Profiles Theatre announces 2011-2012 season

Here’s the press release from Profiles Theatre:

Profiles Theatre announces its 2011- 2012 Season
Midwest premieres by
Martin McDonagh, Neil LaBute, Leslye Headland
and a world premiere by Deirdre O’Connor

Chicago—Artistic Directors Joe Jahraus and Darrell W. Cox announce Profiles Theatre’s 2011 – 2012 Season.  Profiles, one of Chicago’s longest-running storefront theatres, presents its 23rd season of new and challenging works, including the Midwest premiere of the Broadway hit A Behanding in Spokane by Martin McDonagh, directed by Steppenwolf ensemble member Rick Snyder; the Midwest premiere of Neil LaBute’s controversial 2010 play The Break of Noon revised exclusively for Profiles Theatre; the Midwest premiere of the scathing Off-Broadway hit Bachelorette by Leslye Headland; and the world premiere of Deirdre O’Connor’s latest play, Assisted Living. 

Profiles Theatre follows up its highly praised 22nd season, which featured Chicago premieres by LaBute, O’Connor and Michael Weller, along with the World premiere of Kid Sister by Will Kern.

Darrell Cox comments, “The plays we have assembled for our 23rd Season will take audiences to four very different worlds, created by some of the most bold and dangerous artists working.  We have long admired Martin McDonagh’s work and are thrilled to present the Midwest premiere of his newest play, last season’s Broadway smash hit A Behanding in Spokane. Our friend and collaborator Neil LaBute is back, working with us on a newly revised version of his provocative play, The Break of Noon.”

Jahraus adds, “We continue our ongoing pursuit to produce work from the most talented, unique female voices in the country.  The past few seasons included Deirdre O’Connor’s Jailbait, Annie Baker’s Body Awareness and Ellen Fairey’s Graceland.  This season, two of the four premieres are written by women. We’re pleased to introduce Chicago audiences to the savagely funny work of Leslye Headland with her Off Broadway hit, Bachelorette.  Deirdre O’Connor returns with the World premiere of a moving and insightful new play, Assisted Living.”

The 2011-2012 Profiles season includes:
A BEHANDING IN SPOKANE
Midwest Premiere
by Martin McDonagh
directed by Steppenwolf ensemble member Rick Snyder
featuring Profiles ensemble members Eric Burgher, Darrell W. Coxand guest artist Michael Pogue
Previews: August 26 – 31, 2011
Press Opening: September 1, 2011
Run: September 1 – October 16, 2011

In this darkly comical new work from the acclaimed playwright Martin McDonagh, the mysterious gun-toting Carmichael has been searching for his missing left hand for decades. Enter two bickering lovebirds with a hand to sell, and a hotel clerk with an aversion to gunfire, and soon life and death are up for grabs.  A Behanding in Spokane turns over American daily existence, exposing the obsessions, prejudices, madness, horrors, and above all, the absurdities that crawl beneath it.

A Behanding in Spokane, McDonagh’s first play set in America, received its World premiere on Broadway in 2010 starring Christopher Walken as Carmichael.  For their version, the age of the character was changed to match the age of the actor, now in his middle 60s.  Profiles’ production returns the character to McDonagh’s originally intended age, featuring Darrell W. Cox in the role.

McDonagh also wrote the award-winning plays The Pillowman (Tony nominee, Best Play 2005 and Olivier Award Winner 2004), The Lieutenant of Inishmore (Olivier Award Winner 2003), The Beauty Queen of Leenane (Tony nominee, Best Play 1998) and The Lonesome West  (Tony nominee, Best Play 1999).  His 2006 film Six Shooter won an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short and the full-length feature In Bruges received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay.

ASSISTED LIVING
World Premiere
by Deirdre O’Connor
directed by Artistic Director Joe Jahraus
Previews: November 4 – 9, 2011
Press Opening: November 10, 2011
Run: November 10 – December 18, 2011

Anne Kelly needs help.  She’s pushing 40 and still lives with her mother.  Her deadbeat brother won’t even return her calls and the ancient family home seems to be falling down around her. When Levi, a sweet but dim-witted younger man, comes into her life, Anne begins to see the upside of not always being the grown up.

