Overdue, performed at the Berger Park Coach House Theater this past spring, featuring Pete Gately, Julie Utrup O'Nan, Megan Kaplan, Casey Linnea, Justin Cahill, Scott Serro, and Emma Friend.
https://youtu.be/d2eQ-iyzr4I
Unresolved issues from the past come to a head when a determined and ambitious library board member clashes with an equally strong willed young public library director over the control of books and programs. The action unfolds in the back room discussions of the new library board coalition and the impact of these issues on family and relationships. What is at stake for individuals and our society when a public library is pushed toward a point of no return?
https://youtu.be/d2eQ-iyzr4I
Unresolved issues from the past come to a head when a determined and ambitious library board member clashes with an equally strong willed young public library director over the control of books and programs. The action unfolds in the back room discussions of the new library board coalition and the impact of these issues on family and relationships. What is at stake for individuals and our society when a public library is pushed toward a point of no return?
Lost and Found, a comedy of love, hope, and marriage. Lost and Found is a dramatic comedy that unfolds three parallel stories that all begin at a Lily Pond in Chicago. Meet a stamp-obsessed salesman and his frustrated librarian wife; a veterinarian who unexpectedly becomes rooted in the life of a tree doctor; a teacher and his partner whose anxiety about getting married heightens as they search for a mysterious woman of mythic proportions; and a comfortably married couple who do their best to do good while keeping the spice in their romance.
Can something lost be something gained? https://youtu.be/MRvq4WugR-o
Can something lost be something gained? https://youtu.be/MRvq4WugR-o
Scenes For A Green World a tale of friendship and love.
A heart-warming revelation of the lives of two remarkable women who approach each day with vitality and strength. These best friends meet at the Lincoln Park Conservatory to discuss everything under the sun, and usually not the wartime of their childhoods. Artist, Hiroko Takahashi, was imprisoned along with her family in the Heart Mountain Internment Camp, and Dina Novak, botanist, survived the Holocaust in Europe. Some health issues, and the visit of the younger generation cause a change in their routine. Sparks fly when Dina’s granddaughter, Sadie, meets Hiroko's Osaka born nephew, and the two young people can't at first seem to get on the same page. Scenes For a Green World explores the potential for redemption when reconnecting to one’s early years can be both a curse and a blessing. What can be nurtured to blossom out of the dark ground of the past to sustain the future for oneself and others?
https://youtu.be/iydhFneIn8A
A heart-warming revelation of the lives of two remarkable women who approach each day with vitality and strength. These best friends meet at the Lincoln Park Conservatory to discuss everything under the sun, and usually not the wartime of their childhoods. Artist, Hiroko Takahashi, was imprisoned along with her family in the Heart Mountain Internment Camp, and Dina Novak, botanist, survived the Holocaust in Europe. Some health issues, and the visit of the younger generation cause a change in their routine. Sparks fly when Dina’s granddaughter, Sadie, meets Hiroko's Osaka born nephew, and the two young people can't at first seem to get on the same page. Scenes For a Green World explores the potential for redemption when reconnecting to one’s early years can be both a curse and a blessing. What can be nurtured to blossom out of the dark ground of the past to sustain the future for oneself and others?
https://youtu.be/iydhFneIn8A
Lisette Dances Divine. When the young heiress, Lisette de Jungen, appears in 1920's Chicago on a secret assignment for a magazine, mayhem ensues at the dress shop that doubles as a speakeasy, Parle Doucement (speak softly). The not overly faithful shop owners, Harry and Therese, along with Harry’s British manservant Manfred, and their shop clerk Coralie, are doing business with the help of Harry’s old friend, Captain James, and the singer, Claire de Voix. Find out whether Harry actually loves his wife, and whether romance is in the cards for Lisette, Manfred, Claire, the Captain, not to mention Coralie, and the young policeman, Bobby Ketchum. Other characters include the irascible Little Al and his autodidact moll, Jennie Bea Goode. Enjoy this comedy with a sardonic and sweetly entertaining twist of drama, dance, and a song or two besides. https://youtu.be/QD_RT3q7z7I
Lives Of The Zebra Finch! Enjoy a full-length dramatic comedy set in the Montrose Harbor area of Chicago. Marla Harrison doesn’t know what to do when the childhood friend, who almost married her husband, moves back to Chicago. Carl Harrison, a scientist connected to a study of the mating habits of the Zebra Finch, discovers that a failed engagement can cause havoc long after it has ended. John Martin, a software engineer, learns that trying to emulate the past romantic entanglements of others multiplies your problems in the future. And Sarah Martin, a real estate agent who couldn’t marry the man of her dreams, has to live with the one now sleeping next to her who seems to dream mostly of robots. The children of these two couples, recent college graduates back at home, have their own plans that could make everyone reconsider the meaning of love. Find out whether these three couples adapt new ways to feather the nest or decide it is best to flee the roost forever. Lives of the Zebra Finch combines comedy with gentle pathos in an entertaining mix.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04slaaWkp7I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04slaaWkp7I
What About Martha?
