LiveWire Chicago Theatre has announced the lineup for its annual festival of 11 short plays inspired by two original artworks VisionFest 4: Where the Image Meets the Stage, June 14-30 in the Envision Gallery at Flourish Studios.
For the festival, each play will be staged in a different area of the multi-level gallery, and drinking and mingling is encouraged as audiences move from play to play. The festival will be presented in two programs, each with 5 of the plays and a devised piece by VisionFest curator Chris Zdenek, which will be presented on alternate Thursdays and Fridays. A marathon of both programs will run on Saturdays.
The plays set for Program 1 include Drunk, Bekah Brunstetter’s play about the complications of making friends, directed by LiveWire artistic director Joel Ewing. Gus Menary will direct Roll-Out, Ike Holter’s story about old friends. Rebecca Stevens will direct Erin Barlow’s play about a young couple with their first child on the way Twilight. Kristin Idaszak’s Nyotaimori can’t unbreak her heart, in which Mary and John prepare a kinky sushi banquet as a last attempt to save their relationship, will be directed by Tara Branham. The final presentation of Program 1 is Dorothy Fortenberry’s Somebody in Kansas Loves Me, a play about hoarding precious reminders of our loved ones, directed by Kendra Miller.
For Program 2, Jacob Padrón will direct Philip Dawkins’ Nothing, a play about an alien invasion, a father, and a son. Mat Smart’s Here, will be directed by Glenn Proud. Bilal Dardai’s A Determination (Mixed Media), which focuses on an art teacher, a guidance counselor, and a nurse, will be directed by Cliff Frei. Program 2 will also feature Scott Tobin’s story of a mother and daughter in Brooklyn Cause Celebre, directed by Krista D’Agostino and Conor Woods’ play about moving on after a relationship ends Only So Long, directed by Elizabeth Murphy.
LiveWire associate artistic director Chris Zdenek’s devised piece Air, a sexy roller coaster ride with the digital dial turned way up and featuring the poems of Jacob Saenz, will be performed with both programs.
For more information and tickets to VisionFest 4: Where the Image Meets the Stage, click here.
