Location

Theater Wit, 1229 West Belmont Ave. in Chicago

Show & Ticket Info

For tickets or for more information call 773-975-8150
Previews – – January 14 – March 4, 2012
Regular Run – January 22 – March 4, 2012
Performances – Thursday, Friday & Saturday at 7:30pm and Sunday at 3:00pm
Click here for ticket information and purchases

The Play

By Simon Stephens
Directed by Jonathan Berrry

The American Premiere of Simon Stephens’ powerful and critically acclaimed drama about a group of high school age students preparing for their final exams and nearing the end of their school lives. When the whole world opens up before you, there’s a danger it’ll swallow you up, there’s danger all around in this shattering new play that explores the volatility of adolescent life.

A Griffin Theatre Company Benefit
Featuring performers from SPRING AWAKENING

Tuesday, December 13, 2011 7:00 – 10:00 p.m.
Stage 773 1225 W. Belmont Ave. in Chicago

Ticket Price

$35 per person

Looking for something different to do during the holiday season? Join the cast of SPRING AWAKENING for a glittering evening of food, cocktails,* and song. The Griffin Theatre is raising money for the Griffin Arts Center scheduled to open in the fall of 2012. Whether you’re celebrating the holiday season or getting an early start on ringing in the new year we hope you will consider joining us on December 13th for this very special musical event.
*Cash bar

Purchase tickets online by clicking below or call (773) 769-2228, ext. 1 and make your reservation now.

Location

Theater Wit, 1229 West Belmont Ave. in Chicago

Show & Ticket Info

For tickets or for more information call 773-975-8150
Previews – November 27 – December 3, 2011
Regular Run – December 4, 2011 – January 8, 2012
Performances – Thursday, Friday & Saturday at 7:30pm and Sunday at 3:00pm
Click here for ticket information and purchases

Overview

Book and Lyrics by Steven Sater
Music by Duncan Sheik
Based on the play by Frank Wedekind

The Tony Award-winning musical that change musical theater on Broadway forever in its first made in Chicago production. A groundbreaking fusion of morality, sexuality, and rock & roll that celebrates the unforgettable journey from youth to adulthood.

Overview

Check back soon for the big announcement!

The production adapted by Artistic Director, William Massolia and directed by ensemble member, Kevin Kingston puts the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan front and center by bringing to life actual letters written by troops serving in the Middle East. Since its original run at the Chicago Cultural Center in January 2007 the production has become one of the most sought after national touring shows and has received critical acclaim throughout the United States. The production has been seen by over 50,000 people in 35 major US cities.

The upcoming fall 2011 tour includes stops in Oregon, Arkansas, Minnesota, New Jersey, Massachusetts, South Carolina, Florida and Texas. The tour will kick off on September 21, 2011 at Indiana State University in Terra Haute, Indiana. On Veteran’s Day, (November 11, 2011) the production will be performed in Dallas, Texas and will be presented and sponsored by CBS Radio.

The LETTERS HOME tour will be a part of a RECORD BREAKING touring year for the Griffin in 2011/2012. The combined productions of LETTERS HOME, Frindle and The Stinky Cheese Man will travel to 40 US cities.

The current cast reunites some of the finest performers the production has worked with over the years along with some new ones and includes, Christian Kain Blackburn (2010 tour), Chris Chmelik (2009 tour), LaNisa Frederick (2007 tour), Cameron Harms, Kevin Kingston (2007-2010 tours), Zach Kenney (2008-2009 tours), Alex Kyger (2010 tour), Ryan Lempka (2010 tour), Ellie Reed, Lynda Shadrake (2009-2010 tours).

The production is inspired by the New York Times Op-Ed Article, The Things They Wrote and the subsequent HBO documentary, Last Letters Home and additionally uses letters and correspondences from Frank Schaeffer’s books, Voices From the Front, Letters Home From America’s Military Family, Faith of Our Sons, and Keeping Faith. The play without politicizing gives audiences a powerful portrait of the soldier experience in the ongoing wars.

Although the title of the play implies that all the letters are from soldiers, the production chooses to include a small number of correspondences from parents – their words, being no less important. These letters were written under the most difficult of circumstances; the disorientation of training, deployment, separation from family and loved ones and combat, and occupation duties in Afghanistan and Iraq. One theme seems to unite their diverse voices; the belief that the person standing beside you is more important than you are. They also help define for the audience—patriotism and what it means to serve our country today, through acts of bravery, compassion, social responsibility, sense of community and brotherhood. Collectively the production gives a voice to a generation that went to war against terror in Afghanistan and to war in Iraq, for reasons that are still being debated and who are still fighting and dying in those wars today and reveals the humanity that lies within the war as seen through the eyes of the men and women fighting it.