When a young woman, Alison, who works IT temp support, confides a secret she sets off a chain reaction of exponential comedy. With a delightfully quirky cast of characters, that includes a film obsessed professor, a writer of instructions, a political telephone pollster, an opinionated psychologist and a frustrated florist, What About Martha?, asks the question we would perhaps all like to answer: can we truly be ourselves and be loved back for it?
https://youtu.be/iQ45OPDSKeo
When a young woman, Alison, who works IT temp support, confides a secret she sets off a chain reaction of exponential comedy. With a delightfully quirky cast of characters, that includes a film obsessed professor, a writer of instructions, a political telephone pollster, an opinionated psychologist and a frustrated florist, What About Martha?, asks the question we would perhaps all like to answer: can we truly be ourselves and be loved back for it?
https://youtu.be/iQ45OPDSKeo
All About Armando follows the same characters from What About Martha, only three months later. Stephane the frustrated florist now runs a spice shop, Martha the psychologist of unique methods does webcasts, the finicky instruction writer Martin now writes a food blog for men who can’t cook, and Alison works for the mysterious Armando of Armando’s Restaurant. Josh the film professor is now writing about food in film. A series of confusions unfold when these characters conceal information they should have shared, reversing the situation of the previous play. Truths are hilariously revealed during a webcast that once again shows that honesty may be in short supply, but the need for love and connection is endless.
https://youtu.be/uOjDGrJvfj8
https://youtu.be/uOjDGrJvfj8
How to Make a Rainbow written and directed by Mike Brayndick. How to Make a Rainbow is a play about the art and life of Joseph Cornell. The self-taught American artist, who lived most of his life in Queens just outside New York City. In his basement workshop, Cornell created box constructions and collages, drawing from his interest in astronomy, dance, music, fine art and popular culture, and exploring themes of time, memory, and childhood. Visit New York City during the Worlds’ Fair of 1939, the wintry Russian Steppes, and Renaissance Florence, Italy. Follow the life of an original artist whose bond with his brother and his mother led to intriguing visions evoking the pathos of time lost and the transcendence of time lived fully. Meet some of the figures key to his work including the Medici Princess, Emily Dickinson, the tightrope walker Blondin, and the ballerina Marie Taglioni. Step right up folks. Step right up! https://youtu.be/CDPqY-DgYpQ
Pieces of Klee is a biographical play that explores the life and evokes the world of Paul Klee's art through dialogue, dance, and poetry. Relevant to current times, Paul Klee's art, which is by turns mysterious, playful, comic, and whimsical, was created by a man who lived through many of the traumatic events of the 20th century. Quietly defiant to the rise of Fascism in Germany, his is a story of love, creativity, and wonder in the face of enormous pressures and difficulties.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bWkf-LHQIA&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bWkf-LHQIA&feature=youtu.be
Roundelay is a rollicking farce featuring the former production team of a British telly mystery series reunited by the joyfully diabolical actor Amelia, who wants to do good in her own fashion. This is a film of a production of this one act comedy performed at Berger Park Coach House Theater. Directed by Pat Henderson and written by Mike Brayndick.
Watch a brief trailer here: https://youtu.be/zoEfQXeACuQ
Click here for the full show: https://youtu.be/-Zx8eCHES2o
Watch a brief trailer here: https://youtu.be/zoEfQXeACuQ
Click here for the full show: https://youtu.be/-Zx8eCHES2o
Called Home By the Sea is a drama set in the 1950's that combines realism with a hint of magic. This story of a young girl and her war-widow mother explores themes of love, loss and beginning again. When twelve year old Annie gets into mischief in the East End of London, her mother Molly takes a job as cook in the town of St Just in Cornwall. Annie is not thrilled with her new home, nor with the Innkeeper, Ben Treleyn who seems rather taken with her mother. Then, she meets Nora Grenlow, a reclusive old woman who lives in a stone cottage on the cliff edge by the sea. Is Nora far more than she seems, and does the heart really know where it best belongs?
Here is our 2019 production of Called Home By The Sea which was performed at Berger Park Coach House Theater. https://youtu.be/SFwY3e6INLY
Here is our 2019 production of Called Home By The Sea which was performed at Berger Park Coach House Theater. https://youtu.be/SFwY3e6INLY