But unlike a lot of storefront stories where the creators are stymied by finances or pigeon-holed by genres, Oracle has found a unique facility to grow with its interests. A 2006 revival of Stephen Belber's Tape was directed by Ben Fuchsen, who would be appointed Artistic Director of the company two years later. In an email interview Fuchsen recounts that this show "gave Oracle's founders a bit more vision as to what Chicago needed from another young theatre." In other words, "it taught us what we were capable of." Specifically, this capability was to incorporate additional media into the theatrical experience. Actors interacting with and lip-synching recorded voices, and a concerted use of film and video projections may seem surprising to some playgoers, but to Fuchsen they are a natural compliment to theater, "Digital projection is a source of light, so that's very theatrical."

Elaborating, Fuchsen explains, "We use video and projection like any other design medium at Oracle. It must be integral to the story, and it must have a larger concept behind it." Additionally, he admits, they "are also fun to play with."

Oracle is a company that takes its non-profit status seriously, which means they are dedicated to providing a real service to their community. Expanding on a technique they developed for their 2008 hit Termen Vox Machina in which actors performed by lip-synching a 1930s radio show style recording (which, in a 21 st century twist, writer M. Deegan originally recorded for a serialized webcasts), the company members of Oracle travel to senior communities around Chicagoland performing 30-minute classic radio plays for residents.

If the telescoping timeliness of this mixed media theater making seems dizzying, Fuchsen sees it simply, "it's what happens while they're watching the piece, when they have that 'I get what their doing' moment, and then interact with the performers for the 1/2 hour after the show that is the true experience." What's next? More change, "At Oracle, we believe cultural institutions must observe the mutability of cultural tastes and question the state of culture." He adds, "still waiting for the holograms..."

Find out more about Oracle Productions by checking out their website, becoming a fan on Facebook, or following them on Twitter.

Benno Nelson ]]> http://www.theatreinchicago.com/news.php?articleID=562 http://www.theatreinchicago.com/news.php?articleID=562 Tue, 9 Mar 2010 10:38:33 -0600 Broadway In Chicago has announced the complete 2010/2011 Broadway In Chicago Season Series.  The shows in the 2010/2011 Season Series include the Chicago premieres of Fuerza Bruta: Look Up, Rock Of Ages, Traces, God Of Carnage and 9 to 5: The Musical. Burn The Floor also makes a special return to Chicago as part of the Season Series.  Smash-hits Wicked and The Lion King return to thrill Chicago audiences as off-season specials. 

The complete season lineup, including performance dates, is as follows:

Fuerza Bruta: Look Up
Begins May 21, 2010

Fuerza Bruta: Look Up is a non-stop collision of dynamic music, visceral emotion and kinetic aerial imagery. Featuring mind-blowing visual effects that must be seen to be believed, Fuerza Bruta: Look Up is a theatrical experience that floods the senses. As the show begins, the audience is ushered on to the stage to become part of the non-stop action.   Experience a 360° heart-pounding theatrical event, filled with jaw dropping scenes, flying dancers, pumping beats and beautiful women in a multidimensional swimming pool hovering just above the heads of the audience.  Fuerza Bruta: Look Up is a huge international hit having played London, Taipei, Berlin, Buenos Aires, Lisbon, Cordoba, Bogota, Edinburgh, Mexico City, Caracas, Sao Paulo and Puerto Rico to critical acclaim and broken attendance records.  "Fuerzabruta doesn't simply let us take in the images as passive spectators, it forces us to experience them with all our senses. If that sounds like your cup of speed then run, don't walk, to see Fuerzabruta!" (Newsday).

The newest Broadway smash hit launches the First National Tour right here in Chicago!   In 1987 on the Sunset Strip, a small town girl met a big city rocker and in LA's most famous rock club, they fell in love to the greatest songs of the 80s.  It's five time 2009 Tony Award nominee Rock Of Ages, a hilarious arena rock love story told through the hits of iconic rockers JOURNEY, NIGHT RANGER, STYX, REO SPEEDWAGON, PAT BENATAR, ASIA, WHITESNAKE and many more. Don't miss the premiere of this awesomely good time about dreaming big, playing loud and partying on!

7 Fingers (Les 7 doigts de la main) is an astonishingly talented French Canadian company that has pioneered a whole new brand of theatrical entertainment, and their smash-hit production, Traces, will launch its U.S. tour in Chicago this fall. Combining awe-inspiring acrobatic training with infectious urban energy, seven performers deliver dazzling, gravity-defying displays of skill that produce "one of the most creative and inspiring pieces of entertainment I've ever witnessed" (Edinburgh's The Sun )-balancing on each other's heads, tumbling through hoops and leaping spectacularly up giant poles without using their hands. More than just a display of acrobatic brilliance, the audience is gradually drawn into the performers' real life stories and, by the final, dramatic climax of the show, on the edge of their seats, willing them to pull off the seemingly impossible. "Mesmeric, spontaneous and unpretentious," ( London's Metro ), this thrill-a-minute show will leave you begging for more.

The son of one couple has broken two teeth of the son of another. At first diplomatic niceties are observed, but as the couples meet to resolve things, and the rum begins to flow, huge tensions emerge and the gloves come off, leaving more than just their liberal principles in tatters. Winner of the 2009 Tony Award for Best Play and Best Director (Matthew Warchus), God Of Carnage is "the funniest play on Broadway!" raves WOR radio.

9 to 5: The Musical is a hilarious story of friendship and revenge in the Rolodex era. This new musical comedy, direct from Broadway, is based on the hit movie and features Dolly Parton's original hit title song along with her new Tony Award and Grammy nominated score. The book is by Patricia Resnick (co-writer of the original screenplay). 9 to 5: The Musical tells the story of three unlikely friends who conspire to take control of their company and learn there's nothing they can't do -- even in a man's world. Outrageous, thought-provoking and even a little romantic, 9 to 5: The Musical is about teaming up and taking care of business... it's about getting credit and getting even... and it's about to open in Chicago!

The international dance sensation Burn The Floor visits Chicago direct from its record-breaking run on Broadway! You've seen Ballroom dance on shows like "Dancing with the Stars" and "So You Think You Can Dance." Now, with Burn The Floor, you will feel, live on stage, all the passion, the drama and the sizzling excitement of 20 gorgeous champion dancers, in a true theatrical experience, a performance with a grace and athleticism that The New York Times calls, "Dazzling!" From Harlem's hot nights at The Savoy, where dances such as the Lindy, Foxtrot and Charleston were born, to the Latin Quarter where the Cha-Cha, Rumba and Salsa steamed up the stage, Burn The Floor takes audiences on a journey through the passionate drama of dance.  The elegance of the Viennese Waltz, the exuberance of the Jive, the intensity of the Paso Doble - audiences with experience them all, as well as the Tango, Samba, Mambo, Quickstep and Swing.  It's Ballroom. Reinvented.

The line-up will also feature the opportunity for priority purchase of the following 2010/2011 Off-Season specials:

Stomp
April 27 - May 2, 2010

Stomp, the international percussion sensation, returns with revamped segments and two new full-scale routines. With the largest set of changes since the 1990s, Stompers make rhythm out of anything they can get their hands on. With larger-than-life props and specially "found" instruments, performers turn stiff-bristle brooms into a sweeping orchestra, Zippo lighters flip open and closed to create a fiery fugue, wooden poles thump and clack in a rhythmic explosion.   Stomp uses everything but conventional percussion instruments - trashcans, tea chests, plastic bags, plungers, boots, and hubcaps - to fill the stage with compelling and infectious rhythms.

Avenue Q is the smash-hit Broadway musical about real life in New York City, as told by a cast of people and puppets through a hilariously irreverent, Tony-winning book and score. The three-time Tony Award winning musical tells the story of Princeton, a bright-eyed college grad who moves to NYC with big dreams and a tiny bank account. The only apartment he can afford is way out on Avenue Q, where everyone's looking for the same things he is: a decent job, a stable relationship, and a "purpose." Eventually, Princeton learns to embrace the ups and downs of city life and realizes that "the real world" isn't so bad, after all!  The New York Times hailed Avenue Q as "a breakthrough musical of a very different stripe. Savvy, sassy and delicious!" and Entertainment Weekly claimed it was "one of the funniest shows you're ever likely to see!"

Journey with fascination into the depths of a city that ignites with illumination when CIRQUE DREAMS imagination, suspense and theatrical innovation turns everyday ordinary…into bright and extraordinary. Audiences of all ages will marvel as city dwellers reinvent familiar objects, balance on wires, leap tall buildings and redefine the risks of flight in a story filled with astounding occurrences.  One of a kind artists populate the streets of this magical metropolis and breathe energy into its landscape with urban acrobatics and never before seen phenomenal thrills of disbelief.  CIRQUE DREAMS critically acclaimed dazzling costumes come alive to the sounds of jazz, ballroom, pop and more in this original score.  Cirque Dreams Illumination will surely live up to the CIRQUE DREAMS brand of notoriety proclaimed "The grandest circus spectacle east of Vegas" by New York Magazine.

The irascible, irreplaceable and incomparable Jackie Mason brings his latest one-man comedy tour de force featuring all new material, Jackie Mason - No Holds Barred. Long passionate about politics, Jackie Mason is well known for his tough and outspoken position on a variety of issues. Jackie combines pungent political satire, insightful observations on the foibles of modern life, and impeccable timing to create material that leaves audiences laughing until they cry show after show. Once in a generation, a performer emerges who is so extraordinary, so brilliant, that he or she become the standard to whom all others are compared. Jackie Mason is such a performer, and is widely regarded as one of the greatest stand-up comics of all time, now more popular than ever!

The wait is over! After 5 long years, Disney's The Lion King is finally returning to Chicago for a limited engagement. Experience the phenomenon as it once again leaps onto the Cadillac Palace Theatre stage. Marvel at the breathtaking spectacle of animals brought to life by award-winning director Julie Taymor, whose visual images for this show you'll remember forever. Thrill to the pulsating rhythms of the African Pridelands and an unforgettable score including Elton John and Tim Rice's Oscar-winning song "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" and "Circle of Life." Let your imagination run wild at the Tony Award-winning Broadway sensation Newsweek calls "a landmark event in entertainment."

Entertainment Weekly calls Wicked "the best musical of the decade." Wicked, the longest-running Broadway musical in Chicago theatre history, is returning to Chicago. Winner of 26 major awards, including a Grammy and three Tony Awards, Wicked is Broadway's biggest blockbuster, a cultural phenomenon and was just named "the defining musical of the decade" by The New York Times.  Long before that girl from Kansas arrives in Munchkinland, two girls meet in the land of Oz.  One-born with emerald green skin-is smart, fiery and misunderstood.  The other is beautiful, ambitious and very popular. How these two grow to become the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good makes for "the most ‘Popular' piece of Chicago theatre in a generation" (Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune).

Group tickets are currently available for all of the season shows.  Groups of 15 or more may receive a discount on most shows by calling (312) 977-1710.  Single tickets to each individual production will go on-sale at future dates to be announced.  Broadway In Chicago gift certificates, which can be redeemed for any production or for season ticket packages, can be obtained at Broadway In Chicago box offices, www.BroadwayInChicago.com or by calling Ticketmaster at (800) 775-2000.

Ensemble Members David Schwimmer and Heidi Stillman direct the World Premiere of his new script about a seemingly innocent online encounter that threatens to unravel the fabric of an American family. Using state of the art technology, Trust will be a cutting-edge theatrical experience, combining projection, video, photos, texting and live chat.

As the internet increasingly becomes the hunting ground for sexual predators, Trust will serve to not only raise awareness but move and empower audiences to take action in their community and within their own families. The Trust Community Consortium has been formed to facilitate this action. Post-show discussions will take place after every performance to incite dialogue about these issues, and a trained volunteer will be present in the lobby before during and after each show. Rape Victim Advocates is the lead community partner in this initiative. 

The play was brought to Lookingglass by David Schwimmer, who is a current board member of The Rape Foundation of Santa Monica and an active supporter of the Rape Treatment Center in Los Angeles for more than ten years. 

"Lookinnglass is thrilled to be producing this original production.  It is the issues in Trust that inspired David Schwimmer to create and direct this production and the company to produce it.  Our hope is to create an exciting and important piece of theatre and that the play, film and our community partnerships will bring maximum attention to this important matter," says Artistic Director David Catlin.

David Schwimmer just finished directing the film version of Trust in Michigan for Millennium Films Projects.  The film features Clive Owen and Catherine Keener as the parents of a 14-year old daughter, who is victimized in an online chat room.  Lookingglass cast members Spencer Curnutt, Zanny Laird, Zoe Levin will also appear in the film.

The cast of the play includes Lookingglass Ensemble Members Christine Mary Dunford, Raymond Fox and Philip R. Smith with Amy J. Carle, Spencer Curnutt, Keith Kupferer, Zanny Laird, Zoe Levin, Marianna Oharenko, Morocco Omari, and Allison Torem.

The design team includes Ensemble Member Dan Ostling (Set); Ensemble Member Mara Blumenfeld (Costume Design); Artistic Associate Christine Binder (Lighting); Artistic Associate Rick Sims and Michael Griggs (Sound Design); and William Anderson (Properties).  The Multimedia Design is by Bridges Media.  The design is dominated by projections with video, texting and live chatting.  Much of this play's themes circle around this landscape and how, because of its pervasive quality, this new technology threatens the very fabric of our lives. 

For more information or tickets visit www.lookingglasstheatre.org.

Tony Kushner brings his sophisticated style and breathtaking language to the French Baroque's most powerful romance. A father's attempt to find his estranged son raises the curtain on a world of theatrical magic, outrageous humor, and true, complicated love.

"Since directing Marivaux's The Triumph of Love at Court in 1993, I have been a passionate student of the French Baroque," explains Artistic Director Charles Newell. "Tony Kushner's brilliant adaptation of Corneille's masterpiece, L'Illusion comique affords me the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to combine my love of Baroque metatheatricality with Tony's unique sensibility. In some ways, everything I have ever directed at Court has led to this production - I am thrilled to bring The lllusion to Court audiences."   

Artistic Director Charles Newell is teaching at the University of Chicago this semester. He is a guest lecturer for The Theatrical Illusion: Corneille, Kushner, and the Baroque, together with University of Chicago Deputy Provost for the Arts & Baroque Literature professor, Larry Norman. The course explores the "Baroque" interest in meta-theatricality ("the play in the play") by concentrating on Pierre Corneille's 1636 L'illusion comique and the contemporary adaptation of baroque theatre through Court Theatre's preparation for production of Tony Kushner's version of Corneille's play. Students will engage in the dramaturgical process with Director Charles Newell while observing and participating in The Illusion rehearsals and creative team meetings. 

The Illusion features Kevin Gudahl (Amanuensis/Geronte), Timothy Edward Kane (Matamore), Elizabeth Ledo (Elicia/Lyse/Clarina), John Reeger (Pridamant), Kareem Bandealy (Pleribo/Adraste/Prince Florilame), Michael Mahler (Calisto/Clindor/Theogenes), Chris Sullivan (Alcandre) and Hillary Clemens (Melibea/Isabelle/Hippolyta). 

The creative team includes Collette Pollard (scenic design), Jacqueline Firkins (costume design), John Culbert (lighting design), Joshua Horvath (sound design). The production stage manager is William Collins.

Ticket prices are $32 to $40 for preview performances; $38 to $56 for regular run performances. Tickets are available at the Box Office, 5535 S. Ellis Avenue, Chicago; 773-753-4472 or online at www.CourtTheatre.org.

In Killer Joe, the Smith family is a greedy, vindictive clan of Texans who hatch a plan to murder their estranged matriarch to cash in on her insurance policy. Unable to bring themselves to do the deed, they hire Killer Joe Cooper, a full-time cop and part-time contract killer. Once he steps into their trailer, their simple plan quickly spirals out of control.

Killer Joe opened at Profiles in January 2010 and has been playing to consistently sold-out houses. The production received rave critical reviews from Chicago’s top critics and is well on the way to breaking Profiles’ box office records.

Written in 1991, the play premiered at the Next Lab Theater in Chicago two years later and was then presented at the 29th Street Rep in NYC. Since then, Killer Joe has been performed in at least 15 countries in 12 different languages. It won top honors at the Edinburgh, Scotland, Fringe Theater Festival in 1994, then played to sellout audiences at London's The Buck and West Theater during a four-month run in which it won the Time Out Award as the Best Play of 1995. Tracy Letts was awarded the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the 2008 Tony Award for Best Play for August: Osage County.

For tickets or more information, visit profilestheatre.org.

Like most designers I've met, Debbie's path hasn't exactly been linear. An English Literature major with a strong interest in fashion, she used her summers to keep one foot in the fashion industry in a pretty serious way. During her undergraduate years, she attended a summer design intensive at Parsons and worked for renowned designers Isaac Mizrahi and Jacques Fath. "I learned a lot from Isaac about process. One of my charges as his intern was to scour the city for inspiration...He was obsessed with mylar that season so I went through New York - it was crazy - I went through New York looking for silvery shiny things that might relate to his mylar. He couldn't pinpoint 'why mylar'...His studio was a loft space in Soho and you exit the elevator and you're already in the office - and I remember him one day getting off the elevator and announcing to the whole office: 'MYLAR. IT IS MYLAR.' And he went straight into his studio." Flamboyance and absurdity aside, there was a lesson to be learned: "...inspiration can come from lots of things. He really had me go everywhere to find anything that looked cool. And to see how that translates into a collection, into a design - that was the biggest thing I took from that experience."

So how did she make the transition from fashion assistant to costume designer? Like many of us, Debbie found herself back home after college, not really sure what to do next. After stumbling on Steppenwolf's intern program, she figured that the costume shop was a good place to start. "My undergraduate thesis was on Beckett and I concentrated a lot on modern European drama...[so I thought], I know a lot about drama, and I know a lot about clothes - maybe they'll hire me. And they did, and I quickly got my first design job without having ever designed a show, or really having any qualifications... So I just figured it out as I went, and then refined my skills in Grad School."

With a few years of designing under her belt, Debbie headed to Northwestern for her MFA - her peers included directors and designers with whom she continues to work - and that's no accident.  "I think what's common in our vocabulary is how we approach a play - the collaborative way that we approach things...I think that's why when you see shows of ours together, they work. I wouldn't say that they're always coming from the same aesthetic direction. I think we have shared the same process of really talking through the play with the design team, really being comfortable blurring the lines... maybe the best costume idea's coming from [the lighting designer], or maybe I'm saying, 'wouldn't it be great if this was a really warm light' - I think we all sit at the table and talk in the same way."

Unsurprisingly, the words "collaboration" and "community" kept resurfacing throughout our conversation, both in reference to Debbie's process and the projects to which she attaches herself. "I'm really good at building on the idea on the table. I really trust and rely a lot on the directors I work with, and for that reason, I really look for their direction for that first thing. And what I bring to it could be totally different than that, but it's always a reaction to what the director's bringing me. I really work well in a volleying sort of thing." I asked her to talk more specifically about her relationship with director/choreographer Tommy Rapley, with whom Debbie frequently collaborates. Their work together was last seen in House Theatre's All The Fame Of Lofty Deeds.

"[Tommy and I] work really well together because we share a similar aesthetic...And we have a common vocabulary of visual storytelling - we think the same visual things mean the same thing...I like the movement focus of his pieces - I'm really interested in designing for dance - I'm interested in the visual vocabulary of movement, and Tommy does beautiful work with movement. And I like that he has really good taste, and he really knows what he's talking about, when he talks about design. And I respect that and I feel like we can have just a good conversation. I feel like we're on equal footing and just kind of go places together. And I think that that's the case with the directors who ask me back."

It's obviously important for a designer and director's vision to mesh - and that also includes agreeing to edit when necessary. Looking through Debbie's renderings for Lofty Deeds, I noticed that 'the Jeffs' began with a different concept than what was presented onstage. Originally designed as a seven-headed monster of sorts, 'the Jeffs' are essentially a machine of corporate record executives, menacing but calm. However, late in the fitting process, it was clear that the unisuit was not serving its intended purpose. Debbie suggested scrapping the idea, and after some thought, Tommy agreed. "It was liberating, because it was going to be an obstacle to the storytelling, as opposed to support." 'The Jeffs' became seven separate people acting as one unit.

To work with Debbie, it seems, is to believe in the value of experimentation. "To really play with someone, honestly, you need to really trust the group." Another frequent collaborator is Collette Pollard, a set designer with whom Debbie has begun to develop a "signature aesthetic," which she discusses a bit on her blog. "I do approach my work with a sense of play and a sense of humor, and I delight in visual play." She describes her work with Collette as a "really good balance - she brings out the elegant lines and she brings that out in me, and I bring out the playfulness...But I think my successful designs are the ones that balance that with elegance - no matter what it has to support the story and look good."

Given her working style, it makes sense that Debbie often finds herself designing for new scripts. "I think it goes back to that whole spirit of collaboration - when you're working with a play that is not fully formed, I feel like you have more of an entry into the material, in a way. And I think it challenges you to be bold...With a new work it's a lot more from your gut." But that doesn't mean total abstraction. "I always go to book research first. I feel like it lets me focus in a way that internet research doesn't...Sometimes I'll start [with the internet] to find a cool image and then I'll try to assess from that image what I'm looking for."

And then, there's the chalkboard. "This is so dorky. I like how chalk feels. I like writing in chalk. And if it's on my wall, I can't lose it. And if it's big I can't miss it or ignore it. It's totally practical...it's definitely like a ritual - I write the character names, and then when they get a sketch they get an X, and when they get colored in, they get a check...it focuses me a little bit. And it's way more fun than just writing a list on paper...there's just something so immediate about it - I can very quickly alter it...and it's fun."

So what's on the chalkboard these days? Debbie is currently designing The Wiz for First Stage Children's Theatre in Milwaukee, as well as an as-yet-untitled show for Albany Park Theater Project. In the future, she'd like to try her hand at designing for dance - but for now, between travelling back and forth to Milwaukee and dressing 28 sixteen year-olds for Albany Park, her plate is on the full side.

Julienne Bilker]]> http://www.theatreinchicago.com/news.php?articleID=557 http://www.theatreinchicago.com/news.php?articleID=557 Mon, 8 Feb 2010 21:48:31 -0600 Broadway In Chicago has announced the return engagement of Wicked this fall, beginning Wednesday, December 1, 2010. The most successful show in Chicago history makes its triumphant return to the Cadillac Palace Theatre (151 W. Randolph) for eight weeks only, December 1, 2010 to January 23, 2011.

"We are thrilled to host the return of Wicked. The requests from our patrons for this show to come back to Chicago have been overwhelming," said Lou Raizin, President of Broadway In Chicago. 

With music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz (Godspell, Pippin, Academy Award-winner for Pocahontas and The Prince of Egypt) and book by Winnie Holzman ("My So Called Life," "Once And Again" and "thirtysomething"), Wicked, the untold story of the witches of Oz, is directed by two-time Tony Award winner Joe Mantello (Take Me Out, Love! Valour! Compassion!, The Vagina Monologues)and features musical staging by Tony Award winner Wayne Cilento (Aida, The Who's Tommy, How To Succeed...). 

Based on the best-selling 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire, Wicked, winner of 26 major awards, including a Grammy and three Tony Awards, is the untold story of the witches of Oz.  It is produced by Marc Platt, Universal Pictures, The Araca Group, Jon B. Platt and David Stone. 

"We are absolutely thrilled to return to Chicago and play Wicked at the Cadillac Palace Theatre.  For nearly four years, the Oriental Theatre was our home, but it is about much more than a building.  It is really the City of Chicago and its audiences that are Wicked's home. And, of course, there's no place like home," said Producer David Stone.

Long before Dorothy drops in, two other girls meet in the Land of Oz. One - born with emerald-green skin - is smart, fiery and misunderstood.  The other is beautiful, ambitious and very popular.  Wicked tells the story of their remarkable odyssey, and how these two unlikely friends grow to become the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch.

Called "the best musical of the decade" by Entertainment Weekly and "a cultural phenomenon" by Variety,Wicked continues to thrill audiences around the world. There are currently eight productions of Wicked worldwide, including two North American tours, a Broadway production, San Francisco production, a London production, a Japanese-language production, a German-language production and an Australian production. A Dutch-language production of Wicked will open in 2011.

Wicked features set design by Tony Award winner Eugene Lee (Ragtime, Show Boat, Candide, Sweeney Todd), costume design by Tony winner Susan Hilferty (Into the Woods, Assassins), lighting design by Tony winner Kenneth Posner (Hairspray, The Coast of Utopia) and sound design by Tony Meola (The Lion King).  Stephen Oremus is the show's musical director.  Orchestrations are by William David Brohn, with dance arrangements by James Lynn Abbott.

Tickets for Wicked will go on sale to Broadway In Chicago Subscription Series holders and groups in February, 2010. Individual tickets for Wicked will be available at a later date to be announced.

Of course, it's not a particularly small niche. A generous eye can see perhaps every play ever written as offering some insight or highlighting some aspect of the nature of family, but in a city where companies are forever vying for attention and space, family is a uniquely underappreciated starting point for theater-making.

Indeed even BackStage was not born with this domestic focus in mind.  When it was founded in 2000 its bread and butter was technically ambitious productions meant to challenge the theatrical possibilities of small-budget shows. Ten years later and now helmed by Matthew Reeder, its fourth artistic director, BackStage is feeling right at home in its new mission.

In a recent conversation, Reeder expressed his continued excitement at the direction the company has taken, "Everybody is born into a family; everybody leaves a family.  It's a kind of universal meta-journey we all share." 

The delight and continued surprise of producing work centered on families is the variety and complexity of the work they can do, while still maintaining a clear identity.  In the past year, Reeder has directed shows facing some of the darkest possibilities of family life as in the critically acclaimed How I Learned to Drive or the recent Aunt Dan and Lemon.  "In a healthy family you're encouraged to consider a wide range of ideas," Reeder explains. "We always want [to produce] an intellectually challenging, intimate theatrical experience."

But as dark as some plays can get, for Reeder the experience of family and of BackStage is ultimately positive; not just lively, but life affirming. "We all have families," he says, "and we all have a theatre company that excites us and invigorates us." 

Join the family: find out more about BackStage Theater Company on their website and Facebook page.

Benno Nelson

]]> http://www.theatreinchicago.com/news.php?articleID=554 http://www.theatreinchicago.com/news.php?articleID=554 Mon, 18 Jan 2010 08:43:06 -0600 Jonathan L. Green is a busy man. Sure it's the holiday season, but if you're running a small storefront theater that just got a $25,000 grant and you have a Chicago premiere in the works for spring, suffice it to say, it's hard to get face time, and Green, artistic director and founding member of Sideshow Theatre Company, is in this precise position. We were able to exchange a couple of emails to help get a sense of the two-and-a-half-year old Sideshow Theatre Company.

The following can stand for an introduction, from Green's email: "Have you ever had Sideshow Wine? [I haven't.] I'm not even sure they make it anymore. [They do.] As a wine, it was okay. But there was something about the name that struck a chord with us: it's not the main event, it's the human curiosity off to the side."

In its short history however, Sideshow Theatre Company has quickly clamored for center stage. It's unique in its mission of focusing on new plays about familiar topics, or in Green's words "shared stories." He goes on to say, "our most intriguing, arresting work as artists [comes] from a pllace of shared stories […] And that's the feedback we continuously get from our audiences: people are caught off-guard and touched deeply in a seemingly ordinary moment when they feel that connection with the collective unconscious."

Their three productions so far have indeed touched upon some of the questions and artistic works most central to people throughout history, ranging from a one-man show based on Dante's Inferno to a modern retelling of Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale to an attempt to get the whole history of western art into 90 minutes, to their upcoming project – a new take on the Medea tale. "That's what I mean when I talk to people about our shared stories," writes Green, "not just the narratives we all know, but the questions we all have."

