Opening November 14th!
Written by Laura McKenzie and Mark Sam Rosenthal
Featuring live music from The Guzzlerz
Opening Night: Sunday November 14th at 7pm
& continuing Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, Sundays at 7pm through December 19th .
Factory Theater at the Prop Thtr 3504 N. Elston Ave, Chicago.
All tickets are $18.00
Appeared in 2004
Synopsis
A night of three one-act plays rips the siding off of three different trailers to expose the rednecks, refugees and reprobates that dwell within. Are You There, Jesus?It's Us, Trailer Trash, previously produced at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in New York as a winning selection in its annual one-act play festival, examines what happens when you mix an intervention, a hurricane and crystal methamphetamine. Grenada vets Earl and Leon almost come to blows over their differing accounts of that bloody hellfire of a war until a wise old woman and a flying filet-o-fish sandwich teach them the true meaning of friendship. In Look Homeward, Trailer, a gang of gay friends claims the right to return to its suburban homeland, just in time for Thanksgiving dinner. It's a road trip play, complete with a hi-jacked Hollywood movie trailer, the requisite cross-country police chase, and a circuit party in a Texas truck stop parking lot. If This Trailer's Rockin, Don't Come A Knockin' features the Caged Birds, a women's prison band that's forced to rehearse in the conjugal visit trailer, rocking for their freedom in the "Battle-of-the-Bands-Full-Release-I'll-be-Home-for-Christmas-Contest". A transsexual corrections officer gets the big snip, and shows a reluctant lady con that each of us is responsible for his/her/its own destiny. Complete with a live band, Greek Chorus, and Britney Spears life-size cardboard cutout, Ménage a Trailer will leave you screaming, "Hit Me Trailer, One More Time!"
The Cast
Eustace Allen
Eustace Allen (Dag/Toilet Bowl Lady) is thrilled to join this hilarious cast! Eustace has been very busy this year acting in two movies: Betsy Wetsy and Heather. The hardest part of low-budget film-making -- he says -- is convincing his mother she won't get the red-carpet treatment when she comes to the viewing. "And that's a BIG problem for her. If I'm acting, she wants the goods!" In his spare time, Eustace does yoga, eats right, tans, works out 4xper week, and cleanses his skin daily w/ a selection of metro-male face products.
Ryan Bollettino
Ryan Bollettino (Old Gay Man Sanders/Doo Doo) Good evening. Thanks for coming out tonight. Ryan's quest to do a mainstage Factory show has finally come to light. Ryan is a company member with the Hypocrites, having done 10 shows with them including, Machinal (Lover), Balm in Gilead (Tig), and most recently in Leonce Und Lena (Leonce.) Ryan has also worked with Lifeline, Trap Door, Griffin, Collaboraction and in Strawdog's 4-time Jeff winning Detective Story. Love to the family & the critters & the labbies.
Allison Cain
Allison Cain (Gladys P. Cyborg/Poco) Allison received her training at Carnegie Mellon University and Columbia College. She has worked almost exclusively on new work since 1990, in Los Angeles, Connecticut, Scotland and Chicago. She became the Artistic Director of the now defunct, Studio 108, after moving to Chicago (where she produced twelve new works, co-directing two of them) and has acted in a bunch of plays with various theater companies throughout the
city over the past 13 years. She has been a member of the Factory since 2000 is currently the Executive Director. Thanks to Laura and Mark Sam for writing such a fabulously funny show and to Nick for casting her in such plumb roles! Hope ya'll like garlic Doritos!
Andre Ing
Andre Ing (Double Wide Chorus/Quong) Special cameo appearance by Tyler D-R-E. Tyler D-R-E Aint got no time to write a damn bio. Tyler D-R-E Aint got time tell you that he's worked with Factory before, or that he's worked with Defiant, The Hypocrites, Bailiwick, or even Victory Garden. Tyler D-R-E doesn't have time to tell you that he his currently working with Art's Lane, and that he doesn't have time to give special thanks to his family, friends, Nick, this cast, Defiant, Vicious, and the continuing support from MDM. Tyler D-R-E Aint got no time.
Christine Jennings
Christine Jennings (Double Wide Chorus/Circuit Party Girl) In high school, Christine had a class in a trailer. It was called a mobile home - yet, it didn't move or feel homey. Christine has been rockin' with the Factory since 1995 and continues to be inspired by her family here. Enjoy the menage.
Devin Kirk
Devin Kirk (Tanner) Devin is a happy man to be making his Factory Theater debut in Ménage a Trailer. Other Chicago credits include, work with the Griffin, The Moving Dock, Theater on the Lake, Defiant, Raven, Plasticene, Victory Gardens and Next. Devin is a graduate of the University of North Carolina and has also studied acting at New York's HB Studio and NYU's Experimental Theatre Wing.
