Poster by Niky Crawford
The Runaways Lab Theater welcomes you to our audio tour HOW TO: GO TO THE PARK AND CONVERSE WITH NATURE live...at a park near you!
Get to know the trees and grass at your local park on a deeper level.
Join us for a peaceful listening party at one of four Chicago parks:
Oz Park: October 23 at 2 pm
Kosciuszko Park: CANCELED October 24 at 2 pm
Winnemac Park: October 30 at 2 pm
Horner Park: October 31 at 2 pm
Your listening experience will be led by the kind, caring, and smooooth-voiced “Dr. Jonathan Lawrence,” Associate Provost at the University of the State of Chicago, Illinois.
This is your chance to meet Dr. Lawrence in person!
Bring yourself / a friend / a pair of headphones / a cellular with Spotify access / and an open heart. Immerse yourself! at your own pace, of course, with these guided activities:
✿ Identify ideal cardinal directions for entering your park.
✿ Use local, organic sticks and leaves to create your very own Face of Nature.
✿ Listen to a bug talk about their partner’s upcoming ceramics installation.
At the end of the tour you will be presented with a certificate in Conversing with Nature
✿ Show Details ✿
Location: You will be sent a map of the park on the day of the tour. “X” marks the spot!
Estimated Run Time: ~60mins
Cost: A suggested donation of $8 (or more if you’re rich!) can be sent to info@runawayslab.org on PayPal, or paid in cash day-of-tour <3
Written by: Niky Crawford
Performed by: Niky Crawford* and Nick Hassebrock*
Produced by: The Runaways Lab Theater
*Denotes Runaways Lab Theater Company Member
Listen Now On Apple Podcasts, Apple Music or Spotify
Poster by Jessie McCarty
February 2020
A literary reading series that emphasizes the theatrical.
INAUGURAL READERS // Daniela Olszewska // Kenyatta Rogers // special surprise performer
February 22nd at 7 pm. 18th Street & Loomis, up two flights of stairs. Send us a message for the address.
Poster by Gannon Reedy
January and February 2020
Intimacy with a literal black hole can be dissolving… A play about casual affairs and their casualties…
CAST // Maddie Ballard / Dakota Brown / Electra Tremulis / Nicholas Hassebrock / Dylan Fahoome / Jake Flum
CREW // Jessie Mccarty / Mackenzie Beyer / Niky Crawford / Colton McCarty / Steak Richardson / Hannah Tymosko / James Trefil / Gannon Reedy
Monday nights at 9 pm, Jan 19- Feb 17 at the Prop Thtr (3502 N Elston). Rhino Fest 2020.
Poster by Gannon Reedy
November 2019
presented by The Runaways Lab at Otherworld Theatre
At the edge of the universe: a FLOODED GRAVEYARD:: a beadazzled cow skull, a broken synthesizer, + tens of thousands of pill bottles, glass pipes, and dirty needles litter a field of boiling limbs, skeletons, and putrid, viscid fluids:: A shadow:: an OBELISK: Nihil Et Amplius! DO DRUGS, DIE IN SPACE !
It's happening again...
The Runways Lab is thrilled to announce the THIRD & FINAL DOING DRUGS AND DYING IN SPACE RITUAL. 15 short plays about DOING DRUGS and DYING IN SPACE.
There's a BAR.
There's a RAFFLE.
There's a THEATER.
& there's YOU, in the future, patting yourself on the back for seeing DDADIS III, absolutely blasting.
or there's YOU, in the future, kicking yourself in the butt for not seeing DDADIS III, pissing blood.
MAKE YOUR CHOICE.
This is your last opportunity to attend the ritual EVER! Do not miss this Final Act of depravity, deep-space sensuality, and spine-shattering FUN!
