The Hypocrites is a Chicago storefront theater company founded in 1997 by Sean Graney, Brandon Kruse and Christopher Cintron. The company is currently run by Sean Graney (artistic director) and Kelli Strickland (executive director). One of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

’s premier off-Loop theater companies, The Hypocrites specializes in mounting bold productions that challenge preconceptions and redefining the role of the audience through unusual staging (such as promenade and in-the-round) and direct engagement. The company has a reputation in Chicago for creating exciting, surprising, and deeply engaging theater as it re-interprets well-known works for contemporary audiences, reveling in the absurd while revealing the core of what makes classics classic.

''“The Hypocrites, who with each new production, continue to rise not just to the rank of one of our city’s best storefronts but one of Chicago’s best theaters period.” – Newcity Stage ( American Idiot, 2015)''

The company has grown significantly in the past few years, receiving acclaim for productions at the Steppenwolf Garage,

Goodman Theatre Goodman Theatre is a professional theater company located in Chicago's Loop. A major part of the Chicago theatre scene, it is the city's oldest currently active nonprofit theater organization. Part of its present theater complex occupies the lan ...

Museum of Contemporary Art Museum of Contemporary Art (often abbreviated to MCA, MoCA or MOCA) may refer to: Africa * Museum of Contemporary Art (Tangier), Morocco, officially le Galerie d'Art Contemporain Mohamed Drissi Asia East Asia * Museum of Contemporary Art Shangha ...

, DCASE Storefront, Chopin Theater and nationally at American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.), Berkeley Repertory Theatre, and Actors Theatre of Louisville.

Adaptations

Their recent production of Graney's ''All Our Tragic'', a twelve-hour adaptation combining all 32 surviving Greek Tragedies, garnered the company six 2015 Equity Jeff Awards in its first year of eligibility.

“’A watershed moment for off-Loop theater.” – Chris Jones,
Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...
(''All Our Tragic'', 2014)

Graney's musical adaptations of

Gilbert & Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan was a Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900), who jointly created fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which ''H.M.S. Pina ...

’s ''

Pirates of Penzance ''The Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty'' is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. Its official premiere was at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City on 31 December 1879 ...

'', ''

The Mikado ''The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu'' is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of fourteen Gilbert and Sullivan, operatic collaborations. It opened on 14 March 1885, in London, whe ...

'' and ''

H.M.S. Pinafore ''H.M.S. Pinafore; or, The Lass That Loved a Sailor'' is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It opened at the Opera Comique in London, on 25 May 1878 and ran for 571 performances, whic ...

'' have become audience and critic favorites, being remounted numerous times in Chicago as well as going on tour to American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.),

Berkeley Repertory Theatre Berkeley Repertory Theatre is a regional theater company located in Berkeley, California. It runs seven productions each season from its two stages in Downtown Berkeley. History The company was founded in 1968, as the East Bay's first resident pr ...

, Actors Theatre of Louisville, and Olney Theater Center.

''“Cromer calibrates 'Our Town' with clear-eyed intelligence. You see the beauties of small-town America and its limitations, laid out before you as directly and powerfully as the Chicago theater can muster.” – Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune (Our Town, 2008)''

Awards

Since the company's founding, The Hypocrites have produced over sixty main stage productions and a dozen festival pieces, securing thirty-one Non-Equity Joseph Jefferson awards, six Equity Joseph Jefferson awards, and two After Dark Awards. The

American Theatre Wing The American Theatre Wing (the Wing for short) is a New York City–based non-profit organization "dedicated to supporting excellence and education in theatre", according to its mission statement. Originally known as the Stage Women's War Relief ...

, best known as the creator of the

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual cer ...

s, presented The Hypocrites with one of the 2013 National Theatre Company awards. The company's smash-hit production of ''

Our Town ''Our Town'' is a 1938 metatheatrical three-act play by American playwright Thornton Wilder which won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The play tells the story of the fictional American small town of Grover's Corners between 1901 and 1913 throug ...

