STRAWDOG THEATRE COMPANY AND VICTORY GARDENS’
ACCESS PROJECT ANNOUNCE A FULLY ACCESSIBLE PERFORMANCE OF FAIL/SAFE BASED ON THE NOVEL BY EUGENE BURDICK AND HARVEY WHEELER,OCTOBER 4 AT
VICTORY GARDENS BIOGRAPH THEATER
This Special One Night Only Presentation Includes Wheelchair Accessibility, Audio Description, Open Captioning and a Touch Tour of the Productions’ Elements
CHICAGO - Strawdog Theatre Company, Hugen Hall and Victory Gardens’ Access Project, announce a fully accessible performance of the world premiere of Strawdog Theatre’s Hugen Hall production of Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler’s Fail/Safe, adapted for the stage by ensemble members Nikki Klix and Anderson Lawfer, Saturday, Oct. 4 at 8 p.m., direction by Anderson Lawfer, Victory Gardens Biograph Theater, in the Prince Charitable Trust Rehearsal Room, 2433 N. Lincoln Ave. This performance will be fully wheelchair accessible. Audio description, open captioning and a touch tour of elements from the production will also be provided. Immediately following that night’s performance there will be a post show talk back with the playwright and director. This performance is $10 with reservations requested. Reservations may be made at boxoffice@strawdog.orgor 773.528.9696. The performance schedule for the production running through October 14 at Strawdog Theatre, 3829 N. Broadway St., is Sundays at 12 p.m. and Sundays-Tuesdays at 8 p.m. Single tickets are $15 and are currently on sale. Subscriptions, group, senior and student discounts are also available. Tickets may be ordered online atstrawdog.org or by calling OvationTix toll-free: 866.811.4111.
Critics and audiences alike have lauded this world premiere production. Fail/Safe is a political thriller where a system failure threatens to trigger World War III, adapted from the acclaimed 1964 film. As time runs out, the president of the United States and his advisors scramble to find a strategy that will save the planet from total annihilation.
“We’re excited to welcome Strawdog Theatre into our access programming here at Victory Gardens Theater. Through this collaboration with the Access Project, the disability community is not only able to experience the richness of another theater company committed to new plays, but are able to do so in our wheelchair accessible performance and rehearsal spaces,” said Victory Gardens Artistic Director Chay Yew.
The cast includes Strawdog ensemble members Carmine Grisoliaand Tom Hickey with guest artists Mark Pracht, Conor Burke, Stuart Ritter, Brian Amidei, Lee Russell, Joe Mack, Jim Heatherly, and Dave Skvarla.
The production team also includes Strawdog Company members Mike Mroch, set design; Jordan Kardasz, light designer; Heath Hays, sound designer; Kyle Hamman, projection design; with guest artists Elizabeth Lovelady, assistant director/dramaturg; Anthony DeMarco, stage manager; Rebecca Grossman, production manager and Delia Ridenour, costume design.
ABOUT FAIL/SAFE
Fail/Safe is the best selling novel from the team of Burdick and Wheeler originally published in 1962. The story was initially serialized in three installments in the SaturdayEvening Post on October 13, 20, and 27, during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The popular and critically acclaimed novel was adapted in a 1964 movie, directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Henry Fonda, Dan O’ Herlihy and Walter Matthau. In 2000, the novel was adapted for television and aired in black and white with an introduction by Walter Cronkite and starring George Clooney, Harvey Keitel, Richard Dreyfuss and Noah Wyle.
The book so closely resembled the 1958 novel Red Alert by Peter George, which was adapted by George and Stanley Kubrick into Dr. Strangelove, that George filed a lawsuit for copyright infringement. The case was settled out of court.