Alexis Klossner
Alexis Klossner (Donna) Alexis is a repeat offender. Menage marks her second production with the fine folks at Factory and her second stint as a woman behind bars. She was last seen with the Factory eating the flesh of the living in their hit production of Among the Dead. As for doin' the time for doin' the crime, Alexis played poor pitiful Pearl in Cell Block Sirens of 1953 with Open Eye Productions, of which she is a proud ensemble member. She has performed with some other fabulous Chicago theater companies including BackStage Theater Company, Boxer
Rebellion Ensemble and Will Act for Food. Most recently she was seen as Miranda, a very baaaaaaaaad witch in Bunny, the Undead Expediter at the Abbie Hoffman Festival. Alexis graduated summa cum laude from Southwest Texas State University with a BFA in Theatre Arts. Love to Matt.
Sara McCarthy
Sara McCarthy (Mike) Sara is delighted to frolic for the first time with the fine folks at Factory. Besides being a pro with alliteration, Sara has worked with several lovely companies around town including, The Hypocrites, The Griffin, Prop Theatre and Run-A-Muck, as well as some experiments in independent film and an appearance on "Early Edition." She is a graduate of The Theatre School at DePaul University. Love, love, love to my family, my ladies and my roomies (all of you.)
Laura McKenzie
Laura McKenzie (Ruby Dawn/Queasy) Previous Factory shows include Being at Choice and Chicagostyle. Other writer-performer credits include: Alice with the Neo-Futurists, Funk Cloud: Fight the Stank!, Laura McKenzie Feels Like Makin' Love and Waiting On Godot (co-written with Kate Hawley.) There are other shows, other towns, other memories...but that's for the bar.
Paul Metreyeon
Paul Metreyeon (Double Wide Chorus/Dwayne) Paul considers himself extremely lucky to be surrounded by this insane cast of people in his first Factory show. He was last seen at the Playing French Theatre Festival, and recently in Leonce Und Lena both with the Hypocrites, as well as Seeing Red at the Abbie Hoffman Festival. Thank you for the Meat and Cheese And Meat and Cheese Nick, and to ummm, uhhh what's her name..oh Shannon.
Jennifer Pompa
Jennifer Pompa (Miss Mae/Tanner's Mom) Jennifer is always excited to work at her home, the Factory. Most recently, Jennifer was seen in Brutality of Fact (Eclipse Theater), Being At Choice (Factory Theater) and [the] Violent Sex (Visions and Voices Theater). Last year, Jennifer was in The Cider House Rules, as Melony, with Famous Door Theatre (Jeff Award-Best Supporting Actress.) Currently, she performs
children's theater at Navy Pier and is a proud member of the Factory Theater. Factory favorites include: Poppin' and Lockdown, White Trash Wedding And A Funeral, The Vinyl Shop and The Death and Life of Barb Budonovich (PSNBC/New York.) Film and Television credits include: "dot" and "The Jamie Kennedy Experiment." Turn-ons include: Meatwad, the entire Puddlemaker family (H., H., K. & T.), and of course, The Joe. Turn-offs include: Puss, smudged taint, and doing the dishes.
Amanda Putman
Amanda Putman (Layla/Dorothy) Amanda loves The Factory. I mean, LOVES. They only like her as a friend though. That's cool. Whatever. She was last seen as that lovable crack-ho Emma Goodheart in their slammin production of Poppin & Lockdown 2: Dance the Right Thing. Amanda is a proud company member with The Hypocrites, and has performed in their productions of Camille/La Traviata, Machinal, Edward Gorey's Dispirited Diversion for Christmas, Leviticus Achtzehn and Rhinoceros. Any other information will cost a Jack & Diet, no lime.
Eric Thomas Roach
Eric Thomas Roach (T Willy/Boss Chester/Arby's Worker) Eric Thomas Roach is begging, once again, for approval. He is ready for anything, packs light and is modded for traditional AutoDuelling. He works very hard, and would love a tall, cool Budweiser. This play makes his underwear tight. Other plays he's been in include: Rhinoceros (Hypocrites), Ash Can Alley (Griffin), OnO: Live On Stage (Hi-Volt), and Leonce
Und Lena (Hypocrites.) He hails from St. Louis, MO, home of your World Champion Cardinals!! Please note that this was written on October 18, 2004. The Cardinals are the 1982 World Champions, so Eric is not a liar. He dedicates this performance to Rodney Dangerfield, Christopher Reeve and Janet leigh. Love to Angel.
