Mistakes Were Made

A Red Orchid Theatre opens its 2009-10 Season with the World Premiere of Mistakes Were Made by the Emmy-nominated writer of Six Feet Under Craig Wright and directed by Dexter Bullard. This electrifying performance will mark A Red Orchid Theatre Co-founder and Ensemble Member Michael Shannon's first appearance on their stage since his 2009 Academy Award Best Supporting Actor Nomination for Revolutionary Road. It also features Ensemble Member Mierka Girten, star of last year's critical smash With Or Without Wings. The production will run September 8 - October 18, 2009 at A Red Orchid Theatre, 1531 North Wells St.

Legendary producer Felix Artifex gets in way over his fast-talking head when he takes on Mistakes Were Made, the first World Premiere of his long and chequered career. Felix's project is a gargantuan epic of the French Revolution, which he thinks is going to be his ticket to professional and personal redemption.  Mistakes Were Made is a compact gem of philosophy and funny-business from Craig Wright, the Emmy-nominated writer of Six Feet Under and the award-winning playwright of Lady, Grace, and The Pavilion.

"It's about finding a balance between freedom and responsibility — in revolutionary France, in a post-Bush America, and in ourselves as individual human beings; and, given the fact that the production team includes Dexter Bullard, Michael Shannon, Mierka Girten and A Red Orchid Theatre, it's also about as cool a world premiere as a playwright could ever hope for," comments Craig Wright.

Director Dexter Bullard adds, "When I read Mistakes Were Made, I laughed so hard my sides hurt. The play is touching and hits right on the head of this idea we all face: the cruelty of how the world just can't seem to ever give us what we want.  With the history and admiration I share with my collaborators and A Red Orchid, this play is a labor of love."

"How is this actually all happening?  It has been two years since we first fell on the floor with laughter reading Mistakes Were Made.  Last February, after Craig, Michael and Dexter attended a performance of The Unseen at A Red Orchid, they said to me 'let's do it.'  As we focus this year on the people and the process that make us A Red Orchid, we are honored to have both Craig and Dexter returning to play in our house and thrilled to open our season with this world premiere," says Artistic Director, Kirsten Fitzgerald.

For more information call 312-943-8722 or visit www.aredorchidtheatre.org.