Around the Coyote Arts Festival
ATC

Around the Coyote Arts Festival presents a dynamic lineup of theatre events, literary performances, live music shows, film and video presentations, special visual arts projects, interdisciplinary performance, installation and public art projects including site-specific outdoor installations at the Nelson Algren Fountain on the Polish Triangle at the intersection of Milwaukee and Division Aves.


10/12/07 - 10/14/07

Various


Around the Coyote Arts Festival presents a dynamic lineup of theatre events, literary performances, live music shows, film and video presentations, special visual arts projects, interdisciplinary performance, installation and public art projects including site-specific outdoor installations at the Nelson Algren Fountain on the Polish Triangle at the intersection of Milwaukee, Ashland and Division avenues.

Friday, October 12
Clipper Ship Spectacular - Jason Adams - In between all other events. The second in his series of “Suitcase Spectaculars,” Clipper Ship Spectacular is a sea voyage spectacle condensed into a suitcase and presented to an audience of one! Join the crew of the good ship St. Sebastian as it sails the Seven Seas and meets its bitter end at the hands of the great and terrible Kracken. Clipper Ship Spectacular merges storytelling with toy theatre techniques for five minutes of pure awesome.
Heads you Lose – Quantum Mechanicals - 6p. A serious comedy about decapitation, takes the audience on a tour of twenty historical and literary minds without their bodies, interspersed with the musings of the Executioner, whose thoughts on his profession frame the other headspaces. Those who take the stage in their final conjured moments include French scientist Antoine- Laurent de Lavoisier, Saint George, the Dragon, American doctor Hitoshi Nikaidoh, Marie Antoinette, and German spy Benita von Berg.
Le Cat Show – The Waters Project - 7p. Le Cat Show is a high energy bawdy theatrical event exploring European cat folklore, class relations and gender conflict through the true historical account a Cat Massacre in the years leading up to the French Revolution! This unusual tale of social unrest and sexual intrigue is told through Story Theater , Mask, Commedia dell’ arte, Opera, Puppetry, Long Form Improvisation and Musical Composition. An original ensemble developed piece, this is the final result of a yearlong development and performance process by The Waters Project.
Desire Under the Elms – the Hypocrites 8p. The Hypocrites kick off their 11th Season with Eugene O’Neill’s 1924 classic mixing Greek classics like Hippolytus with New England farm-life, O’Neill introduced the world to an American tragedy. Acknowledging the mythic forces that drive us, even in our modern lives, Desire Under the Elms confronted the morals and dreams of contemporary American society. Although written in the height of the ‘20s, O’Neill’s tale of the archetype dysfunctional family still rings eerily true in our contemporary world.
Forbidden Mourning – Jim Balestrieri 8p. His mother wisecracking herself to sleep as cancer wastes her away, an exhausted son on a June night tries to escape into a wildly comic dream of the healthy bodies of young women strutting on a strippers’ stage. But just as he is never out of earshot of his mother’s bell when she needs drugs, or comfort, or her catheter bag emptied, even in his fevered fantasy, the son is never far from death’s toll. John Donne’s masterful poem might forbid mourning, but all joking aside, in Forbidding Mourning mortality IS forbidding—ominous, invasive, inevitable.
Zeal - Tantalus Theater Group 830p. Zeal is a live exploration of the relationship between the performer and the text; between the actor and the act performed. Utilizing the balcony scene from ‘Cyrano’, the performers will create a piece both rooted in the script and ultimately personal to themselves. This exploration will continue to play out in the live event of performance
Theater by I Eat Panda and pHamily the Musical - 9p.
Progress and Manna, Theatre Collaboration Workshop and Chicago Improv Festival 10p
Progress - explores the progression of one particular moment as it transgresses through space and time, more specifically, separation. Whether it is being dumped, left behind, or unintentionally ignored, the pain and anguish of the situation changes depending on the place, the time, the weather and the people. In this play, the moment is examined in settings ranging from inside of a painting to the peaks and falls of a roller-coaster to grasp a better understanding of the commitment of an action. Featuring visual art by Sadie Harmon and music Beazley Philips.
Manna - is a short surreal comedy about two newscasters in the future. They are captured by the government for various unknown reasons, and over a period of several days, turn themselves crazy and die. The play deals with the notion of individual freedom in a complex society, and what happens when two crazy people share an enclosed space. Who is to blame for their insanity? Is it society? Is it the government? Is it Jimmy, the production guy? Only time will tell. Featuring music by Beazley Philips and visual art by Caroline Voagen Nelson.
All the Happy People – American Myth Theater 1030p. Hope is hard to come by when you work at a big city dating service. The stress is heavy, the customers are nasty and the phones never stop ringing. But the women of Two of Hearts will never quit trying to find that one person who will complete you. Because hope is their job.

