Invictus Theatre Company today announced its fifth season of plays, which will open with Shakespeare’s HAMLET, to run October 21 through November 21, 2021. Continuing the company’s tradition of performing modern classics as well as Shakespeare, the season will also include the 2009 Pulitzer Prize winner RUINED, by Lynn Nottage, from February 17 to March 20; and Edward Albee’s WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF from May 12 to June 12. Audiences will again have the opportunity to experience these powerful text-driven plays in an intimate storefront setting, as the company performs them in their new venue at 1106 W. Thorndale Avenue in Edgewater (the space formerly known as The Frontier).
Artistic Director Charles Askenaizer (pictured) will direct the season-opening HAMLET. He says, “While we often think of Shakespeare’s plays as being large and spectacular, which they can be, HAMLET is at its heart, an intimate piece. In major moments of the play, it’s just us and Hamlet, as he is deep in his thoughts while he contemplates taking revenge on the uncle who he believes has murdered his father. Even when Hamlet is with others, much of the play’s conflict happens between Hamlet and just one or two other people. We’re looking forward to giving our audiences the chance to see this classic in such close quarters.”
HAMLET will be followed in the Invictus season by RUINED, a drama originally commissioned by the Goodman Theatre, where it premiered in 2008. A story of women caught in a civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, it “takes us inside an unthinkable reality and into the heads of victims and perpetrators to create a full-immersion drama of shocking complexity and moral ambiguity.” (VARIETY).
The CHICAGO TRIBUNE said of it, “Sincere, passionate, courageous and acutely argued, RUINED is a remarkable theatrical accomplishment…In the hands of this talented playwright, what might have been a predictable political polemic instead emerges as a richly stirring and complex drama that even includes generous doses of humor.” RUINED will be directed by Ebby Offord (pictured - click on image to access high res file), a 2019 graduate of Washington University in St. Louis who has studied at Shakespeare’s Globe in London.
Invictus’s season closer will be Edward Albee’s WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF. A four-character drama that is often as wickedly funny as it is heartbreaking, two married couples battle with their spouses and each other over an alcohol-fueled night in a small, overstuffed living room. The tension the characters feel in these close quarters will be conveyed to the audience in Askenaizer’s storefront production in the 40-seat theater at 1106 W. Thorndale.
Invictus Theatre Company has, over its five-year history, built a reputation for intimate and honest interpretations of classics with fidelity to the original texts and close attention to character development. The CHICAGO READER’s Kerry Reid praised the “fearless and layered performances” of the company’s live stream production of “NIGHT, MOTHER in 2020. Of their 2019 A RAISIN IN THE SUN, Reid said director Aaron “Boseman’s production goes for broke with heartfelt zest, spilling over the edge of Kevin Rolfs’s appropriately tiny dingy set.” Nancy Bishop of the THIRD COAST REVIEW said of Invictus’s 2018 MERCHANT OF VENICE that “Charles Askenaizer’s direction results in a smoothly performed production of what is considered one of Shakespeare’s problem plays—and it may make you squirm in your seat as you’re sitting very close to the action.”
Tickets for HAMLET will be available soon at www.invictustheatreco.com.
LISTING INFORMATION
HAMLET
- By William Shakespeare
- Directed by Charles Askenaizer
- October 21 – November 21, 2021
- Previews: October 21-24, 2021
- Press Opening Monday October 25th at 7:30 pm
- Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays 7:30pm, Sundays 3pm
- 1106 W. Thorndale, Chicago
- Ticket prices: Previews $25.00 Regular run $30. $25 for students (with valid student ID) and seniors.
- www.invictustheatreco.com
One of Shakespeare’s most popular plays – in his time as well as in ours - HAMLET concerns the young Prince of Denmark, who is trying to decide whether or not to murder the uncle who he believes killed his father and then married his mother. One of the most influential works of literature, it contains one of the greatest roles ever written for an actor and such famous lines as “To be or not to be,” “The play’s the thing,” and “to thine own self be true.”
