Victory Gardens Theater's
2011-2012 Season

© Brian McConkey

My immediate plan is to refine and amplify Victory Gardens’ mission of championing new American plays. With this in mind, I would like to introduce you to some thrilling additions to our 2011-12 Season:

I’m excited to bring you a wonderful ensemble piece performed by Universes, one of the premiere theatre ensembles in America. Using Hurricane Katrina as a jumping off point, Ameriville is a highly entertaining performance piece fusing hip-hop, poetry, flamenco, standup comedy and spoken word. Universes weaves this electrifying 80-minute theatrical exploration of race, class, poverty, immigration and political awareness into a great adventure about what it means to be American.

Our season will conclude with a sensual and epic Latino retelling of a classical Greek myth. Against the contemporary backdrop of a Los Angeles barrio, Oedipus el Rey explores the notions of fate through the milieu of prison and gang culture. As Chicagoans, we know these problems remain very close to home, and the MacArthur “Genius” Fellow playwright Luis Alfaro raises poignant questions about what our roles are as citizens to better understand gang violence and social responsibility.

In addition, the season includes the previously announced Tony-nominated Broadway hit comedy In The Next Room or the vibrator play by acclaimed playwright Sarah Ruhl — and the premiere of Jackie Sibblies Drury’s startling play, We Are Proud to Present a Presentation... which mesmerized audiences at the 2010 Ignition Festival. These are not to be missed. This is a new chapter at Victory Gardens — with a commitment to passionate new American voices that celebrate, reflect and challenge the attitudes of our dynamic and diverse society.

Please join us for a compelling, challenging, exciting and entertaining season.

Warmest regards,
Chay Yew

In the Next Room
or the vibrator play
by Sarah Ruhl
directed by Sandy Shinner
September 9 – October 9, 2011

Sarah Ruhl brings her Tony-nominated Broadway hit home to Chicago.

In the twilight of the Victorian age, a buzzworthy new medical device is developed to calm women with “hysteria.” In fact, it has quite a stimulating effect when used in the home offices of Dr. Givings, that most modern of men. As he pioneers an intimate new therapy, his young wife becomes determined to investigate the experiments that have patient after patient leaving the procedure room with the rosy glow of pleasure. Ruhl’s stylish comedy pulses and hums along as it dispels old-fashioned notions of female sexuality, intimacy and marriage at the dawn of the age of electricity.

Ameriville
by Universes
developed with and directed by Chay Yew
Jan 27 – Feb 26, 2012

Performed by the celebrated performance ensemble UNIVERSES, this thrilling exploration of the American experience prowls the dark corners of our contemporary landscape and asks, "If Hurricane Katrina happened again, would we be ready?" An electrifying evening infused with hip hop, song, poetry and dance, Ameriville is a passionate and hopeful vision of a community's responsibility to another amidst a nation in turmoil.

We Are Proud to Present a Presentation About the Herero of Namibia, Formerly Known as South-West Africa, From the German Sudwestafrika, Between the Years 1884-1915
by Jackie Sibblies Drury
directed by Eric Ting
from Victory Garden’s 2010 IGNITION Festival
March 30 – April 29, 2012

Direct from IGNITION, the festival that brought you Pulitzer finalist The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity, comes this brave new work that sent chills and laughter through festival audiences.

When a group of actors gather together to give a presentation on a distant genocide, they realize that summaries based on history books aren’t nearly enough to capture the complexity of human extermination—or human interaction. In an honest attempt to delve deeper, they crash into their own simmering fears and unconscious bigotry and come face to face with the potential for brutality in all of us.

IGNITION, Victory Gardens daring and hugely successful new play development initiative, was conceived to support the theater’s mission of new play development and diversity. In the spring of 2010, 120 writers of color under 40 years of age from around the United States submitted new scripts for the first phase of IGNITION. The top six plays were then selected, workshopped and presented as staged readings in a weeklong festival later that same summer. From the top six, Jackie Sibblies Drury’s We Are Proud to Present... was selected to be part of Victory Gardens mainstage season.

Oedipus El Rey
By Luis Alfaro
Directed by Chay Yew
June 29 – July 29, 2012

In Luis Alfaro's thrilling reboot of the daddy of all tragedies, a juvenile delinquent from South Central Los Angeles sets off on his journey to be the king of the gangland. Set amid the sizzling rhythms and explosive violence of a Californian barrio, the gripping story follows his family of ex-cons through the vicious cycle of fate and violence in which they find themselves trapped. Oedipus el Rey is a sexy, dangerous and modern Latino take on a classic.