Of course, you can't spend your whole life tapping into the broad history of human imagination. So Sideshow has a little sideshow of its own, a remarkably successful fundraising and community-building project called the Chicago League of Lady Arm-Wrestlers (CLLAW).  "It started as just a little fundraiser for Sideshow" writes Green, "people pay an entrance fee and then there's an open bar at the event and you can bet CLLAWBUX on the different wrestlers to win prizes." But it has since grown into an important part of who Sideshow is. Their planning their fifth event now and, according to Green, "We have folks coming to our productions who would never have heard of Sideshow if they hadn't heard of it from our wrestlers." Of course, once you hear of the wrestlers you're not likely to forget them: "Sarah Impalin, Bea Arthuritis, Armgelina Jolie, and the list goes on and on."

Familiar and yet surprising. This arm wrestling doesn't seem so strange after all.

Find out more about Sideshow Theatre Company by visiting their website or becoming a fan on Facebook.

Benno Nelson

]]> http://www.theatreinchicago.com/news.php?articleID=553 http://www.theatreinchicago.com/news.php?articleID=553 Mon, 4 Jan 2010 09:20:06 -0600

Anyway, a look back over the past year shows that clearly, hands down, without a doubt, no question about it, the Number One theatrical spectacle of 2009 was Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Critical reaction to this new work was so strong* (not the same as "good") that it must be singled out for special attention.

Confining ourselves to Chicago, specifically theatre in Chicago (oh, that's where the name...) we find that, in terms of critics' ratings, Timeline Theatre's Midwest Premiere production of The History Boys ranks as the best play of 2009. Also a major commercial hit, it ran so long that it forced the next play in Timeline's planned season to be staged in another venue.

That next play was All My Sons, another show that makes our Top Twenty list, giving Timeline a very good year. Add to that Death of A Salesman at Raven and The Pillowman at Redtwist, and both Arthur Miller and Kimberly Senior (director of All My Sons and Pillowman) had pretty good years themselves.

Other producing entities with more than one show on the list include Marriott in Lincolnshire with Hairspray and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Drury Lane Oakbrook with Miss Saigon and Cabaret, and Victory Gardens with Blackbird and The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity. In addition to these larger companies, the ever-vibrant storefront theatre scene was particularly vibrant this year, with productions from Strawdog, Provision, Theatre Oobleck, and the aforementioned Raven and Redtwist theatres all making Top Twenty appearances.

The full list appears, as always, below this article, along with the critics' ratings, just in case you're inclined to quibble. If you saw one or more of these plays this year, pat yourself artistically on the back. If not, then perhaps another viewing of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen on Blu-ray will fill that gnawing, empty hole in your soul.

Top 20 Plays of 2009

The History Boys
TimeLine Theatre Company

Chicago Tribune- Highly Recommended
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Luke Heiden
Contributing Writer]]> http://www.theatreinchicago.com/news.php?articleID=552 http://www.theatreinchicago.com/news.php?articleID=552 Mon, 21 Dec 2009 09:49:27 -0600

"The Equity acting road just wasn't for me," Hall admits, "It made theater become a job. It felt like a job. I didn't want to do theater to make a paycheck." Instead of quitting theater altogether, Hall let his Equity status lapse, and enrolled in the Second City training program to study Improvisation.

It was the revitalization he needed. After graduation, Hall and two friends from the program (Joe Janes and Jeff Hoover) formed what would grow into WNEP Theater - a company that builds on improvisation and sketch techniques to create plays and new theatrical experiences of all kinds.

In the years since its founding WNEP has had downs and ups, and if its determinately fringe position has given it the reputation of a contrarian - the name is an acronym for Works No one Else Produces - you won't hear Hall complaining. "A friend once said that regardless of whether it's funny or dramatic or performance art, there's always the sense in a WNEP show that something is deeply wrong with the world, and we're [...] just trying to figure out what that is."

"It's not easy theater" - Hall's rants are somewhat legendary - "and it's not there just to be entertaining. But, it's going to be funnier than you thought it would be; not nearly as pretentious as you thought it would be, and we expect you to be smarter than us. For your sake and for ours. It's the audience's job to interpret. And you will be entertained."

Examples of this entertainment include some of Hall's favorite shows that WNEP has done. There was the deceptively simple My Grandmother is a Big Fat Whore in Jersey; Post-Mortem, in which Hall and the other cast members would read an obituary from that day's paper and then improvise a 75 minute play about that person's life ("No one ever thought it was improvised" Hall laughs), or 2004's Let There Be Light, which was based on the controversial John Huston Documentary about the psychological effects of war on Soldiers in the 1940s.

But for all the variety and even the confrontational nature of much of the company's work, Hall insists there's only really one guiding principal for the company, "Unless I intend to bore you, your boredom is unacceptable. If the show makes you want to punch me in the face, laugh hysterically, cry, or think about our life: that's fine."

You can learn more about WNEP Theater by visiting their website or becoming a fan on Facebook. You can check out more of Don Hall's thoughts about theater and Chicago on his blog, An Angry White Guy in Chicago.

Benno Nelson

]]> http://www.theatreinchicago.com/news.php?articleID=551 http://www.theatreinchicago.com/news.php?articleID=551 Mon, 14 Dec 2009 12:14:55 -0600 Silent film. Vaudeville. Dance. Mime. Tom & Jerry cartoons. What do these seemingly divergent worlds have in common? Each informs and inspires the unique theatrical artistry of the Chicago's Silent Theatre Company.

Artistic Director Tonika Todorova founded the company in 2005 for the sake of remounting a single show, Lulu - a black and white theatrical piece inspired by a 1929 silent film, Pandora's Box. When the show closed after its Chicago success and a bicoastal tour, the company decided to keep going, experimenting in the silent style that began it. On stage as in life, Todorova admits, "There's a sort of taboo of being nonverbal. But, that friend you have that doesn't say much? When he opens his mouth you know you have to listen."

Harnessing this energy, the group starts from a place of silence, of physical storytelling that Todorova describes as "visceral more than cerebral." If the story demands, actors will use spoken dialogue, and other tricks like the title cards in Lulu or a recorded narrator in the current Carnival Nocturne at the DCA Storefront Theatre help fill in any narrative gaps. For the most part, however, performers communicate solely through the power of their physical gestures and nonverbal acting. "The rehearsal process is more like dance than theatre," Todorova explains. "The actors are their own playwrights, and they write in actions."

If this occasionally causes some ambiguity, Todorova is not overly concerned. While always striving for clarity and precision in their physical expression (she compares a sloppy gesture to mumbling onstage), Todorova insists, "Not all questions need to be answered." In a theatrical world, she adds, "You don't need to know why the rules are followed, you just need to know those are the rules."

The result of this experimenting and this physical storytelling is the creation of theatrical pieces that invite new audiences to the theater. "People growing up with [the hyperactivity of] internet and movies, people who don't speak English, people who are deaf..." Todorova gets excited as she lists the diverse demographics moved by Silent Theatre Companies work. "I mean, hey, we're not all gonna bat a thousand all the time, but once in a while I think we can really change someone's life."

You can learn more about Silent Theatre Company by checking out their website, reading their blog, watching video on Youtube, following them on Twitter, or becoming their fan on Facebook.

Benno Nelson

]]> http://www.theatreinchicago.com/news.php?articleID=550 http://www.theatreinchicago.com/news.php?articleID=550 Tue, 1 Dec 2009 08:53:41 -0600

For the big venues, there is of course Ticketmaster, which sells gift cards on its website. Ticketmaster serves Broadway In Chicago, the Drury Lanes, and also includes places like the Royal George, The Theatre Building, and Blue Man Group. Ticketmaster gift cards can be redeemed online, unlike Broadway In Chicago's own gift certificates, which are only redeemable at their ticket outlets (and only serve BIC-sponsored shows).

StubHub.com also sells gift certificates redeemable at many of these same shows. Stubhub's tickets are advertised as "premium" or "hard-to get" seats to major plays, but for that reason are generally more expensive than either Ticktmaster or BIC tickets.

For storefront theatre lovers, try Goldstar. Many smaller theatre companies sell tickets through here. In addition, The Rogers Park neighborhood sponsors its own unique twist on the gift card by offering the Rogers Park Flex Pass, a $50 pass to one show at each of the four member theatres: Lifeline, Raven, Theo Ubique, and Side Project, as well as dining discounts at participating restaurants in the area.

Lastly, if you want to get truly creative, there is GiftCards.com, where you can make your own personal, customizable gift card, redeemable anywhere that Visa credit cards are accepted (so pretty much anywhere).

All theatre companies, of course, sell their own season tickets, and some of the larger ones offer gift cards of their own as well including Second City, Chicago Shakespeare, Steppenwolf, Lookingglass, Goodman, Blue Man Group or search for any individual theatre to find their website to purchase their season tickets.

Luke Heiden
Contributing Writer

So instead, I asked about the name. While Remy Bumppo has spent the last 12 years impressing audiences with its strong and stirring productions of plays from the likes of Stoppard, Chekhov, Fugard and Shaw, their whimsical and effectively inscrutable name has puzzled as many as it has intrigued.

Formed from the combination of the names of two of the founders' pets (Remy Martin and Natty Bumppo), Bohnen says the name has turned out to have "a kind of silliness that stuck with people."

"We never really expected it to be a public name," Bohnen admits, "it was sort of a joke." But he's not sorry, and there are no plans to change it. "I grew up in an Irish-German family where we say, 'Life: The situation is hopeless but not serious.' Intellect and whimsy: that's the tension that I like."

That said, Bohnen is cautious about their intellectual reputation, "Most of the plays we've done are anything but intellectual, they're just well-crafted, good writing. Writers who really know how to put sentences together clearly, help you to be better actors. They know when you need a hard consonant, and they give it to you. They have an argument and make it challenging on both sides."

Remy Bumppo's belief in the significance of the theatrical argument is as germane to their mission as the plays they choose and the excellent acting from their Artistic Associates. "The theater is about the ear: the story is in the words and the words are in the ear."

What's the best way to emphasize the aurality of the theater in a visual world? Certainly, Remy Bumppo still puts on productions with rich visuals. Last season's The Voysey Inheritance won a Jeff Award for its beautiful Costume Design, and the current Heroes employs great theatrical visuals for even its simple scene changes. But more than anything Bohnen says, "We just take a well-constructed story and we try to tell it cleanly. We're not flashy." He seems happy with this definition. Slowly, his kind brow wrinkles and he adds, "And that's not a criticism of anyone else."

To learn more about Remy Bumppo Theatre Company and the power of great theatrical language, follow them on Twitter, become their fan on Facebook, check out their website, or read their blog.

Benno Nelson

]]> http://www.theatreinchicago.com/news.php?articleID=548 http://www.theatreinchicago.com/news.php?articleID=548 Mon, 16 Nov 2009 09:29:10 -0600 A Christmas Carol, The Christmas Schooner, It's A Wonderful Life, The Nutcracker, etc. (I'm assuming these are some of your favorite plays. If I'm wrong, sue me.) The good news is, there are more versions of these hits playing this year than ever before. And even if you hate these old stand-bys like the Grinch hates the Whos, there are also plenty of alternative, off-beat productions to choose from. On Dasher, on Dancer.

First, A Christmas Carol. In and around Chicago, there are no less than seven staged productions of the Charles Dickens classic being performed this season. Of course, the Goodman Theatre has their annual show (always extremely popular), but this year they're being given a run for their non-profit holiday money by the likes of Drury Lane Oakbrook, Metropolis Performing Arts Center in Arlington Heights, Paramount Theatre in Aurora, Overshadowed Theatre and two competing "Broadway" musical versions by Steel Beam Theatre and Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire. All run for about a month, between late November and early January.

American Theatre Company's annual showing of It's A Wonderful Life is proceeding despite a schism in that ensemble earlier this year that produced a new theatre company, American Blues Theatre, who are also preparing their own version of It's A Wonderful Life to be performed at the Victory Gardens-Biograph Theatre. Both versions are presented as staged radio dramas, complete with authentic Foley sound effects and 1940s-era commercials.

There are six versions of The Nutcracker playing around town, from the classic ballet at the Auditorium Theatre to A Nutty Nutcracker Christmas at the Apollo Theatre, a modern re-imagining of the tale (okay for families). The Christmas Schooner this year plays not at the Bailiwick, which is in the midst of restructuring, but at Theatre At The Center in Munster, IN.

As far as those aforementioned "alternative, off-beat" shows go, the offerings range from the vaguely blasphemous (two versions of A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant) to the improvisational (The Second City's Exceedingly Dysfunctional Holiday Revue) to the sing-along (Noble Fools' Plaid Tidings) to the ultra post-modern (It Came Upon A Midnight Queen at Chemically Imbalanced Theatre) to the acrobatic (500 Clown Christmas).

Some of these shows may not be suitable for children, so do your research before you go. Or just go see A Christmas Carol. You could see it seven different ways if you wanted to. Either way, whatever you're looking for this season, you'll find it listed below.

Complete List of Holiday Plays In Chicago

Luke Heiden
Contributing Writer

I first met Lindsay about four years ago when he walked into the Production Office at Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST), where I'd just started working. Being new and shy, I probably didn't say anything. But I remember what I said to my boss as soon as he left: "So, Lindsay is a guy. Good to know." I didn't know it at the time, but I probably could've said it right in front of him - when I asked him about his name for this article, he told me, "It's still fun to show up places where they think I'm a girl and then scare the crap out of them." The man has a sense of humor.

Lindsay pretty much fell into the world of sound design 15 years ago, when a friend asked him to put together music for a Roadworks Production of Suburbia. "I asked what kind of music would they be interested in, and he said, 'Really really loud rock music,' and so, of course, I said yes immediately. The funny part was that I really had no idea what I was doing." Luckily, he'd won a minidisc player in a trivia contest a few weeks before, thanks to knowing who the lead singer of Gumball was (Don Fleming, if you were wondering). "I used that minidisc player for the show (as well as on every other show for the first three years of my career) to make and play back sound cues." After that, he composed his first show - Burn This for Strawdog Theatre. "It was a jazz score that we recorded for $50 in the back office of a restaurant on someone's 4-track recorder."

Knowing a little about him before interviewing him, I was surprised to learn that he doesn't read or write music. "I'm completely self-taught. Essentially, I hear up to 18 different instrument lines at a time in my head and then I sing them out, one at a time, to musicians who copy what I sing. Then I put the whole thing together in a computer at the end, and sequence it all out so it works well. It's a little weird, but it works." It might be weird, but clearly he's doing something right.

Designing and composing, Lindsay says, "has gone from this other thing that I do to my part-time job to my full-time job to where I am now, which is that I travel constantly around the country doing this. I'm a very fortunate person." When he says, "constantly," he isn't kidding. Right now, he has two shows running in LA, two in New York, one on tour internationally - in Chicago, you can hear his work in Richard III at CST and Yeast Nation at American Theater Company. "Taking a break" is not a phrase he commonly uses. "I'm currently in tech at The Public Theatre in NYC with The Brother Sister Trilogy, which is actually three plays...After that, I'm a musical consultant on Rewind at The Side Project in Chicago, and designing The Lady With All Of The Answers at Milwaukee Repertory."

You might think that someone working at such a break-neck pace has some kind of megalomania issue, but that's not the case with Lindsay. "What happens is that you have relationships with people and theatres that you've worked with before, and you want to keep collaborating with them, so you want to take those jobs. And then you have new possibilities of people and places that you haven't worked with before, and you really want to work with them and foster those relationships, so you take those jobs too. Next thing you know, you're doing 40 shows a year. I feel very, very lucky that people continue to think of me and want to work with me. Even though I work on a lot of projects, I always work very, very hard to exceed everyone's expectations (including my own) on every show and push myself to do new and interesting ideas every single time. That's the real challenge and that's also what keeps it so exciting for me. I want people to be wowed by my work on every single show."

Keeping things fresh and exciting is a challenge for any designer, but Lindsay's ability to fly by the seat of his pants is probably pretty helpful in this area. The beginning of his work on a show goes something like this: After reading the script, talking to the director and listening to the first read-through, Lindsay creates "'the palette,' which is a large collection of sounds and musical ideas that I might use in the show. Collecting these ideas usually helps me cement musical themes and sonic environments that the show will inhabit." So then, he writes his cues, and comes to tech week ready to push "go," right? Not so much.

"The key thing for me, and I know that this may sound a little crazy," he says, "is that I don't really make a lot of the final cues in advance. I wait until I see a designer run-through near the end of the rehearsal process, and then I usually work around the clock for the next few days creating the entire show. The reason why I do it this way is that...I'm not just designing some abstract version of the play. I'm actually designing this very specific version of the play that involves all of the acting and directing choices that have been put into that production. It doesn't exist in a vacuum, and so I need to really integrate my design into that specific production for it to work...I think that this approach comes from my acting training, where I was taught to really be in each moment, listen carefully, and respond honestly to what's been said."

So what happens when Lindsay's response to what he sees doesn't mesh with the director's vision? "There are always questions of interpretation, and those require adjustments, based on what's happening onstage...ultimately, it's the director's final decision, and I respect that. All I can do is be the best advocate that I can be for what I have to offer. But it's a fine line, and you have to constantly check and readjust your perspective at every moment throughout the process. Live theatre is all about a collaboration as a group, so you have to take that into account whenever you contribute something." It also doesn't hurt to have a plan B.

"On Richard III, I was encouraged by [director] Barbara Gaines to really push the music into this super hard-rock place that is very loud and really aggressive and abrasive, and I swear to you that I kept thinking, 'There is no way that we're gonna [sic] actually do this, once we get to tech.' Like I really just could not believe that we were gonna [sic] put music in this show that could potentially alienate so many people...Five minutes before tech started on that first day, I was having a total panic attack. I was trying to imagine what was gonna [sic] happen, and how I would need to redesign the whole show at the last minute." Braced for his worst fears to come true, with a back-up cue at the ready, he watched and listened as the opening sequence was rehearsed with his original "death metal and doom rock" sound. What happened? "It was awesome! It just worked perfectly. Then Barbara turned to me and said, 'You still want to try that other cue?' and I was like 'No!' From that point on, I was pushing the music as far as it could go into extreme sounds, and it was really fantastic. Some people love the music of the show and some people hate it, but it does work with what's happening."

It's a risk that seems to have paid off - Chicago Tribune critic Chris Jones specifically noted the show's "fresh and arresting original rock soundtrack from the great Lindsay Jones" in his review. This level of praise isn't new to Lindsay - his last nine Chicago shows were Jeff recommended. In the last ten years, he's been nominated for 12 Jeffs and won five times, including last week for Route 66 Theatre's The K of D: An Urban Legend. He's received two ASCAP Plus Awards, an Ovation Award, a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award, and was the first (and, so far, only) composer to win the Michael Maggio Emerging Designer Award.

Despite his successes and myriad artistic relationships in the Windy City, oddly enough, we may not see him around these parts for awhile. "Other than my music consultation on Rewind at the Side Project, [which runs November 20-December 20], I currently have no shows confirmed in the near future in Chicago...I guess that's just how it goes sometimes." And in case any directors reading this think Lindsay's just too busy, think again. "I've got some time free in the coming year," he says, "so people should feel free to call if they need somebody. Chicago will always be the place that I think of as my artistic home."

Julienne Bilker

]]> http://www.theatreinchicago.com/news.php?articleID=546 http://www.theatreinchicago.com/news.php?articleID=546 Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:44:12 -0500 "When I first started doing theater I realized that I was mostly interested in the really dark stuff, the out-there stuff: Pinter, Beckett, Classic Expressionism, Greek drama," Bob Fisher leans over his teacup when he gets excited, and he's excited now with good reason. He's talking about the founding of Chicago 's longest running theater company dealing with horror, sci-fi, phantasmagoria: The Mammals.

While Fisher is content to talk about the merit and excitement of horror theater for its own sake, The Mammals have two underlying motives for exploring the genre. The first is the opportunity it provides the company to experiment with non-naturalistic theatrical techniques. Far from the "kitchen sink" naturalism of action and dialogue that much Chicago Theater was once known for, Fisher and The Mammals test the boundaries of an audience's imagination. For instance, "I love the psychological sound of a whisper - an actual whisper, not a stage whisper. So we work a lot with microphone headsets," Fisher says. While some companies would avoid them as an intrusion into the stage picture, The Mammals wear them proudly and allow the audience to accept them as part of the artifice of the production.

Additionally, in part because of the importance of early film in creating The Mammals' visual style, Fisher extols the virtue of non-naturalistic acting, "I love the way actors in emote in old silent horror movies." For The Mammals the goal of acting is not necessarily recreating exactly the behavior of people in their everyday lives, "I don't want to see a play about what happens everyday," Fisher insists, explaining that the theater offers an opportunity for something more amazing.

For The Mammals, the second great opportunity of the theater has slightly higher social stakes. "The act of going to the theatre," Fisher says, "is a rehearsal for getting off your ass and going to do something. If we don't have stories that are filled full of menace, then the stories that we as a spectator are rehearsing and watching are a missed opportunity for change."

Still, The Mammals' focus on horror, science-fiction and phantasmagoria, while specific, is not so restrictive as to leave them without opportunity to innovate. Despite the expectations some audience members have about the genre of horror, Fisher says, "It's amazing how much it can be about story rather than special effects. Devils Don't Forget has a lot of fright and suspense, but not one drop of blood. Well, one drop of blood. Ok, no fountains of blood."

Of late The Mammals have been particularly interested in yet another style, noir . Made famous in the films of hard-boiled detectives, Fisher has penned and The Mammals produced what he calls a Noir Triptych, three plays (two one-acts and one full-length) exploring the noir style, with a horror twist. "For some people 'horror' means comic book monsters coming at you with claws, for some people it's an extension of the Passion Play - good and evil - for some people it's just a means to tell a fascinating story. And all kinds of stories from The Manchurian Candidate to Saw can reach out and touch that genre."

Fisher is leaning over his teacup again, "A member of another theatre company in town told me once, 'What I like about The Mammals is that you actually scare people.' I'm proud of that. I like a menacing question being posed to the audience. They don't have to answer the question but they have to ask. We have challenging times ahead."

The Mammals are mounting a new production of Breed With Me, one of the Noir Triptych first produced in 2003, this winter. To find out more about The Mammals check out their website, become a fan on Facebook, or follow them on Twitter.

Benno Nelson

]]> http://www.theatreinchicago.com/news.php?articleID=545 http://www.theatreinchicago.com/news.php?articleID=545 Mon, 26 Oct 2009 08:34:55 -0500
Directing awards went to Nick Bowling ("The History Boys"), Charles Newell ("Caroline, or Change") and, in the Revue category, Matt Hovde, for The Second City e.t.c.'s "Studs Terkel's Not Working." Principal acting honors also went to Joseph Anthony Foronda in Drury Lane Oakbrook's "Miss Saigon," Saidah Arrika Ekulona for "Ruined," and, in a second tie, Larry Neumann, Jr. (First Folio Theatre's "A Moon for the Misbegotten") and William L. Peterson (Victory Gardens Theater's "Blackbird").

The near-capacity audience enjoyed live and historic video performances from The Second City which received a Tribute Award for its 50th anniversary. Jeff Chair Susan Haimes presented a Special Award to Director-Producer William Pullinsi for his 50-year career of presenting theatre. Entertainment in the ceremony included performances from 11 nominated musicals and revues, while nominated plays were represented by video features. The festivities were once again directed by Michael Weber, produced by Jeff Equity Chair Diane Hires, and hosted by actors Elizabeth Ledo and Rob Lindley.

The Jeff Awards has been honoring outstanding theatre artists annually since it was established in 1968. With up to 50 members representing a wide variety of backgrounds in theatre, the Jeff Awards is committed to celebrating the vitality of Chicago area theatre by recognizing excellence through its recommendations, awards, and honors. The Jeff Awards fosters the artistic growth of area theatres and theatre artists and promotes educational opportunities, audience appreciation, and civic pride in the achievements of the theatre community. The Jeff Awards evaluates over 250 theatrical productions and holds two awards ceremonies annually. Originally chartered to recognize only Equity productions, the Jeff Awards established the Non-Equity Wing in 1973 to celebrate outstanding achievement in non-union theatre. The next Non-Equity awards ceremony will be held at the Park West on June 7, 2010.

COMPLETE LIST OF JEFF EQUITY AWARD RECIPIENTS

PRODUCTION - PLAY - LARGE (Tie)
"Ruined" - Goodman Theatre and Manhattan Theatre Club
"The Seafarer" - Steppenwolf Theatre Company

PRODUCTION - PLAY - MIDSIZE
"The History Boys" - TimeLine Theatre Company

PRODUCTION - MUSICAL - LARGE
"Caroline, or Change" - Court Theatre

PRODUCTION - MUSICAL - MIDSIZE
"Tomorrow Morning" - Hillary A. Williams, LLC

PRODUCTION - REVUE
"Studs Terkel's Not Working" - The Second City e.t.c.

ENSEMBLE
"The History Boys" - TimeLine Theatre Company

DIRECTOR - PLAY
Nick Bowling - "The History Boys" - TimeLine Theatre Company

DIRECTOR - MUSICAL
Charles Newell - "Caroline, or Change" - Court Theatre

DIRECTOR - REVUE
Matt Hovde - "Studs Terkel's Not Working" - The Second City e.t.c.

SOLO PERFORMANCE
Max McLean - "Mark's Gospel" - Fellowship for the Performing Arts

ACTOR IN A PRINCIPAL ROLE - PLAY (Tie)
William L. Petersen - "Blackbird" - Victory Gardens Theater
Larry Neumann, Jr. - "A Moon for the Misbegotten" - First Folio Theatre

ACTOR IN A PRINCIPAL ROLE - MUSICAL
Joseph Anthony Foronda - "Miss Saigon" - Drury Lane Oakbrook

ACTRESS IN A PRINCIPAL ROLE - PLAY
Saidah Arrika Ekulona - "Ruined" - Goodman Theatre and Manhattan Theatre Club

ACTRESS IN A PRINCIPAL ROLE - MUSICAL
E. Faye Butler - "Caroline, or Change" - Court Theatre

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE - PLAY
Alex Weisman - "The History Boys" - TimeLine Theatre Company

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE - MUSICAL
Max Quinlan - "The Light in the Piazza" - Marriott Theatre

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE - PLAY
Spencer Kayden - "Don't Dress for Dinner" - The British Stage Company

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE - MUSICAL (Tie)
Liz Baltes - "A Minister's Wife"- Writers' Theatre
Summer Smart - "The Light in the Piazza" - Marriott Theatre

ACTOR IN A REVUE
Mark David Kaplan - "Forbidden Broadway" - John Freedson, Harriet Yellin, Margaret Cotter

ACTRESS IN A REVUE
Amanda Blake Davis - "Studs Terkel's Not Working" - The Second City e.t.c.

