Tympanic Theatre Company Presents DELIVER US FROM NOWHERE Inspired by Bruce Springsteen, Now thru 5/20

Tympanic Theatre Company presents DELIVER US FROM NOWHERE: Tales From Nebraska, tonight, April 26th through May 20th at The Right Brain Project (4001 N. Ravenswood Ave.) Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 7 p.m. Tickets are $15.Industry night Wednesday, May 9th at 8 p.m.Tickets are $12.

Tympanic has paired eleven playwrights with ten Chicago directors to create a night of theatre inspired by Bruce Springsteen’s legendary album, Nebraska. Each song on the record serves as a springboard for a ten-minute play that explores the track in different ways, whether dissecting its themes, culling from its imagery, or bringing its characters to life. “Atlantic City” becomes a surreal meditation on late-life regret, while “Johnny 99” transforms into an exploitational tale of romantic revenge. The evening is filled with lost souls and terrifying characters such as specters, murderers, and supernatural dogs, as well as an ensemble of musicians performing original music based on the plays themselves, with a different musician playing every weekend of the run. Deliver Us From Nowhere: Tales From Nebraska reflects on how art reflects art; a live album in the most unique sense of the word and a macabre celebration of rock ‘n’ roll that is rustic, eerie, and seething with story.

The Plays:

“Man Will Mettle” (inspired by “Nebraska”) by Justin Gerber (Senior Staff Writer at Consequence Of Sound) directed by Brian Ruby (Production Manager of The Ruckus)

“Resurrecting Beauty” (inspired by “Atlantic City”) by Adam Webster (Artistic Director of the side project) directed by Amanda Jane Dunne (Northlight Theatre, The Genesis Ensemble)

“When You’re Dead” (inspired by “Mansion On The Hill”) by Chris Bower (Found Objects) directed by Kyra Lewandowski (Director of Tympanic’s Verse Chorus Verse)

 “Winning Ugly” (inspired by “Johnny 99”) by Bob Fisher (Artistic Director of The Mammals) directed by Chris Acevedo* (Literary Manager of Tympanic)

“The Stray” (inspired by “Highway Patrolman”) by Scott T. Barsotti (Literary Manager of WildClaw, Curious Theatre Branch, Kill Me) directed by Allison Shoemaker (Artistic Director of The Ruckus)

“Gospel Hour” (inspired by “State Trooper”) by Drew and Daniel Caffrey* (Artistic Director of Tympanic) directed by Aaron Henrickson (Director of Tympanic’s Orange Orbs)

“The Drive” (inspired by “Used Cars”) by Mary Laws (MFA Playwriting candidate at Yale Scool of Drama) directed by Michael Carnow (Assistant Director of Assisted Living at Profiles Theatre)

“Daughters Of Necessity” (inspired by “Open All Night”) by Ted Brengle (Alone Apart at Chicago Fringe Festival) directed by Joshua Ellison (Director of Samuel Beckett, Andre The Giant, And The Crickets at RhinoFest)

“Happy. Happier Then.” (inspired by “My Father’s House”) by Randall Colburn (Hesperia, The Improv Play, Tympanic’s Verse Chorus Verse) directed by Jamie Bragg* (Literary Manager of Infusion Theatre) Assistant Director: David Boren (Director Of Programming at Oracle Theatre)

“Dead Dogs” (inspired by “Reason To Believe”) by Joshua Mikel (Tympanic’s Muerte Del Maestro) directed by John Ross Wilson (Collaboraction, Lifeline, The School At Steppenwolf)

Cast: Zachary Baker-Salmon, Lindsey Barlag, Courtney Blomquist, Ali Delianides*, Jared Fernley, Dennis Frymire, McKenzie Gerber*, Ellen Girvin, Korri Givens, Megan Gotz, Rebecca Loeser, Sarah Mayhan, Kevin Murray, Annie Perry, Christopher Pitt, Jereme Rhodes, Michael Rice, Nelson Rodriguez Rivas, Jennifer Roehm, Sergio Soltero, Jordan Stacey, Lindsay Stock, Christine Vrem-Ydstie, Chris Waldron, Nate White

Musicians: Mike Boren, McKenzie Gerber*, Elise Mayfield, Jon Patrick Penick, Gwen Tulin

Lighting Designer: Brian Berman*

Sound Designer: Maxwell Shults

Costume Designer: Charlotte Mae Jusino*

Props Designer: Casey Bentley*

* denotes Tympanic Company Member or Artistic Associate

And next season, two companies join forces to produce an ambitious work with allfemale cast...

