For Immediate Release
Stage Left Theatre Company ● 1541 W. Belmont, Chicago, IL 60657
773.883.8830 ● stagelefttheatre.com
Press Contact: Vance Smith, 773-883-8830, vance@stagelefttheatre.com
Stage Left Theatre
presents
The Firestorm
by Meridith Friedman
part of a National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere
October 30 – November 29, 2015
Chicago, July, 31 2015 – Stage Left Theatre announces the upcoming Rolling World Premiere of The
Firestorm, written by Meridith Friedman and directed by Ensemble Member Drew Martin. The Firestorm
is the first production of Stage Left’ s 34th season. Press opening is Friday, October 30th at 8 PM at Theater
Wit, 1229 W Belmont. The show runs through November 29th.
THE PLAY
Gaby and Patrick, an interracial political power couple hot on the campaign trail, are thrust into the center
of a media frenzy when a racially charged incident from Patrick’s past surfaces. As the pressure intensifies,
the political becomes explosively personal and the foundation of their seemingly picture-perfect marriage
begins to fracture.
The Firestorm was developed in part at Stage Left through a Downstage Left Playwright Residency in 2014
and in it’s annual new-play festival, LeapFest. As part of a NNPN Rolling World Premiere, The
Firestorm will see three productions. The first was at Kitchen Dog Theater in Dallas, Texas in May of 2015.
Stage Left's production is the second, and finally LOCAL Theater in Boulder, Colorado will mount a
production in the fall of 2016.
The National New Play Network (NNPN) is the country’s alliance of non-profit professional theaters
dedicated to the development, production, and continued life of new plays. Since its founding in 1998,
NNPN has supported more than 250 productions nationwide through its innovative National New Play
Network Rolling World Premiere program, which provides playwright and production support for new works.
Additional programs – its annual National Conference, National Showcase of New Plays, and MFA
Playwrights Workshop; the NNPN Annual and Smith Prize commissions; its residencies for playwrights,
producers and directors; and the organization’s member accessed Collaboration, Festival, and Travel
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banks, and online information sessions – have helped cement the Network’s position as a vital force in the
regional theater landscape. NNPN’s programming allows its members and their affiliated artists to create,
grow, and share new work across the country and around the world, and it strives to pioneer, implement,
and disseminate ideas and programs that revolutionize the way theaters collaborate to support new plays
and playwrights. Its most recent project, The New Play Exchange (www.newplayexchange.org), launched
in January of 2015, is already changing the way playwrights share their work and others discover it.
NNPN’s 29 Core and more than 65 Associate and University Members – along with the more than 250
affiliated artists who are its alumni, the thousands of artists and artisans employed annually by its member
theaters, and the hundreds of thousands of audience members who see its supported works each year –
are creating the new American theater. For more information please visit www.nnpn.org.
THE DEBATE
In line with our mission to raise social and political debate, Stage Left offers patrons a Symposium Series
for every production. Immediately following each Sunday matinee, we invite the audience to stay for a
discussion centered on a particular question raised by the performance. Admission to the Symposium
Series is free, but it is recommended that attendees have seen the production in order to fully appreciate
and participate in the discussion. The Firestorm explores the ways we hide in conversations around race,
and examines the gulf between professed ideology and personal action.
TICKETS, DATES & INFORMATION
The Firestorm runs Thursdays through Saturdays at 8:00 PM, and Sundays at 3:00 PM from
10/24/15 through 11/29/15. Tickets are $20-30 and will be available through the Theater Wit box office
either online at www.theaterwit.org or by calling 773-975-8150. Press Opening is Friday, October 30 at
8:00 PM. Previews are Saturday, October 24 at 8:00pm; Sunday, October 25 at 7:00 PM; Wednesday,
October 28 at 8 PM; and Thursday, October 29 at 8:00 PM. Preview tickets are $20. The Firestorm will be
performed at Theater Wit at 1229 W. Belmont in Chicago. The theater is handicapped and CTA accessible
via the Belmont El (Red & Brown).
