16th Street Theater Opening Weekend
VIP night, this Friday, July 10, 2009, will feature a bbq after the play with beer. What more can you ask for? Irregardless, check the play out any time. I have seen a rehearsal and should be first class.

THE LAST BARBECUE

by Brett Neveu
Directed by Ann Filmer
July 9 – August 8, 2009

Tickets: $16 Buy Online Now at www.brownpapertickets.com/event/69380 or check

the theater's website: www.16thstreettheater.org/scripts/now_at_16thstreet.asp

Thursdays & Fridays @ 7:30 PM VIEW CALENDAR
Saturdays @ 5:00 & 8:00 PM

SPECIAL PERFORMANCES
Preview: Thursday, July 9 @ 7:30 PM
VIP Preview: Friday, July 10 @ 7:30 PM
Press Opening: Saturday, July 11 at 5:00 PM
Theater VIP Opening: Saturday, July 11 @ 8:00 PM

"Theater Thursdays": Thursday, July 16 @ 6:30 PM (Dinner) 7:30 PM (Show)
Come to 16th Street's/Berwyn Cultural Center's beautiful new outdoor garden before the show to enjoy a barbecue catered by Cabin Fever featuring mini burgers grilled to order and all the yummy bbq fixings. Then stay to enjoy the comedy that first put Chicago playwright Brett Neveu on the map, followed by a post-show dialogue with members of the cast and director. $22 Buy Online Now

Tickets: $16 Buy Online Now
Group discount for 8(+) For info on group tickets call (708) 795-6704

An audacious and dark comedy about a ten-year reunion of a son's high school graduation that coincides with the one-year anniversary of the next-door neighbor's death. Nancy Friedrich joins the original cast from The Aardvark’s 2000 production: Ashley Bishop, Don Blair, Matthew Brumlow and Ann James.

Brett Neveu has worked with many theatres, including The Goodman Theatre, The Royal Shakespeare Theatre and Manhattan Theatre Club. Plays include Gas For Less, Eric LaRue and American Dead.

REVIEWS FROM THE AARDVARK'S 2000 PRODUCTION:

--"Hilarious and ominous, The Last Barbecue pierces its doomed world view with humor sharp enough to wound." - Catey Sullivan, New City (Chicago)

--"Neveu is lucky that his play landed in the hands of a director as capable as Ann Filmer. She makes the most of Neveu’s script, turning every pause into a chance for drama... The Last Barbecue contains some of the most beautiful, pregnant, well-orchestrated pauses this side of Harold Pinter... The superb cast deliver nuanced performances... Highly Recommended - Jack Helbig, Chicago Reader

MORE QUOTES FROM REVIEWS:
--No one can accuse Brett Neveu's likable dark comedy of being talky. Most of the time its five characters speak in short, seemingly innocuous sentences... They seem largely ill at ease with one another. And it's amazing how much they convey... Mr. Neveu and his cast have captured an unspoken group awareness of an awful truth: nothing is going to change here. Nobody's going anywhere." - Anita Gates, The New York Times

--"Like all the best theatre, The Last Barbecue offers an intimate glimpse at humanity at its most human. That quiet desperation that Thoreau wrote about is palpable." - Martin Denton, nytheatre.com

--a "seductively subtle, stylish play, in a sort of middle-American Pinteresque vein. An effectively surreal and original indictment of the middle-American family - no easy feat that." - Michael Lazan, Back Stage (NY)

--"In The Last Barbecue, Brett Neveu demonstrates that a thing of infinite sadness also may never hurry. He does this with extreme audacity and absolute authorial confidence." - David Finkle, Theatremania.com (NY)

Thursday & Friday performances are followed by post-show dialogues with the cast and director.

Running time 80 minutes. No intermission.
- posted by Mark @ 8:21 PM