Tympanic Theatre Company's PAPER CITY PHOENIX Opens Today

Tympanic presents the opening of the Midwest Premiere of PAPER CITY PHOENIX, a sci-fi dark comedy by Walt McGough (Chalk, founding member - Sideshow Theatre Company), directed by Rebecca Willingham.

PAPER CITY PHONIX opens today, Friday, April 15, 2016 and runs through May 8, 2016 at The Alley Stage, 4147 N. Broadway St. in Chicago. Performances are Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Monday nights at 8PM, and Sundays at 2PM. Tickets are available at www.tympanictheatre.org or by calling our box office at 929-329-2934. General tickets are $20. Press is invited to attend on April 15, or any night during the run. Running time is approximately two hours, including a ten-minute intermission.

Watch a trailer for the show below!

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PAPER CITY PHOENIX will feature Andrew Bailes, Jamie Bragg*, Tom Dacey Carr, Stevie Chaddock*, Meredith Ernst, Nick Mikula, Celeste Burns, and Christopher Waldron.*

Brenna's soul mate is missing, but finding him is hard when she can't stop channeling the Internet. Gale tries to help, but she's got her own problems and her printer's out of toner. Both women, an anti-Tech cult, the FBI, and the Internet itself will be involved before it's over, and the city will never be the same. An explosive comedy exploring how we connect when we're always connected, and just what's left when the universe hits the delete key.

The production team for PAPER CITY PHOENIX includes: Greg Culley (scenic design), Jerica Hucke (costume design), Brian Berman* (lighting design), Sarah Espinoza (sound design), Eric Shoemaker (prop design), Noah Grossman (projection design), Mark Lancaster (violence design), Michael Sanow (technical director), Chris Acevedo* (production manager), Erin Altekruse* (stage manager), and Becky Cagney (assistant stage manager).

Walt McGough is a founding ensemble member of Chicago's Sideshow Theatre Company. He currently lives in Boston, where he has held fellowships with both the Huntington and New Repertory Theatre Companies. His plays include Pattern of Life, which was named Best New Play by the Independent Reviewers of New England, as well as Chalk, The Farm, Priscilla Dreams the Answer, Dante Dies!! (And Then Things Get Weird), and Non-Player Character. He has worked around the country with companies including The Lark, the Huntington, New Rep, the Kennedy Center, NNPN, Boston Playwrights Theatre, Fresh Ink, Sideshow, Orfeo Group, Nu Sass Productions, Chicago Dramatists, and Argos. In 2015, his TYA play Advice for Astronauts was selected as the winner of the Milken Playwriting Prize. He serves on the staff at SpeakEasy Stage Company in Boston, and was previously the company manager at Chicago Dramatists. He holds a BA from the University of Virginia, and an MFA in playwriting from Boston University.

Rebecca Willingham is a Chicago-based theater director. Her directing credits include Seagulls (Chicago Musical Theatre Festival), The Rockers (Bechdel Fest, Broken Nose Theatre), If you came closer (Snapshots Festival, 20% Theatre), Wavelength (Today We Escape, Tympanic Theatre), Danny Met Sarah (The Frontier), and The Sacred Schizoid Heart (Landmark Festival, Prologue Theatre). Her assistant-directing credits include Balm in Gilead (Griffin Theatre), Mr. Burns (Theater Wit), Cicada (Route 66), strangers, babies (Steep Theatre), and The Seafarer (Irish Theatre of Chicago). Rebecca is a proud alumna of Emerson College and the National Theatre Institute.

Now in its ninth season, Tympanic Theatre Company was founded in 2006 by a few alumni of Florida State University. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Chris Acevedo and Managing Director Caroline Ruark, Tympanic is dedicated to producing new and developed work with fantastical, frightening, or absurd subject matter that provokes, inspires, and entertains.

Tympanic has recently been nationally recognized by American Theatre Magazine for their short play festival Today We Escape - a collection of short plays each inspired Radiohead's album OK Computer. Tympanic has also participated in the Department of Cultural Affairs' Incubator Series, extensively work-shopping 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. Recent productions include Blueberry Toast,Today We Escape, The Midwest Premiere of Jackie Sibblies Drury's Social Creatures, Deliver Us From Nowhere - a collection of short plays inspired by Bruce Springsteen's album Nebraska, the World Premiere of Dan Caffrey's Sandalwood (co-produced with the side project), the world premiere of Scott T. Barsotti's Brewed, (directed by Anna C. Bahow and co-produced with The Ruckus), and the Midwest Premiere of Shaun Prendergast's The True History Of The Tragic Life And Triumphant Death Of Julia Pastrana, The Ugliest Woman In The World, which was performed entirely in the dark.

Through the use of vibrant storytelling, dynamic language, and colorful characters, Tympanic Theatre Company invites audiences to plunge headfirst into theatrical worlds that are fresh, energetic, and visceral. For more, visit www.tympanictheatre.org.

*denotes Tympanic Company Member or Artistic Associate

Photo Credit: Sergio Soltero

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