PLAYS BY // Corie Anderson // Lizzie Bourne // Shani Bensman-Correa & Maximillian Correa // Olivia Cronk & Philip Sorenson // Logan Hart // Colton McCarty // Jessie Mccarty // Daniel Mozurkewich // Nic Park & Aissa Guerra // Barbara Reedy // Gannon Reedy // Casey Toney // Samantha Westlake-Hart
DIRECTORS // Aaron Arbiter // Logan Berry // Dakota Brown // Niky Crawford // Seraphina Violet Cueller // Danielle Elizabeth // Michaela Heidemann // Daniel Mozurkewich // Jillian E. Mueller // Alec Martin Plant // Miles Oliver Sennett // Gwendolyn Wiegold
LIGHTING // Cassandra Kendall
STAGE MANAGEMENT // by Thomas Schuberth
ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGEMENT // Jessie Mccarty
ART DIRECTION // Michaela Heidemann
BOX OFFICE // Eleni Sauvageau
PRODUCING // Logan Berry
POSTER & LOGO // Gannon Reedy
SPONSORS // CBD Kratom Chicago // Natural Releaf - CBD & Kratom // Ragnarok Axe Throwing Chicago // Chris Rife
Created & curated by Gannon Reedy
poster by Seraphina Violet Cueller
September 2019
The last Lab of 2019! A surreal odyssey through intense dreams, memories, and more.
Cast: Geena Barry / Teri / Kaylah Marie Crosby / Ben Weiman
Written and directed by Seraphina Violet Cueller
8 pm at Oggi Chicago $10 suggested donation. Drinks before seating.
Poster by Colton McCarty
April 2019
ALIVE AND IN COLOR
a celebration of Blackness and the Black artistic renaissance currently blooming in Chicago. we hope to touch, the expansive surface of human experience. perceive us then, perceive us now.
DJ’s: Phalene // Bone Reader // DJ Simmy
Skin Deep // written Monet Felton // directed by Jalyn Greene // starring Jordan Marie Ford & Kiayla Ryann
Color Blind Casting // written by Antwon Funches // directed by Jerluane Jenkins // starring Jabari Khaliq, Rose Mozier, & Nick Hassebrock
art installation: Tosh
April 25, 2019 @ Oggi Gallery 7:00 pm
co-produced Top Pop Productions, Oggi Gallery, & Margo Rush
Created & curated by Jo Schaffer
poster by Gannon Reedy
February 2019
Fresh off a sold-out run in Montreal, Azealia Banks & Grimes are Trapped in Elon’s Mansion. Join the Runaways Lab for the U.S. debut of Joe Bagel’s scandalous cyber-comedy. You will clap. You will scream. It’s “a disgusting zoo of squalid villains!” and it’s not to be missed.
Cast: Elon Musk: Gannon Reedy / Grimes: Eleni Sauvageau / Azealia Banks: Da Geisha Mane / Jarrett Walker: Dylan Fahoome / Mayor of Los Angeles: Colton McCarty / Jay-Z: Antwon Funches / Siri: Elena Chimera /
ONE - NIGHT - ONLY (Saturday, February 23, 2019) @ The Crowd Theater, $10 tickets at the door. First come, first served. BYOB.
Written by Joe Bagel & directed by Jessie McCarty
poster by Gannon Reedy
February 2019
An experiment helmed by Logan Hart, this mysterious, recursive work is concerned with the creative autonomy of the actor.
Using the poetry of Wislawa Szymborska and the music of Tchaikovsky to inspire practical work on action, Hart and collaborator Lauren Valice will compose a performance rooted in their rigorous physical acting experiments.
Secret location, one-night-only.
(Photo by Matthew Gregory Hollis)
July 2018
A science-fiction double riddled with existential angst & cybernetic spectacle.
Ysentia: a one-of-a-kind cybernetic being awakes on a deserted planet, her creators having long ago moved on. She sets off on a quest across the galaxy to discover the purpose of her creation among the ashes of a dying universe.
The Adventures of Astro-Man: young Johnny Ridgemont loves watching T.V., even as an epic struggle for the future of the planet rages on outside the door of his family’s home. Johnny loves T.V. so much, he doesn’t need to think about what his Mother’s real job is- and what might be the in the cold glass of grade-A USDA-approved Homogenized milk he drinks every night before bed. Will Johnny be able to step away from the television before it’s too late?
