-acclaimed 5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche, written by Andrew Hobgood and Evan Linder and directed by Sarah Gitenstein, into The New York International Fringe Festival. Chicago audiences will be able to see the re-staging of last summer's hit production at Center on Halsted opening tonight, July 30th with a limited run from August 2nd – August 5th before it heads to FringeNYC.

Since the close of last summer's wildly successful run, 5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche has enjoyed regional premieres by theater companies in Omaha, Nebraska, Boulder, Colorado, Charleston, South Carolina and San Francisco, California. This summer, The New Colony has restaged the original production with many of the original cast members, one of whom assumes a new role, along with two new cast members.

It's 1956 and the Susan B. Anthony Society for the Sisters of Gertrude Stein is meeting for their annual quiche breakfast. However, this year there is an unexpected agenda item – the dropping of atom bombs on their fair city. This normally idyllic gathering is upended when the Society's matriarchs; Ginny Cadbury (Caitlin Chuckta), Lulie Stanwyck (Rachel Farmer), Wren Robin (Megan Johns), Veronica "Vern" Schultz (Thea Lux) and Dale Prist (Maari Suorsa) must confront some startling revelations made by the Sisterhood while meeting the fallout from the Red Menace head on.

Presented by The New Colony and John Arthur Pinckard, 5 Lesbians Eating A Quiche is written by Andrew Hobgood and Evan Linder, with contributions by Mary Hollis Inboden, Megan Johns, Thea Lux, Beth Stelling and Maari Suorsa. Like the 2011 production, the 2012 production features direction by Sarah Gitenstein with Assistant Director Jaime Totti.

The Chicago run will play at Center on Halstad, 3656 North Halsted Street, Chicago, Ill. The schedule is as follows: Tonight, July 30, 8pm; Thursday, August 2, 8pm; Friday, August 3, 8pm; Saturday, August 4, 3pm; Sunday, August 5, 3pm. Tickets are $20-25. To purchase, visit www.thenewcolony.org.

The FringeNYC run will play at The Living Theater, 21 Clinton Street, New York, NY. The schedule is as follows: Friday, August 10, 5pm; Saturday, August 11, 8pm; Wednesday, August 15, 10:30pm; Thursday, August 16, 4pm, Friday, August 17, 7:30pm. Tickets are $15 in advance and $18 at the door. To purchase, visit www.fringenyc.org.
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Andrew Hobgood (Co-Playwright) is the founding Artistic Director for The New Colony where he has directed Amelia Earhart: Jungle Princess, FRAT, and Hearts Full of Blood, which went on to the New York Fringe Festival and was featured in it's Encore series. He has served as co-writer on many of The New Colony's original works including That Sordid Little Story and Tupperware: An American Musical Fable, which he also directed. Most recently he directed and co-wrote lyrics for The New Colony's latest musical, Rise of the Numberless. Outside of The New Colony, Andrew won a 2006 FringeNYC award for 58! A Comedy about Bike Messengering.

Evan Linder (Co-Playwright) is The New Colony's Associate Artistic Director. A graduate of the College of Charleston, Evan has worked with Victory Gardens Theatre, About Face Theatre, the side project, Promethean Theatre Ensemble and Bohemian Theatre Ensemble since moving to Chicago. For The New Colony, Evan has written FRAT, The Warriors, 11:11, Rise of the Numberless and The Bearsuit of Happiness which will premiere as part of The New Colony's 2013 season. He will also be developing a world premiere work with the University of Chicago this winter.

