The Artistic Home to Present the SUMMER ON THE PATIO Series in August

The Artistic Home will present the return of its Summer on the Patio Series, featuring three free workshop productions playing Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from August 5 - 28, 2022 on the patio of its studio space at 3054 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago's Avondale neighborhood. Over the course of four weekends, audiences are invited to experience these plays with minimal technical elements, allowing for an intimate glimpse into the relationship between the actor and the text. Food and beverages will be served. For reservations, please e-mail theartistichomeensemble@gmail.com.

Summer the Patio is an ensemble-led initiative and an incubator for future production selection, allowing artists a home where they can shape, develop and strengthen their artistic voices. Plays are chosen to reflect the Avondale neighborhood's historical and cultural climate with a focus on diversity, equity and inclusion with BIPOC and LGTBQ+ artists.

Artistic Director Kathy Scambiatterra, comments, "The Summer on the Patio series began last year when we opened the back patio and our rehearsal process to our neighborhood free-of-charge. The back patio, especially in the time of Covid, proved to be a place where neighbors, actors and the larger Chicago community could safely gather and experience the play development process. Food and drink are an important component and aid in the spirit of sharing what brings us together. The exchange of ideas and points of view between the artists and audience are encouraged, exciting and hopeful. It's community collaboration at its best and simplest... so pull up a patio chair and join us."

The 2022 Summer on the Patio Series line-up includes:

The River by Jez Butterworth, Directed by Kevin Hagan

Fridays 8/5, 8/12, 8/19, 8/26 at 7 pm

Featuring Devon Carson, John La Flamboy and Kate Romond

On a moonless night in August when the sea trout are ready to run, a man brings his new girlfriend to the remote family cabin where he has come for the fly-fishing since he was a boy. But she's not the only woman he has brought here - or indeed the last.

Venus in Fur by David Ives, directed by Mark Pracht

Saturdays 8/6, 8/13, 8/20, 8/27 at 7 pm

Featuring David Stobbe and Lauren Valice

Thomas, a desperate playwright, cannot find the female lead, Vanda, for his adapted version of Venus in Fur, Leopold von Sacher-Masoch's classic sadomasochistic novel. In walks a rough and aggressive actress, strangely, named Vanda. Their evening swings between play and reality, submission and domination, as they find out who is really in control.

Malapert Love by Siah Berlatsky, directed by Siah Berlatsky

Sundays 8/7, 814, 8/21, 8/28 at 7 pm

Featuring Laura Coleman, Karla Corona, John Dooley, Ernest Henton, Alexander McRae, Jenna Steege and Zach Wagner

Malapert Love is a modern response to the tropes, style and structure of Shakespeare's comedies. It follows the tangled and farcical action of a group of people who have all fallen in love with the wrong person.

Artist Biographies

Jeremy "Jez" Butterworth (Playwright, The River), born in London, England in 1969, is an English playwright, screenwriter and film director. He has written screenplays in collaboration with his brothers, John-Henry and Tom. Butterworth has enjoyed major success with his plays Mojo (which won the Laurence Olivier for Best Comedy, Charles Wintour/Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright, and the George Devine award); The Ferryman (Best Play - Tony Awards); and Jerusalem (Best Play - Evening Standard Awards). In May 2007, Butterworth received the E.M. Forster Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Butterworth's play The River opened at The Royal Court Theatre in October 2012 and had its U.S. premiere on Broadway in a limited engagement in October 2014 with London critics finding the work "lyrical," "beautifully written" and "suffused with wonder and beauty."

Kevin Hagan (Director, The River) is a graduate of the School of Design at Louisiana State University and received a Master of Fine Arts degree in scenic design from The Theatre School, DePaul University. Kevin is a founding member of Timeline Theater Company, an Artistic Associate at Eclipse Theater and was the resident scenic designer at Shattered Globe Theatre for 12 seasons where he also made his Chicago directing debut. Kevin is an Artistic Associate at The Artistic Home and designed this company's productions of Time of Your Life, Requiem for a Heavyweight, Rock and Roll, Vanya on the Plains and most recently scenery and lighting for Eurydice.

David Ives (Playwright, Venus in Fur) is perhaps best known for his evening of one-act plays, All in the Timing (he has been included in the "Best Short Plays" series seven times), and for his drama Venus in Fur, which was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play. His plays include New Jerusalem: The Interrogation of Baruch de Spinoza (adapted from Molière's The Misanthrope); The Liar (adapted from Corneille); Time Flies; and Is He Dead? (adapted from Mark Twain). He has also translated Feydeau's A Flea in Her Ear and Yasmina Reza's A Spanish Play. A former Guggenheim Fellow in playwriting and a graduate of The Yale School of Drama, he lives in New York City.

Mark Pracht (Director, Venus in Fur) grew up in the mountains outside Colorado Springs, Colorado and attended The University of Nebraska, Kearney. He's been a part of the Chicago theatre community since 2001 and has been member of the Artistic Home ensemble since 2017. He appeared in their award-winning production of Requiem for a Heavyweight, for which he received a Jeff Award for best performance in a principal role.

Siah Berlatsky (Playwright/Director, Malapert Love) is an 18-year-old Chicago-based artist. This production marks her authorial debut, and she's overjoyed for the opportunity to have her work performed at Artistic Home. You can see her work this Summer with Cabinet of Curiosities, every Wednesday and Saturday in a different park.

About The Artistic Home

The Artistic Home creates theatre that explores and celebrates the truth within us. Through extraordinary acting, we seek to ignite an audience's imagination, to reach deep into the primal to send tremors through the intellect, to give birth to unforgettable moments by working in an intimate space, to touch audiences who are increasingly distanced from human contact. We readdress the classics and explore new works with passion. We give artists a home where they can shape, develop and strengthen their artistic voice.

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