Media comps, photos, videos, and interviews are available by contacting Vance Smith at
773.883.8830 (office) or vance@stagelefttheatre.com. Hi-res photos, this release, and archived releases
and photos are available at http://stagelefttheatre.com/about/press-room/
THE PEOPLE
Meridith Friedman (Playwright) was born in Madison, Wisconsin, and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. She
received her BA from Connecticut College, and her MFA in Writing for the Stage & Screen from
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Northwestern University. Her plays have been developed and performed at The Kennedy Center, Chicago
Dramatists, The Greenhouse Theatre Center, Curious Theatre Company, the NNPN National New Play
Showcase, New Repertory Theatre, The Lark, Actor’s Express, Kitchen Dog Theater, Interlochen Center
for the Arts, Stage Left, Samuel French OOB Short Play Festival, The American Southwest Theatre
Company at NMSU, LOCAL Theatre Company, The Johnny Mercer Writers Colony at Goodspeed
Musicals, and Florida Repertory Theater. She was the NNPN Playwright-in-Residence at Curious Theatre
Company for their 2010-2011 season, a 2012-2013 Dramatist Guild Fellow, and the recipient of a 20132014 Downstage Left Playwriting Residency at Stage Left Theatre. She was awarded the 2014 NNPN
Annual Commission to write and develop a new play with Curious Theatre Company, The Luckiest People.
She has taught playwriting and screenwriting at Northwestern University, Kenyon College, Curious Theatre
Company, and Interlochen Center for the Arts. She is currently working on the books for two new musicals.
Drew Martin (Director) has worked for over 25 years in Chicago theatre as a director, producer, finance
manager, designer, technician and educator. He was Artistic Director of Stage Left in the 1990’s and
Interim Co-Artistic Director 2008-9. Among the shows Drew directed, eleven were nominated by the Jeff
Awards Committee and six honored with Jeff Awards, including a personal directing honor for Stage
Left’s Leander Stillwell (which also won numerous awards for its Los Angeles remount) and nomination
for Police Deaf Near Far. His passion for new work is reflected in World Premiere productions such as The
Fisherman, The Day of Knowledge, One Fine Day, Prairie Lights, Sing For Your Supper, Dapples and
Grays and many workshop productions. Other directing work includes All’s Well That Ends Well, Julius
Caesar, Out Of Spite: Tales of Survival in Sarajevo, Escape From Happiness, and In White America (SLT);
Taster’s Choice (Chicago Dramatists), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Talisman), and Twelfth
Night (Northeastern). He has worked artistically with many Chicago theatres and also managed finances
for several commercial and non-profit organizations. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College and studied
with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Drew produces and directs corporate shows nationwide through his
company, Polaris Productions.
The cast features Stage Left Artistic Director Vance Smith (Patrick), Ensemble Member Melanie Derleth
(Leslie), as well as guest artists Kanome Jones (Gabby) and David Lawrence Hamilton (Jamal).
The staff includes Stage Left Company Members Emmaline Keddy-Hector (Production Management), Joe
Schermoly (Scenic Design), and Brenda Winstead (Costume Design), with guest artists Joe Court (Sound
Design), Maya Michele Fein (Lighting Design), Adam Greye (Stage Management), Jasmine Jordan
(Dramaturg), Mary O'Dowd (Properties Design), and Iris Sowlat (Assistant Director).
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ABOUT STAGE LEFT
Founded in 1982, Stage Left Theatre is committed to developing and producing plays that raise debate and
challenge perspectives on political and social issues. Through a full subscription season and our new play
development program Downstage Left, Stage Left strives to ask provocative social and political questions
by producing a mix of new works, regional premieres and timeless classics.
UPCOMING
Mutt– The Republican Party finally realizes it has a problem with race. So it decides its best chance for
success in the 2016 presidential election is to back a candidate who’s hapa – of mixed Asian descent. They
think they’ve found their man in Nick, a promising Congressmember. But when Nick doesn’t conform to their
expectations of who he should be, they turn to Len, a multiracial war hero who can check off every single box
– and maybe a couple more boxes no one knows about. A blisteringly funny satire that skewers not only the
elephants in the room but the donkeys too, Mutt burns down the entire house of racial cards
Run dates: April 18- May 24, 2015 at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont
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1541 W. Belmont • Chicago, IL 60657 • 773.883.8830
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