- OVERNIGHT LOWS -   


Overnight Lows

The world premiere of “Overnight Lows,” a new play by Chicago playwright Mark Guarino, directed by Walkabout Artistic Director Kristan Schmidt.  A young couple starts a date that never ends. Changing seasons, dead parents, late night talk radio and professional insecurity cage them in limbo until morning finally arrives, determining their future.  Set in the dead of night in a Chicago garden apartment, “Overnight Lows” will transform The Hideout, a Chicago rock club voted “best bar” by Rolling Stone, into a dream space, where audience members will sit among and share the characters’ memories, fears and desires. A drama dosed with humor, “Overnight Lows” follows Walkabout’s critically hailed tradition of staging deeply imaginative plays in unusual spaces, in this case translating the horrors of insomnia into moments of rich theatricality
- IMPOSSIBLE CITIES: A UTOPIAN EXPERIMENT -   


Impossible Cities

“Impossible Cities: A Utopian Experiment,” a multi-disciplinary presentation exploring the concept of Utopia through original performance works, visual art and live music.  At “Impossible Cities,” five theater artists will premiere original performances depicting real-life Utopian visionaries (including Mormon founder Joseph Smith, architect and Arcosanti community creator Paolo Soleri, and the Amana Society of Iowa) through performance art, physical theater, monologue and cooking demonstration.  A vegetable puppet show, a sales pitch and a feverish dance all figure into a series of meditative and comical glimpses of perfect worlds as seen through the eyes of dreamers, schemers and mystics. The diversity of approaches suggests the myriad ways humans have crafted a vision of a perfect world. These colorful stories illuminate the human capacity to dream as well as the real-world consequences of attempting Utopia.  The event will last approximately 100 minutes, with 70 minutes of theater followed by a half hour of live music in gallery space filled with Utopian artwork. 

- THE COAST OF CHICAGO -       


Openning January 12

The Coast of Chicago, adapted from Stuart Dybek’s enduringly popular collection of stories, will be performed downtown at the extraordinary Lookingglass Theatre.

The play is adapted by Laura Eason, an ensemble member and the former artistic director of Chicago’s Lookingglass Theatre Company, and a native Chicagoan. Her recently produced work includes an adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities (commission) at Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago.

The Coast of Chicago juxtaposes the ordinary story of a neighborhood and its 'characters' with the life of the sprawling city around it. Here the monumental and the spiritual intermingle with the gritty and the everyday.

-PSYCHO - SO - MATIC -       


Psycho-So-Matic a serio-comic revelation of the human condition -- in one cycle. By recreating a working Laundromat as a highly theatrical exploration of Man and Machine, we begin to ask questions about the nature of self and how we shape, or are shaped by, contemporary society.

Utilizing gesture, multi-media, and Actual Laundering Techniques, Psycho-So-Matic will cleanse your routine of humdrum and invite you on a journey through the familiar to the dark-side of the Folding Table! Like Walkabout’s acclaimed 2004 production of Downsize; Psycho-So-Matic will be performed in a found space ­ at a Laundromat near you!

 
-ANY ILLUSION-       


A Perversion of New England in One Act

conceived and performed by Seth Bockley

Following the lonely life of an American Saint through the purgatory of New England, Any Illusion is an episodic hallucination told with voices, clothes and stones.

"Europeans have something to do but Americans have not and so in a way do not Spaniards and Saints do not have anything to do they are very busy but they do not have anything to do." -Gertrude Stein
-DOWNSIZE-       

By:
Chris Welzenbach

Director:
Stephan Mazurek

Assistant Director:
Loren Crawford

Featuring:
Winston Evans
Jeff Grafton
Jesse Weaver
Jerry Miller
Brad Walker

Produced At:

Grammercy
2438 N. Lincoln, in the women's restroom
*Saturdays at 8pm




Suggested donation $15

Space is limited, so advance reservations are strongly recommended. To make a reservation, leave a message at 312-458-0566. We'll return the call only if there is a problem fulfilling the request.

Performed in real bathrooms, for obviously limited audiences, Downsize explores the scheming and alliances made and unmade behind the closed doors (in this case the bathroom doors) of a powerful corporation. A very intimate theatrical experience, Downsize evokes memories of all the bathroom conferences one has been a party to it one's lifetime, from middle school to the present. Nothing really changes much after the fourth grade, it's just that the stakes are higher.

