Tracy Egan's One-Woman Show "You Can Only Take the A.C.T. 12 Times"

Greenhouse Theater Center is pleased to present YOU CAN ONLY TAKE THE A.C.T. 12 TIMES, Tracy Egan’s new one-woman show about the joyful agony of parenting kids on the verge of fleeing the nest, directed by Rengin Altay. Presented as part of Greenhouse’s Solo Celebration! Series, YOU CAN ONLY TAKE THE A.C.T. 12 TIMES plays four performances only November 3 – 6, 2016 at The Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave. in Chicago. Tickets are currently available at greenhousetheater.org, in person at the box office or by calling (773) 404-7336.

Following her critically-acclaimed hit, Who’s Driving the Bus? My Year as a Kindergarten Mom, Egan's new work hilariously nails the fraught, frightening and exhilarating beast that is the college application process. Told through a host of characters both fictional and pulled from her own life, YOU CAN ONLY TAKE THE A.C.T. 12 TIMES takes us on a laugh-out-loud journey through the high-stakes, expensive absurdity of college admissions.

"Tracy Egan's hysterical one woman show about the roller coaster of the college application process is the perfect final addition to our Solo Celebration! Series" comments Greenhouse Theater Center Artistic Director Jacob Harvey. "Tracy's unique brand of storytelling allows us to laugh at the often terrifying reality of transitioning to higher education and beyond"

PRODUCTION DETAILS:

Title: YOU CAN ONLY TAKE THE A.C.T. 12 TIMES

Written and performed by: Tracy Egan

Director: Rengin Altay

Location The Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago

Dates/times: Thursday, November 3 at 8 pm, Friday November 4 at 8 pm, Saturday, November 5 at 8 pm and Sunday, November 6 at 2:30 pm.

Tickets: $25. Tickets are available at greenhousetheater.org, in person at the box office or by calling (773) 404-7336.

ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES

Tracy Egan’s (Playwright/Performer) credits include her previous critically-acclaimed one-woman play, Who’s Driving the Bus? My Year as a Kindergarten Mom. She performed this comedy in two hit runs at Chicago’s Apollo Theater. About the play WGN Radio said, “Hilarious! Every parent should catch this bus!” The Chicago Reader raved, “Poignant…Funny. The story unfolds beautifully.” And the Pioneer Press wrote, "With (Egan) we return to the world of the elementary school... and the insecurity not only of children but of their equally apprehensive parents all caught with unerring eye and timing by this skilled playwright. Egan consistently hits just the right note... delightful!" On the heels of the play, Egan also wrote and published the novel of Who’s Driving the Bus?!? She received her undergraduate degree from Northwestern University and has pursued graduate studies at the University of Chicago and Oxford University. As a comedic actor, Tracy has appeared in numerous feature films, stage plays and television shows as well as national television commercials for brands such as Purina Dog Chow, Ocean Spray Cranberry Juice and Isotoner Gloves. Tracy has also written and read on-air many essays for Chicago Public Radio’s award-winning program Eight Forty-Eight.

Rengin Altay (Director) has numerous Chicago credits, including (but not limited to): Women At War (Rivendell Theatre), Awake and Sing (Steppenwolf Theatre Company), A Little Night Music, Christmas Carol, The Iceman Cometh, High Holidays (Goodman Theater) and Gypsy, Macbeth, and The Merchant of Venice (Chicago Shakespeare Theater). She has also worked with Wellington, About Face, Northlight, Apple Tree, Apollo Theater Chicago, Royal George Theatre, Irish Repertory and the Galway Arts Festival. Regional credits include Northeast Local (Trinity Repertory Company), As You Like It (Huntington Theatre), All My Sons and You Can’t Take It with You (Peninsula Players) and Arms and the Man (Madison Repertory Theatre). Film credits include Light it Up, A Piece of Eden, Crush and Stranger than Fiction. Television and voiceover credits include Chicago Fire, Sirens, E.R., Early Edition, Cupid, The Human Factor and Yeesha in the Myst computer game series.

About the Greenhouse Solo Celebration!

The Greenhouse’s Solo Celebration! includes ten full productions, two limited engagements and other special events running June 2016 through February 2017. Among the other directors connected to solo series are Goodman Theatre Producer and Artistic Collective Member Steve Scott, Writers Theatre Resident Director Kimberly Senior, Directors Lab Chicago Artistic Director Elizabeth Margolius and Remy Bumppo Artistic Associate Linda Gillum. Some of the performers confirmed to star in solo works include Jeff Award-winners Kate Buddeke, Gene Weygandt, Linda Reiter, acclaimed British actor Simon Slater, Will Allan and Carin Silkaitis. Most productions will be produced in their entirety by Greenhouse, while other plays will be stated with co-producers including Sideshow Theatre Company and The Other Theatre Company. Greenhouse’s “Solo Celebration!” is co-produced by Forum Productions and underwritten by the Wendy and William Spatz Charitable Foundation.

About the Greenhouse Theater Center

The Greenhouse Theater Center is a nonprofit performance venue located at 2257 N. Lincoln Ave. in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood. Our complex offers two newly remodeled 190-seat main stage spaces, two 60-seat studio theaters, an in-house rehearsal room and Chicago’s only dedicated used theatre book store.

Our mission at the Greenhouse is first and foremost to grow local theatre. We strive to cultivate a fertile environment for local artists, from individual renters to our bevy of resident companies, to develop and produce their work. In 2014 alone, The Greenhouse Theater Center provided space for almost 1,000 ticketed performances, serving more than 54,000 patrons. Among these events were at least 30 productions by our resident companies, including the celebrated American Blues Theater and Remy Bumpo Theatre Company. Through our Trellis Program, we offer the community affordable access to our work by housing Chicago’s only dedicated used theatre bookstore, located on the second floor of our complex, as well as offering a free reading series each Tuesday night where local artists workshop their latest scripts. Additionally, we also continue to play an active role in cultivating and nurturing our community through continued partnerships with the League of Chicago Theaters and local Chambers of Commerce.

As of 2016, the Greenhouse Theater Center embraced the true spirit of growth and launched its producing entity. With the announcement of our eight month long Solo Celebration Series, helmed by Artistic Director Jacob Harvey, we will produce 12 solo plays from June 2016 to February 2017. Through this inaugural effort, we hope to expand the solo play cannon while also cultivating a larger conversation about the possibilities of the one-person play.

With new ideas always incubating, the Greenhouse Theater Center is flourishing. Come grow with us!