Joe Zarrow

Joe is a playwright and actor. In addition to T7, he has performed in Chicago with Pavement Group, Adventure Stage, Congo Square, Collaboraction, Walkabout Theatre Company, Vintage Theatre Collective, and New Leaf Theatre. His new play PRINCIPAL PRINCIPLE, originally seen in a T7 Shikaakwa reading, was recently featured at the Brown/Trinity Playwright’s Repertory in Providence, and Walkabout premiered his site-specific farce THE PIGEONS. Joe is proud to serve as the Literary Director of Pavement Group. You can learn more about Joe’s projects at joezarrow.com.

Next Project: Joe will be performing in Pavement Group’s Amuse Bouche 2013, April 8-10 at The Den.

Top T7 Memory: The sumptuous mustache I got to cultivate for The Chicago Landmark Project.

Cody Proctor

Cody worked with T7 on The Water Engine and We Live Here. Other Chicago credits include: The Iceman Cometh (Goodman); Idomeneus (Sideshow); Brand (Red Tape); The Moonstone (Lifeline); The Crucible (Infamous Commonwealth); . Cody also occasionally performs and travels with Alithea Mime Theatre, based out of Wichita State University, where he also received a BFA in Theatre Performance. Cody is from Overland Park, Kansas, but now considers Chicago his home.

Next Project: Cody is currently in rehearsals for Bertholt Brecht’s The Mother at Oracle Theatre, directed by Max Truax. The show opens on April 19th. This summer, Cody will be spending his third season with the Illinois Shakespeare Festival, with roles in Macbeth, The Comedy of Errors, and Failure: A Love Story.

Top T7 Memory: Our barbershop quartet warm ups before The Water Engine. Or, George breaking his arm during the run of We Live Here and having Nick Ward step in to play George. Then, George returning with a giant wrap around his immobilized arm.

Greg Williams

Greg is a Waukegan native, who received his BFA from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. He has also worked with Steppenwolf, Lookingglass, and Remy Bumppo Theatre.

Top T7 Memory: I like how the stories are all always meant to touch someone, or tell someone’s story. It’s rarely like, “Come see our art!” as much as it is, “Come see yourself in this art.”

Desmond Gray

Desmond’s T7 credits include The Chicago Landmark Project (Elijah) and We Live Here (Scott). Other Chicago credits include Hit The Wall (Mika) with The Inconvenience, a part of the Steppenwolf Garage series; Hellcab (Architect) at Profiles Theatre; Aida (Ensemble) with Bailiwick Chicago; Sketchbook ’12 with Collaboraction; In Darfur with TimeLine as an understudy. In addition to film and commercial work, Desmond is also the denim specialist and stylist at the Guess store on Michigan Ave, come visit! Many thanks and love to the awesome folks at T7, mom & dad and Gray Talent Group!

Next Project: Sketchbook ’13 with Collaboraction, LeapFest X with Stage Left

Top T7 Memory: Not only is everyone uber talented, T7 folks support each other and the artists they’ve collaborated with. They’re a solid community I’m proud to be apart of.

Caitlin O’Rourke

Caitlin O’Rourke is a freelance stage manager and recent Chicago transplant.  She first worked with Theatre Seven on American Storm and is excited for many collaborations to come.  Other Chicago credits include Counterfeiters (Dog & Pony), The Mistakes Madeline Made (LiveWire), and Gruesome Playground Injuries (Rasaka Theatre Company).  Her regional theatre credits include How We Got On, The End – both part of the Humana Festival of New American Plays – The Christmas Story, The Mystery of Irma Vep, and The Kite Runner at Actors Theatre of Louisville.

Next Project: A Permanent Image with LiveWire.  At the DCA Storefront, April 4-May 5.  Come see it.  It will be awesome.

Favorite T7 Thing: I love being a part of a community of such passionate and talented artists – they challenge and inspire me every time we work together.

Chris Tabor

Chris is part of Chicago’s theatre community thanks, in whole, to Theatre Seven.  He studied Film (not theatre) at Columbia College Chicago so he’s just happy to be given the opportunity to work with such cool cats, smooth operators and genuinely talented artists.  Chris’s Theatre Seven credits include Exit, Pursued by a Bear and American Storm.

Next Project: Chris just edited and directed selected episodes of a web series, Kiss Like Big Dogs.  You can see it at kisslikebigdogs.com or at vimeo.com under his name.

