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2008-2009 Season
Pumpgirl - The Unseen - A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant - With or Without Wings
PUMPGIRL
by Abbie Spallen
directed by Ensemble Member Karen Kessler
featuring Artistic Director Kirsten Fitzgerald & Ensemble Member Larry Grimm with Grace Rex
Previews April 9 & 10 at 8pm
Opening April 11 at 8pm
Closes May 24
Runs Thur, Fri, Sat at 8pm and Sunday at 7pm*
*Sunday matinees only April 26 and May 3 at 3pm
Abbie Spallen's Pumpgirl takes us on a turbo charged raced through the diesel fumes and country music of the borderlands between Northern and Southern Ireland. This explosively comic play jolts into high gear as three lives careen wildly and compellingly out of control. Drink, dirty love and clapped-out motors set the backdrop for charting the humors and horrors that grow out of the utter lack of options and imagination in these Armagh badlands. Sometimes love is blind; sometimes it's just this desperate.
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THE UNSEEN by Craig Wright
Directed by ensemble member Dado
Featuring ensemble member Danny McCarthy
with Steve Key & Keith Kupferer
REGULAR RUN: January 22 - March 15, 2009
CLOSES: Sunday, March 15, 2009 at 7pm
Thursdays at 8pm - $20 general admission
Fridays at 8pm - $25 general admission
Saturdays at 8pm - $25 general admission
Sundays at 7pm* - $20 general admission
*Sunday matinees only February 1 & February 8 at 3:00pm
"a very exciting production that really works... skillfully directed by the unstinting Dado... one of the best shows you've seen about human beings dealing with stress."
-Chicago Tribune
"a searing production, directed by Dado, boasts heartrending performances from Steve Key and Danny McCarthy and a riveting turn from Keith Kupferer" - The Reader
"simultaneously savage and poetic... The crushing impact of Dado's visceral direction is enhanced by Matt Reese's angled, airless set (shoehorned into Red Orchid's shrewdly reconfigured space), and by the chilling effects created by Matthew Gawryk's lighting and Joe Court's sound design" -The Chicago Sun Times
"beautifully explores the kinds of religious and other anti-intellectual impulses that take the place of failed reason and empiricism... very moving." - New City
"This chilling show will hit you in your gut." - Chicagocritic.com
Craig Wright's darkly humorous examination of faith and reason in a completely unreasonable world has its Chicago premiere at A Red Orchid Theatre. Imprisoned by an unknown totalitarian regime and mercilessly tortured for unknown crimes, Wallace and Valdez live without hope of escape or release. When an enigmatic new prisoner arrives and begins communicating in code, both men develop new relationships to each other, their captors, and their world.
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A VERY MERRY UNAUTHORIZED CHILDREN’S SCIENTOLOGY PAGEANT
Book, Music & Lyrics By Kyle Jarrow
From A Concept By Alex Timbers
Directed by Lance Baker and Steve Wilson
Musical Direction By Brandon Magid
Musical Arraingement & Sound By Joseph Fosco
Featuring:
Chaz Allen
Najwa Brown
Jackson Challinor
Jaiden Fallo
Paola Lehman
Melanie Neilan
Adam Rebora
Kara Ryan
Elenna Sindler
Aria Szalai-Raymond
Fridays At 8:00pm
Saturdays At 7:00pm & 9:00pm
Sundays At 3:00pm
November 17 – January 4, 2009
• A RED ORCHID’S VERY FIRST MUSICAL; a musical with KIDS!
• By Kyle Jarrow from a concept by Alex Timbers
• Chicago Premiere
An anonymous company of merry children gather on a cold winter night to rejoice in telling the story of Scientology founder and hero L. Ron Hubbard. Rejoicing in songs such as "Hey! It's a Happy Day!," this satirical musical about Scientology explores the magic of Dianetics, the fascinating E-meter, the immortal Thetans, and the entrancing story of Xenu with the straightest of faces. The show was originally presented in 2003 in New York City by Les Freres Corbusier and won a 2004 Obie Award.
"The most hilariously funny, perfectly realized and in many ways most profound hour of theater now on a Chicago stage. HIGHLY RECOMENDED" -Chicago SunTimes
"a MUST SEE show… the most engagingly hilarious hour you could spend in Chicago between now and December 28th. HIGHLY RECOMENDED" -Centerstagechicago.com
"weirdly entrancing… totally stupendous production." -Newcity
"Joyously humanizing… deserves, a cult following." –Timeout Chicago
HAVE A SNEAK PEEK at www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_i2NHxGlfI
Reviews
Sun-Times Hedy Weiss
Centerstage's Zach Freeman
NewCity's Nina Metz
Time Out's Chris Piatt
The Reader's Albert Williams says "Recommended! The young performers' earnest innocence is funnier than any adult's irony could ever be."
Tribune preview article (and lively comment section) here.
Chicagoist preview here.
The anti-Scientology pranksters "Anonymous" stopped by. [with video of their "protest" outside the theatre]
The Onion's Decider: "The Onion talks religion with the kids from the Children's Scientology Pageant"
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WITH OR WITHOUT WINGS
• Written and performed by ensemble member Mierka Girten
• Adapted by Michael Thomas
• Directed by ensemble member Larry Grimm
Ping Pong is a game like no other. It demands
acute dexterity, lightening quick reflexes,
and nerves of steel. But nerves are fraying
among a team of three London cabbies as they
face elimination from their elite league of
master players. Can the team captain hold his
comrades together to rise above and reach the
top this season, or will their bond disintegrate
in the face of buried tensions boiling to the
surface? This razor sharp comedy in its U.S.
Premiere investigates the male psyche at its
competitive worst.
WINGS SOARS INTO CRITICAL ACCLAIM!
"Girten is a delight." -Time Out Chicago
"It's her vinegary sense of humor and unblinking self-awareness that make this show
more than just a feel-good, carpe-diem homily." -The Chicago Reader
"Girten is extremely likable and she's figured out how to let you in
without sucking you dry." - New City
"Girten is a Hot Ticket - as alive as one can get,lots of guts,lots of heart,
and a wicked funny bone." - ChicagoCritic.com
One artist’s story about living life to the fullest. Penned and performed by one of A Red Orchid’s very own, this one-woman tour-de-force chronicles a young performer’s humbling first encounters and shocking diagnosis with Multiple Sclerosis. A hilarious and heartbreaking personal account that explores the myths of MS while providing a message of enduring hope. Originally produced in 2001 to critical acclaim, With or Without Wings was the inspiration for the Mookie Jam Foundation which benefits artists with MS.
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