Strange Tree Group’s Funeral Wedding: The Alvin Play Runs Through Nov. 17th

Strange Tree Group's Funeral Wedding: The Alvin Play Runs Through Nov. 17th 1 The Strange Tree Group's theatrical re-imagining of Funeral Wedding: The Alvin Play, written by Emily Schwartz and directed by Jess McLeod at Signal Ensemble Theatre, 1802 W Berenice Avenue, Chicago. Performances run through November 17, 2012.  www.strangetree.orgThe Strange Tree Group’s theatrical re-imagining of Funeral Wedding: The Alvin Play, written by Emily Schwartz and directed by Jess McLeod at Signal Ensemble Theatre, 1802 W Berenice Avenue, Chicago. Performances run through November 17, 2012.  www.strangetree.org

The Strange Tree Group presents a theatrical re-imagining of Funeral Wedding: The Alvin Play, written by Emily Schwartz and directed by Jess McLeod – playing now through November 17, 2012 at Signal Ensemble Theatre, 1802 W Berenice Avenue, Chicago.

Something is amiss with Alvin Fisher. Join us this fall as we haunt the house at Signal Ensemble Theatre with a Gothic little ghost story selected as Top Five of the Fringe (Chicago Tribune 2006). That’s right, we’ve brought Funeral Wedding back from beyond the grave! Beloved by both company members and early fans of the group, this is the rare chance to see our second original production revived, revamped, and re-imagined for Halloween 2012. Audience members will have the opportunity to travel through a portion of the haunted Fisher Family home before arriving in Alvin’s attic for the play. Full of drawers to open, secrets to find, letters to read, candies to taste, characters to meet, and whispers to hear…this will truly be a very strange treat.

Join us as we celebrate the eight-year anniversary of The Strange Tree Group with

a special engagement of the script that brought our young company together all those years ago…

 

Title:                            Funeral Wedding: The Alvin Play

Playwright:                   Emily Schwartz

Director:                        Jess McLeod

                           

Cast:                             Alvin Fisher                               Daniel Behrendt

Anne Fisher                                Delia Baseman*

Myrna Fisher                              Jennifer Marschand*

Sylvester Fisher                          Ron Thomas

Robert Elliott                             Scott Cupper*

Lucy                                         Kate Nawrocki*

Mary                                         Amber Robinson

The Vaudevillian                         Zachary Sigelko

Production Team:          Director                                     Jess McLeod

Playwright                                 Emily Schwartz*

Production Manager                     Rebecca Phend*

Stage Manager                            Becky Bishop

Technical Director                       Benjamin Dawson

Scenic Design                             Scott Davis

Lighting Designer                        Becca Jeffords

Master Electrician                        John Kelly

Costume Designer                       Delia Baseman*

Original Music & Sound Design    Michael Huey**

Props Design & Management        Emily Schwartz* & Kate Nawrocki*

Press Photography                       Tyler Core**

Poster Design                             Phineas X. Jones **
(* Strange Tree Ensemble  ** Strange Tree Associate)

Location:                      Signal Ensemble Theatre, 1802 W Berenice Avenue, Chicago

Schedule:                      Run: October 16 – November 17, 2012

Wednesday Performances November 7th and 14th
NO performances: Sunday, October 21st or Wednesday, October 24th

Special Halloween Performance: Wednesday, October 31st @ 8pm

Show Times:                 Shows Wednesday – Saturday start at 8PM.  Sunday shows start at 7PM.  Patrons are encouraged to show up early.  Doors open 15 minutes prior to performances and ‘Pre-Show Activities’ start shortly thereafter where patrons will be allowed to “immersively explore” the haunted Fisher family home.

Ticket Prices:                 Individual tickets are $25 and can be purchased in advance starting September 15th at http://www.strangetree.org.  A limited number of RIP (Really Important Person) passes will be available online for $45. RIP passes include reserved front row seating, a limited edition screen print poster signed by the cast, and a glass of apple cider. Walk-up tickets will be available on a ‘first come, first serve’ basis at the door 30 minutes prior to show time. $15 Student and Industry tickets available at the door nightly, subject to availability.

Visit http://www.strangetree.org or call 773-598-8240 for ticket questions or availability.