CAST // Jo Schaffer: Astro-Man/Bartender // Eleni Sauvageau: Johnny Ridgemont/Lemont // Jalyn Green: Kathleen Ridgemont/Dr. Robotica // Nick Hassebrock: Doughy Dick/Edward Ridgemont/President
PUPPET DESIGN // Jacklynn Kelsey // Daniel Lizano
SET DESIGN // Joy Ahn // Sophie Blood
LIGHTS + MAKEUP // Cassandra Kendall
PRODUCER // Jessie McCarty
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR // Logan Hart
PLAYWRIGHT // Daniel Mozurkewich
DIRECTOR // Gannon Reedy
(Photo by Jessie McCarty)
September 12, 2018
(part III of Lab, a different kind of play reading series)
Two speakers get ready for their performance dedicated to a 1990’s David Duchovny.
CAST // Elena Chimera as Guy One // Colton McCarty as Supporting Guy // Taylor Morgan as Tech-man
PROJECTIONS // Jessie McCarty
WRITER + DIRECTOR // Jessie McCarty
(Photo by Joe Goudreault)
May-August, 2018
(based on L’Heure Bleue by Elisa Gabbert)
An exploration of desire and memory in the age of mass surveillance, The Blue Hour is a dreamy cocktail hour-cum theatrical performance. Five versions of the character, Judy, are performed by non-traditional actors, including two novelists, a Butoh dancer, and a hospice nurse. The Blue Hour is a theatrical adaptation of Elisa Gabbert’s poetry collection L’Heure Bleue, which is an adaptation of Wallace Shawn’s play, The Designated Mourner.
The premiere performance was part of The Comfort Station’s Force and Motion series. It was revived at an apartment in Hyde Park. The performances were sold-out.
PRODUCERS // The Comfort Station // The Runaways Lab // Black Ocean Press
CAST // Eileen Colwell as Judy // Maryse Meijer as Judy // Kathleen Rooney as Judy // Eleni Sauvageau as Judy // Sara Zalek as Judy
VIDEO ARTIST + CO-DIRECTOR // Jessie McCarty
WRITER // Elisa Gabbert
DIRECTOR // Logan Berry
April + May 2018
(part I and II, respectively, of Lab, a different kind of play reading series)
DISSOLUTION
Dissolution, the process of dissolving, intersects mental illness, substance-abuse, lay narratives and suicide in a naturalistic exploration of the obviously surreal.
Ralph is 51, a virgin and goes to AA meetings everyday though he's never had a drink in his life. Coincidences cause him to question reality after he finds that the world really is incredibly small--so small that in Chicago he might actually dissolve.
CAST // Nate as Sam // Magdalen Kay as Gloria // Rick Rapp as Ralph // Jose Nateras as Phillip // Lauren Wells as Margaret
MUSIC // Nire Nah
DIRECTOR // Sarah Patin
PLAYWRIGHT // Jo Schaffer
BLACK CAT LOST
The second iteration of LAB by Runaways Lab features two parts:
1. An experimental, interactive audience reading directed by Maggie Vaughn.
2. A performance of BLACK CAT LOST, directed by Spencer Ryan Diedrick.
There will be no description of the first part, but come ready to play. The Second part is as follows:
Erin Courtney's BLACK CAT LOST explores grief's twists and turns through unexpected shifts in style and form, including dance parties, Zen poetry, and Our Town-style folksiness. As three actors (known only as Left, Right, and Centered) play a variety of characters and travel the emotional spectrum, we hope you'll lean in and connect to their journey. TRIGGER WARNING: Discussion of cancer, and a sudden scream of anger.
CAST // Darío Fernando Carrión // Amelia Bethel // Cyd Moody
MOVEMENT DIRECTOR // Cyd Moody
SPECIAL THANKS // Cameron Petti // Sarah Patin.
(Photo by Nico Fernandez)
Nov 9-12, 2017
Do you wanna get RIPPED on the REAL WEIRDO ART THING? You do. I can tell by the way you're still reading this copy.
And to this We, The Runaways Lab Theater, say
"HELL YES" - Hell Yes, Indeed, for we all need a little TASTE of THE VOID.
