Oracle Announces Its 2012 Mainstage Season
Public Access Theatre Continues Providing Art for All
After the breathtaking Season One of Public Access Theatre, which provided free theatre to 3691 people, Oracle’s new Artistic Director of Theatre Max Truax is excited to announce Season Two of Public Access Theatre opening in 2012.
IRONMISTRESS
by April De Angelis
Directed by Karen Yates
January 7 – February 11, 2012
THE MAIDS
by Jean Genet
Directed by Ben Fuchsen
March 10 – April 21, 2012
THE SANDMAN
by E.T.A Hoffmann
Adapted by Bob Fisher
Directed by Max Truax
May 19 – June 30, 2012
THE RETURN OF RADIO GOGGLES
by the Oracle collective
in association with Oracle Outreach
July 14 – August 4, 2012
IRONMISTRESS
IRONMISTRESS, a nightmare written in verse by UK playwright April De Angelis, is set in 1840s England and follows Martha Darby, a widow who has inherited her husband’s iron foundry. Both richly comic and darkly unsettling, Darby’s journey with her daughter and a mysterious peasant woman highlights the Industrial Revolution in Victorian England and its everyday barbarism toward women. Director Karen Yates returns for her second project at Oracle.
IRONMISTRESS opens January 7 and runs through February 11. Performances are Friday, Saturday and Monday nights at 8PM, and Sundays at 7PM. Admission is free in Oracle’s Public Access Theatre. Seats are sponsored in part by the forty4.
THE MAIDS
In March, Oracle’s Executive Producer Ben Fuchsen directs Jean Genet’s absurd masterpiece THE MAIDS, translated by Bernard Frechtman. Loosely inspired by a notorious 1933 murder when two maids brutally killed their employer, Genet’s famous depiction of bourgeois society and its abject servants is a portrait of the struggle for power – what it means to possess it and what it means to lack it. Taking a cue from Genet, Fuchsen will work with an all-male cast to explore the paradigm of power expressed in THE MAIDS, and attempt to discover a language for love that is born out of the emptiness of complete servitude.
THE MAIDS opens March 10 and runs through April 21. Performances are Friday, Saturday and Monday nights at 8PM, and Sundays at 7PM. Admission is free in Oracle’s Public Access Theatre. Seats are sponsored in part by the forty4.
THE SANDMAN
Max Truax directs a world premiere adaptation of THE SANDMAN by E.T.A. Hoffmann. Bob Fisher (founder and Artistic Director of The Mammals) is commissioned to adapt. Truax’s vision will use cinematic staging to explore the themes of sight and seeing woven into Hoffmann’s complex narrative. Oracle’s production will investigate the inherent narcissism of the voyeur, and will reveal the awful truth that the monster we fear the most is buried deep within our own souls.
THE SANDMAN opens May 19 and runs through June 30. Performances are Friday, Saturday and Monday nights at 8PM, and Sundays at 7PM. Admission is free in Oracle’s Public Access Theatre. Seats are sponsored by the forty4 and Oracle’s Season Sponsor Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard P.C.
THE RETURN OF RADIO GOGGLES
Following the incredible success of THE ORIGINAL RADIO GOGGLES in 2011, the Oracle collective presents a 2nd installment in the RADIO GOGGLES series – THE RETURN OF RADIO GOGGLES. Come to Oracle and gather around the old RCA tube set for an evening of entertainment unlike any other “one-act play cycle” going on in Chicago. Strap on a pair of genuine RADIO GOGGLES, and watch three vintage radio shows come to life.
During the the first and second quarter of 2012, Oracle Outreach will produce 2 episodes of old-time radio programs that will tour local senior communities. In the third quarter of 2012, Oracle will produce a 3rd episode for touring, but it will also remount the year’s previous 2 outreach shows at Oracle’s storefront theatre for the general public.
THE RETURN OF RADIO GOGGLES opens July 14th and runs through August 4th. Performances are Friday, Saturday and Monday nights at 8PM; on Sundays, the show will tour to local senior communities. Admission is free in Oracle’s Public Access Theatre. Seats are sponsored in part by the forty4.
Please contact Brad Jayhan-Little with all questions [email protected]
Oracle believes art is necessary to live a full life. We develop programs around a triad of goals: Make art. Make it free. Make it yours. We are a Public Access arts organization that engages the whole community in art. We offer a vast array of fine arts events without financial barriers for the community. Oracle is art for all.
