Displaying items by tag: Witch

Idle Muse Theatre Company continues its 20th anniversary season with Witch, September 10 – October 10, written by Jen Silverman, directed by Idle Muse Ensemble Member Libby Beyreis, at The Edge Off-Broadway Theater, 1133 W Catalpa Ave. Previews are Thursday, Sept. 10 and Friday, Sept. 11 at 8 p.m. The performance schedule is Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m., with an added Wednesday performance on October 7 at 8 p.m. General admission tickets are now on sale for $20 and $30, with $50 “pay it forward” tickets that assist in subsidizing tickets for those who may not be able to access the production otherwise. Student, senior and group discounts are also available at IdleMuse.org or at the Idle Muse Theatre Company Box Office, 773.340.9438.

A charming devil arrives in the quiet village of Edmonton to bargain for the souls of its residents in exchange for their darkest wishes. Elizabeth should be his easiest target, having been labeled a “witch” and cast out by the town, but her soul is not so readily bought. As the devil returns to convince her – and then returns again – unexpected passions flare, alliances are formed and the village is forever changed. An inventive retelling of a Jacobean drama, this sharp, subversive fable debates how much our souls are worth when hope is hard to come by.

The Witch cast includes Mara Kovacevic~ (she/her, Elizabeth); Nathaniel Kohlmeier (he/him, Scratch); Cameron Austin Brown (he/him, Cuddy); Xavier Lagunas~ (he/him, Frank); Stephen Dunn (he/him, Sir Arthur); Caty Gordon~ (she/her, Winnifred); Elise Soeder (she/her, u/s Elizabeth); Dryden Zurawski (they/he, u/s Scratch); Phillip Heflin (he/him, u/s Cuddy); Noah Lash (he/him, u/s Frank); Andrew Bosworth (he/him, u/s Sir Arthur) and Sofia Mohta (she/her, u/s Winnifred).

The creative team includes Libby Beyreis~ (she/her, director); Jo Chalhoub (they/them, stage manager); Kati Lechner~ (she/her, Idle Muse managing director, production manager, health and safety officer); Erin Alys (she/her, intimacy director); Richard Gilbert (he/him, violence director); Vic Bayona (he/him, violence director); Alexandra Schooling (she/her, dance/movement choreographer); Jeremiah Barr (he/him, technical director, master carpenter); Laura J. Wiley~ (she/her, lighting & projection designer); L.J. Luthringer~ (he/him, sound designer and composer); Vicki Jablonski (she/her, costume designer); Jennifer Mohr~ (she/her, assistant costume designer); Breezy Snyder~ (she/they, scenic painter); Tristan Brandon~ (he/him, props designer, health and safety officer); Mara Kovacevic~ (she/her, house manager); Caty Gordon~ (she/her, marketing & social media); Michael Dalberg~ (he/him, Idle Muse literary director) and Evan Jackson~ (he/him, Idle Muse artistic director).

~ Denotes Idle Muse Company Member

ABOUT JEN SILVERMAN, PLAYWRIGHT

Jen Silverman is a playwright, novelist and screenwriter. Silverman is a three-time MacDowell Fellow, a two-time Blackburn Prize finalist, a grateful alum of New Dramatists and a Scholar of Note at the American Library in Paris. Honors include fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim.

ABOUT LIBBY BEYREIS, DIRECTOR

Libby Beyreis has been fighting on stage and in film since 1994. She is a proud emeritus company member of Babes With Blades Theatre Company and very happy to have Idle Muse as her current artistic home, where she has served as the assistant director for five productions and served regularly as a violence director for more than 14 years. She has designed violence for companies around Chicago including Idle Muse, The Conspirators, Strangeloop, The DIVISION, Prop, Focal Point Theater Company, Chase Park and Free Street.

ABOUT IDLE MUSE THEATRE COMPANY 

Idle Muse Theatre Company’s (IMTC) mission is to produce theatre that is transporting, timely and true. The company was established in 2006 by theatre artists interested in exploring the relationship between individuals and the worlds they inhabit. Seeking to create production opportunities, they established a modern ‘guild’ of players and an environment where theatre artists of different experiences and backgrounds could develop their craft. Today, IMTC remains focused on the following core values:

Transporting: We believe that great theatre removes both audience members and artists from their respective reality and transports them to another world.

Timely: We believe that human connection can be accomplished through meaningful, relevant, and accessible storytelling here and now.

True: We believe in unflinching honesty in the playing and storytelling.

Since 2022, Idle Muse Theatre Company has instituted a profit share model with artists and team members for each production. In addition to any stipend or payment for services, a full 50% of all box office revenue is reserved and divided evenly among the cast and production team.

Idle Muse Theatre Company continues its 20th anniversary season with Witch, September 10 – October 10, written by Jen Silverman, directed by Idle Muse Ensemble Member Libby Beyreis, at The Edge Off-Broadway Theater, 1133 W Catalpa Ave. Previews are Thursday, Sept. 10 and Friday, Sept. 11 at 8 p.m. with the press opening Saturday, Sept. 12 at 8 p.m. The performance schedule is Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m., with an added Wednesday performance on October 7 at 8 p.m. General admission tickets are now on sale for $20 and $30, with $50 “pay it forward” tickets that assist in subsidizing tickets for those who may not be able to access the production otherwise. Student, senior and group discounts are also available at IdleMuse.org or at the Idle Muse Theatre Company Box Office, 773.340.9438.