Top T7 Memory: I get to be myself.  In certain professional situations there’s a pressure to change or hide something about yourself in order to be accepted.  What I like most about Theatre Seven is that I get to be a dork.

Behzad Dabu
Behzad is really thrilled to be an artistic associate with T7.  He grew up in Syracuse, NY, made Chicago his home in 2005 and has since been performing on various stages all over town; most recently, in Disconnect at Victory Gardens and Disgraced at American Theater Company. Other credits include, TheatreSeven’s We Live Here, First Folio’s Twelfth Night, The Goodman’s Christmas Carol, Holes at AdventureStage, and the original cast of The History Boys at TimeLine Theatre, where he will return this summer performing in Blood and Gifts. Behzad attended Columbia College Chicago, where he now works full-time in addition to acting and is represented by Paonessa Talent.

Next Project: Blood and Gifts at Timeline Theatre

T7 Big Thoughts: If it is true –  that artists are the authors of the culture of our time – then T7 are the artists I want to read.

Isabel Ellison

Raised in the mountains of Colorado, Isabel left Boulder at the age of 18 and moved to London to study acting at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. After graduating, Isabel got her first job in Brett Neveu’s Red Bud which premiered at the Royal Court Theatre in London. She then appeared in The Children’s Hour on the West End, which was directed by Ian Rickson and starred Keira Knightly, Elizabeth Moss, Ellen Burstyn and Carol Kane. Last fall, Isabel relocated to Chicago. She has worked as an understudy for Ophelia in Hamlet at Writers’ Theatre, and interned for both Next Theatre and Theatre Seven. Isabel is currently in the ensemble of Measure for Measure at the Goodman Theatre, and she has just joined the Theatre Seven staff as a Literary Associate and Company Dramaturg.

Next Project: I am eager to start researching the history of incredible Chicagoan women in prep for Unwilling & Hostile Instruments!

Jessica London-Shields

Jess started her relationship with T7 while performing in We Live Here,  and has been giving them monster hugs ever since. Other shows she has done that she likes very much are MilkMilkLemonade with Pavement Group (where she is also an artistic associate), CherrySmoke  with the Side Project, and Spring Awakening  with Promethean Theatre.  She’s sure she did some other plays but forgot what they were… You can also see her face a lot, in the lezzie rom-com: Jamie and Jessie Are Not Together, available on Amazon.com.  Jess is a graduate of The Theatre School at DePaul University.

Next Project: Right now you can catch her in She Kills Monsters with Buzz22, alongside BlackTop Sky, as part of the Steppenwolf Garage Rep. Woot!

Top T7 Memory:  Everyone is GREAT at the monster hug.  I have also had the super fantastic opportunity to work with Cassy Sanders and Taylor Fenderbosch not once but TWICE.  I cannot think of people that I trust more in the rehearsal room, or any room really… I’m not sure about camping though… I think there has to be a room involved.

Lizzie Bracken

Lizzie has designed Theatre Seven scenery for BlackTop Sky and In The Heart of America. Other design credits include The Book Thief (Steppenwolf Theater Company); Six Characters in Search of an Author (The Hypocrites); 60 Miles to Silver Lake (Collaboraction); 44 Plays for 44 Presidents and costumes for Burning Bluebeard (The Neo-Futurists). Lizzie received her MFA in Scenic Design from the University of Texas at Austin and is an ensemble member with Barrel of Monkeys.

Next Project: Working on a project with the Hypocrites and Halena Kayes and Maggie Fullilove Nugent that is going to be so cool! It is called Ivywild and it opens in May.

Top T7 Memory: I love the T7 community.  I love the joy and dedication that the members of this company bring to each project.  It inspires me.

Day of Event Contact: Paul Hybel at 773-931-5129
To Reserve Your Spot: Click Here!

Announcing another World Premiere! For the first time on any stage!

Starring your foursome of intrepid golfers.

Set Design by Mother Nature. Lighting by Solar Power Unlimited.

The Plot: You and three other golfers arrive at 9:00 a.m. at the infamous Waveland Golf Course on beautiful Lake Michigan for what is supposed to be a friendly 9 holes of golf. When suddenly you’re thrown headlong into a maelstrom of confusion: a 4-person scramble! Each member of your foursome tees off. Carefully analyzing the resulting ball positions, you all play your second shot from the best of the tee shots. Arguments ensue as to which is the best ball to play, and players farcically switch roles as the worst player on one shot becomes the best on the next. Play continues similarly on each stroke until you “hole your putt”, moving quickly to the next hole. The darker side of human nature is on grand display as each of you digs down deep within yourself to determine whether your seeming friendship is fundamentally strong, or as fragile as a golf tee shattered by a driver!

