2006
Winner of Gay Chicago Magazine's 2006 After Dark Award for Outstanding Production was awarded to playwright Yussef El Guindi for his play "Back of the Throat" directed by Stuart Carden.
Read MoreWinner of Gay Chicago Magazine's 2006 After Dark Award for Outstanding New Work was awarded to playwright Yussef El Guindi for his play Ten Acrobats in an Amazing Leap of Faith.
Read MoreThe 2006 After Dark Award for Outstanding Sound Design was issued to Rob Steel for Yussef El Guindi's Ten Acrobats in an Amazing Leap of Faith directed by Stuart Carden.
Read MoreAmerican Theatre selected this dozen as emblems of the wave of American companies that have formed or come into prominence within the last five years—particularly companies with strong missions or aesthetic thrusts. Mostly, we put our ear to the ground to hear what local theatre-watchers were talking about. Our representative dozen is by turns tenacious and permeable, ambitious and on a budget, esoteric and low-brow. The work ranges from re-envisioned classics (with or without clowns) to new work by contemporary playwrights; it's vaudevillian, dance-centric, visual art–focused, music-infused, socially conscious, ethnically organized—and fun. —Sarah Hart
Read MoreOn November 20, 2006, at a ceremony held at Hot House, Changing Worlds honored Silk Road Theatre Project’s Founding Executive Director Malik Gillani. Gillani received the Immigrant & Refugee Contributions Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Arts and was recognized for “expanding representation of immigrant communities on Chicago's stages.”
Read MoreThis special matinee performance and panel discussion were part of the 2006 Chicago Humanities Festival.
Read MoreDirector Dale Heinen compiles a gifted ensemble both on and off-stage to vividly bring this work to life. Lee Keenan’s remarkable lighting design adds much to the dramatic moods of the play and recreates some of Caravaggio’s masterpieces on stage with awe-inspiring effect.
Read More[One] can easily see the parallels Vetere draws in the play to the increased influence of fanatical religion, causing more violence both then and now. Vetere's point that true spirituality can come in unconventional forms applies directly to Caravaggio's once-scandalous but now revered masterpieces.
Read MoreI came across Khoury's play while browsing the web. The storyline and reviews from academics, artists, and others were so impressive that I contacted Khoury about the possibility of performing at UCLA for International Women's Month.
Read MoreWhat happens when the old guard confronts the new? Such an encounter, as the title of the first national Asian-American theatre conference that was held in Los Angeles this past June suggests, can signify something like an explosion. During “The Next Big Bang,” which took place at East West Players, the phenomenon of pioneers and proven artists meeting up with emergent and upstart troupes, even within a relatively young theatre movement, reveals striking flashes and unexpected fissures—the shock of coming upon a great rabble of new Asian-American artists and theatre professionals who had recently entered the field for reasons vastly different from their predecessors.
Read MoreA free demonstration-workshop directed by Donato Sartori, organized by Istituto Italiano di Cultura in collaboration with Holon Productions and Silk Road Theatre Project. Donato Sartori is one of the last great sculptors of Italian mask-making. Between his work and that of his father, the eminent Amleto Sartori, they've collectively reinvented the tradition and artistry of mask construction assembling one of the world's finest collections.
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The intimate production, which unfolds on Lee Keenan's sumptuous, burnished set, features projections of the artist's paintings and has an autumnal look thanks to Keenan's evocative lighting that recreates the luminosity and chiaroscuro of Caravaggio's paintings.
Read More[There's] a magnificent cast at work here. As Caravaggio, Mike Simmer's feverish intensity propels the piece. From the humanity of his paintings (gorgeously realized as living tableaux throughout the production), comes the crashing, crushing truth that "the loneliness of the spirit and the loneliness of the flesh are one and the same," a truth Simmer delivers with primal, howling fierceness.
Read More"In its best moments, Richard Vetere's Caravaggio recalls the work of Tom Stoppard in its lucid and complex dissection of such issues as religion, realism, art and romanticism.... this is quite the fascinating little drama, especially for anyone interested in the life and work of one Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, a maverick genius active in Italy between 1593 and 1610."
Read MoreCaravaggio is a tightly written work filled with accurate references to the times and events in 1600 Italy. The power of the Church and the evil of The Inquisition are depicted. We see Caravaggio’s (Mike Simmer) temper in several well staged sword fights, his love of boys and his contempt for the money-grabbing artists who paint to please not to create their internal visions.
Read MoreOn the occasion of the world premiere of Silk Road Theatre Project's Caravaggio, the Istituto Italiano di Cultura hosted a panel discussion addressing how theatrical invention helps us understand history.
Read MoreA series of lunchtime concerts series featuring The Baroque Band, performing music from the time of Caravaggio. Based in Chicago, The Baroque Band specializes in performing music from the 17th and 18th centuries on instruments appropriate to the period.
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Set in 17th century Rome, Malta, and Naples, Caravaggio is the story of the great Italian painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, the father of the Baroque, whose daring art and volatile personality attracted the favor and wrath of the church he both loved and reviled.
Whether undertaking commissions from the Vatican or confronting the cruelties of the Inquisition, Caravaggio's short life was charged with artistry, violence and passion.
Read MoreThroughout the run of Caravaggio, Silk Road Theatre Project hosted an exhibit of Lucia Mauro's exquisite Caravaggio-inspired photographs of Italy -- evocative of the mystical light and shadows favored by the early-Baroque artist.
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The play — set in 17th century Rome, Malta and Naples — tells the story of Caravaggio, the father of the Baroque style of art, whose daring creativity and volatile personality attracted the favor and wrath of the Church he both loved and reviled. Whether undertaking commissions from the Vatican or confronting the cruelties of the Inquisition, Caravaggio’s short life was charged with artistry, violence and passion.
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