Broken Nose Theatre is pleased to announce casting for its U.S. premiere of Beth Steel’s propulsive financial drama LABYRINTH, directed by Spenser Davis.
The cast includes BNT company members Benjamin Brownson*, Elise Marie Davis* and David Weiss*, artistic associates Rob Koon^ and Adam Soule^, with Ambrose Cappucio, Rebecca Flores, Darren Jones, David Lovejoy, William Anthony Sebastian Rose II, Jackie Seijo, Julia Skeggs.
Launching BNT’s eighth season, exploring the theme “Change the Rules,” LABYRINTH will play January 31 – February 29, 2020 at its resident home, The Den Theatre (2A), 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood. Tickets go on sale Monday, December 9, 2019 at www.brokennosetheatre.com. Tickets for all Broken Nose Theatre productions are available on a “pay-what-you-can” basis, allowing patrons to set their own price and ensuring theatre remains economically accessible for all audiences. The press opening is Monday, February 3 at 7:30 pm.
New York City, 1978. Having just landed his dream job as a Wall Street banker, John Anderson finds himself swept off on luxurious trips to Latin America with only one goal: selling loans to the region’s developing nations eager to borrow. But as the banks’ excessive lending strategy starts pushing whole countries toward the brink of bankruptcy, and the biggest credit bubble in history threatens to burst, John and his colleagues must come to terms with the true price of chasing their fortunes.
Comments director Spenser Davis, “Playwright Beth Steel can construct a thrill-ride better than most, and Labyrinth is at the top of that heap: richly researched, deeply dynamic and pulse-poundingly cinematic in a way that just flies off the page. Centering her story around the 1980s Latin American debt crisis, Steel illustrates one of the many ways in which American prosperity is achieved at the expense of our neighbors. At a time when the man in the Oval Office categorically refers to this same region as one steeped in ‘drugs and crime,’ it is even more important to me that we stage plays like Labyrinth, ones that remind us of our country's own culpability in destroying the economy of developing nations who turned to us in a time of need and instead became unwilling gears in our financial machine. I'm thrilled to helm the U.S. Premiere of both this incredible play and its equally gifted playwright.”
Artistic Director Elise Marie Davis adds, “Over the past few seasons, we at Broken Nose have been waiting for the right opportunity to bring Beth Steel's edge-of-your-seat, righteously indignant financial drama to Chicago audiences for its U.S. Premiere. Like so many of our plays over the last few years, Labyrinth yet again affords us the opportunity to build another thrilling ensemble packed with storefront talent. Labyrinth asks tough questions without easy answers, while shining a spotlight onto a disastrous turn-of-events that so many Americans may be wholly unaware of. This is a story about looking back as a way of understanding our present and course-correcting our future.”
The production team includes Therese Ritchie (scenic design), Rachel Sypniewski (costume design), David Goodman-Edberg (lighting design), Tony Ingram (sound design), Devon Green^ (props designer), Zack Meyer (violence design), Ben F. Locke (assistant director), Julia Skeggs (casting director) and Rose Hamill* (stage manager),
* Denotes BNT company member ^ Denotes BNT artistic associate
PRODUCTION DETAILS:
Title: LABYRINTH
Playwright: Beth Steel
Director: Spenser Davis*
Cast (in alphabetical order): Benjamin Brownson* (Philip), Ambrose Cappucio (Ensemble), Elise Marie Davis* (Grace), Rebecca Flores (Ensemble), Darren Jones (Frank), Rob Koon^ (Howard), David Lovejoy (Ensemble), William Anthony Sebastian Rose II (John), Jackie Seijo (Ensemble), Julia Skeggs (Ensemble), Adam Soule^ (Rick) and David Weiss* (Charlie).
Location: The Den Theatre (2A), 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago
Dates: Previews: Friday, January 31 at 7:30 pm and Saturday, February 1 at 7:30 pm
Opening: Sunday, February 2 at 3 pm
Press performance: Monday, February 3 at 7:30 pm
Regular run: Thursday, February 6 – Saturday, February 29, 2020
Curtain Times: Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm; Sundays at 3 pm
Industry night: Monday, February 17 at 7:30 pm
Understudy night: Wednesday, February 26 at 7:30pm
Tickets: Pay-what-you-can. Tickets go on sale Monday, December 9, 2019 at www.brokennosetheatre.com.
About the Artists
Beth Steel (Playwright) is U.K.-based playwright. She was awarded the Charles Wintour Award for Most Promising Playwright at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards. Her first play Ditch premiered at the HighTide Festival, transferred to the Old Vic Tunnels and was shortlisted for the John Whiting Award. Wonderland, Steel's critically acclaimed second play, was directed at Hampstead Theatre by Edward Hall; it was broadcast live worldwide through the Guardian website and was a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, an award for best new play in the English language by a female playwright. Labyrinth is her third play; it had its world premiere at Hampstead Theatre in 2016, with Anna Ledwich directing. This marks the play's U.S. premiere.
Spenser Davis (Director) is Director of Programming for Broken Nose Theatre, where his directorial credits include At The Table (Jeff Awards – Best Director, Production, Ensemble), his own play Plainclothes (Jeff Award – Best Ensemble), A Phase, From White Plains and several iterations of Bechdel Fest. Other credits include Blue Stockings (Promethean Theatre); May the Road Rise Up and Adventures of Spirit Force Five (The Factory Theater, ensemble member); Bachelorette (Level 11); the upcoming world premiere of Under The Tree with The New Colony; as well as readings, workshops and festivals with American Blues Theater, A Red Orchid, Hell in a Handbag, ATC, Strawdog, Otherworld, First Floor and Pride Films and Plays, to name a few. As a playwright, his play Plainclothes received the 2019 M. Elizabeth Osborn Award from the American Theatre Critics Association and was named a finalist for the 2019 Harold and Mimi Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award. He is currently adapting his first play Merge as a pilot for television. He is a series writer-director on Squid, a short-form comedy series on Amazon Prime. He is proud to be represented by William Morris Endeavor.
About Broken Nose Theatre:
Broken Nose Theatre is a Pay-What-You-Can theatre company. Founded in 2012, BNT was the 2018 recipient of the Emerging Theater Award, presented by the League of Chicago Theatres and Broadway in Chicago. The company has produced and developed 20 full-length plays (including 12 Chicago or world premieres) and over 50 new short plays through our annual Bechdel Fest. We strive to spark conversation, cultivate empathy, and amplify underrepresented voices, and are committed to making new, exciting and relevant theatre that is economically accessible to all audiences. For more information, please visit www.brokennosetheatre.com.