Thinking Caps Testimonial: Carly Williams

Thinking Caps Testimonial: Bethany Novak

Thinking Caps Q&A: Drew Wancket

We sat down recently with Drew Wancket, who plays Charles Cusick in Strangeloop's current production, Thinking Caps, and chatted about the future of technology, his alter ego and the challenges of acting with actors who are not physically in the same room.

Q: What do you like about your character and Thinking Caps?
A:I love that Charles is, more than anything, so grounded. In a seemingly inevitable future where technology is slowly replacing every aspect of human interaction, Charles is an anachronism. He seems to exist in a world completely different than the rest of the characters. I love how he is so disinterested in keeping up with the times. He only cares about his family, and their happiness. Thinking Caps are the future, maybe not 20 years from now, but they seem inevitable. They frankly kind of terrify me. For all the reasons the play exhibits. I am much like Charles, I love old things, and losing such simple objects as books is not something that appeals to me.

Q: What have been your biggest challenges?

A: My biggest challenge has been figuring out how to relate to this world. Much of the script involves interacting with this headnet space, which is something I have no experience with.  It kind of like how I imagine acting with a green screen is like. The give and take is difficult without the other present.

Q: What are you working on after Thinking Caps?

A:  I am moving to New York City the day after this show closes. I am looking forward to finding new experiences in this city.

Q: Before you leave for NYC, tell us about your Chicago experience.Where do you live and what do you like about that neighborhood?

A: I live in Rogers Park, which I believe is one of the most diverse neighborhoods in the country. Even block to block can have a different feel to it. It feels much more family oriented than other neighborhoods I have lived in. In addition, it is pretty convenient, but it is far enough away from the city center to still be affordable.

Q: What are you favorite highlights on your resume?

A: I am immensely proud of my improv teaching, both at Columbia College and Independence. I also produce and host a variety comedy show every Sunday Night at the Underground Lounge. 

Q: Do you have any interesting hobbies when you're not acting?

A: I work on my blog, the taoofsteven, and have interdisciplinary projects I work on, involving my alter ego, Steven. I also write theater reviews for chicagostagestandard.com

Q: You have a masters degree in Interdisciplinary Arts. What does a program like that look like?
A: It is a one year MA program. It is focused on giving artists from various disciplines a chance to increase their artistic knowledge. For me, is was incredibly rejuvenating. I have always considered myself more than an actor, and now I am involved is so many different projects, ranging from writing to art installations and performance art.
 
See Drew in Thinking Caps through May 31 at The Charnel House, 3421 W Fullerton Ave. in Chicago. The show is at 8 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. on Sundays. Tickets are $18 for general admission and available at the door or in advance through Brown Paper Tickets. Discounts are available for students and seniors.

Ada Grey reviews Thinking Caps

Photo by Chris Owens/For Strangeloop Theatre

If you aren't familiar with Ada Grey's reviews, you're missing out.

The 10-year-old reviewer has been seeing theater and sharing her thoughts with the internet since she was 4, and her youthful curiosity and enthusiasm brings a unique perspective to theater. Her reviews are a delight to read. They are cute and funny and at the same time insightful in a way adult reviewers often miss.

She recently saw Thinking Caps and she had a lot to say about the show (including more than a few spoilers, so consider yourself warned).

People who would like this show are people who like virtual reality, scifi, and Superman. I think people should definitely go see this show. I think it is an amazing low-budget production and I really want you to go see it. I had a lot of fun.

 Read her full review here.

Thinking Caps Testimonial: Sam Cohen

Thinking Caps: Cast and Crew Bios

Cast

Maggie Cusick:                  Laura Stratford

Charles Cusick:                  Drew Wancket
Moderator/Becky/
Emma Cusick:                    Ellen DeSitter
Kim Ayers:                         Jaclyn Jensen*
David Scrab:                       Casey Kells

The Headnet

Headnet Voice:                   Letitia Guillaud

Crystal Freema:                  Kyla Norton  

The Forum for the Integration of Sensible Technology: Caitlin Jackson, Kirk Jackson, Miona Lee+, Tim Lee+, Allison McCorkle+, Paul Tinsley, Patricia Tinsley and Chad Wise

Headnet Friends: Julia Beck, Maria Burnham*, Jean E. Burr, Gabrielle Cauchon, Grace DeSant, Elana Elyce, Stefanie Johnsen, Carolyn Minor, John Morrison, Mark Penzien and Denise A. Stein

Production Team

Playwright:                                                      Keith Gatchel*

Director:                                                          Maria Burnham*
Assistant Director:                                          John Morrison
Production Manager:                                      Holly Robison*
Stage Manager:                                               Jennifer Roseman
Assistant Stage Manager:                                Miona Lee+
Projections/Video Designer:                           Chris Owens
Sound Designer/Original Composition:          Antonio Bruno
Scenic/Thinking Cap Designer:                      Archer Curry
Light Designer:                                               Brad Gunter*
Costume Designer:                                          Molly Mason
Props Designer:                                               Holly Robison*
Violence Designer:                                          Robert Tobin
Fight Captain:                                                  Casey Kells
Movement Designer:                                       Miona Lee+
Graphic Design:                                              Mike Wozniak
Marketing:                                                      Maria Burnham*

 
*Denotes a Strangeloop Company Member
+Denotes a Strangeloop Associate Company Member

Playwright's Note: Thinking Caps

This play is not trying to predict the future. It's about how amazing the present is right now and how used to it we all are.