Cost: $65 per person, or $225 for a foursome
Sign up as a foursome, or individually and we will match you with other golfers.

A limited number of golf carts are available and will be assigned on a first to register basis.

PRIZES FOR THE LOW FOURSOME!

Additional prizes:
Longest Drive (in the fairway) (5th hole)
Closest to the Pin (6th hole)
Longest Putt (3rd hole)

Light snacks at the Clock Tower Café immediately following your round.

Let’s get some context here. My name is Max. I moved to Chicago literally five minutes ago from a small town in Michigan. Okay so it was actually a month ago but I still feel like I have the common sense of a person who moved here five minutes ago. Seriously I don’t even have an umbrella. I immediately started my internship with Theatre Seven of Chicago and was very grateful to find that I would be spending my summer with a group of people who are all significantly more fun/exciting/attractive than I am. Or any of you, for that matter. THEN I was approached to write about my life as an intern for the Theatre Seven blog! Slam dunk! You see, the goal here is to show you, my adoring fans, a more in-depth look at what goes into running an emerging theatre from the ground up. And who is closer to the ground than an unpaid intern? Enough basics, let’s begin.

For our first dip in to the knowledge pool, I’m going to give you the dirt on… THE OPENING NIGHT RECEPTION. For an intern, the Opening Night Reception is like going to the Oscars except you have to occasionally go run the snack table in your tuxedo (they have snacks at the Oscars, right?). I was pretty nervous when I walked in. This probably was due to the fact that I had just moved to a city with no money or income or friends or Netflix account and a nervous breakdown was floating just below the surface at any given moment. Living the dream y’all! But I was determined to nail the first true test of my intern potential. I quickly learned that the major goal of the night was to make things as pleasant as possible for the press. They were coming out to see our (fantastic) show, the least we could do is give them a piece of pie and a smile. And that is exactly what my duties were. I have to say I really nailed it with the snack table. I ran that snack table like… well, like I was at the Oscars. At one point, I ran into a friend and we started a conversation. She then said, “Sorry, I’ll leave, go do your networking!”… Networking? Was I supposed to be networking? What does networking even mean? Are you there, Networking? It’s me, Max. I decided to do my own brand of networking, which is called “see which chip tastes best with French onion dip”. I walked out of there with a lot contacts except that all of my contacts were chips. Like I said, living the dream y’all!

So there is your introduction to the intern lifestyle. I know you are desperate for more, my loyal subjects, so I’ll get back to you very soon…right after I finish editing this email list.

T7: What did you think when you first read this play?
RL: My initial thought while reading the script was “What IS this? Duct tape? Honey? Bears?” but when I really got into it I started understanding that Lauren really took a very important subject and made it a conversation piece in a very interesting way. I was always very interested to see how the taping thing would work since Kyle needs to be untaped then taped back up again very quickly.

T7:What do you love about this play?
RL:I love that Lauren created such a diverse array of characters. And I love that, though there are stereotypes involved, everyone is deadly serious about their love for Nan and their task of getting her out.

T7:What do you most connect with in Exit?
RL:I can relate to Nan’s struggle with Kyle. The wanting to believe that someone will change or has changed and that your relationship with them will be improved going forward when – in reality – change like that rarely occurs. It is difficult to say goodbye to a relationship, but sometimes it is truly the best thing to do for both people.

T7:Why this play? why now?
RL:Because domestic violence, abuse, and bullying is still very much a part of our culture and we still need to keep it in conversation.

T7: What did you think when you first read the play?
EHW: When I first read this play, I thought, this is a good, innovative, telling, of a story that needs to be told, and with all of the best dark humor to go along with it. My heart felt engulfed, and I knew that I HAD to be a part of this production!

T7: What do you love about this play?
EHW: I love that it is a good, solid, NEW work! I love that it is funny and dark, goofy, and also incredibly pertinent. It challenges the audiences to think before they ask the question to : why doesn’t she just leave? This is a question that so many people ask of abuse victims, and I love the way in which this play addresses that concern.

