Displaying items by tag: Lynne Baker

Babes With Blades Theatre Company’s (BWBTC), now presenting the world premiere of yo ho. through August 29 at The Edge Off-Broadway, shares the cast and creative team for the final production in its 2026 season, William Shakespeare’s King Lear, directed by Alison Dornheggen and fight choreography by Jess Pennachio, October 15 - November 21 in Theatre 3 at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont. The running time, including intermission, is approximately two hours and 20 minutes. Preview performances are Thursday, Oct. 15 and Friday, Oct. 16 at 8 p.m. The performance schedule is Thursdays – Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. The open caption performances are Saturday, Nov. 7 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 8 at 3 p.m. and Thursday, Nov. 12 and Friday, Nov. 13 at 8 p.m. The sensory friendly performance is Sunday, Oct. 25 at 3 p.m. with the fully masked audience performance, Sunday, Nov. 1 at 3 p.m. There is no performance on Saturday, Oct. 31. Streaming dates for King Lear will be announced at a future date. Tickets are $28 for students and seniors, $37 for general admission and go on sale Monday, August 31 at the Theater Wit Box Office, 773-975-8150, or at BabesWithBlades.org. 

King Lear tells the complicated story of a king who divides his kingdom into thirds for his three daughters and the unforeseen struggles from this decision’s aftermath. His unraveling is parallelled by the nefarious journey of a jealous Edmund, who seeks to overtake his nobleman father’s affairs from his half-brother. 

“I am thrilled that Babes are sinking their teeth into one of Shakespere’s most complex tragedies," said Artistic Director Hayley Rice. “A quote from King Lear is  “‘Tis the time’s plague when madmen lead the blind,” demonstrating, like so much of Shakespeare’s work, these themes are still painfully relevant today including greed, lust for power, the shortsightedness of our leaders and familial strife. We look forward to welcoming audiences to the final production in our 2026 season with this famous tragedy.”

With storefront theater veteran Lynne Baker (she/her) in the titular role of King Lear, the cast also includes Babes With Blades Theatre Company Ensemble Members Kim Fukawa (she/her, Oswald/Duke of Burgundy, Edgar U/S); Carrie Hardin (she/her, King Lear U/S); Morgan Manasa (she/her, Earl of Gloucester); Jennifer L. Mickelson (she/her, Duke of Albany/ensemble); Jennifer Mohr (she/her, Cordelia/Fool); Thomas Russell (he/they, Edmund) and Kathrynne Wolf (she/her, Earl of Kent). They are joined by, in alphabetical order, Kim Boler (she/her, Goneril); Sarah Cushman (she/her, Goneril/Duke of Albany/ensemble U/S); Dani De la Rosa (she/her; ensemble/Edmund and Duke of Cornwall U/S); Brandi Jiminez Lee (she/her, Edgar); Sophia Lanza-Weil (she/her, Earl of Gloucester/ensemble U/S); Madeline Meyer (she/her; ensemble/Oswald and Kent U/S); Rachel Sleek Bañuelos (she/her, Regan); Ahlora Victoria (she/her, Duke of Cornwall/Regan U/S) and Brittani Yawn (she/her, ensemble/Cordelia and Fool U/S).

The production team includes BWBTC ensemble members Line Bower (they/them, technical director); Alison Dornheggen (she/her, director); Hayley Rice (she/her, text coach); Payton Shearn (she/they, production assistant) and Laura J. Wiley (she/her, lighting designer) as well as Jessie Gowens (she/her, costume designer); Hannah Foerschler (she/her, sound designer); Tristan Hall (they/them, intimacy designer); Rose Hamill (she/her, production manager); Morgan Lazlo (they/them, scenic designer); Arielle Leverett (she/her, assistant director); Ryan Liddell (he/him, assistant fight choreographer); Elena Lindeman (they/she, props designer); Grace Elizabeth Mealey (she/her, stage manager) and Jess Pennachio (she/her, fight director).

ABOUT ALISON DORNHEGGEN, DIRECTOR

Alison Dornheggen has been working in the Chicagoland area as a director, actor, fight choreographer and administrator for more than 20 years. She received her degree in directing and acting from Columbia College Chicago and has been lucky to work with companies such as Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Idle Muse Theatre, Mercury Theater, A Red Orchid Theatre, Remy Bumppo Theatre Company, Oak Park Festival Theatre and The Factory Theater among others. She earned her MA in arts management, serving as the Theatre Graduate Fellow at American University in Washington DC and was privileged to work with the Washington Stage Guild, Ford's Theater, the Kennedy Center and award winning composer Peter Lerman. Dornheggen is also part of the theater department faculty at the Chicago Academy for the Arts and has been a proud ensemble member of BWBTC since 2003. 