'', directed by

David Cromer David Cromer (born October 17, 1964) is an American theatre director, and stage, film, and TV actor. He has received recognition for his work on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and in his native Chicago. Cromer has won or been nominated for numerous aw ...

, transferred in 2009 to

Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

and

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. The Hypocrites began performing in the basement of Café Voltaire, a now defunct vegetarian restaurant in Lakeview. Co-founder Sean Graney has been the artistic director since early 2015, when he announced his return from a three-year hiatus. The company's name is inspired by

Eugène Ionesco Eugène Ionesco (; born Eugen Ionescu, ; 26 November 1909 – 28 March 1994) was a Romanian-French playwright who wrote mostly in French, and was one of the foremost figures of the French avant-garde theatre in the 20th century. Ionesco inst ...

’s ''Notes and Counter Notes'', a compendium of interviews on the nature of theatre throughout which Ionesco regularly contradicts himself — hence its title, and The Hypocrites' name.

Production history

Season 1 * ''The Bald Soprano'' * ''Woyzeck'' * ''Endgame'' * ''Action'' Season 2 * ''Edmond'' * ''The Danube'' * ''The Firebugs'' * ''The Future is in Eggs'' * ''Marat/Sade'' Season 3 * ''Curse of the Starving Class'' * ''Jack, or the Submission'' & ''The Future is in Eggs'' * ''The Cherry Orchard'' Season 4 * ''Lakeboat'' * ''Ajax'' * ''The Curious Sofa'' * ''Arcadia'' Season 5 * ''Blood Wedding'' * ''Rhinoceros'' * ''Leviticus 18'' * ''Henry 5'' Season 6 * ''Machinal'' * ''Happy Days'' * ''Balm in Gilead'' * ''Edward Gorey’s Dispirited Diversion for Christmas'' Season 7 * ''Camille/La Traviata'' * ''Leonce & Lena'' * ''The 4th Graders Present an Unnamed Love-Suicide'' Season 8 * ''Equus'' * ''The Christmas Carol – A Radio Broadcast'' * ''The Glass Menagerie'' * ''True West'' Season 9 * ''Death of a Salesman'' * ''4.48 Psychosis'' * ''Angels in America, Part I – Millennium Approaches'' * ''Angels in America, Part II – Perestroika'' Season 10 * ''Cat on a Hot Tin Roof'' * ''Mud'' * ''The Bald Soprano'' Season 11 * ''Desire Under the Elms'' * ''Miss Julie'' * ''Our Town'' Season 12 * ''The Threepenny Opera'' * ''Our Town'' Remounted * ''The Hairy Ape'' * ''Oedipus'' Season 13 * ''Frankenstein'' * ''Cabaret'' * ''No Exit'' Season 14 * ''K.'' * ''Pirates of Penzance'' * ''Woyzeck'' Season 15 * ''Sophocles: Seven Sicknesses'' * ''Pirates of Penzance'' (Remount) * ''Six Characters in Search of an Author'' * ''Romeo Juliet'' Season 16 * ''The Fall of the House of Usher'' * Gilbert & Sullivan Repertory * ''Coriolanus'' * ''Ivywild: The True Tall Tales of Bathhouse John'' Season 17 * ''12 Nights'' * ''The Mikado'' at Steppenwolf Garage * ''The Tennessee Williams Project'' * ''Into the Woods'' at Mercury Theatre Chicago Season 18 * ''All Our Tragic'' * Gilbert and Sullivan Rep: ''Mikado'', ''Pirates of Penzance'' and ''HMS Pinafore'' * ''Endgame'' * ''Three Sisters'' Season 19 * ''American Idiot'' * ''The 4th Graders Present an Unnamed Love-Suicide'' * The Ruffians' ''Burning Bluebeard'' * ''The Glass Menagerie'' * ''Adding Machine: The Musical'' * ''Johanna Faustus'' Season 20 * ''You on the Moors Now'' * ''Cinderella at the Theater for Potatoes'' * ''Wit'' * ''The House of Martin Guerre'' * ''Las Meninas''

References

External links

* The Hypocrites Websit

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hypocrites Theatre companies in Chicago Arts organizations established in 1997