Vance Smith
Vance Smith (DJ Suicide/Poco) Vance is terrified to make his Factory debut in Menage A Trailer. Having appeared most recently as Chamberlain in Lifleine's The Killer Angels and Martin in the Hypocrite's Balm in Gilead, Vance has also done stuff with Northlight, Apple Tree, City Lit, Buflao Theate Ensemble and others. Be warned! He spent this summer honing his craft at The School at Steppenwolf, so the first three rows will get wet.
Manny Tamayo
Manny Tamayo (Earl/Darron) Manny is a proud member of the Factory ensemble. He was last seen in Here Comes A Regular.
Heather Tyler
Heather Tyler (Brie/Wall Street) Heather is just tickled to join this talented cast in her Factory Theater debut. She has many exciting performance credits including Leonce und Lena with the hypocrites, Calgony Springs with Hi-Volt, Macbeth with Defiant, Einstein's Dreams in conjunction with the Moving Dock, and Nana with Trapdoor. Heather would like to make it known to all the "sweet, naiive hicks" in Pocahontas, Arkansas that she has not forgotten her roots and will always come home for homemade bread at Sunday dinner, real BBQ and Oma's fried peach pies. Go Redskins! Love to matao.
Chas Vrba
Chas Vrba (Leon/Tanner's Dad/Sound Design) Chas last appeared as Sam, the Crusty Janitor in Poppin' and Lockdown 2: Dance the Right Thing. He has appeared in a number of Factory shows over the years. Some of which include, Chicagostyle, Captain Raspberry, EndZone, White Trash Wedding & A Funeral, Goooooo Speech Team!, Variations on Death, and the first Poppin' and Lockdown. Additionally, he has appeared in shows with the dearly departed Defiant Theatre, European Rep., The Journeymen, Mary-Arrchie, Raven Theatre, and
Steppenwolf among others. Sound Design/Effects credits include Being at Choice(remount), Here Comes a Regular, Among the Dead, Dick Danger DJ: Crimesolver! for the Factory, as well as work for Hope and Nonthings, The Journeymen, Northlight Kids, Open Eye, and Rivendell. He sends Big Thank-You's to Nick and Laura for letting him play with them and much love to his fellow cast & crewmembers, his Factory cohorts, and always, Barbara.
The Band
The GuzzlerZ come from the rickety town of Posen, Illinois. They formed to console their grief after the local Cock-Robin closed. The rest is history. The GuzzlerZ are comprised of Scott"Wah-goddamn-Wah" OKen on guitar, Carrie "I'll take it from the Well" Sullivan on Bass, Mark "Henry" Winkler on keyboards, and Chris "Chops" Anderson on drums. After a brief stint in Uzbekistan, the GuzzlerZ hit the local circuit upon release of their debut LP,"Quittit-Faggit". The Album got rave reviews where Scott OKen was dubbed "the Ron Liebman of Guitar". The band then suffered a short break-up upon Bassist Carrie Sullivan's conversion to Pepsi from Coke.....Mark Winkler was not pleased and in protest joined an Andrew Ridgely Tribute Band. Chis Anderson thought the other three were acting like jag offs and rented the entire Jean Reno filmography and held up in his apartment for six days....They were reunited when maverick theatre director Nick Digilio bought repeated amounts of shots and told them while they were drunk that they were under contract...they believed him.....So now they provide the musical background to Menage a' Trailer in their purest form.... confused.... Bloodrock rules!!!
Chris Anderson (Drums)
Scott OKen (Guitar/Vocals/Movie Trailer Voice)
Carrie Sullivan (Bass) Carrie was last seen stage managing The Factory's revival of Being at Choice this past spring. She also worked on Among the Dead (Factory), Sci-Fi Action Movie in Space Prison (Defiant - R.I.P.), and Lick the Mouse (Hi-Volt Theater). Musically her credits include playing organ for a Christian Science Church, tuba for the Escanaba City Band and bass for such bands as Catherine, The Sexies and The Chunks. She would like to thank The Factory for the opportunity and her grandmother for all those years of piano lessons. Aren't you glad they paid off??
Mark Winkler (Keyboards)
The Crew
Nick Digilio
Nick Digilio (Director) is back with the Factory after a three and a half year hiatus. He served as Artistic Director here for some 4 years and has written, directed and/or acted in over 20 shows in the history of this company. Titles include: Alive, White Trash Wedding and a Funeral, Win Place or Show, The Vinyl Shop, Surface Dwellers, Rapid Fire, Nuclear Family, Escape from the North Pole, Among the Dead and most recently Here Comes a Regular. He has also worked extensively with The Hypocrites where he appeared in Jack or the Submission, Curse of the Starving Class, Arcadia and Rhinoceros. He has directed David Mamet's Lakeboat for The Hypocrites and Occupation and Congratulations for Not Killing Anyone for Studio 108. He hosts his own talk radio show on WGN radio in Chicago, and lives on the city's north side. Enjoy the veal.
