News From The Side Project
Three new works - and a new mission - premiere at the side project in 2009-10The side project, founded in 2001 in Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood by Artistic Director Adam Webster, will present three world-premiere plays in its 2009-2010 season - its first under a new mission which will take the company into its second decade. All three productions - beginning with the November world premiere of Laura Eason's REWIND - bring into sharp focus the company's refined mission statement and vision.
Webster said the company's long-standing commitment to new works and new voices in Chicago's signature storefront style led to the revised mission:
"The side project connects Chicago's most innovative and engaging writers, directors, designers and performers in an ongoing exploration of the power of hyper-intimate theatre."
Webster added that receiving the 2009 Broadway in Chicago Emerging Theatre Award inspired the side project to look at its beginnings and refine its process of bringing work to the stage. "We want to develop projects out of relationships with artists of all disciplines - not just playwrights ," he said. "Our focus is not simply on world-premiere plays, but on world-premiere collaborations: creating never-before-seen teams of artists, each of whom has a body of work which speaks to the others in unique and exciting ways."
Added Webster, "I see this shift as both a refocusing on what the side project does well, and a return to the vision I had when I started the company: a place for Chicago theatre artists to come and create the work they might not be able to do elsewhere."
Managing Director Dan Granata said, "This is really a natural evolution for the side project - rather than attempt to create (and keep a hold of) an end-all be-all circle of artists or rely on tried-and-true established partnerships, we're looking to mine Chicago's fantastic and ever-changing roster of artistic ensembles for unique and untried collaborations. It's like fantasy baseball for theatre nerds: creating teams of artists who are working independently to see what comes out of their working together."
2009-2010 Season
As the first mainstage ventures under the new mission, the side project will produce three world-premiere scripts - all by writers with Chicago roots but distinct voices - in its 2009-2010 season. All productions will take place at The Side Project Theatre, 1439 W. Jarvis Ave.
"Applying our renewed mission and vision to these three plays by world-class playwrights has been an exhilarating process," Webster said. "We've been working on finding the right combination of outstanding storefront theatre artists to bring these stories to life. Most of them have not worked with each other - or even at the side project - before. We're excited to see what emerges!"
Rewind
by Laura Eason
November 20 - December 20 (previews November 17-19)
It wasn't supposed to be this way. They were the next big thing in rock. But Noah walked away. Elisha married that asshole. And now Jim's dead - leaving them all to wonder - "How did we get here?"
Lookingglass ensemble member, director and playwright Eason's Sex with Strangers was called "honest and alluring" and "wonderfully ambivalence-fueled" by the Chicago Sun-Times and "the next breakout Chicago play" by the Chicago Tribune when it premiered at Steppenwolf's First Look Repertory earlier this year.
The Artist Needs a Wife
by Jesse Weaver
January 15 - February 14 (previews January 12-14)
A derelict basement apartment. Decades. In the future. Mott's DJ career - and his spunk - have turned to dust. Freud hasn't been able to paint for 73 (Or is it 23? 95?) years. Maybe it's time for a new fucking muse. Now. What to do with the old one?
A prolific playwright and performer now based in Ireland, Weaver's On My Parents' One Hundredth Wedding Anniversary was hailed as "heart-stoppingly beautiful" by the Chicago Reader and praised for its "dazzling language" and called "handsomely gaudy" by TimeOut Chicago . An earlier version of Artist swept the Ireland Drama Awards and played the 2005 Dublin Fringe, where it was hailed as "a superbly written piece; tender, original and very funny."
People We Know
by Robert Tenges
May 7 - June 6 (previews May 4-6)
A lot has happened since college. Sure, Paul got sent away over the Thing with the Young Girl, and Dianne is Not Dealing Well. But Joshua and Hannah are avoiding something themselves, and Eric and Maddy - well, who really knows what makes people tick?
