Photo Flash: Kokandy Productions' ASSASSINS Celebrates Opening Night

Kokandy Productions present their Season 2014 closer - ASSASSINS, directed by Rachel Edwards Harvith with music direction by Kory Danielson and choreography by Mike Ford. ASSASSINS opened on Saturday, June 14 at 8:00pm, and runs at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont in Chicago, and continues through Sunday, July 20, 2014. Scroll down for photos from the show's opening night celebrations!

Glitteringly dark, unflinchingly funny, and completely unapologetic, ASSASSINS bends time to bring together America's most notorious presidential assassins. Riding a careful balance between explaining its subjects and exposing them, ASSASSINS asks us to consider what, if anything, separates those who resort to violence from those who don't.

Kokandy's ASSASSINS will also utilize staging choices to explore themes of marginalization and community, giving the audience an outlet to recognize the humanity in the play's outcasts. In a society where gun violence-as-statement becomes more and more commonplace each year, ASSASSINS offers a unique opportunity to examine where we've been as a nation, and where we might be headed in the future - if, in fact, "Everybody's got the right to be happy."

The ASSASSINS cast features Neala Barron (Sara Jane Moore), Patrick Byrnes (Leon Czolgosz), Cole Doman (Balladeer), Greg Foster (Charles Guiteau), Nathan Gardner (Lee Harvey Oswald), Alex Heika (Giuseppe Zangara), Allison Hendrix (Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme), Eric Lindahl (John Wilkes Booth), Jeff Meyer (Proprietor), Michael Potsic (John Hinckley, Jr.), and Jason Richards (Samuel Byck).

The creative team includes Johnny Buranosky (Properties Designer); Kory Danielson (Music Director); Rachel Edwards Harvith (Director); Mike Ford (Choreographer); Zachary Gipson (Scenic Designer); Kate Setzer Kamphausen (Costume Designer); Mikey Moran (Sound Designer); JC Widman (Stage Manager); and Brandon Wardell (Lighting Designer).

Founded in 2010, Kokandy Productions seeks to leverage the heightened reality of musical theater to tell complex and challenging stories, with a focus on contributing to the development of Chicago-based musical theater artists, and raising the profile of Chicago's non-Equity musical theater community.

Regular run tickets are $38. Tickets are available online at www.theaterwit.org/boxoffice; by phone at 773-975-8150; or at the Theater Wit box office at 1229 W Belmont Avenue in Chicago. For more ticketing information and box office hours, visit www.theaterwit.org. Theater Wit has complimentary parking behind Cooper's restaurant across the street. Valet parking is also offered for $10, starting two hours before showtime. Limited non-metered street parking is available on Belmont and on Lakewood. For more information about the company, visit www.kokandyproductions.com.

Photo Credit: Benjamin T. Hinc