SCENIC DESIGN - LARGE
Lucy Osborne - "Twelfth Night" - Chicago Shakespeare Theater

SCENIC DESIGN - MIDSIZE
Brian Sidney Bembridge - "The History Boys" - TimeLine Theatre Company

COSTUME DESIGN - LARGE
Mara Blumenfeld - "The Arabian Nights" - Lookingglass Theatre Company

COSTUME DESIGN - MIDSIZE
Rachel Laritz - "The Voysey Inheritance" - Remy Bumppo Theatre Company

LIGHTING DESIGN - LARGE
Christopher Akerlind - "Rock 'n' Roll" - Goodman Theatre

LIGHTING DESIGN - MIDSIZE
Jesse Klug - "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" - American Theater Company

SOUND DESIGN - LARGE
Ray Nardelli and Joshua Horvath - "Miss Saigon" - Drury Lane Oakbrook

SOUND DESIGN - MIDSIZE
Lindsay Jones - "The K of D: An Urban Legend" - The Route 66 Theatre Company

CHOREOGRAPHY
David H. Bell - "The Boys from Syracuse" - Drury Lane Oakbrook

ORIGINAL INCIDENTAL MUSIC
Dominic Kanza - "Ruined" - Goodman Theatre and Manhattan Theatre Club

MUSIC DIRECTION
Doug Peck - "Caroline, or Change" - Court Theatre

NEW ADAPTATION - PLAY
Seth Bockley - "Jon" - Collaboraction

NEW WORK - PLAY
Lynn Nottage - "Ruined" - Goodman Theatre and Manhattan Theatre Club

NEW ADAPTATION - MUSICAL
Josh Schmidt, Jan Tranen and Austin Pendleton - "A Minister's Wife" - Writers' Theatre

SPECIAL EFFECTS
Steve Tolin - "The Lieutenant of Inishmore" - Northlight Theatre

VIDEO DESIGN
Mike Tutaj - "Tomorrow Morning" - Hillary A. Williams, LLC

TRIBUTE AWARD
The Second City - 50th Anniversary

SPECIAL AWARD
William Pullinsi - Director and Producer - Outstanding Achievement for 50 Years in Theatre

MULTIPLE AWARDS RECIPIENTS

THEATRES:
TimeLine Theatre Company - 5
Goodman Theatre and Manhattan Theatre Club - 4
Goodman Theatre - 1
Court Theatre - 4
Drury Lane Oakbrook - 3
The Second City e.t.c. - 3
Marriott Theatre - 2
Hilary A. Williams, LLC - 2
Writers’ Theatre - 2

PRODUCTIONS:
"The History Boys" - 5
"Ruined" - 4
"Caroline, or Change" - 4
"Studs Terkel’s Not Working - 3
"The Light in the Piazza" - 2
"A Minister’s Wife" - 2
"Miss Saigon" - 2
"Tomorrow Morning" - 2

"Horror can mean all kinds of things," waxes Artistic Director Charley Sherman, "The Jacobeans, Seneca, Macbeth, the Greeks...One of the things about horror theater is that it can scare people with ideas too. You can have a subversive text that can provoke people...in a scary way."

Sherman has been drawn to the horrifying from an early age, and you can hear the smile in his voice when he admits, "monsters have always fascinated me. When I was a kid I wrote a lot of horror stories. I'd read them aloud to try to scare the class." In a modern context however, where the horror movie is such a concretized concept, the idea of "horror theater" may strike some as a little out of place. Sherman acknowledges many people's first reaction to the idea of horror theater is, "‘Really? Can you do that? Onstage?'" But for WildClaw, the excitement is the "heightened potential for creating fear in the theatre, when it's live."

Audiences are responding, and they're not just the typical theater-goers. The Horror Community, says Sherman , "is not really served very well—looked down on, even," and WildClaw is changing that. In two years their annual DEATHSCRIBE festival has performed ten original ten-minute radio horror plays for over 600 people, and has hosted readings and local musicians as well.

Interestingly, while performing horror plays may bring with it a kind of built-in audience of horror fans, it also brings with it the weight of specific expectations for the genre. "People are going to be expecting to see violence, and some kind of gore...," Sherman trails off. "We have a difficult job: to entertain all these people who expect to be entertained in a horror way." The most important task, then? "Get the story right."

These stories, like the genre of Horror itself, have varied widely. From classic literary horror stories like Sherman's own adaptations of Arthur Machen's The Great God Pan and H. P. Lovecraft's The Dreams in the Witch House, to the Midwest premiere of company member Scott T. Barsotti's modern relationship Zombie Drama The Revenants , WildClaw continues to find exciting and underappreciated works of horror. "We prefer to do plays that haven't been seen that much," Sherman says, "and we're always looking for source material."

This year they're gearing up for a world-premiere stage adaptation of Legion , William Peter Blatty's sequel to his rather more famous novel The Exorcist . Does the company every feel restricted by the Horror label? Sherman insists not, "We limit ourselves, sure, but that's the idea...we know who we are and what we want to achieve."

To learn more about WildClaw Theatre, visit their website, read their blog, follow them on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook.

Benno Nelson

]]> http://www.theatreinchicago.com/news.php?articleID=543 http://www.theatreinchicago.com/news.php?articleID=543 Mon, 12 Oct 2009 09:25:28 -0500 What are actors, really, but people who play dress-up for a living? (This is not an insult. Wouldn't you love to play dress-up for a living?) So it should come as a small surprise that actors, and theatre people in general, love Halloween. That campiest of holidays provides a good excuse to really cut loose and Put On A Show, one with lots of fun things like blood and murder and terrified damsels, and unhampered, just this once, by boring things like character development and plots that make sense. Because hey, it's Halloween!

Here in Chicago you're especially in luck, because whatever your taste in spook, the local theatre scene is bound to have something that appeals to you, from opera to improv. At the high-art end of the spectrum is Faust, opening at the Lyric Opera on October 5. Based on the Christopher Marlowe play about the doctor who sells his immortal soul for worldly gain, Faust, despite my earlier promise, does feature character development and a plot that makes sense, but also includes murder, a terrified damsel, and of course Mephistopheles, the most famous (and coolest-named) demon in literature. For more fun with Faust, you may also want to check out An Apology For The Course and Outcome of Certain Events Delivered by Doctor John Faustus on This His Final Evening, playing through October 24 at Chopin Theatre.

If opera and deals with the devil make you scream (in a bad way), you might try Plans 1 Through 8 From Outer Space at National Pastime Theater (through October 31). A takeoff on the legendary Ed Wood schlock-fest Plan 9 From Outer Space (often called the worst movie ever made), Plans 1 Through 8... promises camp, comedy, and aliens as it attempts to answer the question, "What went wrong the first eight times?"

For a more family-oriented audience, two productions of the classic legend of Sleepy Hollow should appeal to the kids. At the Morton Arboretum (Oct. 3 - Nov. 1) is Sleepy Hollow, a "charming family musical about romance and other terrors." And playing at the Viaduct Theatre (Oct. 16 - Nov. 9) is The Legend of Sleepy Hollow: A New Folk Musical, which offers audiences more of a deconstruction of the famous myth through popular folk songs and ghost stories.

There are many more Halloween-themed plays to choose from, playing all over town and catering to almost any budget and taste. Check out the full list of shows below, and click on any of the titles for links to more information.

Complete List of Halloween Shows

Pullinsi was the founder and artistic director of Candlelight Playhouse, America's first dinner theater, which opened in Washington , D.C., in 1959 and Summit, IL in 1961. Pullinsi is widely recognized for his work as director of the American musical. He has served as Artistic Director at Theatre at the Center since 2005. He has directed and/or produced more than 400 shows in his career, receiving 18 Jeff Awards. He also produced many shows posting record-breaking multi-year-runs, including "Fiddler on the Roof," "Man of La Mancha," and "Little Shop of Horrors," which transferred to the Royal George Theatre. Highlights of his career include purchasing the Broadway set of "Company" from Hal Prince; the off-Broadway plants for "Little Shop of Horrors," and the Tony Award-winning costumes from "Nine." Pullinsi also opened the Forum Theatre in 1970 to present more serious and thought-provoking theatre, including "The National Health," "Robert and Elizabeth," and the world premiere of "Boss." Additionally, at Candlelight, he took chances on musicals considered to be artistic or commercial flops that he turned major successes in the Chicagoland area, including "Follies," "Song & Dance," and "Rags." Shows for which he received Jeff Awards for both Production and Direction include: "Follies," "Into the Woods," "Phantom," "Little Shop of Horrors," "Nine," "The National Health," and "Man of La Mancha." He directed "Into the Woods" at Marriott's Lincolnshire Theatre; and the long-running "Over the Tavern" at Northlight Theatre and the Mercury Theatre. William Pullinsi served as Associate Producer of "Trying," a new play off Broadway.

Pullinsi received his B.F.A. from Boston Conservatory, did graduate work at the Goodman School and received the honorary degree of Doctor of Humanities from Lewis University . He was named a Distinguished Artist in the Theatre by the Chicago Academy of Arts and also by the Chicago Drama League. In 1989, Pullinsi became the first American director to stage a musical in Russia with a Soviet cast and crew, directing "Man of La Mancha" during a five week visit to the Drama Theatre of Turgenev in Orel. Pullinsi is a lifelong member of Actors Equity Association and a member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers.

The 41st Annual Jeff Awards ceremony will be held on Monday, October 19, at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie , 9501 Skokie Boulevard. A pre-show Appetizer Buffet will run from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., and the Awards Ceremony, directed by Michael Weber, will begin at 7:30 p.m. Advance purchase tickets, which include the ceremony and the pre-show buffet, are $75 ($55 for members of Actors Equity Association, United Scenic Artists, Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, and the Dramatists Guild of America). The evening is black tie optional, and the public is cordially invited to attend. To purchase tickets, visit the Jeff Awards website at www.jeffawards.org.

The Jeff Awards has been honoring outstanding theatre artists annually since it was established in 1968. With up to 50 members representing a wide variety of backgrounds in theatre, the Jeff Awards is committed to celebrating the vitality of Chicago area theatre by recognizing excellence through its recommendations, awards, and honors. The Jeff Awards fosters the artistic growth of area theatres and theatre artists and promotes educational opportunities, audience appreciation, and civic pride in the achievements of the theatre community. The Jeff Awards evaluates over 250 theatrical productions and holds two awards ceremonies annually. Originally chartered to recognize only Equity productions, the Jeff Awards established the Non-Equity Wing in 1973 to celebrate outstanding achievement in non-union theatre. The next Non-Equity awards ceremony will be held at the Park West on June 7, 2010.

It became one of the biggest commercial successes in Caffeine Theatre's history.  And confirmed a few points for the company in moving forward.  Most broadly, as a company dedicated to performing poetic and intellectual plays, the success of Eliot's challenging work validated their own beliefs about theatre. 

Shook admits, "There's a really fine line between giving our audiences permission to be intelligent and coming off like intellectual snobs ourselves, but I fervently believe that theater and poetry could appeal to anyone." 

With further successes under their belt like the just closed Under Milk Wood Caffeine Theatre can be confident that it is doing something right. "We've made a name for ourselves doing plays people don't do," says Shook, "We're not afraid of the word intellectual." 

Caffeine Theatre, which takes its name from the mythical coffee house of passionate conversation, artists, intelligentsia, and social debate, emphasizes the social position of theater as a public, if not a political, forum.  "It's not that we want our audiences to walk out of the theatre and into the picket line, but we want them to leaving the theatre thinking, ‘Huh, I never thought about it that way.'"

For this reason Shook describes the theater as seeking to tackle, "Issues that are so large you barely even think of them as issues."  As an example, Shook sees the recent Under Milk Wood, presented at the DCA Theatre in the Loop, as raising the question, "How can you interact with your crazy neighbor?"  Dylan Thomas' sensitive depiction of small town Wales, then, has much more to say about urban life in Chicago than one might expect.  As Shook puts it, "poetry has a history of trying to engage people in a thoughtful, ethical way"

Does Caffeine Theatre worry this message might be lost on its audience? "We know you're smart.  It's ok to be smart."

To learn more about Caffeine Theatre check out their website, follow their blog, follow them on Twitter, or become a fan on Facebook.

Benno Nelson

]]> http://www.theatreinchicago.com/news.php?articleID=540 http://www.theatreinchicago.com/news.php?articleID=540 Sun, 27 Sep 2009 21:45:24 -0500 Lookingglass Theatre Company presents the wickedly dark comedy Fedra: Queen of Haiti, written by Ensemble Member J. Nicole Brooks and directed by Ensemble Member Laura Eason. The Lookingglass Original runs September 30 - November 15, 2009 at Lookingglass Theatre Company, located inside Chicago's historic Water Tower Water Works, 821 N. Michigan Ave. at Pearson.

The 22nd season opens with an explosive retelling of the Greek myth Phaedra.  This story of power and desire that was made famous by Euripides, Seneca and Jean Racine is now set in a re-imagined Haiti that stands as the world’s greatest superpower. Only the fiercely mischievous pen of Ensemble Member J. Nicole Brooks (Black Diamond) could so ignite the hidden power of this enduring classic. Award-winning Ensemble Member Laura Eason (Around the World in 80 Days) directs Lookingglass' 51st World Premiere.

Fedra was adapted by Ensemble Member J. Nicole Brooks, who appeared in Joan Akalatis' Court Theatre production of Phedre in 2002.  Since that time, she has fallen in love with the French language, which influenced the setting of Haiti.  Brooks is a Chicago actor who has been residing in Los Angeles for the past few years and her current hometown informs some of the pop culture elements infused in this combination Greek tragedy/black comedy.

"At the heart of it, Fedra is a story about desire- desire for power, for love, for sex, for freedom, for connection, for home, for the way things were, for the way things can never be.  Desire can drive someone to risk everything in the best possible way and in the worst.  It can lead to ecstasy and exultation or destruction and despair," says Eason.  "I can think of no more exciting a story to explore than one that rips open and digs around in the heart, guts, blood and heat of desire.  Especially when it is an enduring myth with archetypes we relate to and recognize reinvented by the bold, brave and sometimes bawdy pen of J. Nicole Brooks."

Tickets for Fedra: Queen of Haiti are available online, www.lookingglasstheatre.org; by phone, 312-337-0665; or at the Lookingglass Theatre box office, located inside Chicago's historic Water Tower Water Works, 821 N. Michigan Ave. at Pearson.

In a time of national tragedy, the world changes overnight.  On September 12, 2001, Ben Harcourt finds himself in the downtown apartment of his lover, Abby Prescott. Over the course of the night, Ben and Abby explore the choices now available to them in an existence different from the one they knew just the day before. LaBute presents the brutal realities of their relationship and explores whether one can be truly opportunistic in a time of universal selflessness.

The Mercy Seat was among the first major theatrical responses to the September 11, 2001 attacks.  It premiered at MCC Theater in December 2002 and was both a commercial and critical success, selling out for the length of its run.

This is Profiles Theatre's seventh Midwest Premiere of Mr. LaBute’s work following their acclaimed productions of In a Dark Dark House, This is How it Goes and Fat Pig, among others.

"I feel very lucky indeed to have this delicate drama in the sure hands of Profiles, which has become my theatrical home in Chicago," says playwright Neil LaBute.  "If anyone can find the beating heart of this play, it will be Darrell Cox and Joe Jahraus and the actress who is crazy enough to step into the ring with them. I predict a knockout."

The Mercy Seat, the first production of Profiles Theatre's 21st Season, will be followed by Pulitzer Prize winner Tracy Letts' modern classic Killer Joe, January 8-February 28, 2010.  Ellen Fairey's Graceland, which celebrated its world premiere at Profiles in May, will continue its run through November 15, at 4139 N. Broadway. 

Tickets for The Mercy Seat are $30 for Thursdays and $35 for Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Tickets are available by phone, 773-549-1815, or online, www.profilestheatre.org.  Performances are Thursdays-Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. and Sundays at 7:00pm.

"A rock show." (Layne Manzer)
"A Chuck Mee play, but created by us." (Jack Tamburri)
"The ending Ionesco wanted for The Bald Soprano, which is somebody shoots all the actors and the theater explodes." (Greg Peters and Jack Tamburri)
"A media-rich environment that plays with form and structure and what this is that you're seeing.  Awareness for the audience that they're seeing theater and what does that mean." (Ian Miller)
"Wicked." (Justine Turner)
"A series of monologues where characters have completely oppositional views about what their experience was about" (Greg Peters)
"We take the album Bee Thousand by Guided By Voices and write a short play for each song." (James Dunne)
"Did you check the blog?" asks Jack Tamburri, "I actually just debunked that."
"Oh really?"
Company Member Ian Miller puts an end to this, "We haven't definitively found our voice: that's the fun of where we're at."

But if they can't quite put their finger on what the perfect Plagiarist show is, they are nimbly able to identify some key features that excite the group. Company member Greg Peters identifies deconstruction, theatricality, and "poking at the medium" as keys to any Plagiarist show.  And, of course, plagiarism.

"Every project one of us pitches to the company," explains Jack Tamburri, "whether it's a script to perform or a concept to write, we always have to answer the question: What is the Plagiarism?  How are you in dialogue with your influences?" Ian Miller jumps in, "When you feel like you have the license – the responsibility - to take something [old] and do whatever you want with it, you create a new vocabulary from something that is preexisting."

It's this new vocabulary of conversation that the Plagiarists strive to create in all of their events. In existence since 2007, they have produced as yet only a single "full length, prime-time show," but have consistently peppered Chicago bars, stages, and streets with shorter pieces – and the company is forever writing more.  That "mainstage show," 2008's Promiscuous Stories was itself an evening of short pieces all based on stories by Jonathan Lethem, a novelist who created the stories deliberately to allow anyone to adapt them for the friendly royalty of one dollar. "We really feel that shorter works are our wheel house.  At least for right now," says James Dunne. 

This group of ten writers, stage managers, actors, and directors, are without an Artistic director, and create their own work collaboratively. Company member James Dunne half-jokingly claims the artistic director of the company is the electronic message board that allows the company to write collaboratively even when not all together.  But it's clear that as disparate as the group's opinions might be, they are bound by a dedication to explore the idea of theft and creation.  They also see their consistent presence, in smaller events and in their recurrent Salon Series, as a way to help foster the theatrical community of Chicago, and get audiences and artists prepared to actively participate.  "It's a community again," says Layne Manzer, before adding, "It's like Facebook for real."

Benno Nelson

]]> http://www.theatreinchicago.com/news.php?articleID=537 http://www.theatreinchicago.com/news.php?articleID=537 Sun, 13 Sep 2009 20:47:15 -0500 Cirque du Soleil and MSG Entertainment unveiled the brand new theatrical production, Banana Shpeel, at The Chicago Theatre. The show will perform for the first time ever at the theatre for a limited engagement from November 19, 2009 through January 3, 2010. Following Chicago, the show will premiere in New York at The Beacon Theatre in February 2010.

Banana Shpeel is a roller-coaster mix of styles that blends comedy with tap, hip hop, eccentric dance and slapstick, all linked by a narrative that ignites a succession of wacky adventures. This is not circus, or a musical or a variety show, or even vaudeville. It is Banana Shpeel!

Propelled by crazy humor and intense choreography, Banana Shpeel plunges us into the world of Schmelky, a cruel and irritable producer who dangles fame and fortune in front of Emmett, an innocent and romantic actor who has come to audition for him. Emmett soon finds himself trapped in a flamboyant, anarchic world where Schmelky sows terror and reigns supreme. Emmett falls in love with the beautiful Katie and meets a bunch of absurd characters, including the strange Banana Man. But who is this mysterious Banana Man and how can Emmett escape the clutches of Schmelky and his henchmen?

Banana Shpeel writer and director David Shiner started out as a mime in Paris. His career took off in 1984 when he was discovered at the renowned circus festival Cirque de Demain. Shiner later teamed up with Bill Irwin to create the wordless two-man show Fool Moon, which played from 1992 to 1999, including three Broadway runs. Fool Moon picked up numerous prizes, including a Tony Award, Drama Desk Award and an Outer Critics Circle Award. In 2007, Shiner directed his first Cirque du Soleil production, the big top touring show Kooza.

Cirque du Soleil celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2009. From a group of 20 street performers at its beginnings in 1984, Cirque du Soleil is a major Quebec-based organization providing high-quality artistic entertainment. The company has more than 4,000 employees from over 40 different countries, including 1,000 performing artists.

Cirque du Soleil has brought wonder and delight to almost 90 million spectators in over 200 cities on five continents. In 2009, Cirque will present 20 shows simultaneously throughout the world. Cirque du Soleil International Headquarters are in Montreal, Canada.

Tickets are available now for all performances and can be purchased at ticketmaster.com. Regular ticket prices range from $23 to $98, with limited Premium and Tapis Rouge VIP Experience tickets also available.

"We came to Chicago for a visit, and the Windy City became our home away from home for what will be over two years. Such conversions happen rarely in the theater and we are proud to have made Chicago home for as long as we have," said Michael David, Producer of Jersey Boys.  "It is breathtaking. Our profound thanks to the citizens of Chicago who have made us such welcome neighbors."

"Broadway In Chicago and the City of Chicago have been so privileged to have this sensational hit for over two years," said Lou Raizin, President of Broadway In Chicago.  "This blockbuster musical has brought over one million people from across the country and around the world to Chicago's Downtown Theatre District.  We are so honored that Jersey Boys chose Chicago for the first resident production outside of New York."

Jersey Boys tells the story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons: Frankie Valli, Bob Gaudio, Tommy DeVito and Nick Massi.  This is the story of how a group of blue-collar boys from the wrong side of the tracks became one of the biggest American pop music sensations of all time.  They wrote their own songs, invented their own sounds and sold 175 million records worldwide - all before they were thirty.

Directed by two-time Tony Award - winner Des McAnuff, Jersey Boys won both the 2006 Tony Award for Best Musical and the 2006 Grammy Award for Best Musical Recording, and most recently, the 2009 Olivier Award for Best New Musical, and continues to break box office records on Broadway and in Chicago.  Jersey Boys is written by Academy Award - winner Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, with music by Bob Gaudio, lyrics by Bob Crewe and choreography by Sergio Trujillo.

Tickets for the final block of performances through January 10, 2010, will go on sale on Friday, September 11, 2009, at 10 a.m. and range in price from $30 - $110.  A select number of premium seats are also available.  Tickets are available at all Broadway In Chicago Box Offices (24 W. Randolph St., 151 W. Randolph St. and 18 W. Monroe St.); the Broadway In Chicago Ticket Line at (800) 775-2000; all Ticketmaster retail locations and online at ticketmaster.com.

"Henry Wishcamper, fresh from his first Goodman success with Horton Foote's Talking Pictures, approached me with the idea to stage Animal Crackers at the Goodman- but with one major conceptual change," said Artistic Director Robert Falls. "The dozens of society swells, butlers, attendants and miscellaneous party guests written into the original script would be played by an ensemble of just nine actors, in order to ramp up the farcical madness and underscore the comic heart of the play. It was an irresistible idea, and I know that Henry and his energetic cast and collaborators will bring contemporary vitality to what is now considered a classic in the musical farce genre."

Wishcamper enlisted two-time Tony Award-nominated choreographer John Carrafa and Clowning Director Paul Kalina of Chicago's 500 Clown to supply the company with the tools needed for inspired comic performances. Musical Director Doug Peck leads a live orchestra of five that brings to life favorites such as "Hello, I Must Be Going/Hooray For Captain Spaulding," "Who's Been Listening to My Heart" and "Show Me A Rose," among many others.

"Our production will be dynamic and surprising, but at the same time will maintain the Marx Brothers' integrity," said Wishcamper. "Bring the kids! The spontaneity and excitement of musical theater are perfect for families, and audiences of all ages should experience a show like this. As was its original production, Animal Crackers today remains an extraordinary antidote for the times we live in."

Animal Crackers runs September 18 - October 25, 2009 in the Goodman's Albert Theatre. Tickets ($25 – $76) are now on sale 312-443-3800 or www.GoodmanTheatre.org.

The dates were also announced for the 'big fat hit' Broadway production of Shrek The Musical which will launch the National Tour in Chicago playing at the Cadillac Palace Theatre (151 W. Randolph St.) for a limited engagement beginning July 13 – September 5, 2010.

The Complete Broadway In Chicago Season Series:

Billy Elliot The Musical
Begins March 18, 2010

One of the most celebrated shows in years, Billy Elliot the Musical has captured hearts worldwide, delighted the critics and swept the awards, winning ten 2009 Tony Awards including Best Musical! Billy Elliot is a joyous, exciting and feel-good celebration of one boy following his heart and making his dreams come true. Full of life, laughter, astonishing dancing and unforgettable music, this uplifting experience will stay with you forever. Based on the international smash-hit film, Billy Elliot is brought to life by the Tony-winning creative team - director Stephen Daldry, choreographer Peter Darling and writer Lee Hall - along with music legend Elton John, who has written what the New York Post calls "His best score yet!"

Shrek The Musical, based on the Oscar-winning DreamWorks film that started it all, brings the hilarious story of everyone's favorite ogre to life on the Broadway stage. In a faraway kingdom turned upside down, things get ugly when an unseemly ogre - not a handsome prince - shows up to rescue a feisty princess. Throw in a donkey who won't shut up, a bad guy with a SHORT temper, a cookie with an attitude and over a dozen other fairy tale misfits, and you've got the kind of mess that calls for a real hero. Luckily, there's one on hand... and his name is Shrek. Featuring a terrific score of 19 all-new songs, big laughs, great dancing and breathtaking scenery.

Steppenwolf's August: Osage County makes its long-awaited homecoming!  Following its sold-out debut at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre in 2007, this grand, gripping new play went on to Broadway where it won five 2008 Tony Awards including Best Play and the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Now the play makes its triumphant return to Chicago as a critically acclaimed National Tour. August: Osage County tells the story of the Westons, a large extended clan that comes together at their rural Oklahoma homestead when the alcoholic patriarch disappears. Forced to confront unspoken truths and astonishing secrets, the family must also contend with Violet (played by Academy Award-winner Estelle Parsons), a pill-popping, deeply unsettled woman at the center of this storm.

The lush, romantic Broadway musical for all generations. Tale as old as time, true as it can be. NETworks presentation of Disney's Beauty and the Beast, the smash hit Broadway musical, is coming to Chicago! Based on the Academy Award-winning animated feature film, this eye-popping spectacle has won the hearts of over 35 million people worldwide. This classic musical love story is filled with unforgettable characters, lavish sets and costumes, and dazzling production numbers including "Be Our Guest" and the beloved title song.

The 39 Steps
May 18 - 30, 2010

"The most entertaining show on Broadway!" –Liz Smith, New York Post. "Once this fun ride leaves the station, you don't want to get off!" –Daily News. "Comedy of the highest order!" –NY1.  Mix a Hitchcock masterpiece with a juicy spy novel, add a dash of Monty Python and you have... (mystery chords!) Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps, Broadway's most intriguing, most thrilling, most riotous, most unmissable comedy smash! The mind-blowing cast of 4 plays over 150 characters in this fast-paced tale of an ordinary man on an extraordinarily entertaining adventure. Winner of 2 Tony Awards.  

Season ticket packages will go on sale Sunday, September 13, 2009 at 10 a.m. and will be available for purchase at www.BroadwayInChicago.com or by calling the Season Ticket Hotline at 312-977-1717. Tickets are currently available for groups of 15 or more by calling (312) 977-1710.  Single tickets to each individual production will go on-sale at future dates to be announced. ]]> http://www.theatreinchicago.com/news.php?articleID=533 http://www.theatreinchicago.com/news.php?articleID=533 Fri, 4 Sep 2009 19:05:14 -0500 Lincoln Center Theater will present a new production of Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein's prize-winning musical South Pacific which will premiere in Chicago November 24 - 29, 2009 at the Rosemont Theatre, 5400 N. River Road.

Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific swept the 2008 Tony Awards, winning seven honors including Best Musical Revival and Best Director for Bartlett Sher. This breathtaking new production has created a sold-out sensation on Broadway, lauded by the critics as "Simply Wonderful! Beguiling Theatrical Magic!" ( New York Post), "Ravishing and Overwhelming" (Variety) and "Rapturous and Revelatory!" (The New York Times).

Based on James Michener's Pulitzer Prize winning book Tales of the South Pacific, Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific has music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and a book by Oscar Hammerstein II and Joshua Logan.

