Tooth of Crime (2nd Dance)
A MIDWEST PREMIERE
BY SAM SHEPARD
DIRECTED BY NIC DIMOND
Apr 7, 2006–May 21, 2006
3829 N. Broadway
In the near future, America is torn into competing factions and city-states and the main attraction—the only attraction—is The Game. A global battle for status and territory played by ruthless rock-and-roll warlords, played according to rules issued by a mysterious council of Keepers, played for the excitement and entertainment of a tiny upper class, while everyone else gets trampled underneath.
Hoss has been at the top of The Game for a long time, a warrior king with nothing left to conquer, safe with his entourage behind the walls of his desert fortress. Driven half wild by his comfortable but contained existence, he can think of nothing but new kills, certain that passiveness will be his death. Then a speck out in the wasteland grows suddenly large: out of the battered masses rises a gypsy named Crow, a new breed of player only in The Game as a means to destroy it.
To take on this unknown challenger is a foolish, unnecessary risk, with little to gain and everything to lose—Hoss jumps at the chance. What follows is all-out battle in a mode that goes beyond the physical and attacks the soul. Head to head, until one’s dead.
“… awesome, awesome and awesome.”
— Chicago Maroon
“Dimond’s staging explodes with energy …”
— Chicago Free Press
“… intimate quarters … exactly right for this ecstatic spectacle …”
— Windy City Times
Cast
Brian Amidei
as Ref
Amanda Eaton
as Kelpie
John Ferrick*
as Meera
Carmine Grisolia*
as Hoss
Chris Hainsworth
as Chaser
Carolyn Klein
as Becky
John Henry Roberts*
as Crow
Rob Skrocki
as Doc
James Anthony Zoccoli
as Ruido Ran
Creative Team
Sam Shepard
Author
Nic Dimond
Director
Robert Moore
Set Design
Sean T. Mallary
Light Design
Aly Renee Amidei*
Costume Design
Mikhail Fiksel
Music Director
Tom Hickey
Animations/Projections
Erin Carlson
Stage Manager
Kyle D. Hillman
Producer
Laura Dieli
Production Manager
* Strawdog Theatre ensemble member