Wow.

Charlie is WildClaw Theatre’s resident designer, he’s done all of our posters, as well as the sets for The Revenants and The Dreams in the Witch House.  I’m crazy about this poster.  I will be framing one.  It just gets more and more disturbing/arresting/unsettling the longer you look at it.

KILL ME opens February 13th at the Athenaeum!  Tickets are now on sale!!

www.wildclawtheatre.com

Each of these shows was incredibly fun and incredibly challenging, and I was lucky enough to work with a lot of fantastic artists who also happen to be fun and amazing people.

2011 was also what I liked to call the ‘year of the short play.’  My work was featured in festivals and productions by The Mammals, Theatre Seven of Chicago, The Artistic Home, American Theatre Company.  THE REVENANTS also snagged a production in Los Angeles.  It was a year of development, a year of copious writing, rewriting, and thinking.  And because of it, there is much to look forward to in 2012.  Here’s what I know so far:

February 2012 – KILL ME produced by WildClaw Theatre, Chicago (world premiere)

Spring 2012 – A piece in Tympanic Theatre‘s The Nebraska Project, Chicago

August 2012 – THE BODY SNATCHER produced by Brisbane Arts Theatre, Queensland, Australia (world premiere)

Fall 2012 – THE REVENANTS will receive productions by Happy Medium Theatre in Boston, and also by New World Arts in Goshen, IN.

Annnd…there’s one other thing that I really wish I could talk about, but can’t yet.  But it’s another production (a co-production actually) of one of my plays in Chicago.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!  See you at the theatre.  (Go Steelers)

(Photos: Top left, Austin D. Oie; Top right, John Sisson; Bottom, Paul Metreyon)

TEACHER was originally presented in ATC’s 2011 10×10 Festival back in March.  Just like at 10×10, H.B. Ward will be performing the play, with Marti Lyons directing.

Marti recently was the Associate Director on Strawdog Theatre’s production of Old Times, and is assistant directing the upcoming Lookingglass production of Mr. Rickey Calls a Meeting.  Last year, she directed Brian People for UrbanTheater Company.

H.B. is one of my favorite actors in Chicago.  He’s worked with Collaboraction, Curious Theatre Branch, Teatro Vista, 16th Street Theatre, Theater Oobleck, and many more.  Here’s a shot of H.B. from Trap Door Theatre’s recent show, OVERWEIGHT, unimportant: MISSHAPE.

We’re all very excited to share TEACHER with an audience.  I hope you can join us tomorrow night!

(Photo: Michal Janicki)

First production meeting for KILL ME is in one week!

There’s going to be a reading of TEACHER in the very near future, hopefully December, so check back for details about that.

(Interspersed through this post are images of early concept art from Aly Renee Amidei, who is designing the creature costumes and makeup.)

Opening February 2012, Athenaeum Theatre, Chicago

KILL ME

written by Scott T. Barsotti
directed by Jeff Christian

featuring WildClaw ensemble members Casey Cunningham and Michaela Petro, and guest artists Sasha Gioppo, Matt Kahler, Ele Matelan, Chris Maxwell, and Jude Roche

Costume and Makeup Design by Aly Renee Amidei

Sound Design by Scott Tallarida and Mikhail Fiksel

Scenic Design by John Ross Wilson

Lighting Design by Julian Pike

Creature Movement Design by Scott T. Barsotti

Upon awakening from a post-traumatic coma, Cam is convinced that she has lost her ability to die.  As her reaction to immortality rapidly shifts from invincible wonder to cosmic terror, her sanity begins to break.  Fearing life eternal, Cam attempts suicide…again…and again…causing her sister and lover to grapple with nightmares of their own, born in the dream world, and the real one.  Are the demons plaguing these women real or imagined…and is there ultimately a difference?  Through relentlessly shifting dimensions, soundscapes, and mental worlds, KILL ME presents a lyrical horror story in which unending life proves worse than death.

We’re gonna freak you out.  More soon.

