American Theater Company artistic director PJ Paparelli announced Tuesday night that the company is planning a months-long celebration of its 25th anniversary, commissioning short works from 34 playwrights from the Chicago area and around the country. Each playwright was asked to choose a year from the company’s lifespan, 1985 to 2010, and use that year as a springboard to address ATC’s mission question: What does it mean to be an American?
The short pieces will debut in groups of five on February 8, March 1, May 24, June 1 and June 7; the entire collection will then be reprised each evening June 16–20, during the Theatre Communications Group’s conference in Chicago. Paparelli and Cuban playwright Maria Irene Fornes will collaborate on a prologue piece to introduce the evening.
In addition, ATC announced the induction of Usman Ally, Patrick Andrews and Jaime Castañeda into its ensemble. This doubles the size of ATC’s ensemble after all but three members (Kareem Bandealy, Joe Minoso and Sadieh Rifai, all added under Paparelli’s leadership) defected last spring to re-form under the company’s former name, American Blues Theater. ABT begins its new life next month with a production of the radio-play version of It’s a Wonderful Life in the new studio theater at the Victory Gardens Biograph Theater; it will go head-to-head with ATC’s production of the same play, which had been an annual ATC tradition for several years.
The full list of playwrights penning works for ATC’s “Silver Project” is pasted below from the company’s press release.
Usman Ally (Public Enemy and American Ethnic at Remy Bumppo thinkTank 2008/09)
Stephen Belber (Emmy-nominated writer of The Laramie Project and Tape)
Kristiana Rae Colon (Chicago Def Poet; writer of The Darkest Pit)
Kristoffer Diaz (The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity and Welcome to Arroyo’s)
Zayd Dohrn (Sick, Magic Forest Farm, Long Way Go Down)
Laura Eason (Sex with Strangers, Around the World in 80 Days)
Maria Irene Fornes (Promenade, Mud, The Conduct of Life)
Yussef el Guindi (Back of the Throat, Our Enemies: Lively Scenes of Love and Combat)
Steve Harper (Lions and Donkeys)
Andrew Hinderaker (Suicide, Incorporated at Gift Theatre, June 2010)
David Henry Hwang (Tony Award-winning writer of M. Butterfly)
Naomi Iizuka (Award winning writer of 36 Views; Language of Angels)
Laura Jacqmin (And When We Awoke There Was Light and Light, Ski Dubai)
Kyle Jarrow (Obie Award-winning writer of A Very Merry Unauthorized Children’s Scientology Pageant)
Rolin Jones (The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow; Showtime’s Weeds and Friday Night Lights)
Joel Drake Johnson (A Blue Moon, The Fall to Earth)
Stephen Karam (Speech & Debate, columbinus)
Nambi E. Kelley (Hope VI, How Kintu Became a Man)
Greg Kotis (Tony Award-winning writer of Urinetown, Yeast Nation, Pig Farm)
Joe Kraemer (The American Occupation; Literary Manager/Dramaturg of The Juilliard School’s Drama Division)
Neil LaBute (Tony-nominated writer of reasons to be pretty; The Shape of Things)
Dan LeFranc (60 Miles to Silver Lake)
Craig Lucas (Pulitzer and Tony-nominated writer of Prelude to a Kiss, Light in the Piazza –book)
Laura Lynn MacDonald (Peer Gynt at Gorilla Rep, Mattress World with Blue Damen Pictures)
Rohina Malik (Unveiled)
Itamar Moses (Bach at Leipzig, Celebrity Row, The Four of Us)
Carlos Murillo (Dark Play or Stories for Boys, Diagram of a Paper Airplane)
Justin D. M. Palmer (As Fat as You Can, War with the Newts)
PJ Paparelli (columbinus, Raven Odyssey)
Joshua Rollins (American Rex)
Tanya Saracho (Our Lady of the Underpass, The House on Mango Street)
Regina Taylor (Award winning writer of Crowns, Magnolia)
Brian Tucker (St. James Infirmary, Bathing Van Gogh)
Beau Willimon (Farragut North)
A word of warning to any playwrights working with this company: They have a nasty habit of taking your name off your work and calling it their own.
Very cool project. Impressive list of contributers but this theater is 25 years old only in a business sense; its heart and soul left with the ensemble who created it.
hey Wonderful Life — is that why they put every single playwright’s name on the press release? try not jumping right to the hate in the comments field, will ya?
Wonderful life-
(or should I say ABT members)
You didn’t write its a wonderful life.
Get over it.
Stop hating and move on with your life.
Documented proof that “Wonderful Life” is an ABT member, Matt. The ABT company consists of nothing but mature theater artists–unlike the man who’s running things now at Lincoln and Byron.
A. Nonny, I think Matt’s larger point stands: Neither ATC nor ABT created the radio play adaptation; playwright Joe Landry did.
The first radio play version of IAWL came out in 1948 produced by the Lux Radio hour. Landry, ABT & ATC have all produced independant adaptations.
Just as there are multiple versions of the Nutcracker, A Christmas Carol (etc & ad nauseum).
Nobody’s being a thief here.
@ChicagoActor - well said. As cool of a project as it is, how can you call it a 25th anniversary when the only thing 25 years old here is the brick and mortar? Using the name, reputation & hardwork of others - *that’s* theft.
The version of the script initally produced at ATC was adapted for the stage by Joe Landry - they even claim this on their own website!
http://www.atcweb.org/backstage/history/productionhistory/
Lately, ATC has been taking credit for Landry’s work. And now, ABT is doing the same thing. While each company is they put their own stamp on the material (which is what happens when any company produces any play), they started with Landry’s adaptation/concept and seem to have banished him to Pottersville in lieu of royalties.