Our mission: The Plagiarists steal from literature, visual art, history, and the culture at large to create new theatre that finds the familiar in the strange, the unique in the commonplace and ultimately enlarges the world.
Image by Layne Manzer
Caesura: A Butchery
Conceived & Edited by: Jack Dugan Carpenter*, Matt Miller, & Gregory Peters*
October 5th – November 5th, 2011 at The RBP Rorschach
Caesura: A Butchery is a true mash-up of three millennia of drama and poetry, combining Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Voltaire's Le Mort du Caesar, and Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral together with pieces from King Lear, Macbeth, other Eliot poems, The Orestia, Yeats, and others. The result is a visceral, apocalyptic, and occasionally funny feast of language, imagery, and blood, exploring gender, class, ambition, demagoguery, revolution, the horror of violence and the inevitability of history.
Featuring:
Atra Asdou, Brynne Barnard, Stephen Gawrit, Justin Harner, Layne Manzer, Andrew Marchetti, Lauren Pizzi, Alex Potanos
Ghost Women. Lauren Pizzi, Brynne Barnard, and Atra Asdou. Photo by kClare Kemock.
Directed by: Jack Dugan Carpenter*
Stage Manager: Elissa Shortridge
Assistant Director/Text: Gregory Peters
Scenic Designer: Steven P. House
Lighting Designer: John Jacobsen
Sound Designer: Harrison Adams
Costume Designer: kClare Kemock
Fight and Gore Design: Dave Gonzalez
Dramaturg: Neal Ryan Shaw
Lauren Pizzi, Atra Asdou, and Brynne Barnard. Photo by kClare Kemock.
Reviews:
“A tight, digestible 90-minute exploration of desire gone awry and ambition turned brutal… The result is more cohesive than it ought to be and, despite its subtitle, more compassionate than it lets on. ..this poetry-montage plays out like a contemporary piece, active and relevant. As Cassius, Caesar’s charismatic and scorned regicide mastermind, Layne Manzer exhibits lyrical knowledge of the classic text—a quality exemplified by this young cast.”- Dan Jakes, Time Out Chicago
There is artfulness in the thrillingly macabre, and director Jack Dugan Carpenter captures it nicely in this well-edited poetic piece… This is no mere fright fest, however. Fine verse and some of Shakespeare’s most eloquent speeches are voiced by a small troupe who, for the most part, knows what they’re saying and speaks it most trippingly on the tongue… if you have a love of poetry and enjoy a good murderous tale, you can do no no better than “Caesura.” – John Dalton Centerstage Chicago (Recommended "Must See" Review)
Atra Asdou. Photo by kClare Kemock.
I Am Saying This Right Now
Conceived and Edited by: Kaitlin Byrd.
Written By: Sid Branca, Kaitlin Byrd, Jeff Duhigg, Joshua Dumas, James Dunn, Paul Kastner, Brian MichaelLucas, Layne Manzer, Sara McCarthy, Ian Miller, Lindsay Verstegen, Andrea Wallace, and Jessica Wright Buha
January 12th – February 11th, 2012 at Berger Park Cultural Center
I Am Saying This Right Now is part memoir, part fiction, part borrowed, and part original - a mix tape of memories, scenes, and sound art that explores the causes and the consequences of the human compulsion to document our lives and our world. Originally inspired by the life and work of Tony Schwartz, the play was created collaboratively by a team of thirteen writers, using techniques developed by author and cartoonist Lynda Barry. The result grew to encompass a wide range of influences and source material, including a number of original recordings made by the writing group: tapes from their childhoods, interviews made for the show, even messages left on a public voice-mail box. The result is not the story of Tony Schwartz, but an impressionistic collage of scenes, monologues, music, and sound recordings evoked by his work and his ideas.
Dylan Marks, Jessica Saxvik* and Ken Miller. Photo by Lindsay Verstegen.
Featuring: Sid Branca, Chad Brown*, Ben Johnson, Dylan Marks, Sara Jean McCarthy*, Ken Miller, Kate Nawrocki, and Jessica Saxvik*
Directed by: Paul Kastner* & Kim Miller
Stage Manager: Elissa Shortridge
Lighting Designer: John Jacobsen
Sound Designer: Brian Michael Lucas
Costume Designer: kClare Kemock
Original Music by: Joshua Dumas
Choreographer: Derek Van Barham
Production manager: Gregory Peters
Kate Nawrocki and Ken Miller. Photo by Lindsay Verstegen.
Reviews:
“Everyday objects such as scissors, a tackle box and a winter coat take on talismanic powers, and here, too, we’re reminded that every moment passes through us like sand through a sieve... haunting, touching and true.” - Zac Thompson, Time Out Chicago (4-Star review)
“Laudably ambitious and filled with earnest performances”- Kerry Reid, Chicago Reader
“In the east room, the uncovered windows provide the perfect view of the lake - tonight the waves crashing wildly as snowfall whips around magically in the air… The Plagiarists demonstrate that the part of the human condition is the impossibility to “put our hands around time,” and at the same time, our admirable will in trying to do so.” - Marla Seidell, Centerstage Chicago (Recommended review):
“Directors Paul Kastner and Kim Miller take an innovative, daring approach to match the magnitude of the work… the production team deserves the utmost kudos for creating warmth and intimacy: as the snow blew outside the Cultural Center, the audience inside huddled closer and listened harder.” - Lauren Whalen, Chicago Theater Beat (Recommended review)