Set on a tropical island during World War II, the musical tells the sweeping romantic story of two couples -- US Navy nurse Nellie Forbush and French plantation owner Emile de Becque and Navy Airman Joe Cable and a young local native girl Liat -- and how their happiness is threatened by the realities of war and by their own prejudices. Considered by many the finest musical ever written, the score's songs include such classics as "Some Enchanted Evening," "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair," "Younger Than Springtime," "Bali Ha'i," "There is Nothin' Like A Dame," "This Nearly Was Mine" and "A Wonderful Guy."

South Pacific comes to the Rosemont Theatre, 5400 N. River Road, Nov. 24 - 29, 2009. Tickets start at $39.50 and will go on-sale Friday, Sept. 11 at 10 a.m. Tickets can be purchased online at www.ticketmaster.com or by calling Ticketmaster at 800-745-3000.

For more information on South Pacific visit www.SouthPacificOnTour.com or www.RosemontTheatre.com

Artistic Director Jessica Hutchinson, who has directed four of seven productions in her two brief years at the helm, understands New Leaf as a "producing company" whose role as host to a community of Chicago's actors and artists is as much a part of its mission as serving and sharing with its audience. Moreover these two aspects of their mission contribute to the company's ultimate goal: renewal. "We want to provide and share a space as artists where we're re-energized. Where we're empowered to remember why it is we do what we do…because it's certainly not the paycheck."

The absence of a roster of actors to satisfy means New Leaf can have more flexibility in choosing plays and in casting, ensuring that their selection is always fresh and evolving. Moreover, by constantly bringing in new collaborators, New Leaf's resident artists can be enriched by new associations and share their knowledge with others. Additionally, Hutchinson speaks of an "institutional memory" available to New Leaf because the production staff is so consistent. "The fun of the New Leaf process" explains Hutchinson holding out an open palm, "both for the audience and the guest artists, is the sense of 'Here. You can have it. We're not going to throw it at you, but you can play with this. It's very important to us.'"

It's an interesting and subtle twist. Instead of bringing new designers to "decorate" an acting ensemble's work, a core of designers brings in new actors to both inspire and embody the new aesthetic world of each piece, and the effect is remarkably potent. Recently garnering a coveted non-equity Jeff award for Lighting Design for last winter's Touch , the company has also boasted nominations in Sound Design, Direction, and Ensemble and been praised in TimeOut Chicago as "one of the North Side's most trustworthy, modest and aesthetically pleasing theater collectives."

The plays they tackle tend to be rooted in realism, and their small space in the Lincoln Park Cultural Center encourages specificity, but New Leaf isn't afraid to experiment as they showed in their 20008/09 season closer The Long Count . This play, conceived collectively by the company members and curated by Marsha Harmon, interrogated the question that framed the entire season "How do we build a future from a present we didn't expect?" The answer is simple: turn over a new leaf.

]]> http://www.theatreinchicago.com/news.php?articleID=531 http://www.theatreinchicago.com/news.php?articleID=531 Mon, 31 Aug 2009 09:15:12 -0500 The Jeff Awards announced 179 nominations in 35 categories for Chicago Equity theatrical productions which opened between August 1, 2008, and July 31, 2009. The Jeff Awards sent judges to the opening nights of 141 productions offered by 57 producing organizations. From these openings, 98 Equity productions were "Jeff Recommended," which made them eligible for award nominations.

The 41st Annual Jeff Awards ceremony, honoring excellence in professional theatre produced within the immediate Chicago area, will be held on Monday, October 19, at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie, 9501 Skokie Boulevard. A pre-show Appetizer Buffet will run from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., and the Awards Ceremony, directed by Michael Weber, will begin at 7:30 p.m. The Second City, celebrating 50 years as a producer, will play a featured role at the Jeff Awards ceremony. Advance purchase tickets, which include the ceremony and the pre-show buffet, are $75 ($55 for members of Actors' Equity Association, United Scenic Artists, Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, and The Dramatists Guild of America). The evening is black tie optional and the public is cordially invited to attend. To purchase tickets, visit the Jeff Awards website at www.jeffawards.org.

Goodman Theatre led the list of theatres with 17 nominations (6 of them for a co-production with Manhattan Theatre Club), including the New Work  "Ruined," which garnered six nominations including Production and New Work for Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage.  Drury Lane Oakbrook, reflecting their heightened commitment to production values, followed with 16 nominations for five musicals, including six for "Miss Saigon" and four for "The Boys from Syracuse."   "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" and the first post-Broadway production of "The Light in the Piazza" led the list of 15 Marriott Theatre nominations with five and four respectively.  Chicago Shakespeare Theater garnered 13 nominations with 6 nods going to "Twelfth Night."  TimeLine Theater Company, which became an Equity house in 2008, led the list of midsize theatres with 12 nominations. Their first post-Broadway smash hit production of "The History Boys" rated 5 nominations.

"Caroline, or Change" from Court Theatre and "A Minister’s Wife" from Writers’ Theatre joined Goodman’s "Ruined," Drury Lane Oakbrook’s "Miss Saigon," and Chicago Shakespeare’s "Twelfth Night" in most nominations for a single production.

The coveted nominations for Outstanding Ensemble went to "The Arabian Nights" of Lookingglass Theatre; "The Terrible Reign and Lamentable Death of Edward II… of Chicago Shakespeare Theater; "Forbidden Broadway:  Dances with the Stars" from John Freedson, Harriet Yellin and Margaret Cotter; "The History Boys" of TimeLine Theatre Company; "Million Dollar Quartet" from Dee Gee Theatricals, John Cossette Productions and Northern Lights, Inc.; "Scenes from the Big Picture" from Seanachai Theatre Company; "The Seafarer" from Steppenwolf Theatre Company; and "Studs Terkel’s Not Working" from The Second City e.t.c. The Jeff Awards is pleased to announce that Actors' Equity Association will continue its support of the Equity Jeff Awards by sponsoring the Outstanding Ensemble Award.

Among individual multiple nominees Mary Ernster was nominated as Principal Actress - Musical in both Marriott's "The Light in the Piazza" and Apple Tree Theatre's "Wings." Versatile triple threat Sean Fortunato was nominated for roles in "Curtains" (Drury Lane Oakbrook) and "The Producers" (Theatre at the Center).  Tanya Saracho received two nods for New Work with "Kita y Fernanda" at 16th Street Theater and "Our Lady of the Underpass" at Teatro Vista…Theatre With a View.  David H. Bell topped the individual nominees with four nominations: for New Adaptation of a Musical with "The Boys from Syracuse" and "The Bowery Boys" and both Director - Musical and Choreographer for "The Boys from Syracuse."

The Jeff Awards has been honoring outstanding theatre artists annually since it was established in 1968.  With up to 50 members representing a wide variety of backgrounds in theatre, the Jeff Awards is committed to celebrating the vitality of Chicago area theatre by recognizing excellence through its recommendations, awards, and honors.  The Jeff Awards fosters the artistic growth of area theatres and theatre artists and promotes educational opportunities, audience appreciation, and civic pride in the achievements of the theatre community.  The Jeff Awards evaluates over 250 theatrical productions and holds two awards ceremonies annually. Originally chartered to recognize only Equity productions, the Jeff Awards established the Non-Equity Wing in 1973 to celebrate outstanding achievement in non-union theatre. The next Non-Equity awards ceremony will be held on June 7, 2010 at the Park West.

PRODUCTION - PLAY - LARGE
"The Arabian Nights" - Lookingglass Theatre Company
"Boleros for the Disenchanted" - Goodman Theatre
"The Troublesome Reign and Lamentable Death of King Edward II..." - Chicago Shakespeare Theater
"The Lieutenant of Inishmore" - Northlight Theatre
"The Piano Lesson" - Court Theatre
"Ruined" - Goodman Theatre and Manhattan Theatre Club
"The Seafarer" - Steppenwolf Theatre Company
"Twelfth Night" - Chicago Shakespeare Theater

PRODUCTION - PLAY - MIDSIZE
"The History Boys" - TimeLine Theatre Company
"The Little Foxes" - Shattered Globe Theatre
"A Moon for the Misbegotten" - First Folio Theatre
"Not Enough Air" - TimeLine Theatre Company
"Our Lady of the Underpass" - Teatro Vista . . . Theatre with a View
"The Overwhelming" - Next Theatre Company
"These Shining Lives" - Rivendell Theatre Ensemble

 PRODUCTION - MUSICAL - LARGE
"The Boys from Syracuse" - Drury Lane Oakbrook
"Caroline, or Change" - Court Theatre
"Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" - Marriott Theatre
"Million Dollar Quartet" - Dee Gee Theatricals, John Cossette Productions and Northern Lights, Inc.
"A Minister's Wife"- Writers' Theatre
"Miss Saigon" - Drury Lane Oakbrook
"The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" - Marriott Theatre

PRODUCTION - MUSICAL - MIDSIZE
"Once on this Island" - Porchlight Music Theatre Chicago
"Tomorrow Morning" - Hillary A. Williams, LLC 

PRODUCTION - REVUE
"America:  All Better!" - The Second City
"Forbidden Broadway: Dances with the Stars" - John Freedson, Harriet Yellin and Margaret Cotter
"Studs Terkel's Not Working" - The Second City e.t.c.

ENSEMBLE
"The Arabian Nights" - Lookingglass Theatre Company
"The Troublesome Reign and Lamentable Death of King Edward II…" - Chicago Shakespeare Theater
"Forbidden Broadway: Dances with the Stars" - John Freedson, Harriet Yellin and Margaret Cotter
"The History Boys" - TimeLine Theatre Company
"Million Dollar Quartet" - Dee Gee Theatricals, John Cossette Productions and Northern Lights, Inc.
"Scenes from the Big Picture" - Seanachai Theatre Company
"The Seafarer" - Steppenwolf Theatre Company
"Studs Terkel's Not Working" - The Second City e.t.c.

NEW WORK - PLAY
Lisa Dillman - "The Walls" - Rivendell Theatre Ensemble
Lynn Nottage - "Ruined" - Goodman Theatre and Manhattan Theatre Club
Masha Obolensky - "Not Enough Air" - TimeLine Theatre Company
Tanya Saracho - "Kita y Fernanda" - 16th Street Theater
Tanya Saracho - "Our Lady of the Underpass" - Teatro Vista…Theatre with a View

NEW ADAPTATION - PLAY
Seth Bockley - "Jon" - Collaboraction
Frank Galati - "Kafka on the Shore" - Steppenwolf Theatre Company
Frank Mahon & Milissa Pacelli - "The Quiet Man Tales" - Libby Adler Mages, Tony D'Angelo and Smock Alley Theater Company

NEW WORK OR ADAPTATION - MUSICAL
David H. Bell & Jeremy Cohen - "The Bowery Boys" - Marriott Theatre
David H. Bell & Keith Dworkin - "The Boys from Syracuse" - Drury Lane Oakbrook
Josh Schmidt, Jan Tranen & Austin Pendleton - "A Minister's Wife" - Writers' Theatre

DIRECTOR - PLAY
Randall Arney - "The Seafarer" - Steppenwolf Theatre Company
Nick Bowling - "The History Boys" - TimeLine Theatre Company
David Cromer - "Picnic" - Writers' Theatre
Sean Graney - "The Troublesome Reign and Lamentable Death of King Edward II…" - Chicago Shakespeare Theater
Ron OJ Parsons - "The Piano Lesson" - Court Theatre
John Tillinger - "Don't Dress for Dinner" - The British Stage Company
Alison C. Vesely - "A Moon for the Misbegotten" - First Folio Theatre
Rachel Walshe - "These Shining Lives" - Rivendell Theatre Ensemble
Kate Whoriskey - "Ruined" - Goodman Theatre and Manhattan Theatre Club

DIRECTOR - MUSICAL
David H. Bell - "The Boys from Syracuse" - Drury Lane Oakbrook
Michael Halberstam - "A Minister's Wife" - Writers' Theatre
Charles Newell - "Caroline, or Change" - Court Theatre
Marc Robin - "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" - Marriott Theatre
Rachel Rockwell - "Miss Saigon" - Drury Lane Oakbrook

DIRECTOR - REVUE
Gerald Alessandrini & William Selby - Forbidden Broadway: Dances with the Stars" - John Freedson, Harriet Yellin and Margaret Cotter
Matt Hovde - America:  All Better!" - The Second City
Matt Hovde - Studs Terkel's Not Working" - The Second City e.t.c.

ACTOR IN A PRINCIPAL ROLE - PLAY
Maury Cooper - "Buried Child" - Shattered Globe Theatre
Russell G. Jones - "Ruined" - Goodman Theatre and Manhattan Theatre Club
Timothy Edward Kane - "Rock ‘n' Roll" - Goodman Theatre
Larry Neumann, Jr. - "A Moon for the Misbegotten" - First Folio Theatre
William L. Peterson - "Blackbird" - Victory Gardens Theater
Robert Stella - "Amadeus" - Chicago Shakespeare Theater

ACTOR IN A PRINCIPAL ROLE  - MUSICAL
Joseph Anthony Foronda - "Miss Saigon" - Drury Lane Oakbrook
Sean Fortunato - "Curtains" - Drury Lane Oakbrook
Nick Garrison - "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" - American Theater Company
Brian Sears - "The Bowery Boys" - Marriott Theatre
Richard Strimer - "Crazy for You" - Theatre at the Center

ACTRESS IN A PRINCIPAL ROLE - PLAY
Janet Ulrich Brooks - "Not Enough Air" - TimeLine Theatre Company
Saidah Arrika Ekulona - "Ruined" - Goodman Theatre and Manhattan Theatre Club
Mary Beth Fisher - "Rock ‘n' Roll" - Goodman Theatre
Kirsten Fitzgerald - "Pumpgirl" - A Red Orchid Theatre
Mattie Hawkinson - "Blackbird" - Victory Gardens Theater
Peggy Roeder - "Truman Capote's A Christmas Memory & The Thanksgiving Visitor" - Provision Theater
Rebecca Spence - These Shining Lives" - Rivendell Theatre Ensemble

ACTRESS IN A PRINCIPAL ROLE - MUSICAL
E. Faye Butler - "Caroline, or Change" - Court Theatre
McKinley Carter - "John and Jen" - Apple Tree Theatre
Mary Ernster - "The Light in the Piazza" - Marriott Theatre
Mary Ernster - "Wings" - Apple Tree Theatre
Hollis Resnik - "Grey Gardens" - Northlight Theatre

SOLO PERFORMANCE
Taylor Mac - "The Young Ladies of . . ." - About Face Theatre
Max McLean - "Mark's Gospel" - Fellowship for the Performing Arts
Tom Mula - "Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol" - Theater Wit
Gwendolyn Whiteside - "The K of D:  An Urban Legend" - The Route 66 Theatre Company

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE - PLAY
Lance Baker - "Mauritius" - Northlight Theatre
Jake Cohen - "Up" - Steppenwolf Theatre Company
Jon Michael Hill - "The Tempest" - Steppenwolf Theatre Company
Ross Lehman - "Twelfth Night" - Chicago Shakespeare Theater
Ron Rains - "The Quiet Man Tales" - Libby Adler Mages, Tony D'Angelo and Smock Alley Theater Company
Alex Weisman - The History Boys" - TimeLine Theatre Company
Larry Yando - Twelfth Night" - Chicago Shakespeare Theater

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE - MUSICAL
Malcolm Durning - "Caroline, or Change" - Court Theatre
Sean Fortunato - "The Producers" - Theatre at the Center
Levi Kreis - "Million Dollar Quartet" - Dee Gee Theatricals, John Cossette Productions, and Northern Lights, Inc.
Dennis Moench - "All Shook Up" - Marriott Theatre
Max Quinlan - "The Light in the Piazza" - Marriott Theatre
Alan Schmuckler - "A Minister's Wife" - Writers' Theatre
Bernie Yvon - "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" - Marriott Theatre

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE - PLAY
Janet Ulrich Brooks - "Weekend" - TimeLine Theatre Company
Hillary Clemens - "Picnic" - Writers' Theatre
Linda Gehringer - "The Crowd You're In With" - Goodman Theatre
Spencer Kayden - "Don't Dress for Dinner" - The British Stage Company
Eileen Niccolai - "The Little Foxes" - Shattered Globe Theatre
Roxanne Reese - "Magnolia" - Goodman Theatre

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE - MUSICAL
Liz Baltes - "A Minister's Wife" - Writers' Theatre
Melanie Brezill - "Caroline, or Change" - Court Theatre
Alene Robertson - "Mame" - Drury Lane Oakbrook
Summer Smart - "The Light in the Piazza" - Marriott Theatre
Laura E. Taylor - "The Producers" - Theatre at the Center
Nancy Voigts - "Curtains" - Drury Lane Oakbrook

ACTOR IN A REVUE
Mark David Kaplan - "Forbidden Broadway: Dances with the Stars" - John Freedson, Harriet Yellin, and Margaret Cotter
George Andrew Wolff - "Side by Side by Sondheim" - Light Opera Works Second Stage

ACTRESS IN A REVUE
Amanda Blake Davis - "Studs Terkel's Not Working" - The Second City e.t.c.
Anne Gunn - "Side by Side by Sondheim" - Light Opera Works Second Stage
Leisa Mather - "Forbidden Broadway: Dances with the Stars" - John Freedson, Harriet Yellin, and Margaret Cotter

SCENIC DESIGN - LARGE
Christopher Ash - "Pump Boys & Dinettes" - Drury Lane Oakbrook
Brian Sidney Bembridge - "The Maids" - Writers' Theatre
Linda Buchanan - "Boleros for the Disenchanted" - Goodman Theatre
Kevin Depinet - "The Crowd You're In With" - Goodman Theatre
Jack Magaw - "Picnic" - Writers' Theatre
Lucy Osborne - "Twelfth Night" - Chicago Shakespeare Theate

SCENIC DESIGN - MIDSIZE
Brian Sidney Bembridge - "The History Boys" - TimeLine Theatre Company
Melania Lancy - "The Little Foxes" - Shattered Globe Theatre
Angela Miller - "A Moon for the Misbegotten" - First Folio Theatre
Courtney O'Neill - "Talk Radio" - The Gift Theatre Company
Keith Pitts - "Weekend" - TimeLine Theatre Company

COSTUME DESIGN - LARGE
Mara Blumenfeld - "The Arabian Nights" - Lookingglass Theatre Company
Dona Granata - "Turn of the Century" - Goodman Theatre
Virgil Johnson - "Amadeus" - Chicago Shakespeare Theater
Lucy Osborne - "Twelfth Night" - Chicago Shakespeare Theater
Tatjana Radisic - "Mame" - Drury Lane Oakbrook

COSTUME DESIGN - MIDSIZE
Rachel Laritz - "The Voysey Inheritance" - Remy Bumppo Theatre Company
Bill Morey - "Candide" - Porchlight Music Theatre Chicago
Alison Siple - "The Marriage of Figaro" - Remy Bumppo Theatre Company

SOUND DESIGN - MIDSIZE
Joe Court - "The Unseen" - A Red Orchid Theatre
Andrew Hansen - "Not Enough Air" - TimeLine Theatre Company
Lindsay Jones - "The K of D: An Urban Legend" - The Route 66 Theatre Company

LIGHTING DESIGN - LARGE
Christopher Akerlind - "Rock 'n' Roll" - Goodman Theatre
John Horan - "Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde" - Northlight Theatre
James Ingalls - "Kafka on the Shore" - Steppenwolf Theatre
Natasha Katz - "Turn of the Century" - Goodman Theatre
Jesse Klug - "Miss Saigon" - Drury Lane Oakbrook
Philip S. Rosenberg - "Amadeus" - Chicago Shakespeare Theater

LIGHTING DESIGN - MIDSIZE
Matthew Gawryk - "The Unseen" - A Red Orchid Theatre
Jeremy Getz - "El Grito del Bronx" - Collaboraction and Teatro Vista i/a/w Goodman Theatre
Shelley Strasser Holland - "The Glass Menagerie" - Shattered Globe Theatre
Jesse Klug - "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" - American Theater Company
Tyler Micoleau - "The Screwtape Letters" - Fellowship for the Performing Art

CHOREOGRAPHY
David H. Bell - "The Boys from Syracuse" - Drury Lane Oakbrook
Brenda Didier - "Once on this Island" - Porchlight Music Theatre Chicago
Linda Fortunato - "Crazy for You" - Theatre at the Center
Matt Raftery - "The Bowery Boys" - Marriott Theatre
Marc Robin - "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" - Marriott Theatre

ORIGINAL INCIDENTAL MUSIC
Andrew Hansen - "Not Enough Air" - TimeLine Theatre Company
Alaric Jans - "Twelfth Night" - Chicago Shakespeare Theater
Dominic Kanza - "Ruined" - Goodman Theatre and Manhattan Theatre Club

MUSIC DIRECTION
Richard Carsey - "A Minister's Wife" - Writers' Theatre
Eugene Dizon - "Candide" - Porchlight Music Theatre Chicago
Roberta Duchak - "Miss Saigon" - Drury Lane Oakbrook
Michael Mahler - "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" - Marriott Theatre
Ryan T. Nelson - "The Light in the Piazza" - Marriott Theatre
Doug Peck - "Caroline, or Change" - Court Theatre
Doug Peck - "Wings" - Apple Tree Theatre
Malcolm Ruhl - "Pump Boys & Dinettes" - Drury Lane Oakbrook

ARTISTIC SPECIALIZATION
Ned Mochel - Fight Choreography - "On An Average Day" - The Route 66 Theatre Company
Steve Tolin - Special Effects - "The Lieutenant of Inishmore" - Northlight Theatre
Mike Tutaj - Video Design - "Jon" - Collaboraction
Mike Tutaj - Film & Video Design - "Tomorrow Morning" - Hillary A. Williams, LLC

"Experiencing the buzz Dael's powerful, haunting performance generated in Washington, D.C. while I was in town directing King Lear, I knew that Chicago needed to see Stoop Stories," said Artistic Director Robert Falls. "There is no other living American artist quite like Dael, whose astonishing body of muscular, vivid, lyrical work gives voice to characters whose stories are rarely heard. I am delighted to welcome Dael and her incredible director, my friend Jo Bonney, to the Goodman with this fantastic new play."

In Stoop Stories, Orlandersmith combines theater, poetry, music and performance art in a powerful, sizzling, fierce symphony of the diverse voices that make up her neighborhood—people drawn from her life and from her imagination. "There are a few places where people really pour out their souls: in beauty shops, barber shops, and sitting outside on stoops," said Orlandersmith. "I grew up in Harlem and the South Bronx, and hung out on the Lower East Side and the East Village. In those places you'd hear a lot of different voices and see different communities, backgrounds and races. All of these people unite on the stoop. That's where you find out who they are, as individuals. I wanted to look at that world in this play." The New Yorker has described her work as "passionate and full of insight" and The Washington Post noted, "One cup of Orlandersmith is worth a gallon of what most other monologists serve up."

Stoop Stories will run September 12 - October 11 in the Goodman's Owen Bruner Theatre. Tickets are $10 - $40 and are currently on sale at GoodmanTheatre.org. Tickets can also be purchased at the box office (170 North Dearborn) or by phone at 312-443-3800.

Shakespeare's first great stage success, and one of his most enduring, Richard III has entertained audiences around the world for centuries. As the final chapter of the playwright's sweeping chronicle of the English Wars of the Roses, Richard III dramatizes the life of one of the most diabolical and manipulative, yet charming and witty villains in Shakespeare's canon. Embittered by his own physical deformities, the power-hungry Richard will stop at nothing to gain control of England, seducing and murdering his way to the throne. Since its stage premiere in 1592 with Shakespeare's colleague Richard Burbage in the title role, audiences worldwide have been fascinated by Richard III. The American tradition of translating Shakespeare's works to film began with AndrÉ Calmettes and James Keane's 1912 silent version of Richard III—believed to be the oldest known complete surviving film made in America. The play continued to be referenced in films such as Neil Simon's 1977 comedy, The Goodbye Girl, in which Elliott, performed in the film by Richard Dreyfuss, is cast in a production of Richard III and asked to perform an outlandish stereotype of the title character. Al Pacino explored the complexity and the physicality of the title character in his 1996 documentary, Looking for Richard.

"Richard is one of Shakespeare's most brilliant characters," says Artistic Director Barbara Gaines. "As he seduces us as his audience, we become complicit in his crimes. He plays with us, toys with us, manipulates us. We know we're being manipulated but it's such an enjoyable ride and he's such an interesting character that we don't care."

Richard III runs September 23 through November 22, 2009 in the Courtyard Theater. Tickets are $44-$75 and may be purchased by calling Chicago Shakespeare Theater's Box Office at 312-595-5600 or by visiting the Theater's website at www.chicagoshakes.com.]]> http://www.theatreinchicago.com/news.php?articleID=528 http://www.theatreinchicago.com/news.php?articleID=528 Mon, 24 Aug 2009 15:38:41 -0500 Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus' Mamma Mia!, the smash hit musical based on the songs of ABBA, returns to Chicagoland in 2010! Performances begin on January 19, 2010 and run through January 24, 2010 at the Rosemont Theatre.

Seen by over 40 million people around the world, Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus' global smash hit musical Mamma Mia! is celebrating 7 sold-out years at the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway, and is currently playing a record-breaking engagement on its National Tour in the United States.  The original West End production has played more than 4,000 performances, an international tour has played in more than 40 foreign cities, and the blockbuster feature film adaptation, produced by Judy Craymer and Gary Goetzman, is the most successful movie musical of all time grossing $600 million worldwide.

An independent, single mother who owns a small hotel on an idyllic Greek island, Donna is about to let go of Sophie, the spirited daughter she's raised alone. For Sophie's wedding, Donna has invited her two lifelong best girlfriends—practical and no-nonsense Rosie and wealthy, multi-divorcee Tanya - from her one-time backing band, Donna and the Dynamos. But Sophie has secretly invited three guests of her own.

On a quest to find the identity of her father to walk her down the aisle, she brings back three men from Donna's past to the Mediterranean paradise they visited 20 years earlier. Over 24 chaotic, magical hours, new love will bloom and old romances will be rekindled on this lush island full of possibilities.

Inspired by the storytelling magic of ABBA's songs from "Dancing Queen" and "S.O.S." to "Money, Money, Money" and "Take a Chance on Me," Mamma Mia! is a celebration of mothers and daughters, old friends and new family found.

Tickets for performances go on sale Friday, December 4 at 10:00 a.m. and range in price from $30 - $80. Tickets are available at the Rosemont Theatre Box Office (5400 North River Road, Rosemont), through the Broadway In Chicago Ticket Line at (800) 775-2000, at all Ticketmaster ticket or online at ticketmaster.com. 

Legendary producer Felix Artifex gets in way over his fast-talking head when he takes on Mistakes Were Made, the first World Premiere of his long and chequered career. Felix's project is a gargantuan epic of the French Revolution, which he thinks is going to be his ticket to professional and personal redemption.  Mistakes Were Made is a compact gem of philosophy and funny-business from Craig Wright, the Emmy-nominated writer of Six Feet Under and the award-winning playwright of Lady, Grace, and The Pavilion.

"It's about finding a balance between freedom and responsibility — in revolutionary France, in a post-Bush America, and in ourselves as individual human beings; and, given the fact that the production team includes Dexter Bullard, Michael Shannon, Mierka Girten and A Red Orchid Theatre, it's also about as cool a world premiere as a playwright could ever hope for," comments Craig Wright.

Director Dexter Bullard adds, "When I read Mistakes Were Made, I laughed so hard my sides hurt. The play is touching and hits right on the head of this idea we all face: the cruelty of how the world just can't seem to ever give us what we want.  With the history and admiration I share with my collaborators and A Red Orchid, this play is a labor of love."

