PROFILES THEATRE EXTENDS ACCLAIMED PRODUCTION OF OUR NEW GIRL BY NANCY HARRIS
Profiles Theatre announces an extension for its hit production of Our New Harris by Nancy Harris, directed by Artistic Director Joe Jahraus. The critically-acclaimed Midwest premiere opened at Profiles on May 14, 2015 and will extend for an additional three weeks through July 19, 2015. Original cast members Miriam Canfield, Sarah Chalcroft, Killian Hughes andLayne Manzer will continue their roles. Performances are held at The Main Stage, 4139 N. Broadway.
Our New Girl is a startling psychological drama about the darker side of modern parenthood. Behind the shiny door of Hazel Robinson’s immaculate London home, things aren’t as good as they look. Her plastic surgeon husband, Richard, has embarked on his latest charitable mission to Haiti, leaving the heavily pregnant Hazel to cope with a failing business and a problem son. When a professional nanny arrives unannounced on her doorstep, Hazel finds her home under the shadow of a seemingly perfect stranger, and one who has an agenda of her own.
Our New Girl was recently seen in its US premiere at New York’s Atlantic Theater in May 2014 following its sold out, extended run at London’s Bush Theatre in 2012. Nancy Harris, a young writer from Dublin, now living in London, was nominated for the Susan Smith Blackburn award and Best New Drama at the Irish Theatre Awards in 2012 for her play No Romance. She was also awarded the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature along with the Stewart Parker New Playwright Bursary Award in 2012.
Tickets for Our New Girl are $35 for Thursdays, $40 for Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Tickets are available by phone, (773) 549-1815, or online, www.profilestheatre.org. Performances are Thursdays and Fridays at 8:00 p.m., Saturdays at 5:00 and 8:00 pm, Sundays at 7:00 p.m. No performances will be held on the 4th of July.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
NANCY HARRIS (Playwright) is a playwright and screenwriter from Dublin who lives in London. Her first full-length original commission No Romance opened at The Abbey Theatre in Dublin in February 2011 to rave reviews. She was awarded the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature 2012 along with the Stewart Parker New Playwright Bursary 2012, and the play was nominated for the Susan Smith Blackburn award and Best New Drama at the Irish Theatre Awards 2012. Our New Girl, her next full-length commission opened at The Bush Theatre’s new venue in January 2012 and the run was extended for a week following strong sales and great reviews. Our New Girl was produced by the Atlantic Theater in New York in 2014. Other theatre work includes Nancy’s free adaptation of Tolstoy’s The Kreutzer Sonata (The Gate Theatre, La Mama – New York), her children’s play Philoctetes or The Man With The Disturbingly Smelly Foot (Unicorn Theatre, 2012) andJourney to X (National Theatre Connections 2012). Nancy wrote two episodes of Dates for Balloon Entertainment/C4 featuring Sheridan Smith, Neil Maskell and Andrew Scott which earned her a BAFTA TV Craft Breakthrough Talent Award nomination. Her latest piece for radio, The House on the Hill aired October 2012 on Radio 4 Extra. Nancy has delivered the first draft of her film adaptation of her play Our New Girl for Buckland Productions, the first episode of original drama serial At Schull for BBC N Ireland, a new musical for The Unicorn and a new play commission for the National Theatre. She has completed a new play, Somewhere Out There You. Her short film May Day for the Young Vic based on Happy Days featuring Juliet Stevenson was directed by Natalie Abrahami. Nancy is storylining and writing an episode outline for new television series Cuffs created by Julie Geary for Tiger Aspect/BBC.
JOE JAHRAUS (Director) is an Artistic Director and founder of Profiles Theatre and most recently directed Profiles’ Chicago premiere of The Other Place and the 20th Anniversary production ofThe Cryptogram by David Mamet as well as Midwest Premieres of Gidion’s Knot by Johnna Adams, In God’s Hat by Rhett Rossi, The Dream of the Burning Boy by David West Read and Sweet and Sad by Richard Nelson. His other directing credits with Profiles include the American Premiere of In a Forest, Dark and Deep by Neil LaBute, the World premiere of Assisted Living by Deirdre O’Connor and the Midwest premieres of Fifty Words by Michael Weller, Jailbait by Deirdre O’Connor, The Mercy Seat by Neil LaBute, Great Falls by Lee Blessing, The Thugs by Adam Bock and the World Premiere of Kid Sister by Will Kern. Joe directed the American premiere of Apple by Vern Thiessen and the long-running hit Fat Pig by Neil LaBute for which he received a Jeff Award Nomination for Outstanding Director. He directed the Jeff Award-winning Blackbird, Babylon Gardens, the Jeff Award-nominated Carnal Knowledge and Sexual Perversity in Chicago. Joe was the co-director of Profiles’ productions of The Water Engine, The Twilight Zone: The Series and How the Other Half Loves.
