|
2001-2002
Season
Fall 2001
BUG
by Tracy Letts
Directed by Dexter Bullard
Bug takes place in a motel room on the outskirts of Oklahoma
City. Forty -year old Agnes White is living a withdrawn, transient
life, working as a waitress in a local saloon. She is down
to a few seedy friends who stop by to do drugs and booze it
up, when into her life comes Peter Evans—a young man
with a secret past. As Agnes and Peter desperately throw themselves
at one another, Bug delves into the ideas of love, paranoia,
and government conspiracy.
Bug is playwright and actor Tracy Letts' second play. A Red
Orchid Theatre is proud to continue the association he began
here as Barney Greenwald in the smash Caine Mutiny Court-Martial
by Herman Wouk. He also appeared at A Red Orchid Theatre as
Soranzo in the Jacobean pot-boiler, ‘Tis Pity She’s
a Whore by John Ford directed by Dexter Bullard. Mr. Letts
is best known in Chicago as the author of Killer Joe. The
celebrated play that won tremendous audience-acclaim when
Dexter Bullard produced it at The NextLab in Evanston. That
original cast then took Killer Joe on to a successful run
in Great Britain, where it won an Edinburgh Fringe Festival
First; moved to a run in London at the Bush Theatre; and ultimately
transferred to the Vaudeville Theatre on the West End. In
1999 Killer Joe was produced in New York with Scott Glenn,
Amanda Plummer and Michael Shannon.
"Bug" featured some of Chicago's finest actors,
including Kate Buddeke and Robin Witt making their A Red Orchid
Theatre debuts. Michael Shannon*, Guy Van Swearingen*, and
Troy West were thrilled to continue their A Red Orchid Theatre-
collaboration with Dexter Bullard. Mr. Bullard directed the
power-packed cast (including Tracy Letts, Guy Van Swearingen
and Michael Shannon) here in ‘Tis Pity She’s a
Whore. He also directed Jeff Still in A Red Orchid's Place
of Angels by Bob Adams.
Production staff: Set
design: Robert G. Smith, Lighting design: Andrew Meyers, Sound
design: Joseph Fosco, Assistant Director: Hili Iivanainen,
Public Relations: Guy Van Swearingen*, Fight Choreography:
Chuck Coyle.
Spring 2002
The Grey Zone
by Tim Blake Nelson
Directed by Dado
A Midwest Premiere
Based on the true story of a Jewish doctor from imprisoned
and forced to assist Mengele in Auschwitz during the last
months of W.W. II while several members of the Sonnderkommando
plot to sabotage the Number 3 crematoria.
The Grey Zone was directed by Dado, who made her A Red Orchid
debut with this production. The cast included Lance Baker,
Mark Vallarta, Aaron Lisman, Corryn Cummins, Andy Rothenberg*,
Guy Massey*, Doug Vickers**, Ron Wells and Jack McCabe. The
Grey Zone closed A Red Orchid's 2001-2002 season.
|
