Backstage at RIO

You only have three more chances to meet this great group before RIO is closed. 

Beth - played by Candace Kitchens. Candy is hilarious both on and off stage. She loves soup and is entirely charming. How big can she get her hair for Beth? Come ask her! 

Mary - played by Nicole Roberts.

Don't let the sweet innocence of Mary's character fool you. Nicole is feisty and fiery. (Classic redhead!)

Willy - played by Jeremy Menekseoglu.

Jeremy wrote RIO back in 1996. One trivia fact about writing this play is that he broke at least 3 playwriting rules from his classes. Can you guess them?

Posada - played by Alif Muhammad

With the level of dedication and depth of focus that Alif has while playing Posada, one would think he's an experienced theatre performer. However, RIO is one of few love theatre performances on his resume. He is also a composer! (We love multi-talents at DTC!)

Kaitlin Stewart is our lovely stage manager. She gives great reports and is a perfectionist in the sound booth. She is also an actress. (Secret: she loves the Milli Vanilli song "Girl, You Know it's True)

Then there's me. Anna. I manage Dream Theatre Company. For RIO I run the light cues, the lobby and karaoke! I'm currently addicted to knitting.

Come hang out with us!!!

Tags- DTC, DreamTheatre, DreamTheatreCompany, Rio, Chicago, ChicagoTheatre, FringeTheatre, StorefrontTheatre, Pilsen, PilsenArt, OriginalPlays, Performance, Audience, Plays, Drama, HorrorPlays, HorrorTheatre, Theatre, Theater, Thriller, PsychologicalThriller, PsychologicalTheatre, ArtTheatre, ExperimentalTheatre, No4thWall, AnnaintheDarkness, BasementTheatre, Menekseoglu, JeremyMenekseoglu, Anna, AnnaWeiler, AnnaWMenekseoglu

now showing at Dream Theatre: RIO by Jeremy Menekseoglu

RIO runs now through March 16th.

Thursdays - Saturdays @8pm, Sundays @7pm, & 2 additional Wednesday performances @8pm on March 5th & 12th. at Dream Theatre - 556 West 18th Street, Chicago. Tickets are $22 and can be purchased at riodtc.bpt.me or text 773-552-8616.

 

In an isolated Texas border town a strange new evil has made itself at home. Forty-seven souls have gone missing, only to be found later in pieces floating along the Rio Grande. When Mary Graves (pictured, played by Nicole Roberts), a young woman fleeing her abusive husband, wanders into town one rainy afternoon, what follows is a furious story of love, hope, innocense, forgiveness, mass murder and ... karaoke!

RIO features Nicole Roberts as Mary Graves, Jeremy Menekseoglu as Willy Bosco, Candace Kitchens as Beth and Alif Muhammad as Bruno Alejandro Posada. Directed by Laura Gouin.

 

This is the second weekend which I always find to be the best weekend to see a show. The acting is at it's most natural yet also heightened on a second weekend. It also tends to be the less attended weekend of the run, which is a little bit sad to me, since those are sometimes the best shows. Yes, it's always essentially the same show, however, I find that every production has a life of it's own and the second weekend is like the pre-teen/teenage phase of it's life cycle. It is discovering itself and going out into the world trying to get noticed.

 

-Anna

 

photos and graphics by Megan Merrill