Pictured: Michael Shannon

A Red Orchid Theatre has announced the cast and design team for VICTIMS OF DUTY by Eugene Ionesco and directed by Shira Piven.

“VICTIMS OF DUTY was the very first show I ever saw at A Red Orchid,” says Artistic Director Kirsten Fitzgerald. “I am not entirely sure Ionesco’s investigation of a life made logical sense to me at the time, but it made perfect emotional sense and was viscerally stunning. So much so, that I knew I needed to work with these people in this space. That was 1996. With many of the originals returning (including Director Shira Piven, Production Designer Danila Korogodsky, and actors Guy Van Swearingen and Michael Shannon) the investigation promises to go even deeper.”

The full cast includes Michael Shannon (The Detective), Guy Van Swearingen (Choubert), Karen Aldridge (Madeleine), Rich Cotovsky (Nicolas D’eu), and Mierka Gierten (The Lady). The creative team includes Danila Korogodsky (production designer), Mike Durst (lighting designer), and Brando Triantafilou (sound designer).

From the press release: “Choubert, the archetypal bourgeois everyman, and his wife Madeleine are spending a quiet evening at home when the Detective arrives to enlist their help in finding the previous tenant. A roller-coaster ride of high comedy and horrific tragedy as Choubert examines his past present and future in a quest to find out where Mallot could be hiding.”

VICTIMS OF DUTY runs July 11th – August 5th at A Red Orchid Theatre, 1531 N Wells in Chicago. For more information visit aredorchidtheatre.org.