This VOID is a taste the Doing Drugs And Dying In Space provides, along with these Kickin' Flavors:
- KILLER PLAYZ all dealing with the Heady Weirdo themes of Space, Crankin on Heavies, and Exiting this Mortal Coil
- COMFORTABLE SEATS for the Bourgeois and Proletariat alike
- A BAR of reasonable prices
- AND SO MUCH MORE
So get out and dig it if you know what's good for ya! And sorry for calling you an idiot at the beginning of this show description!!!!
PIECES WRITTEN BY // Daniela Olszewska // Toby Altman // David Seeber // John J Entright // Larissa Zageris // Mike Booker // Seraphina Violet Cueller // Wyn Evans // Judson Hamilton + Rauan Klassnik
DIRECTED BY // Mike Booker // Stephen Kropa // Logan Berry // Jay Van Ort // JD Caudill // Dani Wieder // Aaron Arbiter // Spencer Diedrick // Colin David // Dan Mozurkewich
LIGHTS // Cassandra Kendall
(Photo by Nico Fernandez)
June 30 -July 29, 2017
(Produced with Pop Magic Productions)
The Portrait of Dorian Gray brings you on a wild ride through violence, empathy, and the lack thereof.
In our reworking of the classic, Dorian Gray is a young woman from a wealthy suburban family, who is discovered while riding the Pink Line by Ivy, an SAIC drop out & tattoo artist. When Ivy’s trust fund party boi / aspiring art dealer ex, “Lord” Henry sees Ivy’s sketch of Dorian’s face, Henry knows that the piece could make both his and Ivy’s names. With Ivy’s panicked refusal to part with the picture, Henry sets his sights on a new protege: Dorian herself. On Henry’s insistence that she has the face of a model, Dorian enters the elusive world of social media and self-promotion. Soon, Dorian falls for Sybil Vane, a beautiful Instagram star. When Dorian discovers not everything is as it seems, she learns that wearing a mask can be a powerful tool for manipulating others.
This production, spearheaded by Olivia Lilley, was a devised and completely collaborative experience rooted in Wilde’s text and based on improvisation. It featured an all female and gender non-conforming cast.
CAST // Peter Wilde // Jojo Brown // Kat Christensen // Mary Kate Young // Dorothy Humphrey
CREATIVE // Katie Friedman (Costumes) // Devonte Washington (Stage Manager) // Sarah Patin (Movement/Acting Coach) // Kellen Robinson (Violence Choreographer) // Ariana Silvan-Grau (Marketing) // Caitlin Joy Shantz (Assistant Producer) // Jay Van Ort (Assistant Director) // The Ensemble, Lilley, & Wilde (Writers) // Olivia Lilley (Director)
(Photo by Lifan Li)
June, 2017 at Mana Contemporary
(co-produced by High Concept Labs )
November, 2017 at The DeBartolo Performing Arts Center in South Bend Indiana
(co-produced by the University of Notre Dame’s Creative Writing Program)
Aboard a hijacked containership, Julian Assange leads a chorus of Dead Youth—youngsters killed in violent circumstances such as war, factories, or senior prom—to Magnetic Island to upload them to the Internet before they completely decay.
Premiering Dead Youth, or, The Leaks marks the Runaways first collaboration with acclaimed polymath-writer McSweeney, whose best works, “like a great horror film, calls [our fears] up from the depths to the shuddering twilit surface”, according to the La Review of Books. Our contemporary moment makes a play that brings to light the veiled violence that makes capitalism possible all the more urgent. McSweeney writes like it’s the end of the world and in face of the void, art-making gains urgency. It asks difficult questions and erects circuitries among disparate disciplines.
CAST // Dylan Fahoome // Will Green // Candace Hundell // Ronen Kohn // Quenna Lené // Gannon Reedy // Jo Schaffer // Maggie Vaughn
BUTOH INTERVENTION // Sara Zalek
MEAT DEITY // Mariel Harari
PRODUCERS // Billie Howard // Olivia Lilley
MOVEMENT CAPTAIN // Will Green
DESIGN ASSISTANT // Kavya Tiwari
COSTUME DESIGN // Mikaila Von Merr
SOUND DESIGN & COMPOSITION // Nick Meryhew
DRAMATURGY & SET DESIGN // Jack Gruszczynski
DESIGN ASSISTANT // Kavia Tiwari
PLAYWRIGHT // Joyelle McSweeney
DIRECTOR // Logan Berry
(Photo by Matthew Gregory Hollis)
February 10th- March 5th, 2017
Explore the limitations of live entertainment as the heralds of quantum physics launch into a gender blurred reality where anything can happen to a docile scientist.
