Thursday, May 22, 2014

A Midsummer Night's Dream: Cast and Crew bios

by William Shakespeare

Cast
Theseus/Oberon:      Geoff Zimmerman
Hippolyta/Titania:      Caitlin Jackson
Egeus:                       Kitty Mortland
Demetrius:                Tim Larson
Lysander:                  Ken Miller
Hermia:                     Letitia Guillaud *
Helena:                     Mary-Kate Arnold
Quince:                     Maria Burnham *
Bottom:                     Michael Houghton Wagman *
Flute/Peaseblossom: Naomi Lindh
Snug/Cobweb:          Miona Lee
Puck:                         Julia Rigby
The Lion:                  Herbert the Lion
Understudy:              Kirk Jackson

Production Team
Director:                          Holly Robison *
Stage Manager:              Lisa Uhlig *
Costume Designer:         Carrie Campana *
Lighting Designer:           Eric Van Tassell
Scenic Designer:             Lauren Angel-Nichols
Sound Designer:             Keith Gatchel *
Production Manager:      Brad Gunter *
Prop Designer:                Mel Gill
Fight Choreographer:      Robert Tobin
Graphic Designer:           Mike Wozniak
Photographer:                 Austin D. Oie
Audience Development: Jaclyn Jensen*
Marketing:                      Maria Burnham*

*Strangeloop Company Member
†Strangeloop Associate Company Member

April 24 – May 25, 2014
Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m.

The Side Project Theatre, 1439 West Jarvis Avenue, Chicago, IL

'A Midsummer Night's Dream' closes this weekend

The final four performances of A Midsummer Night's Dream begin tonight. This is the last weekend to see this show, which audiences have called "a magnificent and intimate production. Such fine acting and a joy to witness!"

Tickets are going fast (as all closing weekends do). Get yours now on Brown Paper Tickets.

Strangeloop's intimate approach to William Shakespeare’s classic tale of love, magic and fairies features promenade-style staging, in which audience members move and sit amongst the action of the play with no formal differentiation between stage and seating.

The production takes place in the 1940s – a time period that shares with the ancient Athens of Shakespeare’s original setting political turmoil, war and the subduing of monstrous beasts (literal in one case, figurative in the other). But despite the unrest of the outside world, love still finds a place to bloom during this, the shortest night of the year.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream runs through May 25 at the side project theatre (1439 W. Jarvis Ave.) in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood (just steps from the Jarvis Red Line stop), at 8 p.m. on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. on Sundays.

Monday, May 19, 2014

From Queen of the Amazons to Queen of the Fairies, Jackson shows herstrength in



As an actress who has been on stage since she was 5, Avondale/North Center resident Caitlin Jackson has played everyone from Abigail in “The Crucible” to Bette Davis in Hell in a Handbag's production “Christmas Dearest.”


But for her latest turn on stage, she has stepped into not just one, but two roles from out of mythology. In her third production of William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Jackson has taken on Hippolyta, the famed Amazon Queen who lost a war and her heart to Theseus, as well as the Fairy Queen Titania, whose eternal battle for love and supremacy with her Fairy King, Oberon, puts them in the path of four young lovers lost in the woods outside of Athens.

Read more about Caitlin, including her work in Strangeloop's A Midsummer Night's Dream in the NorthCenter-RoscoeVillage Patch.

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Strangeloop welcomes three new Artistic Associates

Strangeloop Theatre is thrilled to announce the addition of Artistic Associates to our company with three veterans of past and current productions comprising the initial members.

The new members are:


Miona Lee
is originally from St. Louis, Missouri, and received her BFA in Theatre Performance from Missouri State University. While in Springfield, she worked with the Skinny Improv, Vandivort Theater, the Springfield Shakespeare Festival and Springfield Children's Playhouse. While in Chicago, she has worked with Geopolis Theater, National Pastime Theater and has been performing and writing with The Living Canvas for several seasons. In addition to acting, she toured the United States with the Glassmen Drum and Bugle Corps and performed with National Avenue and The Pride of Missouri State Winterguards. Miona is currently playing Snug/Cobweb in A Midsummer Night's Dream.


Tim Lee
is an actor who originally comes from Springfield, Missouri. He stayed in his hometown to attend Evangel University where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre. After college, he traveled, performed and brought the funny across the country with The Skinny Improv. He has been living and performing in Chicago for the past several years, and has had the pleasure of performing with companies like Prologue Theatre, Living Canvas and Bootstraps Theatre. He is very excited to be a part of Strangeloop Theatre. While his first love is being on the stage, he loves being in the shop, building and painting from scratch. Tim was last seen as the Mime in French With Me and Truncheon in Nutcracker Nightmare.


Allison McCorkle
is an actor who also really enjoys seeing theatre, dancing Bollywood and getting caught up in the latest story or classic that she missed as a child. A performer since the age of 8, she studied theatre at Texas Wesleyan University and stuck around the Fort Worth/Dallas theatre scene for awhile. Then the allure of public transit and beautiful weather beckoned her to Chicago, where her credits include Piccolo Theatre, Black Ensemble Theatre, Haylcon, Chicago dell'Arte, Polarity, Red Tape and GreatWorks Theatre. Allison was thrilled to work on The Robbers, Loopshop and Nutcracker Nightmare with Strangeloop and looks forward to the next great adventure! During the day, she is an administrative assistant for a meat marketing company. That's right, that's what it says. Allison McCorkle was last seen as Dora/The Doll Queen in Nutcracker Nightmare.

Currently, there are 10 Company Members in Strangeloop.

"The idea of adding an Associate level of membership comes from a sense that there are more people we'd like to work with under the umbrella of the company, and this offers both the Associate and the company a chance to get to know each other in a more formal way without the full commitment of being a Company Member," said Brad Gunter, co-artistic director. "Miona, Tim and Allison are all talented actors who have worked with Strangeloop on multiple projects and have expressed an interest in developing a closer relationship with the company. Their talents onstage and off will be a tremendous addition to Strangeloop."

Monday, May 12, 2014

Wagman rolls up his sleeves, slips on a donkey's head for iconicShakespearean role



Wicker Park actor Michael Houghton Wagman loves that his neighborhood is developing into its own theater district in a city filled with storefronts and stages.


But Wagman’s latest project – taking on the iconic role of Bottom in William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”with Strangeloop Theatre – has taken him a little further afield, up to a small performance space in Rogers Park. The trek north for the actor has been worth it, however, to take on a role that is known for its heavy comedy, but also much subtler shades of introspection, passion and joy.

Read more about Michael, including his thoughts about Bottom in Strangeloop's production A Midsummer Night's Dream in the Bucktown-Wicker Park Patch.

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Review: 'Go home Helena, you’re drunk'

Chicago Theatre Review recently recommended Strangeloop Theatre's A Midsummer Night's Dream, calling it "ribald, cacophonous and soused" and "never bloodless":
Actresses fly past inches from your knees, suitors are hurled across the room and, unless you chose to avert your eyes, you can catch eyefuls of intimate caresses between the monarchs of the forest.
Read the whole review here and then come join us this weekend.(Just make sure you're "prepared to duck, weave, and dance to ukulele strains and forties hits.")

Kitty Mortland takes to the stage, Internet in traditionally male roles

Northbrook native Kitty Mortland has lately made a business of playing Shakespearean characters that are traditionally male, taking their already complex personas and adding yet another level with a feminie twist.

Read more about Kitty, including her turn as Egeus in Strangeloop's production A Midsummer Night's Dream in the Chicago Tribune's local section.