Displaying items by tag: Red Theater

Red Theater is thrilled to present its second show of the 23/24 season: Shakespeare’s HAMLET, directed by Jeff nominated director Wyatt Kent, running April 26 - May 19, 2024 at The Edge Off Broadway in Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood. The production features Ashley Fox as Hamlet, Robert Koon as Claudius, Kelly Dupree Levander as Gertrude, Julia Rowley as Ophelia, Zach Bloomfield as Polonius, Reggie Hemphill as Horatio, and Ian Maryfield as Laertes, with an ensemble featuring Harrison Lampert, Mary Townsend Cahoon, Josh Razavi, Tatiana Pavela, and Tulsi McDaniels. Understudies include Tess Galbiati, Craig Duff, Aimee Kleiman, RJ Cecott, Matty Schnitker, and Stephanie Neuerburg. Tickets sales launch in March - sign up for Red Theater’s newsletter at www.redtheater.org for early bird access. 

Comments Artistic Director Clare Brennan: “Our 23/24 production of Hamlet places Shakespeare’s classic tragedy in an intimate, in-the-round setting. We’re thrilled to have textual powerhouse Ashley Fox as our lead, around whom a knockout cast brings this story straight into the current day. Our design team features some of the finest conceptual talent on display in Chicago storefront theater, including Jeff Award nominees Rose Johnson and Sebby Woldt. This spring, we can’t wait to invite audiences to get up close and personal with your ghosts.” 

The production team includes Tessa Huber (Stage Manager), Sean William Kelly (Assistant Director), Junipero Cruz (Assistant Stage Manager), Rose Johnson (Scenic Design), Jamie Macpherson (Fight & Intimacy Design), Madeline Felauer (Costume Design), Derryll Lyall (Lighting Design), Sebby Woldt (Sound Design), Andy Cahoon (Technical Direction + Props Design), Meredith Ernst (Text Coach), Becca Holloway (Casting Director), and Clare Brennan (Producer). 

PRODUCTION DETAILS

Title: Hamlet

Playwright: William Shakespeare

Director: Wyatt Kent

Cast: Ashley Fox (Hamlet), Robert Koon (Claudius), Kelly Dupree Levander (Gertrude), Julia Rowley (Ophelia), Zach Bloomfield (Polonius), Reggie Hemphill (Horatio), Ian Maryfield (Laertes), Harrison Lampert (Rosencrantz et al.), Mary Townsend Cahoon (Guildenstern et al.), Josh Razavi (Gravedigger et al.), Tatiana Pavela (1st Player et al.), and Tulsi McDaniels (Osric et al.) 

Understudies: Tess Galbiati (U/s Hamlet / Guildenstern), Craig Duff (U/s Claudius / Polonius), Aimee Kleiman (U/s Gertrude et al.), RJ Cecott (U/s Laertes), Matty Schnitker (U/s Horatio et al.), and Stephanie Neuerburg (U/s Rosencrantz et al.).

Production Team: Tessa Huber (Stage Manager), Sean William Kelly (Assistant Director), Junipero Cruz (Assistant Stage Manager), Rose Johnson (Scenic Design), Jamie Macpherson (Fight & Intimacy Design), Madeline Felauer (Costume Design), Derryll Lyall (Lighting Design), Sebby Woldt (Sound Design), Andy Cahoon (Technical Direction + Props Design), Meredith Ernst (Text Coach), Becca Holloway (Casting Director), and Clare Brennan (Producer). 

Location: The Edge Off Broadway, 1133 W. Catalpa Ave, Chicago

Previews: Wed 4/24 & Thurs 4/25 @ 7:30P

Opening night: Friday, April 26th @ 7:30P

Run dates: Friday, April 26 - Sunday, May 19, 2024

Curtain times: Thursdays – Saturdays @ 7:30P, Sundays @ 3P; Mondays @ 7:30P, Wednesday 5/15 @ 7:30P

Tickets: Tickets sales launch in March - sign up for Red Theater's newsletter at www.redtheater.org for early bird access.

Written by Abbey Fenbert and directed by Elizabeth Lovelady, Red Theater’s new play Sickle takes on the very little-known subject of Holodomor (or “Golodomor”, Famine-genocide, or “death by hunger”). The story takes place in 1932-33, in a Ukrainian village, one of many Ukrainian villages sacrificed by Stalin to advance his communist agenda of land de-privatization and collectivization. Though initially collectivization was voluntary, eventually all agricultural land was declared Socialist property. Later all farmers (“kulaks”) were ordered to give up their land ownership to the State, merge their land together into collectively operated farms (“kolkhozy”) that would “belong to all”. Farms that refused were given requisition quota of grain that was set at unreasonably high levels. Any grain withholdings were severely punishable by ceasing of property, Siberian labor camps, or death without trial. A law was passed forcing peasants who could not meet their grain quotas to surrender any livestock they had. Collective farms that failed to meet their quotas were placed on "blacklists"; blacklisted communes had no right to trade or to receive deliveries of any kind and became death zones. In January 1933 Ukraine's borders were sealed in order to prevent Ukrainian peasants from fleeing to other republics. Black flags were placed outside of the villages failed to comply with the Soviet Government. Thus, full scale mass murder was underway.

In Sickle, by the time comsomolka (young party activist) Nadya (Katherine Bourne Taylor) arrives in the village, the only remaining inhabitants are four women (Iryna, Anna, Yasia and Halka) dressed in dirty clothes and weak from “skipping meals”, and a baby. Grain is severely rationed, their husbands and family are either dead or in Siberia - there’s really no hope left, but with self-given titles like general, lieutenant and captain, they consider themselves soldiers and theirs is organized resistance. Comsomolka Nadia had been sent by the Party to investigate why the village is under-performing; she accuses them of cheating and keeping more grain than they claim they had. Nadia is from a city and knows next to nothing about farming, but she’s good with numbers, and she’s a really good Party dog.

Wonderful acting, most notably by Christine Vrem-Ydstie who plays General Yryna, and Katherine Bourne Taylor who plays Nadya, and witty dialogue make the play very enjoyable, despite its grim subject matter. The tiny space that is Strawdog theater seems like the perfect venue, giving the story the layer of intimacy for all five [well developed] characters to relate to each other.

The play is a brave undertaking, considering the authentically Ukrainian terminology used that’s unfamiliar to most American theater-goers. But it is a poignant story that needs to be told. There was a terrible time in the history of Ukraine when, by some accounts, nearly 12 million people were exterminated, yet very few people know about that.

Red Theater's production of Sickle is being performed at Strawdog Theatre through July 29th. For more show info visit https://redtheater.org/.