AMERICAN THEATER COMPANY PRESENTS CO-WORLD PREMIERE OF THOMAS BRADSHAW’S “FULFILLMENT” NOV 6 – DEC 13

American Theater Company (ATC), 1909 W. Byron Street, kicks off Season 31: The Legacy Season with the co-world premiere of Fulfillment, written by Thomas Bradshaw and directed by Ethan McSweeny, Nov. 6-Dec. 13, 2015 (press opening Thursday, Nov. 12). This production is a co-world premiere with The Flea Theater in New York, where Fulfillment opens under McSweeny’s direction next month.

“ATC’s partnership with The Flea on this world premiere is a win for everybody,” says ATC Interim Artistic Director Bonnie Metzgar. “Director Ethan McSweeny is based in NYC while playwright Thomas Bradshaw is based here in Chicago. ATC hosted the final workshop of the play this summer before rehearsal began in NYC.

New York. Today. Michael has everything: the girlfriend, the condo, and the primo job at a top law firm. But after eight years, he has continually been passed up for a partnership, and starts to suspect it’s because of racial discrimination. When his boss tells him why, he has to decide whether he has the strength to confront a personal demon. In one of the most controversial stories ever to appear on ATC’s stage, playwright Thomas Bradshaw bravely and honestly exposes the painful gray areas between the personal and the professional in America’s upper class.

Performance schedule

Previews: Friday, Nov. 6 at 8 p.m.; Saturday, Nov. 7 at 8 p.m.; Sunday, Nov. 8 at 2 p.m.; Tuesday, Nov. 10 at 8 p.m.; Wednesday, Nov. 11 at 8 p.m.

Press Opening: Thursday, Nov. 12 at 7 p.m.

Regular Run, Nov. 13 – Dec. 13: Thursdays and Fridays at 8 p.m.; Saturdays at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.; Sundays at 2 p.m. There will be no performance on Thanksgiving or Black Friday (Nov. 26 and 27). An additional 6 p.m. performance will be presented on Sunday, Nov. 29.

Single tickets for Fulfillment at American Theater Company, 1909 W. Byron Street, range from $38-$48 and will be available beginning Sept. 15 by calling the ATC box office at 773-409-4125, or visiting www.atcweb.org. Subscription packages are available now starting at $105.

Thomas Bradshaw’s play Carlyle will premiere at Goodman Theatre as part of its 2015-16 season. His other plays include Intimacy and Burning (New Group); Mary (Goodman Theatre) Job and Dawn (Flea Theater); The Bereaved (Crowded Fire, Partial Comfort and the State Theater of Bielefeld in Germany); Southern Promises (PS122) and many more. He was the recipient of a 2009 Guggenheim Fellowship, the 2010 Prince Prize, and a 2012 award from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts. Mr. Bradshaw has been featured as one of Time Out New York’s 10 playwrights to watch and was named “Best Provocative Playwright” by the Village Voice. Mr. Bradshaw received his MFA from Mac Wellman’s playwriting program and he is an Associate Professor at Northwestern University. 

Ethan McSweeny is based in Brooklyn, New York. He was born in Washington, DC. His twenty year career as a director of new plays, musicals, operas, and revivals has taken him all over the world, most recently to Dublin, Ireland where his production of Brian Friel’s adapatation of Turgenev’s A Month in the Country is running at the Gate Theatre until the end of August. More information is at ethanmcsweeny.com.

About American Theater Company

American Theater Company (ATC) challenges and inspires its community by exploring stories that ask the question, “What does it mean to be an American?” ATC’s Ensemble includes Patrick Andrews, Kareem Bandealy, Jaime Castañeda, Kelly O’Sullivan, Tyler Ravelson, and Sadieh Rifai.

American Theater Company is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency, and CityArts grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, the Lloyd A. Fry Foundation, Polk Bros. Foundation, the MacArthur Fund for Arts and Culture at Prince, and the Shubert Foundation.