T7:What part of Exit do you most connect with?
EHW: I connect with the hope that is woven throughout this play. One of the things that I have really latched on to in this play is that this is a story about the exception. So many women, so many people, are not able to get themselves out of abusive relationships because they have been made to feel worthless and disempowered, and this tells the story of a woman who does get out. I appreciate that gift of hope that this play gives; the idea that these exceptions can inspire and begin to become the norm.

T7: Why this play? Why now?
EHW: This story should be told now and for as long as domestic abuse (or any abuse between people in a relationship!) remains an issue in the world. Leaps and bounds have been made in bringing awareness to this issue, but these situations still exist. Because they often happen behind closed doors, and are scary issues to talk about, we need to open up the dialogue, and continue to talk about this subject. One thing that I love about this play is that because it uses humor to address the topic of domestic abuse, it creates a safe space to ease your way into the conversation and have your mind and heart explore the issue without being berated, or made to feel terrible about something that seems so sad and so scary and so hard to swallow at times. It really offers a safe space to absorb the danger of these situations.

Ryan Hallahan plays Kyle in T7′s current production, Exit, Pursued by a Bear. We took a few minutes to get to know him. Unlike his character, he’s a a seriously nice guy.

T7: How did you react when you first read this play?
RH: When I first read this show, the first thing that I thought was, “I have never read anything like this before.” It was moving, it was surprising, it was funny as hell.

T7: What do you love about Exit?
RH: I love that all four characters are so well-defined. Each has his or her own unique voice. It’s so easy with a play like this- a play about domestic abuse in the South -to fill the stage with caricatures and stereotypes, but each person feels real, and we have the chance to feel empathy for each of them.

T7: What character do you most connect with?
RH: I know Kyle. The first time I read the script my mind was filled with memories of high school and the guys that I knew, some of whom I still know and still communicate with, that could have served as inspiration for that character. I think that’s why I connected with him and didn’t judge him and immediately looked for the humanity within him; because, in a way, I grew up with him. And those people that I grew up with are a part of me, they’ve marked me. So, in a weird and round-about sort of way, Kyle- and men like him -are a big part of who I am. I’m repelled by the attitude and beliefs of men like that, but I can’t deny that those beliefs and attitudes were a huge part of my growing up.

T7: Why this play? Why now?
RH: You know, with a story like this, I don’t feel the burden of proof is on us to demonstrate why it’s a worthwhile story. I think it’s up to somebody who disagrees to prove that it isn’t worthwhile. And I think that person has a lot of work ahead of them.

T7: Thanks, Ryan!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Full Speech Text:

Thank you all so much. Thank you for this great honor. Thank you to Broadway in Chicago and the League of Chicago Theatres. It truly takes a village to raise a storefront theatre company. And from day one, that village, starting with Deb at the League, has supported us, mentored us and helped us find our way, and we are deeply humbled to be honored by our community tonight.

I’m a little bummed out, because this is the part where I had a Nathan Lane joke written. I wish someone would have told me he was going to leave. I think he saw Christian do that monologue and worried his part at the Goodman was going to be recast.

The focus of our work at Theatre Seven is Chicago. Whether on a project like 2009’s Diversey Harbor, which was really a simple, straightforward monologue play about the lives of four northsiders intersecting on one Chicago winter night, or like this fall’s We Live Here, which was a comprehensive collage play with eight playwrights writing one play together about their ‘coming-of-age in Chicago’ moments, or even one of the pieces we do that isn’t set in Chicago, our work has a common thread. With every project, we’re trying, with both the play on stage and the auxiliary programming we create around it, to create a body of work that reflect the diversity of stories that are to tell in this city. Plays that yes, celebrate Chicago’s famous landmarks but also never lose sight of its forgotten corners. Art that explores the story of a people, the people we all are that have chosen to live our lives together by the lake.

In that spirit of local storytelling,  I want to tell you about a project we’re taking on next season. 2013 marks the 100^th anniversary of women’s suffrage in Illinois – the year when our state became the first east of the Mississippi to grant women the right to vote. Starting in the fall, we’ll begin a year-long celebration by commissioning seven new plays about Chicago women of the last 100 years. We’ll debut each piece at a free reading throughout the year, and next summer we’ll share all seven plays in a one week festival. Our hope with the project is to both celebrate that achievement and start a conversation about what equality means in Chicago, about how far we’ve come and how far we have left to go.

This is the type of work that tonight’s award is supporting – theatre that both entertains and carries a civic purpose, art that tells a story about what Chicago has been and, hopefully, makes us wonder what it can become.