"How is this actually all happening?  It has been two years since we first fell on the floor with laughter reading Mistakes Were Made.  Last February, after Craig, Michael and Dexter attended a performance of The Unseen at A Red Orchid, they said to me 'let's do it.'  As we focus this year on the people and the process that make us A Red Orchid, we are honored to have both Craig and Dexter returning to play in our house and thrilled to open our season with this world premiere," says Artistic Director, Kirsten Fitzgerald.

For more information call 312-943-8722 or visit www.aredorchidtheatre.org.

When the entertainment doesn't show up for the Class of 1958 prom, The Wonderettes step in to save the day.  Between belting out 50s and 60s favorites like "It's My Party," "Mr. Sandman" and "Dream Lover," the girls trade gossip about high school hijinks and teenage romance as they vie for the title of Prom "Queen of Your Dreams." This nostalgic pop musical is currently one of the biggest hits off-Broadway.

"To commemorate Northlight's 35th Anniversary, we are throwing a bit of a party to kick-off the season," says BJ Jones.  "Northlight's loyal audience is certainly a secret to our success and we wanted a production that involved them, something that offered a joyous and ebullient reminiscence, and The Marvelous Wonderettes is certainly all of that."

Writer and director Roger Bean, who was inspired by his mother (a varsity song leader and a member of a singing trio), adds, "I didn't want a songbook featuring the music of only one band, group, or composer, but a full scrapbook of musical memories that people would recognize from their youth. I wanted to take people back to a time when our hopes and dreams were wide-eyed and just a little bit simpler.”

Tickets for The Marvelous Wonderettes, $39- $54, are available by phone, 847-673-6300, or online at northlight.org. Young Adult tickets (25 and Under) are $10 (one per person with valid ID). Tickets for the opening night performance and post-show reception with the cast on Sunday, September 27, are $75.

A nostalgic and powerful portrait of life in turn of the century America , Ragtime is based on E.L. Doctorow's distinguished novel. The musical intertwines the stories of a Harlem musician, a wealthy New York family and a Latvian Jewish immigrant. Ragtime poignantly explores history's timeless contradictions of wealth and poverty, freedom and prejudice, hope and despair, and love and hate. Featuring a Tony Award winning book by Terrence McNally, and a Tony Award-winning score by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens, Ragtime combines diverse fictional characters with several famous figures of the era to create a stirring musical portrayal of turn-of-the 20th century America. Directed by Rachel Rockwell, director of last season's smash hit production of Miss Saigon, Ragtime will preview March 18, open March 24, and run through May 23.

Previewing June 3, opening June 9 and running through August 1, Drury Lane Oakbrook will produce Sugar, directed by Jeff-award winning director Jim Corti. Corti directed Drury Lane Oakbrook's sensational production of Sweet Charity, which earned him a Jeff Award and Meet Me in St. Louis, which was also nominated for a Jeff Award. Corti is also currently directing Drury Lane Oakbrook's production of the Tony Award winning musical Cabaret. Sugar originally debuted as the widely known film Some Like it Hot, starring Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, and the blonde goddess, Marilyn Monroe. The film then was transformed into the musical Sugar, which opened at the Majestic Theater in 1972, running for 505 performances and earning four Tony Award nominations. In this side-splitting musical, two struggling musicians witness what appears to be the St. Valentine's Day Massacre and try to find a way out of the city under the threat of the mob. Unfortunately, they are in no position to finance such a move. Desperate times call for desperate measure and the pair take on the only job available—as an all-female band heading to Florida . The cross-dressing frauds board a train and ride right into a world of trouble.

Since its opening, thousands of audiences have enjoyed the hilarious Broadway musical Hot Mikado, which is an adaptation of the classic Gilbert and Sullivan tale, The Mikado set in the 1940s. This production will be directed by the writer of the book and lyrics himself, multi-Jeff Award winner and Helen Hayes Award winner David H. Bell. In Hot Mikado, previewing August 12, opening August 18 and running through October 3, Nanki-Poo, the son of the Mikado, disguises himself and seeks out the lovely Yum-Yum, only to discover that she is to marry Koko, the Lord High executioner. Koko is required by the Mikado to execute one person within the month, and Nanki-Poo offers himself up as long as he can spend one month married to Yum-Yum. What ensues is a highly amusing web of discoveries and circumstances that make the comedic performance one for the whole family to enjoy.

Tony Award winning musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, will preview October 14, open October 20 and run through December 19. The production will be directed by Bill Jenkins, who has directed multiple productions throughout Chicago and is currently the Chair of Ball State University's Department of Theatre and Dance. Set in Oregon in 1850, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers is the story of Adam Pontipee, a man who simply goes to town looking for a bride. He finds Milly working in a restaurant and convinces her to marry him. Milly's ecstasy quickly sours when she finds she is to also take care of Adam's six unkempt, burly brothers. Deciding to make the marriage work, Milly sets a plan into motion to marry off the brothers, including teaching them how to court women. This plan turns out to be much more difficult than originally anticipated and leads to a series of madcap events. A delightfully funny love story, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers received a Tony Award for Best Original Score and began its life as a beloved 1954 MGM movie musical that has only improved in its stage adaptation.

The Chicago regional premiere of Spamalot, the side-splitting musical comedy "lovingly ripped off " from the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, will preview December 31, open January 6, and run through March 13, 2011. With a book and lyrics by Eric Idle and an entirely new score created by Idle and John Du Prez, Spamalot will be directed by Drury Lane Oakbrook's Artistic Director William Osetek. Osetek has directed numerous productions at Drury Lane Oakbrook including the annual holiday favorite, A Christmas Carol. The multi-Tony Award winning Spamalot debuted on Broadway in 2005 and recently made its final appearance after 1,574 hysterical performances. Telling the legendary tale of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table and their quest for the Holy Grail, Spamalot features a chorus line of dancing divas and knights, flatulent Frenchmen, killer rabbits and one legless knight.

For reservations, phone 630-530-0111 or call TicketMaster at 312-559-1212 or visit www.drurylaneoakbrook.com.

How exactly did this happen? Artistic Director James Palmer remembers one way the company bypassed much of the time it takes ensembles to forge mutual trust and a shared vocabulary. "We spent probably two years in what I consider the dorkiest endeavor in theater history," Palmer explains. "We said, 'we're going to read two books on theater theory at a time and lock ourselves in a room for three hours to talk and fight it out there, so when we get back in the rehearsal hall we're on the same page.'"

The rehearsal hall, in this case, is also the performance space and an important aspect of what makes Red Tape Theatre unique. Indeed, the company is in some ways well understood as a series of solutions for and interpretations of its unusual home — the wide, open 2 nd floor gymnasium of St. Peter's Episcopal Church. Their recent adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's Enemy of the People , for instance, used its three acts to showcase three different stylistic and structural approaches to the space. First a typical "fourth-wall" naturalistic presentation, second an environmental exploration of the lobby that turned intermission into a town hall meeting, and third a "promenade"-style finale that lead the standing audience through the set of the first act to reveal a dark and stylized arena for the play's climactic final moments. Palmer admits the company has had varied success in navigating its own resources, but is proud of the lessons they've learned and hopes that their different approaches have contributed to the audience's experience of the company and its work, "There's anticipation when you're waiting for those steel doors to open," he says, "because you never know what you're going to walk into."

One of the company's long-term goals is to continue to explore these possibilities by encouraging playwrights to write specifically with Red Tape Theatre – its ensemble and its home - in mind. Toward this, Red Tape sponsors its Fresh Eyes Project, a sensitive if almost anti-commercial approach to new-play development in which the customary culminating staging is not prepared for an audience. "Typically," according to Palmer, "you bring a playwright in [for a workshop] with a director and actors and there's a staged reading at the end. The problem is that two weeks before that public reading the director has to stop worrying about the playwright and start thinking as a director getting a show ready for an audience." Red Tape's solution has been to keep this final performance private and so dedicate the entire workshop to the writer and to the growth of the script.

Which is not to say that plays developed by the Fresh Eyes Project never see the light of day. The first play of Red Tape's upcoming season (not yet announced) came out of this process, and Palmer looks forward to a day in which the majority, if not all, of Red Tape's productions will originate in the Fresh Eyes Project. Palmer places this day about five years into the future, but he insists, "we're not rushing it...One thing that's very important to us is timeliness. We'll be ready."

To find out more about Red Tape Theatre and to be the first to catch their season announcement, you can go to their website, follow their blog , or become a fan on Facebook.

Benno Nelson

You can read more of Theatre In Chicago contributor Benno Nelson's writing at The@er (http://the-at-er.blogspot.com)
]]> http://www.theatreinchicago.com/news.php?articleID=523 http://www.theatreinchicago.com/news.php?articleID=523 Mon, 10 Aug 2009 08:38:26 -0500 Mary-Arrchie Theatre Co. is wrapping up its last 22 seasons by inviting any and all theater groups and performing individuals into its performing space at Angel Island, 735 W. Sheridan to celebrate the anniversary of the Woodstock Music and Art Fair of 1969. Abbie Hoffman Died For Our Sins was inspired by the need to do something to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Woodstock . Now it is the 40th Anniversary and there is an even louder outcry for celebration. This is the 21st annual Abbie Hoffman Died For Our Sins. They have strived to recreate the spirit of Woodstock over the years by bringing some 40-50 different theater groups and performing individuals together for 3 days of non-stop theatrical entertainment and nothing but theatrical entertainment. This year they are ending their 23rd season with the festival happening on August 14, 15, and 16.

This year's event involves many of the mainstays of past festivals with many new groups and individuals. The festivities begin at 2:00pm on Friday, August 14 when they all gather at the Daley Plaza and at 3:00pm and embark on a peaceful march back to Angel Island, home of Mary-Arrchie Theatre Co. for the opening ceremonies at 7:00pm with Richard Cotovsky's portrayal of Abbie Hoffman to bless a non-stop weekend focused on theaters, individuals, and audience members exchanging ideas and resources and watching and performing some spiritually uplifting, kick-ass theater ending literally sometime in the wee hours of Monday, August 17th.

Some of the highlights of this years festival include Airport Lounge Ensemble, AgitPopTheater, Arsonists In Residence, Bald Sopranos, The Band of 1000 Names, Black Forest, Blackballed Theatre, Bruised Orange Theater Co., The Building Stage, Camenae Theater Company, Chicago Fusion Theatre, The Chicago Grand Guignol, Clock Productions, Democracy Burlesque, Dramageddon, Elevation Strange Productions, The Factory Theater, Famous In The Future, Fury Theater Co., The Gentlemen Follies, hANNAh Prod., Hippo Horsey Donkey Monkey, Jack Tamburri, James/Michalek Productions, Junkyard Dogs, L'il Howlin' Wolf, Lunchbox Productions, The Watchtower, Nothing Without A Company, The Occam's Razor Project, The Plagiarists, Playing Space Theatre, Rare Terra, Red Ink Theatre, Revolution Theatre Company, Stockyards Theatre Project Presents Then Unmentionables, The Sweet Life of Zach and Paul, Team Venture Productions, Theatre O Th Absurd Company, Trained Monkey Productions and of course the hosts of the event Mary-Arrchie Theatre Co.

Tickets for the event are $10 for a day pass (come and go all day just make sure you've got your pass) or $25 for a weekend pass (same as day pass only it applies toward the whole weekend). A free vintage Abbie Hoffman T-shirt will be given with all $25 weekend passes.

For more information visit call 773-871-0442 or visit their website at www.maryarrchie.com.

The Second City is also launching their 50th Anniversary microsite this week, featuring alumni photos, video and audio clips - www.secondcity.com/50.

"Beginning this fall, we will honor The Second City - both those who make it a legend as well as those who will keep us legendary," said Andrew Alexander, Proprietor & Executive Producer of The Second City. "At 50, we're toasting our success of staying original and gleefully defying convention all these years."

Beginning as a small cabaret theatre on Chicago 's north side in 1959, The Second City has grown to become a comedy empire - building a robust business based on its core improvisational methodologies. Resident theatres in Chicago and Toronto create topical sketch comedy revues that satirize politics, culture and news of the day. Beyond its stages, The Second City created the foremost school of improvisation-based arts in the world - with training facilities in Chicago, Toronto and Los Angeles that currently enroll over 3000 students; a corporate division works with hundreds of Fortune 500 companies in areas of training, marketing, entertainment and brand services; and The Second City's forays into television and new media include the classic, Emmy-award winning comedy series "SCTV" as well as a number of new productions originating from The Second City Entertainment's offices in Los Angeles.

The Second City is best known as the incubator for North America's best and brightest comedy superstars: Alan Arkin, Ed Asner, Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Peter Boyle, John Candy, Steve Carell, Dan Castellaneta, Stephen Colbert, Chris Farley, Tina Fey, Bonnie Hunt, Robert Klein, Andrea Martin, Elaine May, Jack McBrayer, Bill Murray, Mike Myers, Mike Nichols, Catherine O'Hare, Amy Poehler, Gilda Radner, Harold Ramis, Joan Rivers, Amy Sedaris, Martin Short, Nia Vardalos, Fred Willard and many, many more all have roots extending to The Second City.

Teatro Vista co-founders Eddie Torres and Henry Godinez lamented an absence of Latino voices on Chicago stages when they first met in the late 1980s.  With acuity they realized that this simple fact indicated a complicated web of disenfranchisement. Writers, actors, and audiences all - not only of Latino descent, but any engaged in a multicultural world - were being deprived of stories born of and relevant to Latino culture. Forming Teatro Vista was their effort to change that.

In a city flush with actors and writers looking for work, finding and encouraging an audience has been perhaps the most challenging part of this mission.  "A Latino theater-going person? This person didn't exist in 1989," says Torres, laughing,  "If you don't have an audience then you don't have a demand, and if you don't have a demand then people won't want to make the work."  Twenty years later, Torres says things are changing.  "They're coming out.  It's been a struggle, but every year we continue to exist they come out more and more." 

For those worried about being left out by Teatro Vista's cultural focus, Torres sees inherent multiculturalism in the term Latino.  "What is Latino? All the big world cultures - Indigenous, African, European and Asian - I look at Latinos as a mix of all of these." Torres emphasizes an inclusive mission, "supporting and developing a Latino voice with a global perspective.  Pieces that reflect the culture, but always in a universal way."

Perhaps exemplifying this desire is Teatro Vista's recent success, Our Lady of the Underpass by Tanya Saracho.  This Chicago-centered world premiere was an alternately comic and tender play composed of monologues based on real interviews from April of 2005, when a figure that may have been the Virgin Mary appeared on the concrete wall of the Fullerton Avenue underpass of the Kennedy Expressway.  Praised in the Chicago Tribune as "the sort of story we need onstage," the play took a single event important to Chicago's largely Catholic Latino community as a door into the diverse cultures and individuals that make up the city. "We just happen to be Latino," Torres says, "We think it's as people we're important."

A standout in their history is a staged reading of The Crucible that the company performed at the Court Theatre in 1999.  For a company typically so intent on giving life to new and underrepresented voices, Arthur Miller may seem like a strange choice, but Torres says there is an interest in producing more adaptations and more revivals of "classic" plays with a Teatro Vista twist.  Indeed, just as the Latino experience is relevant to non-Latino audiences, decidedly non-Latino theater (Torres also hinted at upcoming projects involving Ibsen, Chekov, and others) is deeply relevant to the Latino community.  "We want to get those voices out there - that universal voice - and bridge cultural gaps."

Other than a close-knit acting ensemble Teatro Vista does not boast a signature style, opting rather for the flexibility to present a wide range of stories and voices.  "Telling the story honestly is more important than telling the story our way" says Torres.  So it is that this company is focused more on its point of view (the vista in Teatro Vista) than a kind of grand artistic unity.  This flexibility has also helped their ensemble to comfortably collaborate with many of the larger theaters in Chicago. Victory Gardens, the Goodman, Steppenwolf, Next Theatre, Court and many others have partnered with Teatro Vista on productions relevant to the Latino community, in the process offering even broader venues to share their point of view, and give even larger life to so many voices wanting to be heard.

To learn more about these voices and about Teatro Vista's productions and point of view, you can visit their website or become a fan on Facebook.

Benno Nelson

]]> http://www.theatreinchicago.com/news.php?articleID=520 http://www.theatreinchicago.com/news.php?articleID=520 Mon, 27 Jul 2009 07:50:39 -0500 Broadway In Chicago has announced that the 2009 Tony Award-winning Best Musical Billy Elliot the Musical will launch a U.S. national tour with an extended run in Chicago in the spring of 2010.  Featuring music by Elton John, book and lyrics by Lee Hall, choreography by Peter Darling and direction by Stephen Daldry, performances will begin March 2010 at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts, Oriental Theatre (24 West Randolph, Chicago).  

"On behalf of my fellow producers and the entire production team, I am delighted to confirm that the national tour for Billy Elliot the Musical will begin in Chicago in the spring of 2010.  The three and a half year run of Wicked paved the way for us to consider Chicago for an extended production.  We could not have asked for a warmer or more welcoming reception than that which we've received on Broadway, however in our short time in your city we feel we've found Billy Elliot a perfect new home," said Eric Fellner, a producer of the show.

"Chicago has always been one of my favorite cities to play," composer Elton John said.  "And it is my distinct pleasure to share this show that I love so much with a city that has always been very kind to me."  

Billy Elliot the Musical opened on Broadway at the Imperial Theatre (240 West 45th Street) on November 13, 2008 to critical acclaim.  Billy Elliot was the winner of ten 2009 Tony Awards including:

• Best Musical
• Best Book of a Musical (Lee Hall)
• Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (David Alvarez, Trent Kowalik, Kiril Kulish)
• Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Gregory Jbara)
• Best Direction of a Musical (Stephen Daldry)
• Best Choreography (Peter Darling)
• Best Orchestrations (Martin Koch)
• Best Scenic Design of a Musical (Ian MacNeil)
• Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Rick Fisher)
• Best Sound Design of a Musical (Paul Arditti)

The production was the recipient of a total of 35 awards including being named Best Musical by the New York Drama Critics Circle, Drama Desk, Drama League and Outer Critics Circle.

Billy Elliot the Musical is the funny, heartwarming tale of a young boy with a dream, and a celebration of his triumph against the odds.  Set against the historic British miners' strike of the 1980s, the story follows Billy's journey as a boy in a small mining town who, after stumbling across a ballet class while on his way to a boxing lesson, realizes that his future lay not in the boxing ring but on stage as a dancer. 

Tickets are currently on sale to groups of 20 or more by calling Broadway In Chicago Group Sales at 312-977-1710.  The Broadway In Chicago 2010 spring/summer Subscription Series including Billy Elliot the Musical will go on sale in September 2009.  Single tickets will go on sale to the general public in November 2009, and range in price from $28-$100.  A limited number of premium seats will also be available.

The Profiles Theatre season also includes the Midwest premiere of The Mercy Seat by Neil LaBute; the Midwest premiere of Body Awareness by Annie Baker, marking only the second production of this acclaimed new play since its World Premiere at the Atlantic Theatre Company this past season; and Tracy Letts' modern classic Killer Joe, directed by Steppenwolf ensemble member Rick Snyder.

Profiles Theatre is following up its celebrated 20th Anniversary season, which featured new works by acclaimed writers Lee Blessing, Anthony Neilson, Adam Bock and Ellen Fairey.

"Following our third record-breaking extension of Graceland by Ellen Fairey, we're thrilled to be producing a highly anticipated work from Neil LaBute, The Mercy Seat. Considered the first major theatrical response to 9/11, the play has never been seen in the Midwest since its World Premiere at MCC in 2002," says Profiles' Artistic Directors Joe Jahraus and Darrell W. Cox. "Annie Baker is one of the hottest new writers in the country following her Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Nominations for the beautifully written Body Awareness. And following the Pulitzer Prize-Winning and Broadway triumph of Tracy Letts' August: Osage County as well as his Broadway bound Superior Donuts, it's the perfect time to revisit Letts' raw and startling first work, Killer Joe, the kind of dark, bold, unflinching play that is an ideal match for Profiles."

Profiles has renovated its theatre space for the 21st season by installing two spacious restrooms, improved theatre seats and other technical upgrades made possible by a generous grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

The 2009-2010 Profiles season includes:
GRACELAND
By Ellen Fairey
Extended Run: Now through September 13, 2009

Chicago's oldest cemetery is the backdrop for Graceland, the story of four lonely Chicagoans whose lives collide one August weekend while the Blue Angels airshow is in town. As fighter jets buzz the skies from dusk till dawn, estranged brother and sister Sam and Sara try to make sense of their father's recent suicide. Sara's one night stand with Joe, an aging lothario, brings further trouble in the form of Joe's mercurial teenage son, Miles. Graceland is a World Premiere comedic drama about the loneliness of family, the tenderness of strangers and the unexpected benefits of bad decisions.

THE MERCY SEAT
By Neil LaBute
Previews: September 25- September 30, 2009
Run: October 1- November 15, 2009

In a time of national tragedy, the world changes overnight. On September 12, 2001, Ben Harcourt finds himself in the downtown apartment of his lover, Abby Prescott. Over the course of the night, Ben and Abby explore the choices now available to them in an existence different from the one they knew just the day before. LaBute presents the brutal realities of their relationship and explores whether one can be truly opportunistic in a time of universal selflessness.

The Mercy Seat was among the first major theatrical responses to the September 11, 2001 attacks. It premiered at MCC Theater in December 2002 and was both a commercial and critical success, selling out for the length of its run.

This is Profiles Theatre's seventh Midwest Premiere of Mr. LaBute's work following their acclaimed productions of In a Dark Dark House, This is How it Goes and Fat Pig, among others.

KILLER JOE
By Tracy Letts
Previews: January 8- 13, 2010
Run: January 14- February 28, 2010

Killer Joe focuses on the Smith family, a greedy, vindictive clan of Texans who hatch a plan to murder their estranged matriarch to cash in on her insurance policy. Unable to bring themselves to do the deed, they hire Killer Joe Cooper, a full-time cop and part-time contract killer. Once he steps into their trailer, their simple plan quickly spirals out of control.

Written in 1991, the play premiered at the Next Lab Theater in Chicago two years later and was then presented at the 29th Street Rep in NYC. Since then, Killer Joe has been performed in at least 15 countries in 12 different languages. It won top honors at the Edinburgh, Scotland, Fringe Theater Festival in 1994, then played to sellout audiences at London's The Buck and West Theater during a four-month run in which it won the Time Out Award as the Best Play of 1995. Tracy Letts was awarded the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the 2008 Tony Award for Best Play for August: Osage County.

BODY AWARENESS
By Annie Baker
Previews April 23-28, 2010
Runs April 29- June 13, 2010

It's "Body Awareness" week on a Vermont college campus and Phyllis, the organizer, and her partner, Joyce, are hosting one of the guest artists in their home, Frank, a photographer famous for his female nude portraits. Both his presence in the home and his chosen subject instigate tension from the start. Phyllis is furious at his depictions, but Joyce is actually rather intrigued by the whole thing, even going so far as to contemplate posing for him. As Joyce and Phyllis bicker, Joyce's adult son, struggles to express himself physically with heartbreaking results.

Body Awareness received its lauded World Premiere at the Atlantic Theater Company in May 2008. It received a Drama Desk Nomination and Outer Critics Circle Nomination for Outstanding Play. Annie Baker is currently a member of the Ensemble Studio Theater's Youngblood Playwrights Group and she was one of only seven playwrights selected to participate in the 2008 Sundance Institute Theatre Lab.

Ticket prices range from $25- $35. FLEX PASSES offer discounts on the season and are now available at www.profilestheatre.org or 773-549-1815. A Three Ticket Pass is $80; Six Ticket Passes are available for $150 (a savings of over $60) when ordered before August 31, 2009. Tickets can be used in any combination of quantity and date throughout the season with advance reservations.

For more information about Profiles and its 21th Season, visit www.profilestheatre.org.

It started innocently enough. One day while working as the interim Artistic Director of American Theatre Company, Tovar received a call from a friend out in Los Angeles . Johnny Clark of the VS. Theatre Company told Tovar that if he ever got the rights to On an Average Day , John Kolvenbach's gritty, comic sibling drama, that Tovar needed to come out to LA to play one of the leads. Tovar genially agreed, but was surprised when not too much later Clark returned the call telling him to pack his bags.

The show was a smash success and they agreed it would be only fair to take the play now out to Tovar's home of Chicago and produce the play here. When ATC was unable to produce it, Tovar did what comes so naturally to Chicago theater makers and started his own company. The name for this company, the only to actively unite the theater communities of Chicago and Los Angeles, came naturally: Route 66.

The show On An Average Day was produced at Victory Gardens in the summer of 2008 to packed houses and critical acclaim (the Chicago Tribune called the show "an auspicious, hopeful debut,") and after the goodwill generated by this success, it seemed silly to do anything but keep it going. So Tovar was left with the question, "Ok, we have a theater company: what do you want to do now?"

The answer has come in a deep dedication to the community that fostered this company and the journey that inspired it. "We're not kids," Tovar insists, "I'm 38. We're not just trying to 'put on a show,' there's a lot more at stake." Of course, part of those stakes will be just living up to their name, "When people see a Route 66 road sign it evokes a kind of feeling: adventure, risk, Americana . The shows that we've done evoke a feeling of a road less traveled. They're not concept based, they're just honest: real people and their stories."

Their brief track record-three fully produced shows in just under one year-asserts their dedication to honesty. Bolstered by simple yet artful design and the excellent acting of their experienced company members Route 66 shows examine the little events and revelations that change and define American lives. From the small town superstitions of the recent The K of D in which a single actress portrays a whole town of characters, to real life memoirs in I'm Spiritual Dammit! , Jennifer Wigels' one-woman show based on her life as a broadcaster, or the searing sibling rivalry of On an Average Day -the heart of these stories is the people who tell them.

For the future, Route 66 is hopeful. The upcoming musical High Fidelity in a Chicago-style update, is planning on an "open run", meaning they'll keep performing as long as audiences keep coming. Whether this is starry-eyed optimism or the kind of calloused determination that moved so many families along the great highway will remain to be seen. Tovar smiles, "We're just trying to one thing at a time. For once."

To learn more about Route 66 Theatre Company, check out their website or become their fan on Facebook.

Benno Nelson

You can read more of Theatre In Chicago contributor Benno Nelson's writing at The@er (http://the-at-er.blogspot.com)]]> http://www.theatreinchicago.com/news.php?articleID=517 http://www.theatreinchicago.com/news.php?articleID=517 Mon, 13 Jul 2009 07:35:44 -0500

To the rescue: TheatreInChicago.com is pleased to announce the launch of their Auditions Page, a comprehensive listing of the Equity and Non-equity theatre and film auditions in the Chicagoland area. After numerous requests, TheatreInChicago.com is making this feature available, adding to its database of current and upcoming shows, news, reviews, and much more, making TheatreInChicago.com a true one-stop site for everything Chicago theatre-related.

The audition listings are continuously updated and easy to read and include all the details an actor needs to know, such as audition material, time commitment, synopsis/character breakdown, and locations and contact info. They are sub-divided into Equity, Non-equity, Dance, and Film listings (a non-actor Jobs heading for technicians, directors, etc. is coming soon).

As the Auditions Page is a brand new feature of TheatreInChicago.com, it is still in the "beta" stages, and improvements are constantly being made. In addition to the auditions and jobs postings, also planned is a "Resources" page for actors to find headshot photographers, classes, coaches, and all the other networking tools they need to succeed.

TheatreInChicago.com also welcomes any additional suggestions you may have for improvements by emailing them at: auditions@theatreinchicago.com. Theatre companies who wish to have an audition posted may also contact us at this address.