RUINED
- by Lynn Nottage
- Directed by Ebby Offord
- February 17 – March 20, 2022
- Previews February 17 – 20, 2022.
- Press Opening February 21, 2022, at 7:30 pm
- Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays 7:30pm, Sundays 3pm
- 1106 W. Thorndale, Chicago
- Ticket prices: Previews $25.00 Regular run $30. $25 for students (with valid student ID) and seniors.
- www.invictustheatreco.com
This winner of the 2009 Pulitzer Prize is set in a small mining town in the Democratic Republic of Congo. RUINED follows Mama Nadi, a shrewd businesswoman in a land torn apart by civil war. But is she protecting or profiting by the women she shelters? How far will she go to survive? Can a price be placed on a human life?
EDWARD ALBEE’S WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF
- Directed by Charles Askenaizer
- May 12 – June 12, 2022
- Previews May 12-15, 2022
- Press Opening May 16, 2022 @ 7:30 pm
- Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays 7:30pm, Sundays 3pm
- 1106 W. Thorndale, Chicago
- Ticket prices: Previews $25.00 Regular run $30. $25 for students (with valid student ID) and seniors.
- www.invictustheatreco.com
George, a professor at a small college, and his wife, Martha, have just returned home, drunk from a Saturday night party when Martha announces that she has invited a young couple to stop by for a nightcap. The drinks flow and suddenly inhibitions melt. It becomes clear that Martha is determined to seduce the young professor, and George couldn't care less. But underneath the edgy banter, which is cross fired between both couples, lurks an undercurrent of tragedy and despair.
DIRECTOR BIOS
Charles Askenaizer (Artistic Director, Director HAMLET and WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRIGINA WOOLF) graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in Theatre and communications. He has worked professionally in Chicago as an actor, director, and teacher for over 10 years. Recent directing credits include readings with Chicago Dramatists, 'NIGHT, MOTHER (Associate Director-Invictus Theatre), THE MERCHANT OF VENICE (Invictus Theatre), OTHELLO: THE MOOR OF VENICE (Invictus Theatre), TITUS ANDRONICUS (Bare Knuckles Theater), JULIUS CAESAR (Associate Director- Brown Paper Box) , TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA (Reutan Collective), and THE DIFFERENCE (Reading-Piccolo Theatre). Charles has worked with Citadel Theatre, Teatro Vista, the Artistic Home, City Lit, Raven, Brown Paper Box, Chicago Dramatists, the Side Project and many more.
Ebby Offord (Director, RUINED) is a Chicago-based actor, director, and teaching artist. She graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a degree in Drama in 2019 (Favorite credits include AUNT DAN AND LEMON, PASSING STRANGE, and AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY.) After graduating, Ebby returned to Chicago to teach with the Institute of Reading Development. She now dedicates her time to pursuing art full-time and working as a caretaker for her father. She’s excited to make her professional directing debut with Invictus and couldn’t be happier to be working on RUINED as her first show.
ABOUT INVICTUS THEATRE COMPANY
At Invictus Theatre Company our mission is to create theatre that promotes a better understanding of language: its poetry, its rhythm, its resonance; through diverse works by diverse artists. We respect the power of heightened language: spoken, written, sung; to express the breadth of the human condition. We work to harness the power of language: to promote diversity, to engender respect, to foster collaboration; and to empower our communities to share their voices.
Invictus Theatre Company incorporated in January 2017 and received its 501 (c)(3) nonprofit status in February 2017. A diverse group of Chicago actors and directors founded Invictus with the vision to empower their communities through theatrical productions of heightened language. We are committed to the idea that our productions should reflect the communities we represent, and, to that end, we are committed to non-discriminatory hiring practices. In working with local artists, designers, and production teams, Invictus Theatre Company does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, ability, nationality, citizenship, religion, or any other protected status by law.
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