MIDSUMMER (A Play with Songs)
By David Greig
Music by Gordon McIntyre
Directed by Randy White
Music Direction by Jeremy Gentry
CHICAGO – Greenhouse Theater Center and Proxy Theatre are pleased to present the Midwest premiere of MIDSUMMER (A Play with Songs), written by Scottish playwright David Greig, with music by indie-favorite Gordon McIntyre and direction by Randy White. MIDSUMMER will play September 4 – October 6, 2019 in The Greenhouse Theater Center’s Downstairs Main Stage, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave. in Chicago. Tickets are currently available at greenhousetheater.org, in person at the box office or by calling (773) 404-7336. The press opening is Saturday, September 7 at 8 pm.
MIDSUMMER (A Play with Songs) features celebrated Chicago actors Chaon Cross and Patrick Mulvey.
A rowdier, Scottish-ier version of Once, MIDSUMMER (A Play with Songs) is a wickedly funny retelling of one seemingly mismatched couple’s lost weekend of wine, song, shagging, and outrageous parking fees. Accompanying themselves on a range of instruments, Mr. Mulvaney and Ms. Cross belt out the joyous folk-pop score in this one-of–a-kind production that is a genuine love letter to the great city of Edinburgh–and the un-Hollywood endings you just might find there!
The production team includes Mark Smith (scenic design), Ellen MacKay (costume design), Brandon Wardell (lighting design), Anthony Churchill (sound and production design), Dan Plehal (movement design), Becca McCracken (casting director), Ron Rude (production manager) and Andrew Hatcher (stage manager).
PRODUCTION DETAILS:
Title: MIDSUMMER (A Play with Songs)
Playwright: David Greig
Music: Gordon McIntyre
Director: Randy White
Music Director: Jeremy Gentry
Cast: Chaon Cross (Helena) and Patrick Mulvey (Bob).
Understudies: Alana Grossman and Mike Lee.
Location: The Greenhouse Theater Center’s Downstairs Mainstage, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave, Chicago
Dates: Previews: Wednesday, September 4 at 8 pm, Thursday, September 5 at 8 pm, Friday, September 6 at 8 pm and Saturday, September 7 at 3 pm
Press Performance: Saturday, September 7 at 8 pm
Regular run: Sunday, September 8 – Sunday, October 6, 2019
Curtain times: Wednesdays at 7:30 pm; Thursday and Fridays at 8 pm; Saturdays at 3 pm and 8 pm and Sundays at 3 pm.
Tickets: Previews: $15 ($10 students/military). Regular run: $20 – $25 ($15 students/military). Tickets are currently available at greenhousetheater.org, in person at the box office or by calling (773) 404-7336.
About the Artists
Chaon Cross (Helena) Chicago credits include: The Adventures of Augie March, Photograph 51, The Hard Problem, One Man Two Guvnors, Proof, Uncle Vanya, The Glass Menagerie, Scapin, The Romance Cycle, and Phèdre. (Court Theatre); Sweat (Goodman Theatre); Macbeth, Red Velvet, As You Like It, Private Lives, Cymbeline, Troilus and Cressida, The Two Noble Kinsmen, The Taming of the Shrew (Chicago Shakespeare); Macbeth (Lyric Opera of Chicago); Life Sucks, Brothers Karamazov (Lookingglass Theatre); Cyrano (Court Theatre and Redmoon Theatre); Grace (Northlight Theatre); The Wheel, The Cherry Orchard (Steppenwolf Theatre Company). Regional credits include Lady Windermere in Lady Windermere’s Fan (Milwaukee Repertory Theater) and Elizabeth Bennett in Pride and Prejudice (The Cleveland Playhouse). She has also appeared in productions with Frump Tucker, Shattered Globe Theatre, TimeLine Theatre Company, Theatre at the Center, First Folio Shakespeare Festival, and Theatre-Hikes. TV credits: The Exorcist (FOX), Chicago Fire (NBC), Boss (Starz), and Detroit 1-8-7 (ABC). Film: Widows, My Dog Skip (Warner Bros). Before moving to Chicago, Ms. Cross toured the US and Canada for two years with American Shakespeare Center.
Patrick Mulvey (Bob) received his Bachelor’s degree from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. While in the UK he starred on the BBC series River City and worked with the National Theatre of Scotland and the Globe Theatre in London. Other theatre credits include TimeLine theatre, the Goodman Theatre, and Broadway In Chicago. He went on to play Tony in the nine-time Tony award-winning Billy Elliot the Musical on Broadway. He has also appeared in Cirque de Soleil’s production of Baz Luhrmann: For the Record. Recent television credits include CSI: NY, NCIS, Chicago PD and Fox’s Proven Innocent. He was recently recurring on the hit shows Empire, Chicago Fire and The Girlfriend Experience. This past spring, he played the title role in David Auburn’s world premiere adaptation of The Adventures of Augie March at the Court Theatre.
