Sideshow Theatre Presents THE RIDICULOUS DARKNESS

Sideshow Theatre Company is pleased to continue its 2018-19 season with the Midwest premiere of Wolfram Lotz’ shocking and surreal satire THE RIDICULOUS DARKNESS, translated by Daniel Brunet and directed by artistic associate Ian Damont Martin, playing March 24 – April 28, 2019 at Victory Gardens Richard Christiansen Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Ave. in Chicago. Tickets are currently available at www.victorygardens.org, by calling (773) 871-3000 or in person at the Victory Gardens Box Office.

The cast includes Meagan Dilworth, Nichole Green, Kenya Ann Hall, RjW Mays, Jasmine Traylor, Lisa Troi Thomasand Brittani Yawn.

The horror! The horror! Sergeant Oliver Pellner has clear orders: to travel into the savage wilderness, to find a colonel who has gone rogue, and to kill him. The man’s gone native, as they say: has killed his comrades and disappeared into darkness. Pellner and his pilot embark with confidence, but soon nothing makes sense anymore, as the river turns to mountains turns to jungle turns to black. Civilization dissolves in Wolfram Lotz’ stunning and disturbing comedy: a fractured spin on Heart of Darkness, Apocalypse Nowand our shared history of barbaric colonialism.

Comments artistic director Jonathan L. Green, “Ian's stylish production will introduce one of the most-produced contemporary German plays in years to Chicago: a hilarious, take-no-prisoners indictment of world history, of cruelty, of ourselves.”

The production team to date includes: Lauren Nigri (scenic design), Noël Huntzinger (costume design), Sim Carpenter (lighting design), Michael Huey (sound design), Jonathan Berg-Einhorn (props design), Dani Wieder (dramaturg), Ellen Willett (production manager), Chad Hain (technical director) and Liz Larsen (stage manager).

PRODUCTION DETAILS:

Title: THE RIDICULOUS DARKNESS

Playwright:Wolfram Lotz

Translator: Daniel Brunet

Director:artistic associate Ian Damont Martin*

Cast (in alphabetical order): Meagan Dilworth, Nichole Green, Kenya Ann Hall, RjW Mays, Jasmine Traylor, Lisa Troi Thomas and Brittani Yawn.

Location: Victory Gardens Richard Christiansen Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Ave. in Chicago

Dates: Previews: Sunday, March 24 at 2:30 pm and Wednesday, March 27 at 8 pm

Press Performance: Thursday, March 28 at 8 pm

Gala Opening: Friday, March 28 at 8 pm

Regular run: Saturday, March 30 – Sunday, April 28, 2019

Curtain Times: Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm; Sundays at 2:30 pm

Tickets: Previews: Pay-what-you-can (online or at the door). Regular run: $20 – $30. Students/seniors/industry: $15 for all performances (excluding opening). Tickets are currently availableat www.victorygardens.org, by calling (773) 871-3000 or in person at the Victory Gardens Box Office.

About the Creative Team:

Wolfram Lotz (Author), born 1981 in Hamburg, grew up in the Black Forest region. He studied literature, art and media science in Konstanz and creative writing at the Deutsches Literaturinstitut in Leipzig. He writes plays, audio plays, lyric and prose and received several awards, including the Kleist Award for his play The Big March. His radio play The Ridiculous Darkness has been adapted and produced around the world and received the Nestroy Theatre Prize from the Association for Viennese Theatre.

Ian Damont Martin (Director) is a theatre/filmmaker who is pleased to represent Sideshow as an artistic associate. Ian is the associate artistic director of Haven Theatre and also the program manager of Enrich Chicago, an organization that works to realize anti-racism and racial equity in the Chicago arts community. Ian has worked with Goodman Theatre, Middle Coast Film Festival, The Gift Theatre, Jackalope Theatre, the DuSable Museum, the National Society of Arts and Letters, Indiana University, Ivy Tech Community College, Midsommer Flight, Bloomington Playwrights Project, Youth Theatre Journal, and the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Cincinnati. He received his BA in theatre and drama from Indiana University and his diploma in drama from the School for Creative and Performing Arts in Cincinnati, OH.

About Sideshow Theatre Company:

Sideshow Theatre Company: Theatre for the Curious. It is the mission of Sideshow Theatre Company to mine the collective unconscious of the world we live in with limitless curiosity, drawing inspiration from the familiar stories, memories and images we all share to spark new conversation and bring our audiences together as adventurers in a communal experience of exploration.

Over its 10+ year history, Sideshow is proud to have distinguished itself as a vital member of the Chicago theatre community. Sideshow was awarded the 2016 Broadway In Chicago Emerging Theatre Award by the League of Chicago Theatres. Sideshow is a multiple Jeff Award-winning theatre and has been listed on the “Best of” lists in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2018 by the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Reader, Time Out Chicago and the Chicago Sun-Times. Sideshow continues its multi-year residency at Victory Gardens in the historic Biograph Theater in the 2018/19 season.

Sideshow is also the producer of Chicago League of Lady Arm Wrestlers (CLLAW), a wildly popular fundraiser held in benefit of Sideshow Theatre Company and other local community organizations. CLLAW has been featured in local and national press, including The Washington Post, Reuters and the Chicago Sun-Times and on WGN Morning News, ABC 7’s Windy City Live and CBS 2. The next CLLAW match will be held Saturday, July 27, 2019. For more information about CLLAW, visit cllaw.org.

For additional information on Sideshow Theatre Company, visit sideshowtheatre.org.