Broadway In Chicago Concert In The Park

Looking to see glimpses of the top shows in town...for free? Broadway In Chicago, along with the City of Chicago, have announced the Broadway In Chicago Concert In The Park, a free event featuring Broadway's hottest shows during the city's legendary Taste of Chicago festival. 

Performers will include the Chicago casts of Jersey Boys, Wicked, and SHOUT! The Mod Musical.  Other performers include cast members from the recently announced Legally Blonde The Musical and Dirty Dancing – The Classic Story On Stage, which kicks of its pre-Broadway engagement in Chicago this September.  Audiences will also be able to preview Broadway In Chicago's upcoming 2009 season with performances by A Chorus Line and Grease.

The Broadway In Chicago Concert In The Park will be held at the Petrillo Music Shell in Grant Park Monday, June 30, 2008 at 6:00 p.m.  The concert is produced in partnership with the City of Chicago and hosted by ABC-7's Janet Davies and Wicked's Gene Weygandt. 

Chicago Shakespeare Kicks Off 2008/09 World's Stage Series Maudits Sonnants

In other outdoor theatreical event news...Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST), recent recipient of the 2008 Regional Theatre Tony Award, continues its celebrated World's Stage Series of international theatrical events with an outdoor arts spectacle created by France's Compagnie Transe Express entitled Maudit Sonnants. On Friday and Saturday evenings, July 11 and 12, 2008, a beautiful human carillon will be suspended 200 feet in the air over Gateway Park at Navy Pier. Set against the extraordinary theatrical backdrop of Chicago's architectural skyline, a telescopic crane will lift a "musical chandelier” adorned with performers who will ring bells, beat drums and swing on trapezes above the heads of tens of thousands of Pier visitors. From this impromptu aerial stage, the players speak to the city, charming the awestruck populace below with their music box performance—a celestial sound which will reverberate up and down the shoreline and out across Lake Michigan.

The Compagnie Transe Express performances will celebrate the French national holiday Bastille Day, commemorating the anniversary of the storming of the Bastille on July 14, a symbol of the rise of the modern French nation. Bastille Day is a holiday similar in spirit to America's 4th of July—replete with revelry, refreshments and fireworks—and this citywide celebration emanating from Navy Pier promises to be the most memorable Bastille Day that Chicago has experienced.

Compagnie Transe Express, founded by Brigitte Burdin and Gilles Rhode, is a 60-member artistic collective residing in Crest, France. Their body of work—which the Company dubs "intervention theater” because of its reliance on playful public interactions common to French street theater traditions—is recognized broadly around the world. Transe Express has performed all over Europe, in Africa, Australia, and now North America, often punctuating major civic gatherings in global cities such as the opening ceremonies before the XVI Olympic Games in Albertville, France.

 "Coincident with the announcement of Chicago's standing as a finalist to host the 2016 Summer Games, Chicago Shakespeare is thrilled our World's Stage program is able to welcome one of Europe's leading spectacle theater groups in what should be a magnificent lakefront showcase for our city and its people,” said CST Executive Director Criss Henderson.

Performances begin each evening at dusk with Compagnie Transe Express parading along Navy Pier's Dock Street, inviting visitors to join them in Gateway Park. Once assembled at the front of Navy Pier on Friday, July 11 and Saturday, July 12, the aerial performance of Maudits Sonnants will begin around 9:00 p.m. On Saturday evening the Company's spectacle will culminate with a fireworks display over Lake Michigan.

This is a free event and no tickets are required. For further information visit the Theater's website at www.chicagoshakes.com/express.

Jeffrey Sweet's "The Value Of Names and Other Plays" To Hold Book Release Event at the Victory Gardens Biograph

Victory Gardens Theater and Northwestern University Press will celebrate the release of ensemble playwright Jeffrey Sweet's new collection, The Value of Names and Other Plays, with a special book release party Monday, June 30 at 6 pm at the Victory Gardens Biograph Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue, Chicago.  The event is free, but reservations are recommended. 

Sweet, Chicago Reader theater critic Albert Williams, the Victory Gardens artistic team, and special guests from Chicago's theater community will discuss Sweet's new anthology and his long association with Victory Gardens. Top Chicago actors will read scenes from several of the plays included in the anthology.  Following the on-stage presentation, Sweet will sign copies of the book during a reception in the Biograph lobby, catered by Nan's Sushi and Chinese.  Signed copies of The Value of Names and Other Plays will be sold at the event with a one-night only discount of 10% off the regular price of $29.95.

The Value of Names and Other Plays is a collection of Sweet's most popular works, a majority of which premiered at Victory Gardens.  The plays include comedy-dramas The Value of Names and Bluff as well as explorations of war and peace in Berlin '45, Court-Martial at Fort Devens and The Action Against Sol Schumann.  The anthology also features a forward by former Chicago Tribune Chief Critic Richard Christiansen.

Jefrey Sweet talked about his book and some of his plays on a past episode of the Talk Theatre In Chicago podcast.

To reserve your spot for the event, call the Victory Gardens Box Office, 773.871.3000 or send email to events@victorygardens.org.

August: Osage County To Launch National Tour In 2009

It is now official, Tracy Lett's 2008 Pulitzer Prize winner for Best Play August: Osage County will launch of its national tour. The first engagement will be at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco from August 11 - September 6th, 2009. Subsequent engagements will be announced shortly.

Nominated for 7 Tony Awards, including Best Play, Best Actress and Best Director, and the recent recipient of Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and New York Drama Critics Circle Awards, including Best Play, Best Director, and Best Actress, the Steppenwolf Theatre Company's critically-acclaimed American play August: Osage County tells the explosively funny tale of the Weston clan, triggered by the recent disappearance of the family patriarch.

Paul Sills Memorial at The Second City

The Second City will honor the life and legacy of Paul Sills, a founder of The Compass Players and The Second City, on Sunday, June 29, 2008, from 3:30-4:30pm at The Second City Mainstage Theatre (1616 N. Wells St).

Paul Sills died of complications from pneumonia on Monday, June 2nd at his home in Baileys Harbor, Wisconsin.  As a founder of The Compass Players and The Second City, the influence of Paul Sills on the American Theatre cannot be exaggerated. Joined by Paul's family, The Second City will present a stage and forum for his colleagues to remember his work and his life.

For more information on the Memorial Service, visit www.secondcity.com.