Here’s the press release from the side project:

Three new works – and a new mission – premiere at the side project in 2009-10

The side project, founded in 2001 in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood by
Artistic Director Adam Webster, will present three world-premiere plays in
its 2009-2010 season – its first under a new mission which will take the
company into its second decade. All three productions – beginning with the
November world premiere of Laura Eason’s REWIND – bring into sharp focus
the company’s refined mission statement and vision.

Webster said the company’s long-standing commitment to new works and new
voices in Chicago’s signature storefront style led to the revised mission:

“The side project connects Chicago’s most innovative and engaging writers,
directors, designers and performers in an ongoing exploration of the power
of hyper-intimate theatre.”

Webster added that receiving the 2009 Broadway in Chicago Emerging Theatre
Award inspired the side project to look at its beginnings and refine its
process of bringing work to the stage. “We want to develop projects out of
relationships with artists of all disciplines – not just playwrights ,” he
said. “Our focus is not simply on world-premiere plays, but on
world-premiere collaborations: creating never-before-seen teams of
artists, each of whom has a body of work which speaks to the others in
unique and exciting ways.”

Added Webster, “I see this shift as both a refocusing on what the side
project does well, and a return to the vision I had when I started the
company: a place for Chicago theatre artists to come and create the work
they might not be able to do elsewhere.”

Managing Director Dan Granata said, “This is really a natural evolution
for the side project – rather than attempt to create (and keep a hold of)
an end-all be-all circle of artists or rely on tried-and-true established
partnerships, we’re looking to mine Chicago’s fantastic and ever-changing
roster of artistic ensembles for unique and untried collaborations. It’s
like fantasy baseball for theatre nerds:  creating teams of artists who
are working independently to see what comes out of their working
together.”

2009-2010 Season
As the first mainstage ventures under the new mission, the side project
will produce three world-premiere scripts – all by writers with Chicago
roots but distinct voices – in its 2009-2010 season. All productions will
take place at The Side Project Theatre, 1439 W. Jarvis Ave.

“Applying our renewed mission and vision to these three plays by
world-class playwrights has been an exhilarating process,” Webster said.
“We’ve been working on finding the right combination of outstanding
storefront theatre artists to bring these stories to life. Most of them
have not worked with each other – or even at the side project – before.
We’re excited to see what emerges!”

Rewind
by Laura Eason
November 20 – December 20 (previews November 17-19)
It wasn’t supposed to be this way. They were the next big thing in rock.
But Noah walked away. Elisha married that asshole. And now Jim’s dead -
leaving them all to wonder – “How did we get here?”

Lookingglass ensemble member, director and playwright Eason’s Sex with
Strangers was called “honest and alluring” and “wonderfully
ambivalence-fueled” by the Chicago Sun-Times and “the next breakout
Chicago play” by the Chicago Tribune when it premiered at Steppenwolf’s
First Look Repertory earlier this year.

The Artist Needs a Wife
by Jesse Weaver
January 15 – February 14 (previews January 12-14)
A derelict basement apartment. Decades. In the future. Mott’s DJ career –
and his spunk – have turned to dust. Freud hasn’t been able to paint for
73 (Or is it 23? 95?) years. Maybe it’s time for a new fucking muse. Now.
What to do with the old one?

A prolific playwright and performer now based in Ireland, Weaver’s On My
Parents’ One Hundredth Wedding Anniversary was hailed as “heart-stoppingly
beautiful” by the Chicago Reader and praised for its “dazzling language”
and called “handsomely gaudy” by TimeOut Chicago . An earlier version of
Artist swept the Ireland Drama Awards and played the 2005 Dublin Fringe,
where it was hailed as “a superbly written piece; tender, original and
very funny.”

People We Know
by Robert Tenges
May 7 – June 6 (previews May 4-6)
A lot has happened since college. Sure, Paul got sent away over the Thing
with the Young Girl, and Dianne is Not Dealing Well. But Joshua and Hannah
are avoiding something themselves, and Eric and Maddy – well, who really
knows what makes people tick?

A member of New River Dramatists (North Carolina) and an artist with The
New Group (New York), Tenges’s Strangers Knocking was hailed as
“strikingly resonant” by the Chicago Tribune and “one of the most
thoughtful commentaries on love and fear around” by the Windy City Times.
His plays have received Off-Broadway productions by The New Group and
Ensemble Studio Theatre.

Past praise for the side project:
Over the years, the side project has continually garnered accolades,
including 5 Jeff Recommended shows, a Jeff Citation, and various Critic’s
Picks and similar press designations. Below is a sampling of the past two
seasons:

On Cut to the Quick, a year-long festival of 38 new plays (2008-2009)
“CRITIC’S CHOICE! Expertly curated… incisive marvels of verbal economy.
”–Chicago Reader
“Reinforc[es] the side project’s status as one of the city’s premier
storefront destinations.”–TimeOut
“Recommended! One of the most cohesive groups of ten-minute plays I’ve
seen…”–NewCity
“…heavy-hitting and ambitious… taut, daring… without peer…” – Loyola Phoenix

On On My Parents’ One Hundredth Wedding Anniversary (2008)
“HIGHLY RECOMMENDED … inspired staging… heart-stoppingly beautiful.” -
Chicago Reader
“THREE STARS… dazzling language…flitting whimsy …handsomely gaudy…” -
TimeOut Chicago
“An admirable freshness…meta-theatrical… scrappy avant-gardism…” –
CenterstageChicago
“Theatrical juggernaut … a rich vernacular … endlessly creative…” – New City

On Faster (Jeff Recommended; Jeff Citation: Sound Design) (2008)
“HIGHLY RECOMMENDED… Blistering… creepy…gutsy performances …” – Chicago
Reader
“FOUR STARS…surrealist nihilism… eerily textured…will make your ticker
beat faster” – TimeOut
“RECOMMENDED! A powerful artistic achievement…disturbing…edgy…” -
ChicagoCritic.com
“TIP OF THE WEEK! Phenomenal and gut-wrenching…Reminds you why theater
matters.”- New City
“…certainly a work worth seeing… gritty…” - ChicagoPride.com

On Slipping (2008)
“HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! A triumph…” - ChicagoCritic.com
“…exceedingly honest…” – Chicago Tribune
“disturbing…intense and vivid… painful…disquieting.” SteadStyleChicago.com
“…performances so natural they almost induce double takes… unpredictable
and funny…” – TimeOut