Babes With Blades, Chicago's only female stage combat ensemble, presents the world premiere of A Gulag Mouse by Arthur M. Jolly in March of 2010.
Winner of the Joining Sword and Pen 2009-2010 competition, this gritty new work takes place in a Siberian gulag in the post-war Soviet Union of the 1940s. Here Masha, Svetlana, Lubov, Prushka, and newcomer Anastasia navigate a brutal world of shifting alliances and betrayals. Who will survive?
Says playwright Jolly, "A Gulag Mouse is an exploration of the struggle to embrace good in the presence of evil, life in a world of harsh survival - to have faith, despite oneself, in the possibility of redemption."
A Gulag Mouse is directed by Brian Plocharczyk and features Babes With Blades ensemble members Delia Ford (Svetlana), Managing Director Amy E. Harmon (Masha), Gillian N. Humiston (Anastasia), Artistic Director Stephanie Repin (Prushka), and Kathrynne Wolf (Lubov). They are joined by guest artists Dustin Spence (Evgeny/Ivanov) and Danielle Defassio (Understudy).
Fight choreography is by acclaimed Fight Master David Woolley; Babes With Blades ensemble member Libby Beyreis assists. Fights feature knife and unarmed work.
Staff includes Babes With Blades ensemble members Leigh Barrett (Lighting Designer), Kjerstine McHugh (Stage Manager), and Morgan Manasa (Producer). Guest artists include Jeff Lisse (Set Designer), Jessica Pribble (Costume Designer), and Adam Smith (Sound Designer). Props provided by the Sans N E Sleep Cooperative.
For tickets call the box office at 773-904-0391 or visit www.BabesWithBlades.org.
The next production for Babes With Blades is The Last Daughter of Oedipus by ensemble member Jennifer L. Mickelson, debuting in Fall of 2010.
The Joining Sword and Pen competition is in its 3rd cycle and is co-sponsored by Fight Master David Woolley. The next topic for the competition will be announced in Fall of 2010.
Founder Dawn Alden originally conceived Babes With Blades as a two-day showcase presentation, intended to bring to the Chicago art world an awareness of the large number of stage combat-trained women it had in its midst whose talents were being consistently underutilized. Twelve years later the Babes are still going strong, having produced their original showcase, thirteen full productions, a traveling children's show, and a combat chess match, as well as hosting innumerable workshops and participating in outreach programs all over Chicagoland.
The majority of Babes With Blades' full-length productions begin as one of their script-development initiatives: the New Plays Development Program and Joining Sword & Pen, a bi-annual playwriting competition. Both initiatives aim to increase the number of quality scripts featuring fighting roles for women in the canon.