Jenn's blog

Announcing the 2013 Halcyon Artists-in-Residence

Posted on: 21 December 2012
By: Jenn

We are so proud to welcome our 2013 Artists-in-Residence!

Victoria Alvarez-Chacon, Sophie Blumberg, Gail Gallagher, Heather Jencks, Alexis Martino, Arielle McAlpin, Kelly Opalko, Cary Shoda, Dani Snyder-Young, Alexander St. John, Danielle Stack, Laura Stephenson, Noelle Velasco, and Charlotte Woolf as our 2013 Photographer-in-Residence.

We are so excited to have you on board, and we are excited to get to know you better!

Thank you to our 2012 Artists-in-Residence and Welcome to our Newest Company Members

Posted on: 20 December 2012
By: Jenn

Halcyon Theatre would like to give a huge thank you and congratulations to the first group to complete a year of the Artist-in-Residence program: Mikah Berky, Cynthia Caul, Fin Coe, Rafa Franco, Denise Hoeflich, Natalie Hurdle, Noe Jara, Ebony Joy, Jin Kim, Sarah Laeuchli, Dylan Parkes, Maren Rosenberg, Anne Serine, Riso Straley, and Leah Tirado.

Halcyon Theatre is also proud to welcome Mikah Berky, Fin Coe, Denise Hoeflich, Noe Jara, Sarah Laeuchli, Maren Rosenberg, and Riso Straley as Halcyon company members, with Sarah Laeuchli in the role of Director of New Play Development.

You are all incredibly talented artists, and have become part of the Halcyon family. We can't wait to see what the future holds!

Help a Playwright Recover from Theft

Posted on: 14 August 2012
By: Jenn

Danny Bernardo is a friend of Halcyon and the Chicago theatre community. His MacBook and journal were stolen while promoting his new web series. He has asked his friends to forward this on to anyone who may be able to help him in his attempt to replace what was stolen. Good luck, Danny!

Hello!

While promoting my series BOYSTOWN at this year's Market Days, my bag containing my MacBook and some personal effects, including a journal of my writing, was stolen. No one can put a price on the stolen intellectual property that is lost forever or the sentimental value of the MacBook being a Christmas gift from my mom. My Macbook had no less than 5 plays in development and the intellctual property for nonprofit arts organizations and my day job that were in development.

Like many struggling artists, I work a day job to make ends meet and live with little luxury. This sort of loss is devastating, not only financially, but artistically. I'm reaching out to my family, friends, and fans to see if they can help me replace the MacBook and extremely expensive software that was stolen. There is no greater way to ruin a writer than by taking his means of communication and the works he had in development. Help me continue to create stories.

You can visit my campaign here: http://igg.me/p/203358?a=1020165

Every little bit, even $1 can help. Please share with your family and friends and see if they can help too. Thanks so much for all the love and support!

Danny B

Audience Response from a Friend of Playwright, Elena Guochins

Posted on: 10 August 2012
By: Jenn

Last weekend, we were pleasantly surprised to find that one of the audience members that day, Roberto Reyes, had come because he is in town for 3 months, and had heard that a production of Elena's work was being done here. He is friends with Elena in Mexico City. Here are his thoughts:

Coming to Chicago and finding out that there are lots of different plays during the year, including Broadway and Off Broadway shows and more than 200 independent companies, was a great; finding out that there’s an annual festival called the Alcyone Festival that since 2008 has dedicated its performances to different topics, including this year’s selection of Mexican plays translated to English, was a very nice experience; but realizing that the best play that I’ve seen since I came to Chicago 2 months ago is a play by a Mexican playwright and directed by a Mexican living in the city was really overwhelming.

I’m talking about A Lover’s Dismantling: Fragments of a Scenic Discourse, written by Elena Guiochins and directed by Alex Gualino, one of the 4 Mexican plays presented this year as part of The Alcyone Festival.

The universal topics about couples and love, combined with an impeccable script as well as the way that the director knew how to communicate to the actors the feeling of contemporary Mexico City, made this performance something worthy of being watched.

For some moments I forgot I was watching a play in English, and I felt like home. Despite the young ages of the actors, they manage to give the mid-30’s characters the ideal strength. Their energy on stage and the simple and neat set design and direction makes this play recommended and proves, once more, that for making good theater, a big production is not necessary- just a good script, neat acting and the director’s comprehension of the playwright feeling.

Roberto Garcia Reyes