Assisted Living makes its World premiere at Profiles Theatre, its second production by Deirdre O’Connor follows last season’s long-running hit Jailbait.  O’Connor, a 2008 Cherry Lane Project Fellow mentored by Michael Weller and a 2008 – 2009 Lark Playwrights Workshop Fellow, graduated from Hampshire College and Columbia University’s MFA Playwriting program where she received the John Golden Playwriting Award.

BACHELORETTE
by Leslye Headland
Midwest Premiere
directed by Associate Artistic Director Darrell W. Cox
Previews: January 13 – 18, 2012
Press Opening: January 19, 2012
Run: January 19 – March 4, 2012

Ten years out of high school, three unhappy friends show up “not-quite-invited” to their classmate’s hotel room for the perfect bachelorette celebration. Half a bathtub of booze later, the former prom queen is melting down, the nice-girl cokehead is on a mission to mend the mauled wedding dress, and the lacerating maid of honor finds her picture-perfect life less stable than it seemed.  A smash hit Off Broadway, Leslye Headland’s shrewd and biting play is an aria to the anxiety and self-loathing of a generation.

Bachelorette premiered at New York’s Second Stage Theatre Uptown in July 2010 where it enjoyed a sold-out extended run.  Leslye Headland, a Los Angeles-based playwright and screenwriter, wrote and directed the Seven Deadly Plays series, which premiered at the IAMA Theatre Company in Los Angeles.  Her new play, Assistance, receives its New York premiere at the Playwrights Horizons Mainstage Theater this season.  She’s currently developing two projects with Gary Sanchez Productions (Adam McKay and Will Ferrell)—her screenplay of Bachelorette and a pilot based on Julie Klausner’s memoir, I Don’t Care About Your Band.  Headland studied at the Playwrights Horizons Theatre School where she won the Robert Moss Prize.

THE BREAK OF NOON
Midwest Premiere
by Neil LaBute
directed by Artistic Director Joe Jahrau
sPreviews March 30 – April 4, 2012
Press Opening: April 5, 2012
Runs April 5 – May 20, 2012

What if God told you to be a better person but the world wouldn’t allow it?  Such is the dilemma facing John Smith, a run-of-the-mill white-collar businessman who survives an office shooting and is subsequently touched by what he believes to be a divine vision. His journey toward personal enlightenment—past greed, lust and the other deadly sins—turns tense, hilarious, profane, and heartbreaking.  Exploring the narrow path to spiritual fulfillment, strewn with the funny, frantic failings of humankind, The Break of Noon showcases Neil LaBute at his discomforting best.

In 2010, The Break of Noon received its World premiere as a co-production with MCC Theater in New York and then transferred in 2011 to the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles.  Neil LaBute will be working with Profiles on an exclusive, newly revised version of the script.  The play received an Edgerton Foundation New American Plays Award.  His new play, In a Forest Dark and Deep, opens in 2011 on London’s West End.

This marks Profiles Theatre’s ninth Midwest premiere of LaBute’s work following the acclaimed productions of reasons to be pretty, The Mercy Seat, and Fat Pig.

All productions are held at Profiles Theatre, 4147 N. Broadway, Chicago.  Parking is available for $10 – $12 at 4100 N. Clarendon (one block east of the theatre at the corner of Clarendon and Belle Plaine).  Performances are Thursdays, Fridays at 8:00 pm, Saturdays at 5:00 and 8:00 p.m, Sundays at 7:00 p.m.

Ticket prices range from $30 – $40.  Profiles Theatre offers a FLEX PASS for discounts on the season, now available at www.profilestheatre.org or (773) 549-1815.  A Four Ticket Pass is $120; an Eight Ticket Pass is $200 (a savings of over $100) when ordered before August 31, 2011. Tickets can be used in any combination of quantity and date throughout the season with advance reservations.

Profiles Theatre, a not-for-profit professional theatre company founded in 1988 by five Eastern Illinois University alumni, brings new works to Chicago that illuminate the determination and resiliency of the human spirit. The company produces World, US and Midwest premieres by new playwrights, as well as established writers whose work has been seen across the country and around the world. Profiles, particularly drawn to playwrights with a unique narrative style and use of language, takes pride in carefully selecting scripts that combine integrity with risk. Profiles Theatre committs to producing plays that tell a story in a captivating way with productions that complement the ensemble and speak to its audience.

For more information about Profiles Theatre and its 23rd Season, visit www.profilestheatre.org.