Theater Wit Presents TIGERS BE STILL, Now thru 6/3

Tigers Be Still, rising star Kim Rosenstock's savagely funny dark comedy about a young woman who stops being a total disaster and gets her life back on track, is ready to take a bite out of Chicago's theater scene.

Theater Wit will unleash the Midwest premiere of Tigers Be Still tonight, April 24 through June 3, 2012 at the company's home base at 1229 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago. Artistic Director Jeremy Wechsler will direct. Previews are April 24-29. Press opening is Tuesday, May 1 at 7 pm. Performances are May 4 through June 3: Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., and Sunday at 3 p.m. There is an added Industry Night Monday, May 14 at 7 pm. Performances are $18-$36. Running time is 90 minutes with intermission. For tickets or information, visit TheaterWit.org or call 773.975.8150.

Meet Sherry, a recent college graduate with a master's degree in art therapy. But like so many 20-somethings who find themselves back at home, here she sits, unemployed, overwhelmed and dealing with her crazy family. Happily, things begin to brighten up when she gets hired as a high school art teacher. Now if only the principal would leave his rifle at home, her sister would get off the couch, her mother would come downstairs, her first patient would just do one of his art therapy assignments, and someone would catch the damned tiger that just escaped from the local zoo, everything would be perfect.

The cast for Tigers Be Still includes Matt Farabee, Kasey Foster, Mary Winn Heider and Guy Massey. The design team includes Andrei Onegin (set), Mike Durst (lights) and Christine Pascual (costumes). Nancy Staiger is stage manager.

Kim Rosenstock (Playwright) is a rising star in the American theater scene. Her play Tigers Be Still debuted in 2010 at New York's Roundabout Theatre Company as part of the Roundabout Underground program. The New York production was followed by a West Coast premiere last summer at San Francisco Playhouse. Rosenstock's most recent work is Fly By Night, a musical co-written with Will Connolly and Michael Mitnick, which also premiered last summer at TheatreWorks in Palo Alto.

Jeremy Wechsler (Director) is the artistic director of Theater Wit where he has directed This (Melissa James Gibson), The Four of Us (Itamar Moses), Spin (Penny Penniston), Feydeau-Si-Deau (Georges Feydeau), Men of Steel (Qui Nguyen), Thom Pain (Based on Nothing) (Will Eno), Two for the Show (James Fitzpatrick and Will Clinger) and The Santaland Diaries. He has directed over 50 shows in the last 15 years at various theatres, including: A Taste of Honey (Shelagh Delaney), The Play About the Squirrel (Mia McCullough), The White Devil (John Webster), The Real Thing (Tom Stoppard), Szinhaz (Itamar Moses), The Duchess of Malfi (John Webster), Titus Andronicus (Shakespeare), The Roaring Girl (Thomas Middleton), Flight (Mikhail Bulgakov), The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told (Paul Rudnick), This is the Rill Speaking (Lanford Wilson), Hay Fever (Noel Coward), Now Then Again (Penny Penniston), A Month in the Country (Brian Friel), Europe (David Grieg), Henry VI: Blood of a Nation (Shakespeare), The Promise (Jose Rivera), Un Robot (Laura Jacqmin), The Coarse Acting Show (Michael Green) Life is a Dream (Calderon), The Prisoner's Dilemma (David Edgar), Cabaret (Kander/Ebb) and The Threepenny Opera (Brecht). Wechsler's productions have been nominated for and won multiple awards for design, performance, adaptation and best new work. He has taught at several universities, is an artistic associate at Collaboraction and currently serves on the board of the League of Chicago Theatres.

The new Theater Wit is entering its second season in its newly renovated home at 1229 W. Belmont Avenue in Chicago.

In addition to presenting its own three play season in 2011-2012 (The Santaland Diaries, The North Plan by Jason Wells, and Tigers be Still by Kimberly Rosenstock), Theater Wit is completely booked through June 2012 with a slate of new plays and musicals by Chicago's popular and accomplished off-Loop theater companies. Resident companies presenting their full 2011-12 seasons at Theater Wit are Bohemian Theatre Ensemble, New Millennium Theatre Company and Stage Left Theatre. Visiting companies in 2011-12 include BONEdance, Griffin Theatre, Porchlight Music Theatre, Route 66 Theatre Company, Salomee Speelt, Sideshow Theatre, Strange Tree Theatre Group, Theater Mir and TimeLine Theatre Company.

To encourage cross-pollination among Theater Wit productions and those presented by its resident and visiting companies, Theater Wit now offers Chicago's first Netflix-like membership program at a live theater multiplex. With a Theater Wit Membership, you can see as many plays as you want at Theater Wit, year round, for one low monthly fee of $36 ($30 for students). Theater Wit also offers a Flex Pass with 10 admissions for $200 to literally anything presented in the building, a savings of up to 40%. To purchase a Membership Program, Flex Pass, single tickets or for information about all 2011-2012 productions at Theater Wit, call 773.975.8150 or visit TheaterWit.org.

Theater Wit inaugurated its brand new, $1.3 million venue in the former home of the Bailiwick Arts Centre in June 2010. The new Theater Wit boasts three intimate 99-seat performance spaces - the only theater in Chicago with such a configuration - plus a new box office, administrative offices, a beer, wine, spirits and coffee bar, and a cool, casual lobby.

Founded in 2004, Theater Wit's mission is to explore contemporary issues with wit and wisdom through new works and Chicago premieres. For complete information, visit TheaterWit.org.

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