FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
the side project spreads its “Wings,” goes international (and back to NY) 

Re-envisioned productions hit Canada, New York this fall, Ireland next spring

CHICAGO – Three plays that originally premiered, or will shortly do so, at the side project, are slated for production in Canada and New York this fall, and Ireland in May 2008, adding further out-of-town exposure for the company.

Following on the heels of last May’s New York production (by The New Group) of Strangers Knocking, which the side project gave its world premiere in May 2005, the troupe’s 2003 breakthrough hit The Fourth Graders Present an Unnamed Love-Suicide, will once again be remounted by the Hypocrites (who remounted it at the Athaneum in 2004) for a New York run in November. Additionally, its 2005 production When Women Wore Wings, is currently being remounted in Canada by NovaStages under the title feMAELSTROM.

When Women Wore Wings – Now Showing in Canada
From September 6-15, NovaStage in Cambridge, Ontario, will present feMAELSTRTOM, packaging four of the seven monologues featured in the side project’s 2005 world premiere production, When Women Wore Wings. Developed and curated by side project Artistic Director Adam Webster, When Women Wore Wings’ pieces collectively explored the mythic, poetic, historic and heroic nature of women. “The concept was to take iconic women and both shatter and heighten their mythical element,” Webster said. The concept hit home and the play ran for three months.

FeMAELSTROM features the three pieces then-Chicago (now New York) playwright/dramaturg Miriam Weisfeld had in When Women Wore Wings – Challenger (from the viewpoint of Challenger astronaut Christa McAuliffe), A Brief Message from Amelia Earhart, and Medusa/Medea – as well as one of the two pieces by playwright Emily Schwartz (The Strange Tree Group) – Rapunzel. When Women Wore Wings also featured Schwartz’s Snow White as well as writer/performer Laura Sciortino’s Eve Redux and Tom Coash’s Thin Air. For more info, visit www.novastage.com. 

The Fourth Graders… - New York in November
When it premiered in 2003, the side project’s production of Sean Graney’s The Fourth Graders Present an Unnamed Love-Suicide was heralded as “Highly Recommended” by both the Chicago Reader and Chicago Sun-Times, the latter of which also said: “Remarkable & stunning...a work of deep emotion...you leave the theater shaken.” The Reader
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heralded the production as, “Taut, engaging & smart, idiosyncratic, affecting...difficult to look away.”

Building on the success of that initial run, Graney’s The Hypocrites remounted the production at The Athaneum in 2004, with a couple of cast replacements and 10 more minutes of script. The New York production will be helmed once again by side project ensemble member Jimmy McDermott (as was the remount) and feature most of the same cast.

Slipping – Ireland in May, 2008
the side project’s March 2008 show, Slipping, by New Yorker Daniel Talbott, has already been accepted into the 2008 Dublin Gay Theatre Festival in Ireland. The play, directed by Webster, follows gay high school senior Eli, who, after his father dies and his abusive lover abandons him, gets a fresh start in Ohio with his mother. But will he seize it, or continue his emotionally destructive ways? 

Strangers Knocking – New York, Last May
Strangers Knocking by Chicago playwright Robert Tenges and directed by Adam Webster, debuted in May of 2005 and received accolades such as “a knock-out of a production” (TimeOut Chicago), “one of the most thoughtful commentaries on love and fear around” (Windy City Times) and that “it hits home with disarming force” (Chicago Tribune). The New Group produced it in May 2007 as part of their new works series The New Group (naked).  

About the Season
In its 2007-08 season, their eighth, the side project theatre company in Rogers Park will present six plays (5 world premieres and the Midwest premiere of Adam Rapp’s Faster); expand their Harvest staged readings series to include a separate series of local female playwrights; expand their Visiting Artist Series to include children’s programming (Rascal Children’s Theater); present the second-to-last week of the 365 Days/365 Plays Project; and host 3 other companies’ seasons (LiveWire, Bruised Orange, DreamTheatre). For more information, visit www.thesideproject.net.

About the company
the side project is dedicated to examining and portraying the human condition at the peak of adversity. At its core, the troupe celebrates the individual and its relation to society, striving for the betterment of both through the portrayal of life’s extremes. Since being founded in 2000, the ensemble has presented over 35 productions featuring over 75 world and Midwest premieres, including 25 one acts in four annual “Evenings of One Acts.” With participation in this season’s “365 Project,” the company aims to reinstate their annual commitment to short form.
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