Thomas Donalek (Photographer) Bio pending
Joe Gehr
Joe Gehr (Stage Manager) wonders how me live so long and me so smart from knowledge. NEW JERSEY, 300 million years ago... This wayback before Joe's spine straighten, front lobes develop, comprehend rational thought, master English language. There me was beating boulder into power because me could eat it and magic ball land in lap. Naturally me think "All right! Free egg." Because me stupid and me caveman. So me spent about three days humping and bust open with thigh bone so me could eat it good. Then magic ball shoot Joe with beam and the next thing me know, me go out and invent wheel out of dinosaur brain. Magic dino wheel rolls for three short distance until me eat it, the point is me get smarter. Soon me walk upright. Me feather-back dirty, matted hair into wings for style and me stopped to use bathroom as opposed to me just doing it as me walk. Me! Factory. Me Ballgame.
Jennifer Grace
Jennifer Grace (Costume Design) is pleased to be working with the Factory guys again. In 2002, she starred as Emma Goodheart in Factory Theater's production of Poppin' & Lockdown. This marks her first time designing costumes for these guys, however. She is a proud company member of the Hypocrites, for whom she has both acted and designed costumes. Previous Hypocrites costume credits include Equus, Edward Gorey's Dispirited Diversions For Christmas, and Balm In Gilead, the latter of which earned her a Jeff nomination. Beginning promptly after Thanksgiving and running into the new year, you can see more of Jennifer's work in The Hypocrites' production of A Christmas Carol: A Radio Broadcast, written by Charles Dickens (sort of) and adapted by Sean Graney. She will once again be designing costumes, as well as reprising her role from last year's Christmas show as a member of the Empassioned Amateur Women's Drama Club. Thanks to Nick and Allison and all at Factory for being so fun and great to work with. As always, love to Tommy.
Becky Marshall (Set Design) bio pending
Laura McKenzie
Laura McKenzie (Co-Playwright) Previous Factory shows include Being at Choice and Chicagostyle. Other writer-performer credits include: Alice with the Neo-Futurists, Funk Cloud: Fight the Stank!, Laura McKenzie Feels Like Makin' Love and Waiting On Godot (co-written with Kate Hawley.) There are other shows, other towns, other memories...but that's for the bar.
Ziggy Olsen (Assistant Stage Manager) Bio Pending
Mark Sam Rosenthal
Mark Sam Rosenthal (Co-Playwright) is a comedian/writer bred in Baton Rouge and now living in Brooklyn. He trained in improvisation at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater. He has performed stand-up all over New York and hosts a weekly stand-up showcase in the East Village. He also created the burlesque group Rotten Teeth. Other writing credits include Beyond the Valley of the Switchblade Pussycats (UCB Theater) and The Indigo Girls vs. George W. Bush (The Cutting Room).
Dan Tamarkin (Technical Director) Bio Pending
Geoff Vines
Geoff Vines (Lighting Design/Mater Electrician) has been drunk for twelve years straight, which qualifies him as "Lighting Designer" for this show. He'd like to thank "The Factory" for their support (co-dependence?) Love all, be all.
Chas Vrba
Chas Vrba (Leon/Tanner's Dad/Sound Design) last appeared as Sam, the Crusty Janitor in Poppin' and Lockdown 2: Dance the Right Thing. He has appeared in a number of Factory shows over the years. Some of which include, Chicagostyle, Captain Raspberry, EndZone, White Trash Wedding & A Funeral, Goooooo Speech Team!, Variations on Death, and the first Poppin' and Lockdown. Additionally, he has appeared in shows with the dearly departed Defiant Theatre, European Rep., The Journeymen, Mary-Arrchie, Raven Theatre, and Steppenwolf among others. Sound Design/Effects credits include Being at Choice(remount), Here Comes a Regular, Among the Dead, Dick Danger DJ: Crimesolver! for the Factory, as well as work for Hope and Nonthings, The Journeymen, Northlight Kids, Open Eye, and Rivendell. He sends Big Thank-You's to Nick and Laura for letting him play with them and much love to his fellow cast & crewmembers, his Factory cohorts, and always, Barbara.
Steve Wilson
Steve Wilson (Assistant Director) has appeared with the Factory in DragonTales and Among the Dead. He also performed in and co-directed the first installment of Lab Rats. Steve is a member of The Hypocrites, where he was most recently seen as Mike Rice in The 4th Graders Present An Unnamed Suicide. Other roles include: Joe in Balm in Gilead, Valentine in Arcadia, and Leonardo in Blood Wedding. Many thanks to Nick and the Factory for keeping me around.
