" 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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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!). ...
Wow. Just – wow.
It’s the Wednesday before our penultimate weekend of The Man Who Was Thursday. And it’s doing well. Crazy well. I’m proud of my company, this play, this production – and I’m also excited that it’s giving us a momentum-based push in the direction of thinking about things in the long term.
Ahh, Saturday afternoon. You know what that means: It’s almost Treehouse time. On November 21st, New Leaf welcomes Jack Tamburri to stage a reading of LEOCADIA, (or TIME REMEMBERED): The perfect way to spend a crisp fall tea time.
This Thursday Nov. 5th (Guy Fawkes Day, naturally) is chock full of New Leaf events. We hope you can join us for one or all of them! I know Artistic Director Jess Hutchinson would love some companions as her evening will require some temporal engineering so that she can make all three presentations.
NOVEMBER [...]
This halloween, New Leaf is offering a $5 discount if you join us for our October 31st show… and if you come dressed as one of THE SUPREME COUNCIL OF ANARCHISTS.
An opening warning to all readers:
I heart New Leaf Theatre. They simply rock socks and I’m thrilled to be a part of their process. To avoid this post becoming an all-out unadulterated love-fest to the Leaf, I will make an effort to provide a tempered behind the scenes look at the experience of bringing Bilal [...]