(Images courtesy of Aly Renee Amidei.)

You can buy a ticket to the event at wildclawtheatre.com, or you can opt for the VIP ticket which includes admission to DEATHSCRIBE 2011 at the Mayne Stage, as well as our production of my play KILL ME at the Athenaeum in February 2012 (more on that very very soon).

We’re going to have lots of booze, food from Sazon Chicago, music from Seeking Wonderland and other guests, art (some on display and some created live, including original work by Clive Barker), and the one and only Doug Jones will be in attendance!  Plus a one-armed zombie, goodie-bags, a silent auction with ridiculously awesome prizes, and more.  This is going to be an incredible, weird, dark, fantastically fun evening.

Hey people.  I’ve got a lot in the works, a couple things I’m hoping to announce soon, just not too much I can report for certain just yet.

In the meantime, there are still 2 weeks remaining to SUBMIT to WildClaw Theatre‘s Deathscribe 2011.  2 weeks is plenty of time to crank out that 10-minute radio horror play you’ve been mulling over.  So get to it!

Deadline is September 15, 2011.  Click here for guidelines and podcasts of previous Deathscribes!

We Live Here
Conceived and directed by
Margot Bordelon and Cassy Sanders
Written by Scott T. Barsotti, Molly Each, Laura Eason, Brian Golden, Kristin Idaszak, Kim Morris, Nick Ward, and Doug Whippo

Nelson Algren famously wrote that loving Chicago was “loving a woman with a broken nose.” Eight of Chicago’s best storytellers join forces in an examination of that sentiment for our generation, contributing eight unique autobiographical tales of life by the lake. Weaved together by video interviews with three dozen everyday Chicagoans and the relentless rush of the El train, We Live Here cuts an affectionate look at true stories of life and love earned in search of the ultimate badge: Chicagoan.

Opening August 4, 2011
Greenhouse Theater Center
Upstairs Mainstage
2257 N Lincoln Ave
Tickets: $15 – $25
773.404.7336

The festival opened on Friday and runs through July 31!

The 10th Annual Cut to the Chase Presents

Whistling Past. The Graveyard One-Acts

Image: “Graveyard Gate” by Ann Garrett

JULY 15 - 31
FRI – SAT 8:00pm
SUN 7:00pm

Cut to the Chase is a one act play festival that uses new work as a way for our new artists to showcase their talents. This year’s festival showcases six different writing talents and many new faces to the Artistic Home.

Sixteen Tons
by Joe Wescott, directed by Michael Medford

Last Chance
by Jim Lynch, directed by Ed Krystosek

Purity Ball
by Aline Lathrop, directed by Britnee Ruscitti

Last Dance
by Ed Krystosek, directed by Peter Connor

Crumbs from the Table
by Mark Young, directed by Jim Lynch

Graceland
by Scott T. Barsotti, directed by Madrid St. Angelo

In the story that I wrote, the role of “Scott” will be played by a fella named Desmond Gray.

WE LIVE HERE
By Scott T. Barsotti, Laura Eason, Molly Each, Kit Idaszak, Kim Morris, Brian Golden, Nick Ward & Doug Whippo
August 8 – September 11, 2011
Nelson Algren famously wrote that loving Chicago was like “loving a woman with a broken nose.” Eight of Chicago’s best storytellers join forces in an examination of that sentiment for our generation, contributing eight unique autobiographical tales of life by the lake. Weaved together by live rock music, video interviews with three dozen everyday Chicagoans and the relentless rush of the El train, We Live Here cuts an affectionate look at true stories of life and love earned in search of the ultimate badge: Chicagoan.

*** But then there are two more!  ***

I also found out recently that The Artistic Home will be producing my play GRACELAND as part of their annual Cut to the Chase festival, which is coming up in a few months.  Madrid St. Angelo of Urban Theatre Company will direct.

Annnnd: EP Theater will be producing CAPITAL O as part of a short play series this fall/winter.

More details on those two to come…