UNDER MILK WOOD: Post Your Review

Posted by DCA Theater on September 16, 2009 in July-December 2009 Season, Under Milk Wood

August 21 — September 27, 2009
Storefront Theater

Caffeine Theatre stages Dylan Thomas’ dark, but funny play about the dreams and waking lives of a fictional Welsh town. An iconic favorite since it was first broadcast as a radio play in 1954, the play’s 47 quirky characters bring to life their inner longings bubbling beneath the surface of the town’s daily life, endearing us to humanity’s bawdy and magnificent possibilities. Paul S. Holmquist directs this classic but utterly relevant play with an intimate and physically intense ensemble of Chicago theater veterans and emerging talent.

What did you think about the show? Share your comments here.

Dylan Thomas Coffeehouse Cabaret

Posted by DCA Theater on September 11, 2009 in July-December 2009 Season, Under Milk Wood

On Wednesday night Caffeine Theatre packed the mezzanine of the Storefront Theater for their Dylan Thomas Coffeehouse Cabaret.  It was a wonderful mix of performances - from poetry readings to monolgoues, from songs to dance and movement pieces.  A few of the pieces performed came to the Coffeehouse from Caffeine’s Rev. Eli Jenkins’ Five & Country Senses Poetry Competition with some of the pieces coming from as far away as Swansea, Wales and County Cork, Ireland.

The performers included: Nick Rudall, Carey Burton, Charles Filipov, Ian Randall, Jeremy van Meter, Caitlin McKechney, Myron Silberstein, Pat Hofmann, Erik Schnitger, Paul Fagen, Kevin Smith, Robin Metz, Daniel Smith, Caitlin Collins, Bronwen Prosser, Rebecca Prescott and Catherine Glynn.

If you haven’t made it yet, there is still time to see Under Milk Wood, the show that served as the inspiration for the Coffeehouse.  Under Milk Wood is running in the Storefront Theater through September 27.

Actor Erik Schnitger rehearses before the crowd arrives.

The crowd mills about before the event starts, greeting friends and enjoying the coffee and cakes.

An actor making his way down the aisle in part of the movement piece entitled “On Fern Hill”, created by Joshua Dumas and Fannie Hungerford

Caffeine Theatre opens “Under Milk Wood”

Posted by DCA Theater on August 28, 2009 in July-December 2009 Season, Under Milk Wood

After the sold out opening night performance of Caffeine Theatre’s “Under Milk Wood” by Dylan Thomas, the audience joined the cast and crew for food, music and drinks on the Storefront Mezzanine.

Special thanks to ROTI Mediterranean Grill for catering; our generous beer sponsor Goose Island Brewing Co; and musician Andy Wagner who created a great atmosphere for the party.

If you missed out on the Caffeine reception, join us on Thursday, October 8 for the opening night performance and reception for InFusion Theatre Company’s “Ryhmes with Evil” by Charles R. Traeger.

Caffeine Artistic Director Jennifer Shook, “Under Milk Wood” actress Kate Nawrocki, and Stage Manager Rebecca Bishop

Andy Wagner

Making friends across the pond

Posted by DCA Theater on August 21, 2009 in July-December 2009 Season, Under Milk Wood

Written by Caffeine Artistic Director Jennifer Shook

In Dylan Thomas’ short life, he made enough friends to be claimed by many cities.  In this country, he remade the public reading of poetry a popular event in itself—spending some time in the City of Big Shoulders along the way.  Famously, he drank his last whiskeys at New York’s White Horse Tavern, but before that he threw back a few at Hyde Park’s Woodlawn Tap. 

Thomas’ sketch of his village of Llarregub Click here to enlarge.

It seems appropriate, then, that in the midst of tech rehearsals for Under Milk Wood I should get an email from the Dylan Thomas Centre of Swansea, Wales.  We are both, writes the Dylan Thomas Project Officer, “second cities,” and we are both currently dedicated to Thomas’ work.  As Anne Haden of “Dylan Down the Ups” (another recent correspondent) puts it, he “really was a man of the people.”

Thomas statue in the Swansea Marina

Thanks to the Chicago Tafia Society, Caffeine now has more friends in Wales than I could have imagined.  And submissions for the Dylan Thomas Coffeehouse Cabaret and Rev. Eli Jenkins’ Five and Country Senses poetry competition have been streaming in from Swansea, from County Cork, Ireland, from Amherst, Massachusetts, from Vilnius, Lithuania, and of course from writers and performers here in Chicago.

We’ll keep on celebrating shared culture throughout September with Under Milk Wood and at the Chicago Celtic Fest on September 12.

In the past Caffeine has staged the person of Ezra Pound and the plays of H.D. and T.S. Eliot—poets who left the U.S. for European homes.  It’s nice to see the traffic on the pond flows both ways.  After all, it’s in the dialogue of art across cultures that poetry and theatre (and culture) grow.

“Under Milk Wood” is opening soon!

Posted by DCA Theater on August 10, 2009 in July-December 2009 Season, Under Milk Wood

Photos by Daniel Smith, Caffeine Theatre Dramaturg

In just two short weeks, Caffeine Theater opens Under Milk Wood, Dylan Thomas’ dark but funny play about the dreams and waking lives of a fictional Welsh town. An iconic favorite since it was first broadcast as a radio play in 1954, the play’s 47 quirky characters bring to life their inner longings bubbling beneath the surface of the town’s daily life, endearing us to humanity’s bawdy and magnificent possibilities. Paul S. Holmquist directs this classic but utterly relevant play with an intimate and physically intense ensemble of Chicago theater veterans and emerging talent.

Opening Night Reception: Thursday, August 27
After the show, ticket-holders will enjoy food, drinks and live music by singer/songwriter Andy Wagner

CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS

Some photos from a recent rehearsal:

Paul Holmquist directing Paul Myers and Kaitlin Byrd

NoGood Boyo (Charles Filipov) at sea, observed by Paul Myers, Kate Nawrocki, Dan Granata

Captain Cat (Dave Skvarla) eyed by ghosts (Charles Filipov, Kate Nawrocki, Paul Myers, Dan Granata, Kaitlin Byrd, Callie Munson

Dan Granata, Dave Skvarla, Callie Munson, Paul Myers, Elise Kauzleric, Jacqui Jackson

Lord Cutglass (Paul Myers) hears every second of the day tick away