Sideshow Theatre Company is pleased to offer pay-what-you-wish online streaming of its 2016 hit production The Happiest Place on Earth, written and performed by Jeff Award-winning playwright and Sideshow artistic associate Philip Dawkins and directed by Sideshow artistic director Jonathan L. Green. To stream the video, visit sideshowtheatre.org/stream. After filling out a short registration form, patrons will receive an e-mail with a link and password to watch the video. This streaming video will be available throughout the spring during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Winner of the 2017 Jeff Award for Solo Performance, Dawkins’ autobiographical work was hailed by critics as “exceptional” and “witty and heartbreaking,” taking audiences on an intimate journey through the lens of one unhappy family to the “happiest place on earth.”
Once upon a time in an Anaheim, California orange grove, a magical kingdom was built and dedicated to America’s history, dreams and wildest hopes. Eight years later, one family’s American prince died on live television while delivering the Albuquerque sports scores, leaving his four daughters and their mother behind. Left reeling from the loss of their patriarch, the family underwent a quest to reach the magical kingdom and seek solace and recovery. Now, more than fifty years after their journey, acclaimed playwright Philip Dawkins retraces and illustrates the true story of the women in his family, exploring their history and asking if there really is a place where the dream that we wish can come true.
The production team for The Happiest Place on Earth includes Mike Mroch (scenic/props design), Ellie Rabinowitz (lighting design), Michael Huey (sound design), Benno Nelson (dramaturg), Ellen Willett (production manager) and Darek Lane (stage manager).
The Happiest Place on Earth enjoyed its world premiere September 17 – October 30, 2016, as part of the Solo Celebration! Series at Greenhouse Theater Center, co-produced by Sideshow Theatre Company, Greenhouse Theater Center and the Wendy and Bill Spatz Charitable Foundation.
About the Artists:
Philip Dawkins is a playwright and educator whose plays have been performed all over the world. His plays include Failure: A Love Story (Victory Gardens Theater), Le Switch (About Face Theatre, The Jungle), The Homosexuals (About Face Theatre), The Burn (Steppenwolf for Young Audiences), Dr. Seuss’s The Sneetches, the Musical with composer David Mallamud (Children’s Theater Company, Minneapolis), The Gentleman Caller (Raven Theatre, Chicago; Abingdon Theatre, NY), Charm (Northlight Theatre; MCC), Miss Marx: Or The Involuntary Side Effect of Living (Strawdog Theatre), and his solo play, The Happiest Place on Earth (Sideshow Theatre/Greenhouse Theater Center). Philip has won some awards and not won some others. He’s been a fellow at the Hawthornden Castle International Retreat for Writers in Scotland and the MacDowell Colony in New Hampshire, and has taught playwriting at his alma mater, Loyola University Chicago, Northwestern University and for the Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis. Many of Philip’s plays, including his scripts for young performers, are available through Dramatists Play Service, Playscripts, Inc. and Dramatic Publishing. He is currently working on a commission from Children’s Theater Company and an American English translation of Michel Tremblay’s Messe Solennelle Pour Une Pleine Lune D'été for Sideshow Theatre.
Jonathan L. Green has been the artistic director of Sideshow Theatre since its founding in 2007. He has directed and assisted for Sideshow, Greenhouse Theater Center, Lookingglass, Steppenwolf, Goodman, Diversionary Theatre, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, Chicago Dramatists, Theatre Seven of Chicago and Pavement Group. Recent projects include X, HeLa, truth and reconciliation (Jeff Award nomination for direction), The Happiest Place on Earth, Antigonick, Stupid Fucking Bird, Idomeneus (Jeff Award for ensemble), and others. Jonathan is a graduate of the University of Virginia and is the literary manager for Goodman Theatre, where his recent dramaturgy credits include How to Catch Creation, Blind Date, Objects in the Mirror, Gloria, War Paint, The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window and Disgraced.
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 2019/20 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 25 at Logan Square Auditorium. For more information about CLLAW, visit cllaw.org.
For additional information on Sideshow Theatre Company, visit sideshowtheatre.org.