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 Elissa Shortridge
Image by Elissa Shortridge
Newcity Stage RECOMMENDS belladonna luna sonata!
"One of the best things about theater is that it can carry you away to an unusual or even bizarre world and immerse you within its wild environs. The Plagiarists do exactly that."--Christopher Kidder-Mostrom
Click to read the full review.
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Windy City Times LOVED belladonna luna sonata!
"Whether we comprehend Stewart's purpose at first sight, however, is less important to the success of this Plagiarists production than the comforting assurance that its ensemble, led by Nick Freed as the obsessed Signeretti, appears to know their way around its iconographic enigma. In a universe where music can be turned into WMDs, faith in one's guides is essential."
Click to read the full review.
Images by Joe Mazza of BraveLux
belladonna luna sonata
Written by Robert Stewart
Original Music by Joshua Dumas
Jackalope Theatre's Frontier
October - November, 2015
Image by Joe Mazza at BraveLux
On an island estate, an aging maestro (alone but for his faithful butler) shares with a humble gardener his story of a life lived for music oh, and the time he tried to destroy the world. A melanchomedy about music, lost love, memory, and literally world-shattering art.
A part of Chicago Artists Month 2015!
Photo by Joe Mazza at BraveLux
belladonna luna sonata
Written by Robert Stewart
Directed by Gregory Peters*
Original Music by Joshua Dumas
Featuring:
Nick Freed* - Signeretti
Sean McGill - Hue
Derik Marcussen* - Kog
Sara Jean McCarthy* - Raquel Le Roc
Jessica Saxvik* - Amelia le Mal
Julia Stemper - Elmerna Melerma
Stage Manager - Christina Casano
Assistant Director - Tony Kaehny*
Set Design - Katie-Bell Springmann
Costume and Props Design - Emma Cullimore*
Lighting Design - John Jacobsen
Sound Design - Melissa Schlesinger*
Technical Director - Paul Kastner*
Production Manager - Jack Dugan Carpenter*
Effects Design - James Snyder*
Publicity Image Design - Elissa Shortridge
* = the mark of a Plagiarist
belladonna luna sonata is generously supported by The MacArthur Funds for Arts and Culture at The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation.
Photo by Joe Mazza at BraveLux
Photo by Joe Mazza at BraveLux
GUEST ARTISTS:
JOSHUA DUMAS (Original Music) Joshua is a sound artist, composer, and filmmaker. He’s written music for Lydian Junction, Lost Geneva, Roosevelt, Rasaka, Oak Park Festival, Vintage, New Beast and more. He performs with Mending, Weatherman, Quarter Mile Thunder, and he created the generative music app Chicago Avenue Moon. He is grateful for the chance to try to embody the Maestro’s music and to work with all the brilliant Plagiarists.
Photo by Grace Pisula. Click image to visit her site.
KATIE-BELL SPRINGMANN (Set Designer) Katie-Bell is happy to be working with The Plagiarists for the first time. Chicago credits include The Jacksonian, Annapurna, Hellcab, Cock and Gidion’s Knot (Profiles Theatre); Boy From Oz (Pride Films & Plays); The Illusion (Right Brain Project); A Place in the Woods (The Fine Print Theatre Co.). Katie-Bell’s design for Profiles Theatre’s production of Cock was the recipient of the 2014 Equity Jeff Award for best scenic design of a midsize production. She received her MFA from University of Virginia. Special thanks to her soon-to-be husband, Patrick, for his constant love and support. www.katiebelldesigns.com
Image by Melissa Schlesinger*
Photo by Joe Mazza at BraveLux
Musicans:
Original Music by Joshua Dumas
Performed by
Josh Bell: Horns
Joshua Dumas: Piano, vibraphone, celesta, mbira, bass
Whitney Johnson: Viola
Andra Kulans: Violin
Donna Miller: Cello
Kate Parks: Clarinet
Recorded and Mixed at Pieholden Suite Sound, Chicago IL
* = the mark of a Plagiarist
Photo by Joe Mazza at BraveLux
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Image by Elissa Shortridge
Images by Joe Mazza of BraveLux
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! by Third Coast Review
"The Plagiarists production of Ulysses left me wanting to read James Joyce and marvel in the ordinary that is extraordinary of my own life." - Brianna Kratz, 3CR
Image by Joe Mazza of BraveLux
ULYSSES
based on the novel by James Joyce
adapted by Jessica Wright Buha* and Aileen McGroddy
directed by Aileen McGroddy
March 31 - April 30
Berger Coach House
6205 N Sheridan Rd. Chicago, IL 60660
Ulysses, James Joyce’s modernist masterpiece, is nominally about a day in the life of two ordinary Dubliners, but is really about the entire scope of human experience: life, love, grief, drinking, faith, poop, jealousy, more drinking, music, sex, literature, patriotism, still yet more drinking, language, death, and the meaning of home. With the original edition now in the public domain, The Plagiarists are proud to present this joyous and anarchic adaptation that seeks to unwind the famously knotty text for experienced Joyceans and newcomers alike, bringing raucous and rowdy life to Joyce’s epic but very human comedy.
Image by Joe Mazza of BraveLux
FEATURING: Christopher Donaldson, James Snyder*, David Fink, Ashley Fox, Isaac Samuelson, Sheridan Singleton, and Charlotte Long
PRODUCTION TEAM:
Adaptor: Jessica Wright Buha*
Director: Aileen McGroddy
Stage Manager: Jordan Weed
Music Director: John Szymanski
Assistant Director: Christina Casano*
Costume Designs: Emma Cullimore* Production Manager: Gregory Peters*
Set & Props: Derik Marcussen*
Sound Designer: Melissa Schlesinger*
Lighting Design: John Jacobsen
*is the mark of a Plagiarist
Image by Joe Mazza of BraveLux