Victory Gardens Theater Presents EQUIVOCATION, 9/14-10/14

Victory Gardens opens its 2012-13 season with the Chicago Premiere of Equivocation, written by Bill Cain and directed by Sean Graney. The production runs September 14 – October 14, 2012 at the Victory Gardens Biograph Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue in Lincoln Park. The Press Opening is Monday, September 24, 2012 at 7:30 p.m.

In London in the year 1605, a down-and-out playwright called Shagspeare (yes, it's him) receives a royal commission to write a play promoting the government's version of Guy Fawkes' treasonous Gunpowder Plot. As Shag navigates the dangerous course between writing a lie and losing his soul, or writing the truth and losing his head, his devoted theatre troupe helps him negotiate each step along the way. At once an explosive comedy of ideas and a high-stakes political thriller, Bill Cain's award-winning Equivocation deftly reveals the cat-and-mouse games in politics and art, and the craft of learning how to speak the truth in difficult times.

"A wonderful play of ideas, Equivocation is a witty, funny, poignant look at the complex relationship between art and politics. How do we tell the truth in difficult times? Are we ready to pay the real cost of telling the truth? Or do we lie and revise history?" comments Artistic Director Chay Yew. "I can't think of a more timely play to remind us of this, especially with all the political rhetoric swirling about in anticipation of the November elections."

The cast of Equivocation includes Minita Gandhi (Judith), Marc Grapey (Shag), Matt Kahler (Armin), Mark Montgomery (Cecil), Arturo Soria (Sharpe), and Bruce A. Young (Richard).

The designers are William Boles (Set Designer), Heather Gilbert (Lighting Designer), Janice Pytel (Costume Designer) and Kevin O'Donnell (Sound Designer).

About the Artists

Sean Graney (Director) is the founder of The Hypocrites, for which he has directed over 30 productions since 1997. He was a participant in the NEA/TCG Career Development Program for Directors. He has won three Joseph Jefferson Citation awards for the Direction of Sophocles: Seven Sicknesses, Equus and Machinal. He has directed at Chicago Shakespeare, Milwaukee Rep, Court Theatre, Shakespeare Festival St. Louis, Steppenwolf for Young Audiences, Chicago Children's Theatre, among others. He currently teaches at Lake Forest College Chicago and University of Chicago. He is currently working on adapting the 32 surviving Greek Tragedies into one epic script called All Our Tragic. If interested, visit the blog: allourtragic.com, or email Sean at sean@seangraney.com.

Minita Gandhi (Judith) makes her Victory Gardens debut with Equivocation. Regional credits include Mary Zimmerman's The Arabian Nights at Lookingglass Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theater, and The Arena Stage; Half-Life, A Christmas Carol, and The Voysey Inheritance at Milwaukee Repertory Theatre; Around the World in 80 Days, A Christmas Carol at Indiana Repertory Theater; Twelfth Night at First Folio Theater; Distracted at ATC, and Gilgamesh at the MCA with Silk Road Rising. Film/TV credits include Fox's "The Chicago Code" and Parvati's "Golden Skin." Minita was born in Mumbai, India and specializes in East-Indian dance and movement. She travels and performs with the corporate comedy troupe Wavelength, teaches anti-bullying techniques and sexual abuse prevention for K-12 with Imagination Theater, is a graduate of the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts, and is represented by The Gray Talent Group.

Arturo Soria (Sharpe) was most recently seen at Victory Gardens in the critically acclaimed production of Oedipus El Rey as Creon. Arturo recently originated the role of Tano in the World Premiere of Hit the Wall with The Inconvenience at Steppenwolf Garage Theatre. Recent credits: Santiago in A Few Good Men with Peninsula Players, The Fever Chart with Eclipse Theatre Company, Sonnets for an Old Century with Urban Theatre Company, Fucking Men with Bailiwick Chicago, The Chicago Landmark Project with Theatre Seven and Scorched with Silk Road Rising. He has worked with the Goodman Theatre, Chicago Dramatists, Chicago Playworks and other reputable theatre companies in Chicago. His solo show You Don't Know My Life, Ni Mi Madre has premiered at several solo performance festivals around Chicago. Arturo is a founding company member of Sankofa Theatre Company; an Artistic Associate of About Face Theatre; and a theatre teaching artist at Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos Puerto Rican High School.

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