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Hell in a Handbag Productions is pleased to open its 2024/25 Season with the 25^th anniversary edition of Artistic Director David Cerda's* holiday classic Rudolph the Red-Hosed Reindeer (An Unauthorized Musical Parody), directed by Anthony Whitaker, playing December 13, 2024 – January 5, 2025 at Hoover Leppen Theatre at Center on Halsted, 3656 N. Halsted St. in Chicago. Tickets are now on sale at handbagproductions.org or buytickets.at/hellinahandbagproductions/1452754. 

This beloved and twisted musical parody of the animated 1967 children's television special features all your favorite misfits and Rudolph – the cross-dressing reindeer with a penchant for red hose and heels. In trademark Handbag style, Rudolph combines parody with heartfelt moments and a splash of scathing social commentary.

The cast includes ensemble members David Cerda*, Sydney Genco*, Caitlin Jackson*, Lori Lee*, and Terry McCarthy* with Eustace Allen, Mark Bartishell, Kelly Bolton, Cameron Cai, Michael Hampton, Micah Mixon, TJ O'Brien, Shawn Quinlan, Michael Radford, Peter Ruger, Matt Sergot and Whitney Willard Wilkinson. Understudies include: Sophia Dennis, Douglas Levin, Al Duffy and Vito Vittore.

The production team includes Marcus Klein (Scenic Designer), Marquecia Jordan (Costume Designer), Liz Cooper (Lighting Designer), Maya Reter, (Sound Designer), Maggie O'Brien (Props Designer), Jamal Howard (Choreographer), Chad Gearig (Music Director), Syd Genco* (Make-Up Designer), Keith Ryan* (Wig Designer), Veronica Kostka* (Production Manager), Tom Daniel (Technical Director), Jackson Mikkelsen (Electrician), Michael S. Miller (Graphic Designer), Nihan Baysal (Stage Manager) and Sara Blickem (Assistant Stage Manager).

Benefit Weekend

Handbag will host a weekend of benefit performances Friday, December 20 – Sunday, December Sunday, December 22, 2024 with a pre-show party including appetizers, plus the option of VIP reserved seating, drink tickets and a gift bag. There will also be raffles and a silent auction with fabulous items to bid on. All proceeds will support Handbag's mission to serve Chicago audiences with the best camp and parody – thus ensuring the preservation and celebration of this unequivocally queer art form.

*Denotes Handbag Ensemble Member

PRODUCTION DETAILS:

Title: Rudolph the Red-Hosed Reindeer (An Unauthorized Musical Parody)

Playwright: Artistic Director David Cerda*
Director: Anthony Whitaker
Cast (in alphabetical order): Eustace Allen (Tom Donner, Choo Choo), Mark Bartishell (Drag Beast, Ensemble), Kelly Bolton (Herbie), Cameron Cai (Spike/Ensemble), David Cerda* (Gladys Dasher), Sydney Genco* (Elfina, Choo Choo), Michael Hampton (Santa), Caitlin Jackson* (Mrs. Claus, Dolly), Lori Lee* (Yukon Cornelia), Terry McCarthy* (Connie Blitzen, TT Barbie), Micah Mixon (Jane Donner, Ensemble) TJ O'Brien (QMR, Ensemble), Shawn Quinlan (Andy Cohen), Michael Radford (Score, Half Naked Cowboy), Peter Ruger (Rudolph), Matt Sergot (Sam the Snowman) and Whitney Willard Wilkinson (Clarice).

Understudies: Sophia Dennis, Al Duffy, Douglas Levin and Vito Vittore.

Location: Hoover Leppen Theatre at Center on Halsted, 3656 N. Halsted St., Chicago

Previews: Friday, December 13 at Saturday, December 14 at 7:30 pm
Opening/Press performance: Sunday, December 15 at 7:30 pm
Regular run: Wednesday, December 18, 2024 – Sunday, January 5, 2025
Curtain Times: Thursday, Fridays and Saturday at 7:30 pm; Sundays at 3 pm. Please note: there will be added performances on Wednesday, December 18 at 7:30 pm and Monday, December 30 (Industry Night).

Special Benefit Performances: Friday, December 20 at 7 pm, Saturday, December 21 at 7 pm and Sunday, December 22 at 3 pm. Please note early curtain times on Friday and Saturday.

Tickets: $29 previews, $39 early bird general admission, $45 general admission, $50 at the door, $52 advanced VIP/reserved ticket with no drink ticket, $60 advanced VIP/reserved seating with drink ticket. Group rates $36 for 10 or more.

Benefit Performance Tickets: $60 general admission (includes appetizers) and $125 VIP/reserved (includes reserved seating, appetizers, drink ticket and gift bag).

Tickets for all performances are now on sale at handbagproductions.org or buytickets.at/hellinahandbagproductions/1452754.

About the Artists

David Cerda (Playwright) is a founding member and Artistic Director of Hell in a Handbag Productions, now celebrating its 23^rd year anniversary. As resident playwright, he has written many Handbag productions as well as acted in them. His play, The Drag Seed was recently produced at LaMaMa Experimental Theater and his Golden Girls Lost Episodes parody shows have been produced around the country and was featured in Golden Con: Thank you for being a Fan, the world's first fan convention dedicated to all things Golden Girls at Chicago's Navy Pier. Cerda is a proud inductee into the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame and recipient of a Jeff Award for lifetime achievement for his 23 years (and counting) of work and service to the community. He lives in Chicago with his partner, Christopher.