The link to the Auditions Page can be found on the main TheatreInChicago.com homepage, in the left-hand navigator column under "Auditions". No sign-up is necessary. In addition, check out the other features of TheatreInChicago.com, including reviews, news, maps, podcasts, and upcoming shows. With all this and more, TheatreInChicago.com is Your Source for What's On Stage in the Chicago Area.

A Theater Oobleck show, like the loose and heady Strauss at Midnight- a comic nightmare of The Odd Couple in an alternate past, where only Leo Strauss and Saul Bellow can set things right- is born out of a remarkably individual process which contributes Oobleck's signature style and subject matter. In addition to an ensemble composed of performers who also write, design, and share administrative duties for the company (which lacks an artistic director), there are two aspects of the Oobleck process that define their corner of Chicago Theater.

First, every Oobleck show is an original production generated from within the company, and they tend to adhere to a common stylistic recipe. Mickle Maher, a co-founder of the company who agreed to act as a spokesperson for this article, recalls a revealing workshop at Columbia College led by himself and David Isaacson, another Oobleck co-founder. The auditioning students were asked to prepare "a ten minute play with three characters: someone from their family, a figure from mythology, and a figure from history." Says Maher, "that's kind of (an oversimplification of) what an Oobleck show is. It welcomes things from all those realms." They tend to be comic and they tend to be political, but Maher says "There's no effort to exclude. Our nature is really to try to stuff everything into the bag."

The second important trait of the Oobleck process is found in rehearsal: all Oobleck shows are produced without a director. Actors collaborate with each other and the writer (who ideally is also performing in the piece) to bring the script to vibrant life. Maher admits that this is no longer a programmatic rejection of directors in general, it's just another way of doing things (Maher himself holds an M.F.A. in directing). But he is quick to describe the virtues of the approach. By taking full advantage of the talents of everyone onstage, rather than subordinating many voices to a single one, new worlds of ideas open up, "If it's done well and everyone's engaged and speaking their minds as much as possible, and as politely as possible, then when you have a problem onstage- when you have conflicting ideas- nine times out of ten the synthesis of those ideas and the compromise of those ideas is not actually a compromise at all: it's a better idea ."

If these differences- a kind of script and a kind of rehearsal- distinguish the process of creating a Theater Oobleck production, what distinguishes the show itself? Maher suggests that, "despite the ‘messiness' of our shows, there is a certain energy of creation that is absent from a directed work. The collaboration is at its foundation just fundamentally different." Maher compares Theater Oobleck's work to the films of Jean-Luc Goddard, and also to Kung Fu Hustle and the Marx Brothers, and admits that Oobleck does not create work with a specific audience in mind other than "anybody" or "a reasonably curious person."

Theater Oobleck tries to make it easy to satisfy this reasonable curiosity by making all of their shows "pay-what-you-can," meaning that the price of admission is only ever as much as an audience member can pay. "It's really important to the kind of work we do," says Maher, "we're asking people to take a risk.

For more information on Theater Oobleck check out their website, become a fan on Facebook, or follow them on Twitter.

Benno Nelson

You can read more of Theatre In Chicago contributor Benno Nelson's writing at The@er (http://the-at-er.blogspot.com)

Full Storefrontal

Read the previous articles in Benno Nelson's "Full Storefrontal" series that focuses on small theatre companies around Chicago:

The Strange, Full Dream of Dog & Pony
Strawdog Stands the Test of Time

High Fidelity...The Musical is based on the 2000 film starring John Cusack. Originally a 1995 British novel by Nick Hornby, High Fidelity has become a cult classic around the world. The show features music by recent Tony Award winner Tom Kitt and Amanda Green and a book written by Tony and Pulitzer Prize winner David Lindsay-Abaire.

High Fidelity...The Musical follows Rob, the thirty-something owner of Championship Vinyl, a beloved Chicago record store. When his current relationship with girlfriend Laura goes south, Rob enlists the help of his two quirky clerks to expound on the intricacies of life and music while revisiting his former relationships to find out where he went wrong.

The Route 66 Theatre Company presents a "Flight of the Conchords" approach to the show, featuring the talents of Michael Mahler and Jonathan Wagner as "Dick" and "Barry" who will double as an onstage band with Derek Hasenstab (as T.M.P.M.I.T.W) and Jim Barclay on the drums. High Fidelity...The Musical also stars Jeff Award-winning actor and Route 66 Theatre Company Artistic Director Stef Tovar as Rob. The Pipers Alley Theater setting provides patrons with an intimate bar atmosphere to enjoy this Chicago premiere event.

Directed and choreographed by Peter Amster and with musical direction by Diana Lawrence, High Fidelity…The Musical features an all-star cast of Equity and non-Equity talent with Dana Tretta as Liz, Tricia Small as Laura, Michael Weber as Ian, Christin Boulette as Marie LaSalle/Sarah Kendrew, Blair Robertson as Alison Ashworth/Anna, Katie Jeep as Jackie Allen, Maggie Chambers as Charlie Nicholson, Kelli Maier as Penny Hardwick/Backup Singer and Kevin Crowley and Ian Paul Custer as Mohawk Guy and Futon Guy, respectively.

High Fidelity will run Thursdays and Fridays at 8 p.m.; Saturdays at 5:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. Tickets range in price from $29.50-$39.50. For tickets or more information visit www.route66theatre.org or call Pipers Alley Theater at 312-664-8844.

A special benefit performance honoring Commissioner of Cultural Affairs Lois Weisberg will be held in the theater on Tuesday, July 14, 2009. Event highlights will include a pre-show reception in the Lookingglass Lobby, gala performance of Our Future Metropolis, and post-show party hosted by EVE at 840 N Wabash.

Lookingglass, the only theater company participating in the City-wide Burnham Plan Centennial, is proud to pay tribute to this important part of Chicago's history. The limited run production celebrates the anniversary of Burnham's groundbreaking plan for the urban design of the City of Chicago .

Adapted and directed by Ensemble Member John Musial, Our Future Metropolis draws from the archives of the Burnham Library at the Art Institute of Chicago to recreate the initial presentation of Burnham's Plan for The City of Chicago given 100 years ago. Lookingglass Ensemble Member Raymond Fox plays Daniel Burnham as he struggles to win over a skeptical audience using nothing more than early "magic lantern" slides and his own conviction in Chicago 's greatness.

"It is exciting to be looking backward to Burnham's original vision for the development of the city, at a time when Chicago looks forward to a new century's growth with the 2020 plan and as we contemplate an Olympic bid," says John Musial. "The themes Burnham set forth 100 years ago have tangible continuity to our present- so many issues he wrestled with remain with us today. The scale of his approach remains a gauntlet thrown to the future. Burnham challenges us to dream big."

Lookingglass Ensemble Member John Musial has created several theatrical productions celebrating Chicago 's history and culture, including the adaptation and direction of Nelson Algren: For Keeps and A Single Day and The Great Fire. He most recently designed the set for Lookingglass' acclaimed production of Our Town.

Ensemble Member Raymond Fox has worked with Lookingglass since 1989. In addition to numerous roles with Lookingglass, he has appeared at the Goodman, Remy Bumppo, Court, and off-Broadway in Mary Zimmerman's Metamorphoses. He was most recently seen in Lookingglass' spring production of Our Town.

Tickets are $25 and are available by calling the Lookingglass Theatre box office at 312-337-0665 or by visiting lookingglasstheatre.org.

Casting both veteran CST actors and introducing Chicago audiences to some of the nation's newest talent, Aladdin will feature CST audience favorite Larry Yando as Jafar and Derek Hasenstab as Iago. The pair recently starred in the national touring production of The Lion King, in which they brought two other memorable Disney characters (Scar and Zazu) to life on stage. Opposite the villainous veterans are the production's heroes, played by CST newcomers Tony Clarno and Melissa Espinosa as Aladdin and Jasmine, respectively. They are joined by Bill Larkin as Genie and Joseph Anthony Foronda as the Sultan with an ensemble rounded out by Karissa Barney, Sean Blake, Alex Goodrich, Jillian Jocson and Erik Kaiko who will each take on several roles.

Making his directorial debut at CST is Devanand Janki, who recently choreographed the CST-commissioned family musical, How Can You Run with a Shell on Your Back? Among Mr. Janki's credits are concerts for the Broadway stage including Hair (director), Funny Girl (choreographer) and Dreamgirls (associate choreographer). Off Broadway, he directed and choreographed Zanna, Don't!, for which he received the Lucille Lortel, Callaway and GLAAD Media Awards, and choreographed Junie B. Jones, Henry & Mudge, Cupid & Psyche and Judy Speaks. Janki has also directed at Tokyo Disney among other regional credits.

"What I love about doing Disney's Aladdin is that it's not just for kids. The parents love it too," says Janki. "I think that's the thing that's so sophisticated about doing a production like this. There's something for everyone. And doing it in a space like the Courtyard Theater right here on Navy Pier makes for such a magical and memorable day for the entire family."

Disney's Aladdin is recommended for ages 5 and up with performances scheduled July 1, 2009 through August 30, 2009 in the Courtyard Theater. Tickets are $18 for children (12 and younger), and $23 for adults and may be purchased by calling Chicago Shakespeare Theater's Box Office at 312-595-5600 or by visiting the Theater's website at  www.chicagoshakes.com.

"One thing that's been really thrilling for me," Dimond explains, "as someone who has watched the Chicago theater scene for the last couple of decades, is that it really started off as an actors' town, but a bunch of inventive directors have been able to add in a more visual style." Asked whether he prefers one style over the other- gutsy, unadorned ensemble acting or director/designer focused visually rich theater- Dimond insists, "They're not mutually exclusive... running a storefront is too hard to do for vanity." It's this multi-tiered approach that has guided Strawdog through a spate of recent critical and commercial successes such as last season's Cherry Orchard and Red Noses. While the two plays are wildly divergent (one is a naturalistic domestic classic, the other a circus-like fantasia on the Bubonic Plague) both drew strength from inspired theatrical design and the resources of Strawdog's acting ensemble.

Strawdog's slogan, "The whole wide world in a little black box," does a good job of encapsulating what Dimond calls the "supreme jujitsu" available to theater in tiny spaces (Strawdog reaches capacity at about 70 seats). "In a tiny space immersion is easy. We can really create a world: step through the door and I'm transported... and it's more of a surprise." Yet the intimacy of its space has not restricted the sprawling diversity of its operations. In addition to a season of three full-scale productions, Strawdog hosts a writing workshop for ensemble members to create original pieces and a late night performance series to showcase both these pieces and others from companies and individuals around Chicago . These performances tend to be shorter, and involve music and laughter, "That's a genuine connection too," says Dimond, "A different kind of intimate connection with our ensemble. You can see how these familiar artists throw down their own stuff."

However wide-ranging their programming becomes, for Dimond the best theater represents "not a challenge of breadth, but a challenge of depth . It's not 'how many things you can do.' I want to jam one thing and get all the way to the bottom of it." Dimond credits the acting ensemble as a big part of how Strawdog manages to achieve that depth. He explains that in a typical rehearsal period the first few weeks are wasted with the actors "just getting to know everybody. We all know each other, we can skip that and go deeper." And don't expect the current economic climate to cause the company to pull any artistic punches. Dimond slyly shrugs, "that's not who we are. Strawdog has been in a recession for the last twenty years."

For more information on Strawdog check out their website www.strawdog.org, become a fan on Facebook, or follow them on Twitter.

Benno Nelson

You can read more of Theatre In Chicago contributor Benno Nelson's writing at The@er (http://the-at-er.blogspot.com)

Steep's special blend of grit, edge, and ensemble work comes to life in this story about America 's early pioneers. Jim, a young Irish immigrant, arrives in New York in 1815 with dreams of boundless freedom, legendary profits, and unseen kingdoms. It is the cost of his 40 year pursuit that becomes more than he imagined. The Hollow Lands traces a nation's journey towards its Manifest Destiny and the trail it leaves behind.

Howard Korder is best known for his plays Search and Destroy, The Lights, and Boy's Life, for which he was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Steep's 2001 production of Search and Destroy was the second show in the company's history and the company's first unequivocal hit. Steep is pleased to announce that Korder will come out to Chicago to take part in a portion of the rehearsal process.

Steep is also thrilled to have long-time friend Jonathan Berry back in the director's chair. Berry last worked with Steep on The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui which was Jeff nominated for Best Production and was also named one of the top shows of 2007 by Timeout Chicago. Berry is an artistic associate of Griffin Theatre Company and has worked with Lifeline, Gift, Remy Bumppo, Mary Arrchie, Court and Steppenwolf, among other theater companies.

Over the last eight years, Steep Theatre Company has been home to exciting ensemble work. Steep made the news in late April when the company was nominated for a remarkable 5 Joseph Jefferson Awards for their productions In Arabia We'd All Be Kings and Greensboro: A Requiem. (Best Production, Best Director, Best Ensemble, and 2 Best Supporting Actress nominations.). Earlier in 2009, Steep's production of Breathing Corpses was named to Timeout Chicago's Top Ten list of 2008 and became the third Steep show to be named to that list. (Book of Days, 2005 and The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, 2007) In the four years that Timeout has come out with this list, only one other theater company has made the list three different years(Steppenwolf) and only one company made the list in both 2007 and 2008: Steep.

The Hollow Lands features a cast that reads like a virtual who's who from some of Steep's most memorable shows. Company Members Jonathan Edwards, Cynthia Marker, Brendan Melanson, and Peter Moore are joined by Sean Bolger (The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, In Arabia We'd All be Kings), Lucy Carapetyan (Breathing Corpses), Jeremy Fisher (Coronado), Yosh Hayashi (Arturo Ui), and Michael Salinas (In Arabia). New Steep collaborators Rom Barkholdar, Chris Chemlik, Kipland Dooley, Boyd Harris, and Faizan Ring round out a cast that will surely join the list of celebrated Steep ensembles.

The Hollow Lands runs Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings at 8 p.m. Performances begin Thursday, June 25th and run through Saturday, August 1st. Tickets are $18, and reservations can be made by calling 312-458-0722 or by visiting www.steeptheatre.com.

Normand Latourelle, founder and artistic director of Cavalia, is the visionary behind the show. As one of the co-founders of Cirque du Soleil, Latourelle first brought Cirque to Chicago in 1988. Through Latourelle's passionate vision, Cavalia revolutionizes equestrian and performing arts much like Cirque du Soleil revolutionized the circus. Latourelle has become renowned for adventurous, mammoth and innovative productions that transport spectators to new realms of imagination.

Cavalia has captivated audiences across North America and Europe and has been praised by the media and critics alike. It is a show unlike any other, a lavish orchestration blending multimedia theatrical spectacle with equestrian and performing arts. Acrobats, aerialists, dancers, musicians and riders are showcased on an enormous, 160-foot-wide stage; a space so expansive that it allows the horses sufficient space to gallop and cavort, at times completely unbridled. Recognized for their expertise in the realm of multimedia, Cavalia's creators have used cutting-edge technology to create dream-like fantasy world. Large, panoramic images are projected on to a 210-foot-wide curved screen, while stunning special and lighting effects illuminate the action on the stage and in the air. Original live music and vocals accompany this feast for the senses.

Cavalia is presented under North America's largest touring tent, a pristine white structure rising some 100 feet above the ground and spanning more than 26,264 square feet. The stage alone is the equivalent to the width of a regulation NFL football field.

Juxtaposed with the vibrancy of the lavish production is a subtle thematic line that tells the story of the evolution of horses and their bond with human beings, beginning with their unbridled life in the wilderness, to early domestication and ultimately to a rapport with people based on mutual respect.

Featured in Cavalia are 13 different breeds of horses, including Arabians, Spanish Pure Breeds, Lusitanos, Quarter Horses, Appaloosas and Paint horses from France, Canada, Spain and the United States. The featured artists represent talented individuals from such nations as the United States Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, Morocco, Portugal, and Russia.

Tickets for the show are on sale now. Regular tickets are priced from $45.50 to $98.50. For more information, call 1-866-999-8111 or visit www.cavalia.net.

"I am thrilled to welcome back José to the Goodman with this gorgeous new play," said Artistic Director Robert Falls. "In a season that has included a number of vivid romances (from the doomed triangle at the center of Desire Under the Elms to the politically fraught coupling of Jan and Esme in Rock 'n' Roll), Boleros for the Disenchanted provides an especially wise insight into the vagaries of human relationships- and the bonds that hold them together."

Boleros for the Disenchanted received its world-premiere production last season, directed by Henry Godinez at Yale Repertory Theatre. After her fiancée breaks her heart, Flora vows never to fall for an unfaithful man again. Then she meets Eusebio, who sweeps her off her feet, and off to America- away from her family and her familiar life in Puerto Rico. Thirty-nine years later, an angel visits Eusebio with a mysterious message that stirs up old secrets. Boleros for the Disenchanted is a bittersweet and ultimately uplifting story about what it takes for two people to make a life together far from home, and the struggle to hold on to love in the face of life's unexpected challenges.

"I wanted to blend the fairytale optimism of Flora and Eusebio's early courtship days in Puerto Rico with a hardcore, gritty reality later in their life together," said José Rivera, who earned an Oscar nomination for his screen adaptation of The Motorcycle Diaries. "While this play is really a love story, it has another layer- a political consciousness that explores what happens when a society is so destitute and depressed that it has to emigrate. Literature and films often explore the immigrant experience once people have arrived; I thought it would be interesting to address what compels people to leave. In Puerto Rico they have family, they have love, they have connection to land, they have all these things- and yet there's still something that moves them to take this journey."

Boleros for the Disenchanted will be performed in English in the Albert Theatre June 20 - July 26, 2009. Tickets are $25 - $70.

The first three plays in ShawChicago's 2009-2010 season will be presented at the Company's resident theater, The Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn Parkway, while the final work, The Doctor's Dilemma, will be presented in the Studio Theater of the Chicago Cultural Center, 77 E. Randolph Street, in association with the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs.

"The plays of George Bernard Shaw and his contemporaries changed not only the style and content of early twentieth century theater, but the audience's perception of theater itself," noted Scogin. "The plays focus on social, economic and political problems that exist in all countries. Shaw's Arms and the Man and Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts produced the same response in their ShawChicago Turkish presentations as they do in Chicago. The plays are universal in their content, and transcend national boundaries to show not how different we are, but how similar we are as human beings."

The not-for-profit ShawChicago was first created in 1994 as a program of the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs to present the plays of George Bernard Shaw and his contemporaries in concert readings at the Chicago Cultural Center. ShawChicago's first production was The Doctor's Dilemma, at the time presented in response to the controversy about health care during the first Clinton administration. The production deftly illustrated the fact that Shaw was always years ahead of his time in matters both political and human. Beginning with the 2000-2001 Season, ShawChicago established itself as an independent non-profit theater company and in January 2003, ShawChicago became the resident theater company at The Ruth Page Center for the Arts. In the fifteen years since its creation, ShawChicago has produced all of Shaw's major plays except Saint Joan, and that masterpiece is on the schedule for the near future.

ShawChicago's 2009-2010 Season

Votes For Women!
by Elizabeth Robins, directed by Robert Scogin
October 17 - November 9, 2009 at The Ruth Page Center for the Arts

Written by the American actress Elizabeth Robins in 1906, Votes for Women! is an early feminist work that confronts how men sexually exploit women. The story's heroines must not only open the eyes of their fellow female peers, but also must save men from their own dark nature. Votes for Women! is being presented in celebration of the 90th anniversary of women's suffrage in the U.S. Robins was noted for her feminist views and was a fan of playwright Henrik Ibsen, a fellow champion of women's rights. Robins was very active in the Women's Suffrage Movement in England and wrote this play to further the cause in England and America .

Mid-Winter's Tales '09
Works and music selected, adapted and directed by Belinda Bremner
December 18 - 21, 2009 at The Ruth Page Center for the Arts

This evening of theater and music, a celebration of the Winter Solstice, draws from stories and songs from a variety of different cultures and generations. This treasured holiday tradition will feature the best of '08 and surprises for '09.

The Philanderer
by George Bernard Shaw, directed by Robert Scogin
February 6 - March 1, 2010 at The Ruth Page Center for the Arts

In this play, Shaw introduces a man committed to remaining uncommitted. He is a philosophizing philanderer who believes that only conventional people marry, while advanced people form "charming friendships." But when he meets a self-described "new woman" who belongs only to herself and is the property of no man, he finds he may have met his match, if not his mate. The Philanderer was written in 1893 and published as one of the three plays of Shaw's Plays Unpleasant in 1898. This early Shaw work salutes the hilarious clash of sexism, vivisectionism and love at a time when Ibsen's ideas were in vogue in London .

The Doctor's Dilemma
by George Bernard Shaw, directed by Robert Scogin
April 17 - May 2, 2010 at the Chicago Cultural Center Studio Theater

The Doctor's Dilemma is just what its title implies—the dilemma of who should receive medical care and at what cost. In this play a number of dilemmas crop up, including that of a doctor who has developed a new cure for tuberculosis, but has only enough of it for one patient. He then has to choose which patient he is going to give it to: a kindly poor medical colleague, or an extremely gifted but also very unpleasant young artist. The doctor struggles to separate his emotions from his academic judgment for the decision. ShawChicago revisits the play that served as the vehicle for its launch in 1974 as the problems of medical issues and ethics are still debated over today as much as they were when the play was originally written in 1906.

Season subscription tickets will go on sale June 1st and can be purchased by calling 312-587-7390 and online at www.shawchicago.org. A 4-play subscription is $68, or $60 for seniors.

Featuring a cast of three in multiple roles, this new adaptation transforms the traditional role of the chorus. "I'm interested in how the audience can fulfill the responsibilities of the chorus," says Graney. For example, Graney's promenade style staging allows the audience to move around freely and explore multiple perspectives on the action.

Sean Graney, Founder and Artistic Director of The Hypocrites, received the NEA/TCG Career Development for Directors grant, two Joseph Jefferson Citations, and an After Dark Award for Best Original Play (The 4thGraders Present an Unnamed Love Suicide). He was named Chicago's Best Avant-Garde Director by Chicago Magazine and Chicagoan of the Year (in Theatre) from the Chicago Tribune.

The cast of three are all company members of The Hypocrites. Steve Wilson was last seen by Hypocrites' audiences in Eugene Ionesco's The Bald Soprano. Last year, he made his directorial debut at A Red Orchid and has worked as an actor with The House, Griffin , New Leaf and most recently for LiveWire's premiere of Eric Bogosian's Red Angel. Stacy Stolz's roles with The Hypocrites include The Woman in 4.48 Psychosis at the Steppenwolf Garage, Mrs. Gibbs in Our Town, and Miss Julie in Miss Julie. She most recently appeared in The Hairy Ape at the Goodman and performed Off-Broadway in The 4thGraders Present an Unnamed Love Suicide. Halena Kays is currently pursuing her MFA in directing at the University of Texas-Austin. Halena was last seen on stage in Fair Use at Steppenwolf and her most recent role for The Hypocrites was Mae in Mud.

Founded in 1997, The Hypocrites create bold productions that defy expectations. By turning theater inside out and redefining the traditional role of the audience, The Hypocrites are recognized as groundbreakers in the world's premiere theater city. The company has grown significantly in the past few years, receiving acclaim for both The Threepenny Opera and The Hairy Ape, produced in association with Goodman Theatre as part of its O'Neill Festival. The company's smash-hit Chicago production of Our Town, directed by David Cromer, recently transferred to Off-Broadway where it has received rave reviews during its New York run (currently extended through September 27th, 2009). The company's season features three mainstage productions, often presenting classics in a new light through innovative interpretation and staging.

Oedipus opens on May 31 at 7:30pm at The Building Stage, 412 N. Carpenter Street . The production runs until July 12 with Thursday-Saturday performances at 8pm and Sundays at 3pm. Tickets are $20-25 and can be purchased by calling 773.989.7352 or visiting www.the-hypocrites.com.

Arthur Przybyszewski owns a decrepit donut shop in the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago . Franco Wicks, a black teenager who is his only employee, wants to change the shop for the better. This provocative comedy, set in the heart of one of Chicago's most diverse communities, explores the challenges of embracing the past and the redemptive power of friendship.

Playwright Tracy Letts received the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his critically-acclaimed play August: Osage County, currently playing on Broadway at The Music Box Theatre following sold-out runs at Steppenwolf in 2007 and the National Theatre in London in 2008. Mr. Letts is also the author of Man from Nebraska, which was produced at Steppenwolf in 2003 and was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize; Killer Joe, which has been produced in Chicago, London and New Yor; and Bug, which has played in New York, Chicago and London.

Director Tina Landau Director most recently directed The Tempest and Tracy Letts' Superior Donuts at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, where she is an ensemble member, as well as The Time of Your Life (also Seattle Rep, A.C.T.), The Diary of Anne Frank, The Cherry Orchard, and Charles Mee's Berlin Circle and Time to Burn, among others. She recently directed the world premieres of Tarell McCraney's In the Red and Brown Water at the Alliance and McCarter Theaters, Paula Vogel's A Civil War Christmas at Long Wharf Theatre and the Off-Broadway premiere of McCraney's Wig Out! at the Vineyard Theatre. Tina's work as a writer and director include Of Thee I Sing (Paper Mill Playhouse), Beauty (La Jolla Playhouse), Space (Steppenwolf, NY's Public Theatre, Mark Taper Forum), Stonewall (En Garde Arts), 1969 (Actors Theater of Louisville), Floyd Collins with composer Adam Guettel (Playwrights Horizons, Prince Music Theatre, Old Globe, the Goodman) and Dream True with composer Ricky Ian Gordon (Vineyard Theater).

Chicago DCA Theater offers downtown audiences an off-Loop theater experience with an exciting look at the vibrant emerging theater companies that call Chicago home. An anchor of the downtown theater district, Chicago DCA Theater's Storefront Theater will present productions by three Chicago theater companies: Caffeine Theatre, InFusion Theatre Company, and Silent Theatre Company.

Chicago DCA Theater will also host three theater companies in its Studio Theater Incubator Program. The selected companies are Promethean Theatre Ensemble, Striding Lions InterArts Workshop, and LiveWire Chicago Theatre. Additionally, Chicago DCA Theater presents several special events in the 2009 season, including Site Unseen 2009, the sixth edition of this annual site-specific performance at the Chicago Cultural Center .

CHICAGO DCA THEATER SUMMER/FALL 2009 SEASON

Under Milk Wood
Caffeine Theatre
August 21 - September 27
Storefront Theater, 66 E. Randolph Street

Caffeine Theatre stages Dylan Thomas' dark, but funny play about the dreams and waking lives of a fictional Welsh town. An iconic favorite since it was first broadcast as a radio play in 1954, the play's 47 quirky characters bring to life their inner longings bubbling beneath the surface of the town's daily life, endearing us to humanity's bawdy and magnificent possibilities. Paul S. Holmquist directs this classic but utterly relevant play with an intimate and physically intense ensemble of Chicago theater veterans and emerging talent.

Rhymes With Evil
InFusion Theatre Company
October 5 – November 8
Storefront Theater, 66 E. Randolph Street

For this Midwest premiere, InFusion Theatre Company brings creepy puppets and visual spectacle to a very human tale of an imaginative and inventive stay-at-home dad. In his Midwest farm house, he creates a beautiful yet bizarre world of puppets, costumed characters and fanciful stories for his young daughter. But all is not what it seems in this suspense-filled and disturbing tale of love, loss and danger appropriate for the Halloween season.

Carnival Nocturne
Silent Theatre Company
November 19 - December 20
Storefront Theater, 66 E. Randolph Street

Silent Theatre Company welcomes visitors into the mysterious underground world of a traveling carnival. In the midst of fire breathers, fortune tellers, bestial tamers and natural freaks, a somber secret lies – a curse that binds them all together. With a live band and physical acts of carnival performance, this original dark fable by Gillian Hastings combines the styles of Tim Burton and Edward Gorey in a thrilling and enchanting ride through a world of whimsy and macabre.

