Theatre On The Lake Chicago

With productions ranging from comedy to circus shows and musicals, the Chicago Park District prepares for the 55th annual Theater on the Lake season featuring nine artistically diverse Chicago theater companies June 13 – Aug. 12, 2007. The season opens with the world premiere of Apparently Heaven Can’t Wait … The Best of Jim Zulevic at The Second City and continues with reprisals of critically acclaimed productions by Pine Box Theatre and AJ Not Alan Productions, Inc., Lifeline Theatre, Blindfaith Theatre, The Neo-Futurists, Bohemian Theatre Ensemble, Theo Ubique Theatre, American Theater Company, and Eclipse Theatre Company. Each production will be performed for five evenings only at the theater at Fullerton Avenue and Lake Michigan.

Timothy J. Mitchell, Chicago Park District General Superintendent & CEO, comments, “Theater on the Lake combines beautiful Lake Michigan and emerging off-Loop theater to offer one of Chicago’s most enjoyable and affordable summertime activities.”

This year marks the first full season for the new Theater on the Lake Artistic Director Hallie Gordon. She had previously served as managing director of Theater on the Lake and currently serves as director of Steppenwolf for Young Adults. She graduated from the New School for Social Research in New York City where she studied theater and theater in education. As an artist, she has directed and co-directed numerous productions with Curious Theatre Branch and Steppenwolf Theatre for Young Adults.

Another new initiative for the season is the formation of the volunteer advocacy group Friends of Theater on the Lake. The group is comprised of Theater on the Lake subscribers who meet year round to ensure growth, development and a successful season. Those interested in participating in the grassroots efforts can either call the Theater on the Lake box office at 312-742-7994.

Additional new features at Theater on the Lake this season include concessions and outdoor seating.

The 2007 Theater on the Lake season is as follows:

The Second City
Apparently Heaven Can’t Wait … The Best of Jim Zulevic at The Second City
June 13 - 17
Playful, prolific and hilarious, Second City alumnus Jim Zulevic created some of the most memorable scenes in the modern era of The Second City. His passing in 2006 came too soon for this gifted comic performer and writer. His friends relive the highlights of his amazing career in this debut retrospective revue that features not only Jim’s greatest hits at Second City, but some spectacular failures that never made it to the final stage.

Pine Box Theatre and AJ Not Alan Productions, Inc.
This Is Our Youth
June 20 - 24
This story set in the 1980s about two disillusioned upper West Side kids is an impressive study of relationships and the crippling effects of wealth and social expectation on the young. This Is Our Youth is at once funny, desperately honest, and heartbreaking.
Playwright, director, and screenwriter Kenneth Lonergan also wrote the play Lobby Hero and the independent film You Can Count On Me among other works. The production contains strong language and some drug use.

Lifeline Theatre
Gaudy Night
June 27 – July 1
Harriet’s peaceful Oxford retreat becomes a nightmare as a vandal with a grudge threatens the college, its residents, and, finally, Harriet’s life. Where is Lord Peter now that she really needs him? Peter Greenberg and Jenifer Tyler return as the aristocratic sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey and the independent crime-novelist Harriet Vane, in the run-away hit, Gaudy Night.

Blindfaith Theatre
Gorey Stories: A Musical Entertainment
July 4 - 8
Prepare yourself for a macabre journey through the delightful gothic land of Chicago-born artist Edward Gorey. His picture stories frequently and hilariously depict children and other hapless victims falling into sudden and undeserved death and have gained him a worldwide cult following. This is Gorey’s deliciously creepy pen and ink world brought to life ... and death.

The Neo-Futurists
Roustabout: The Great Circus Train Wreck
July 11 - 15
There’s nothing funny about dead clowns … until now. The Neo-Futurists resurrect the stories of several unknown circus performers who met their fates when an American military train plowed through the Hagenbeck Wallace Circus outside of Chicago in 1918. Part circus show, part historical fiction and part waking dream, Roustabout was named one of the year’s best shows by the Reader, and the Chicago Tribune wrote, “Powerful … brilliant … moved me to tears …”

Bohemian Theatre Ensemble
Side Show
July 18 - 22
The show begins in the 1930s at a second-rate side show where Siamese twins Daisy and Violet Hilton are the main attraction. With the assistance of a handsome talent scout and his assistant, the twins leave the sideshow to try their luck on the vaudeville circuit. The ladies set out in search of fame, acceptance, and love. However, the conjoined twins find that their unique physical limitations, as well as some personal biases, present obstacles in their pursuit of attaining their dreams.

Theo Ubique Theatre (in association with Michael James)
Side by Side by Sondheim
July 25 - 29
Theo Ubique Theatre Company presents a celebration of the sophistication, wit, insight, heart and genius of Broadway's most innovative and influential composer. This intimate musical review highlights the early works of Stephen Sondheim featuring songs from Company, Any One Can Whistle, Follies, Gypsy and more. Gay Chicago magazine gave it four out of four stars and NewCity hailed it the "the best area production since Ravinia's Sondheim at 75 series."

American Theater Company
Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma!
Aug. 1 - 5
“Nothing short of a miracle. Faithful to every note, lyric and scene, it still feels completely reborn, even revelatory,” raves the Chicago Sun-Times. Bristling, sexy, dark and human, Oklahoma! is one of the greatest American musicals. Ranchers and farmers clash as they try to carve out a piece of the American dream, forming the backdrop for a romance between a headstrong cowboy and a farmer's daughter. This production boasts entirely new orchestrations performed by a four-piece string band. The Chicago Tribune says, “This new sound will knock your socks off.”

Eclipse Theatre Company
Spinning Into Butter
Aug. 8 - 12
Spinning into Butter is a comedy-drama that focuses on a small New England college where controversy arises when racist notes are pinned to an African-American student's door. Faculty and students are thrown into a humorous whirlwind of politically correct chaos as Dean Sarah Daniels is caught in the middle and forced to take a hard look at herself and the world around her.

Performance schedule and pricing
The Chicago Park District’s Theater on the Lake is located at Fullerton Avenue and Lake Shore Drive in a historic building that offers breathtaking views of Lake Michigan. The schedule for all performances June 13–August 12 is Wednesdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 6:30 p.m.

Single tickets, priced at $17.50, will go on sale Tuesday, June 5, 2007, at 2 p.m. at the Theater on the Lake box office at Fullerton Avenue and Lake Michigan or via phone at (312) 742-7994. Beginning June 5, the box office is open Tuesdays – Saturdays, 2 - 8 p.m. and Sundays, 3:30 - 7:30 p.m.

Subscription packages are priced at $110 and include one ticket to all nine plays. Subscriptions are available by mail to: Theater on the Lake, Chicago Park District, 541 N. Fairbanks, 4th floor, Chicago, IL 60611, or by fax at (312) 742-5393. To request a copy of the season brochure, please call Theater on the Lake at (312) 742-7994.

Parking is available for a fee in the Lincoln Park Zoo parking lot located at Fullerton Avenue and Cannon Drive. Street parking is available on Cannon Drive after 6 p.m. To reach the theater by the CTA, take the Red Line to the Fullerton stop, then travel 1 mile east to Lake Michigan.

For more information about the Chicago Park District, click here or call (312) 742-PLAY.