At the 1927 Solvay conference a group of brilliant physicists engage in a passionate discussion about the nature of reality and the relationships that define who they are. Then, a time traveling pleasure-surfer with a briefcase full of swords, firearms, and magic bandanas, interrupts them. He alerts them to the hundreds of transdimensional demons hot on their heels and hungry for blood. A play both ambitious in intellect and breathless in stupidity, it pushes the capacity of onstage chaos to radical heights.
WRITTEN BY // Nathaniel Shane and Gannon Reedy
DIRECTED BY // Gannon Reedy
ASSISTANT DIRECTED BY // Sarah Patin
DRAMATURGY // Maggie Vaughn and Malvika Jolly
COSTUMES // Mikaila Jasso
SET + PROP DESIGN // Frances McKearn
Fight Choreography by Kai Young
Lighting by Andrew Leumkhul
Stage Manager: Laura Swierzbin
Starring:
Nick Hassebrock
Ross Childs
Elizabeth Rinaldi
Erin Kathryn Morrill
Jillian Leff
Lauren Thompson
Eleni Sauvageau
Nicholas Benz
Trenton McFatridge
Nick Villalon
Polley Cooney
Aaron Wertheim
December 5, 2016
(a free public reading)
CAST // Zach Hebert // Logan Berry // David Seeber // Kenya Ann Hall // Emme WIlliams // Chip Hammlet // Bret Koontz
DIRECTOR // Erin Kathryn Morrill
September 22, 2015
(a free public reading)
CAST // Tillie- Elizabeth Brown // Beatrice- Maggie Vaughn // Ruth- Steph Vondell // Janice Vickery- Alyson Morrill
TEXT // Paul Zindel
DIRECTOR // Erin Kathryn Morrill
(Photo by Matthew Gregory Hollis)
Jan 28 - Feb 25
(part of the Curious Theater Branch’s 28th Annual Rhinofest)
A Saints Play for a martyr that no one ever wanted. A celebration of women with hatchets.
In 1900, Carry Amelia Nation drove a horse and cart to Kiowa, Kansas, on a mission from God. She went into the first saloon she found and smashed the place up with a small hatchet, believing that she was saving her fellow Americans from the curse of the demon rum. Hatchet Lady is an original riot grrl rock musical with a cast of five women and a live band. An altar to the powers of destruction, complete with dancing horses, angels, NPR journalists and a tornado.
WRITTEN BY // Savannah Reich
DIRECTED BY // Olivia Lilley
MUSIC BY // Luc Parker
LIVE BAND // Justin Fink, Zeph Joe, Hanna Brock, & Austin C. Pruett
CHOREOGRAPHED BY // Cheryl Nowlin
STAGE-MANAGED BY // Peter Danger Wilde
STARRING // Carly Wicks as Carry Nation / Frances
FEATURING //
Caitlin Joy Shantz
Katelyn Douglass
BabyBee Kirby
& Jasmine Henri Jordan
(Photo by Matthew Gregory Hollis)
Oct 21 - Nov 13, 2016
A world premiere by Runaways founder Olivia Lilley, Mary Shelley is a body-swapping, time-traveling odyssey with comedic and gothic textures.
On a stormy night in Italy circa 1822, Mary Shelley - author of Frankenstein, outcast, daughter of a feminist vanguard - makes a wish and finds herself in the body of a queer female novelist in Chicago, 2016. Mary’s progressive ideas about women in the world appear to have found their home, but Mary struggles with her new friends’ views of Mary Shelley, the historical figure and the legacy of her work. Meanwhile, Mya is hurtled back in time and into the body of Mary Shelley. What she finds is hardly the polite, old world of her daydreams. In this blasphemous bio-play, Lilley challenges the ideas of aesthetic and political “progress” and asks us to consider the true monstrosities among us.