CHICAGO DCA'S STUDIO THEATER INCUBATOR SUMMER/FALL 2009 SEASON

The Studio Theater Incubator Series supports the creation of new work by emerging Chicago theater companies. Utilizing Chicago DCA Theater resources and rehearsal space in the Chicago Cultural Center, participants explore new projects, develop and refine styles, and share their process with the public during a special showcase event.

The evening showcase events each offer a glimpse into the companies' projects through readings, performances, or works-in-process.

Promethean Theatre Ensemble
Incubator Showcase for A Month of Development
Monday, August 31, at 7:30 p.m.
Studio Theater in the Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington Street

Striding Lions InterArts Workshop
Incubator Showcase for Pioneers
Tuesday, September 29, at 7:30 p.m.
Studio Theater in the Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington Street

LiveWire Chicago Theatre
Incubator Showcase for Lower Debt (or It's Not You, It's the Economy)
M onday, October 19, at 7:30 p.m.
Studio Theater in the Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington Street

For more information on DCA Theatre visit www.dcatheater.org.

Storm clouds are gathering over the Addams Family manse. Daughter Wednesday, now 18, is experiencing a sensation that surprises and disgusts her - caring about another person. Young Pugsley, jealous of his sister's attention, begs her to keep torturing him, severely, while mother Morticia, conflicted over her daughter's lurch into womanhood, fears being upstaged and discarded.... like yesterday's road kill. All the while, father Gomez - master of the revels, mischievous and oblivious as ever - would prefer everything and everyone remain as it is. But when outsiders come to dinner, the events of one night will change forever this famously macabre family - a family so very different from your own...or maybe not.

In a prolific career spanning six decades, Charles Addams created several thousand cartoons, sketches and drawings, many of which were published in The New Yorker. But it was his creation of characters that came to be known as The Addams Family that brought Addams his greatest acclaim. With a unique style that combined the twisted, macabre and just plain weird with charm, wit and enchantment, Addams' drawings of Gomez, Morticia, Fester, Wednesday, Pugsley, Grandmama, Lurch and Thing have entertained millions worldwide and served as the inspiration for multiple television series and motion pictures.

Tickets are now available to groups of 20 or more by calling 312-977-1710. Individual tickets will go on American Express pre-sale beginning Wednesday, May 13 through May 28. Individual tickets will go on sale to the general public on Friday, May 29.

"I am thrilled to welcome back Rebecca to the Goodman with this thought-provoking and funny new play about how we measure success 'in our own backyard'-marriage and property, career and children," said Artistic Director Robert Falls, whose critically acclaimed production of Gilman's Dollhouse premiered at the Goodman in 2005. "We welcome director Wendy Goldberg, whose grace and skill with new plays is fast earning her a reputation as a leader in new play development in the country."

In the backyard of a Chicago two-flat on the 4th of July, three intelligent and liberal couples engage in what begins as friendly conversation, but soon evolves into a heated debate about the pros and cons of starting a family. Jasper (Coburn Goss) and Melinda (Janelle Snow) are considering having a baby, Dan (Kiff Vanden Heuvel) and Windsong (Stephanie Childers) are enthusiastically expectant and Tom (Rob Riley) and Karen (Linda Gehringer) have opted not to have children. As the innocuous barbeque turns into an ideological confrontation, each couple must ask themselves how much the crowd they're in with determines the course of their lives.

"I had been considering a couple of ideas for a new play when Bob Falls suggested I write something more personal," said Chicago Playwright Rebecca Gilman, who named The Crowd You're In With after a line in Bob Dylan's song "Positively 4th Street" about the alliances in friendship. "I thought about the time of transition my husband and I were going through, and how sometimes, what may seem like benign choices actually leave you in the minority-when you didn't expect to be in the minority. I am honored and excited to present this work here in my hometown."

Rebecca Gilman's plays include Dollhouse, Spinning Into Butter, Boy Gets Girl, Blue Surge, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter and The Glory of Living. Her plays have been produced at Goodman Theatre, Royal Court Theatre, Lincoln Center Theater, Joseph Papp Public Theater, Manhattan Theatre Club and Manhattan Class Company. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, The Prince Prize for Commissioning New Work, The Roger L. Stevens Award from the Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays, The Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright, The George Devine Award and The Harper Lee Award. Gilman was named a finalist for the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for her play The Glory of Living. She is an assistant professor of playwriting and screenwriting in the MFA in Writing for the Screen and Stage program at Northwestern University.

The Crowd You're In With runs May 23 - June 21. Tickets are $10 - 39, and may be purchased online at GoodmanTheatre.org, at the Goodman Theatre Box Office, 170 North Dearborn Street, or by phone at 312-443-3800.

This year's roster of films and artists:

June 25: Cool As Ice (1991)
Before Eminem, but after the Beastie Boys, there was Vanilla Ice. The original high-haired, Queen-cribbing 90s hip-hop legend stars as a tough-yet-tender urban rebel who, along with his posse, lands in a small middle American town that is unprepared for this new level of “street”. Dina Connolly directs and stars as Vanilla, in a film that will rock your mike like a vandal.

July 2: Cruising (1981)
Gay men weren't always your wacky neighbors and sexually non-threatening best friends. In the early 1980s, Cruising exposed this dark and creepy world of perversion, seduction and horror. Al Pacino stars as an undercover homicide detective in New York City who dangles dangerously close to gayness himself while tracking a serial killer on the gay scene. Jack Tamburri of The Plagiarists directs this controversial suspense film about influence and panic.

July 9: Screaming Mimi (1958)
When buxom Swedish blonde, Anita Ekberg, is attacked by an escaped mental patient, she is driven into a state of breathy hysteria. The only cure can be found at the former mental hospital of her attacker where she becomes the love slave of a creepy psychiatrist. Lounge singing, stalkers, screaming statues and plunging bustlines complicate this noir-ish-esque-ploitation, directed by Rachel Claff.

July 16: The Naked Killer (Chik loh go yeung) (1992)
The twisted love story of a seductive assassin and the tortured police detective hot on her trail is directed by Neo-Futurist Founding Director, Greg Allen. This film is a rampaging riot of fetishistic softcore sex and mindless hardcore mayhem, complete with badly performed English overdub of badly written dialogue.

July 23: Equinox (1970)
The visual effects designer of Star Wars didn't always produce work of that caliber when he created the creature effects for this cautionary tale of curious teenagers who explore dark spooky caves and are hunted by demon park rangers. Directed by Bob Stockfish, Equinox features live effects only slightly lower-tech than the original.

July 30: Legend (1986)
Just your typical girl-loves-boy, boy-loves-girl, boy-shows-girl-his-unicorns, girl-gets-unicorns-captured-by-Lord-of-Darkness story. Directed by Dana Dardai of Camenae Ensemble, Legend seamlessly blends together fairies, goblins, random lines spoken in rhyming couplet, dancing dresses, and endless clouds of magical debris.

Tickets for It Came From the Neo-Futurarium VIII: Legend of The Neo-Futurarium are $10 and may be purchased at www.neofuturists.org.

Chicago's oldest cemetery is the backdrop for Graceland, the story of four lonely Chicagoans whose lives collide one August weekend while the Blue Angels airshow is in town. As fighter jets buzz the skies from dusk till dawn, estranged brother and sister Sam and Sara try to make sense of their father's recent suicide. Sara's one night stand with Joe, an aging lothario, brings further trouble in the form of Joe's mercurial teenage son, Miles. Graceland is a World premiere comedic drama about the loneliness of family, the tenderness of strangers and the unexpected benefits of bad decisions.

Ms. Fairey's first full length play, Girl, 20, was named one of the "Top Ten Most Promising Plays of 2006" by the Chicago Tribune in its World Premiere production by Serendipity Theatre. The production subsequently moved to Los Angeles, where it received rave reviews and was nominated for two 2007-2008 LA Weekly Theatre Awards for Best Director (Matt Miller) and Best Ensemble.

This is the fifth and final production of Profiles Theatre's 20th Anniversary Season following its acclaimed productions of The Wonderful World of Dissocia by Anthony Neilson, Great Falls by Lee Blessing, The Thugs by Adam Bock and Men of Tortuga by Jason Wells.  The titles for Profiles' 2009-2010 season will be announced soon.

The cast of Graceland features Profiles' ensemble members Somer Benson (The Wonderful World of Dissocia, The Thugs), Eric Burgher (The Wonderful World of Dissocia, Men of Tortuga) and Darrell W. Cox (Great Falls, Men of Tortuga).  The cast also includes Brenda Barrie as Sara and Jackson Challinor as Miles, both making their Profiles debuts.

"Profiles, to me, is such a distinctly Chicago theatre company- the whole vibe, the work they do- it's honest and tough," says playwright Ellen Fairey.  "When they told me they were interested in Graceland, I was thrilled.  What better place for a play about Chicago? Although I've recently moved to Los Angeles, Chicago remains my close to my heart and Graceland is, in a way, a kind of love letter to the city that shaped the way I write plays and who I want to write plays about."

"Ellen continued the development of Graceland last year with Profiles in mind, and we have watched the play grow beautifully as she has revised it throughout the season," says Profiles Artistic Director Joe Jahraus.  "This is the first time in our 20 year history that we have worked so closely with the playwright on the development of a script."

Tickets for Graceland are $25 for Thursdays and Sundays; $30 for Fridays and Saturdays. Tickets are available by phone, 773- 549-1815, or online, www.profilestheatre.org.  Performances are Thursdays-Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. and Sundays at 7:00 p.m.

Directed by David Shiner, this new production will present its own contemporary take on vaudeville. The show will feature short, fast-paced performances of comic variety fused with innovative choreography and dance styles.

Shiner is the writer and director of the Cirque du Soleil big top touring show KOOZA, which performed in Chicago in 2008 and is currently in New York . He also created the two-man show "Fool Moon" with Bill Irwin, which ran on Broadway in the 1990s and won a special Tony Award for Live Theatrical Presentation in 1999, a Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience and an Outer Critics Circle Special Achievement Award.

"MSG Entertainment is excited to partner with Cirque du Soleil once again," said Jonathan Hochwald, executive vice president productions, MSGE. "Our latest production will seek to capture the spirit of vaudeville and variety entertainments, mash it up with contemporary music and technology, and introduce a brand new art form--a reinvention of the live experience as only Cirque du Soleil could achieve."

Cirque du Soleil celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2009. From a group of 20 street performers at its beginnings in 1984, Cirque du Soleil is now a major Quebec-based organization providing high-quality artistic entertainment. The company has more than 4,000 employees from over 40 different countries, including 1,000 performing artists.

Pre-sale tickets are available exclusively to Cirque Club members and Chicago Theatre Insiders. Visit cirquedusoleil.com or thechicagotheatre.com to join.

Among producing organizations, Lifeline Theatre and Theo Ubique Theatre Company in Association with Michael James led the nominees with 14 and 13, respectively. Top- nominated productions were Theo Ubique's "Evita," Lifeline Theatre's world premiere adaptation of "Mariette in Ecstasy," and The House Theatre of Chicago's "Rose and the Rime" with 7 nominations each. Lifeline and Theo Ubique anchor the burgeoning Glenwood Avenue Arts District in Chicago's far north Rogers Park neighborhood and continue to show the strength of quality for which they received multiple awards at the 2008 Ceremony.

Steep Theatre Company also came on strong in its new Lakeview home, with 5 nominations. Redmoon Theater's creative brand of multi-media productions garnered 8 nominations.  Bailiwick Repertory Theatre's annual revival of "The Christmas Schooner" (eligible for judging this year under the Jeffs' 7-year rule) netted 5 nominations, including Outstanding Musical or Revue. Tops among individual nominees is Fred Anzevino, Artistic Director of Theo Ubique, with two nods as Director of a Musical or Revue and one for New Adaptation (together with Arnold Johnston and Joshua Stephen Kartes) for the highly successful "Jacques Brel's Lonesome Losers of the Night."

The 36th Anniversary Non-Equity Jeff Awards Ceremony will be held on Monday, June 8, 2009, at the Park West, 322 W. Armitage, Chicago, IL.  Doors open for a cash bar at 6:00 p.m., with a light buffet at 6:30 p.m., and presentation at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $35 in advance, $40 at the door. Festive cocktail attire is suggested and the public is cordially invited. Tickets may be purchased on-line with a credit card at www.jeffawards.org or by mail.

The Jeff Awards has been honoring outstanding theatre artists annually since it was established in 1968.  With up to 50 members representing a wide variety of backgrounds in theatre, the Jeff Awards is committed to celebrating the vitality of Chicago area theatre by recognizing excellence through its recommendations, awards, and honors.  The Jeff Awards fosters the artistic growth of area theatres and theatre artists and promotes educational opportunities, audience appreciation, and civic pride in the achievements of the theatre community.  The Jeff Awards evaluates over 250 theatrical productions and holds two awards ceremonies annually. Originally chartered to recognize only Equity productions, the Jeff Awards established the Non-Equity Wing in 1973 to celebrate outstanding achievement in non-union theatre. The next Equity Awards Ceremony, honoring productions presented under union contracts, will be held on October 19, 2009, at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie.

2009 NON-EQUITY JEFF AWARD NOMINEES

PRODUCTION - PLAY               
"Enchanted April" - Circle Theatre
"In Arabia We'd All Be Kings" - Steep Theatre Company
"Mariette in Ecstasy" - Lifeline Theatre
"The Mark of Zorro" - Lifeline Theatre
"Our Town" - The Hypocrites
"Rose and the Rime" - The House Theatre of Chicago

PRODUCTION - MUSICAL OR REVUE               
"The Christmas Schooner" - Bailiwick Repertory Theatre
"Evita" -  Theo Ubique Theatre Company i/a/w Michael James
"Jacques Brel's Lonesome Losers of the Night" - Theo Ubique Theatre Company i/a/w Michael James
"The Robber Bridegroom" - Griffin Theatre Company
"Woody Guthrie's American Song" - Blindfaith Theatre

DIRECTOR - PLAY
Nathan Allen - "Rose and the Rime" - The House Theatre of Chicago
David Cromer - "Our Town" - The Hypocrites
Elise Kauzlaric - "Mariette in Ecstasy" - Lifeline Theatre
Joanie Schultz - "In Arabia We'd All Be Kings" - Steep Theatre Company
Rick Snyder - "Men of Tortuga" - Profiles Theatre

DIRECTOR - MUSICAL OR REVUE           
Fred Anzevino - "Evita" - Theo Ubique Theatre Company i/a/w Michael James
Fred Anzevino - "Jacques Brel's Lonesome Losers of the Night" - Theo Ubique Theatre Company i/a/w
       Michael James
Mary Beidler Gearen - "The Christmas Schooner" - Bailiwick Repertory Theatre
Paul S. Holmquist - "The Robber Bridegroom" - Griffin Theatre Company
Nicolas Minas - "Woody Guthrie's American Song" - Blindfaith Theatre

ENSEMBLE               
"Evita" - Theo Ubique Theatre Company i/a/w Michael James
"In Arabia We'd All Be Kings" - Steep Theatre Company
"Mariette in Ecstasy" - Lifeline Theatre
"Men of Tortuga" - Profiles Theatre
"Our Bad Magnet" - Mary-Arrchie Theatre Company
"Woody Guthrie's American Song" - Blindfaith Theatre

ACTOR IN A PRINCIPAL ROLE - PLAY
Don Bender - "Old Times" - City Lit Theater Company
Esteban Andres Cruz - "Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train" - Raven Theatre
James Elly - "The Mark of Zorro" - Lifeline Theatre
Ryan Jarosch - "Torch Song Trilogy" - Hubris Productions
Brian Parry - "Shadowlands" - Redtwist Theatre
Brian Plocharczyk - "After Ashley" - Stage Left Theatre
Bradford Stevens - "Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train" - Raven Theatre

ACTOR IN A PRINCIPAL ROLE - MUSICAL               
Courtney Crouse - "Jekyll & Hyde: The Musical" - Bohemian Theatre Ensemble
Chris Damiano - "Evita" - Theo Ubique Theatre Company i/a/w Michael James

ACTRESS IN A PRINCIPAL ROLE - PLAY
Brenda Barrie - "Mariette in Ecstasy" - Lifeline Theatre
Laura Coover - "Blue Surge" - Eclipse Theatre Company
Cameron Feagin - "Private Lives" - City Lit Theater Company
Nancy Freidrich - "The Dastardly Ficus and Other Comedic Tales of Woe and Misery" - The Strange Tree
    Group
Betsy Zajko - "Beholder" - Trap Door Theatre

ACTRESS IN A PRINCIPAL ROLE - MUSICAL               
Laura McClain - "The Christmas Schooner" - Bailiwick Repertory Theatre
Maggie Portman - "Evita" - Theo Ubique Theatre Company i/a/w Michael James
Rachel Quinn - "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" - Circle Theatre
Bethany Thomas - "Belle Barth: If I Embarrass You Tell Your Friends" - Theo Ubique Theatre Company
    i/a/w Michael James

SOLO PERFORMANCE
Janet Ulrich Brooks - "Golda's Balcony" - Pegasus Players
Alice Wedoff - "The Shape of a Girl" - Pegasus Players

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE - PLAY               
Paul S. Holmquist - "The Picture of Dorian Gray" - Lifeline Theatre
Matthew     Sherbach - "The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabler" - Dog & Pony Theatre Company
Kevin V. Smith - "Our Bad Magnet" - Mary-Arrchie Theatre Company
Madrid St. Angelo - "A Passage to India" - Premiere Theatre & Performance i/a/w Vitalist Theatre
Jon Steinhagen - "Plaza Suite" - Eclipse Theatre Company
Nathaniel Swift - "Blue Surge" - Eclipse Theatre Company

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE - MUSICAL               
Chris Damiano - "Jacques Brel's Lonesome Losers of the Night" - Theo Ubique Theatre Company i/a/w
    Michael James
Chris Froseth - "Woody Guthrie's American Song" - Blindfaith Theatre
Jim Sherman - "The Christmas Schooner" - Bailiwick Repertory Theatre

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE - PLAY               
Susan Veronika Adler - "Torch Song Trilogy" - Hubris Productions
Jeannette Blackwell - "The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabler" - Dog & Pony Theatre Company
Nora Fiffer - "The Autumn Garden" - Eclipse Theatre Company
Mary Hollis Inboden - "Torch Song Trilogy" - Hubris Productions
Elise Kauzlaric - "On the Shore of the Wide World" - Griffin Theatre Company
Lily Mojekwu - "Greensboro: A Requiem" - Steep Theatre Company
Rinska Prestinary - "In Arabia We'd All Be Kings" - Steep Theatre Company
Mary Redmon - "Enchanted April" - Circle Theatre

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE - MUSICAL OR REVUE               
Amanda Hartley - "The Robber Bridegroom" - Griffin Theatre Company

NEW WORK
Tony Fiorentino - "All My Love" - Diamante Productions
Robert Koon - "Odin's Horse" - Infamous Commonwealth Theatre
Frank Maugeri & Seth Bockley - "Boneyard Prayer" - Redmoon Theater
Andrew Park - "The People's History of the United States" - Quest Theatre Ensemble
Ken Prestininzi - "Beholder" - Trap Door Theatre

NEW ADAPTATION
Fred Anzevino, Arnold Johnston & Joshua Stephen Kartes - "Jacques Brel's Lonesome Losers of the
    Night" - Theo Ubique Theatre Company i/a/w Michael James
Cristina Calvit - "Mariette in Ecstasy" - Lifeline Theatre
Robert Kauzlaric - "The Picture of Dorian Gray" - Lifeline Theatre
William Massolia - "Be More Chill" - Griffin Theatre Company
Terry McCabe - "Scoundrel Time" - City Lit Theater  Company
Katie McLean - "The Mark of Zorro" - Lifeline Theatre

CHOREOGRAPHY
Kevin Bellie - "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" - Circle Theatre
Brenda Didier - "Evita" - Theo Ubique Theatre Company i/a/w Michael James
Tommy Rapley - "Rose and the Rime" - The House Theatre of Chicago

ORIGINAL INCIDENTAL MUSIC
Lara Golan - "Dr. Egg and the Man with No Ear" - Redmoon Theater
Charles Kim & Seth Bockley - "Boneyard Prayer" - Redmoon Theater
Kevin O'Donnell - "Rose and the Rime" - The House Theatre of Chicago

MUSIC DIRECTION
Ryan Brewster - "Evita" - Theo Ubique Theatre Company i/a/w Michael James
Mark Elliott - "The Robber Bridegroom" - Griffin Theatre Company
Joshua Stephen Kartes - "Jacques Brel's Lonesome Losers of the Night" - Theo Ubique Theatre Company
       i/a/w Michael James
Jeremy Ramey - "The Christmas Schooner" - Bailiwick Repertory Theatre
Shaun Whitley - "Woody Guthrie's American Song" - Blindfaith Theatre

SCENIC DESIGN
Alan Donahue - "Mariette in Ecstasy" - Lifeline Theatre
Anders Jacobson - "Red Angel" - LiveWire Chicago Theatre
Bob Knuth - "Enchanted April" - Circle Theatre
Bob Knuth - "Hay Fever" - Circle Theatre
Richard & Jacqueline Penrod - "The Shape of a Girl" - Pegasus Players
Emily Schwartz & Kate Nawrocki - "The Dastardly Ficus and Other Comedic Tales of Woe and Misery" -
    The Strange Tree Group

LIGHTING DESIGN
John Horan - "Dr. Egg and the Man with No Ear" - Redmoon Theater
Denise Karczewski - "Golda's Balcony" - Pegasus Players
Lee Keenan - "Rose and the Rime" - The House Theatre of Chicago
Jared B. Moore - "Touch" - New Leaf Theatre

COSTUME DESIGN
Debbie Baer - "Rose and the Rime" - The House Theatre of Chicago
Michelle Julazadeh - "Jekyll & Hyde: The Musical" - Bohemian Theatre Ensemble
Suzanne Mann - "Hay Fever" - Circle Theatre
Suzanne Mann - "Enchanted April" - Circle Theatre
John Nasca - "Die! Mommie Die!" - Hell in a Handbag Productions
Jesus Perez - "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" - Circle Theatre

SOUND DESIGN
Victoria DeIorio - "The Mark of Zorro" - Lifeline Theatre
Mikhail Fiksel - "Winter Pageant Redux" - Redmoon Theater
Tim Hill - "Mariette in Ecstasy" - Lifeline Theatre
Joshua Horvath - "Rose and the Rime" - The House Theatre of Chicago
Nick Keenan - "Touch" - New Leaf Theatre
Stephen Ptacek - "God's Ear" - Dog & Pony Theatre Company

ARTISTIC SPECIALIZATION
Mask Design - Amanda Church - "The People's History of the United States" - Quest Theatre Ensemble
Animation - Jamie Clennett - "Dr. Egg and the Man with No Ear" - Redmoon Theater
Fight Choreography - Geoff Coates     - "The Mark of Zorro" - Lifeline Theatre
Puppets - Graeme     Davis - "Dr. Egg and the Man with No Ear" - Redmoon Theater
Puppets - Jesse Mooney-Bullock - "Boneyard Prayer" - Redmoon Theater

MULTIPLE NOMINEES

Individuals:
Fred Anzevino - 3
Seth Bockley - 2
Chris Damiano - 2
Paul S. Holmquist - 2
Joshua Stephen Kartes - 2
Bob Knuth - 2
Suzanne Mann - 2

Productions:
"Evita" - 7
"Mariette in Ecstasy" - 7
"Rose and the Rime" - 7
"The Christmas Schooner" - 5
"Jacques Brel's Lonesome Losers of the Night" - 5
"The Mark of Zorro" - 5
"Woody Guthrie's American Song" - 5
"Dr. Egg and the Man with No Ear" - 4
"Enchanted April" - 4
"In Arabia We'd All Be Kings" - 4
"The Robber Bridegroom" - 4
"Boneyard Prayer" - 3
"Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" - 3
"Torch Song Trilogy" - 3
"Beholder" - 2
"Blue Surge" - 2
"The Dastardly Ficus and Other Comedic Tales of Woe and Misery" - 2
"The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabler" - 2
"Golda's Balcony" - 2
"Hay Fever" - 2
"Jekyll & Hyde: The Musical" - 2
"Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train" - 2
"Men of Tortuga" - 2
"Our Bad Magnet" - 2
"Our Town" - 2
"The People's History of the United States" - 2
"The Picture of Dorian Gray" - 2
"The Shape of a Girl" - 2
"Touch" - 2

Companies:
Lifeline Theatre - 14
Theo Ubique Theatre Company i/a/w Michael James - 13
Circle Theatre - 9
Redmoon Theater - 9
The House Theatre of Chicago - 7
Griffin Theatre Company - 6
Bailiwick Repertory Theatre - 5
Blindfaith Theatre - 5
Steep Theatre Company - 5
Eclipse Theatre Company - 4
Pegasus Players - 4
City Lit Theater Company - 3
Dog & Pony Theatre Company - 3
Hubris Productions - 3
Bohemian Theatre Ensemble - 2
The Hypocrites - 2
Mary-Arrchie Theatre Company - 2
New Leaf Theatre - 2
Profiles Theatre - 2
Quest Theatre Ensemble - 2
Raven Theatre - 2
The Strange Tree Group - 2
Trap Door Theatre - 2

Fantasia made her Broadway debut in The Color Purple on April 10, 2007. She won the 2007 Theater World Award and received across the board rave reviews. As a 19-year old single mother, Fantasia began her path to international stardom when she became the winner of FOX's hugely successful audience-driven singing competition in May 2004. Now 23, Barrino has garnered critical acclaim for the release of both her debut album, Free Yourself, which marked her becoming the first artist in Billboard Hot 100 chart history to debut at #1 with her debut single "I Believe," and her second album, FANTASIA, released by J Records on December 12, 2006. To date, she has gathered more than 20 award nominations including the Grammy Awards, American Music Awards, Vibe Awards, Soul Train Awards and Soul Train "Lady of Soul" Awards, Billboard Music Awards and R&B & Hip Hop Awards, BET Awards, NAACP Image Awards, and Teen Choice Awards.

No stranger to acting, Fantasia also broke records of a different kind after authoring a New York Times best-selling autobiography Life Is Not A Fairy Tale (Simon & Schuster, September 2005) and starring in The Fantasia Barrino Story: Life is Not a Fairytale, the Debbie Allen-directed Lifetime original movie adaptation of her truthful, outspoken and ultimately healing memoir in August 2006. For her performance, she was nominated for a 2007 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special. The biopic, also nominated as Outstanding Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special for the 2007 NAACP Image Awards, ranks as the channel's second most watched movie and has been seen by 19 million viewers.

With her Broadway debut as Celie, the heart and soul of The Color Purple, she added the distinction of being the first ever American Idol winner to star in a Broadway show.

Fantasia joins her Broadway cast-mate Felicia P. Fields, a native Chicagoan, who originated the role of Sofia , for which she received a Tony Award nomination. Her performance also earned her a 2006 Theatre World Award, a Clarence Derwent Award, two Broadway.com Awards and she was a 2006 Drama League honoree. Felicia has worked throughout the Chicagoland area and has received many Joseph Jefferson Award nominations for her performances in Jammin' With Pops (Ella Fitzgerald), Hot Mikado (Katisha), Show Boat (Queenie), Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (Ma Rainey), Ain't Misbehavin' (Nell/Amelia) and Dreamgirls (Effie Melody White), to name a few. Felicia's stellar performance in Chicago 's Drury Lane production of Sophisticated Ladies earned her the Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Actress in a Musical.

