Victory Gardens Theater announces the first play of its 40^th Anniversary Season: the Midwest Premiere of Rest by Ensemble Playwright Samuel D. Hunter, directed by Joanie Schultz.  Rest runs September 12-October 12, 2014, with the press performance on September 19, 2014, at Victory Gardens Theatre, 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue.

A retirement home in northern Idaho is being shut down, and only three residents and a bare-bones staff remain.  When a record breaking blizzard blows into town and an elderly resident disappears into the storm, everyone is brought to face their own mortality.  Samuel D. Hunter (from last season’s hit The Whale) returns with a tender and heartbreakingly funny play about life’s unexpected beginnings and endings.

Title:                            Rest

Written by:                   Samuel D. Hunter

Directed by:                 Joanie Schultz

Previews:                   September 12 – September 18, 2014

Regular run:                September 20 – October 12, 2014

 Schedule:

Tuesdays:        7:30 pm

Wednesdays: 7:30 pm

Thursdays:      7:30 pm

Fridays:           7:30 pm

Saturdays:       4:00 pm and 7:30pm

Sundays:         3:00 pm

Location:                     Victory Gardens Biograph Theater is located at 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue, in the heart of Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood

Tickets:                  Previews:        $20 – $40

Regular run:    $20 – $60

Box Office:                  The Box Office is located at 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue, Chicago. 773.871.3000; www.victorygardens.org

Production sponsorship for Rest provided by Steven H. and Pamela B. Adelman, the William M. Weiss Foundation, and Golden Country Oriental Food, L.L.C.

About Victory Gardens Theater

Under the leadership of Artistic Director Chay Yew and Managing Director Christopher Mannelli, Victory Gardens is dedicated to artistic excellence while creating a vital, contemporary American Theater that is accessible and relevant to all people through productions of challenging new plays and musicals.  With Victory Gardens’ first new Artistic Director in 34 years, the company remains committed to the development, production and support of new plays that has been the mission of the theater since its founding, continuing the vision set forth by Dennis Zacek, Marcelle McVay, and the original founders of Victory Gardens Theater.

Victory Gardens Theater is a leader in developing and producing new theatre work and cultivating an inclusive Chicago theater community. Victory Gardens’ core strengths are nurturing and producing dynamic and inspiring new plays, reflecting the diversity of our city’s and nation’s culture through engaging diverse communities, and in partnership with Chicago Public Schools, bringing art and culture to our city’s active student population.

Since its founding in 1974, the company has produced more world premieres than any other Chicago theater, a commitment recognized nationally when Victory Gardens received the 2001 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre. Located in the Lincoln Park neighborhood, Victory Gardens Biograph Theater includes the Zacek-McVay Theater, a state-of-the-art 299-seat mainstage and the 109-seat studio theater on the second floor, named the Richard Christiansen Theater.

In 2012, Victory Gardens Victory Gardens appointed new Ensemble Playwrights Philip Dawkins, Marcus Gardley, Samuel D. Hunter and Tanya Saracho, for seven-year residencies.The Playwrights Ensemble Alumni includes Claudia Allen, Lonnie Carter, Steve Carter, Gloria Bond Clunie, Dean Corrin, Nilo Cruz, Joel Drake Johnson, John Logan, Nicholas Patricca, Douglas Post, James Sherman, Charles Smith, Jeffrey Sweet and Kristine Thatcher.

For more information about Victory Gardens, www.victorygardens.org.  Follow up on Facebook at Facebook.com/victorygardens and Twitter @VictoryGardens.

Victory Gardens Theater receives major funding from Alphawood Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, The Joyce Foundation,The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Allstate Insurance, Polk Bros. Foundation, Crown Family Philanthropies,The Leo S. Guthman Fund, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The William and Orli Staley Foundation, The National Endowment for the Arts, The REAM Foundation, and the Leo S. Guthman Fund. Additional funding is provided by: Abbot Downing & Wells Fargo, Alliance Bernstein, Berghoff Catering, The Charles H. and Bertha L. Boothroyd Foundation, a City Arts Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation, The Conant Family FoundationThe Edgerton Foundation, Exelon, John R. Halligan Charitable Fund, Illinois Arts Council (a state agency),  Illinois Tool Works, Italian Village Restaurants, James S. Kemper Foundation, Mayer Brown LLP, The McVay Foundation, Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg, LLP, The Prince Charitable Trusts, The Seabury Foundation, Charles & M.R. Shapiro Foundation, Southwest Airlines, The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable TrustVenturous Theater Fund of the Tides Foundation,and Wrightwood Neighbors Conservation Association.

#