King Ubu

Adapted by Gregory Peters

August 31st – September 28th, 2013 at The Den Theatre                        

Freely adapted from Alfred Jarry’s original ground zero absurdist ,masterpiece, King Ubu is a halitosis blast of rude nihilism with jokes, freshly adapted for our world of for our world of onrushing apocalypse. Watch helplessly as the horrible Ubu, his equally horrible wife, and a bunch of narcissists, idiots, and psychopaths all try to out-murder each other and take over fake Poland in a meaningless effort to just get it all over with.

Featuring:

Drew Brown, Jack Dugan Carpenter*, Matt Castellvi, Nick Freed, Wyatt Kent, Charlotte Long, Gregory Peters*, Jessica Saxvik*, Ben Schlotfelt, and Julia Stemper

Directed by: James Dunn*

Stage Manager: Katie Ritchie*

Assistant Director: Kit Ryan
Scenic & Props Designer: Melissa Schlesinger*
Lighting Designer: Sean Mallary

Sound Designer: Melissa Schlesinger*
Costume Designer: Emma Cullimore*

Violence Designer: Orion Couling & Zack Meyer

Reviews:

King Ubu is about the screaming two-year-old that emerges in humanity where our selfish needs meet basic logic. Ubu wants money as king, but then he has to spend money to make the people like him to give him money, but he wants to keep his money, and, and—“It's all bullshit!” Yes. Yes it is. We’ve all been there. I’d take care not to read too much into this play, but it's a cathartic experience to spend an evening shitting on art, decency, and hope. - Kevin Thomas, Time Out Chicago

“Director James Dunn squeezes delicious offense from an often ingeniously repugnant script” – Justin Hayford, Chicago Reader 

And after all the sound and fury of this rambunctious production one hearkens back to Yeats’ uneasy response to the original “Ubu Roi” as he lamented “Now after us, the savage God…” Or as our parents used to say, “What is this world coming to?” According to the original “Ubu Roi” and now “King Ubu,” nothing super good. - Kaelyn Storme, NewCity Stage.

WAR SONG

by Jessica Wright Buha

Original Music Mallory Nees

March 13 - April 19, 2014

at the Berger Coach House

WAR SONG is a a music-and-poetry-suffused look at race and the Civil War through the eyes of Christian Fleetwood, publisher, choirmaster, Sergeant in the 4th Regiment United States Colored Infantry, and winner of The Congressional Medal of Honor. Drawn from his speech, "The Negro As A Soldier," music and songs from the Civil War, and the words of Abraham Lincoln and Walt Whitman, War Song is about war, glory, despair, America, and the old flag; the stories we tell and the songs we sing about them.

Lt. Maj. Christian Fleetwood, scholar, father, and highly decorated veteran of the United States Colored Infantry, makes the final touches the night before his big speech defending the rights of African-Americans to serve in the military. But his wife, Sara, has bitter objections, so Fleetwood conjures up the spirits of Abraham Lincoln and Walt Whitman to encourage him, as "storytellers, all--lovers of song, beauty, and the fight, all." But the discussions turn sour, and prejudices bubble to the surface, leaving Fleetwood to realize that sometimes words aren't enough, and sometimes plowshares must be hammered back into swords.

Featuring:

Breon Arzell

Jyreika Guest

Derik Marcussen

Christopher Marcum

Kathryn Miller

Sean McGill

Wyatt Kent

Directed by: Jack Dugan Carpenter*

Music Director: Kathryn Miller

Stage Manager: Katie Ritchie*

Set/Props Design: Melissa Schlesinger*

Costume Design: Emma Cullimore*

Lighting Design: John Jacobsen

Assistant Director: Samantha Decker

Civil War Expert: Ned Ricks