SYNOPSIS: It was a dark and stormy night in a house by the lake when Lord Byron challenged his houseguests to write a ghost story that was both original and frightening. Spurred on by this well-documented event, Mary Shelley would eventually write one of the most famous novels in the Western canon. Witty, salacious and often melodramatic—we’re talking about the Romantics, after all—Hideous Progeny takes these larger than life figures and depicts them as the normal teenagers they were; overeducated, egotistical and convinced they’ll change the world.

ABOUT PLAYWRIGHT: Emily Dendinger has had plays produced around the country including Massachusetts, North Dakota, Florida, and Virginia. Most recently her ten minute play The Kiss was seen in 20% Theater’s Snapshoot 2009 this past summer in Chicago. Her play Swimming After Dark was selected for performance at the 2006 Kennedy Center American College Theatre Regional Festival after being named one of the two winners in the 1X2 One Act Playwriting Competition the previous winter. Recently, it won the 2008 Women Playwrights’ Initiative’s Playwriting Competition and was produced in Orlando, FL. Emily is a recipient of the 2005 National Selection Team Kennedy Center Fellowship for Outstanding Achievements, and she is a twice participant in the KCACTF Summer Intensive Playwriting program. Her one-act play Family Tree was named the Senior Theatre League of America’s Best Play 2004, and is currently published by Dramatic Publishing. Emily is a Chicago Dramatists Network Playwright and just completed her Masters in Humanities with a focus on Literature and Playwriting from the University of Chicago.

ABOUT DIRECTOR: Jessica will make her LiveWire Chicago Theatre debut with Hideous Progeny. Since June 2007, she has served as Artistic Director for New Leaf Theatre (The Man Who Was Thursday, Touch, Six Years, The Dining Room, Vox Pandora). Other credits include BackStage Theatre Company (Orange Flower Water), Mary Arrchie (Abbie Hoffman Died for our Sins XX and XXI), Caffeine Theatre (Antigone Coffeehouse) and Goodman Theatre (assistant to the director - The Crowd You're In With). Jessica is an associate member of SDC, the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.

This project is presented in association with Chicago DCA Theater.