A member of New River Dramatists (North Carolina) and an artist with The New Group (New York), Tenges's Strangers Knocking was hailed as "strikingly resonant" by the Chicago Tribune and "one of the most thoughtful commentaries on love and fear around" by the Windy City Times. His plays have received Off-Broadway productions by The New Group and Ensemble Studio Theatre.
News From The Side Project
2009 Emerging Theatre winner side project expands staff with Dan Granata as Managing DirectorCHICAGO - In a move that will free up Founding Artistic Director Adam Webster to focus more on Artistic and Literary Direction, the side project theatre company has announced the hiring of Dan Granata as its first Managing Director. In addition to Managing Director duties, Granata will also be in charge of Marketing and Branding for the company. The hiring comes on the heels of promoting Elliott Fredland to Business Manager (from Box Office Manager) and Jeremy Wilson to Company Production Manager, from Production Coordinator.
An actor who has appeared onstage with companies including the Right Brain Project, New Leaf Theatre, Signal Ensemble, and Raven Theatre, Granata credits "a long, informal apprenticeship" with TimeLine Theatre Company as his start in theatre management. An advocate for online social networking as a platform for building communities, he is a longtime blogger and co-founder of the Chicago Theater Database (at chicagotheaterdb.com).
Webster credits longtime side project collaborator Nick Keenan -who founded the Chicago Theater Database with Granata - for coordinating the recent hire. "When we met with Dan [through Keenan], we realized that his vision of what this company could achieve, especially in light of our recent successes, would raise us to the next level. We are excited to push forward on what should be a prosperous partnership," Webster said.
For his part, Granata added, "I couldn't be more excited about the opportunity - I've long admired the company and its unique place in the community. I'm looking forward to working with Adam, Jeremy, Elliott and Nick - and I hope to bring what I've learned from my own projects to really make the side project a hub of activity for Chicago's storefront theatre scene."
News From Will Schutz
Ensemble Member
In Memoriamthe side project extends its sympaties to friends, family and fellow artists of company member and Chicago actor Will Schutz, who passed away May 25, 2009 after an extended bout with pancreatic cancer.
Will, who graced our stage in Crave, Henry Hettinger and Perfect, and numerous other stages in Chicago over the past 20 years, will be sorely missed.
Will received his MFA from the Professional Actor Training Program at Ohio University. He was a member of Defiant Theatre (R.I.P), and served on their administrative staff for 4 years. Will appeared in over half of Defiant's productions, including Action Movie: The Play, Godbaby, Caligula, The Pyrates, Dracula, MacBeth, The Striker, A Clockwork Orange, and Flaming Guns of the Purple Sage. Will joined the side project ensemble in 2006, after having appeard as "A" in Sarah Kane's Crave, and then was seen as Jeremy in Stephen Cone's Henry Hettinger, and was last seen as the autistic character Robbie in Perfect. His other Chicago credits include roles in End Game, Marat/Sade, Arcadia, Happy Days, and Camille/La Traviata (The Hypocrites Theatre), Waiting for Godot and The Fair Maid of the West (CT20 Ensemble), Uncle Fred in the Springtime, Holmes & Watson, Tartuffe and Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (City Lit Theatre), Accidental Death of an Anarchist (Next Theatre), The Night Heron (Steep Theatre), The Birthday Party (Signal Ensemble Theatre), The Ruling Class (Backstage Theatre), and Detective Story (Strawdog Theatre), among many others.
A memorial service is being planned for early June; details will be posted here (and elsewhere) as they become available.
News From The Side Project
the side project wins the 2009 Emerging Theatre Awardthe side project is thrilled to announce that it has been selected as the recipient of the Broadway in Chicago 2009 Emerging Theatre Award presented by the League of Chicago Theatres. Artistic Director Adam Webster thanked the rest of the small theatre companies in Chicago not only for voting for the company but influencing the company's art: "It is due to our peers not only that we won this award, but that we are inspired to produce the art that we produce." For the full press release, click here.
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