U.S. Premiere of LONDON ROAD Adds Week of Performances at Theater Wit

Due to popular demand, Shattered Globe Theatre has announce one added week of performances for its hit U.S. premiere musical London Road, extending through Sunday, June 11, 2023 at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave. in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood. Tickets for all performances are now on sale at sgtheatre.org/london.

 

This experimental and innovative new musical features book and lyrics by Alecky Blythe, music and lyrics by Adam Cork, direction and movement by Elizabeth Margolius and music direction by Andra Velis Simon.

 

The cast includes Ensemble Members Christina Gorman*, Rebecca Jordan*, Tina Muñoz Pandya* and Linda Reiter*, Artistic Associates Steve Peebles+ and Leslie Ann Sheppard+ with Rengin Altay, Alani Gross-Roberts, Steven Schaeffer, Anne Sheridan Smith and Kendal Wilson. Understudies include: RileyGrace Abbott, Gabriela Diaz, North Homewood, Rachel Livingston, Eilish Morse-O'Rourke, Joselle Reyes and Sean Sturdivant.

 

Determined and tenacious, the residents of Ipswich, UK mobilize to overcome the immense fear and media circus that unfolds following the serial murder of 5 sex workers in their small town. This experimental and innovative new musical is based on a true story, using verbatim dialogue recorded during interviews with the people of Ipswich. Brought to the American stage for the first time ever, London Road is an uplifting story that reveals how a devastating tragedy can spark empathy and engender community resilience.

 

Comments Producing Artistic Director Sandy Shinner, “As an ensemble theatre company, SGT is thrilled to produce our first large cast show since 2019. In the spirit of abundance, London Road provides us with a wonderful opportunity to compensate and showcase as many artists as possible. This new musical is about a community overcoming monumental obstacles with celebration and growth, a theme that mirrors both the times we live in and SGT’s own success as we emerge from early-pandemic closures, producing exciting new theatre while expanding our communities and networks of artists.”

 

The production team includes Jack Magaw (Scenic Designer), Austin Winter (Costume Designer), Levi Wilkins (Lighting Designer), Christopher Kriz+ (Sound Designer), Shayna Patel (Props Designer and Scenic Charge), Smooch Medina (Projection Designer), Sammi Grant (Dialect Coach), Ethan Deppe (Electronic Music Design), (Richie Vavrina (Production Manager), Daren Leonard (Associate Director), Andy Cahoon (Technical Director), Richard Schiraldi (Assistant Technical Director), Jonah White (Lead Electrician), Shelley Strasser (Lighting Consultant), Nick Dunk (A1 Sound Engineer), Tina M. Jach* (Stage Manager) and Faramade Oladapo (Assistant Stage Manager).

 

Content warning: the production uses strobe and flashing lights.

 

COVID safety: Shattered Globe Theatre currently requires all patrons to wear masks during the performance, except when actively drinking beverages. Visit sgtheatre.org for the most up-to-date policy.

 

*Denotes SGT Ensemble Member  +Denotes SGT Artistic Associate

 

PERFORMANCE DETAILS:

 

Title: London Road – U.S. Premiere!

Book and Lyrics: Alecky Blythe

Music and Lyrics: Adam Cork

Direction and Movement: Elizabeth Margolius

Music Director: Andra Velis Simon

 

Cast (in alphabetical order) Rengin Altay (Dodge/Ensemble), Christina Gorman* (June/Ensemble), Alani Gross-Roberts (Helen/Ensemble), Rebecca Jordan* (Rosemary/Ensemble), Tina Muñoz Pandya* (Jan/Ensemble), Steve Peebles+ (Tim/Ensemble), Linda Reiter* (Alfie/Ensemble), Steven Schaeffer (Gordon/Ensemble), Leslie Ann Sheppard+ (Ron/Ensemble), Anne Sheridan Smith (Julie/Ensemble) and Kendal Wilson (Terry/Ensemble).

Musicians: Diego Salcedo (electric and acoustic guitar), Mike Matlock (flute, clarinet, alto sax), Joe Sanchez (clarinet, alto sax, tenor sax), Lara Ochoa Regan (clarinet, soprano sax, baritone sax) and Andra Velis Simon (conductor, keyboard).  