ABOUT Anderson Lawfer,Director/Co-adaptor
Anderson Lawfer is a Strawdog Company Member since 2003,recently directing
and adapting the world premiere of Pontypool, the world premiere of Kill Shakespeare,
and the adaptation of Ben Hecht’s 1,001 Afternoons In Chicago with Access
Contemporary Music. He is the host of Theatre Wars! and The Direct Off! at Strawdog
and the late night hit The Game Show Show...and Stuff! Lawfer is also the curator
of the Chicago theatre insider blog “Eric and Andy's Reviews You Can Iews" and host
of Chicago theatre podcast "Poison Boot."
ABOUT Nikki Klix, Co-adaptor
Nikki Klix is an actor and musician who attended College of DuPage as a Belushi Scholar. She has worked with Steppenwolf, Northlight, The Hypocrites, Oracle, and Strawdog where she is a new ensemble member and was last seen in the Hugen Hall production Pontypool. Klix is a singer, songwriter and violinist. This is her first work she has adapted for the stage.
ABOUT STRAWDOG THEATRE COMPANY
Since its founding in 1988, Strawdog Theatre Company has offered Chicagoland the premiere storefront theatre experience and garnered numerous Non-Equity Jeff Awards with its commitment to ensemble acting and an immersive design approach. The celebrated Company develops new work, re-imagines the classics, melds music with theatre, asks provocative questions and delivers their audience the unexpected.
ABOUT HUGEN HALL
Under Hugen Hall’s Artistic Director Anderson Lawfer, Hugen Hall has grown from a cabaret space and Chicago’s “Best Theater Bar” (Chicago Reader) to a fully functional performance and gallery space. Over the past two seasons of presenting productions, Lawfer has overseen, and often directed, various premieres and new productions varying from superheroes in conflict to zombie world domination to family fare with many of Chicago’s leading talents. In addition, Hugen Hall has also displayed artwork from David Csicsko and other Chicago artists that reflect the action onstage.
ABOUT ACCESS PROJECT
Now in its 24th year, the Access Project is a nationally recognized model outreach effort designed to involve people with disabilities in all aspects of theater, both on and off the stage. Through the Access Project, disabled artists are supported with Artists Development Workshops, Play Development Opportunities and Productions for and by the disabled. For patrons, the Victory Gardens Access Project provides accessible seating, assisted listening devices, audio description, touch tours, large print and braille programs, sign language interpreted performances and closed captioning. In 2008, Victory Gardens received the MetLife Foundation Award for Excellence and Innovation in Arts Access, and in 2009 the members of Deaf Illinois named Access Project the Most Accessible Theater. Throughout its history, the Access Project has supported the work of disabled artists such as Mike Ervin, Susan Nussbaum, Michael Patrick Thornton, Natural Gas Improv, and Small Fish Radio.
Strawdog Theatre Company, Hugen Hall and Victory Gardens’ Access Project, announce a fully accessible performance of the world premiere of Strawdog Theatre’s Hugen Hall production of Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler’s Fail/Safe, adapted for the stage by ensemble members Nikki Klix and Anderson Lawfer, Wednesday, Oct. 4 at 8 p.m., direction by Anderson Lawfer, Victory Gardens Biograph Theater, in the Prince Charitable Trust
Rehearsal Room, 2433 N. Lincoln Ave.
This performance will be fully wheelchair accessible. Audio description, open captioning and a touch tour of elements from the production will also be provided.
Immediately following that night’s performance there will be a post show talk back with the playwright and director. This performance is $15 with reservations requested. Reservations may be made at boxoffice@strawdog.org or 773.528.9696. The performance schedule for the production running through October 14 at Strawdog Theatre, 3829 N. Broadway St., is Sundays at 12 p.m. and Sundays-Tuesdays at 8 p.m. Single tickets are $15 and are currently on sale. Subscriptions, group, senior and student discounts are also available. Tickets may be ordered online at strawdog.org or by calling OvationTix toll-free: 866.811.4111.
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Strawdog Theatre Company is supported in part by The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, the Alphawood Foundation, Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, the Illinois Arts Council (a state agency) and the annual support of businesses and individuals.
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