Critic's Picks Chicago Tribune Downsize: Taking Site-specific theater to a new level, director Stephan Mazurek is staging this punchy 30 minute Mamet-esque story about workplace machinations in various men's rooms around the city. It's a sharply, funny, pocketsize "Glengarry Glen Ross," written by Chris Welzenbach.
-Nina Metz

DOWNSIZE Walkabout Theater Company. John G. Connolly--who single-handedly sold the Steppenwolf Arts Exchange's production of Fahrenheit 451--apparently excels at playing pricks too. In Downsize, his hyperkinetic turn as Archie--a sleazy Ricky Roma type trying to claw his way out of a sinking corporate ship--ought to make directors think twice before giving him any future nice-guy roles. The rest of director Stephan Mazurek's ensemble is just as magnificent: Hans Fleischmann, Jerry Miller, and Brad Walker sweat bullets and exchange frosty stares as three nervous stuffed shirts, while the always enjoyable Harry Eddleman delivers droll commentary from behind the locked door of a toilet stall. ?? Chris Welzenbach's 25-minute play is a remarkably toothsome actors' piece that depicts the Machiavellian intrigues of a group of midlevel executives facing mass layoffs. Walkabout Theater Company heightens the pressure-cooker atmosphere with site-specific productions tailored to men's rooms. On opening weekend, Mazurek's economical staging in the cramped Steppenwolf Garage bathroom was a revelation: audience members were close enough to the actors to see the creases in their furrowed brows. Mazurek and his cast plan to adapt the show to various rest rooms throughout the summer in what the company is affectionately calling "the bathroom tour." The venues are somewhat uncertain, but Welzenbach's lean, rapacious script and Walkabout's guerrilla approach should ensure that Downsize has a longer life span than most of its characters' jobs.
--Nick Green


-A HUMAN INTEREST STORY (or the Gory Details and All)-       

A Human Interest Story (or the Gory Details and All)
Written and Directed by Carlos Murillo


Breadline Theatre
1802 W. Berenice
312-458-0566
*Previews: January 6 and 7, 2004 at7:30 p.m.
* Opening: Thurday, January 8 at 7:30 p.m
* Through January 31, 2004.
* Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 3:00 p.m

*Exceptions: : the performance on Sunday, January 25 begins at 7:30 p.m. There are additional 9:30 p.m. shows on Saturday,
January 24 and Saturday, January 31

Running time: 1 hour
Tickets: $10 during previews and $15 during the regular run ($12 for
students and seniors).
Call 312-458-0566 for reservations

There is no late seating for this show.



Walkabout Theater announces the world premiere of A Human Interest Story (or the Gory Details and All), written and directed by Walkabout company member Carlos Murillo.

Somewhere in America, a man fantasizes about his best friend’s wife. In another city, a young housewife momentarily loses sight of her children. Elsewhere, a politician relives a tragic second that forever changed his life, and a mother wonders where her teenage son got the gun. And in one town, a man watches all this unfold on his TV screen.

A Human Interest Story (or the Gory Details and All) is an unflinching portrait of an America obsessed with voyeurism. This mesmerizing, funny and frightening work asks the question: Is the imagination more cruel and unforgiving than reality?



-THE PEOPLE COULD FLY-       

By:
Loren Crawford

Premiering At:

The Vittum Theater
*February 2004

Director:
Stephan Mazurek

Weekday Matinees: Monday through Friday 10:30 am February 2-6 & 9-13

Tickets: $6 for group student sales.

Reservations : The Vittum Theater Box Office 773-342-4141

WeekendPerformances: Friday and Saturday 8 pm February 6-7 & 13-14
& Sundays 2 pm February 8 &15

The People Could Fly by Loren Crawford opens at The Vittum Theater February 2 and runs through February 15. There are daily weekday matinees for school groups and public performances on Friday & Saturday evenings and Sunday afternoons.

"Conqueror John kept knocking on my door posing these questions: How powerful is storytelling? Strong enough to keep you alive?" With these questions in mind, playwright Loren Crawford has created a celebratory exploration of the power of storytelling. Using live music and dance, stories originally told by the African people enslaved in the American South come to life. The play reveals the role those stories played in sustaining the lives of people whose basic human rights were stripped away from them.

Perfect for families and students of all ages, The People Could Fly is a powerful testament to the resourcefulness and resilience of the human spirit as well as a window into the African-American experience. Choreographer Vaune Blalock and Music Director Paul Cotton, both of Muntu Dance Theatre, and Director Stephan Mazurek weave West African dance and music throughout the stories of Brer Rabbit, Conqueror John, Anansi the Spider and The Knee-High Man, among others.