 

Understudies: RileyGrace Abbott, Gabriela Diaz, North Homewood, Rachel Livingston, Eilish Morse-O'Rourke, Joselle Reyes and Sean Sturdivant.

 

Location: Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago

Dates: Previews: Saturday, April 22 – Wednesday, April 26, 2023

Press Performance: Thursday, April 27 at 7:30 pm

Regular Run: Saturday, April 29 – Saturday, June 11, 2023

Curtain Times: Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays at 8 pm; Sundays at 3 pm.

Global Perspectives: SGT will present a series of post-show discussions and events following select Sunday matinees.

 

Tickets: $45 - $52 general admission. $15 students. $35 - $42 seniors. $25 under 30 years oldTickets are now on sale at sgtheatre.org/london/, by calling (773) 975-8150 or in person at the Theater Wit Box Office. Group discounts are available by contacting groupsales@shatteredglobe.org or by calling (773) 770-0333.

 

Industry Discounts: SGT is pleased to offer discounted industry tickets: $15 Thursday & Fridays (5/4-6/9, use code: INDUSTRY15), $20 Saturday & Sunday (4/29-6/11, use code: INDUSTRY20). To redeem: select full price general admission tickets on Theater Wit’s website, enter the code, and note that the discount will not be applied until you “Review Order.” Visit sgtheatre.org/london to learn more about the show.

 

Shattered Globe understands that ticket prices can pose a financial burden and, at times, an obstacle for theatregoers. A number of free and sliding-scale tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis for students and community members experiencing access barriers to theatre. If you would like to be added to SGT’s Waived Ticket Waitlist, please e-mail edurbin@shatteredglobe.org. Please note: all requests must be completed by 12 pm the Friday before the performance you would like to attend. This email will not be monitored on weekends or after 5 pm on weekdays.

 

About the Artists:

 

Alecky Blythe (Book and Lyrics, she/her) is a British playwright and actor. In 2003, Alecky set up Recorded Delivery (Verbatim Theatre Company). The term 'recorded delivery' has now become synonymous with the verbatim technique she employs. Her first play Come Out Eli at the Arcola won the Time Out Award for the Best Production on the Fringe and transferred to the BAC for the Critics Choice Season. She went on to write Strawberry Fields for Pentabus and Cruising for the Bush. In 2007 she was selected as one of Screen International's Stars of Tomorrow following A Man In a Box for Channel 4. In July 2009, Alecky's play The Girlfriend Experience transferred from the Royal Court to the Young Vic. In 2010, she teamed up with The National Theatre Studio and Rustaveli Theatre Tbilisi to make Do We Look Like Refugees?!, originally produced in Georgia before going to the Assembly Rooms and winning a Fringe First Award at the Edinburgh Festival 2010. London Road, which she co-authored with composer Adam Cork, won Best Musical at the Critics' Circle Awards and was revived in 2012 at The National Theatre in the Olivier after its sellout in the Cottesloe in 2011. Alecky was also involved in Headlong Theatre's production of Decade. More recently, Where Have Been All My Life? was produced at the New Vic Theatre in April 2012 and she co-wrote Friday Night Sex for the Royal Court's Open Court Season with Michael Wynne. She wrote and co-directed The Riots; In their Words, a drama documentary for BBC2 and has most recently adapted London Road into a feature film with Cuba Pictures, BBC Films and BFI. Her show Little Revolution ran at the Almeida in autumn 2014. Alecky's most recent play for the National, OUR GENERATION, is an astonishing verbatim production that tells the stories of a generation. Created from five years of interviews with 12 young people from across the UK, it is a captivating portrait of their journey into adulthood.

