Wheels in Motion.
" The wheels are in motion. There's nothing you can do to turn it back. The only thing you can do is cooperate. To play ball. To become part of us." - Taylor Most of the New Leaf and Curse of the Starving Class team met up recently at one of our favorite haunts for a fantastic first read through together. We gathered ourselves around some good food and a few drinks and listened to these incredible actors breathe life into the dangerously beautiful words of Sam Shepard. Rehearsals start on March 2nd and we can't wait to roll up our sleeves and dig. Special thanks ...
Nick Keenan gets a nod
New City listed company member Nick Keenan as one of the 50 people who perform for Chicago Theatre. We couldn't agree more. "Nick Keenan’s the kind of guy you can’t wait to see a few years down the road. You know he is going to be doing something stellar because he is already one of the most exciting artists in town. The young designer’s resume has blown up to include many of Chicago’s major theaters, and he is is a thinker to boot. Follow his musings on web technology, theater infrastructure and community building on his blog theaterforthefuture.com." Check out ...
A New Funding Model for New Leaf
So, it's official: New Leaf has a track record of putting up some of the best productions in Chicago with one of the smallest operating budgets in the city. After closing the books on The Man Who Was Thursday, we find ourselves with more pleasant surprises - our ticket sales and two comparatively modest but vital grants have paid the entire production budget for our spring production of Curse of the Starving Class, and go a long way towards funding the first production of the 2010-2011 season. If you have followed the national conversation on theater funding in the last ...
Treehouse Podcast: Brutal Selfish Rattlesnake
Did you miss our second Treehouse reading of BRUTAL SELFISH RATTLESNAKE, Aaron Weissman's beautifully savage western musical? Well now you didn't. You can download the full length play on our podcast. Our next Treehouse is this Saturday at 1 pm at 2045 N. Lincoln Park West: Leocadia, directed by Jack Tamburri of the Plagiarists. As Leocadia is being licensed for this one-day performance, the only way to catch that reading will be in person... Unless you know a couple generous donors who can help us raise $150 to pay for podcasting rights for the performance (it's tax deductible!). ...
Good Surprise
// Jan 19th, 2009
This past weekend for New Leaf and the cast and crew of Touch was like having your work checked by your favorite teacher…
No, that’s not quite right.
It was like meeting your best friend’s mom and hoping she doesn’t think you’ve been a bad influence…
That’s not it either.
It was like meeting the person who invented soup…
No.
It [...]
All that gorgeous light…
// Jan 11th, 2009
“The full moon’s light obscures most of the other bodies in the sky. Which I hate. … Zoe used to say–but what about all that gorgeous light, sweetheart? What about all that gorgeous light, sweetheart?”
This past Saturday night featured, according to NASA, the biggest, brightest full moon of 2009. It was compared to the full [...]
Thoughts following a final dress…
// Jan 7th, 2009
Kristina Johnson plays the role of Serena in New Leaf’s production of TOUCH. Which opens today.
Tuesday January 6th 1:11am
New Leaf doesn’t usually have previews, but we did tonight for Toni Press-Coffman’s Touch. Our first audience before we officially open tomorrow Wednesday January 7th. The audience (like they always do) illuminated so many things for all [...]
Finishing Touches
// Jan 5th, 2009
So, here we are, in the home stretch again. Touch opens in a little over 48 hours. To continue our extended metaphor: the soup is ready, and now we are all frantically working on the garnish.
This is the time of odds and ends. The time when the “etc.” at the bottom of the list gets [...]
Zooming
// Jan 3rd, 2009 From the first moment of conceptual discussion about Touch, it was clear that visually and sonically, this show needed to morph and change, to be full of light and hope one second and darkness and emptiness the next. It needed to shift, to be intangible, to float. So it was clear that it was a [...]