Written/Directed by // Olivia Lilley
Choreography/Movement by // Cheryl Nowlin
Assistant Directed by // Anna Hendrix
Dramaturgy by // Malvika Jolly
Acted By //
Nico Fernandez
Daniel Mozurkewich
Natalie Joyce Smith
Peter Wilde
Alexia Jasmene
Magdalen Vaughn
Kenya Hall
Rebecca Joy Fletcher
Starring Sarah Patin and Lindsey Tindall as Mary Shelley / Mya, respectively.
(Art by Gannon Reedy)
July 16, 2016
Created and Curated by Gannon Reedy
A Radical Museum Opening Night. Sponsored in part by Voice of the City.
Featuring exhibits following the history of The Runaways Lab Theatre from 2012-2116.
FOLLOW The Runaways from their inception in punk houses, through the Doing Drugs and Dying in Space Ritual and into the future.
RELIVE the great discord of the 21st century, including THE 2020 THEATER WARS, THE FALL OF THE COASTS, and THE RISE OF THE CHICAGO CITY STATE.
BEHOLD the clash of robo warfare and the long awaited FALL of The Runaways.
------------------------------------------------------
Radical artifacts, music visual art, interactive exhibits, re-enactments and revelry await.
FEATURING // DJ Ariel Zetina
AND
THE DIY MUSEUM'S LIVE PERFORMANCE HOUR:
(Brought to you by the all male identifying Post-America's Pre-American Revolutionary Shakespeare Society)
Casey Toney
David Seeber
Daniel Mozurkewich
Wyn Evans
Ross Childs and Max Correa
January 22nd through February 26th, 2016
(Part of the Curious Theater Branch’s 27th Annual Rhinoceros Theater Festival)
Director/Warden // Erin Kathryn Morrill
Writer/Prisoner // Logan Breitbart
Guardian // Edward Marks
Security Ushers // Gannon Reedy and Ryan Wright
Prop Fabrication // Janice Lim
PRESS (The Chicago Reader) // "The Runaways Lab Theatre's Jail is also politically inclined: a 40-minute visit with an inmate at Auburn Correctional Facility, the New York prison that pioneered solitary confinement....It's most powerful statement comes at the start, when Breitbart appears in a hood that at once recalls both the head of a rhino and the infamous photos from Abu Ghraib."
(Art by Gannon Reedy)
March 24-27, 2017
Created & Curated by Gannon Reedy
The Runaways Lab Theatre has pondered the unfathomable questions presented by the universe and are proud to announce THE ANSWERS. Presenting the Doing Drugs And Dying In Space Ritual: 12 short plays about getting loaded and biting it in the eternal void.
ENGAGE with psychedelic depravity of the highest caliber!
GAZE into the abyss and dig it gazing also!
BEHOLD real-life rituals by the legendary D'DYAS SPACE CULT!
NIHIL ET AMPLIUS
Features short plays by // Logan Dean, Spenser Davis, Joe Goudreault, Wyn Evans, Andrew Bentley, John J. Enright, Francesca Pazniokas, Josh Graber, Dan DeSalva, Kathleen Rooney, Kramer St John, and Martin Seay.
Directed by // Maggie Vaughn, Vivian Ellis, Logan Berry, Frances Colleen, JD Caudill, Sarah Patin, Cheryl Nowlin, Jennifer Hogan, Olivia Lilley, Hannah Sawicki, and Gannon Reedy.
Performers // Bill Chill, Ben Ross, Arielle Von Hippel, Nelia Miller, Sarah Lo, Marrissa Coccaro, Kristin Mann, Nate Earnest, Jordy Williams, Ross Childs, Nick Hasselbrock, Vincent Greco, Roy Rainey, Liz Conway, Michael O’Neill, Ally Subak, Ross Flores, Maximillian Correa, Mel Forrest, Blair Britt, Andrew Coulford, Nathaniel Shane, Jacob Eugene Horn, Danielle Spence, Jason Amplo, Janice Lim, Melinda Reyes, Dan Mozurkewich, Grace Palmer, Alejandro Tey, Shawn Morgenlander
Lighting Design // Andrew LehmKuhl
Stage Managed // Erin Kathryn Morrill
Distress choreography // Sarah Lo
Music // Mike Davis, Ian Benedetti, DJ Farsight
Space station designer // Janice Lim
Production Assistance // Danielle Spence & Shelby Galny
Sponsors // Saint Lucia’s Smoke Shop, Half Acre, Koval Distillery, Intelligencia Coffee, and Brooklyn Boulders.
