RUBY WILDER and BREWED Set for Tympanic Theatre Company's 2012-13 Season

This season, Tympanic invites you to take the upper hand with two plays featuring femmes at their most fatal. From a young woman with a painful past set on revenge to a clan of sisters with a family secret and a tendency to solve sibling rivalries with their fists, this lineup of knock-down-drag-out shows is sure to pack a punch.

RUBY WILDER
by Brooke Allen directed by James D. Palmer

October 4th through October 28th
Teatro Luna’s Cabaret Studio, 3914 N. Clark St.
Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 7 p.m.
Tickets are $15

A kidnap victim ventures into the dark recesses of her mind to confront her tormentor. But when she wanders too far, she must not only learn to forgive her captor, but herself as well. Written by Brooke Allen and directed by Jeff Award-winner James D. Palmer, Ruby Wilder turns the revenge tale on its head in a riveting play that blurs the line between hunter and hunted, right and wrong, storyteller and story.

Brooke Allen is a graduate of the Creative Writing program at Webster University. Playwriting credits include Hard Maple (Candentia Theatre Company’s 48 Hour Festival, 2011), Ruby Wilder (Not Waiting Productions, 2008 / New York International Fringe Festival, 2010), House Work (Not Waiting Productions, 2007 / Semi-Finalist for the Leah Ryan’s Fund for Emerging Women Writers 2010), Viewfinders (HealthWorks Theatre, 2006), Beneath These Umbrellas (Webster University One Act Festival, 2002), and Directions to the Moon (St. Louis Area One Act Festival, 2001). Other credits include Mortified (Former Chicago Producer/ Performer), You’re Being Ridiculous (Recurring Guest Performer, 2011-2012) and The Redacted Series (Creator/Performer, Ruckus Theatre, 2011-2012).

James D. Palmer directed and adapted Dog in a Manger (2008). Other directing credits include Elephant’s Graveyard (2012 Jeff-Recommended), The Gingerbread House (2012), Church/Pullman, WA (2011), The Love of the Nightingale (2010 Jeff Award for Best Direction, Nominations for Best Production, Best Choreography, Best Sound, Best Fight Choreography), Enemy of the People (2009), Pugilist Specialist (2008), Endgame (2007), Baden Lehrstuck (2007), FEP: Jesusland (2006), and FEP: Coriolanus (2006). Producing credits at Red Tape include Brand (2011), Tragedy: a tragedy (2011), Obscura: a voyeuristic love story (2010), Mouse in a Jar (2009 Jeff Award for Best Sound Design). Selected readings and workshops with Goodman Theatre, Chicago Dramatists, American Theatre Company, and TUTA Theatre. James is in his fifth season as Artistic Director for Red Tape Theatre Company.

Cast: Joshua Davis, Alex Kyger, Paige Sawin, Sean Thomas, Christine Vrem-Ydstie Assistant Director: Joshua Ellison* Set Designer: Dustin Pettegrew* Lighting Designer: Brian Berman*
Sound Designer/Original Music: Maxwell Shults Costume Designers: Chrissy Weisenburger* and Charlotte Mae Ellison* Props Designer: Casey Bentley*

* denotes Tympanic Company Member or Artistic Associate

BREWED
co-produced with The Ruckus
by Scott T. Barsotti
directed by Anna C. Bahow

March 1st through March 31st
Teatro Luna’s Mainstage (3914 N. Clark St.)

In the world of Brewed, the task is stirring a pot...all day, every day. The six sisters don’t share the task as they once did. With Nannette busy racing stock cars and Roxette off doing her own thing, the others are left to shoulder the burden. But Paulette is fed up; Collette is clueless; and Babette, crippled in more ways than one, is volatile. But why must they do this? When one of the sisters calls everyone together, old venom bubbles up and grievance flares, setting into motion an impossible moral struggle. This play about gatherings, sacrifice, and the dark art of obligation is being presented as a co- production with The Ruckus.

Scott T. Barsotti is a playwright and performer originally from Pittsburgh, PA, currently living in Chicago. Scott writes plays of all kinds, but has a particular emphasis on works in, and inspired by, the Horror genre. His plays include The Revenants, McMeekin Finds Out, Kill Me, Jet Black Chevrolet, and an adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Body Snatcher, and have played in Chicago, New York, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, New Orleans, and upcoming in Boston and Queensland, Australia; his work has been produced and/or developed by Curious Theatre Branch, WildClaw Theatre, The Route 66 Theatre Company, Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company, Chicago Dramatists, Roundelay Theatre Company, Theatre Seven of Chicago, EP Theater, and The Visceral Company among others. His plays have been seen at the New York International Fringe Festival and the Rhinoceros Theater Festival, as well as festivals produced by Collaboraction, American Theater Company, The Artistic Home, 13th Street Repertory, and The Players Theatre. Scott has also had writing commissioned by Chicago Children’s Theatre. He is a Resident Playwright at Chicago Dramatists, a company member of WildClaw Theatre and Curious Theatre Branch, and an artistic associate of Collaboraction.

Anna C. Bahow is a 2011-2012 Michael Maggio Directing Fellow for Goodman Theatre, an Associate Artist at the side project, and of Premiere Theatre and Performance at Chicago Dramatists. Committed to the development of new work, world premieres include: 2009 Jeff-recommended The Rocks and Laura Eason’s Rewind at the side project, 2008 Jeff-nominated Odin’s Horse at Infamous Commonwealth (Top Five Fringle List, 2008, Chicago Tribune), Keith Huff's Gray City at PTP, Mark Young’s New Orleans at the side project (Top Five Fringle List, 2006, Chicago Tribune), St. Colm’s Inch at Chicago Dramatists, Martin’s Fury Shot at Timeline (Special Jeff for use of Multi Media), and Robert Koon's Vintage Red and Dust of the Road (Jeff Citation for New Work, American Critics' Association Steinberg Nominee for Best New Work Produced Outside New York).

Cast: Dana Black, Charlotte Mae Ellison,* Stevie Chaddock Lambert, MerEdith Lyons, Elise Mayfield, Susan Myburgh,* Erin Myers. Understudy/Assistant Stage Manger: Lizzy Powers.

The Tympanic Theatre Company is dedicated to producing new and developed work with fantastical, frightening, or absurd subject matter that provokes, inspires, and entertains. Through our use of vibrant storytelling, dynamic language, and colorful characters, we invite our audience to plunge headfirst with us into theatrical worlds that are fresh, energetic, and visceral. For tickets and more information on our sixth season, visit www.tympanictheatre.org. For more information on The Ruckus, visit www.ruckustheater.org.

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