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PRESENTS
CHICAGO DRAMATISTS KEEPS THE PENDULUM SWINGING WITH THE
PRODUCTION OF HICKORYDICKORY BY MARISA WEGRZYN
The city’s home to playwrights closes season with
Wendy Wasserstein Prize Winning Play
CHICAGO—Chicago Dramatists, known for producing award-winning work, is proud to
present Hickorydickory by 2009 Wendy Wasserstein Prize winning Resident Playwright Marisa
Wegrzyn. This national award honors the work of a young woman playwright by the Educational
Foundation of America (EFA) in honor of the late Pulitzer and Tony Award- winning playwright,
Wendy Wasserstein. The production will preview May 5, open May 13 and run through June 12,
2011. Hickorydickory, directed by Chicago Dramatists’ Artistic Director Russ Tutterow, will be
Tutterow’s 25th anniversary production.
“The opportunity to work with Russ is always a delight and I am honored that his direction of
Hickorydickory coincides with such a notable milestone for him at Chicago Dramatists,” says
Marisa Wegrzyn. “He has been a significant force behind this growing production and he has a
special gift in nurturing both playwrights and their unique visions. My experience with him and
Chicago Dramatists has been an invaluable one.”
“Hickorydickory is a challenging show for Chicago Dramatists,” says Managing Director, Brian
Loevner. “While it is a large scale production, both technically and in scope, it once again
proves that Chicago Dramatists can deliver big shows in a little space, making it an intimate and
amazing experience for audience members.”
What would happen if we all had an internal clock telling us the precise time of our death?
Hickorydickory, complete with both gore and love scenes, explores the weight involved with
the intriguing idea of a mortal clock embedded in the bodies of all humans. A dark comedy set
in a watch and clock repair shop in the suburbs of Chicago, Wegrzyn’s Hickorydickory winds
extraordinary elements around an unusual family story. Someone has tinkered with Cari Lee’s
mortal clock and she’s stuck at 17 for eternity, the same age as her daughter Dale. Yet Dale’s
worried about her own mortal clock; the one that tells her the day and time she’ll die. Dad’s an
expert clock-smith, but some timepieces are not meant to be tampered with.
Wegrzyn’s play Ten Cent Night had its world premiere at Chicago Dramatists in 2008 and was
produced at Victory Theatre Center in Burbank, California in 2009. Her playThe Butcher of
Baraboo was produced by Steppenwolf and Off Broadway at Second Stage, and published in
the Smith & Kraus anthology “New Playwrights: The Best Plays of 2008.” Other theatres that
have presented her work include Theatre Seven, Moxie Theatre in San Diego, Actors Theatre of
Louisville, Chicago’s Rivendell Theatre, Geva Theatre Center of Rochester, NY, Lucid by Proxy
in LA, Washington University and HotCity Theatre in St. Louis, Nice People Theatre Company in
Philadelphia, The Hourglass Group in NYC, Baltimore Centerstage, and The Magic Theatre in
San Francisco. She is currently working on commissions from Steppenwolf and Yale Rep, in
addition to a screenplay adaptation of her play Diversey Harbor for the film production company
Briar Street Productions. Her writing was cited in The Chicago Reader's list, "Best of Chicago
2008." Wegryzn is also a founding member of Theatre Seven of Chicago.
Russ Tutterow, celebrating his 25th year as the Artistic Director at Chicago Dramatists, has
directed countless new play readings, and nurtured the art and careers of hundreds of
playwrights. In 2005, he received the Artistic Leadership Award from the League of Chicago
Theatres for his "outstanding achievement in developing new plays and his long time
contribution to Chicago theatre." Most recently, Tutterow directed Chicago Dramatists' hit
production of A Steady Rain by Keith Huff which was produced on Broadway in 2009. He also
directed recent Chicago Dramatists productions of Water by Alice Austen, Voyeurs de Venus by
Lydia R. Diamond, Heat by Marsha Estell, and The Prophet of Bishop Hill by David Rush. He
served on the 2006 First Look Council at Steppenwolf Theatre and directed Prop Thtr's
acclaimed production of Rosemary by Jim O'Connor. He has directed, managed or taught for
such Chicago theatres as Goodman, Victory Gardens, Royal George, Mercury, Briar Street,
Prop, Zebra Crossing, Igloo, and Cullen, Henaghan & Platt Productions.
Hickorydickory stars Joanne Dubach, Thomas Gebbia, Cathlyn Melvin, Gail Rastorfer, and
Tyler Ross. The design team features Barry Bennett (Sound Designer), Simon Lashford (Set
Designer), Samantha C. Jones (Costume Designer), Jeff Pines (Lighting Designer), Jenniffer J.
Thusing (Props Designer), and Ryan Oliver (Special Effects Designer). Hickorydickory’s
artistic team also includes Emmi Hilger (Assistant Director) and Robert Koon (Dramaturg).The
production of Hickorydickory is funded in part through a generous grant from the Elizabeth F.
Cheney Foundation
Chicago Dramatists is the only theatre in the country that is both a playwrights’ development
center and a full producing theatre which continues to push the envelope with the newest plays
and most promising playwrights. Through its long-standing Residency program, Chicago
Dramatists seeks to nurture accomplished, Chicago-based dramatists who will make significant
contributions to the American theatre repertory. Every year, Chicago Dramatists' playwrights
earn literally hundreds of accomplishments from productions and awards to other honors at
large and small theatres in Chicago and around the world; enriching the lives of hundreds of
thousands of theatre patrons, exporting Chicago voices across the globe, and significantly
boosting Chicago Dramatists’ reputation as one of the nation's foremost new play
development theatres.
About Chicago Dramatists
In the fall of 1979, four playwrights came together to hear their work read aloud and to hone
their craft. Today, Chicago Dramatists’ amazing record of achievement has landed them an
invaluable place in the artistic community as a vital source of inspiration to 40 Resident
Playwrights, 160 Associate Playwrights, 60 Associate Artists, and thousands of audience
members. Over the past three decades, Chicago Dramatists has worked with over a thousand
playwrights, produced and developed thousands of plays and stayed true to its mission to
nurture compelling, challenging and diverse plays that move on to productions, earn awards,
and define the American theatre. Chicago Dramatists has helped launch the career of
hundreds of award-winning writers, including Tina Fey (30 Rock), Rick Cleveland (Mad Men),
Rebecca Gilman (Spinning Into Butter), Sarah Ruhl (The Clean House), Lydia R. Diamond
(Stick Fly) and Keith Huff (A Steady Rain). Each season Chicago Dramatists presents three
world premiere productions and the signature Saturday Series, weekly staged readings of playsin-progress. The theatre also conducts educational outreach to at-risk students at Chicago
Public Schools, awakening the possibility of self-expression by writing for the theatre. Through
passionate dedication, personal nurture and careful exposure, Chicago Dramatists carries on
its thirty-two-year-old mission of developing new plays and playwrights for the next generation of
theatre.
Chicago Dramatists is located just minutes from the Loop at 1105 W. Chicago Avenue, at the
24-hour Chicago Avenue stop of the Blue Line subway, and is just off the Ogden and Augusta
exits of the Kennedy Expressway. Performances are Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m., and
Sundays at 3 p.m. Individual ticket prices are $32, and student tickets are offered for all
Thursday performances at $15. There is street parking available, a detailed parking map can
be found at www.chicagodramatists.org/parking. For more information or reservations visit
www.chicagodramatists.org.
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