Anthony Whitaker (Director) is happy to be returning to Hell In a Handbag after having directed the Jeff-nominated Murder Re-Wrote and a week-long run as Happy The Elf in The Golden Girls Save Christmas. They most recently appeared in Sign Of The Traveler, a self-written solo performance, Anything Goes (Porchlight Music Theatre), Cabaret (Metropolis Performing Arts Center) as Herr Schultz and La Cage Aux Folles with Ginger Minj (Music Theater Works). They are the Co-Artistic Director the New American Folk Theatre (newamericanfolktheatre.org), where they wrote and/or performed in productions of, Two from the Trailer Court, The Marvelous Land of Oz, Dark of the Moon, Trash. Hot Pink, My Life Is A Country Song and directed the Jeff-nominated The Summer of Daisy Fay, written by Ed Howard and based on a novel by Fannie Flagg. Some of their favorite Chicago performances include Whoop Dee Doo (Royal George Theatre), A Funny Thing Happened... (Porchlight), Hands On A Hardbody (Refuge Theatre) and Shockheaded Peter (Black Button Eyes). In addition to performing, Anthony teaches music and theatre in various Chicago area schools. They recently completed the short films, Shape Notes and The Caretaker, and has appeared on Chicago PD. They are represented by Big Mouth Talent.

About Hell in a Handbag Productions

Hell in a Handbag is dedicated to the preservation, exploration, and celebration of works ingrained in the realm of popular culture via theatrical productions through parody, music and homage. Handbag is a 501(c)(3) Not for Profit. For additional information, visit handbagproductions.org.

When George W Bush won his second term in November 2004 Larry Kramer delivered the watershed speech The Tragedy of Today’s Gays, a speech that was “the most difficult I’ve ever had to give”. Director David Zak worked with Kramer adapting the speech for theatrical performance, continuing after Kramer’s death in 2020. THE KRAMER PROJECT is the result; its world premiere is the first event for Open Space Arts, a new non-profit dedicated to works of social relevance. The six performances of THE KRAMER PROJECT, July 22 through 31, benefit Center on Halsted.

Larry Kramer would be first to agree that most of his performances involve yelling at people, particularly other gays. David Zak modifies the speech for performance by having the cast – Tom Chiola, Keith Butler, Elijah Newman, Hailey Hance, Roberto del Rio, Alexandria Moorman and Ryan Quade – deliver the speech to one another, against a video background designed by Magdiel Carmona and including original music by Elijah Newman.

THE KRAMER PROJECT was a flashback for me personally.  I completed my psychiatric residency at Rush Medical Center from 1984 – 1988, as the Plague swept through Chicago. During those four years I watched helplessly as sparkling young men shriveled and died in unspeakably horrible ways. When my training was complete, my National Health Corps Scholarship required me to pay back with four years of practice. I went all the way up to the Surgeon General, C. Everett Koop, begging to complete my payback service at Howard Brown Health Center. In April 1988 I received a letter from Dr. Koop stating that “AIDS is not a national health care priority”. So, yeah … THE KRAMER PROJECT was a flashback, both bitter and sweet.

By the time Kramer delivered the speech in 2004 the Highly-Active Anti-Retroviral Treatments (HAART) had been available for nearly ten years, and AIDS had morphed from an immediate death sentence (90% dead within six months of diagnosis) into a chronic, treatable disease. The Tragedy of Today’s Gays was addressed to the latest generation of young gay men, for whom AIDS is “just a bad STD””, condemning their disregard for social activism in favor of orgasms.

The Tragedy of Today’s Gays had much to say about the Bush administration’s endorsement of “moral values”. Kramer quotes extensively from Bill Moyers’ research on the alliance of conservatives that were transforming America into a “classist, racist, homophobic, imperial army of pirates”.  AIDS was a gift to this cabal: "Their wildest dreams started to come true. The faggots were disappearing, and they were doing it to themselves".  

Kramer’s confrontational style, criticizing the promiscuous gay relationships common in the 1970’s, earned him severe ostracism from the gay community. Undeterred, in The Tragedy of Today’s Gays Kramer directs his censure toward the younger generation of 2004 gays. 

Today, 20 years later, it is shocking – and deeply alarming – to see how accurate his indictments continue to be in 2022.  

Zak’s technique in THE KRAMER PROJECT, having the cast address one another, works brilliantly, transforming Kramer’s recriminations from a tirade into a discussion. The cast ranges in age from early 20’s to late 50’s, lending still greater depth to the ‘discussion’, and enhancing the validity of Kramer’s charges. 

At the post-performance discussion David Zak described his dismay as one segment after another of The Tragedy of Today’s Gays anticipated today’s anti-trans legislation, supreme court decisions, and ‘Don’t Say Gay’, adding: “…and now here comes monkeypox, right on schedule.”

Each actor spoke of their personal journeys with THE KRAMER PROJECT. A younger cast member admitted that, though they already knew much of the history, it had been difficult to ferret out the information. There are no straightforward [sic] sources for queer history, and many will abandon efforts to piece together the hodgepodge of implausible accounts with questionable provenance.

Yes, in 2022 Kramer’s words prove clairvoyant. We have just (barely) unseated a President who makes George W Bush look like James Baldwin, we have a brand-new viral onslaught on men who have sex with men, and many of today’s queers seem mired in political apathy.  Without an overwhelming upsurge in activism, Kramer’s ominous predictions will continue to foreshadow our dwindling gay rights.

I highly recommend THE KRAMER PROJECT, but expect to leave the theatre feeling deeply unsettled.