PHOTO GALLERY
Past Productions:
Galway Bay
Einstein's Dreams
Savage/Love
Ocean Sea
Bare Bones Projects
The Moving Dock takes part in the
365 DAYS/365 PLAYS Theatre Festival
FREE PERFORMANCES
January 17-21 Wed-Sat 7:30 pm, and Sunday, January 21 2 pm.
In The Fine Arts Building
410 S. Michigan Ave.
Reservations not required but recommended at 312 427 5490.
Audience gathers in the main lobby of the building.
Latecomers may be confused and somewhat left out of the game!
The Moving Dock Theatre Company is delighted to be a part of the national, grassroots theatre festival world premier of Suzan-Lori Parks play cycle, 365 Days/365Plays*. As one of the 52 Chicago theatre companies participating in this festival, we will be performing one week of the 365 Plays on January 17-21.
“All the theatre companies involved have been given tremendous artistic freedom in the performing of these short plays. For our performances, we have chosen to bring the audience into our home space where our Studio is, The Fine Arts Building, a Chicago landmark that has housed artists for over 100 years, to join us in this celebration of the artistic life,” says Director, Dawn Arnold.
As The Fine Arts Building’s only resident theatre company, The Moving Dock’s concept for their 365 Plays is to place the plays within this unique space and see what occurs.
“It’s ‘365 Days/365 Plays meets The Fine Arts Building’ and will be performed in spaces throughout the building: hallways, lobbies, stairwells, and studios. The audience will be guided through this historic building. Moving Dock actors will populate the spaces with characters that impressionistically represent the Fine Arts Building, sort of impersonating the building, and to focus the audience on the atmosphere of the building itself. Then, the seven 365 Days/365 Plays will be performed in and around these elements,” says Arnold.
“The reason I love this project so much is that I have so much history here in the Fine Arts Building. I went to Chicago Youth Symphony here in high school, went to Chicago Conservatory for violin and music classes, studied voice here, performed in the Curtiss Hall upstairs here, and now have my theatre company based here. It has truly been my artistic home - so what better place to do a show about pursuing art?
As I tell people about this I find that The Fine Arts Building has a special place in their hearts, too. They all have stories to tell me about their connections there. They took dance class or music lessons or had a studio – something. They all have fond memories of this place where they did something special.
“When we first began, I thought there would be some dissonance between these contemporary plays and the 19 th century building, but as we rehearse in the hallways and lobbies and think about the artistic activities that have been going on in these studios for over 100 years, we are finding that the artistic experience as articulated by Parks fits right in. The artistic life, its struggles and joys, continues in spirit much the same now as it did when this building was new. Now that the actors and I have been rehearsing all over the building, I can tell you that the atmosphere here is indeed full of the lives that have been touched by the art endeavors of over 100 years.”
The Moving Dock’s neighbors in the Fine Arts Building are getting into the act. “We asked the other artists in the building if they wanted to be involved and many have said yes! There are many levels of involvement from simply having a Studio open for the audience to go through to creating an installation. So, it’s turning into a community event. And, of course, life goes on in the building during our performances. People will come and go. This will be a living, site specific performance – whatever is in the building at the moment will be in the show!”
*On November 13, 2002 Suzan-Lori Parks got an idea to write a play a day for a year. She began that very day, finishing one year later. The resulting play cycle, called 365 Days/365Plays, is a daily meditation on an artistic life. The grassroots premiere of this play cycle has become a National Festival involving over 600 theaters in Atlanta, Austin, Canada, Chicago, Colorado, Greater Texas, Los Angeles, Minnesota, New York, Northeast, San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, Southeast, Washington DC Area, Western US, and Universities (365U). Produced by Bonnie Metzgar and Suzan-Lori Parks, the 365 Festival will be performed from November 13, 2006 through November 12, 2007. The Joyce Foundation is the Exclusive Foundation Sponsor for 365 Days/365 Plays Chicago.
Further meditations on an artistic life- by Dawn Arnold
Einstein’s Dreams
A new theatrical adaptation of the novel by Alan Lightman
Adapted and directed by Dawn Arnold and Patrizia Acerra
Presented in association with Clock Productions
Chopin Theatre
1543 West Division
Chicago , IL
November 16- December 18
Thursdays – Saturdays at 8 pm
Sundays at 3 pm (No performances November 17 or 24)
Previews Performances
November 13 at 3 pm
November 14 and 15 at 8 pm
Information/Tickets: 773. 381. 7140
www.einsteinsdreamschicago.com
The Moving Dock Theatre Company ventures into explorations of time in this fantasy about the young Einstein’s musings leading up to his remarkable papers on Relativity.
It's the Year of Einstein, the Year of Physics, and The Moving Dock Theatre Company has been invited by Clock Productions to develop a new theatrical adaptation of Alan Lightman's bestselling novel, Einstein's Dreams for the stage. Our Studio is the home for developing our new show based on this fascinating book that riffs on concepts of time and the profound impact of such ideas on human experience.
A Theatre of the Imagination - A Theatre of the Future
The Moving Dock Theatre Company began in Chicago in 1997 as an informal gathering of theatre artists. It began as a workshop, and to this day, workshops are the key to The Moving Dock’s art. The Moving Dock has always forged a link between its explorations in creative process and its artistic projects. The Moving Dock is dedicated to exploring the actor’s creative process.
The Moving Dock Theatre Company's name was inspired by the image of a boat dock freely floating in the water - a metaphor for the balancing of fluidity with stability, the idea that creative improvisation could move the structures of dramatic art.
Productions have included:
Galway Bay, its first ensemble-created new work.
Einstein's Dreams, two productions in participation with Clock Productions
"One of the year's most notable productions."Chicago Sun-Times
Savage/Love, an ensemble piece transformed from the work by Joseph Chaikin and Sam Shepard's
“…admirably synchronized, subtle, and persuasive.” Chicago Reader
Ocean Sea, the world premier adaptation of Alessandro Baricco’s novel, produced in collaboration with International Theatre of Chicago and Clock Productions
"...so ambitious, so fearless, so compelling, so enigmatic and so physically beautiful.” Chicago Sun-Times,
Celestial Mechanics - or the Questionable Attraction of Entities, which ventured out into the cosmos
Bare Bones Projects, which ventures inwards
There is an enduring and essential aspect in our ensemble-created and innovative performances: creating theatre through the love of acting.