Strangeloop announces auditions for its spring show, 'Mitera'

Strangeloop Theatre is seeking 1 male and 4 female actors for the world premiere production of Mitera by Maria Burnham. The play will be directed by Letitia Guillaud and performances will take place at Berger Park North Mansion in Edgewater, beginning in April.

 

Auditions are scheduled for Wednesday, February 3, and Thursday, February 4, at the Theatre School at DePaul University (2350 N Racine Ave, Chicago, IL 60614).  Email headshot and resume to casting@strangelooptheatre.org to reserve an audition spot. Sides will be provided.

 

Roles include:

Olga Sheridan - 40, the eldest sister, unmarried, Greek-America, spent life taking care of her parents
Nitsa Sheridan - 35, the middle sister, unmarried, Greek-American, works in family sweet shop
Dimitra Sheridan - 31, the youngest sister, unmarried, Greek-American, jewelry artist
Sharon Kaskalis - 65, godmother to Dimitra, American, husband was Greek
Dimitris Kokkinakis - 40's, Greek cousin to the Sheridan sisters

 

Please note the role of Dimitris Kokkinakis will require a Greek accent. 

 

Mitera is the story of three, single adult Greek-American sisters who live at home and have their lives turned upside down when they find out their mother is still micromanaging their lives from beyond the grave.

 

More information about the audition can be found here.

 

Strangeloop adds two veterans of Chicago theatre to its Artistic Associate lineup

Strangeloop Theatre is thrilled to announce the addition of two new Artistic Associates to our company. Both are veterans of past Strangeloop productions.

The new members are:

Patricia Tinsley holds a BFA is performing arts from Rockford University, an MA in speech from Northeastern Illinois University and serves as co-artistic director of the Rebekah Theatre Project. Favorite Chicago-area acting credits include The Gin Game (Bowen Park Theatre and Rebekah Theatre Project); Midsummer Night’s Dream (Lightninghead); The Shadow Box (Rebekah Theatre Project); The Tempest (Theatre-Hikes and Performing Arts at Oakton); The Sandbox (InnateVolution); the web series, Ped Crossing and the happiest acting job in the world: playing Mrs. Santa Claus at Navy Pier! Her directing credits include work with the Women’s Theatre Alliance of Chicago, Stockyards Theatre Project and NUFAN. She has greatly enjoyed performing with Strangeloop over the past few years and is excited to begin her journey as an artistic associate.

Paul Tinsley has been doing theatre since 1963 and has amassed a long list of acting credits with such theatres as Remy Bumppo, Organic Theater Company, Piven Theatre Workshop, Theatre-Hikes and Strawdog Theatre Company. For Strangeloop, Paul has performed in Living Quarters, Maid of Orleans, R.U.R. and several Loopshops. A prolific director and writer, Paul was delighted to have his short play, Here’s My Card, performed as part of Loopshop 2015. On the small screen, you can see Paul in the pilot episode of the comedy series Family Values, now available on Amazon Studios. Paul is looking forward to joining Strangeloop as an artistic associate and continuing his role of co-artistic director for the Rebekah Theatre Project.

With the addition of Patricia and Paul, there are nine Company Members and eight Associate Company Members in Strangeloop.

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.

Hack/Slash Bio: Pete Navis

Pete Navis (Dr. Gross/Tech 2/Fight Captain) is performing with Strangeloop and CIC for the first time, after appearing in Bat-Hamlet (Corn Productions) and Jim & Dave('s Blood Meets Jupiter) (Project 891) earlier this year. Other recent Chicago performances include Uptown Opera (Genesis Ensemble), The People's Passion Play (Quest Ensemble) and It's a Wonderful Santaland Miracle Nutcracking Christmas Story... Jews Welcome (Stage 773). Pete also works in film and television, and this summer shot season two of the webseries #Hashtag and the short film Stone Road. Check out petenavis.wix.com/petenavis for news or to stay in touch.

Hack/Slash Bio: J. Rohr

J. Rohr (Peter LaPage/X-O) This is J. Rohr's first time on stage. An internationally published author of short fiction, his work has appeared in The Mad Scientist Journal, and the zombie anthology Black Chaos. Currently, he runs the blog Honesty Is Not Contagious.

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.

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."