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Written by Steven Simoncic.
Adapted from the book by Eric Klinenberg.
Runs Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays at 8 pm, Sundays at 3 pm through April 6th.
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A co-production between Live Bait Theater and Pegasus Players at Pegasus Players, 1145 W. Wilson Avenue.
For ticket information, please call the Pegasus Players Box Office at (773) 878-9761.
To read press and reviews, click here.
For more information about the book visit The University of Chicago Press. |
Heat Wave presents us with the Chicago we know well, and raises crucial questions about the way social influence, race and political clout inform the daily lives of ordinary citizens… Very savvy in its depiction… Heat Wave a welcome piece of documentary theater… a convincing argument for the life-saving importance of community vigilance, and it makes a heartfelt case for collective responsibility in urban life.
- Leon Hilton, CenterStage Chicago
Playwright Simoncic paints a vivid picture of the disaster that anyone can follow… it moves briskly, urgently, and with a great deal of poignancy... Heat Wave is a very impressive work of theatre that does justice to Klinenberg's work and provides the victims of the heat wave a level of dignity they weren't accorded by the city at their premature deaths. I urge all Chicagoans to view this important retelling of a shameful part of our city's history.
- Marilyn Ferdinand, The Beachwood Reporter
As the hot air swirled between panicked medical officials and anxious mayoral staff in July of 1995, Chicago’s citizens woke up to stifling morning air and found little relief at nightfall. Over a span of a few days over 700 people died from heat related causes. The invisible fringes of society -- the old, the poor, the unrepresented - paid a huge price while average Chicagoans coped as best they could. Heat Wave recaptures the dawning realization of a mounting catastrophe and is a dramatic and darkly comic slice of Chicago history.
The cast includes Katie Becker, Ali Carter, Victoria Caciopoli, Joe Fernandez, Earl Alphonso Fox, John Francisco, Joseph Garlock, Adrian Gonzalez, Barbara Myers, Venessa Ortega, Ron Quade, Jon Stutzman, and TayLar.
The design team is made up of Rick and Jacqueline Penrod (set), Sean Mallory (lighting), Michelle Julazadeh (costumes) and Victoria Deiorio (sound).
Ilesa Duncan directs. Her last Live Bait production was Love Child by Luther Goins (cited Jeff Best New Work) in 2000. Heat Wave is the second collaboration between Live Bait Theater and Pegasus Players. In 1994 they collaborated on Sharon Evans' Freud, Dora, and the Wolfman.
Heat Wave has received special funding support from The Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation. |
