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!). ...
Pay No Attention to the Laughter in the Corner
// Oct 14th, 2009
Amanda Frechette joined New Leaf as an Artistic Associate this year – and she’s also the stage management force that keeps shows (and presets) as complex as The Man Who Was Thursday running smooth as butter.
It’s only a day before we open The Man Who Was Thursday and I am sitting at home fully dressed [...]
re-writing Chesterton – thoughts from our dramaturg
// Sep 25th, 2009
New Leaf posed How do the stories we tell rewrite what we become? as its season question. The first play of the season is adapted from the G.K. Chesterton’s novel, The Man Who Was Thursday. This begs the question: how did Chesterton hope to rewrite the world with his novel, and how does the company hope to rewrite Chesterton?
A Guest post from MAN WHO WAS THURSDAY dramaturg Jacob Juntunen.
Photoblog: Treehouse the First
// Sep 24th, 2009
A few photos from the first installment of our Treehouse reading series – ‘Wall of Water’ by Sherry Kramer. Be sure to check out our SECOND Treehouse Reading, October 17 at 1 pm: BRUTAL, SELFISH RATTLESNAKE, by Chicago playwright Aaron Weissman, directed by Dan Stermer.
Treehouse Reading – today! WALL OF WATER by Sherry Kramer
// Sep 19th, 2009
It’s time for our first-ever Treehouse Reading – and the play’s an old favorite of ours – Sherry Kramer’s THE WALL OF WATER. We’re kicking off today at 1 PM in our home at the Lincoln Park Cultural Center. Hope to see you there!
These are the jokes, folks…
// Sep 15th, 2009
It’s been a good stretch since I’ve worked on a comedy. There have been comic elements in my projects of late, but in The Man Who Was Thursday, I have a chance to jump inside a real farce. The jokes and reveals and reversals are a lot of fun to play with, but it’s very different from staging drama.
