Strawdog Theatre Company has announced their 30th Anniversary Season, the first in their new home at 1802 W Berenice Avenue. The lineup includes the previously announced Chicago premiere of Robert O’Hara’s BARBECUE (performed at Steppenwolf), a new Ibsen adaptation PILLARS OF THE COMMUNITY, and the world premiere of DAMASCUS, a thriller airport shuttle ride from Minneapolis to Chicago. The season will also include the new comic musical TAKE ME by Jon Langford and Mark Guarino, which Strawdog will develop throughout the season.

“Celebrating a 30th anniversary is in itself a milestone,” said Co-Artistic Director Anderson Lawfer. “Having produced more than 115 plays over the last three decades including Chicago and world premieres, Strawdog looks forward to this next chapter in our long history. We begin the 2017-18 season with a new home, an active ensemble of over 25 members and a great roster of productions. Strawdog is proud of our past achievements and we move into this season with great promise and excitement for what the future holds for the next 30 years.”

Strawdog Theatre Company’s 17/18 Season (from the press release):

BARBECUE
Chicago Premiere and a LookOut Visiting Company at Steppenwolf’s 1700 Theater
Written by Robert O’Hara
Directed by Damon Kiely
August 17 – September 30, 2017
To purchase single tickets to Barbecue, please visit www.steppenwolf.org/bbq or call 312-335-1650.

A modern American family uses a summer barbecue as a pretext to ambush sister Barbara with an intervention. If you think “all families are crazy” is just a cliché, you’ve not spent time under the influence of the O’Mallerys. An afternoon in the park with these raucous siblings and you’ll be challenging your own assumptions about family, race, and reality. The Chicago premiere of BARBECUE by Obie and Helen Hayes Award winner Robert O’Hara will have you laughing out loud and questioning how it’s true that in America, you sometimes taze the ones you love.

The Barbecue cast includes Strawdog Ensemble Members John Henry Roberts and Kamille Dawkins with guest artists Kristin Collins, Celeste Cooper, Anita Deely, Barbara Figgins, Deanna Reed Foster, Abby Pierce, Terence Simms and Ginneh Thomas.

The Barbecue design team includes Strawdog Ensemble Members Costume Designer Aly Greaves Amidei and Sound Designer Heath Hayes with guest artists: Director Damon Kiely, Assistant Director Michael Burke, Set Designer Joanna Iwanicka, Lighting Designer Jared Gooding, Props Designer Leah Hummel and Dramaturg Taylor Barfield.

PILLARS OF THE COMMUNITY
Adapted from Henrik Ibsen’s THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY
Written by Samuel Adamson
Directed by Elly Green
January 19 – March 3, 2018
Strawdog Theatre, 1802 W. Berenice Ave.

The return of a fugitive brother puts the future of wealthy businessman Karsten Bernick in peril. Details of a long-buried sex scandal and embezzlement come to the surface and force Bernick to face his family, his community and his demons. Adamson’s version of Ibsen’s 1877 moral drama was first produced at the National Theatre in 2005 to critical acclaim. Ensemble member Elly Green (After MISS JULIE and THE NIGHT SEASON at Strawdog) directs the first production in the new Strawdog Theatre on Berenice.

DAMASCUS
World Premiere
Written by Bennett Fisher
Directed by Cody Estle
May 11 – June 24, 2018
Strawdog Theatre, 1802 W. Berenice Ave.

Hassan is a Somali-American Super Shuttle driver in Minneapolis, struggling to make ends meet as more and more of his customers switch to Uber and Lyft. So when a stranded teenager at the airport pays Hassan to take him to Chicago, it seems like it’s worth the risk. Until it isn’t. A claustrophobic thriller about privilege, paranoia and the assumptions we make about one another.

TAKE ME
Ongoing development of a world premiere musical at Strawdog Theatre
Written by Mark Guarino
Music by Jon Langford
Dates TBA

TAKE ME is a world premiere musical and based on a true story by Mark Guarino and Jon Langford (The Mekons) about searching into the vast universe for answers when they might be found inside. When her husband lapses into a coma, Georgia feels hopeless and turns to the sky for a reason to go on. She finds direction from voices she believes are aliens who instruct her to move to Roswell, N.M. and build a theme park in their honor before awaiting further instruction. She follows their orders and what follows is a comic fantasia involving government conspiracy theories, deadly insect bites and idol worship.