Shattered Globe Theatre Presents BE HERE NOW

Shattered Globe Theatre is pleased to launch its 2019-20 Season with the Chicago premiere of BE HERE NOW, Deborah Zoe Laufer’s bittersweet comedy about searching for happiness, directed by Producing Artistic Director Sandy Shinner. BE HERE NOW will play September 5 – October 19, 2019 at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave. in Chicago. Single tickets are currently available at www.shatteredglobe.org, by calling (773) 975-8150 or in person at the Theater Wit Box Office.

The cast includes Ensemble Members Rebecca Jordan, Deanna Reed-Foster and Joseph Wiens with Protégé Alumna Demetra Dee.

Bari, an atheist and misanthrope, loses her job teaching nihilism in New York City and ends up working in a fulfillment center in her small hometown. Her empathetic co-workers push her toward yoga, meditation and a blind date in the pursuit of happiness. But recently, her recurring headaches have gotten more intense, manifesting as ecstatic and almost religious experiences – and they are changing her entire outlook. She’s almost… happy! When she finds out that these rapturous headaches may be killing her, Bari needs to choose: does she live a shortened, joyful life – or does she risk a return to her past life of misery. BE HERE NOW takes audiences on a hilarious and poignant quest for meaning in modern life.

Comments Artistic Director Sandy Shinner, “Shattered Globe wanted to kick the season off with a comedy – but a comedy with underlying themes that reflect our current moment. Today's social media is overloaded with images of people at their self-curated best – but how do we really get through this thing called life? Playwright Deb Laufer tackles this complicated question with humor and compassion by creating her main character whose negative view of the world is upended by a very real medical issue. The exploration of Bari's seizures and their life changing potential is fascinating. I hope that our audiences leave the theater with renewed appreciation for the complexities and joys of life.”

The production team for BE HERE NOW includes Angela Miller (scenic design), Hailey Rakowiecki (costume design), Shelley Strasser (lighting design), Stephen Gawrit (sound design), Vivian Knouse (props design), Christina Gorman (intimacy choreographer), Judy Anderson (executive production manager), Lucy Schuh (production manager), Tina Jach (stage manager) and Devonte Washington (assistant stage manager).

PRODUCTION DETAILS:

Cast (in alphabetical order): Demetra Dee (Luanne Cooper), Rebecca Jordan (Bari), Deanna Reed-Foster (Patty Cooper) and Joseph Wiens (Mike Cooper).

Dates: Previews: Thursday, September 5 at 8 pm, Friday, September 6 at 8 pm and Saturday, September 7 at 8 pm

Press Performance: Sunday, September 8, 2019 at 3 pm

Regular Run: Thursday, September 12 – Saturday, October 19, 2019

Curtain Times: Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays at 8 pm; Sundays at 3 pm. Please note: there will be an added performance on Saturday, October 19 at 3 pm.

Touch Tour/Audio Description Performance: Friday, October 4 – 6:30 pm touch tour, 8 pm performance with audio description. $20 tickets available with code “ACCESS.”

Global Perspectives:SGT will be hosting post-show discussions immediately following 3 pm performances on Sundays.

Tickets: Previews: Pay-what-you-can (Thursday). $20 (Friday and Saturday, $10 students). Regular Run: $42. Student rush tickets available day of performance for $15. Seniors $35. $25 under 30 years old. $15 industry tickets on Fridays with code “INDUSTRY.” Single tickets are currently available at www.shatteredglobe.org, in person at the Theater Wit Box Office or by calling (773) 975-8150. Group discounts are currently available by contacting groupsales@shatteredglobe.orgor by calling (773) 770-0333.

About the Artists:

Deborah Zoe Laufer’s (Playwright) plays have been produced at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Cleveland Playhouse, Geva Theatre Center, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Portland Center Stage and The Humana Festival. Informed Consent appeared at The Duke Theatre in NYC in 2015, a co-production of Primary Stages and EST. It was a New York Times Critic’s Pick. Her play End Days won The ATCA Steinberg citation, and it has received over 70 productions around the country, and in Germany, Russia and Australia. Other plays include: Leveling Up, Out of Sterno, The Last Schwartz, Sirens, Meta, The Gulf of Westchester, Miniatures, Fortune, and Window Treatment, a collaboration with composer Daniel Green, produced in NYC by Premieres, Inner Voices. Be Here Now was commissioned and produced by Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park in 2018.

Deb is a recipient of the Helen Merrill Playwriting Award, the Lilly Award, and grants and commissions from The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, The Edgerton Foundation, The National New Play Network, the NEA, and the LeCompte du Nouy grant from the Lincoln Center Foundation. Her plays are published by Samuel French, Smith and Kraus and Playscripts, and have been developed at The Eugene O’Neill Playwrights Conference, PlayPenn, Williamstown Theatre Festival, The Ojai Playwrights Conference, The Missoula Colony, The Cherry Lane Alternative, The Dramatists Guild Fellowship Program, New Georges, The Lark Play Development Center Asolo Repertory Theatre, PlayLab and the Baltic Playwrights Conference. She is a graduate of Juilliard, an alumna of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop, and a member of The Dramatists Guild.

Sandy Shinner (Director) joined Shattered Globe Theatre in October 2013 as the theatre’s first Producing Artistic Director. Her SGT directing credits include Will Snider’s How to Use a Knife, Scott McPherson’s Marvin’s Roomand Sally Nemeth’s Mill Fire. The former Associate Artistic Director of Victory Gardens Theater, she created the nationally known IGNITION! Festival, served as co-director of the Access Project, and, with former Artistic Director Dennis Zacek and former Managing Director Marcelle McVay, accepted the 2001 Regional Theater Tony Award on behalf of Victory Gardens. Her other recent directing credits include: the world premiere of Rasheeda Speaking by Joel Drake Johnson (Rivendell Theater Ensemble) and Creditors by August Strindberg (Remy Bumppo Theater Company). She has directed over 80 plays at theaters including Victory Gardens, Remy Bumppo, American Blues, the University of Virginia, Actors Theater of Louisville’s Humana Festival, Steppenwolf’s First Look Repertory of New Work, New York’s 78th Street Theater Lab and the Sacramento Theater Company, among others. Her production of Trying by Joanna McClell and Glass transferred to New York, and her direction was nominated for the Joe A. Callaway Award. Shinner received the 2013 Kathryn V. Lamkey Spirit Award from the Equal Employment Opportunity Committee of Actors’ Equity Association for her commitment to diversity and non-traditional casting. She has been recognized as one of “50 Top Players” by Newcity and a “Chicagoan of the Year” by the Chicago Tribune. She is an adjunct professor at DePaul’s Theatre School, an At Large Ambassador for the National New Play Network and an Artistic Affiliate at American Blues Theatre.

About Shattered Globe Theatre

Shattered Globe Theatre (Sandy Shinner, Producing Artistic Director; Doug McDade, Managing Director) was born in a storefront space on Halsted Street in 1991. Since then, SGT has produced more than 65 plays, including nine American and world premieres, and garnered an impressive 42 Jeff Awards and 106 Jeff Award nominations, as well as the acclaim of critics and audiences alike. Shattered Globe is an ensemble-driven theater whose mission is to create an intimate, visceral theater experience that challenges the perspective of audience and artist alike through passionate storytelling. Shattered Globe is inspired by the diversity of Chicago and committed to making theater available to all audiences. Through initiatives such as the Protégé Program, Shattered Globe creates a space which allows emerging artists to grow and share in the ensemble experience.

For more information on Shattered Globe Theatre, please visit www.shatteredglobe.org.