The witch is back, Jen Silverman’s ‘Witch’ that is. Since first being commissioned by Writer’s Theatre back in 2018, Jen Silverman’s take on Jacobean theatre has become a somewhat popular selection for regional theaters. The Artistic Home Ensemble brings this play back to Chicago in a revival directed by Devon Carson going on now at The Den.

What continues to be striking about this play is its exploration of hopelessness. ‘Witch’ is about an ostracized woman living in the 1600s who the townspeople have decided (without basis) is a witch. Her miserably lonely life is spiced up when the devil himself comes to town and begins meddling in the lives of the villagers. Some are more easily tempted than others, but the supposed witch, Elizabeth Sawyer (Kristin Collins), is harder for the devil to convince. Besides, what can anyone offer someone who has lost hope for a better future?

The devil played with fiendish fun by Julian Hester finds himself enamored with skeptical Elizabeth Sawyer who is also drawn to him. They spend long nights discussing their world views and within their conversations, Jen Silverman peppers in some humorous, but unsettling monologs about the human condition. Kristin Collins as Elizabeth has a great way of shifting between comedic relief and heart-rending vulnerability. Her character all the while pleading, “can things ever really get better?”

As the devil and Elizabeth get to know each other, the devil also inserts himself into the lives of the richest family in town. His gentle suggestion sets in motion a bitter rivalry that plays out with classic dramatic irony.

Silverman’s script is wise in its sharp tongue and makes a statement on the general apathy many feel every day. In her version, the devil himself has hopes and dreams, but outcasts like Elizabeth have long lost hope that her neighbors can ever evolve past their pettiness.

Like Arthur Miller’s ‘The Crucible’, this play holds a Puritanical mirror to our own time, but unlike John Proctor, Elizabeth doesn’t have altruistic intentions. She may be the protagonist, but she’s not your standard heroine. Silverman’s point in comparing our two eras is to show that people haven’t gotten any wiser. People are still inherently selfish and highly subject to influence.

‘Witch’ is well-acted and well-styled. For a play with such a dark core, there’s a lot of comedy here and this cast really plays that up. Kristin Collins brings a Molly Shannon quality to the lonely Elizabeth that makes her plight far less depressing than it sounds. Hogan’s chemistry with Julian Hester is fun to watch.

More than anything, this play remains as timeless in 2018 as in 2023, because while some political and societal things have gotten better, some have inevitably gotten worse. There will always be cynics and optimists duking it out and perhaps the easiest place to be is somewhere in the middle.

Through December 3^rd at The Artistic Home Ensemble at The Den. 1331 N Milwaukee. 773-697-3830.

Ask yourself, do you have hope that things can get better? The word itself certainly echoes back to a different political climate in America. Now it seems the very word has been replaced with fear. Jen Silverman’s new play ‘Witch’ is holding its world premiere at Writers Theatre in Glencoe. It’s an update on a seventeenth century tragicomedy but don’t let that fool you, this play has a lot to say about our modern world.

Directed by Marti Lyons, ‘Witch’ tells the tale of the devil coming to a small village. Like all plays concerning Satan, the devil is after souls in exchange for worldly goods or successes of some kind. Ryan Hallahan plays Scratch, one of the devil’s henchman. His wile body language and delivery make him a slick salesman for the master of dark desires. For the villagers already lacking good morals, his pitch is an easy sell. He quickly pits the son of the richest man in town, Cuddy Banks (Steve Haggard) against an ambitious interloper Frank Thorney (Jon Hudson Odom) in a battle for inheritance and land.

This arc serves as the main driver of plot in this 90-minute play but the real meat lies in the battle between Scratch and the town outcast, or witch, Elizabeth Sawyer (Audrey Francis). Elizabeth begins the play with a monologue that asks about hope and explains the mundane cruelties we commit against one another. Francis is captivating. The character is sarcastic and dry. Silverman’s dialogue flows perfectly through Francis’ performance and her emotional reckoning brings about one of the play’s most powerful moments.

Finally, a play about witches that isn’t ‘The Crucible’. Silverman’s script is a lot of fun. It gets to mingle in the 1600s but enjoy the freedom and accessibility of modern dialogue. The contrast is purposeful, asking the audience, has anything really changed? Whether the play is optimistic or pessimistic is really up to the viewers’ interpretation. Either way, there are a lot of laughs here that in the end build to a greater philosophical question. Is change possible or do we have to just start over again from scratch?

If it’s something spooky you’re after, ‘Witch’ will scratch your itch. Though not really a horror story, the intricate production design by Yu Shibagaki gets into the Halloween spirit. Even with the devil, and a supposed witch, this play isn’t really about the supernatural. Rather, it relies on human meanness as the haunting theme, and honestly what’s scarier than that?

Through December 16 at Writers Theatre 325 Tudor Court, Glencoe. 847-242-6000