The Ship and The Sea at Curious Theatre Branch

CHICAGO – Curious Theatre Branch, is proud to present the world premiere of The Ship and The Sea, written and directed by Chris Bower, September 6 - 29, at Facility Theatre, 1138 N. California Ave.

Chris Bower’s The Ship and The Sea reimagines the infamous sinking of the 17th- century Swedish warship Vasa moments after it set sail on its maiden voyage and less than 1500 yards from its port. The story is told from the perspective of the ship, too big, beautiful and young to fail, the sea, unable to relate to any of the creatures that live and die in her body and two sailors struggling to make sense of their own short lives. Funny and profound, the play echoes our current moment of hubris and dismay. 

The cast of The Ship and The Sea includes Lola Zimmerman (she/her, The Ship); Vicki Walden (she/her, The Sea); Kristy Lockhart (she/her, Captain Gamel); Andrew Schoen (he/him, Ordinary Seaman Ny); Paul Brennan (he/him, Ghost Narrator #1) and Lena Brun (she/her/they/them, Ghost Narrator #2).

The production team includes Chris Bower (he/him, writer/director); Charlotte Lastra (she/her, asst. director/stage manager); Jayita Bhattacharya (she/her, movement specialist); Vicki Walden (she/her, music); Matt Test (he/him, sound/music); Lena Brun (she/her/they/them, sound/music) and Paul Brennan (sound/music).

The regular performance schedule is Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 5 p.m. Tickets for The Ship and The Sea will go on sale Thursday, Aug. 1 at CuriousTheatreBranch.com. Tickets are priced on a “pay what you can” scale, with a suggested price of $20.