John Arthur Pinckard (Producer)is a Tony Award-winning producer of theatre and film. He is currently represented on Broadway by Clybourne Park which won the Tony Award, Pulitzer Prize and Olivier Award for Best New Play;on tour by Green Day's American Idiot, and Off Broadway by the long running hit Silence! The Musical!, which he originated at the 2005 New York International Fringe Festival. At last year's FringeNYC John produced Yeast Nation: the Triumph of Life, Greg Kotis & Mark Hollmann's musical follow-up to Urinetown, starring Harriet Harris, which sold out six enthusiastic houses at the Ellen Stewart Theater and which is currently in further development. John is the co-founder, with FringeNYC Festival Administrator Britt Lafield, of the FringeNYC Encore Series, now in its seventh year; 5 Lesbians marks John's seventh FringeNYC. In addition to 'Outstanding Musical' winners Silence! and Yeast Nation, John's other FringeNYC credits include Never Swim Alone and Dog Sees God. His other Broadway credits include Green Day's American Idiot (Tony nomination) Slava's Snowshow on Broadway (Tony nomination).In film, John is the executive producer of The Standbys, a feature length documentary about Broadway understudies, and The Banshee Chapter, a feature length genre picture produced by Sunchaser Entertainment and Zachary Quinto's Before the Door Pictures. As a producer, John specializes in the development of original and adapted material for stage and screen. Projects currently in development include: Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City, by Tony-winner Jeff Whitty (Avenue Q) and Jake Shears and John Garden of the Scissor Sisters; The Prince of Broadway, an autobiographical jukebox musical about the career of legendary producer/director Hal Prince, directed by Prince himself; and a new play by Israel Horovitz. Upcoming films include The Family Remains, a feature length dramedy directed by Gaby Dellal (Angel's Crest, On A Clear Day) and co-produced by Ailish McElmeel of Dublin's Grand Pictures. John is an associate member of the Broadway League and has been a guest lecturer or faculty member at Columbia University, the University of Central Florida, and the University of Florida, which named him an Outstanding Young Alumnus in 2009. He is an inaugural recipient of Hal Prince's T. Edward Hambleton Fellowship for creative producers.

Sarah Gitenstein (Director) is a company member at Collaboraction Theater and The New Colony. She was the casting director at Collaboraction for four years where she worked on such plays as The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow, Jon, and Sketchbook 7, 8, and 9. She has directed for various theaters in the Chicago area including American Theater Company, Pavement Group, and Victory Gardens Theater. She earned her bachelors degree in theater from Kenyon College.

Caitlin Chuckta (Ginny Cadbury) moved to Chicago from New York City in 2008 and became a company member with The New Colony. Additional Chicago credits include: Chicago Shakespeare Theater, The House Theatre, First Folio Theatre, The Victory Gardens Theatre "Fresh Squeezed" series, and Appetite Theatre. Her most epic role to date was playing Tiny Tim in American Drama Group Europe's tour of 'A Christmas Carol'. A native of New England, regional credits include: The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Connecticut Free Shakespeare, Connecticut Repertory Theatre, Downtown Cabaret Theatre, and a coast to coast tour with National Theatre for Arts and Education. She holds her BFA in Acting from Univ. of CT. Post Fringe, she will don some skates and become a roller derby girl for The New Colony's next adventure, Down & Derby.

Rachel Farmer (Lulie Stanwyck) has been creating, improvising, and performing around Chicago since she fell off the watermelon truck from Mobile, Alabama. Rachel has performed with Second City Theatricals, iO (formerly Improv Olympic), The Playground and The Annoyance Theatre in Chicago. Currently, Rachel improvises with Bella and womyns fusion trio, WiseSnatch, who was just featured at the the 2012 Chicago Just For Laughs Festival.

Meg Johns (Wren Robin) is a native Virginian who moved to Chicago in 2003. She has trained in improvisation at iO Chicago and the Annoyance Theatre, performing in a variety of sketch, improv, and scripted original shows, including playing with the all-female comedy group WiseSnatch, and creating the show Love is Dead: A Necromantic Musical Comedy which ran at The Annoyance in Chicago and went on to showcase at The Fringe Festival in NYC in 2008. Meg began teaching improv at The Annoyance in early 2008. She directed her first full-length original show there, Chasing Dumb, which she and the cast took to Austin's Out of Bounds Festival. Shortly afterwards she got to be a part of "sexy in the face" in Late Nite Tit Bits Burlesque at The Annoyance, which ran for 3 years. Meg is also a company member of The New Colony, having performed in FRAT, Tupperware: An American Musical Fable, Pancake Breakfast, and directed 11:11.

Thea Lux (Vern Schultz) originally created the role of Ginny in 5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche. Last year, she took second place in Chicago's Impress These Apes talent competition and won a Joseph Jefferson Award for original incidental music contributions in The New Colony's bluegrass musical, That Sordid Little Story. She's a regular performer in Chicago's comedy community and frequent contributor to The Paper Machete and TheSnackpot.com.

Maari Suorsa (Dale Prist) devised and originated the role of Dale in 5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche in Collaboraction's Sketchbook 2010 and the hit full-length run in 2011. Previous credits include Victory Gardens Theater's One Minute Play Festival and Jack in The New Colony's 11:11.

 

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