ABOUT JESS PENNACHIO, FIGHT CHOREOGRAPHER

Jess Pennachio has a B.A in theatre performance from UNC Charlotte and completed the Actor’s Gymnasium Professional Circus Training Program focusing in partner acrobatics and juggling. She is a trained stunt performer and an advanced actor combatant with the SAFD. She has assisted stage combat classes throughout Chicago and across the country. She has worked with Babes With Blades, The Factory Theater, Collaboraction, Rough House, Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble and the Carolina Renaissance Festival. She is a fight choreographer for stage and screen as well as a makeup artist.

ABOUT BABES WITH BLADES THEATRE COMPANY

Babes With Blades Theatre Company, for more than 25 years and moving into the future, strives to develop and present scripts focused on complex, dynamic (often combative) characters who continue to be underrepresented on theatre stages based on gender. Babes With Blades Theatre Company uses stage combat to tell stories that elevate the voices of underrepresented communities and dismantle the patriarchy.

In each element of its programming, BWBTC embraces two key concepts:

1)     Folks of marginalized genders and underrepresented communities are central to the story, driving the action rather than responding or submitting to it and

2)     Everyone is capable of a full emotional and physical range, up to and including violence and its consequences.

The company offers participants and patrons alike an unparalleled opportunity to experience every person as heroes and villains; rescuers and rescues; right, wrong and everywhere in between: exciting, vivid, dynamic PEOPLE. It’s as simple and as subversive as that.

LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT STATEMENT:

Babes With Blades Theatre Company produces theatre in venues located on the traditional homelands of the Council of the Three Fires: the Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi Nations. Many other tribes such as the Miami, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Sac and Fox also called this area home. This region that we now commonly refer to as “The Chicagoland Area”, has long been a center for Indigenous people to gather, trade and maintain kinship ties. Today, one of the largest urban Native American communities in the United States resides in Chicago. Members of this community continue to contribute to the life of this city and to celebrate their heritage, practice traditions and care for the land and waterways.

Blue in the Right Way audaciously chose for their inaugural production a 400-year-old play, WOMEN BEWARE WOMEN, written in 1621 by Thomas Middleton and adapted by the company’s co-founders Kevin Smith (Kevin/Kevin’s, also director) and Daiva Bhandari (she/her, also lead actor and choreographer). WOMEN BEWARE WOMEN was abstractly staged, accompanied by a pair of gender-bending commentators, with Spanish/English translation subtitles, original music, exotic projections … and as many other quirky devices as their extraordinary minds could devise.

The result had me asking other audience members, “Am I the only one who has no idea what’s going on here?” Unfortunately, the ones I asked simply looked at me pityingly, one saying, “It’ll all clear up with the second act.” Sadly, this did not transpire. In the first act actors wore sumptuous Jacobean garb, but in the second act costumer Alaina Moore (she/her) chose contemporary dress, and I had trouble even figuring out who was who, leave alone clarifying all that had gone before.

Smith added some notable supplements to Thomas Middleton’s original script. Most remarkable was the double act of Kidany Camilo (they/she/he, Solange) and Bree Perry (she/they, Clara) appearing throughout the show dressed as ‘maids from the Clue game’, with commentary and heart-rending narrative about Solange’s trans/femme childhood.

Also outstanding were Daiva Bhandari (she/her) as Livia, who ultimately gets embroiled in her own schemes and John Zhou Duncan (any with respect) as Ward, who romped exuberantly with Sordido (Shail Modi he/him). Ward is described as ‘immature’ – was this a euphemism for ‘camp as a row of pink tents’?

Kudos to intimacy consultant Leo Mock (they/them/he/him) and intimacy director Courtney Abbott (she/they); as well as and most particularly to violence designers R&D Choreography (Rick Gilbert (he/him) and Victor Bayona (he/him); the fights were marvelous, and the cataclysmic ending was spectacular.

