Sideshow Theatre Company Presents the Chicago Premiere of THE GOLDEN DRAGON
Sideshow Theatre Company continues its 2013-14 season on the heels of its critically acclaimed production of 9 Circles with the Chicago premiere of the darkly comic drama THE GOLDEN DRAGON by Roland Schimmelpfennig, playwright of the Sideshow’s 2012 Jeff Award-winning production of Idomeneus (Best Ensemble), with translation by David Tushingham and direction by Artistic Director Jonathan L. Green and Marti Lyons. THE GOLDEN DRAGON plays January 18 – February 23, 2014 at Victory Gardens’ Richard Christiansen Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Ave. in Chicago, where Sideshow is kicking off its multi-year residency. Tickets for THE GOLDEN DRAGON are available at www.victorygardens.org, by calling (773) 871-3000 or in person at the Victory Gardens Box Office.
THE GOLDEN DRAGON features: Sideshow ensemble member Matt Fletcher with David Hamilton, Daria Harper, Deanna Myers and Noah Sullivan.
A warm summer evening at The Golden Dragon, where the staff serves Thai, Chinese and Vietnamese cuisine to strangers who pass through its doors. Next door, a convenience store and its curious proprietor. Upstairs, a warehouse containing an unspeakable secret. As the evening progresses, the stories of the Dragon’s patrons and staff slowly unravel and intertwine, with all the shock, intrigue and danger of the international city at their core. Sideshow once again teams with playwright Roland Schimmelpfennig (Idomeneus) to tell a fast-paced and sweeping fable of culture clash in modern life. A dynamic ensemble of five actors embodies nearly twenty characters, and their intersecting desire for power exposes the raw nerve at the center of a newly globalized world.
“The Golden Dragon is the script that first made us fall in love with Schimmelpfennig’s work, and we’ve been waiting for years to be able to introduce Chicago audiences to this shocking, playful, fearless work,” comments Artistic Director Jonathan Green.
The production team for THE GOLDEN DRAGON includes: William Boles (scenic design), Kristin DeiTos (costume design), John Kelley (lighting design), Sideshow artistic associate Christopher M. LaPorte (sound design/original music), Arianna Soloway (props coordinator), Alison McLeod and Brittany Parlor (stage managers) and Aaron Shapiro (production manager).
Tickets: Previews: $10 in advance or pay-what-you-can at the door. Regular run: $20 – $25. Tickets are available at www.victorygardens.org, by calling (773) 871-3000 or in person at the Victory Gardens Box Office.
About the Playwright:
Roland Schimmelpfennig is one of the most produced European playwrights. His plays have been translated into over 20 languages and he made his U.S. debut in 2007 with a production of his play Arabian Nights, produced by NYC’s Play Company. He first worked as a freelance journalist and author in Istanbul before studying as a theatre director in Munich’s Otto Falkenberg School in 1990. He then became an assistant director and later a member of the artistic team at Munich’s Kammerspiele. Schimmelpfennig was then engaged as dramaturg and author at the Berlin Schaubühne for the 1999/2000 season and was resident playwright at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg. In 2010, Schimmelpfennig was awarded the Mühlheimer Dramatists Award for his play The Golden Dragon. The play premiered at the Burgtheater Vienna last season and has since received more than 20 productions worldwide. He just finished a commission for the Tokyo National Theater and the Burgtheater in Vienna. Schimmelpfennig is the recipient of the highest Playwriting Award in Germany, the Else-Lasker-Schüler-Prize, to honor his entire Oeuvre
About the Directors:
Jonathan L. Green is the current artistic director of Sideshow Theatre. He has directed or assistant directed in Chicago for Sideshow, Lookingglass, Steppenwolf, Chicago Dramatists, Theatre Seven of Chicago and Pavement Group, as well as with Live Arts and the Earl Hamner, Jr. Theatre in Virginia. Recent projects include the Jeff Award-winning Idomeneus, The Gacy Play, Midway Liquors, Heddatron, Theories of the Sun, Medea With Child, Everything Freezes: another winter’s tale, Dante Dies!! (and then things get weird), and Mud. Jonathan is a graduate of the University of Virginia and proudly serves on the board of directors of the League of Chicago Theatres and on the staff of Lookingglass Theatre Company.
Marti Lyons most recently directed The Peacock by Calamity West with Jackalope Theatre, A Good Dive by Puja Mohindra for the United Solo Theatre Festival in NYC, 9 Circles by Bill Cain for Sideshow, Mine by Laura Marks at The Gift Theatre and a staged reading of Ike Holter’s Prowess for the Goodman Theatre’s Playwrights Unit. She also directed the Chicago premiere of Jason Grote’s Maria/Stuart with Sideshow Theatre, the world premiere of The Last Duck by Lucas Neff with Jackalope Theatre, the world premiere of Cities of Light at Piven Theatre Workshop and the Chicago premiere of Brainpeople by Jose Rivera. This year, Marti assistant directed for Jonathan Munby on Julius Caesar at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, as well as for Kimberly Senior on The Letters at Writers’ Theatre, and for Chay Yew on Oedipus El Rey through an SDCF Observership. This winter, she will direct Seminar by Theresa Rebeck for Haven Theatre and this spring she will direct the world premiere of I wonder if it’s possible to have a love affair that lasts forever? or things I found on craigslist by Christopher Oscar Peña play for University of Illinois-Chicago. Marti also serves as the literary manager and company dramaturg for Lookingglass Theatre Company where she recently associate directed and understudied Still Alice.
About Sideshow Theatre Company:
It is the mission of Sideshow Theatre Company to mine the collective unconscious of the world we live in with limitless curiosity, drawing inspiration from the familiar stories, memories and images we all share to spark new conversation and bring our audiences together as adventurers in a communal experience of exploration.
From its first production, 2008’s Dante Dies!! (and then things get weird), to its Jeff Award-winning productions of Roland Schimmelpfennig’s Idomeneus (
Sideshow also produces the Chicago League of Lady Arm Wrestlers (CLLAW), a wildly-popular interactive fundraising event that benefits Sideshow Theatre Company and other local charities. CLLAW has been featured in The Washington Post, Time Out Chicago, Penthouse Magazine, Chicago Magazine, Chicago Sun-Times and on WGN Morning News, ABC’s Windy City Live and CBS 2 Chicago. For more information about CLLAW, visit www.cllaw.org.
For additional information on Sideshow Theatre Company, visit www.sideshowtheatre.org.