My nieces and nephews don't know a world before cell phones and the Internet. I've never lived in a world without cable or home video. My parents remember when TV was only black and white, and my grandma was 22 when the atomic bomb changed the world. There's no way to fully convey how absolutely revolutionary these concepts are when, to you and I, they've always been around. But, every day we hold better technology in our hands than what sent man to the moon, and we use it to play games.

The moment Martin Cooper at Motorola called his rival, Joel S. Engal, at Bell Labs in 1973 from outside of a New York Hilton practically divides human history into “before cell phones” and “after cell phones.” My nieces and nephews are starting to reach 10 years old as of this production. Someday, they'll tell their kids about a world before 3-D printing, self-driving cars, nano-surgery and possibly even electronic telepathy.

And, we can only imagine how they might tell them.

– Keith Gatchel

Thinking Caps Bio: Drew Wancket

 

Drew Wancket (Charles Cusick) has most recently performed with 20% Theatre and The Public House Theatre. He is a professional improv coach with One Group Mind in Chicago and also teaches a team at Columbia College. He performs with his improve group, Kat Dadz, and hosts and produces the Sunday Night Show, a weekly variety show. He can also be seen around Chicago with his two-man, musical comedy duo, Lange and Wancket. Drew recently finished his Master’s in Interdisciplinary Arts at Columbia College. He is excited to get back into scripted theater after spending so much time making the words up.

Thinking Caps Bio: Laura Stratford

Lara Stratford (Maggie Cusick) is a co-founder and the Executive Director of Underscore Theatre Company (www.underscoretheatre.org). Thinking Caps marks her return to the stage; her last performance was as an emergency understudy for the role of Charlotte in Underscore's production of pr0ne: a casting couch musical comedy. She is thrilled to be performing in an establishment that used to be a funeral home, and devoutly hopes for some paranormal activity.

Thinking Caps Bio: Jaclyn Jensen

Jaclyn Jensen (Kim Ayers)is a native of Sandy, Utah, and has her BFA in Theatre Performance from the University of Central Missouri. She is proud to be a company member with Strangeloop Theatre. Other Chicago credits include productions with Consortium Project, Chicago Parks District, Saint Sebastian Players and Shapeshifters Theatre Company. Thanks Mike, and thank YOU for supporting live theatre.

Thinking Caps Bio: Casey Kells

Casey Kells (David Scrab/Fight Captain) is ecstatic to be making his Strangeloop debut with Thinking Caps! Casey is a graduate of Roosevelt University where he obtained his B.F.A. in acting. He has worked with companies around Chicago including Cold Basement Dramatics, Nothing Special Productions, and Emergent Theatre. Casey would like to thank his family and friends for their support, with a special thanks to Cress, who makes everything possible.

Thinking Caps Bio: Ellen DeSitter

Ellen DeSitter (Emma Cusick, Moderator, Becky) is very excited to be working with Strangeloop Theatre for the first time. Her most recent performance credits include the Fool in Queen Lear, the Genie in the Windy City Players touring production of Aladdin and Lula in Manual Cinema's touring production of Lula Del Ray. Other companies she has had the privilege of working with include: Steep Theatre, Suitcase Shakespeare, Navy Pier, Redmoon and Side Project Theatre.

Thinking Caps Bio: Letitia Guillaud

Letitia Guillaud (Headnet Voice) has a B.A. in Theatre from Ball State University. She is Co-Artistic Director and Development Director for Strangeloop Theatre, a Company Member at CIC, and an Artistic Associate at TUTA Theatre Chicago. Favorite roles include, Stella a.k.a. Pinkie (The Cockups - Mobilewave Films), Hermia (A Midsummer Night's Dream - Strangeloop) and Joan of Arc (The Maid of Orleans - Strangeloop). She is the proud new mother of baby Felix Gunter and would like to thank her husband and all of Strangeloop for their support in that endeavor.

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.

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.

'Thinking Caps' Examines The Future Of Social Media In A Telepathic World

Playwright Keith Gatchel said he was inspired to write Thinking Caps after realizing technology increasingly has become what defines who we are and how we relate to previous and future generations.

Find out more about Gatchel's inspiration for writing Thinking Caps in our release here.

Thinking Caps runs May 8 through May 31 at The Charnel House (3421 W Fullerton Ave.) in Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood at 8 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. on Sundays.

Tickets are $18 for general admission and available online at Brown Paper Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/1347699.

Get your Thinking Caps now!

Thinking Caps are now on sale online at Brown Paper Tickets!

Everyone who is anyone already has one. Don't get left behind in the boring old real world! Join us in the virtual one!

(Poster design by Mike Wozniak)

Announcing the cast of Thinking Caps

A scene from the opening of Thinking Caps,
which was part of our Loopshop short play
series in 2012.

We are officially cast for Thinking Caps!

Though the show is still several months away, work has already begun on this production and we're getting excited to build this new world within a brand new play just for you.

And we start by announcing our cast. The cast for "Thinking Caps" is:

• Charles Cusick: Drew Wancket
• Maggie Cusick : Laura Stratford
• Kim Ayers: Jaclyn Jensen
• David Scrab: Casey Kells
• Emma Cusick: Ellen DeSitter

Written by Strangeloop Company Member Keith Gatchel and directed by Maria Burnham, 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.

What is Thinking Caps, you ask?

The near future. Websites and the internet are dead. Telepathy and Headsites are the new reality. Everyone who is anyone has a Thinking Cap and they live in a semi-virtual, semi-real world where imagination is the key to success. But how far is too far when it comes to technology? Thinking Caps explores the upsides and downsides of virtual reality technology in the near future.

Tickets are $18 for general admission and are available in advance on Brown Paper Tickets or at the door. Discounts are available for students and seniors.