This is Not A Cure For Cancer – First production under Collaboraction’s new “Incite Change” Mission – to debut February 20 – March 30, 2014
New interactive live theater experience exposes the cancer industry, explores the meaning of life
Bouncing between his dentist’s office, the inside of his brain and memories with his deceased father, Moseley draws from his personal experience with his father’s battle with cancer as a theatrical lens for a meaning of life dramedy that takes a seriously funny look at cancer, the way we live and the value of life.
“This is Not a Cure for Cancer is not a play,” explains Moseley. “It’s an interactive, experiential, live art installation that will demystify a terrible disease, leave a theatrical imprint on audiences and change the way they think about cancer and its treatment.”
Schedule your appointment with This is Not a Cure for Cancer today. Performances are February 20-March 30, 2014. Â Press opening has been rescheduled to Thursday, February 27 at 7 p.m.
Show times are Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m.; Sunday at 3 p.m. There are added performances Wednesday, February 26 at 7:30 p.m. and Monday, March 10 at 7 p.m.
Collaboraction’s newly renovated performance spaces are located on the third floor of the Flat Iron Arts Building, 1579 N. Milwaukee Ave., in the epicenter of Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood. Tickets are $10-$30, and are on sale now. Student and industry discounts are available with proper ID at the door. For tickets and information, visit collaboraction.org or call 312.226.9633.
This is Not a Cure for Cancer is co-directed by Anthony Moseley and Theatre Wit Artistic Director Jeremy Wechsler. The production features Collaboraction company members
Anthony Moseley, Carolyn Hoerdemann, Lisandra Tena, John Ross Wilson, Nate Card and Antonio Brunetti, along with Robbie Bersano, Shawn Casey, Laura Chernicky, Matthew Karl Krause, Patty Malaney, Roy Rainey, Jordan Shomer and Grace Wagner.
Designers include John Wilson (set), Michael Reed (lights), Livui Pasare (video), Elsa Hiltner (costumes) and Angela Campos (props). Andrew C. Donnelly is stage manager. This is Not a Cure for Cancer is produced by Sarah Moeller.
Community partners for This is Not a Cure For Cancer include(at press time) Gilda’s Club, the American Cancer Society, the Ovarian Cancer Symptom Awareness Organization and Dr. Timothy Dotson, Perfect Smile Dental Spa. These partners will co-host post-show town hall discussions with Moseley after every Thursday and Sunday performance throughout the run.
ABOUT THE CREATORS
Anthony Moseley serves as the Founding Executive and Artistic Director of Collaboraction, where he has produced over 50 productions, 13 SKETCHBOOK Festivals and over 250 events since the company’s founding in 1999. Moseley’s most recent production, the 2013 debut of Crime Scene: A Chicago Anthology, was a community-sourced new theatrical reaction to Chicago’s history of violent crime and a call to discover what it might take to create lasting change in our city. Crime Scene was met with overwhelming critical and audience acclaim, subsequently toured and set up week-long residencies last summer in inner city neighborhoods in partnership with the Chicago Park District, and is now one of the five recent Chicago storefront theater productions set to tour the Midwest in 2014-15 as part of the Chicago Commercial Collective’s new Off-Loop Tour.
In 2000 Moseley co-founded the annual SKETCHBOOK Festival, which was lauded by Kerry Reid of the Chicago Reader as “the premiere short play festival in the Midwest.” Under Moseley’s direction, SKETCHBOOK has produced 158 world premiere short plays in a mixed media environment with music and visual art. Moseley’s other Collaboraction directing credits include the world premieres of El Grito Del Bronx (a co-production with Teatro Vista in association with the Goodman Theatre), The Pull Toy (and His Pasian), and Heroes and Villains; Chicago premieres of dark play or stories for boys by Carlos Murrillo, Be a Good Little Widow by Bekah Brunstetter, Refuge (2000 Jeff Citation nomination for Best Direction),The Cosmonaut’s Last Message to the Woman He Once Loved in the Former Soviet Union, Trueblinka and Guinea Pig Solo; as well as Mud, To Kill a Mockingbird, and numerous world premiere short plays for the SKETCHBOOK Festival.
Sarah Illiatovitch-Goldman is a playwright new to the Chicago area. She was one of the writers on Collaboraction’s Crime Scene Chicago: A Chicago Anthology and her piece Hospital premiered at Collaboraction’s 2013 SKETCHBOOK and will be touring festivals in Canada in the summer of 2014. Originally from Toronto in 2011, she was one of three people shortlisted from across Canada for the RBC Tarragon Emerging Playwrights Award. Â Other writing credits include The Guilty Party (New Voices Festival and Cue6 Productions) Pieces (Cue6 Productions) The Apartment Trilogy (Sound It Out Festival – Thesp) Mirror Me (Project: Humanity) The Golem (WORKhouse Theatre) and The Ball (Bechdel Fest – Broken Nose Theatre). Upon finishing her work with This Is Not A Cure for Cancer, she will be assistant director to Amy Morton for Steppenwolf’s spring show, The Way West.
ABOUT COLLABORACTION
Collaboraction celebrates its 18th year as a Chicago-based arts organization and has recently moved its theater and operation headquarters to the historic Flat Iron Arts Building, 1579 N. Milwaukee Ave., in the heart of Wicker Park. By incorporating innovative artists and interdisciplinary collaboration, Collaboraction creates groundbreaking theatrical and art-based experiences.
The overwhelming response to Crime Scene: A Chicago Anthology last season was the first step in Artistic Director Anthony Moseley’s new vision for Collaboraction to be used as an artistic tool to explore critical social issues in an effort to create dialogue and incite change. With This is Not a Cure for Cancer, Collaboraction continues collaborating with artists, health professionals and citizens from throughout the city to create original theatrical experiences that push artistic boundaries and explore critical social issues with a diverse community of Chicagoans.
Meanwhile, Collaboraction continues to produce and present its “must-see” annual SKETCHBOOK Festival, a whirlwind showcase of world premiere theater pieces, each ranging from seven to 50 minutes in length and featuring a combination of established playwrights and up-and-coming new talents. Celebrating its 14th year, this season’s SKETCHBOOK 14, May 12-June 16, 2014, will be guest curated by Ike Holter (Hit the Wall, Loom and B-Side Studio), feature a designed social environment in Collaboraction’s Pentagon theatre, and dovetail the company’s new mission by exploring important social issues in innovative and provocative ways.
For more information, visit collaboraction.org.
