ugh's
Lucinda's Bed on Oct. 9 after previews from Oct. 1.
The commercial production of A Steady Rain on Broadway stars Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig. The play, in a separate production, was a much-extended Chicago Dramatists hit in 2008.
Lucinda's Bed plays to Nov. 8 at Chicago Dramatists, 1105 W. Chicago Avenue, in the Windy City.
According to production notes, "Lucinda is nine years old, and all she wants is to be good, but when the Monster under her bed introduces himself one night, Lucinda finds out that staying good will be harder than she thinks. Even when she's grown and married, the Monster continues to turn up in the most peculiar places at the most awkward and inopportune moments with perfect timing and panache, to make sure she is not. McCullough takes us to the many beds of Lucinda's life. From twin to queen, the playwright explores the need to be good and the temptation not to be, navigating growing up, growing old and the monsters that grow with us."
Jessi D. Hill will direct Lucinda's Bed. The cast includes Chicago Dramatists associate artist Doug MacKechnie (Adam), Elizabeth Laidlaw (Lucinda) and Lucas Neff (Monster).
The design team includes Grant Sabin (set designer), Diane Fairchild (lighting designer) Nick Keenan (sound designer), Jenniffer Thusing (props designer and stage manager), and Kat Doebler (costume designer).
Resident playwright McCullough's most recent productions include Since Africa at the Old Globe in San Diego (originally produced at Chicago Dramatists), Spare Change at Stage Left Theatre (Chicago) and in Steppenwolf Theatre's First Look Repertory, and Taking Care at the Victory Theatre in Los Angeles.
Lucinda's Bed will play Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 PM, and Sundays at 3 PM.
Tickets are $30 for Fridays and Saturdays, $25 for Thursdays and Sundays, and $15 for previews. $10 student and industry tickets are available for Thursday and Sunday performances. Group rates are available.
For tickets, call (312) 633-0630 or order online at www.chicagodramatists.org.
Chicago Dramatists "enters its 31st season with the honor of the TCG New Generations/Future Leaders grant, the announcement of four new resident playwrights and a new associate artistic director, and its selection as only one of four theatres to be included as part of the inaugural Millennium Park 'In The Works' Theatre Lab Project this spring," according to a statement.
Richard Perez is Chicago Dramatists' first ever associate artistic director. Through a two-year program, Chicago Dramatists' artistic director Russ Tutterow will mentor Perez "by sharing his knowledge and experience to advance Perez's journey to become an artistic leader in new work." Perez previously served as the artistic director of the Bloomington Playwrights Project in Bloomington, IN, for seven years. At Chicago Dramatists, he will be responsible for The Playwrights Network, the theatre's national membership program of more than 200 writers, casting, support of Chicago Dramatists' 60 associate artists, and collaborations with other Chicago Theatres. He will also direct Aiming for Sainthood by resident playwright Arlene Malinowski, to be workshopped and performed in spring 2010 as part of The Millennium Park "In the Works" Project.
The company recently announced four outstanding writers to the ranks of its 40 Resident Playwrights: Scott T. Barsotti, Dana Lynn Formby, Andrew Hinderaker and Ruth Margraff.
In the fall of 1979, four playwrights came together to hear their work read aloud and to hone their craft. Today, Chicago Dramatists' "amazing record of achievement has landed them an invaluable place in the artistic community as a vital source of inspiration to 40 resident playwrights, 160 associate playwrights, 60 associate artists, and thousands of audience members," according to notes about the company's history. "Over the past three decades, Chicago Dramatists has worked with over a thousand playwrights, produced and developed thousands of plays and stayed true to its mission to nurture compelling, challenging and diverse plays that move on to productions, earn awards, and define the American theatre. Through passionate dedication, personal nurture and careful exposure, Chicago Dramatists carries on its thirty-one-year-old mission of developing new plays and playwrights for the next generation of theatre."
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