The production directed by Lifeline Artistic Director, Dorothy Milne and adapted by Griffin Artistic Director William Massolia is the duos third collaboration together having previously teamed for the Griffin’s past world premiere productions of Cory Doctorow’s Little Brother and Neil Gaiman’s Stardust.

A comedy about the horrors of school literature, NO MORE DEAD DOGS title comically points to the fact that many books for young adults often have the dog die (such as Old Yeller or Where the Red Fern Grows), including the book that causes the main source of all the character’s problems, Old Shep, My Pal. The story unfolds through the eyes of Wallace Wallace (his first name is the same as his last) a teen who never lies, ever, because he is determined to be different from his lying long-gone dad. But when Wallace gives a scathing review of his teacher’s favorite book, he winds up in detention—because sometimes telling the truth can get you into more trouble than lying.

Wallace Wallace asks the one question that all of us have been wanting to ask–Why does the dog in every classic novel have to croak at the end? This hilarious comedy will come complete with an onstage “rock & roll band” with original music written for the production by Sound Designer Rick Sims.

The Griffin also plans to have NO MORE DEAD DOGS join its stable of touring productions with a national tour already being planned for the 2012/2013 season. NO MORE DEAD DOGS will join Letters Home, Frindle and The Stinky Cheese Man & Other Fairly Stupid Tales. This past season Griffin’s national touring productions were performed for 100,000 young people and adults.
The NO MORE DEAD DOGS cast is lead by Ryan Lempka as Wallace Wallace. Lempka is joined Joseph Debettencourt, Colton Dillon, Samantha Dubina, Jeff Duhigg, Joey Eovaldi, Cameron Harms, Hillary Hensler, Jeremy Fisher, Alex Kyger, Morgan Maher, Conor McCahill, Erin O’Shea, Ellie Reed
The Technical and Design team for NO MORE DEAD DOGS includes: Nathan Rohrer (Costumes), Nic Jones (Lights), Joe Schermoly (Set), Rick Sims (Sound & Original Music), Paul Gilvary (Band Director) and Becky Bishop (Stage Manager).

BIOS OF ARTISTIC TEAM

Dorothy Milne (Director) has been the Artistic Director of Lifeline Theatre since 1999 and an ensemble member since 1992. She has directed nineteen productions at Lifeline, receiving a Non-Equity Jeff Award (Direction) for Around the World in 80 Days in 2003; and Non-Equity Jeff Nominations (Direction) for Pistols for Two, Jane Eyre (for which she also received an After Dark Award), Strong Poison, and Gaudy Night. She most recently directed The Mark of Zorro. Outside of Lifeline, she directed Little Brother and Stardust for Griffin Theatre. Back in 1992, she received an Equity Jeff Nomination for her direction of Eleemosynary at Interplay Theatre Company. Dorothy is also a 14-year member of the writing-performing collective Sweat Girls.

WILLIAM MASSOLIA (Adapter & Artistic Director) is a founding member of the Griffin Theatre Company. He is the author of over 30 plays and adaptations including, Be More Chill, Little Brother, Stardust, Loving Little Egypt, Shakespeare’s Dog, Ash Can Alley, and The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales. His play Letters Home recently completed a 17 city National Tour of North America and his children’s play, Frindle was presented in 22 US cities in the 2009/2010 season. Massolia is a 7-time Joseph Jefferson Award nominee for his work as a playwright. A graduate of Southern Illinois University, Mr. Massolia is a past member of the League of Chicago Theatres Board of Directors, a recipient of an IAC Playwriting Fellowship Award and currently sits on the theatre advisory panel for the Illinois Arts Council.

SCHEDULE

NO MORE DEAD DOGS begins preview performances Saturday, April 30, 2011. Previews continue Saturday, May 5, 6, 7, at 7:30pm and Sunday, May 1 at 3:00pm. Press opening is Sunday, May 8, 2011 at 7:00pm. Tickets to NO MORE DEAD DOGS range from $22-$30, and are on sale now. The regular run performances (May 13 – June 19, 2011) are Friday and Saturday at 7:30 pm. and Sunday at 3:00pm. Note there will be no matinee performance on Sunday, May 8, 2011. Preview tickets are priced at $22.00 each and regular run tickets are priced at $30.00 each. Tickets are on sale now at Theater Wit, 1229 West Belmont Avenue in Chicago, (773) 975-8150, or online at www.theaterwit.org Senior and student discounts and group rates are available.