There was one moment in creating The Chicago Landmark Project that I want to share with you because it has, in hindsight, truly defined what we hope to accomplish. For one of the short pieces within the project, we needed the services of two 12-year old actresses for Yolanda Nieves’ play about Puerto Rican girls growing up in Humboldt Park. Casting that piece, and the entire 35-actor project, had been exhausting. But on the last night of auditions, in walked a delightful, talented young actress who lived in Humboldt Park named Damariz Posados. She walked in the door with a million watt smile on her face and I said “Hi, You must be Damariz. I’m Brian.” “Hi.” I said, “You seem really happy.” And Damariz said “I am SO happy. I read the play I’m auditioning for, and it was the first play I’ve ever seen where I felt like I really knew the people in it.”

That moment and the spirit it carries about the power of local storytelling is what has brought us here, both on this stage and in our work as an ensemble, a place where it is our hope that from next year’s season long celebration honored great Chicago women to our ultimate goal of having our own neighborhood theatre space, that through our work, we are offering Chicago and its people the opportunity to truly see themselves. Thank you all so much.

Thank you, Chicago.

We are so fortunate to be the recipients of the 2012 Emerging Theatre Award, presented by the League of Chicago Theatres and Broadway in Chicago. We’ve been nominated for the award three years running, and are so, so honored to be this year’s winner – and we share the award with all the 200+ artists whose work has been on the T7 stage since 2007.

There’s a lot we’re excited about today: starting with a $5,000 cash prize (much appreciated and much needed) and a marketing package and consultation from Broadway in Chicago that will help us reach a larger audience interested in our work. Cassy and I will also have the opportunity to accept the award at the League’s annual gala where the other honorees are Charles Newell from Court as well as Brian Dennehy and Nathan Lane. I know I’m excited to both A. tell Nathan that my girlfriend will always love him more than me, and B. talk about our work for a brief moment in front of some seriously committed Chicago theatre supporters.

But truly, the most exciting element of today’s great news is knowing that the award was voted on by our colleagues at Chicago theatres across town. We place a high value on community at Theatre Seven. We try to tell important stories that, whether they’re set in Chicago or not (and many are), invite an audience to consider the essential issues facing our city today. And whether those plays celebrate or critique the Chicago experience, this company is organized around the principle that local stories matter, and that great art is both a product of and creator of strong communities. So to be honored in this way by our colleagues across the Chicago community is incredibly rewarding, touching and boo-ya exciting.

Chicago theatre is a diverse, robust, supportive, wonderful community. Theatre Seven and the other fantastic finalists for this award, 16^th Street Theater, Sideshow Theatre Company, Red Tape Theatre and The Music Theatre Company, are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the diversity, power and artistry offered in this city. We’re going to use this award to deepen our commitment to strengthening our community by telling stories that matter to Chicago today, and supporting the artists that tell them. Please join us, and let’s all keep making great art together!

Brian Golden

Managing Artistic Director, Theatre Seven of Chicago

T7: What scared or scares you the most about being a part of In the Heart of America?
FM: Honestly? I was scared for two reasons: First, that as an actor, I could live the journey of my character, Fairouz and secondly, that our audiences would be willing to go on this intense, poetic and beautiful journey with us.

T7: What is your favorite of your character’s lines?
FM: “There are three kinds of people: those who kill, those who die, and those who watch.”

T7: How long have you been acting?
FM: On and off for 6 years.

T7: What is your relationship to the US Military?
FM: I perform a show, “Sex Signals” with a company called Catharsis Productions. The show is a sexual violence prevention show that uses humor as a way of talking about a divisive issue. The show tours to colleges nationally, but also military installations. I’ve had the privilege of performing in front of the Army, Marines, Air Force and Navy all over the United States but also all over the world.

T7:What would you tell someone to encourage them to see this play?
FM: This play tells the story of the love between two men, of a sister searching for her brother, of brown people in America struggling with their identity, and of the cycle of violence and loss in war.

T7:What was the best moment of the rehearsal process?
FM: Theatre creates a magical creative space, which begins in the rehearsal room. Director, Brian Golden gave us exercises before we started working with the text itself where he’d break us into groups. Each exercise had certain parameters, like, “there has to be a line of dialogue from your character” or “you must use a prop” or “find a moment of triumph”. Through these, I truly began to trust the energy and connection to every other person in our cast.