Chris Hodak’s new play, The Iroquois, to be performed in a fully staged workshop at Raven Theatre, June 23-25, 2014.

Raven Theatre will present a staged workshop production of The Iroquois, by Chicago playwright Chris Hodak, as part of its [Working Title] new play development series.

A slice-of-life portrait of an overburdened woman dealing with her elderly mother during the Downstate Illinois floods of 2008, The Iroquois is full of humor, compassion, and appealing characters who are facing the universal dilemma of deciding whether or not to move a parent with deteriorating health into a nursing home.

The Iroquois was a semi-finalist at the 2013 O’Neill National Playwrights Conference. The play will be directed by Jaclynn Jutting, Associate Artistic Director of Vitalist Theatre and adjunct professor at Dominican University. 

The cast will include Grace Melon, Kenton Gott, Kristin Collins, Judy Laughlin and Saren Nofs-Snyder. The Creative Team consists of Jessica Urban (Stage Manager), Susan Lieberman (Literary Manager) and Andrei Onegin (Set Designer/Tech Director).

Curtain time for all three performances will be at 7:30 PM and will be on June 23, 24, and 25. Tickets for The Iroquois are $10.00 and may be purchased by calling 773-338-2177 or by visiting www.raventheatre.com

Christine Hodak is a Chicago writer. Her full length play, The Iroquois, which began as a ten minute play in Chicago Dramatists’ Natural Disasters, was a semi-finalist at the 2013 O’Neill National Playwrights Conference. With Madison-based composer Scott Lamps, Chris has created a family-friendly play with music entitled Tomato Queen, which Quest Theatre Ensemble is developing for a spring 2015 premiere production. Her short play Dance with the Devil was included in Washington D.C.’s 2011 Source Festival, and published in American Blues Theatre’s Ripped: The Living Newspaper Project, where the play was first produced in 2010. Chris was awarded writing residencies at Ragdale in Lake Forest, IL and the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation in Taos, New Mexico. The City of Chicago Cultural Arts Program has supported two of her projects: The Adventures of Gudrid and Jorunn seen in the 2007 Estrogen Fest andThismia americana presented at the Pullman State Historic Site in 2009. The Field Museum and the City of Chicago Department of the Environment were partners in the Thismia production. Chris is a Network Playwright at Chicago Dramatists, a Member of the Dramatist Guild and an Artistic Associate of Quest Theatre Ensemble.

Jaclynn Jutting is a freelance director, Associate Artistic Director of Vitalist Theatre and adjunct professor at Dominican University.  Recent directing credits include LOVE AND UNDERSTANDING (Redtwist), RABBIT HOLE (Dominican University), CLOUD 9, ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD and THE LIFE AND THE TIMES OF TULSA LOVECHILD (Roosevelt University), ENOLA (the side project theatre co.), ANIMALS OUT OF PAPER (Next Up/Steppenwolf); THE GHOST IS HERE and THE BAY AT NICE (Vitalist Theatre); and Sarah Ruhl’s ORLANDO, THE REGINA TAYLOR PROJECT and ARTIST DESCENDING A STAIRCASE (Northwestern).  She also was the Associate Director for Vitalist Theatre’s MOTHER COURAGE AND HER CHILDREN, which won an After Dark Award for Best Direction and was the Assistant Director of Mary Zimmerman’s CANDIDE (Goodman).  Jaclynn received her MFA in Directing from Northwestern University.

Raven’s [Working Title] New Play Development Series, which began in 1992, presents new voices of the American stage, with fully rehearsed, fully-staged presentations of new plays to the general public for three nights. There are moderated post show discussions after each performance. Our [WORKING TITLE] Series provides the company with the opportunity to incubate new plays, while offering an invaluable laboratory for playwrights, directors and actors to experiment and showcase their work.


LISTING INFORMATION
The Iroquois
By Chris Hodak
Directed by Jaclynn Jutting
Monday, June 23 through Wednesday, June 25 at 7:30 pm
Raven Theatre East Stage, 6157 N. Clark St., Chicago
Tickets are $10.00
Free parking is provided in a lot adjacent to the theater; additional street parking is available
Raven Theatre is handicapped accessible
Tickets/information: www.raventheatre.com or 773-338-2177

About Raven Theatre

Raven Theatre is dedicated to performing arts that illuminate the American experience and work that provides reflection on our identity in a global context. Through its ensemble produced plays, collaborations with outside artists and organizations and its educational programming, Raven is committed to serving our community’s needs through the arts.
 
Raven Theatre Company’s 2013-14 season of programming is generously supported by Alphawood Foundation, MacArthur Fund for Arts and Culture at the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, Yates-Feldman Foundation, Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, Jamerson & Bauwens Electrical Contractors, Inc., The Pauls Foundation, The Saints, Artswork Fund for Organizational Development, The Service Club of Chicago, and Dramatists Guild Fund. Raven’s season is also funded in part by the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.
 
Raven’s education and outreach programming is generously funded by Polk Bros Foundation, Lloyd A. Fry Foundation, REAM Foundation, Kinder Morgan Foundation, and Target.