The entire cast was extraordinary: Lynne Baker (she/her, Mother); Ryan Wright Cassidy (he/him, Hippolito); Johnny Moran (he/him, Fabritio); Huy Nguyen (he/him, Duke); Keenan Odenkirk (he/him, Guardiano); Christin Prince (she/her, Bianca); Mia Van De Mark (she/her, Isabella); and Brandon Wiman (he/him, Leantio). Cardinal was played by understudy Alex Amaya (he/him), who did a fine job with a suitably bizarre performance.

Sound engineer Chris Wood (he/they) gave us a lot of sound! though it sometimes overrode the actors’ voices. Likewise, Eme Ospina-López’s (they/them) videos and projections were powerful; sometimes overly so. The scenic design by Andersonville Scenic Studios was made particularly striking by a mirror on the ceiling so the action below was repeated above – striking, yes, but an additional confusing feature in a thoroughly bewildering show. The show ran more than 30 minutes longer than billed, and during the final scenes I kept wondering when it was going to end… and how would I tell when it did?

Also on the artistic and production team were Katie Mazzini (she/her, assistant director); Sonia Perelló (she/her, Spanish translator);  Tianxuan Chen (any with respect, scenic and lighting designer); Juan Contreras-Kirby (he/him, wig, hair and makeup designer); Sam Flipp (she/her, stage manager); Anna H. Gelman (she/her, production manager);  Lililo (Emma Ladji) (she/her, composer); Viviana Mendez (she/her, lip-sync choreographer); Catherine Miller (they/them, casting director);  Keith Parham (he/him, associate lighting designer);  Hayley E Wallenfeldt (any with respect, properties supervisor); Baylee Speer (any with respect, master electrician); Caitlyn Birmingham (she/her, assistant stage manager), and Claire Michalak (she/her, box office manager).  

WOMEN BEWARE WOMEN presented several problems for me, but these did not override its contributions: a stellar cast giving amazing performances and a wonderful production team. The flaw was that all this excellence exceeded itself – altogether too much of a good thing. Blue in the Right Way is unquestionably a theatre company to watch. Kevin Smith revealed himself as courageous and adventuresome; if Kevin can muster a soupçon of temperance Kevin can offer an invaluable addition to Chicago’s theatre scene.

WOMEN BEWARE WOMEN

at The Edge Theater

Running Wednesdays through Sundays through May 12

Having been wanting to check it out for quite a while, I was excited to go see Nice Girl at the Raven Theatre, the theatre’s latest offering, this one by Melissa Ross and directed by Lauren Shouse. Upon entering the Edgewater located venue, I walked into the warmth and was greeted by two friendly gentlemen. It is an unassuming, no thrills theatre, and unfortunately was missing a bar. As I went to find a seat, I noticed the sense of community at Raven Theatre. It was clear the staff was close-knit and well-connected in the theatre community.

I was immediately transported to Massachusetts as they play started. Both Josephine, played by Lucy Carapetyan, and her mother Francine, who is played by Lynne Baker, show fantastic chemistry from the get go and the banter between the two is strong, to say the least. In fact, their repartee is so realistic at times as they both pushed each other's buttons it made me uncomfortable.

The premise of the play is that Josephine is 37, single, and living with her mother. She befriends a coworker named Sherri (Stella Martin) who happens to be the saving grace of this play. She brings a much-needed energy to the sad life that Carapetyan so convincingly brought to her character. As the play progresses we are introduced to Donnie (Benjamin Sprunger) who is an old classmate of Josephine and they start to build a budding romance. But the characters prove to be bland.

There is a twist in the second half of the play in which I missed completely, most likely due to the lack of interest in the play’s characters. I truly struggled with the play and what it offers to its audience. It is sad and without much hope until the end of the show. What I yearned for was the steady, noticeable growth of Josephine throughout the challenges of her relationship with her mother but again, some changes occurred at the end.

Nice Girl is a bit hard to watch but it does have some humor breaks here and there, albeit on the more minor side – not enough to salvage the play. I struggled with feeling much hope for the main character. If seeing the play, be prepared to be sad and have a lot of hurt in your heart. However, when walking out of the Theatre many patrons commented that they enjoyed Nice Girl, obviously appealing to the taste of several theatre goers. Who’s to say who will enjoy what so, as always, check it out and make your own opinion.
Nice Girl is being performed at Raven Theatre where it is running until March 11th. Tickets available at www.raventheatre.com.