Saturday, October 13
In between all other events - Clipper Ship Spectacular - Jason Adams 6p - Heads you Lose – Quantum Mechanicals 7p - Le Cat Show - The Waters Project 8p - Forbidden Mourning – Jim Balestrieri and Tantalus Theater Group’s Zeal Desire Under the Elms – the Hypocrites 9p - I Eat Pandas and pHamily the Musical 10p - Progress and Manna - Theatre Collaboration Workshop and Chicago Improv Festival 1030p - All the Happy People - American Myth Theater

Sunday, October 14
In between all other events - Clipper Ship Spectacular - Jason Adams 2p- Desire Under the Elms – the Hypocrites 5p - Heads you Lose – Quantum Mechanicals 6p - Le Cat Show - The Waters Project 7p - Forbidden Mourning – Jim Balestrieri and Tantalus Theater Group’s Zeal 7p - All the Happy People - American Myth Theater 8p - I Eat Pandas and pHamily the Musical 9p - Progress and Manna - Theatre Collaboration Workshop and Chicago Improv Festival

Author
see below

Director
see below

Performers
Directors/Authors/Performers Jason Adams - has been performing puppetry in Chicago for the past three years. This is the second in his series of “Suitcase Spectaculars.” The first, Teeny Tiny Burlesque Spectacular, was performed for the Et Cetera Festival this past January. His current work, Clipper Ship Spectacular, was featured at the Xperimental Puppet Theatre Fest at the Jim Henson Center for Puppetry Arts this past May and won the title of Supreme Skald at WNEP’s annual storytelling competition in June.
The Quantum Mechanicals - founded by Drew Dir, Sarah Fornace, Jane Lopes, Hannah Kushnick and Jesse Robbins, began as a performance group at the University of Chicago, where its original members met as undergraduates. Our mission is to create, through an ensemble-based process, a body of primarily new and adapted work in conversation with the past, the present and the future.

The Waters Proejct - Sarah Bendix and Mikalina Rabinsky began their collaboration, The Waters Project, while at the Piven Theatre, where they are both senior faculty members and directors of the Young People’s Company. Both are visual as well as theatre artists. They are thrilled to be focusing their efforts and joy into Le Cat Show, a collaboration with a stellar group of inspiring artists from various disciplines. One of their artistic goals is to create an environment where artists from different backgrounds can engage their skills and talents to tell the unique stories which come from the unexpected mixing of art forms.

Zeal - Directed by Parrish Morgan, an M.F.A (directing) candidate from the University of Memphis, and has a B.S. in Theatre from Bradley University. His background in the theatre arts ranges from performance to direction and stage management. Directing credits include Pearl Cleage's Flyin' West, Amiri Baraka's Dutchman, and The Meeting by Jeff Stetson. Acting credits include The Kentucky Cycle (Franklin), Sweeney Todd (ensemble), and To Kill a Mockingbird (Reverend Sykes). Stage Management credits include The All Night Strut and A Brief History of White Music with Memphis Black Repertory. In addition to his performance and administrative work with TTG, Parrish continues to collaborate as writer and actor with local indie film, and television projects.

