Staged Reading of SLAB in Chicago

square product theatre is partnering with The New Colony for a staged reading of SLAB, adapted by Gleason Bauer and Emily K. Harrison from the novel by Selah Saterstrom

directed by Gleason Bauer

featuring performances by: Brianna Buckley, Emily K. Harrison, Shariba Rivers, Micheal Angelo Smith, Susan Thomas, & Collins Yearwood

8 p.m., Tuesday, July 26th @ The Den Theatre, Studio 3A

1333 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago, Ill.

FREE! SLAB follows the story of Tiger, a plucky ex-stripper whose impoverished American existence is turned upside down after a hurricane destroys her town. As Tiger waits for salvation on the slab that is all that remains of her home, she begins to tell her story, her memories flashing to life before our eyes. Born of the debris of Hurricane Katrina, SLAB explores the essential human need to create narrative as a means of survival and transition, honoring what we can take with us when there is nothing left to take: our story.

Talkback to immediately follow. Response to square product theatre's 2014 World Premiere of SLAB: "Make no mistake, 'Slab' not only addresses the toll of natural disaster on memory but also takes on the possibility of theater, be it found in carnival sideshows, a psychics tent or at a strip joint...Slab is ambitious... elegiac and ecstactic ...[a] demanding, haunting production." - Lisa Kennedy, The Denver Post "Debris never looked more savage, beautiful and meaningful than it did scattered across the Atlas Theatre stage in Boulder for square product theatre's world premiere of SLAB, a visceral, multimedia meditation on Hurricane Katrina. This portrait of disaster was expressed in such expanse and minute detail, I lingered after the play for almost an hour to study it up close as one might examine a museum exhibit or a crime scene. Post-apocalyptic New Orleans, after all, was both." - John Moore, Denver Center for the Performing Arts Senior Arts Journalist "A VERY ambitious & brave project." - Anne Waldman, poet/activist "SLAB is by far one of the greatest productions I have ever seen. The acting was phenomenal, the writing was superb, the set was exquisite, and the use of multi-media was breath-taking. It will undoubtedly haunt me forever." - Sarah Schantz, author of Fig "...among the most deeply stirring pieces of performance I have ever witnessed." - Dr. Beth Osnes, activist/educator, Founder of Mothers Acting Up "Epic, with Emily K. Harrison's performance a tour de force." - Barbara Dilley, dancer/educator "Having seen it the other night, I can say first hand what a gem SLAB is. There are many, many gifted artists at work on this one...Captivating and spellbinding, like a haunted dream." - Michael Theodore, visual artist "When Katrina slammed into the south in the late summer of 2005 many coastal towns in Mississippi, and Louisiana were obliterated in a single night. Hurricane-force winds blasted for over 17 hours, spawning 11 tornadoes, a 28-foot storm surge, and flooding 612 miles inland. Many and much perished. square product theatre's play SLAB speaks the story of the dead, and the living. It is sublime profane ritual and quick to tell you that existence is a shared experience and that it don't come easy." - Mary-Laurence Bevington, yoga instructor/artist