Tympanic Theatre Company, in conjunction with The Ruckus Theater, announces the imminent production of the world premiere of Brewed as part of Tympanic’s sixth and The Ruckus’ fourth seasons. Created by playwright Scott T. Barsotti, the play will be co-produced in the early 2013. More information about director, dates, fight choreographers, and casting will be in Tympanic’s and The Ruckus’ respective season announcements

The Ruckus is partially funded by the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, and the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency. Tympanic Theatre Company is partially funded by a grant from the City of Chicago’s Community Arts Assistance Program.

In the world of Brewed, the task is stirring a pot…all day, every day. The six sisters don’t share the task as they once did. With Nannette busy racing stock cars and Roxette off doing her own thing, the others are left to shoulder the burden. But Paulette is fed up; Collette is clueless; and Babette, crippled in more ways than one, is volatile. Juliette does her best to maintain order and civility…for now. But why must they do this? When one of the sisters calls everyone together, old venom bubbles up and grievance flares, setting into motion an impossible moral struggle. A play about gatherings, sacrifice, and the dark art of obligation.

Scott T. Barsotti is a playwright and performer originally from Pittsburgh, PA. Scott’s original plays include Kill Me, The Revenants, Jet Black Chevrolet, Brewed, McMeekin Finds Out, and Your Teacher Is Out Today, and have been performed at many theatres nationwide. His adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Body Snatcher will receive its world premiere this fall at Brisbane Arts Theatre in Queensland, Australia; also in 2012, The Revenants will be produced by Happy Medium Theatre in Boston, as well as New World Arts in Goshen, IN. Scott will also be contributing to Tympanic Theatre Company’s Deliver Us From Nowhere: Tales From Nebraska this spring. His work has been seen at the New York International Fringe Festival, the Rhinoceros Theater Festival, and Collaboraction’s Sketchbook, and has been produced and/or developed by WildClaw Theatre, Curious Theatre Branch, Chicago Dramatists, The Route 66 Theatre Company, Pittsburgh Playwrights, Roundelay Theatre Company, Theatre Seven of Chicago, American Theatre Company, and The Visceral Company among others. As an actor, Scott has appeared with WildClaw Theatre, Lifeline Theatre, Curious Theatre Branch, The Mammals, WNEP Theater, Collaboraction, Pavement Group, and Victory Gardens. Scott designed movement for the WildClaw production of Kill Me, and will be serving as movement director for Strawdog Theatre’s upcoming production of The Duchess of Malfi. Scott is a Resident Playwright at Chicago Dramatists. For more information visit http:// scottbarsotti.wordpress.com.

Founded in Kalamazoo, Michigan in 2006, The Ruckus is composed of actors, directors, playwrights, musicians, casting directors, grant writers, baristas, grad students, poemwriters, computer fixers, appointment-makers and census-takers— an ensemble of multidisciplinary artists whose aim is to blur the lines between playwright and actor, audience and ensemble. A resident company at the side project from 2009 to the present, The Ruckus has produced three Chicago-based seasons of world premieres and workshops, including the company-devised 15 Minutes, recently remounted in Curious Theatre Branch’s Rhinoceros Theater Festival. The Ruckus is led by Artistic Director Allison Shoemaker, Associate Artistic Director Joshua Davis, and a company and ensemble of nineteen.

They’re here to create, to examine, to invent, to explode—to create a ruckus. The Ruckus develops new work and the artists who create that work. The ensemble breaks down the walls of traditional methods to nurture new plays and challenge exceptional artists. They believe in creating our process for every project from the ground up. They commit to the growth of the ensemble, the artists they collaborate with, and the plays they develop. They aim to deepen the cultural bedrock of the community by giving megaphones to new voices and by making theater affordable. By fostering conversations that rip through the curtain, they aim to lead both artist and audience down an unexpected path with art that doesn’t play by the rules.After moving to Chicago in the Fall of 2006, a handful of fellow alumni from Florida State University founded The Tympanic Theatre Company. Producing five seasons of thrilling new work, the collective has since expanded to 16 members and associates and is helmed by Artistic Director Daniel Caffrey and Managing Director Paul E. Martinez.

Besides being a resident company at the side project from 2007 to 2011, Tympanic has participated in the Department of Cultural Affairs’ Incubator Series to extensively workshop Randall Colburn’s Verse Chorus Verse before mounting the full world premiere, as well as Mary Arrchie’s Abbie Hoffman Festival and Curious Theatre Branch’s Rhino Fest. 

The Tympanic Theatre Company is dedicated to producing new work with fantastical, frightening, or absurd subject matter that provokes, inspires, and entertains. Through our use of vibrant storytelling, dynamic language, and colorful characters, we invite our audience to plunge headfirst with us into theatrical worlds that are fresh, energetic, and visceral.

For more information on the fifth season and the Tympanic Theatre Company, please visit www.tympanictheatre.org. 

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