Jensen brings her love of scary stories to latest production

Strangeloop Company Member and Thinking Caps actress Jaclyn Jensen was featured in this story on Patch.com. Get to know Jaclyn and then come see her work, May 8-31 at the Charnel House.

Jaclyn Jensen loves a good scary story.

The Lakeview resident and actress also loves to TELL a good scary story, which is what she’s doing on her latest project,Strangeloop Theatre’s production of Thinking Caps.

Read the full article here, including Jaclyn's thoughts on her character, Kim Ayers.

Telepathy, social media and a dragon! Tech week for Thinking Caps begins

As regular rehearsals wrap up and technical rehearsal begin, Strangeloop Theatre is preparing to mount its most technically ambitious show to day, Thinking Caps, which features a physical cast of five, but a virtual cast of more than 20.

Join us opening weekend, May 8-10, as these actors, real and imaginary, bring to life a production that presents an examination of the perils of social media in a telepathic-based virtual reality future. Also, there be dragons.

Thinking Caps takes place about 25 years into the future when websites and the internet are dead, and telepathy and Headsites are the new reality. Everyone has a Thinking Cap and they live in a semi-virtual, semi-real world where imagination is the key to success.

The production takes audiences on a journey through the lives – real and virtual – of the Cusick family, as they grapple with the predominance of the technology that brought them together and now threatens to tear them apart.

Thinking Caps runs May 8-31, at 8 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. on Sundays at The Charnel House, 3421 W Fullerton Ave. in Chicago. Tickets are $18 for general admission and are on sale now at Brown Paper Tickets. Discounts are available for students and seniors.

Now accepting script submissions for Loopshop 8!

Strangeloop Theatre is committed to producing new or newly adapted work, and our annual workshop series, Loopshop, gives Chicago audiences the chance to see a number of new works by emerging playwrights in one sitting.

The series, now in its eighth year, showcases short plays or scenes from full-length scripts in development for two nights in July.

Submission details are as follows:

• All submissions must be performable in 10 minutes or less. 
• All submissions must be original works that have never been fully produced before. Works that have been developed in a workshop environment are acceptable.
• Adaptations and translations are also acceptable as long as any necessary permissions and rights with copyright holders have been obtained. 
• In the case of submissions from larger works, the playwright must choose and/or edit the scene or cutting they want submitted to Loopshop and submit that scene or cutting only. We will not accept any submissions longer than 10 minutes for Loopshop. 
• The deadline for submissions is May 31.

Strangeloop Theatre is committed to play development and the growth of works in progress. Our development process focuses on production-oriented collaboration between writers and artists, as well as readings and performances of scenes that allow audiences to experience and react to the work. To that end, we also welcome submissions that are in early draft or unfinished forms.

You can find information about past Loopshop productions on this blog, on our website and Facebook page.

To submit your work or to ask questions about Strangeloop new play production and development, please contact plays@strangelooptheatre.org.  Please include "Loopshop 8 script submission" in your subject line.

Strangeloop has an immediate need for a lighting designer

We have an immediate need for a Lighting Designer for our spring production, Thinking Caps by Keith Gatchel.

About the production: Thinking Caps is set in the near future and flows seamlessly between virtual reality and the real world. The play explores the upsides and downsides social media based in virtual reality technology. We need a lighting designer who can work with our projections designer to create these virtual reality worlds on stage and make the transitions from real life to the virtual one clear for the audience.

The production will be at the Charnel House in the Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago.

Pay is $100 flat fee.

JOB RESPONSIBILITIES: Duties include:

• Creating design research to share with the team. 
• Designing and programing lighting. 
• Loading in lights. 
• Attending production meetings, tech rehearsals (as needed), and strike. 

PRODUCTION DATES:

• Load-in begins April 27 
• Possible previews May 6 & 7 
• Opening: May 8 
• Closing/Strike Set: May 31

TO APPLY: Please send resume and statement of interest to production manager Holly Robison at loop@strangelooptheatre.org.

Thanks to those who attended the reading of Mitera!

Thanks to everyone who came out to the staged reading of Mitera on Monday evening. We had an engaged crowd that gave us some valuable feedback, which will help as we continue to develop this script with an eye toward production.

The reading, which took place at Celtic Crown on Western Avenue, was directed by Breahan Eve Pautsch and stared Allison McCorkle as Olga Sheridan, Holly Robison as Nitsa Sheridan, Cyra K. Polizzi as Dimitra Sheridan, Lona Livingston as Sharon Kaskalis and Tim Lee as Dimitris Kokkinakis.

Mitera, a new work written by Strangeloop Company Member Maria Burnham, centers around three, single sisters have their lives turned upside down when they find out their Greek mother is still micromanaging their lives from beyond the grave. Mitera pokes and prods the boundaries of family loyalty and examines the idea that sometimes the people we’ve known our entire lives are the people we know the least.

Mitera is part of Strangeloop Theatre's development series. A scene from Mitera was originally featured in our short play and new works development series, Loopshop, in 2013.

Strangeloop featured on DNAInfo

Strangeloop was recently featured in an article on DNAInfo about a surge in theater productions in Logan Square, which is a strangely underserved area when it comes to theater.

Our spring show, Thinking Caps, opens May 8 at the Charnel House in Logan Square.

Is a Theater Revival Brewing in Logan Square? Lonely Stage Troupes Hope So

By Darryl Holliday

While dozens of theaters stretch from downtown Chicago north along the coast of Lake Michigan, performers and theater lovers in Logan Square say the Northwest Side neighborhood is due for a revival. Theater Y and Charnel House, 3421 W. Fullerton Ave., are both hosting new shows in March and April but a search for options in the neighborhood yields little results.

Read the entire article on the DNAInfo Chicago website.

Strangeloop seeking actors for a staged reading of The Odyssey

Strangeloop Theatre is seeking actors for a staged reading of its upcoming movement-driven adaptation of Homer's The Odyssey.

The staged reading is part of the company's development process and those involved in development will receive first consideration in casting for the full production. Auditions will be held from 10 a.m. to noon on Sunday, April 26 at Aligned Modern Health.

The staged reading will take place on Monday, May 18, at Black Rock Pub.

Material To Prepare: Auditions will consist of cold readings from the script and a short movement exercise. Come prepared to move. Please note, while this is a movement-driven piece, this is not a dance production and as such dance training is not a requirement.

Please submit a headshot and resume to odysseyauditions@gmail.com.