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2006-2007 Season
THE
HOTHOUSE
by Harold Pinter
Directed by Dado
Featuring ensemble member Jennifer Engstrom
with Peter DeFaria, Brian R. Dongarra, Gregory Hardigan, Dan Rivkin, Steve Walker, and Troy West
October 20 - December 17, 2006
Christmas Eve is hectic enough when it’s spent in
the company of loved ones. But when you’re the warden
of a government psychiatric hospital, the holiday promises
to be anything but a silent night.
When one patient is discovered dead and another gives birth,
an inquisition is formed to assign blame for the dubious
misdeeds and to ensure punishment is inflicted on the guilty
parties. Before long, the boss starts unraveling, and a
conspiring staff leaves unattended the boiling tensions
simmering beneath them.
A riotous blend of farce and terror, The Hothouse
is roundly considered to be 2005 Nobel Laureate
Harold Pinter’s most comic play. Dado,
celebrated director of The Fastest Clock in
the Universe and The Sea Horse
here at A Red Orchid, returns to kick off our electrifying
season.
"A Red Orchid Theatre's production of The Hothouse
is so good - with an ensemble, under the direction of Dado,
at once razor sharp, blisteringly funny, horrifying, desperate,
outrageous, and perhaps just one step shy of totally insane
- you wish Pinter were in good enough shape to come see
it."
-- Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times
"... a smart-eyed, droll and menacing little show
typified by an endlessly witty set from Grant Sabin, and
numerous deliciously complex performances from the likes
of Troy West (who is a hoot) and the knockout Steve Walker..."
-- Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune
"Dado and her outstanding ensemble leave you laughing
- nervously."
-- Kerry Reid, Chicago Reader
BLASTED
by Sarah Kane
MIDWEST PREMIERE!
Directed by Karen Kessler
Featuring ensemble member Guy Van Swearingen
with Hans Fleischmann and Helen Sadler
January 22 - March 4, 2007
One of contemporary theatre’s most explosive plays
will land in Chicago when A Red Orchid boldly presents the Midwest premiere of Sarah Kane’s
Blasted.
Taking an unflinching look at terror brought on by violence
at home and abroad, Blasted brings the horrors of a vague
and distant war crashing through the seemingly insular walls
of a culpable yet complacent citizenry. When a comfortable
hotel room is blown apart, a journalist, his girlfriend,
and an intruding soldier are left to weather the primal
nature of human beings in crisis.
Sarah Kane is widely considered to be one of the modern
theatre’s great iconoclasts, and her debut production
of Blasted caused a critical firestorm at its premiere
in London in 1995. Karen Kessler, director
of A Red Orchid’s stellar productions of Gagarin
Way and Mr. Kolpert,
will ignite Kane’s poetic wit and strong imagery in
a theatrical event that is not to be missed.
"A Red Orchid's Midwest premiere is nothing short of
superb. The achievement of director Karen Kessler and her
intensely committed cast is all the more impressive given
the living-room intimacy of the 70-seat Old Town venue."
-- Albert Williams, Chicago Reader
"Director Karen Kessler has done a remarkable job...
Blasted is one of those productions that leaves you wondering
how the actors make it through a single performance, let
alone weeks of them."
-- Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times
"So here, at last, is that play... a very
earnest effort that both touches the heart and does honor
to the writer... the show is honestly performed and intelligently
directed by Karen Kessler."
-- Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune
THE
MEEK
by ensemble member Brett
Neveu
WORLD PREMIERE!
Directed by Brennan Parks
Featuring ensemble members Mierka Girten, Lawrence Grimm, and Doug Vickers with Nicholas Cimino and Keith Kupferer
April 20 - June 3, 2007
Ensemble member Brett
Neveu, the playwright who brought you last
season’s hit production of The Earl,
launches his newest comedy at A Red Orchid.
In a basement apartment in a rotten part of town, Glynn
struggles to focus on his writing career. His friend Patrick
flocks to the subterranean lair to escape the paralyzing
fear he encounters when he ventures outside – a world
controlled by roving street criminals and telephone scammers.
But when everything they fear encroaches upon the sanctuary,
the shut-ins must confront their dark suppositions about
a world that is made both scarier and funnier by their avoidance
of it.
The Meek combines Neveu’s
distinctively elusive dialogue and eccentric characters
in a hilarious story about self-imprisoned urbanites seeking
the will to escape. Newcomer Brennan Parks
leads an ensemble cast in this landmark
world premiere.
"There's something about Neveu's minimalist brand of
self-deprecating menace -- David Mamet, if you will, with
more modesty -- that always tickles me. And The Meek,
which combines desperate personal crises with esoteric silliness,
is no exception."
-- Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune
"As plays about misunderstood writers in pain go,
you could do worse than to have Larry Grimm playing your
protagonist. What writer, after all, wouldn’t want
the tough glamour of the lean and stormy Grimm playing his
doppelgänger?"
-- Christopher Piatt, TimeOut Chicago
"Dressed in a white silk, toga-style gown, and clearly
caught in a time warp, Mierka Girten has a certain comically
anachronistic charm that she renders with exuberance and
panache."
-- Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times
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