To enhance the educational experience, we are offering open rehearsals on Saturday mornings in the month of January so that interested students may experience firsthand the development of a play before they see the finished product. In addition, study guides, including an outline of how the show addresses the Illinois Learning Standards, and a post-show discussion are available for all groups attending the performance.



-VOYAGING-       

By:
Stephan Mazurek & Julia Rhoads
"A co-production with Lucky Plush Productions"

Premiering At:

The Athanaeum

(presented as part of the PAC Fest)

*April 9 - 18

OPENS APRIL 9, AT 7:30PM

Fridays April 9th and 16th at 7:30 PM
Saturdays April 10th and 17th at 7:30 PM
Sundays April 11th and 18th at 4 PM

 

"With such moderate abilities as I possess, it is truly surprising that thus I should have influenced to a considerable extent the beliefs of scientific men on some important points."
-Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin set sail on the H.M.S. Beagle at the close of 1831, a 23 year old unproven naturalist whose father believed was headed for a life of idleness and dissipation. Instead, his life defined an age. His discoveries and the theories he proposed to make sense of them, created a firestorm in the scientific, social and theological realms that has yet to die down. What happened on this voyage that enabled this unpromising mind to make such a tremendous leap? What diversity of species and cultures, what richness of creation begged the question in his mind- how did this all come to be? And most importantly, and to some unforgivably, what is humankind's true role and place in this creation? Utilizing projected video on multiple layered screens, block and tackle, ship's rigging and nautical nets, Voyaging will explore this journey in a performance of theater, live music, film and dance that bursts the boundaries of traditional biography. What interests us most is examining both historical and contemporary culture through Darwin's lens, seeing the class systems, sexual politics and the nature of attraction in the light of the evolutionary mechanisms of natural and sexual selection.

-THE UNEMBARRESSED MIND-       

By:
Stephan Mazurek & Loren Crawford

Premiering At:

The Storefront Theater
*Opens June 11th at 7:30 pm and runs through June 26th

*Thursdays, Fridays & Saturdays: June 12, 17, 18, 19, 24, 25, 26 at 7:30 pm

*Sundays June 13 & 20 at 3 pm

Director:
Stephan Mazurek

Music:
Rob Mazurek

The Unembarrassed Mind, by Loren Crawford and director Stephan Mazurek, has been chosen by Gallery 37 to premiere at its Storefront Theater in June of 2004. Queen Victoria, Sir Richard Burton, Lady Isabel Burton, ribald Persian shadow puppets and a live jazz ensemble combine to explore the Victorian era's passion for discovery and penchant for censorship of those very discoveries. The Unembarrassed Mind promises to be a wild romp with the man who first translated the Kama Sutra into English, his devoted Catholic wife, and a queen whose name defined an age. Celebrated jazz artist Rob Mazurek of The Chicago Underground has been commissioned to compose the score and play live for the performances. As part of our residency at The Storefront, Walkabout will facilitate theater workshops for young performers involved in Gallery 37

-OFFSPRING OF THE COLD WAR-       
By:
Carlos Murillo

Produced At:
Timeline Theater 2002

Director:
Lisa Portes

Cast:
John G. Connolly
Nina Sallinen
Ray Wild
"Carlos Murillo is not an average playwright. He favors multiple what-ifs, darting around more or less in tandem, as if running with the bulls in Pamplona…. Murrillo has no shortage of actual, viable theatrical ideas. Director Lisa Portes, whose work I admired in San Diego, treats the material with care and a nice eye for the fantastic… John G. Connolly brings a sharp steely quality to Marcus (and to all the other characters he channels), while Finnish actress Nina Sallinen- who has a charming way of hopping around the stage, like the rabbits that used to swarm Coney Island- hits her stride, movingly, with the character of Abigail Robinson… I'm glad to have made the theatrical acquaintance of this writer."

-Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune


Mama: a play for voices
By:
Loren Crawford

Produced At:
Chopin Theater 2002

Around the Coyote Festival

Also available on CD as a radio play.

