PERFORMING AMAZING FEATS OF STORYTELLING SINCE 2001
 
 

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Diamond Dogs

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A ferocious sci-fi adventure

by Alastair Reynolds

Adapted by Althos Low

Directed by Nathan Allen

 

WORLD PREMIERE PLAY

 

RUN DATES: January 13 - March 5, 2017

TIMES: Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 8:00, Sunday 7:00

PRICES: $15 - $35

AGES: This production contains mature content. Recommended for ages 14 and up. More info in the Parents' Guide.

RUN TIME: 2 hours, 20 minutes. There is one intermission.

 

"Massively ambitious and hugely distinctive new show" - Chicago Tribune

"Reliably entertaining and conspicuously frightening" - Chicago Reader

 

Diamond Dogs follows a 26th-century team of human scientists and soldiers as they investigate a mysterious alien tower, bent on brutally punishing all intruders. Uncovering clues and solving puzzles, each crusader will make dangerous, eye-popping sacrifices to get to the mysteries atop the spire. Blood will spill.

 

This thriller is one of 16 stories set in novelist Reynolds’s expansive Revelation Space Universe. Artistic Director Nathan Allen teams up with The House’s most inventive designers and guest artists to bring this unique universe to life. Body modification is the norm in the future, and award-winning puppet designer Mary Robinette Kowal, who is also an award-winning sci-fi author, articulates and re-shapes the actors’ human forms into powerful mechanized players battling for their lives.

 
Reynolds is one of a new generation of hard science-fiction authors, a craft he began after leaving his position as an astrophysicist with the European Space Agency. Diamond Dogs is a pure example of the "Deadly Maze Story," a staple of Science Fiction since H. P. Lovecraft. This world premiere production at The House Theatre of Chicago marks the first of Reynolds' works to be adapted for another medium. 

 

 

Show Dates: Jan 13 2017 to Mar 5 2017 Location:

Chopin Theatre, 1543 W Division St, Chicago

Director:

Writer:

  • Althos Low
  • Alastair Reynolds

Cast:

  • Chris Hainsworth
    Childe
  • John Henry Roberts
    Swift
  • Elana Elyce
    Hirz
  • Katherine Keberlein
    Celestine
  • Abu Ansari
    Forqueray
  • Joey Steakley
    Trintignant
  • Lindsey Dorcus
    Puppeteer
  • Katherine Bourne
    Understudy
  • Ben Hertel
    Understudy
  • Patrick Poulin

Crew:

  • Jesse Roth
    Assistant Director
  • Meghan Erxleben
    Assistant Lighting Designer
  • Bobby Huggins
    Technical Director
  • CoCo Ree Lemery
    Scenic Charge
  • Jerica Hucke
    Costume Manager
  • John Kelly
    Master Electrician
  • David Trudeau
    Assistant Master Electrician
  • Cole von Glahn
    Sound Board Operator
  • Rachael Koplin
    Assistant Stage Manager
  • Brandon McCallister
    Assistant Stage Manager
  • Kate Grudichak
    Wardrobe Supervisor
  • James Kegel
    Lighting Intern

Artists:

  • Alastair Reynolds
    Novelist
  • Lee Keenan
    Scenic and Lighting Designer
  • Izumi Inaba
    Costume Designer
  • Sarah Espinoza
    Sound Designer
  • Kevin O'Donnell
    Composer
  • Mary Robinette Kowal
    Puppet Designer
  • Derek Matson
    Dramaturg
  • Eleanor Kahn
    Properties Designer
  • Brian DesGranges
    Stage Manager
  • Marika Mashburn
    Casting Director
Get a look inside the spire in this Diamond Dogs trailer!
A scene from Diamond Dogs

The tower comes alive as the team begins its ascent of the Blood Spire in The House's World Premiere adaptation of Alastair Reynolds's Diamond Dogs.

A scene from our sci-fi thriller, Diamond Dogs

Childe takes control (and a major risk) as the crew ascends the Blood Spire.

Setting the scene in Revelation Space...

Welcome to the Epsilon Eridani System.

 

This planet is called Yellowstone: so named by colonists escaping the frozen Earth of the First System, four centuries ago. The largest settlement here is Chasm City – a fusion of interplanetary human cultures enjoying a two­ hundred­ year period of unprecedented progress. A golden age commonly referred to as the Belle Epoque, when art, trade – especially science – ­ flourishes.

 

The families that developed these sciences enjoy vast wealth and influence launching many successful ventures from Yellowstone: colonies in other solar systems – scientific expeditions to the edge of human space. Visionary social experiments also began here – the most famous conducted by House Sylveste. The Sylveste Institute broke significant new ground in developing medical cybernetics and new treatments for the extension of the human lifespan.

 

But not without cost..

Diamond Dogs Insider Intro
Meet award-winning author Alastair Reynolds!


Saturday February 25th, 6:45pm (before the 8pm show)
Chopin Theatre
FREE

Join The House Theatre of Chicago for a fun and informative conversation before the show.  Special guest Alastair Reynolds, UK-based novelist and author of Diamond Dogs, is joined by adaptor Steve Pickering of the Chicago collective Shanghai Low, and Nathan Allen, Artistic Director of The House. Hear from Reynolds about his inspirations for creating his 'Revelation Space Universe' where Diamond Dogs is set, and from our Chicago-based artists about shaping this world premiere adaptation. Plus, we'll get Alastair to talk about his background as an astrophysicist with the European Space Agency, because that is just too cool to pass up!

WAIT. IS THIS AN ESCAPE PUZZLE-TYPE GAME OR A PLAY?

Diamond Dogs is a play on our mainstage.  Where the characters move through a sentient maybe-evil, maybe-not-evil spire discovering clues and solving puzzles to gain higher and higher level access to its secrets.

 

What ages do you recommend this show for?

We are recommending Diamond Dogs for ages 14 and up. Please check out our Parents' Guide from Director of Education and Outreach, Mike Smith.