Strawdog Theatre Company Announces Extension and Special Events for ONCE IN A LIFETIME, Now Playing through June 11

CHICAGO - Strawdog Theatre Company and Artistic Director Hank Boland are proud to announce the extension and special events for its final main stage production in the 2015 - 2016 season and the final production to be produced at the theatre Strawdog called home for the last 26 years. George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart’s Once in a Lifetime, directed by Damon Kiely is currently running through June 11 at Strawdog Theatre Company, 3829 N. Broadway St. The performance schedule is Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 4 p.m. Tickets are $30, they may be ordered online at strawdog.org or by calling OvationTix toll-free: 866-811-4111. Subscriptions, group, rush, senior and student discounts are also available.

Added performance that mark the last in the Broadway Ave. space include:

Sunday, June 5 at 4 p.m.

Thursday, June 9 at 8 p.m.

Friday, June 10 at 8 p.m. *

Saturday, June 11 at 8 p.m.**

*Final public performance includes a pre- and post- show reception including an open bar. Tickets are $100.

**Friends and family final performance. Tickets available through invitation and a limited number available to the public via lottery.

Those interested in attending the final performance Sunday, June 11 at 8 p.m., must email boxoffice@strawdog.org and include name, email, phone number and mailing address to be placed into the lottery. Names will be drawn Thursday, June 9 at 12 p.m. with Strawdog notifying winners immediately. There is one entry per person with a limit of two tickets per entry. Tickets are $30 each for this final performance. Deadline to enter lottery is Wednesday, June 8 at 11:59 p.m.

May (Kat McDonnell), Jerry (Mike Dailey) and George (Scott Danielson) are giving up vaudeville and leaving New York to cash in on California’s latest gold rush: talking pictures. Kaufman and Hart’s 1930 comedy classic about Hollywood and the quest for fame is a love letter to the theatre with thirteen actors playing over forty characters. Damon Kiely, the acclaimed director of American Blues Theatre’s Hank Williams: Lost Highway and author of How to Read a Play: Script Analysis for Directors directs this epic satire of greed run amok.

Additional cast includes ensemble members Jamie Vann, Justine C. Turner, Sarah Goeden, Nicole Bloomsmith, Brandon Saunders, Michaela Petro, Anderson Lawfer, Paul Fagen, with guest artist Kamille Dawkins.

The production team also includes Strawdog Company Ensemble Members Jordan Kardasz, lighting designer; Heath Hays, sound designer; Brittany Dee Bodley, co-costume designer with guest artists Cassandra Bass, co-costume designer; Max Colvill, assistant stage manager; Spencer Diedrick, assistant director; Mike Ford, choreographer; Jamie Karas, properties designer; Emmaline Keddy-Hector, production manager; Matthew Lightfoot, assistant lighting designer; Austin Oie, music director; Casey Peek, stage manager; Joe Schermoly, scenic designer; Arianna Soloway, dramaturg; Rob Stepek, master electrician and Alan Weusthoff, technical director.

ABOUT DAMON KIELY, DIRECTOR

Damon Kiely is a professional director and writer, as well as a full time professor of directing and acting for DePaul’s Theatre School. He is currently writing a book for Routledge called How to Read a Play: Script Analysis for Directors due out May 2016. He was recently nominated for a Jeff Award for Best Director of a Musical for the production of Hank Williams: Lost Highway for American Blues Theater which won the Jeff for Best Production of a Musical, midsize theatre. In Chicago, he has directed regional premieres of work by Lisa Kron, Kirsten Greenidge, and Jordan Harrison for Next Theatre, the Chicago premiere of Gore Vidal’s Weekend for TimeLine Theatre Company, the regional premiere of Gina Gionfriddo’s Becky Shaw for A Red Orchid Theatre, and the world premiere of McMeekin Finds Out for Route 66. He’s also worked at Eclipse Theatre, Chicago Dramatists, WildClaw and others. The House Theatre of Chicago produced his world premiere adaptation of Thieves Like Us and The Revel. He served as the artistic director of American Theater Company (ATC) from 2002 to 2007. Directing credits at ATC include Oklahoma! (Nominated for six Jeff Awards including Best Musical and Best Direction of a Musical),The Dark at the Top of the Stairs, Orpheus Descending, A View from the Bridge, and The Hairy Ape. At The Theatre School he has directed many plays for the Showcase and Playworks series including Our Town, the first show in the Theatre School’s new building. Prior to moving back to Chicago he produced, directed or taught for the Public Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop, the Ontological Theater, Adobe Theater Company, PS122, Ensemble Studio Theater and New Dramatists in New York City. Kiely also served as the artistic director for Real Time Theater and was a producing director at the Ontological-Hysteric Theater as well as the associate artistic director for the Children’s Theater of Maine. He is a winner of the 2000-02 NEA/TCG Career Directing Program, the 2000 Drama League Fall Directing Program and the 1997 Princess Grace Award.

ABOUT STRAWDOG THEATRE COMPANY

Since its founding in 1988, Strawdog Theatre Company has offered Chicagoland the premiere storefront theatre experience and garnered numerous Non-Equity Jeff Awards with its commitment to ensemble acting and an immersive design approach. The celebrated Company develops new work, re-imagines the classics, melds music with theatre, asks provocative questions and delivers their audience the unexpected.

*Strawdog Theatre Company recently announced its 2016 - 2017 season will be produced in its itinerant home at the new Factory Theatre in Rogers Park, 1621 W. Howard St. on the Chicago-Evanston border in the historic Howard Theatre building. The theatre space is a newly created 70 seat three-quarters thrust just two blocks from CTA’s Howard Red Line terminal. Strawdog’s 29th Season may be viewed online at strawdog.org.

Strawdog Theatre Company and Artistic Director Hank Boland are proud to announce the extension and special events for its final main stage production in the 2015 - 2016 season and the final production to be produced at the theatre Strawdog called home for the last 26 years. George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart’s Once in a Lifetime, directed by Damon Kiely is currently running through June 11 at Strawdog Theatre Company, 3829 N. Broadway St. The performance schedule is Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 4 p.m. Tickets are $28 - 30, they may be ordered online at strawdog.org or by calling OvationTix toll-free: 866-811-4111. Subscriptions, group, rush, senior and student discounts are also available.

RUSH TICKETS

Strawdog Theatre Company offers six tickets at a 50% discount one hour before every production. The rush ticket must be purchased in person, exclusively at the Strawdog Box Office. Limit of two tickets per person, not applicable with other discounts, offers or

on previously purchased tickets, first come, first served.

The neighborhood has limited paid parking and is easily accessible by public transportation (via the Red Line Sheridan stop, plus 36-Broadway, 80-Irving Park, and 151-Sheridan buses).

# # #

This production is generously underwritten by a grant from the Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation. Strawdog Theatre Company is supported in part by The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, The Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, The Alphawood Foundation, The Saints, the Illinois Arts Council (a state agency) and the annual support of businesses and individuals.