The Griffin Theatre Company is partially supported by grants from a CityArts Program II grant through the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs; and the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

If you haven’t heard the Griffin Theatre recently acquired an abandoned police station from the city of Chicago to convert into an Arts Center. The scheduled opening date for the new facility is fall 2012. To complete the project we need to raise the necessary funds required to make the Griffin Arts Center a reality. When completed, the Griffin will be creating a neighborhood arts center where people of all backgrounds can gather to enjoy, participate, and experience the arts. We hope you’ll join us on Thursday, May 26th and support this exciting new addition to the Edgewater Community.

The evening includes an open bar, delicious food, a silent auction and entertainment provided by two of Chicago’s premier Cabaret performers, Becki Menzies & Tom Michaels.

When:

Thursday, May 26, 2011, 7:00pm – 11:30 pm

Where:

Northside Federal Savings – Lobby
5159 North Clark Street
Chicago, IL 60640

Tickets:

$25 per person in advance
$45 per couple in advance
$35 per person at the door

Call (773) 769-2228 ext. 2 or Purchase tickets below.

Pricing

1 Ticket $25.00 2 Tickets $45.00 3 Tickets $70.00 4 Tickets $90.00 5 Tickets $115.00 6 Tickets $135.00

After twenty-two successful years of producing theatre in Chicago for both children and adults the Griffin Theatre Company will create a neighborhood professional performing arts center in the Bowmanville neighborhood of Chicago. The facility, the city of Chicago 20th district police station located at 1940 West Foster Avenue will be converted into the GRIFFIN ARTS CENTER with a projected fall 2012 opening to coincide with the Griffin’s 24th Anniversary season.

Celebrated theatre architect John Morris who designed both the Steppenwolf Theatre and the Lookingglass Theatre downtown at the pumping station is currently designing the venue. The GRIFFIN ARTS CENTER will be done in two phases. The first phase will begin in early 2011 and the renovation will include an 80 seat black box theatre to be completed in 2012. The second phase will create a 120 seat main-stage theatre and be completed by 2015. The 120 seat theatre will have a fly system to utilize state of the art lighting and scenery designs. The stage floor will be a series of traps to allow for entrances and exits from below the stage. The design will be completely unique and architectural elements of the police station will be incorporated into the design of the theatre—the box office will be one of the stations old holding cells. The original office space and interrogation rooms of the police station will be converted in to the Griffin’s administrative offices and allow for classrooms and workshop space. The Griffin is dedicated to performing theatre for children and young people and in addition will create performing arts classes for children and partner with the nearby neighborhood schools to help integrate arts curriculum into the classroom.

The Griffin has already begun a five year capital campaign to raise 3.2 million dollars to complete the 2 phase project. Terry Kozlowski the Griffin’s board President who lead the five year campaign which culminated in the city awarding the property to the company explained, “I am so grateful to all the people who have supported this dream over the years and worked so creatively and diligently to make this a reality. After 20+ years of service, this building will give us the base to become an even greater asset to the Edgewater community, to all of Chicagoland and to the over 100,000 youth we serve through our outreach programs across the country.”

Six years ago the Griffin vacated its thirteen-year home in Andersonville due to escalating rents. Alderman Patrick J. O’Connor of the 40th ward saw a need to keep the Griffin in the neighborhood and offered the Griffin a chance to purchase, renovate and create a theatrical complex in an abandon police station on the corner of Foster Avenue and Damen Avenue in the Edgewater neighborhood. The purchase price of building from the city of Chicago was an unprecedented amount—one dollar. The Griffin recognized this was a remarkable opportunity and a chance for the organization to create the unprecedented growth it needed to sustain itself for years to come.

More importantly, the Griffin will be creating a neighborhood arts center where people of all backgrounds can gather to enjoy, participate, and experience the arts.

To learn more about the GRIFFIN ARTS CENTER and its Twenty-Second Anniversary Season visit www.griffintheatre.com or call 773-769-2228.

The Griffin Theatre Company is partially supported by grants from a CityArts Program II grant through the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs; and the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.