Victory Gardens Theater

Victory Gardens Theater Artistic Director Dennis Zacek has announced exciting plans for the company's 38th season, promising "new and compelling stories that transform, entertain and reflect the human condition."

Edward Albee's At Home at the Zoo will receive its Chicago premiere, starring Peter Strauss, star of stage and screen, directed by Zacek, to launch Victory Gardens' 2010-2011 season followed by the Chicago premiere of Tree by Victory Gardens newcomer Julie Hebert. Chicago's #1 producer of new work will follow that up with two new plays by members of its resident Playwrights Ensemble - The Boys Room by Joel Drake Johnson and Charles Smith's The Gospel According to James. A fifth production is to be announced.

"As we approach nearly four decades as Chicago's number one producer of new work, our commitment to inclusion, diversity, Chicago artists and new plays only grows stronger," said Zacek. "Victory Gardens was the only theater to have two productions on the Chicago Tribune's list of best plays last season, the Chicago Sun-Times says ‘we're on a roll', and two of last season's world premieres are getting second productions off-Broadway. Without question, Victory Gardens is the place to be to see the best in New Work."

Victory Gardens Theater's 2010-2011 Season: A Closer Look

At Home At the Zoo
A Chicago premiere
By Edward Albee
Directed by Dennis Zacek

America's greatest living playwright pairs his provocative classic, A Zoo Story, the one-act that launched his career 50 years ago, with a new prequel titled Homelife.

Victory Gardens' season opener stars Peter Strauss, best known for his starring roles in such made-for-TV films as Rich Man, Poor Man and The Jericho Mile, opposite Chicago favorites Annabel Armour and Marc Grapey. Zacek, who first worked with Strauss in student productions at Northwestern University, will direct this remarkable trio of actors in Albee's story of three New Yorkers whose lives are changed forever one sunny afternoon as revelations and confrontations send them down surprising new paths.

With shocking secrets to reveal, sharp truths to confront and hearts bursting with all the complexities of humanity, At Home at the Zoo is a new way to experience the intensity that is true Albee.

Tree
A Chicago premiere
By Julie Hebert
Directed by Victory Gardens Resident Director Andrea J. Dymond

Julie Hebert's provoking and powerful new play depicts three generations divided by race, culture, time, and place. A divorced chef, Leo, is caring for his aging mother with the help of his college-age daughter when Didi, a southern white woman, barges into their lives with a provocative cache of love letters. Written by her deceased father, the letters reveal a compelling family secret. In search of the truth, Leo must sift through the addled memories of his mother and her surprising and contradictory stories of her dangerous interracial romance. Eloquently melding realism and poetry, Tree fosters a deep, true conversation between people who are linked in many ways, but separated by race.

Hebert is an award-winning writer and director of television, film and theater. Her plays include Abe Lincoln's Dog, The Knee Desires the Dirt, Almost Asleep, True Beauties, St. Joan and the Dancing Sickness, and Ruby's Bucket of Blood, which she also adapted into a film for Showtime, starring Angela Bassett.

The Boys Room
A world premiere
By Playwrights Ensemble Member Joel Drake Johnson
Directed by Victory Gardens Associate Artistic Director Sandy Shinner

When the American Dream is out of reach, what is a man to do? In The Boys Room, ensemble playwright Joel Drake Johnson walks the line exquisitely between laughter and tears. Two middle-aged brothers try to escape their responsibilities and race each other back to their boyhood bedroom-that sanctuary where they can dream and scheme without the pressure of the outside world. One is unemployed; the other is making a living but is not sure why he should live. The women in their lives are knocking on the door, filled with questions and, sometimes, love. The Boys Room will feature beloved Chicago actress Mary Ann Thebus, Jeff Nominated as Best Actress in Victory Gardens' 2007 critically acclaimed debut of Johnson's Four Places, as the mother of the "boys".

The Gospel According to James
A Chicago premiere
By Playwrights Ensemble Member Charles Smith

It's 1930 in Indiana and five young people are eager to break out of their small town. They need a car. They have a gun. But years later, contradictory memories are all that are left of their grand plans.

Based on the double lynching immortalized by the iconic Lawrence Beitler photograph, The Gospel According to James creates a fictional meeting between the man who survived the lynching and the only woman with them that night. By dramatizing the events leading up to the crime, Smith, acclaimed author of Victory Gardens history-based smash hits Denmark, The Sutherland and Knock Me a Kiss, explores how unreliable personal memory underlies what we believe to be an immutable public history.

Subscriptions and Flex Passes for Victory Gardens' 2010-2011 season offering up to 35% savings on single tickets went on sale today on the company's website, victorygardens.org or, call the Victory Gardens Box Office, 773-871-3000 to subscribe over the phone or for further information.