Producer // Maggie Vaughn
(Photo by Matthew Gregory Hollis)
Sep. 3rd – Sep. 27th, 2015
What happens when one person’s memories of a pinnacle time in their life are fictionalized by a group to create an entirely new experience? We will find out.
Chronicling the glorious adventures of 211 S. Neville, the house on the hill behind the Catholic boys’ school, “The Party House” is a re-enactment / re-imagining of a year, recorded hand painstakingly by one house scribe. In our story, we call her Odette. Shirtless O’Clock, Beer Showers, and waking up in the morning feelin like P. Diddy are resurrected through the collaborative efforts of 14 actors, the ghost of 17 notebooks, and the scattered memories of 1 director.
THE CAST //
Magdalen Vaughn
Nelia Miller
Sarah Jo Alo
Ross Childs
Ryan Wright
Jordan Arredondo
Logan Berry
Nicholas Hassebrock
Maximillian Correa
Austin Pruett
Jordan Shomer
Sarah Patin
Steph Vondell
THE CREATIVE TEAM //
Costumes by Mikaila Von Merr
Movement/Choreography by Cheryl Cornacchione Nowlin
Written/Directed by Olivia Lilley
(Photo by Matthew Gregory Hollis)
Feb. 27th – Mar. 22nd, 2015
A cautionary tale of a world renowned scholar approaching death, certain he’s done everything wrong in life, so he makes a pact with the Devil, trading his soul for youth, beauty, and everything he wants on earth.”Faust: Part 1” by Johann Von Goethe in 19 different secret locations across the City of Chicago, from Pilsen to Roger’s Park. The show will never be performed twice in the same space.
CAST //
Gannon Reedy as Faust,
Sarah Patin as Gretchen
Erin Kathryn Morrill as Mephisto
Roy Rainey as Spirit/Evil Spirit/Male Meerkat
Ben Kaye as Wagner/Valentin/Animal/Lord of the Rats
Lindsey Tindall as God/The Witch/Marthe/Lieschen
CREATIVE //
Directed by Olivia Lilley
By Goethe & The Ensemble
Poetry Advisor: Kenyatta Rogers
Costumes: Mikaila Von Merr
(Photo by Beth Rooney)
Oct. 9th – Nov. 1st, 2014
Presenting a classic tale with a dark twist. In a smoky inspector’s office, a man desperate for answers reopens the case of the ‘opera ghost’. He drives deep into a world of divas and deviants, grasping for any clue to unravel the mystery- and stop the murderous phantom. But is all what it seems? Whose story is the truth? His quest brings him face to face with the wonders and horrors lurking behind the curtain, but will he ever get out of the labyrinth?
By presenting the police enquiry centre stage, and developing some of the secondary characters along unexpected lines, Red Death breathes new life into the narrative while remaining faithful to the spirit of the original. While much of the text is taken from Leroux, Red Death convincingly offers an ingenious and innovative take on this haunting story.”
– Mireille Ribière, translator of The Phantom of the Opera (Penguin, 2009) & co-writer of Red Death.
CAST //
The Inspector: Gannon Reedy
The Persian: Kelly Jean
Erik: Nathan Shaine
Christine Daaé: Hope Barnes
Raoul Du Chagny: Gary Henderson
Carlotta: Leah Generous
Madame Giry: Erin Kathryn Morrill
Joseph Buquet: Nyle Robert Kenning
The Managers: Roy Rainey
Meg Giry: Shaina Schrooten
Little Jammes: Maggie Vaughn
CREATIVE //
Written by Olivia Lilley & Mireille Ribière
Director: Olivia Lilley
Lighting Designer: Claire Sangster
Costume/Makeup/Hair Designer: Mikaila Von Merr
Choreographer: Cheryl Nowlin
Fight Director: Christoph Ziegler
Fight Captain: Gary Henderson
Graphic Designer: Kevin Risinger
Marketing Director: Andrea Beschel
Production Stage Manager/Prop Design: Ann Kreitman
Spiritual Advisors: Jeannette Gomes, Erin Kathryn Morrill
Special thanks to our Guest Collaborator:
Mireille Ribière – Writer & Translator
Mireille Ribière is the author of numerous publications in the fields of literature and the visual arts, including photobooks.