Forbidding Mourning - Written by Jim Balestrieri and Directed by Alex Balestrieri. Jim Balestrieri is the author of the play "Volaré, a Northwoods Rat Pack Oedipus" as well as a novel, "Passenger Pigeons" (to be published in 2008). He has written a screenplay (a Western about making a Western) entitled "The Ballad of Ethan Burns" and is completing a libretto based on Nathaniel Hawthone’s "Rappaccini’s Daughter" and a short novel,"The Puppet Master’s Modernist Opera". He has an MFA in Playwriting from Carnegie-Mellon University and was a Fellow at the American Film Institute. Alex Balestrieri (Director, Forbidden Mourning) is pleased to return to ATC, having had the pleasure of playing the title role in last year's "Mr. Tangerine", a short play about a tormented goldfish of the same name. This is his Chicago directorial debut.

9pm I Eat Pandas and pHamily the Musical. I Eat Pandas does what it takes Andrew Lloyd Webber YEARS to do…crap out a musical from start to finish! I Eat Pandas creates instant musicals full of singing, dancing, and dramatic glances. Eliza Skinner, Performer - is a producer, writer, performer, lover and fighter in New York City. She is the host and co-producer of The BEATdown, a monthly comedy rap-battle, and a member of the NYC cast of Baby Wants Candy . As a voice artist, Eliza plays Kitty Pryde in Marvel.com's animated "Astonishing X-men", Chick in a series of Farminals shorts by So! Animation, and a number of characters in a new online cartoon from the creators of Red Vs. Blue called "Breakroom". Glennis McMurray, Performer - is co-creator of an awesome all-lady dance party called...what else: Dance Dance Party Party ( www.dancedancepartyparty.com) and writes music reviews for HelloHilarious.com. She has appeared on Conan O'Brien and does voice overs and commercials to pay the bills. frank Spitznagel, Keys - is a graduate of the Boston Conservatory or Music, where he studied piano performance. Frank has composed for Comedy Central and the Aspen Comedy Festival. He recently accompanied Itzhak Perlman in an original jazz composition by Benny Golson at Lincoln Center. He also played the American premiere of The Hired Man Off-Broadway. He has been musical director for productions such as Nunsense (all incarnations), A Chorus Line, and several original musicals. pHamily the Musical is a fully improvised one-act play built with audience suggestions. You create an entire family and influence the events during a year in their lives. The players will ask you questions, show you flashbacks, and bust into song! The Musical is a hilarious, interactive experience unlike any other. This show will make YOUR family look sane! CAST: Melissa Cathcart,Kate Cohen,Tristan Tanner,Jason Geis,Brad Norman,Bryce Wissel, Mike Descoteaux - Musical Director

Progress - Directed by Zack Zulaf and written by Augie Praley, a junior at the University of Chicago. His play “The World According to Charles Barkley” will be produced there this fall.
Manna - Directed by Lance Hall. Written by Kristen Idaszak and Aaron Philips. Lance Brett Hall most recently directed Sir Edmund Walter has a Thought for Brown Couch Theatre Company. He holds a degree in Actor Studies from Cornell University.

Desire Under the Elms - Directed by Devin Brain a graduate of Kalamazoo College and a company member of the Hypocrites Theatre Company. He has worked as an assistant director for the Hypocrites, Barrel of Monkeys, and the Neo-Futurists. He has also directed a number of shows both in chicago and elswhere, including...Three Sisters, Dr. Faustus, All the Happy People, and Splintered Idylls.

All the Happy People - Written by Gregory Hardigan an actor, writer and director living in Chicago. He is a member of The Hypocrites Theater Company. As a playwright, Gregory's work has been produced in Chicago (Chicago Dramatists, Stage Left, Abbie Hoffman Festival, Around the Coyote, Collaboraction Sketchbook) Boston, Washington, D.C., (Scamming: third prize at Tavern Stage Play Competition) New York (2004 New York International Fringe Festival), Melbourne (Binding Love: Top 30 at Short and Sweet Melbourne 2005), Sydney (Binding Love: Top 30 at Short and Sweet Sydney 2006) and London (Tens and Twenties: co-winner of Green Theatre Company's 2001 New Plays Competition). He is also the Artistic Director of American Myth Theater.

Production
Curated by Cynthia Mariestella Castiglione and Oriana Fowler Theatre Collaboration Guest Curator: Jonathan Pitts

Tags: Theater, American, 2007