Obie Award winner Renata Hinrichs premieres new drama about the ripple effect a single act of kindness can have.
February 14 - March 2 at TGB Mainstage Theater
Magic Window Productions will present the Off-Broadway Premiere of RANDOM ACTS, a drama written and performed by Obie Award winner Renata Hinrichs (A Simple Heart, Debbie Does Dallas, Einstein’s Dreams). Directed by Jessi D. Hill, previews begin February 14 at TBG Mainstage Theatre. Opening is set for Wednesday, February 20.
RANDOM ACTS opens in the 1960’s at the height of the Civil Rights movement. It is here, on the south side of Chicago, that a scared five-year-old white girl finds kindness in chaos. How far can the ripple of one act of good will go? Now grown, one girls’ story proves that the effect of even a small good deed can reach farther than ever imagined.
RANDOM ACTS received the Best Storytelling Script Award from the United Solo Festival in 2014 and was published by Indie Theater Now. Hinrichs has performed the play at both the Hewitt School and Packer Collegiate Institute as part of their diversity programs. Most recently, it was performed at the Woodstock Jewish Congregation for an interfaith gathering and in Waterbury Center, Vermont.
The production team includes Matt Otto (sound), Daisy Long (lighting), DeShon Elem Delta(costumes), Chika Shimizu (set), Edisa Weeks (choreography), Eli Kabillo (videographer), Christine Cirker (associate producer), and Samantha Myers (stage manager).
Renata Hinrichs is a founding member of Big Dance Theater, co-directed by Annie B Parsons and Paul Lazar. With Big Dance Theater she has performed in New York, London, and the Georgian Republic, as well as at The American Dance Festival and The Yard, winning an Obie award for best ensemble performance for A Simple Heart. She is currently a member of FAB Women of the Barrow Group, where she first performed and developed Random Acts. Other acting credits include the lead role in the short film,Happy Now, which won first prize at both the Cannes Film Festival and the Deauville Film Festival. Theater credits: Dorset Theater Festival, Boise Contemporary Theater, The Barrow Group, EST, Soho Rep, Ohio Theater. TV: DeadBeat,The Blacklist, Law and Order: SVU, and Jessica Jones(Netflix). Ms. Hinrichs trained as an actor at the T.Schreiber Studio and The Barrow Group School with Carol Fox Prescott, Carol Reynolds, Seth Barrish, and Lee Brock. Other acting teachers include Bob Krakower, Tim Phillips, Tony Spiridakis, Maggie Low, and Devin Shackett. She studied writing and playwriting with Lisa Kron, Roderick Menzies, Maia Danziger, and Seth Barrish.
Jessi D. Hill has directed new work at New York Theatre Workshop, The Public Theater/Joe’s Pub, The Playwrights’ Center, Primary Stages, Labyrinth, The Women’s Project, 59E59, The New Group, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Culture Project, NYMF, The Acting Company, PS122, New Dramatists, The Lark, The Playwrights Realm, New Georges, The Wild Project, and many others. She has been a director in professional training programs at Yale School of Drama, Juilliard, NYU/Tisch, Fordham University, Powerhouse/NY Stage & Film, The Atlantic School, Playwrights Horizons, and others. Her work has been seen internationally in Edinburgh, London, New Zealand, Berlin, Bucharest and Hamburg. She is currently the Literary Chair at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater and the Artistic Associate for Flying Carpet Theatre in NYC. She previously served as Associate Artistic Director of terraNOVACollective in NYC and Artistic Director of Stage Left Theatre Company in Chicago. MFA: Yale. Member SDC. Upcoming projects: Surely Goodness and Mercy by Chisa Hutchinson at Keen Company, Open by Crystal Skillman featuring Megan Hill, All for One/The Tank. www.jessidhill.com
Magic Window Productions inaugural production, A Witness in My House, directed by Wendy vanden Heuvel, produced at the Hudson Guild Theater in New York was invited to go to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Their current production, RANDOM ACTS, was developed with workshop productions at the Emerging Artists Theater New Work Festival, FAB women of the Barrow Group, and at Theater Row for the United Solo Theater Festival in October and November of 2014.
RANDOM ACTS runs February 14 - March 2. Performances are Tuesday – Sunday at 7:30pm, with matinees at 2pm on Saturday and 4pm on Sunday. Running time is 75 minutes. TGB Mainstage Theatre is located at 312 West 36thStreet. Tickets are $25 - $35, available at866-811-4111 or www.randomactstheplay.com.