SiNNERMAN

Another SiNNERMAN show has come and gone.  Once again we find ourselves a little lost, a little relieved, a little nostaglic (for moments that passed mere days and weeks ago) and a little anxious to move onto the next project.  The theatre is a bittersweet business of flux.  We constantly find ourselves fully committing to the world of a play, and then mourning the loss of it.  And then fully committing to the next world of the next play, and then mourning the loss of that.

It will take time to unpack the lessons we’ve gathered over the last few months, but one thing has been clear to us all along:  What we have as a company is unique.  Not every company is so lucky to have a solid, loving, creative and supportive environment to call home.  Not every company has the guts required take big risks and the heart required to create a joyful atmosphere.  Not every company puts so much care into assembling such kind, intelligent, humble and hard-working guest artists to come and play.  We do it because we can’t imagine not doing it.  And it turns out we’ve created something really special.

And so with that knowledge, we continue to do what we’ve been doing.  We kiss B-Sides goodbye, we celebrate, and then we move on to what’s next.

Closing Night Party for Bible B-Sides with the much-adored cast and crew.

Up next: something completely different. Chekhov’s Ivanov , directed by Sheldon Patinkin. Rehearsals begin in early August.  And we’re on the edge of our proverbial seats.

Posted by Sue Redman

Friends!  Quick!  Get your tickets before they sell out!  B-SIDES will officially close its doors on Saturday, April 25th.

This is your last chance to see this exciting, completely original production!

Call 773-296-6024 for tickets!

Greetings friends!

Just a quick note to say that if you haven’t come to see B-SIDES yet, this is the weekend to do it!  Passover is upon us, Spring is here and we have a show on Easter Sunday (which is a great day to see a bible play)!  This Sunday, April 12th, give the special code, “Holiday” at the box office and get a $10 ticket.  What a fantastic way to celebrate!

And if you can’t make it out to see the show, but would still like to support SiNNERMAN, go to our Support page to learn how you can help!

BIBLE B-SIDES runs until Saturday, April 25th

The Viaduct (3111 N Western Ave.)

Thursday - Saturday @ 8PM; Sundays @ 5PM

Tickets are $20 ($15 Industry tickets are available on Thursdays and Sundays)

Call 773-296-6024 or purchase tickets at the theatre.

The full cast of BIBLE B-SIDES on Opening Night

We hope to see you there!

Hey folks!

B-SIDES is going really well so far!  Blurbs from our reviews can be found on our Press page, but here’s a tasty morsel:

“They get my admiration for attempting to put forward difficult subject matter with creative staging.  I pray that they continue to take such risks.” -J. Scott Hill, Chicago Stage Review

Ensemble members Anna Carini, Calliope Porter and Sue Redman.

Four more weeks left to check it out!

In other news: As you may know, part of SiNNERMAN’s mission is to partner with a local charity for each production.  We pick an organization that is somehow connected to one of the themes in our show, in the hopes that we can make our theatre more relevant.  For our current production, BIBLE B-SIDES, we’ve chosen to partner with Deborah’s Place, an organization that provides homeless women with housing, support, health care and opportunities for change.

While BIBLE B-SIDES is made up of ten different stories, one of the most common threads we found is that women were often mistreated, misunderstood and powerless.  Though these stories were written thousands of years ago, many women all over the world still find themselves in that position.  By teaming up with Deborah’s Place, we hope to raise money, awareness and respect for this issue.  You can go to our Support page for more information on Deborah’s Place (as well as the charities we’ve worked with in the past), OR you can come see BIBLE B-SIDES and make a donation at the theater!

***This coming weekend, April 2nd - April 5th, is our special Charity Weekend.  Thursday through Saturday night, bring a women’s toiletry item to donate and get $5 off your ticket price.  And Sunday night, $5 from every ticket will go directly to Deborah’s Place.  The Sunday night show (which starts at 5PM) will be followed by an opportunity to grab a drink at the bar and chat with the cast of the show, as well as a representative from Deborah’s Place.

(If you don’t make it to see the show this weekend, you can still make donations to this incredible organization at every show from now until April 25th!)

BIBLE B-SIDES runs until April 25th at The Viaduct Theatre (3111 N Western Ave.)

Thursday - Saturday @ 8PM; Sundays @ 5PM

Call 773-296-6024 for tickets! (Or purchase at the door for special discounts.)

Posted by Sue Redman

Friends!

Check out the BIBLE B-SIDES trailer in our MEDIA section!  It’s hot.

“The ingenious concept is to present stripped down stagings of dramatic, often perverse, biblical tales.  Mere suggestions from the actors create all the grand passions and tumultuous conflicts any audience needs.” -Chicago Reader

BIBLE B-SIDES runs from March 23rd until April 25th at The Viaduct Theatre (3111 N Western)

Thursday -Saturday @ 8pm; Sundays @ 5pm

Tickets are $20 (Thursdays and Sundays are Industry Nights, with $15 industry tickets).  Call 773-296-6024!

***Saturday, March 28th is our Wine, Cheese and Chat Night!  A $30 ticket includes the show, as well as complimentary wine and cheese during our post-show talk-back with the actors and director.

See you there, friends!

Greetings friends!

It is my great pleasure to officially announce the lineup for SiNNERMAN’s fourth season!  This is a milestone season for us in a lot of ways.  We continually strive to take on new and unique projects that we find scary and exciting, and this season we’ve picked two.  That’s a big first for us:  One season!  Two shows! And folks, we are just over the moon about it.

