The Ruckus Theater Presesnts THE GAY AMERICAN 5/16-26

The Ruckus Theater is making some noise with its upcoming world-premiere production of The Gay American by Kristian O'Hare, directed by Ruckus Artistic Director Allison Shoemaker. Former New Jersey governor James McGreevey returns to the stage in this funny and filthy retelling of the months and weeks leading to his fall from power. Neal Starbird returns to The Ruckus as the disgraced politician, alongside a cast of Chicago theater favorites and Ruckus regulars. The Ruckus also hosts Biscuits & Mangravy, a drag queen fundraising event featuring Pandora Boxx of RuPaul's Drag Race at Berlin (954 W Belmont Ave) at 10pm on May 13. The Gay American is performed at The Side Project Theatre May 16 - 26, 2010. All performances are at 7:30pm. Tickets are $10. For mature audiences. A complete performance schedule including dates, times and ticket prices appears at the end of this release.

"I am thrilled to be directing such a challenging, wildly funny and endlessly inventive piece of theater," said Artistic Director Allison Shoemaker. "The Gay American is a remarkable play and an all too timely examination of sexual identity in American politics, and it has been a privilege to work alongside such a gifted team of actors and designers."

Farce meets docudrama in this unblinking and provocative investigation of sex, politics and sexual politics. We follow the rise and fall of former New Jersey governor James McGreevey (Starbird) through the impact it has on those around him-his miserable daughter Morag (Stevie Chaddock), silently simmering wife Dina (Julie Cowden), ambitious aide Golan (Joshua Davis) and an Everyman-like Congressional Page (Aaron Dean)-and watch his carefully-crafted rising star go supernova in the crucible that is the American political theater.

Playwright Kristian O'Hare's work has been produced or developed by such theaters as Abydos: The Directors Theatre (San Francisco), Whole Art Theatre (Kalamazoo), The Actors and Playwrights' Initiative Theatre (Kalamazoo), Zack L. York Arena Theatre (Kalamazoo), The Ruckus Theater (Chicago) and Boston Playwrights' Theatre. He has won a number of playwriting awards including top honors in Lamia Ink!'s Annual International One-Page Play Competition and a first-place Graduate Playwriting Award at the annual creative writing competition at Western Michigan University. He earned his PhD in English with an emphasis in playwriting at Western Michigan University. He received his MA in Creative Writing with an emphasis in playwriting from Boston University, where he worked with Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott and playwright Katherine Snodgrass.

Director Allison Shoemaker is the Artistic Director and a founding member of The Ruckus Theater. Directing credits for The Ruckus include Cartoon Graveyard and Play for Tell It & Speak It & Think It & Breathe It, Heist Play, Apple Frog Baseball, I Do Not Speak the Language and Three Lennon Fugue. Other directing credits include Private Eyes, Arbor Day and Am I Blue (York Arena Theatre). Allison also served as Producer for 365 Days/Plays at the EuGene O'Neill Theater Center. When not fighting for truth, justice and the right of the playwright to revise in the rehearsal room, Allison writes things that sometimes get published. Recent credits include admit2, The Pedestal and Chicago's own Contrary Magazine. She is overly fond of semicolons, 35mm film, science jokes, Walt Whitman and really excellent drummers.

The Gay American
A world premiere by Kristian O'Hare | Directed by Allison Shoemaker
May 16 - 19 & 23 - 26, 2010 at The Side Project Theatre (1439 W Jarvis Ave)

The cast of The Gay American includes Neal Starbird as James McGreevey; Julie Cowden as Dina McGreevey; Stevie Chaddock as Morag McGreevey; Aaron Dean as Page; Joshua Davis as Golan Cipel; Walter Brody as Mark Foley; Freddie Donovan as Philly Buster; and Elise Mayfield as Patty. The creative team includes Set Designer Nick Shaw, Costume Designer Paula Consdorf, Lighting Designer Christine Grodecki, Sound Designer Matt Griffin, Props Designer Timo Aker, Assistant Director Brian Ruby, Dramaturg Aaron Thomas, Casting Director Timo Aker and Stage Manager Elizabeth Powers.

Performance Schedule
Week 1
Sunday, May 16 7:30pm
Monday, May 17 7:30pm
Tuesday, May 18 7:30pm
Wednesday, May 19 7:30pm

Week 2
Sunday, May 23 7:30pm
Monday, May 24 7:30pm
Tuesday, May 25 7:30pm
Wednesday, May 26 7:30pm

Tickets to The Gay American are $10 and may be purchased online at RuckusTheater.org or by phone at 773.769.RCKS (7257). Join The Ruckus and Pandora Boxx for Biscuits & Mangravy: a filthy, naughty, witty, not-for-the-faint-of-heart fundraiser benefiting the company's world-premiere production of The Gay American. "The Lizard King" and Freddie Donovan host an evening of cocktails, lip syncing, celebrity judges and a performance by Ms. Pandora Boxx herself. So bring your cash and your cutest pumps (wigs are provided) and join us for a ruck of a good time. Doors open at 10pm ($10 cover). Free Colt beer from 10pm - 12am; $3 Mini-Teas benefit The Ruckus.

About The Ruckus Theater

Chicago is officially one theater company richer after The Ruckus Theater recently karate-chopped and high-fived its way into the Central Time Zone. Made up of an industrious group of Michigan ex-pats, The Ruckus is composed of actors, directors, playwrights, musicians, casting directors, publicity managers, grant writers, baristas, grad students, poets, computer fixers, appointment-makers and census-takers who aim to create a new kind of company-a casteless theater that blends the lines between playwright and actor, audience and company member. The Ruckus Theater is led by Artistic Director Allison Shoemaker, Associate Artistic Director Joshua Davis and Interim Managing Director Jeffrey Fauver.

The company's inaugural Chicago season is produced as part of the side project's Visiting Artist Series and is comprised of three world-premiere productions: Heist Play by Mitch Vermeersch, Tell It & Speak It & Think It & Breathe It devised by members of the company and contributing artists, and The Gay American by Kristian O'Hare. In addition, The Ruckus presents a workshop of the world-premiere musical Escape from the [Redacted] Boys Choir, book by Aaron Dean, music and lyrics by Jason Rico. Prior to The Ruckus' recent move to Chicago the company was based in Kalamazoo MI, where it produced such popularly acclaimed productions as Apple Frog Baseball, The Retreating World and Fore Play, in addition to a developmental reading of Linear A by Ryan Dolley at Barrow Street Theatre in New York.

We're here to create, to examine, to invent, to explode-to create a ruckus. Our aim is to break down the old models of new work development in order to nurture new forms, great plays and better and smarter artists. We will work together to create vibrant and unexpected new work, spin terrific yarns and build a world in which two things are sacred: the rehearsal room and the audience member. We will be messy; we will be brave; we demand that our theater become both aspect and integral to our community. We will bring the ruckus.

Three's a crowd. Four's a Ruckus.

See how we make a ruckus all over the interweb on our blog, iruckus.blogspot.com; fan us at facebook.com/theruckustheater; view our photostream at flickr.com/ruckustheater; follow our tweets at twitter.com/ruckustheater; and spend hours at youtube.com/theruckustheater.

For more information, visit www.RuckusTheater.org.

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