Cole Theatre Announces Cast for THE BACHELORS
Inside a house on a fraternity row live three roommates far past their college days. It’s Friday evening, and Laurie (Shane Kenyon) has just returned from a business trip, buddy Kevlar (Nicholas Bailey) is already wasted and cellular biologist Henry (Boyd Harris) is just getting started to party. A thousand girlfriends come and gone, a thousand drinks downed, a thousand parties crashed – every night the same, until now. There’s a party tonight, but it is not the blaring music that makes sleep impossible. Tonight, these bachelors will understand what their choices have really gotten them.
“The Bachelors is a sharply funny and disturbingly thrilling portrait of seemingly privileged guys, each differently stunted, who detonate in hilarious, haunting and tragic ways,” says Harris, Cole Theatre’s founder and artistic director.
“It really surprised me,” reveals director Erica Weiss. “I would not have thought that my next passion project would be a play about three men – and then Caroline’s creation hit me with razor sharp wit and empathetic insight into the perils and pitfalls of contemporary masculinity. Not only is it incredibly entertaining, this play is incredibly relevant to my interest in featuring the voices of female perspectives and challenging preconceived notions about what topics women can take on. It makes me laugh, it makes me gasp, and it makes me grapple with my capacity for empathy. Caroline V. McGraw is a playwright Chicago needs to know, and I am beyond thrilled to make this introduction.”
“I wanted it to be gross and funny and really milk the boys-will-be-boys tropes, but have an unabashedly feminist perspective always lurking under the surface,” says McGraw of her one-act play. “I wanted this to be a night at the theater that’s enjoyable in a lot of ways, but where the characters’ damaged relationships with women cause the play world to open up in unexpected ways.”
The production will feature work by Bethany Arrington (assistant director), Eric Backus (sound design), Matthew Bonaccorso (assistant stage manager), Alarie Hammock (costume design), Cori James (stage manager), Dillon Kelleher (actor cover), Richard Latshaw (prop design), Rachel K. Levy (lighting design), Grant Sabin (scenic design), Martha Templeton (master electrician), and David Woolley (fight choreography).
About the Playwright:
Caroline V. McGraw’s plays include Believeland, Ultimate Beauty Bible, Tall Skinny Cruel Cruel Boys, The Vaults, Debut Track One Chord One Verse One (or, The Shed), The King is Dead and Baby No More Times (a pop musical co-written with Mary Birnbaum and Melissa Lusk). Her work has been produced and developed at theaters around the country, including the Cherry Lane Theatre by Young Playwrights Inc., New Georges, Washington Ensemble Theatre, The Yale Cabaret, AracaWorks, Naked Angels, Washington National Opera/The Kennedy Center, Second Stage, Studio 42, Page 73, IAMA Theater Company, and Ars Nova ANT Fest. She has been in residence at Portland Center Stage’s JAW Festival, Wordbridge Playwrights’ Lab, and SPACE on Ryder Farm. She is an alum of the New George’s Jam, Interstate 73 and the Civilians R&D Group, and a member of the Primary Stages Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group. She is working on a new play commission from Yale Rep. Caroline was the 2013 Page 73 Playwriting Fellow. She is a graduate of the Playwriting MFA program at the Yale School of Drama, where she studied under Paula Vogel.
About the Director:
Erica Weiss is a Chicago-based theatre and film director and an ensemble member with The Gift Theatre Company. She has a background in new play development and dramaturgy, and has been privileged to work with fantastic companies of all sizes in the Chicago Theatre community, including Victory Gardens Theatre, Steep Theatre Company, Bailiwick Chicago, and Route 66 Theatre Company, where she was the Associate Artistic Director from 2011-2015. She made her off-Broadway directing debut in 2012 at 59E59, and was the 2013-2014 Michael Maggio Directing Fellow at The Goodman Theatre. She is a nominee for the 2014-15 Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Director and Best Production. She and creative partner Caitlin Parrish are the founders of Teleporter Productions, and recently completed their first feature film, The View From Tall.
About Cole Theatre
Cole Theatre Company, established in 2013, works with thrilling, under-sung artists to make theatre illuminating joy, horror, humor, sadness, triviality and injustice. For more information about Cole Theatre’s productions and programs, visit www.coletheatre.org, call (773) 747- 6821, or email boyd@coletheatre.org