Launching the highly anticipated Season Two of Public Access Theatre, Oracle Productions is proud to announce the opening of IRONMistress By April De Angelis, directed by Karen Yates. Ironmistress opens January 7, 2012, and runs through February 11. Performances are Friday, Saturday, and Monday nights at 8PM; Sunday nights at 7PM.
IRONMISTRESS is presented to the community free of charge through Oracle's Public Access Theatre. There is no charge for admission to any Oracle event. Seats are sponsored, in part, by members of Oracle's monthly sponsorship program, the forty4. Reservations are strongly recommended. Visit oracletheatre.org to request seats.
Written by UK playwright April De Angelis, Ironmistress is a play in verse that follows Martha Darby, a widow who inherits her husband's iron foundry in bleak Victorian England, a world where women had no power. On the eve of her young daughter Little Cog's wedding, Darby engages in a night of games and storytelling that dredges up ugly memories and forces both women to confront their desires for dominance. Yates's vision is both richly comic and darkly unsettling, and highlights the everyday barbarism towards women during the Industrial Revolution. Inside a mechanized cage, the audience will watch mother and daughter either breaking free of the male mantle of power or being destroyed by it.
This two-woman show features Katherine Keberlein as Martha Darby, and Sarah Goeden as Little Cog and Shanny Pins, a peasant spirit. Both Keberlein and Goeden are making their Public Access Theatre debut. Yates recently directed an episode of THE ADVENTURES OF PHILIP MARLOWE for last year's audience-favorite THE ORIGINAL RADIO GOGGLES at Oracle. She is the Associate Artistic Director for Chicago Opera Vanguard, and has worked with numerous Chicago companies including TUTA, Stage Left, BackStage, and others.
April De Angelis is an acclaimed playwright whose work has been presented all over London and the UK. Selected works include CALAIS (Paines Plough Oran Mor 2010), COUNTRY (Terror Season Southwark Playhouse 2010), AMONGST FRIENDS (Hampstead Theatre, 2009), WUTHERING HEIGHTS (adapt.) (Birmingham Repertory Theatre, 2008), WILD EAST (Royal Court Theatre, 2005),A LAUGHING MATTER (Out of Joint UK Tour and National Theatre, 2003/2004), THE WARWICKSHIRE TESTIMONY (RSC, 1999), and PLAYHOUSE CREATURES (Sphinx Theatre Company, 1993 / Old Vic Theatre, 1997 / West Yorkshire Playhouse, 2004). IRONMISTRESS premiered at ReSisters Theatre Company in 1989. De Angelis's work for radio includes a serialization of Peyton Place, Visitants for BBC Radio 4 and The Outlander for Radio 5, which won the Writer's Guild Award in 1992. De Angelis has also written for Glyndebourne and the English National Opera, and wrote THE SILENT TWINS libretto, which was set to music by Errollyn Wallen, Almeida Theatre, 2007.
The design team features many artists making their debut at Oracle. Mike Mroch is set designer, Darcy Hofer is costume designer, Chris Kriz is sound designer, and Julie Ballard is lighting designer. Lindsey Miller is Stage Manager, and Amy Hopkins is production manager. Company member Sarah Pretz is dialect coach. Terri Falvey is graphic designer. Oracle Theatre Artistic Director is Max Truax. Oracle Productions Executive Producer is Ben Fuchsen.
IRONMISTRESS opens January 7, 2012, and runs through February 11. Performances are Friday, Saturday, and Monday nights at 8PM; Sunday nights at 7PM. Press are invited to opening night, and any subsequent performance during the first half of the run. IRONMISTRESS is presented to the community free of charge through Oracle's Public Access Theatre. Seats are sponsored, in part, by members of Oracle's monthly sponsorship program, the forty4. Reservations are strongly recommended. Visit oracletheatre.org to request seats.
