• buy tickets online
• donate online
• current production performance schedule
• upcoming productions and events
• past productions this season
• past productions from previous seasons

CHAPEL HILL -- The Deep Dish Theater Company kicks off its seventh season with the August 23 opening of Amlin Gray’s nightmare comedy, "How I Got That Story." Deep Dish Artistic Director Paul Frellick will direct the production, which runs through September 15.

An Off-Broadway hit in 1982 and winner of an Obie Award, the play follows an “embedded” war reporter in the fictional Am-bo Land, trying to get a handle on a culture he doesn’t know while covering a conflict he doesn’t understand. In his pursuit of “the story,” he encounters such disparate figures as a war photographer who documents his own injuries, a propaganda officer promoting the health benefits of defoliant, and the country’s inscrutable despot, Madame Ing.

"How I Got That Story" features Kit FitzSimons as the Reporter and Derrick Ivey as “The Historical Event” – all the characters the reporter meets on his increasingly chaotic journey. “The theatrical conceit of having a single actor embody every aspect of the reporter’s experience manages to place a culture of war squarely on stage,” said Artistic Director Frellick. “It’s a world with a twisted logic all its own—a bizarre amalgam of native and alien political and cultural elements that is difficult to assess and virtually impossible to predict. I’ve wanted to do this play since the first Gulf War, and unfortunately the current world situation makes it all the more urgent.”

Ivey has a long history with Deep Dish, dating back to the inaugural production of Endgame. Last season he appeared as Orson Welles in "Orson’s Shadow," and he also designed the set for "Hedda Gabler" and sets and costumes for "Ancestral Voices." He has also been seen in "At the Vanishing Point" and "The Goat" with Manbites Dog Theater Company and "King Lear" at Peace College. FitzSimons has appeared in productions of "The Complete History of America...Abridged," David Ives' "All in the Timing," and "KERPOW!," and he is an active member of DSI Comedy Theater and a 24-hour improviser. This is his first appearance with Deep Dish.

This swift-moving satire also presents particular challenges to the design team. Paul Stiller is designing the sets, Laura Hauser is the costumer, Elizabeth Grimes-Droessler is the lighting designer, Adam Sampieri is designing the sound, Devra Thomas and Heidi White will create the properties, and Jeff Meanza is the vocal coach. The stage manager is Lauren Tannenbaum, assisted by Fiona Johann.

Deep Dish is located in Chapel Hill's University Mall, on Estes Drive and US 15-501. Thursday performances begin at 7:30 p.m., with Friday and Saturday performances at 8 p.m. and Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. There will also be a special Wednesday show on September 12. Audience discussions will follow Sunday matinee performances on August 26 (featuring a conversation with the production's design team) and September 2.

For reservations and information, call (919) 968-1515 or visit the company's box office in University Mall Wednesday - Saturday from 3-6 p.m. Tickets for all performances are $16, $14 for seniors, and $12 for students. Thursday, August 30 is "Cheap Dish Night," when all tickets will be $7; no advance reservations will be taken for that performance.

New this season, tickets for all performances of the Deep Dish season, which includes productions of "A Lesson From Aloes" (Oct. 18 – Nov. 10, 2007), "State of the Union" (Feb. 14 - March 8, 2008) and "The Clean House" (May 1- 24, 2008), are also available for purchase in advance.

For more information, call (919) 968-1515.

"How I Got That Story" Performance Schedule