Sandbox Theatre Project is a Chicago-based theatre company founded in 2003. STP is a collaboratively run and producing ensemble including ensemble members Cliff Chamberlain, Chelsea Cutler, Lee Keenan, and Justin D.M. Palmer. In 2003, STP produced the Chicago Premiere of "papers dreams and plastic promises", a one-person show written and performed by ensemble member Cliff Chamberlain, at Chicago's Athenaeum Theatre. Dedicated to creating theatre where the artists, audience and space play equal roles in the act of storytelling, STP creates an environment that engages the audience from the moment you join them for the evening -- not just when the lights go down... if they even need to go down!
Sandbox Theatre Project recently completed a sold-out run of "Can You Spot Me?", an original work created by the company members and performed in the real Lincoln Park fitness center Webster Fitness . TimeOut Chicago hailed "Can You Spot Me?" as "wisely ditching the obvious slice of life realism one would expect from in situ drama, Palmer's company embraces a quirky, heightened style that's nonetheless rooted in real emotion", and The Chicago Reader gave "Can You Spot Me?" a Highly Recommended rating -- STP's third consecutive Highly Recommended review from The Chicago Reader.
Prior work from STP includes extended sold-out runs of "Bottle Can Draft" (played in the real Lakeview bar Matilda in October 2005) and "Where We Live" (performed in a real Wrigleyville apartment in three consecutive runs over the course of 2005), both created by the company members. The Chicago Tribune lauded "Bottle Can Draft" by calling it "an elliptical mediation on barroom anthropology, twentysomething style… The milieu is clearly home for most of the cast, and they are remarkably loose and entertaining in their mocking of it. " The Chicago Reader praised "Where We Live" by saying "the writing sparkles… pure huckster genius."
New City Chicago Magazine named "Bottle Can Draft" one of the Top Five Site-Specific Shows of 2005.
In addition to "paper dreams and plastic promises", "Where We Live", "Bottle Can Draft", and "Can You Spot Me?", STP's plays have been seen in Single File: a Festival of Solo-Performance in 2003, The Rhinoceros Festival at Curious Theatre Branch in 2004, UC Santa Barbara New Plays Lab in 2005, and Et Cetera IV at The Spareroom in 2005.
Much of
STP's work is influenced and generated with the idea that good theatre
embraces a commitment to play, and that great theatre can be found in
unexpected places and forms.
As an actor and director, Chelsea Cutler has worked with sprung movement theatre, Experimental Theatre Chicago, and the Windy City Players. She is a ensemble member of The Building Stage. She serves as the Communications Manager for Next Theatre Company in Evanston. Chelsea only likes working out if it resembles dancing. Or really, if it IS dancing.
Lee
Keenan is an Instructor of Lighting Design at Loyola University Chicago.
He holds an MFA in stage design from Northwestern University, and a BA
from UCSB. He is a founding member of Sandbox Theatre Project; and Resident Scenic and Lighting Designer at Silk Road Theatre Project.
Chicago credits include: Lighting Designer for Short Shakespeare: Taming of the Shrew (Chicago Shakespeare Theater); Caravaggio (Silk Road Theatre Project); Hope Springs Infernal, Hatfield & McCoy, Ellen Under Glass (The House Theatre); The Misanthrope (After Dark Award—Best Design Team), The God of Hell (Next Theatre); Time and the Conways (Griffin Theatre); The Home Project (About Face Youth Theatre); Dorian (Bailiwick Repertory Theatre); Stone Cold Dead Serious (Circle Theatre); A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Visit (Loyola University Chicago); and A Polish Diva from Milwaukee (Milwaukee Repertory Theatre).
Scenic Designer for The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow (Collaboraction); Back of the Throat, Caravaggio, Golden Child, The Merchant of Venice (Silk Road Theatre Project); Co-designer for Betty’s Summer Vacation (Infamous Commonwealth Theatre Company); I Dream In Blues, Still Life with Iris (Vittum Theater).
Upcoming designs include: Around the World in 80 Days for Lookingglass Theatre Company; Merchant On Venice and Our Enemies for Silk Road Theatre Project; Waiting for Godot, Arcadia, Burial at Thebes, and Guys and Dolls for Loyola; The Noir Project for The Building Stage; The Attempters for House Theatre of Chicago.
Jennifer Gadda met her fellow Sandboxers upon moving to Chicago in 2003, and basically just kept showing up at meetings until they let her in to play. She's the Associate Production Manager at Court Theatre and a Stage Manager at Blue Man Group Chicago. She's also an Artistic Associate of Next Theatre Company, where she served as Production Manager and Resident Stage Manager 2003-2006. She holds at BA in Theatre from Stanford and every day she misses avocados and the northern California climate. When she's not making theatre, she likes to run for really long distances.