 

Adam Cork (Music and Lyrics, he/him) received a Tony Award in 2010 for his music and sound score for Red (Donmar/Broadway) and an Olivier Award in 2011 for King Lear (Donmar). Adam was also nominated in 2010 for the Tony Award for Best Score (Music & Lyrics) for Enron (Broadway/West End). He was nominated for an Olivier Award and a Tony Award for Best Sound Design of a Play for Travesties (Broadway/West End). Other award nominations include the Tony Award Best Sound Design of a Play for both Macbeth (2008) and Enron (2010), an Olivier nomination for Best Sound Design for Suddenly Last Summer (2005) as well as four Drama Desk nominations: Outstanding Music in a Play for Frost/Nixon (2007) and Red (2010) and Outstanding Sound Design for Macbeth (2008) and Enron (2010). He was awarded the 2011 Evening Standard Award for Best Design for Anna Christie and King Lear and the 2011 Critics' Circle for Best Musical for London Road. Adam was also recently nominated for the Tony Award for Best Sound Design for Ink (Broadway).

 

Elizabeth Margolius (Direction/Movement, she/her) is a four-time Joseph Jefferson Award nominee, stage and movement director. Selected directing credits include: Le Loup-garou (Opera Southwest), I and You, Silent Sky, Miss Holmes and The Bridges of Madison County (Peninsula Players), Rose (Renaissance Theaterworks), Queen of the Mist (Firebrand Theatre), The Scarlet Ibis (Chicago Opera Theater), Uncle Philip’s Coat (Greenhouse Theater), Haymarket: The Anarchist’s Songbook (Underscore Theatre), The Girl in the Train (Chicago Folks Operetta), Goldstar, Ohio (American Theater Company), The Merry Wives of Windsor (Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Assistant Director), Opus 1861(City Lit Theater), Violet (Bailiwick Chicago), Bernarda Alba and Songs for a New World  (Bohemian Theatre Ensemble). Elizabeth has been a guest director, master artist and adjunct professor at numerous colleges and universities including DePaul University, Viterbo University, University of Northern Iowa, University of Nebraska, South Carolina’s Converse School of Music, SUNY Albany and Skidmore College. Elizabeth is an alumna of the Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab, a recipient of a full directorial scholarship for the Wesley Balk Opera-Music Theater Institute, and a finalist for the Charles Abbott Fellowship. Elizabeth has a degree in classical flute and has trained in movement techniques from around the world including Qigong, the Frantic Method and Axis Syllabus. She is the Co-Founder and Artistic Director Emerita of DirectorsLabChicago, and a proud member of the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA) and the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC).

 

Andra Velis Simon (Music Director, she/her) is happy to be working with Shattered Globe for the first time. She works extensively in Chicago and around the country as a music director, adapter/arranger, pianist, educator and vocal coach. In Chicago, she has worked with Chicago Children’s Theatre, Firebrand Theatre, The Goodman, The Hypocrites, Northlight Theatre, Porchlight, Steppenwolf, Theater Wit, Writers Theatre and dozens of others. Regionally, she has worked with Actors Theatre of Louisville, A.R.T. in Cambridge, Berkeley Rep, Brooklyn Academy of Music, NYU’s Skirball Center, Olney Theatre Center in Maryland, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Pasadena Playhouse and Three Oaks in Michigan. Andra is a Practitioner in Residence at Columbia Chicago Chicago, where she has taught musical theatre performance to BA and BFA majors since 2008. www.AndraVelisSimon.com

 

About Shattered Globe Theatre

 

Shattered Globe Theatre (Sandy Shinner, Producing Artistic Director) was born in a storefront space on Halsted Street in 1991. Since then, SGT has produced more than 80 plays, including nine American and world premieres, and garnered an impressive 42 Jeff Awards and 114 Jeff Award nominations, as well as the acclaim of critics and audiences alike.

 

Shattered Globe Theatre seeks to discover new connections between story, artist and audience by exploring drama from bold, challenging perspectives, and continuously redefining what it means to be an ensemble theater.

 

SGT’s values are rooted in a commitment to racial equity, respect for all artists and support for the ensemble, while creating new opportunities to amplify traditionally marginalized voices and collaborate in all aspects of our work. Through initiatives such as the Protégé Program, Shattered Globe creates a space which allows emerging artists to grow and share in the ensemble experience.

For more information on Shattered Globe Theatre, please visit www.sgtheatre.org.

 

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