Alum Leann Kim Torske just started a new theater company in Chicago with Mary Rose O’Connor(who previously worked on a new play by alum Ryan Patrick Dolan) called The Blue Ring.” The company is working with a lot of exciting new writers, including OU alums Mark Chrisler, Dusty Wilson and Dana Lynn Formby.
Their Fractured Atlas page reads, “The Blue Ring produces plays about characters who are lacking in resources, experience, or information and are working through issues reflective of current events. Our name is inspired by our spirit animal, the blue ringed octopus, which is beautiful, malleable, slightly unexpected, and through evolution has become deadlier over time.”
Blue Ring’s first season consists of a podcast called the Octopod which will have new short plays by up and coming playwrights and there will also be a production of Machinal.
The Blue Ring has a fundraiser this Sunday night, July 17th in Chicago, go check it out!
Event: The Blue Ring Launch Party, Date: July 17th, 2016, Time: 610pm, Location: The Den Theatre
1333 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago, IL 60622 Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/ event/2562364
Here’s how to support this new company:
–peruse their website
–Like them on Facebook
–Tweet at them
–Donate and watch their fundraising video!
More about Leann
Leean Kim Torske is a Chicago-based Korean/Norwegian-American playwright and dramaturg from the great state of Wyoming. She earned her MFA in Playwriting from Ohio University and her MA in Literary Studies from the University of Wyoming. Her play Pity Party is featured in Smith & Kraus’s anthology 105 Five-Minute Plays for Study and Performance, publication fall 2016. She is the co-founder and co-Artistic Director of The Blue Ring in Chicago, IL. Leean has been an Artistic Engagement Associate with Steppenwolf Theatre Company since June 2012.
