Featuring Chicago’s greatest musical theatre talent!
Missy Aguilar | Jim Barclay | Audrey Billings | Brianna Borger
Brandon Dahlquist | Liam Davis | Dina DiCostanzo | Michael Favreau
Lara Filip | Don Forston | Alex Goodrich | Greg Hirte
Diana Lawrence | Ericka Mac | Jake Mahler | Andrew Mueller
Matthew Mueller | Liam Quealy | Emily Rohm | Jill Schellabarger
Stephen Schellhardt | Holly Stauder | Bri Sudia | Bethany Thomas
Tempe Thomas | Stef Tovar | Dana Tretta | Keely Vasquez
Directed by Tammy Mader
Doors open at 7pm for cash bar and an exciting silent auction & raffle, so come ready to enjoy a night filled with music and fun, while helping raise funds for our amazing 2015 season ahead!
ROUTE 66 THEATRE COMPANY
ANNOUNCES
PLAYWRIGHT JENNI LAMB
AS THE INAUGURAL WINNER OF
ITS NEW PLAY DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP
Lamb receives a stipend and a week-long workshop
of her new play QUIVER
curated by Frances Limoncelli and Route 66 Theatre Company
With a public reading on MONDAY MARCH 16TH AT 8PM
CHICAGO IL- Route 66 Theatre Company’s Artistic Director Stef Tovar announces the winner of its inaugural New Play Development Workshop is Jenni Lamb and her play Quiver. Quiver is the story of twin siblings Adam and Diane’s annual bow hunting trip, which is interrupted when Cassie, Adam’s wife, arrives with their daughter Pearl who has been suspended from school for drinking. Cassie leaves it to Adam to watch over Pearl for the week and keep her out of trouble. She also leaves Adam with the task of telling Pearl that their marriage is ending. The play explores our relationship to our surroundings and habitat. It also delves into the way we experience the end of relationships, childhood, and life itself.
The workshop, led by Frances Limoncelli (Three-time Non-Equity Jeff Award Winner—New Adaptation), will be focused on the playwright and giving them what they need to move their script toward being production-ready. The workshop received over 330 submissions in its first year of existence. The finalists were: Cricket Daniel (Helen on Wheels), Barbera Blumenthal-Ehrlich (Romeo Chang), Stephen Kaplan (Una Casa/ A Home), Aline Lathrop (Trade Show), Jordan Nicole Puckett (Restore), Sylvia Reed (The Mentor), Jon Steinhagen (Cardboard All-Stars), Riley Thomas (The Corkscrew Grove), Laura Toffenetti (Sinkhole), Steve Totland (Home Sick for Rain) and Helen Valenta (We Are All Foreigners Here).
The workshop will take place March 9-15, and will enlist the expert support of two dramaturg mentors, and a panel of special guest directors, artistic directors, and literary managers to provide support, criticism, ideas, and suggestions. The workshop will culminate in a public reading at Mrs. Murphy and Sons Irish Bistro as part of the Route 66 monthly reading series: The Driver’s Seat.
“This new play development workshop is an important next step in our growth as an organization.” says Tovar. “We began last season with the development of Caitlin Parrish’s The Downpour and had great success, but now we have a chance to give meaningful support to a new playwright, and to foster relationships with the playwriting community. Frances is the perfect person to lead this for us and I could not be more excited. We hope it will result in more exciting new plays for future seasons.”
Since its inception, Route 66 Theatre Company has always involved its patrons in the season selection process with The Driver’s Seat. “We’ve always chosen plays to produce that were given a public reading first because in the end, we are doing the work for our patrons who come to see us. I’ve always believed in putting our patrons in “The Driver’s Seat” for our season selection because it is crucial to choosing important work that is topical and meaningful for them, while creating a sense of family. Beth Murphy and Mrs. Murphy and Sons Irish Bistro established a beautiful venue to continue the monthly tradition of reading new plays.”
DETAILS
Route 66 New Play Development Workshop
Curated by Frances Limoncelli
Workshop: March 9 – March 16, 2015
Public Reading: Monday, March 16, 2015 8PM
Mrs. Murphy and Sons Irish Bistro
Admission to the public reading is FREE
About our Creative Team:
Frances Limoncelli (Curator, New Play Development Workshop) has been working in the Chicago theatre community for over 20 years, and has been a member of Lifeline Theatre’s artistic ensemble since 1995. As an adaptor she created Mrs. Caliban (Jeff Award nomination: New Adaptation), as well as the popular Dorothy L. Sayers series: Whose Body?, Strong Poison (Non-Equity Jeff Award: New Adaptation), Gaudy Night (Non-Equity Jeff Award: New Adaptation), and Busman’s Honeymoon (Non-Equity Jeff Award: New Adaptation), all for Lifeline’s Mainstage. For Lifeline’s KidSeries she created The Emperor’s New Threads; Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch; and Arnie the Doughnut with composer/lyricist George Howe, which was a Next Link Selection in the 2012 NY Musical Theatre Festival. Her plays have been seen in such regional theatres as the Cleveland Playhouse in Ohio, the PTC Performance Space in New York, Taproot Theatre in Seattle, and the Manitoba Theatre Center in Winnipeg. Frances teaches adaptation at Chicago Dramatists and as a guest lecturer at DePaul. She is a script evaluator for Steppenwolf Theatre and served as dramaturg for The Lord Of The Flies with Steppenwolf for Young Adults.
Jenni Lamb (Playwright) Jenni is a Chicago-based playwright and former improviser. Her plays include 12th and Clairmount, Candy Store, Memento Polonia, Period Piece (with Lisa LInke), Suicide Kills, Quiver, and Thou Proud Dream (with Damon Krometis). Jenni’s plays have had readings or productions with American Theater Company, Stage Left Theatre, Wordsmyth Theatre (Houston), Northwestern University, and Chicago Dramatists. Jenni is a two-time semi-finalist for the O’Neill Playwrights Conference and has received grants for her writing from the Illinois Arts Council. As an improviser, she performed on many Chicago stages as well as national comedy festivals in New York, Washington DC, and Los Angeles. She is a proud member of Living Room Playmakers, a collective focused on creating theatre in unusual spaces. Jenni holds an MFA in Writing for the Screen and Stage from Northwestern University.