First up is our Fall ‘09 show.  We’re a tackling a classic.  (There’s another first for us!)  The SiNNERs will take on a brilliant (yet very rarely done) Chekhov play called Ivanov.  It’s hilarious.  It’s heartbreaking.  And it’s a huge challenge that we greet with open arms.  Chicago theatre and comedy legend, Sheldon Patinkin, will be directing this epic tale that deals with hard choices, hard economic times, and hard truths about life and love.

Next up, Spring ‘10.  The SiNNERs will be collaborating on another brand new play by an up-and-coming Chicago playwright.  Braden LuBell– an incredible Chicago talent and dear friend of the SiNNERs– is writing and directing Days of Late, which tells the interwoven stories of eight people attempting to escape their accidental isolation and find some kind of connection.  With frank eroticism, a sense of humor, and a lot of heart, Days of Late wrestles with some of the hardest questions we must ask about how to make a good life.

We’re absolutely thrilled that we get to tackle two bold, rich and diverse projects in the span of one season.  It’s gonna be a good year of working hard and playing hard, and we hope you’ll keep checking in with us every step of the way.

But before all that: Bible B-Sides opens March 23rd at the Viaduct! It’s scary. It’s sexy.  It’s disturbing.  It’s funny.  It’s definitely not for kids.  And it’s most likely not what you’re expecting.

*** Buy your tickets now at 773.296.6024 or http://www.viaducttheatre.comcms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=40&Itemid=49

Spring ‘09: Bible B-Sides adapted by Matt Miller, Deanna Keefe and ensemble

Fall ‘09: Ivanov by Anton Chekhov

Spring ‘10: Days of Late by Braden LuBell

See you there!

Posted by Sue Redman

Hey folks!

Greetings from Week 4 of rehearsals for Bible B-Sides (opening March 23rd)!  We are in the thick of it, friends.  We chose to do this piece because it was risky and completely unlike anything we’ve done.  Well, that’s not entirely true.  Our last play was also a brand new piece that we work-shopped together and built from the ground up.  And while this show is very different, the process is the same kind of deal. There’s no blueprint, no template, no proof that it’s going to work.  It’s just leap after leap in the dark, throwing ideas out into a room and seeing what sticks.

The concept of “taking big risks” is tossed around in the theatre world a whole lot, so much so that it’s almost begun to lose it’s meaning.  It can become romanticized.  And maybe that’s because you have to make it sound romantic in order to get yourself to go through with it.  The truth is, risks are scary.  Risk-taking isn’t always fun while you’re doing it.  It’s hard.  It’s terrifying.  It gives you a headache.  It makes you question who you are, and what you’re doing, and if you should be hauled off and committed somewhere.

But when a risk pays off?  Oh, man.  There’s nothing like it.  And when a risk pays off on something that you created from scratch, something over which you have real ownership?  Well, that’s pretty much the best feeling in the world.  For us, anyway.  This idea is mentioned in The SiNNERMAN Way, our long-winded credo that we wrote to remind ourselves what we stand for:

…It doesn’t matter if it’s never been done. It doesn’t matter if everyone on the outside says it’s impossible, looks at us funny and thinks we’re crazy. As long as we believe that we can do it, it’s on the table. It’s not that we are unafraid of failing. It’s just that we want it so bad that we’re willing to take that risk… over and over again. In crude terms–borrowed from one of our mentors–we’d rather be assholes than chicken shits. And we understand that risk-taking yields excitement, wisdom and growth…

The good news is that our team for B-Sides is absolutely incredible.  We can’t help but be confident.  The designers are geniuses.  Our director is passionate and brilliant.  Our stage manager is flawless.  And the cast… Oh, the cast!  Not one big ego in the room.  Everyone is generous, kind, fiercely intelligent, amazingly talented and completely down to earth about it.  It’s a dream.  Seriously, all of the SiNNERs have been talking about our dream team so much, it’s bordering on mania.  We’re like those couples who won’t stop gushing about how in love they are with their mate.

This is the good life, folks.  We are living the good life.

Stay tuned for more info on Bible B-Sides, our special Wine, Cheese & Chat Night (March 28th!) and the official announcement of our exciting 2009/2010 season!

Posted by Sue Redman

Hello friends!  It’s been a very long time coming, but it’s finally here.  We’re so glad you stopped by to check it out!  Stay for while.  Look around.  There’s so much to see!  On this website you can find out:

• Information about our upcoming show (tentatively titled Bible B-Sides)
• Information about our most recent award winning show, Sweet Confinement
• Information on how to support us and the charities we’ve worked with
• Information on the song that Dominica sings when no one is looking, and on Levi’s favorite color (it’s not what you’d expect…)
• …and much, much more!

The site is still a work in progress, so check back often for updates! 

Coming up next for SiNNERMAN: SiNFEST ’09.  Stay tuned for more.

Come see the show on closing night, and join us afterwards for our cast party! The evening will include:

• The final performance of Sweet Confinement
• A post-show backstage tour, where you can mingle with the ensemble and find out all the juicy stories and secrets of how this production came to be
• A champagne toast on the set of our play
• The cast party at the bar across the street from the theater, where free food, drinks and funny stories will be served until midnight. (You might even get a few confessions out of our ensemble, a sort of “Blooper Reel” from the run of the show!)
• All of this is included in your $150 ticket to our Closing Night Party: Where the SiN Begins. We are hoping that this event will raise enough money to provide a major part of the funding for our next show: we’ll be collaborating with esteemed Chicago director, Matt Miller, to create another brand new piece!