We've been waiting so long, but finally, next Monday, we can tell you our secrets!

Ok, actually we'll be reading eight of the plays submitted for "Secrets". 

Every year Ixion puts out a call for short plays around a particular theme with the intent of performing a select group of those plays in the final slot of our production season. Last September we received over 100 submissions inspired by the theme, Secrets. After a selection process, made extremely difficult by so many great submissions, we've chosen eight for further development.

That's where you come in. 

We will be holding two staged readings to explore these eight scripts and seek audience feedback. With your and the director's input, we will pass the comments on to the writers and prepare these scripts for full performance in May.

The first reading is Monday, January 11th from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the Capital Area District Library auditorium, 401 S. Capitol, Lansing, MI. The readings are free to attend and we look forward to hearing your comments and reactions.

Featured scripts are:

• "An Understanding Wife" by David Berger-- How understanding can a wife be when asked to consider another woman's love for her husband?
• "Aunt Rosa" by Ron Frankel--Jealousy and mistaken identities threaten lives at a fortune teller's shop.
• "Blind Date" by Ron Frankel--Is love blind?
• "Honestly" by Steven Korbar--If nothing is at risk, how honest can a relationship be?
• "Pumps" by Brett Hursey--A woman struggles to break free of her high heels' control.
• "Reunion" by David MacGregor--Class reunions always offer a little revelation.
• "Riding Lessons" by Brett Hursey--What happens when your invisible friend is not so invisible anymore?
• "Small Talk" by David MacGregor--Is it a crisis when your significant other can't carry on the small talk needed to advance your career?

To aspire
     To inspire
          To contemplate

www.ixiontheatre.com

(November 17, 2015; Lansing, MI)--Ixion, a Lansing-based theatre company, is pleased to announce the cast for its next show, She Kills Monsters by Qui Nguyen. Performances will be March 19, 20, 26 & 27, 2016 in the Robin Theatre, 1105 S. Washington Lansing, MI. Tickets are $15 at the door or can be purchased in advance at a discount via eventbrite.com. For more information contact Ixion via email, ixionensemble@gmail.com; phone, 517.775.4246; or twitter, @ixionensemble.

She Kills Monsters is the story of twenty-something Agnes, who tries to learn about her younger sister, Tilly, after Tilly's death. The vehicle Agnes uses to get to know her sister is playing a Dungeons and Dragons module that Tilly created. In the process, Agnes meets a socially awkward game store proprietor; a death dealing, clothing challenged demon princess; an equally fashion abbreviated dark elf; a slacker demon; a foul-mouthed fairy; and a pair of demonic cheerleaders. Throw in an insecure boyfriend and a high school counselor filled with nothing, but bad advice and Agnes has her work cut out for her. She soon learns that there was more to Tilly than faux armor and dice. The revelation that Tilly was gay and bullied in school takes Agnes by surprise. This is a poignant and absurd comedy populated with demons both imagined and real, which takes everyone on a great quest to make a true discovery.
Qui Nguyen is a playwright and Co-Founder of the OBIE Award-winning Vampire Cowboys Theatre Company of NYC. He and his work, known for its innovative use of pop-culture, stage violence, puppetry, and multimedia, has been called "Culturally Savvy Comedy" by The New York Times, "Tour de Force Theatre" by Time Out New York, and “Infectious Fun” by Variety. 

Scripts include Vietgone (South Coast Rep, Oregon Shakespeare Company, Manhattan Theatre Club), She Kills Monsters (The Flea, Buzz22 Chicago/Steppenwolf, Company One); War is F**king Awesome (developed in the Sundance Theatre Lab); Krunk Fu Battle Battle (East West Players); Bike Wreck (Ensemble Studio Theatre); Trial By Water (Ma-Yi Theater); Aliens Versus Cheerleaders (Keen Teens); Soul Samurai; The Inexplicable Redemption of Agent G (Ma-Yi Theater & Vampire Cowboys); and the critically acclaimed Vampire Cowboys productions of Alice in Slasherland; Fight Girl Battle World; Men of Steel; and Living Dead in Denmark.

Recent honors include the 2015 NY Community Trust Helen Merrill Playwriting Award, 2015 Frederick Loewe Award (War is F**king Awesome), 2014 Sundance Institute/Time Warner Fellowship;  a 2014 McCarter/Sallie B. Goodman Fellow; 2013 Sundance Theatre Lab Fellow; 2013 AATE Distinguished Play Award (She Kills Monsters); 2012 TCG Young Leader of Color; and 2012 & 2009 GLAAD Media Award nominations for his plays She Kills Monsters and Soul Samurai.

He is a proud resident artist at New Dramatists, a core member of The Playwrights’ Center, an alumnus of Youngblood, and a member of Ensemble Studio Theatre and The Ma-Yi Writers Lab.