Reference:                     www.strangetree.org

More cool stuff can be found at www.facebook.com/strangetreegroup,  twitter.com/strangetree, & www.flickr.com/strangetreegroup

Press Photos: http://www.strangetree.org/photos/funeralwedding/

Emily Schwartz is the Artistic Director of, and Resident Playwright for, The Strange Tree Group. For the Trees she has penned the Jeff Award-winning  The Three Faces of Doctor Crippen, as well as the critically acclaimed The Dastardly Ficus and Other Comedic Tales of Woe and Misery, Mr. Spacky, the Man Who Was Continuously Followed by Wolves, and The Mysterious Elephant, among many others. Emily is also a Resident Playwright of Chicago Dramatists, an Artistic Associate of Collaboraction, one of New City’s 2012 50 people who really perform in Chicago, and the Chicago Reader’s best playwright of 2008. Emily hates writing down her bio but loves kayaking.

Jess McLeod recently directed poet Kevin Coval’s solo exploration of the white rapper, L-Vis Live!, at Victory Gardens, Kin with Griffin Theatre at Theater Wit and Zanna, Don’t! with young artists at The Music Theatre Company, where she is an Associate Artist.  Her graduate shows at Northwestern included Venus (co-produced by Steppenwolf), In Trousers, Mourning Becomes Electra and several new plays through “Master Clash,” the MFA Writer/Director short play festival she co-created.  New York credits include Joyce Carol Oates’s The Corn Maiden (co-adapted with Justin Swain), Mr. Kolpert, Rachel Axler’s Kitchen Sink, Joe Keenan’s The Times, Harrison David Rivers’s Fell and The Last Five Years.  From 2005-08, Jess served as Director of Programming for The New York Musical Theatre Festival, where she oversaw all curating and directed pop/musical theatre fusion concerts like The Unauthorized Musicology of Ben Folds.  She has appeared as a guest artist/lecturer at NYU, Yale, NU, Williams College and The Calhoun School in New York, and headed Timber Lake Playhouse’s Summer Playwrights’ Colony.  In the pipeline: Nickel and Dimed at Northwestern, new musical The 1 with Matt Gould and Meridith Friedman, the utterly non-musical Untitled Ayn Rand/Alan Greenspan Project.  Jess has assisted at Steppenwolf, Williamstown, Victory Gardens, City Center Encores!, OSF and Chicago Shakes and directed workshops for The Music Theatre Company, The American Music Theatre Project and The House Theatre of Chicago.


About The Strange Tree Group

A collective of multifaceted individuals dedicated to creating intricate, intimate theatrical experiences that extend beyond the boundaries of a traditional stage. We produce works that inspire creativity not only in our actors but also in our audience. We Trees embrace the theatricality inherent in live performance and are committed to producing pieces that celebrate the strange and the magical; the dangerous and the fantastical; and the surprisingly usual nature of unusual behavior. The world is full of adventure…let us embark on this one together! For more information, please visit www.strangetree.org.

Strange Tree Group's Funeral Wedding: The Alvin Play Runs Through Nov. 17th 2 The Strange Tree Group's theatrical re-imagining of Funeral Wedding: The Alvin Play, written by Emily Schwartz and directed by Jess McLeod at Signal Ensemble Theatre, 1802 W Berenice Avenue, Chicago. Performances run through November 17, 2012.  www.strangetree.orgStrange Tree Group's Funeral Wedding: The Alvin Play Runs Through Nov. 17th 3 The Strange Tree Group's theatrical re-imagining of Funeral Wedding: The Alvin Play, written by Emily Schwartz and directed by Jess McLeod at Signal Ensemble Theatre, 1802 W Berenice Avenue, Chicago. Performances run through November 17, 2012.  www.strangetree.org

Strange Tree Group's Funeral Wedding: The Alvin Play Runs Through Nov. 17th 4 The Strange Tree Group's theatrical re-imagining of Funeral Wedding: The Alvin Play, written by Emily Schwartz and directed by Jess McLeod at Signal Ensemble Theatre, 1802 W Berenice Avenue, Chicago. Performances run through November 17, 2012.  www.strangetree.org