Open Cage Ensemble will proudly present the Chicago Premiere of Will Eno’s "Oh The Humanity" this Friday and Sunday nights!

Ensemble members Joel Ewing and Tim Reardon will be joined by Katy Boza to present Eno’s play that is best described as "if you were ever born, and expect to ever die, this might be the play for you."  Zac Davis returns from last year’s How To Act Around Cops to direct.

ETCETERA VII: A festival celebrating the diversity of performance

March 27-29 , 8 PM and March 30, 7pm

ETCETERA is four nights of contemprorary,  experimental, progressive, and interdisciplinary live performance.  The length of each piece varies from 5-15 minutes.  The show will be produced by The Mill (fka Experimental Theatre Chicago) at The Prop Thtr, 3502 N. Elston Ave., Chicago.    The purpose of this event is to unite artists and audiences interested in all types of  theatre.  Participants will be selected based upon proposals, resumes and recommendations, keeping in mind the overall diversity of the program.

'Cops' an arresting crime comedy
By Nina Metz
Special to the Tribune
Published March 9, 2007

"GIVE OUR RETARDS TO BROADWAY!" is a musical review that satirizes the current state of art and entertainment in our country. Performed in the style of an old vaudeville routine, the show reflects on a period when Broadway musicals had plots, original songs and interesting characters that were played by actors (and not pop-singers). Through a series of songs, sketches, dance routines and variety acts, the audience is asked to examine the line between "art" and entertainment. The audience is encouraged to expect more from tickets that cost them ninety dollars. Finally, the audience is encouraged to "laugh their 'F'-ing 'A's off". Friday, December 8th & Saturday, December 9th 7:30 PM The Lakeshore Theatre 3175 North Broadway Avenue Chicago, IL Box Office: 773-472-3492 $15.00

Please support our theatrical brothers and sisters at Appetite Theatre!  Go see Suitcase!!!

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SUITCASE,
or Those That Resemble Flies from a Distance
by Melissa James Gibson
Directed by Zachary Davis

What do you pack in your Suitcase? For the characters in Melissa James Gibson's fresh, quirky, wholly original and hilarious play, longing isn't just a seven-letter word and procrastination can accomplish more than you think. Jen and Sallie have dissertations to finish, Karl and Lyle want to see their girlfriends, and none of them seem to be getting what they want. In the course of an hour and half and several engaging conversations they'll all four try to make sense of the world, themselves and the difference between a childhood ideal and the adult reality of life. What happens when we know a lot but for some reason we don't know any better? With rapid fire wit, hysterical turns of phrase, and just a little bit of singing, Suitcase takes a fun look at relationships and our knack at screwing them up.

Featuring: Kelli Cousins, Amy Dunlap, Joel Ewing, Greg Wenz and Christine Blumer

Stage Manager: Samantha Flint
Set Design/Technical Director: Courtney O'Neill
Costumes: Darcy Elora Hofer;
Lighting: Kyle Anderson
Sound and Original Music: Zachary Quarles
Props: Ben Alvey
Assistant Director: Basia Kapolka
Stunt Coordinator: Matthew Pearsall
Co-Producers: Lauren Golanty & Michael D. Graham

November 10 – December 17
Thursdays – Saturdays @ 8:00
Sundays @ 3:00
(no show on Thanksgiving Day)

National Pastime Theatre, 4139 N. Broadway, Chicago

$15 general admission/$12 students and seniors

JOIN US FOR OPENING WEEKEND TO KICK OFF
APPETITE'S THIRD SEASON!!
Opening Weekend Party: Sunday, November 12th
$30 includes after-show reception with our Restaurant Partner:

THE BAR ON BUENA
910 West Buena
Chicago, Illinois 60613
1 block from the theatre!!

Parking is available at the Disney Magnet School at Belle Plaine and Clarendon,
one block southeast of the theatre.

For reservations, call 773-868-0431

FREE INDUSTRY PREVIEW!!
THIS THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 9th!!!
2 Shows: 7 PM and 9 PM!
BRING A HEADSHOT/RESUME and CALL/EMAIL FOR RESERVATIONS!!

"The wine-fueled conversation between four friends in Michael Blieden's play would have been unusually frank even if they've known one another for years: they progress from talk of ghosts and God to open admissions of fetishes and adultry. So the premise is a bit contrived, but the energy of Open Cage Ensemble's hour long production is infectious.  Under the direction of Zachary Quarles; Robin Kelso, Chad Morris, Joel Ewing, and Danyel Read exude chemistry and honesty as the talky thirtysomethings. In a walk-on role as a wacky waitress, Kate Novak is also bold and charming. With the cast having so much fun, it's easy to ignore the convenient ease of all the "I never told anyone this before" revelations."

Recommended by The Chicago Reader

:)

Through 10/7: Thursday - Saturday 8 PM, Sunday 2 PM, Angel Island, 735 W. Sheridan RD, 773.929.7911, $15.00

Phyro-Giants!

By Michael Blieden

Phyro-Giants! takes on marriage, fidelity, ghosts, God, and long-distance phone services during a dizzying dinner between four friends and strangers who reveal more than they bargained for.

In this snapshot of four troubled souls looking to fill their lives with an impossibly paradoxical mix of excitement and emotional safety, the backbiting gossip and self-revelatory banter take the comedy on some wicked turns as the evening progresses and the empty wine bottles multiply.  Michael Blieden's shrewdly observant play Phyro-Giants! isn't about imaginary monsters, but rather the kind of  conversations that occur when alcohol is the main social lubricant and red wine has loosened tongues.

And as inhibitions drop, secrets are revealed.

Set entirely at a table in a hip eatery, Phyro-Giants! is one long conversation about love, sex, and infidelity, all played out in real time.

 The idea for Phyro-Giants! was born in New York while Mr. Blieden working as a correspondent for Comedy Central's The Daily Show. During dinner at a SoHo restaurant with a friend, the two men were joined by two female acquaintances. Over the next few hours and as many bottles of wine, the four young people dropped their attempts at small talk and revealed their innermost selves. Returning to his West Village apartment, Mr. Blieden scribbled down bits of the conversation. The play itself (a dramatized re-creation of the dinner) gestated for three years until Mr. Blieden moved to Los Angeles in 1999 and wrote it.

The Open Cage Ensemble is proud to present Phyro-Giants!, opening September 14^th and running every Thursday through Sunday until October 7^th.  Please visit us on the web at www.opencagetheatre.org!