The Ixion production of She Kills Monsters is directed by Ixion Artistic Director, jeff croff. jeff is an award-winning director and associate member of the Stage Directors & Choreographers Society. He most recently directed Ixion's acclaimed Glengarry Glen Ross. He has directed over forty productions ranging from broad comedy, The Nerd by Larry Shue, to heart-wrenching dramas, The Late Henry Moss by Sam Shepard.

She Kills Monsters features actors new to Lansing area stages as well as faces familiar to Ixion audiences.

Narrator/Evil Gabbi- Morgan Pohl 
Tilly Evans- Storm Boyer
Agnes Evans- Katy Kettles
Chuck Biggs- Tobin Bates 
Miles- Nick Lemmer
Lillith- Monica Tanner
Kaliope- Danica O'Neill
Orcus- Daniel Bonner
Farrah/Evil Tina- Allison Simmons
Steve- Christian Thompson
Vera- Danielle R. Lynch

While we have our cast, there are still opportunities to be involved backstage or as some of the eponymous Monsters.

Contact:
jeff croff, Artistic Director
Phone: 517.775.4246
Email: ixionensemble@gmail.com
Twitter: @adjeffcroff

Set in a small town in Kentucky, The View from Here is a comedy about an agoraphobic. Fern, a woman in her mid thirties, has not left her house for six years. She takes in neighborhood babies for a living. Her nurturing talents are put to the test when her sister lands on her couch in a catatonic state and her neighbor, whose wife has just left him, moves in along with his abandoned baby. The View from Here is ultimately about healing and the pain that hope carries with it. --Samuel French

Performances are November 7, 8, 14 & 15 in Ixion's new home, the Robin Theater, 1105 S. Washington Lansing, MI. Tickets are $15 at the door or you can purchase online. (If you act quickly, you can get early bird pricing and save over 40% per ticket.) To order online follow the link below, which corresponds to the evening you would like to attend.

Saturday November 7 @ 8 p.m

Sunday November 8 @ 7 p.m.

Saturday November 14 @ 8 p.m.

Sunday November 15 @ 7 p.m. 

For more information or to make reservations, call 517.775.4246 or email ixionensemble@gmail.com.


To aspire
     To inspire
          To contemplate

www.ixiontheatre.com

(Lansing, MI;September 17, 2014)--Ixion Ensemble Opens its 2014-2015 Season with the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Topdog/Underdog by Suzan-Lori Parks September 27-October 4. Performances are in AA Creative Corridor, 1133 S. Washington Ave. Lansing, MI. Tickets are $15 and can be reserved by calling 517.775.4246 or emailing ixionensemble@gmail.com. For more information visit Ixion on facebook, twitter, Google+ or www.ixiontheatre.com.

Performances are Saturday September 27 @ 8 p.m.; Sunday September 28 @ 7 p.m.; Friday October 3 @ 8 p.m. and Saturday October 4 @ 8 p.m.

Topdog/Underdog by Suzan-Lori Parks received the Pulitzer Prize in 2002. It is the story of two African American brothers, Lincoln and Booth, trying to get by in a one bedroom flop house. They struggle with a past of being abandoned by their parents, petty crime and broken relationships. Like the 3-Card Monte game they practice, their story is filled with feints, half-truths and misdirection, while they struggle with racism, alcoholism and lack of work. 

Named one of TIME magazine’s “100 Innovators for the Next New Wave,” in 2002 Suzan-Lori Parks became the first African American woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize in Drama for her Broadway hit Topdog/Underdog. A MacArthur “Genius” Award recipient, she has also been awarded grants by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the New York State Council on the Arts and the New York Foundation for the Arts. She is recipient of a Lila-Wallace Reader’s Digest Award, a CalArts/Alpert Award in the Arts (Drama) for 1996, a Guggenheim Foundation Grant and is an alumnae of Mount Holyoke College and New Dramatists. (Excerpted from Ms. Parks's website,www.suzanloriparks.com). 

Topdog/Underdog is directed by Paige Dunckel, who recently appeared in Ixion's debut production, The Four Disgracers. Featured as Lincoln is Second City alumnus, stand-up comedian and local favorite, Rico Bruce Wade. Joining Mr. Wade on stage is the talented local actor for stage and screen, Sineh Wurie.

9/27-28 - 10/3-4 - Mark your calendars for a dynamic night of theatre as Ixion brings the Pulitzer Prize winning play Topdog/Underdog to Lansing. September 27, 28, October 3 & 4 we return to AA Creative Corridor 1133 S. Washington Ave. Lansing, MI, with the gritty and compelling play about two brothers struggling to get by. Lincoln and Booth scrabble, steal and lie their way to being tops in their flophouse apartment. Watch the cards dance. Can you pick a winner?

Featuring the insightful direction of Paige Dunckel and the very talented duo of Rico Bruce Wade and Sineh Wurie, this show promised to pack a punch.

Tickets are $15 at the door. Reservations can be made by calling 517.775.4246.

Performances are at 8 p.m., with the exception of the Sunday night performance which is at 7 p.m.


To aspire
     To inspire
          To contemplate

www.ixiontheatre.com