Featuring: Kayla Adams, Reid Coker, Kristin Collins, Jared Goudsmit, Brookelyn Hébert, John LaFlamboy, Kathy Scambiatterra Daniel Shtivelberg, Mary Spencer, Patrick Thornton, Carolyn Waldee and Todd Wojcik
Understudies: Hannah Blau, Christian Colucci, Angela DeMarco, Tony DiPisa, Dan Evashevski, Martin Holt, Jeremy Osinga, Lauren Valice, Jon Yelton, Rebecca Zisook
Production Team: Kevin Hagan (Scenic Designer), Rachel Lambert (Costume Designer), Mark Bracken Jr. (Lighting Designer), Petter Wahlbäck (Sound Designer), Randy Rozler (Props Designer), Jenna Steege Ramey (Assistant Director), Tom McNelis (Technical Director) and Andrew Snyder (Stage Manager)
Freely adapted from Nikolai Erdman's The Suicide – a 1928 satire that was banned by Stalin before it ever took the stage – Dying for It is a modernized take on the same dark buffoonery and fallacies of post-revolution life. In this tragedy-turned-slapstick, Semyon is a young unemployed man who has an obsessive itch to commit suicide. A ragtag team of early Soviet Russian society consisting of a dissatisfied intellectual, a boisterous romantic, a questionable priest, a controversial writer and a proletarian postman all team up to gain a martyred profit off of Semyon offing himself.
*** Trigger Warning: This production involves explicit images of suicide and the use of a prop firearm which may be triggering to some viewers***
Performance Schedule
Previews: Saturday, March 18 at 8 p.m., Sunday, March 19 at 3 p.m. and Wednesday, March 22 at 8 p.m.
Opening: Thursday, March 23 at 8 p.m.
Performances: Friday, March 24 – Sunday, April 23, 2023
Thursday, Friday & Saturday: 8:00 p.m.
Sunday: 3:00 p.m.
Please note: There will be an added performance on Saturday, April 8 at 4 pm; there will not be a performance on Sunday, April 9.
Accessibility & Covid Policy:
Please visit The Den for accessibility and Covid information.
Running Time: 2 hours & 20 minutes with a 10 minute intermission
Late Seating: After Act 1 (30 minutes into the show)
Location: : The Den’s Bookspan Theatre: 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave, Chicago, IL 60622
Tickets are sold through The Den Theatre.
““Go for the laughs; stay for the life-affirming message beneath the buffoonery.””
““This rare opportunity to see a hidden gem should not be missed.””
““Monica Payne has punched up the humor of this black comedy while still allowing the poignancy of the situation to hit home, especially in its final moments.””