(Art by Brittany Steiner)
Apr. 24th – May 4th, 2014
Part “Beat” play, part live action documentary, ‘I Saw The Best Minds of My Generation’ blew up and dissected what it is to witness the birth of fame and the death of obscurity.
CAST //
Amalia Mathewson, Gannon Reedy, Christoph Zaigler, Emilie Modaff, Roy Rainey, Kelly Jean, Ross Lemmon, Nathaniel Shaine, Hope Barnes, & Sarah Patin
CREATIVE //
Written by the Ensemble Directed by Olivia Lilley
Lighting by Dakota Parobek
Original Score by Amanda Breslow
Costumes/Hair/Makeup by Mikaila Von Merr
Movement Coach: Jordan Reinwald
Poetry Consultation: Russ Woods, Jeanette Gomes, Nathan Masserang
Short Film Production: Mitchell Rathberger, Max Rathberger
(Photo by Beth Rooney)
Nov. 7th – Nov. 24th, 2013
The Runaways present a new take on the first play by a giant of Romanticism. In "Friedrich Schiller Writes The Robbers", we speculate and dream about what it must have felt like for Schiller to go from military school cadet on a path to a medical career to radical, vagabond banished without a care in the world other than to write the truth about the world he saw around him.
In our production, the story of "The Robbers" comes to life in the infirmary where it was written in secret. In the coughing, the stillness, and the candlelight, Schiller's imagination takes over and his characters come to life through himself, his fellow cadets, and their beautiful, tormented dictator, "The Nurse".
Through the act of creation, Schiller finds solace, clarity, and the courage to rebel, in the face of poverty, banishment, and certain defeat.
Friedrich Schiller went onto become one of the most important writer/philosophers of the 19th century.
Based on a true story.
CAST //
Charles Askenaizer as Franz/Robber/Cadet
Gannon Reedy as Pastor Moser/Priest/Count Moor/Robber/Cadet
John Wesley Hughes as Daniel/Kosinsky/Cadet
Andy Blaustein as Speigelberg/Herrmann/Cadet
Maggie Scrantom as Amalia/Nurse
Roy Rainey as Karl/Friedrich Schiller
STAFF //
Directed by Olivia Lilley, Written by the Ensemble
Assistant Director: Alex Parobek
Dramaturg: Shelly Horwitz
Assistant Producer: Gus Steiner
(Photo by Beth Rooney)
Jul. 25th – Aug. 11th, 2013
CAST // Joseph Ramski, Adam Shalzi, Crispin Rosenkranz, Tyler Pistorius, Katie Haynes, and John Mobley
ORIGINAL SCORE BY // Jessica Salzinski
WRITTEN BY // Olivia Lilley & the ensemble
DIRECTOR // Olivia Lilley
An actress too scared to move to New York or LA meets a punk band determined to live fast and die young.
A singer/songwriter, who grew up in the Mountains of Virginia without a computer or a TV, tells her family she wants to play for the world. So a distant relative gets her an audition for “American Icon”.
After inheriting his fortune, the grandson of a late Hip Hop Mogul comes face to face with the world his granddaddy and crew made a name for themselves exploiting.
A humble computer programmer becomes a millionaire over night.
(Photo by Olivia Lilley)
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March 28th – March 31st, 2013
CAST //
Alyssa Rivera, Chelsea Nett, Tyler Pistorius, Ian Smith, Mike Hall, Katie Sherman, Nick Harden, Meredith Montgomery, Katie Haynes, Rachel Simon, Domino Gehred-O’Connell, Danny Hochstatter, Paul Chakrin, Shavar Clark, Ali Mclaughlin, Jon MacFarlene, James Sanders, Rasika Ranganathan, Eugene Kaler, & Adam Shalzi
Written/Directed by // Olivia Lilley
Lighting by // Amanda Herrmann