Direction & Edit
Loren Crawford & Stephan Mazurek

Choreography:
Julia Rhoads

Live Performers:
Alexa Bell
Kathleen Matuszewich
Jane Nolan
Julia Rhoads

The Voices of:
Loren Crawford
Will Crawford
Kerry Cox
Kate DeVore
Laurie Empen
Harry Eddleman
Jeff Grafton
Chris Hayes
Lynne Hall
Cindy Hanson
Jenifer Tyler
Stephan Mazurek
Patrick Moran
Sara Oliva
Daniel Preble
Nina Sallinen
Kristan Schmidt
Catherine Vogt


Disciple
By:
John Lisbon Wood

Produced At:
Timeline Theater 2001

Director:
Gary Zabinski

Cast:
Sandy Borglum
Larry Neumann Jr.
"They stumble through the front door of Rita's apartment and continue to stumble through a night of flirtation and confession that is awkward, uncomfortable and utterly engrossing in its nakedness… Borglum (who is married to Neumann in real life is particularly entrancing, her mask of demure aggression dropping from her face once the right, painful buttons are pushed, exposing a woman who needs and wants a disciple of her own."

-Nina Metz, New City Chicago


Prelude: The Life and Work of Katherine Mansfield
By:
Loren Crawford

Produced At:
The Chopin Theater 2001

Stage Manager:
Lori Willis

Sets, Projections & Direction:
Stephan Mazurek

Cast:
Rae Dawn Belt
Loren Crawford
Jessica Dunton
John Bryce Fischer
Jeff Grafton
Susan Karsnick
F. David Roth
"Loren Crawford's strikingly intense performance as the New Zealand-born writer Katherine Mansfield in a new play by the Walkabout Theater Company is very, very far from being just another actress doing another role…. This is truly a performance of extraordinary depth and commitment."

-Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune


"Under Stephan Mazurek's detailed direction, Prelude: The Life and Work of Katherine Mansfield often uncovers the yearning, wit, rage and passion at the heart of this complicated woman. Most impressive, Crawford believable conveys Mansfield's losing battle with tuberculosis, never resorting to gimmickry or losing track of the character's continued vitality."
-Kerry Reid, Chicago Reader


"Loren Crawford's play has the makings of a real classic…. As a writer, Crawford has expertly captured the whimsy and sharp wit of the author's voice. As an actor, Crawford is poised and natural."

-Nina Metz, New City Chicago


Missing Memaw
By:
Loren Crawford

Produced At:
Timeline Theater 2000

Direction & Projections:
Stephan Mazurek

Composer & Musician:
Nancy Johnson

..................................
CONCERT ON DULCIMER By:
Nancy Johnson

..................................
THE BOOK OF MAYBE

Written, designed & performed by:
Brian Jeffery
Stephan Mazurek

Charcoal Drawings:
Chris Dayman

.................................
THE CANARY
By:
Katherine Mansfield

Cast:
Loren Crawford
"The three non-narrative pieces making up this evening ache with gentle dissonance, paying rueful tribute to the power of loneliness to inspire art."

-Lawrence Bommer, Chicago Reader


"Crawford is a performer and a writer of uncommon delicacy and insight, and in director Stephan Mazurek's hands she's radiant."

-Andrew Patner, Chicago Sun-Times


"The four short pieces in Walkabout's second production comprise a collection of absorbing enigmas: all of them are visually striking, carefully composed, sophisticated pieces of drama…" "A complex and rewarding evening"

- Ben Winters, New City


'Shows to See Now' pick


Poor Poor Lear
By:
Nina Sallinen, Kristan Schmidt & Katja Krohn

Produced At:
Breadline Theater 1999 & 2000

Director:
Kristan Schmidt

Cast:
Nina Sallinen
"For anyone of any age to deliver an intelligent, tragicomic rendition of King Lear with no supporting cast is astonishing. That Sallinen can do it within the persona of a heartbreaking old woman is beyond extraordinary…. Theater junkies especially will appreciate this evening of clear, original writing presented with artistry and integrity. And Sallinen is undoubtedly the type of performer who will make her character evolve and continually surprise her audiences. I look forward to seeing what else the new Walkabout Theater Company will bring to Chicago."

-Kim Wilson, Chicago Reader


Kingdom of Earth
By:
Tennessee Williams

Produced At:
National Pastime Theatre 1999

Director:
Kristan Schmidt

Cast:
Peter DeFaria
Coby Goss
Nina Sallinen
"The lesser known dramas of Tennessee Williams profit by stirring memories of his better plays. Written during the pill-popping, booze-swilling "lost" years that followed "Night of the Iguana", William's 1968 three-person tragedy "Kingdom of Earth" exists for its extremes. At its best it's etched in shadows cast by greater plays. This new theater company takes it seriously and makes it matter…. Actors live to devour this dramatic raw meat. Schmidt's hard-working trio hurl themselves into the mounting desperation like the flood that surrounds them."

-Lawrence Bommer, Chicago Free Press