David Greig (Playwright) has been described as “one of the most interesting and adventurous British dramatists of his generation” (Daily Telegraph) and “one of the most intellectually stimulating dramatists around.” (Guardian). Mr. Greig’s plays have been performed at The Royal Court, Old Vic, Royal Shakespeare Company, Traverse Theatre, and at major theatre companies around the world. His works include The Bacchae, Dunsinane, The Events, along with the international hits Midsummer (a play with songs) and Broadway’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. In Chicago, David’s Yellow Moon and The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart were recently staged at Writers Theatre and Chicago Shakespeare Theatre. Mr. Greig’s current work is an adaptation of the celebrated Scottish film Local Hero. With music by Dire Strait’s Mark Knopfler, the musical is currently playing to rave reviews at the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh, where David serves as artistic director.
Gordon McIntyre (Music) is a founding member and lead singer of the Scottish Indie band Ballboy. Led by McIntyre’s quirky lyrics and arresting melodies, Ballboy mixed post-punk, pop and folk and became an early 2000s cult favorite with great song titles (I Don’t Have Time to Stand Here With You Fighting About the Size of My Dick / Godzilla Vs The Island Of Manhattan (With You And I Somewhere In-Between) and even better songs!
Randy White (Director) In NYC, Randy developed and directed Glen Berger’s Underneath the Lintel (a year and a half off-Broadway), along with the off-Broadway production and 3-year national tour of Theatreworks USA’s Max and Ruby, Carson Kreitzer’s Self-Defense (New Georges), and over a dozen additional productions around the city. Randy was also was resident director at New Dramatists and assisted extensively on and off-Broadway, including Disney’s The Lion King. Regionally, Randy has directed at Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Portland Center Stage, Actors Theatre of Louisville Humana Festival, and was Associate Director on David Edgar’s Continental Divide at OSF and Berkeley Rep. Randy also directed at the Yale Dramatic Association, Fordham, and the University of Pennsylvania. More recently, Randy was the founding artistic director of Cardinal Stage Company in Bloomington, IN. In ten years, Randy led a team that built Cardinal into a highly successful Equity theatre. For Cardinal: Nick Dear’s Frankenstein, West Side Story, King Charles III, The Whipping Man, August: Osage County, Next to Normal, The 39 Steps, A Streetcar Named Desire, To Kill a Mockingbird, Les Miserables, The Grapes of Wrath, etc. Recently arrived in Chicago, Randy has directed Curious George at Northbrook Theatre, Truman and the Birth of Israel at Greenhouse Theater, and The Wizard of Oz at Children’s Theatre of Winnetka. Randy holds an MFA in directing from the University of Alberta in his native Canada.
Jeremy Gentry (Music Director) is a graduate student in music composition from Columbia College Chicago. He is very excited to be working on this project and grateful to be working with such talented people.
About the Companies
The Greenhouse Theater Center (GTC) is a producing theater company, performance venue and theatre bookstore located at 2257 N. Lincoln Ave. in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood.
GTC began its producing life in 2014 with the smash hit Churchill, followed by 2016’s much-lauded Solo Celebration!, an eight month, 16 event series highlighting the breadth and depth of the solo play form. In 2017-18, the Greenhouse presented its first full subscription season, including Machinal (4 stars from Chicago Tribune’s Chris Jones), a remount of the Jeff Award-winning Rose and the Chicago premiere of Birds of a Feather.
As a performance venue, the Greenhouse complex offers two newly-remodeled 198-seat main stage spaces, two 60-seat studio theaters, a newly-built 44-seat cabaret space, two high-capacity lobbies and an in-house rehearsal room. GTC also houses Chicago’s only dedicated used theatre bookstore, located on the second floor the complex.
The Greenhouse Theater Center’s mission is first and foremost to grow local theatre. GTC seeks local theatre companies and artists to partner on co-productions, offering partners a multitude of resources including an equitable split of production costs, production manager, full-service box office and front-of-house staff, artistic consultation, marketing and public relations support and a full-service bar with concessions. For additional information, call (773) 404-7336, ext. 13.
Proxy Theatre seeks out thrilling, successful shows from around the world that have somehow never played Chicago.