MIRIAM CANFIELD (Annie) began her training as a ballet dancer with the Chicago Festival Ballet and the Chautauqua Festival Ballet Company in New York. She earned her BFA from New York University’s Tisch drama program where she studied in the Stella Adler and Classical Studios. Miriam performed in last summer’s Hollywood Fringe Festival and was featured in the Celine Dion/Ne-Yo music video Incredible. She recently appeared in Stephen Cone’s Cinema Lab short film The Young Girls of Preston Hall.
SARAH CHALCROFT (Hazel) relocated from London to Chicago in 2012 and made her Chicago debut as Andrea in The Dream of the Burning Boy with Profiles Theatre. She played the Narrator and Ms Crumb in A Christmas Carol at The Goodman Theatre, and most recently Galactia in Scenes from an Execution for Runcible Theatre Company. UK credits include Purgatorio at The Chocolate Factory NW8; 4:48 Psychosis for Stonecrabs Theatre; Hedda Gabler with Theatre Babel; Transmissions for Birmingham Rep; Love’s Labour’s Lost, Twelfth Night, Hamlet and As You Like It for British Touring Shakespeare. Queen Margaret, The Merchant of Venice, Lear, Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing, Measure for Measure, The Tempest and As You Like It for Bard in the Botanics, Glasgow; Vivienne Grout’s Adventure In Another Metropolis for sparkleDark Theatre; and The Vagina Monologues. Sarah is Co-Artistic Director of Runcible Theatre Company, and a proud member of Actor’s Equity.
KILLIAN HUGHES (Daniel) is making his Profiles Theatre debut. His Chicago credits include Gypsy at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, A Christmas Carol (Drury Lane Theatre), A Christmas Carol: The Musical (Theatre at the Center), Whistle Down the Wind (Jedlicka Performing Arts Center), The Secret Garden (Edge of the Wood Theatre), Something Wicked: Shakespeare’s Macbeth Re-envisioned (Transcendent Ensemble Theatre Company), and Nine (BAM College Intensive). Killian has appeared in several films, his two most recent being Young Sinatra (Tindell Productions) and Family Meal (Columbia College Chicago M.F.A.), and on the Internet for The Onion. He curretnly attends fifth grade.
LAYNE MANZER (Richard) was recently seen at A Red Orchid Theatre in Grant Varjas’ Accidentally, Like a Martyr, and Cole Theatre’s Ecstasy, by Mike Leigh both directed by Shade Murray. He was last seen at Profiles in the World premiere of Dierdre O’Connor’s Assisted Living. Layne was part of the original cast of Hit The Wall with The Inconvenience as part of Steppenwolf’s 2012 Garage Rep and the remount in 2014. Other Chicago credits include The Jewels with TUTA Theatre, The Lady’s Not for Burning with Theo Ubique, Our Bad Magnet with Mary-Arrchie as well as working with TimeLine Theatre, & Jackelope Theatre. Layne also works as a commercial and film actor in Chicago seen in commercials for Capital One, Blue Rhino, White Castle, Lind-Waldoc, Green Dream Group, and will be in the soon to be released feature film No Resolution and recently released feature film In Between Engagements. Layne attended the School at Steppenwolf in 2009 and earned his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
ABOUT PROFILES THEATRE
Profiles Theatre, founded in 1988 by Artistic Director Joe Jahraus, joined shortly thereafter by Artistic Director Darrell W. Cox, was formed as an actor-driven theatre ensemble dedicated to creating provocative and emotionally truthful productions. Passionate about shaping an original vision for new works, they focused on performing World, American and Midwest premieres as well as rarely performed plays. Critically acclaimed hits, such as BLACKBIRD, FAT PIG, GRACELAND and the multiple Jeff Award-winning KILLER JOE, established Profiles as a destination for challenging and edgy theatre. Their unique collaboration with playwright Neil LaBute led the ensemble to perform an entire season of his plays in 2007-2008. Now a Resident Artist at Profiles, LaBute remains an unequivocal artistic influence on the ensemble.
After performing at 4147 North Broadway for more than two decades, Profiles acquired an adjacent theatre at 4139 North Broadway in 2012. Profiles’ new theatre, The Main Stage, with its larger seating capacity, increased performance space and higher ceilings, accommodates more ambitious and technically demanding productions. Their long-time venue, renamed The Alley Stage, continues as the home for plays strengthened by a more intimate staging. Driven by an undiminished appetite for creating honest and resonant theatre, Profiles still seeks to present work that illuminates the determination and resiliency of the human spirit.
For more information about Profiles Theatre, visit www.profilestheatre.org.