Nominated for eleven Tony Awards, including Best Musical, The Color Purple opened on December 1, 2005 at the Broadway Theatre where it ran for over two record breaking years. It is based on the classic Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Alice Walker and the moving film by Steven Spielberg. It is the unforgettable and inspiring story of a woman named Celie, who finds the strength to triumph over adversity, and discover her unique voice in the world. With a joyous GRAMMY-nominated score featuring gospel, jazz, pop and the blues, The Color Purple is about hope and the healing power of love.

Tickets for performances go on sale May 1 at 10 a.m. and range in price from $49.50 - $85. Tickets are available at the Arie Crown Theater Box Office ( 2301 S. Lake Shore Drive), online at ticketmaster.com.

"Wee Thomas" the cat has been killed.  What's worse, he was the beloved pet of Padraic, a ruthless Irish hitman who considers the IRA "too soft."  As the folks back home fight over who has to break the bad news, the violence escalates- recalling Shakespeare and Quentin Tarantino at their bloody best.  A few murders, several dismemberments and a smattering of cow mutilations later, all is finally right with the world again.  Or is it? 

In this wickedly funny black comedy from the author of The Cripple of Inishmaan, A Skull in Connemara and the recent Oscar-nominated film In Bruges, McDonagh considers the implications of outrageous reactions to small misunderstandings.

“All of McDonagh's work sets up an initial conceit of character and plot, which are brilliantly conceived, and craftily constructed. But behind the fireworks of his craftsmanship, his thematic agenda emerges with canny wit and brutal force. In the case of Inishmore, he is examining the folly of violence, of resentment, of holding on to principal until all meaning and purpose are stripped from it,” says BJ Jones.  "This production might be a rough go for those in the audience who like their theatre like a weak tea. But for those who like theirs with a shot of Jameson in it, Northlight is the right place."

Tickets for The Lieutenant of Inishmore, $25- $55, are available by phone, 847-673-6300, or online at www.northlight.org. Student tickets (one per student with valid ID) are $10. The Box Office is located at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, 9501 Skokie Boulevard, in Skokie. 

The announcement of the National Tour follows the news that Shrek The Musical received 10 nominations for Outer Critics Circle Awards, including Best Musical, tying for the most nominations for any show this season. The show also received three Drama League Award nominations this week, including Distinguished Production of a Musical.

"Chicago is a great theatre town and the perfect city to launch the Shrek The Musical National Tour. We feel we are in really good hands with the Broadway In Chicago team who have unmatched experience and success in presenting Broadway musicals. Everyone on the creative team has strong ties to the city of Chicago and is looking forward to getting to work on the touring production," said Bill Damaschke, Producer.

Shrek The Musical features a book and lyrics by Pulitzer Prize winner David Lindsay-Abaire (Rabbit Hole), music by Olivier Award-winner Jeanine Tesori (Thoroughly Modern Millie; Caroline, or Change), and is directed by Tony Award nominee Jason Moore (Avenue Q).

An entirely new musical, Shrek The Musical is based on the story and characters from William Steig's book Shrek!, as well as the DreamWorks Animation film Shrek, the first chapter of the Shrek movie series.

Shrek The Musical tells the story of a swamp-dwelling ogre who goes on a life-changing adventure to reclaim the deed to his land. Joined by a wise-cracking donkey, this unlikely hero fights a fearsome dragon, rescues a feisty princess and learns that real friendship and true love aren't only found in fairy tales.

Shrek The Musical was initiated when Sam Mendes, a big fan of the first Shrek film, suggested the idea of creating a musical to DreamWorks Animation's Jeffrey Katzenberg around the time the second film was in production. The musical is produced by DreamWorks Theatricals (Bill Damaschke, President of DreamWorks Theatricals and Co-President of Production for DreamWorks Animation) and Neal Street Productions, Ltd. (principals Sam Mendes and Caro Newling).

The Broadway production of Shrek The Musical opened on Sunday, December 14, 2008 at the Broadway Theatre in New York City to critical acclaim. "A triumph of comic imagination," said Elysa Gardner (USA Today), "A Big Fat Hit!" Syndicated columnist Liz Smith called the show "A fabulous flight of fancy. Incredibly joyous, with a brilliant cast." David Richardson (WOR Radio) said "The music by Jeanine Tesori and words and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire are the best I've heard this season!" Pat Collins (WWOR-TV) said Shrek The Musical is "Far, far and away the funniest new musical on Broadway."

Tickets are now available for groups of 20 or more by calling 312-977-1710 and to subscribers of the 2010 Broadway In Chicago Season Series. Individual tickets will be available to the general public at a later date to be announced.

Master playwright August Wilson's Pulitzer Prize-winning play is the 1930s entry in his monumental 20th Century play cycle. A rich family history with origins in slavery is carved into the wood of the piano that could be Boy Willie's ticket to self-sufficiency or Berniece's legacy to her daughter. The Piano Lesson is the story of two siblings' struggle to come to terms with their inheritance and the ghosts of their dead.

"It is always an honor to work on an August Wilson play," says Ron OJ Parson. "My history with The Piano Lesson is extensive and I'm truly thrilled to bring this African-American classic to Court's Hyde Park home."

August Wilson ( 1945- 2005) authored Gem of the Ocean, Joe Turner's Come and Gone, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, The Piano Lesson, Seven Guitars, Fences, Two Trains Running, Jitney, King Hedley II, and Radio Golf. These works explore the heritage and experience of African-Americans, decade-by-decade, over the course of the twentieth century.

Wilson's plays have been produced at regional theaters across the country and all over the world, as well as on Broadway. In 2003, Mr. Wilson made his professional stage debut in his one-man show, How I Learned What I Learned. Mr. Wilson's works garnered many awards including Pulitzer Prizes for Fences (1987); and for The Piano Lesson (1990); a Tony Award for Fences; Great Britain's Olivier Award for Jitney; as well as eight New York Drama Critics Circle Awards for Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Fences, Joe Turner's Come and Gone, The Piano Lesson, Two Trains Running, Seven Guitars, Jitney, and Radio Golf. Additionally, the cast recording of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom received a 1985 Grammy Award, and Mr. Wilson received a 1995 Emmy Award nomination for his screenplay adaptation of The Piano Lesson. Mr. Wilson's early works included the one-act plays The Janitor, Recycle, The Coldest Day of the Year, Malcolm X, The Homecoming and the musical satire Black Bart and the Sacred Hills.

The Piano Lesson runs May 7 - June 7. For tickets and more information visit www.CourtTheatre.org.

Chicago's own Tony Award-winning Chicago Shakespeare Theater will mark the occasion as well. "We're asking our artists and audiences to find a moment to bring Shakespeare into their daily discourse-even if it's just asking a coworker to pass 'yonder stapler,'" said Artistic Director Barbara Gaines. "This is someone who literally, single-handedly, introduced at least 2,000 words to the English language that we still use today. We wish him a very happy birthday."

Hot off the Broadway stage, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is a tuneful, offbeat and at times heartwarming tale that follows the story of six pubescent outcasts who are overseen by grown-ups who barely managed to escape childhood themselves.  Through the ups and downs of the BEE they’re forced to learn that winning isn’t everything and that losing doesn’t necessarily make you a loser. The comical bar is raised exponentially as four volunteer audience members get the opportunity to become part of the action as an on-stage BEE contestant. 

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee features witty and endearing music and lyrics by William Finn and a hilarious book by Rachel Sheinkin.  The musical is based upon C-R-E-P-U-S-C-U-L-E by Rebecca Feldman and was originally performed by The Farm, a New York-based improvisational comedy troupe. Nominated for six Tony Awards including Best Musical, it received two 2005 Tony Awards for Best Book of a Musical and Best Featured Actor in a Musical.

The cast for The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee stars Katie Boren as Marcy Park, Roberta Duchak as Rona Lisa Peretti, Heidi Kettenring as Olive Ostrovsky, Kevin Smith Kirkwood as Mitch Mahoney, Michael Mahler as Isaac "Chip" Berkowitz, Brandy McClendon as Logainne Schwarzandgrubenierre, Eric Roediger as William Barfee, Derrick Trumbly as Leaf Coneybear and Michael Weber as Douglas Panch. Kyle Adams, Lara Filip, Chie Isobe and Travis Turner serve as the production’s understudies.

Andy Hite, Lead Artistic Director, heads the artistic team for The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, with Direction and Choreography by Rachel Rockwell, and Musical Direction by Doug Peck.  Sound Design is by Robert E. Gilmartin IV, Properties Design by Gregory Isaac, Lighting Design by Jesse Klug, Costume Design by Nancy Missimi, and Set Design by Tomas M. Ryan.  Patti Garwood conducts the Marriott Theatre orchestra.

"Of all the productions on Broadway last season, none captured the imagination quite like Rock 'n' Roll," said Artistic Director Robert Falls. "I'm thrilled to produce this inventive, joyous celebration of freedom and the power of music at the Goodman-and to welcome Chicago's foremost Stoppard interpreter, Charlie Newell, to the Goodman to direct."

Charles Newell has been the "restlessly intelligent artistic director" (Chicago Tribune) of Court Theatre for 15 years, where he has directed more than 30 productions. He made his Chicago directorial debut in 1993 with The Triumph of Love, which won the Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Production. Directorial credits at Court include Caroline, or Change; The Wild Duck; Titus Andronicus; Uncle Vanya; Man of La Mancha; Hamlet; and Tom Stoppard's Arcadia, Travesties (twice) and The Invention of Love. Newell has also directed at the Guthrie Theater (The History Cycle, Cymbeline); Arena Stage; John Houseman's The Acting Company; the California and Alabama Shakespeare Festivals; The Juilliard School; and New York University.

"Rock 'n' Roll is a fascinating, complex journey that is at once highly emotional and intellectual," said Newell, who jokes that his affection for and extensive collection of Frank Zappa recordings were the real reasons he was chosen to direct Rock 'n' Roll. "Tom Stoppard masterfully weaves together Czech politics, Sappho poetry and early rock 'n' roll-and its transformative power in politics. It's an exhilarating night in the theater that makes its audience think and feel very deeply-leaving the theater basking in the high notes of Mick Jagger!"

Tom Stoppard uses 22 of history's greatest rock songs as narrative devices in Rock 'N' Roll, including:

"Golden Hair"
Syd Barrett's Madcap Laughs (1970)

 "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight"
Bob Dylan's John Wesley Harding (1967)

"It's All Over Now"
Rolling Stones' 12 X 5 (1964)

 "The Universe Symphony and Melody"
Plastic People of the Universe's Muz bez Uzi (1972)

"I'm Waiting for the Man"
The Velvet Underground's Velvet Underground & Nico (1967)

"Terrapin"
Syd Barrett's Madcap Laughs (1970)

"Astronomy Domine"
Pink Floyd's Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967)

"Jugband Blues"
Pink Floyd's A Saucerful of Secrets (1968)

"It's Only Rock ‘n' Roll (But I Like It)"
Rolling Stones' It's Only Rock ‘N Roll (1974)

"Chinatown Shuffle"
Grateful Dead's Rockin the Rhein with the Grateful Dead (1972)

 "Welcome to the Machine"
Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here

"Wouldn't It Be Nice"
The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds (1966)

"I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For"
U2's The Joshua Tree (1987)

"Wish You Were Here"
Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here (1975)

"Bring It On Home to Me"
John Lennon's Anthology (1998)

"Vera"
Pink Floyd's The Wall (1979)

"You Got Me Rocking"
Rolling Stones' Voodoo Lounge (1994)

"The Last Time"
Rolling Stones' Out of Our Heads (1965)

"Venus in Furs"
The Velvet Underground's The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967)

"Break on Through (To the Other Side)"
The Doors' The Doors (1967)

"Give Peace a Chance"
John Lennon's Live Peace in Toronto, 1969

"Boys Don't Cry"
The Cure's Boys Don't Cry (1980)

"We have put together a season filled with bold ideas and tremendous heart and hope and guts," said TimeLine Artistic Director PJ Powers. "Through a steadfast commitment to our mission, TimeLine aspires to be a place for people to come together, to feel a sense of community and to engage in a dialogue about our place in history. The work on our stage allows audiences to lose themselves in a story from the past in order to perhaps better understand where we are today and where we might go tomorrow. During our 2009-10 season, we look forward to exploring some defining moments of the 20th Century together - moments of art and beauty, of friendship and understanding, and of innovation and exploration."

THE 2009-10 TIMELINE THEATRE SEASON INCLUDES:

When She Danced
by Martin Sherman
directed by Nick Bowling
Travel to the Paris of 1923 for this gorgeous and incredibly funny portrait of legendary dancer Isadora Duncan. The so-called mother of modern dance is desperate to keep herself financially solvent and to realize her dream for retirement: a school in Italy to teach young dancers her art. Through a multi-lingual script of great heart and appeal, Sherman mixes the high comedy of a colorful cast of characters with a poignant view of the importance of the arts to move and inspire us. Through the eyes of those in Duncan's life we glimpse her greatness and how she touched so many lives when she danced.

Master Harold.... And The Boys
by Athol Fugard
directed by Jonathan Wilson
Recipient of a Drama Desk Award and a Tony Award nomination for Best Play in 1982, 'Master Harold' ... and the Boys is considered Athol Fugard's masterpiece, valued for both its universal themes of humanity and its skilled theater craft. Set in South Africa during the 1950s era of apartheid, it depicts how institutionalized racism can become absorbed by those who live under it. A white 17-year-old spends time with two African workers he has known all his life, and through their conversations on one rainy day we see what unites and divides them. The play's beautiful and haunting dialogue and message of hope also inspire the recognition that there is much work to be done to bring people of different races together.

The Farnsworth Invention
Chicago premiere
by Aaron Sorkin
directed by Nick Bowling
From the creator of A Few Good Men and The West Wing comes this fascinating new play direct from Broadway. It's the story of two ambitious visionaries - Philo T. Farnsworth, an Idaho farmboy, and David Sarnoff, head of RCA - battling each other for the rights to one of the greatest inventions of all time: the television. Through corporate espionage, family tragedy, financial disaster and the thrill of discovery, these two larger-than-life men compete for fame and credit and become part of a decision that would change America, and eventually the world.

A fourth play and the season's schedule are still to be announced.

Performances take place at TimeLine's home inside the Wellington Avenue United Church of Christ, 615 W. Wellington Ave., Chicago, near the corner of Wellington and Broadway in the Lakeview East neighborhood. Four-admission FlexPass Subscriptions are available for $85 - $112. For more information call 773-281-TIME (8463) or visit timelinetheatre.com.

"I am thrilled to share my first full season with the amazing patrons I've come to know since joining Next in November," said Southerland. "Chicagoland has been so welcoming of me and I look forward to making my directorial debut on the Next stage with boom. Peter is an extraordinary young writer whose work has yet to be seen in Chicago. So it will be a first for both of us!"

Southerland is also pleased to reunite with Kyle Jarrow to present a revised version of his holiday comedy, which the two developed together in Boston, and to bring Next's Artistic Director Emeritus Jason Loewith and puppetmaker Michael Montenegro back to Next's stage. In addition, Southerland is adding an international flair to his first season at Next with Boaz Gaon's Return to Haifa, which he saw in Tel Aviv while attending the IsraDrama Festival in December. He said that he was instantly convinced that it would be the ideal play to engage Next Theatre's audiences in the Israeli- Palestinian conflict in a most personal and moving way. "So much more than a political piece, I am truly captivated by this work's deep debate about nature vs. nurture in the development of a person's identity," remarked Southerland.

Subscriptions to Next Theatre Company's 2009-2010 season are on sale now, ranging in price from $85 to $125.  A Sponsor Flex subscription for $225 is partially tax deductible. To purchase a subscription or receive more information, call Next Theatre at 847-475-1875, or visit Next's website at www.NextTheatre.org.

Set in an open space with no fixed seats, this year the audience will move about freely as 14 world premiere short works, all seven minutes or less, are presented in an interactive evening underscored by the conceptual theme of the New American Fable. Intertwined with the world premieres will be DJs spinning and new live musical performances each night from such artists as Jon Langford, Leroy Bach, Eric Zeigenhagen, Miles Polaski, Anacron, Andrew Fraker, TJ Travelbee, Charles Kim, Darren Spitzer and more, along with group participatory art projects and multi-media interludes.

Sketchbook 2009 Introduces Devised Work
For the 9th annual Sketchbook, Collaboraction pushes the limits of the innovative festival, presenting not just playwright-generated work, but also devised pieces. Collaboraction put out a nationwide call for plays, and for the first time asked for concepts and proposals as well, whether written, visual or sonic, all provoked by the question, what is The New American Fable?

From thousands of submissions from artists across the globe, Collaboraction selected 14 new works - seven playwright-generated submissions and seven devised-work submissions -that will bring Chicago the most exciting, eclectic and daring Sketchbook to date.

"Now that we have established Sketchbook as one of the premiere short play festivals and emerging theater artist incubators, we're expanding the festival in content and form through the introduction of the new Devised Work category, which allows for more risks on stage and more collaboration amongst artists," stated Anthony Moseley, Executive Artistic Director of Collaboraction.

The 9th Sketchbook Festival will be comprised of a continually reshuffled program so that no two nights are the same. In advance of every performance, Collaboraction will post that night's program online. Every performance will be a random mix of devised work and plays, totaling seven pieces (with two exceptions: Sunday, April 26 will be all seven plays and Sunday, May 3 will be all seven devised works).

Known for her wildly imaginative and hilarious work, Chicago playwright and Artistic Director of The Strange Tree Group Emily Schwartz returns to Sketchbook for her fifth year with a new solo puppet show set in World War I titled "The Dreaded Zepplin." Critically acclaimed director and writer Sean Graney, Artistic Director of The Hypocrites, unveils an ambitious new work, "What Am I Supposed to Be?" featuring a cast of 40 actors.

Collaboraction co-founder and member Sandra Delgado presents a devised work, "para Carmen," about a woman in the moments leading up to and immediately following her death, driven by a live musical performance of Lhasa de Sela's song "De Cara a la Pared." From a devised work about a woman's physical and psychological experience in the dentist chair,

"Fix Your Teeth, B*tch," to a postmodern urban detective story, "Who Put the Dead Bird in My Mailbox," the 9th annual Sketchbook presents a captivating evening celebrating all forms of artistic expression.

Photographer Ensemble
An ensemble of 14 photographers will document the Sketchbook experience from the beginning to the end utilizing their own artistic perspective. Each photographer has been paired with one of new works to design a photo to represent that world premiere. Using each image, along with a New American Fable image from their personal portfolio, 14 diverse versions of the Sketchbook postcard will be created and distributed. The photos will be incorporated into the video design of this year's festival, and the photographers will be onsite throughout the run to capture the individuality of each evening and each audience. All images will be posted to Collaboraction's website, www.collaboraction.org, each week. 

The Sketchbook Festival runs April 16 - May 10, 2009 at The Building Stage, 412 N. Carpenter Street. General admission tickets are $25. Industry and student tickets available for $15. The Festival Pass is available for $40 and allows unlimited admission into the festival, subject to availability. For tickets and more information, visit www.collaboraction.org or call 312-226-9633.

One of this year's new features includes three family friendly productions recommended for ages six and up: Once Upon a Time (or the Secret Language of Birds), Woody Guthrie's American Song and Fun O'Clock: A Very Special That's Weird Grandma.

Hallie Gordon, Artistic Director of Theater on the Lake, comments, "Theater on the Lake is a long-standing Chicago tradition, and we invite theater lovers to enjoy the best of the city's off-Loop theater ensembles along beautiful Lake Michigan."

Designed in 1913 and constructed in 1920, the Theater on the Lake building was originally built as a recuperation ward for babies suffering from tuberculosis and other diseases. During World War II, the structure was then used as a USO Center for soldiers and sailors. After the war, the Chicago Park District used the venue for then-popular barn dances. In 1952, it was converted into the Theater on the Lake performance venue and showcased productions staged by the Park District's many community theater organizations. In 1996, the programming evolved into its current format, and the Chicago Park District began inviting professional theater companies to remount their best works.

The 2009 Theater on the Lake season is as follows:

Collaboraction Theater Company
Jon by George Saunders
Directed by Seth Bockley
June 17 - 21

Jon is a futuristic allegory about teenage love and self-discovery in a corporate universe where television commercials replace life experiences. Collaboraction's Associate Artistic Director Seth Bockley adapts the story by MacArthur "Genius" Fellowship recipient George Saunders. The production explores the boundaries of video and theater in a surreal and strangely moving coming-of-age story. The Chicago Tribune highly recommended the world premiere production calling it "a sensorial spectacle."

Redmoon Theater
Once Upon a Time (or the Secret Language of Birds) by Joe Meno
Directed by Frank Magueri
June 24 - 28

Redmoon Theater brings audiences of all ages an urban fairytale tale of friendship, courage, dreams, and heroism that unfolds in an elaborately crafted toy theater. This intricate spectacle in puppet miniature with live video projection is set in a bleak 1920s American city. The story's heroine is a lonely young girl who understands the language of birds. She quickly develops a friendship with a neighbor who has retreated to a life of solitude after a fatal wrestling accident. When the birds of the city mysteriously disappear, the unlikely duo must save the city from the calamitous effects of a world without music.

Blindfaith Theatre Company
Woody Guthrie's American Song by Peter Glazer
Directed by Nicolas Minas
July 1-5

Salute Independence Day weekend with Woody Guthrie's American Song, an exuberant musical celebration of both America and the life of the rambling folk singer through his words and music. From the dust storms of Texas to the promised land of California to the streets of New York City, Guthrie spins the tale of the land that "was made for you and me." The play has the foot-stompin', roof-raisin', toe-tappin', heart-breakin', soul-soarin' musical journey of Woody Guthrie down highways, rail lines and back roads straight into the heart of America.

Theo Ubique Theatre Company
Jacques Brel's Lonesome Loser of the Night
Directed by Fred Anzevino
July 8-12

Theo Ubique Theatre Company presented the world premiere of this music revue to popular acclaim and played to sold out audiences for five months. Through the magical lyricism of Jacques Brel, this story of love, loss, and hope follows the trials of two sailors at port in a bar in Amsterdam and reveals how relationships bloom and wilt. The Chicago Sun-Times called it "sensational ... a genuine hit."

Rivendell Theatre Ensemble
These Shining Lives by Melanie Marnich
Directed by Rachel Walshe
July 15-19

These Shining Lives tells the real-life story of four women who worked for the Radium Dial Company in Ottawa, Illinois during the early 20th century and were exposed to toxic levels of radiation. The play chronicles how they suffered from debilitating joint pain, bone fractures, infections, tumors, anemia and eventually a painful death. With time running out, the women gather their remaining strength and bravely file a class action lawsuit to hold the company accountable for its negligence. Critics hailed the production as "radiant," "shining," and "heartbreaking."

Barrel of Monkeys
Fun O'Clock: A Very Special "That's Weird Grandma"
Directed by Luke Hatton
July 22-26

For the last eight years, Barrel of Monkeys has performed its highly acclaimed That's Weird, Grandma every Monday night in Chicago's Andersonville neighborhood. The stories are penned during the company's creative writing residencies in Chicago public elementary schools. The highly talented ensemble ("Some of the funniest non-famous people in the city" according to Chicago Reader) has adapted the children's writing into short sketches, plays and musical numbers. Fun O'Clock: A Very Special "That's Weird, Grandma" is sure to delight audiences of all ages.

The Artistic Home
Juno and the Paycock by Sean O'Casey
Directed by John Mossman
July 29-Aug. 2

This rich and moving story centers on the lives of the Boyle family eeking out a living in the tenements of 1920s Dublin. Juno supports her family, while roustabout husband Captain Boyle searches for ways to avoid work. Sometimes hilarious, and at other times tragic, this relevant play weaves a tale of war, hard times and family.

Eclipse Theatre Company
Plaza Suite by Neil Simon
Directed by Steve Scott
Aug. 5-9

One of Neil Simon's most popular and celebrated plays, Plaza Suite details the misadventures of three very different couples as they face crucial moments in their respective lives all in the same hotel room in the world famous Plaza Hotel. Plaza Suite showcases Simon at his best -- witty, clever and relentlessly funny. Goodman Theatre Associate Producer and long-time Eclipse ensemble member, Steve Scott, directs Simon's rip-roaring comedy.

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 17 - Aug. 9 is Wednesdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 6:30 p.m.

Single tickets are $17.50 and a season subscription to all eight plays is available at a discounted price of $110. Subscriptions are available beginning May 15 via the brochure. All individual tickets go on sale June 9, 2009 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.

For more information about the Chicago Park District, visit www.chicagoparkdistrict.com.

"Without our traditions, our lives would be as shaky as...as a Fiddler On The Roof," announces Tevye, a humble milkman from the Russian village of Anatevka . And so begins a tale of love and laughter, devotion and defiance, and changing traditions.

Fiddler On The Roof, the Tony Award winning musical that has captured the hearts of people all over the world with its universal appeal, embarks on its North American Tour. In what is a huge theatrical feat, audiences will have a once in a lifetime opportunity to see Jerome Robbins' original Broadway direction and choreography, complete with the star of the original West End production and the 1971 film, Chaim Topol.

Topol and Fiddler On The Roof were both nominated for the Academy Award in their respective categories. While enlisted in the Israeli Army, Topol won the 1972 Golden Globe for his performance in Fiddler On The Roof. He is now joining this tour on the heels of a successful production in the South Pacific. In 1983 Topol reprised the role of Tevye in a London revival and in 1990 he again played the part in a Broadway revival, and was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical.

A perennial hit since it first opened in 1964, Fiddler On The Roof has enjoyed critical acclaim for bringing to the stage a poignant story about the enduring bonds of the family. Now, the national touring production of this timeless musical brings the wit and wisdom of Tevye and his family to audiences throughout the United States with the reproduction of Jerome Robbins' famous masterpiece.

In 1965 Jerome Robbins won matching Tony Awards for his direction and choreography of Fiddler On The Roof. In this National Tour, both are recreated by Director Sammy Dallas Bayes, choreographer of the Broadway Revival.

Tevye's wrestling with the new customs of a younger generation is punctuated by an unforgettable score that weaves the haunting strains of "Sunrise, Sunset" and the rousing "If I Were A Rich Man" with the exuberant "Matchmaker, Matchmaker" and triumphant "Tradition." When his daughters choose suitors who defy his idea of a proper match, Tevye comes to realize, through a series of incidents that are at once comic and bittersweet, that his children will begin traditions of their own. At the story's close, the villagers of Anatevka are forced to leave their homes and even the sturdy mores that have guided everyday life begin to crumble. Paradoxically, it is the enforced loss of the rigid traditions and home life that Tevye has tried so tenaciously to preserve that leads the family to reconcile and draw closer still.

Tickets for performances go on sale April 17 at 10:00am and range in price from $25 - $80 and will be available at ticketmaster.com.

"Now, more than ever, it’s essential to reaffirm our commitment to bring Chicago Shakespeare to the widest audience," says Criss Henderson. "Through our CST for $20 program, we’re releasing thousands of $20 tickets for the new season encouraging young audiences (under 35) to experience live theater without price as an obstacle. We’re offering two new, economy weekend series to broaden our subscription options. And, due to tremendous demand for affordable Shakespeare productions, we are doubling performances of our popularly abridged- and priced- Short Shakespeare! series. We're also offering $70 four-person family packages for our summer musical, maintaining our trademark of high quality, high value programming."

Subscription Series

• In the fall, Barbara Gaines kicks off the Subscription Series directing Richard III, one of Shakespeare's most enduring successes. Richard, the brilliant hunchback and witty manipulator, seduces and murders his way to the English throne in the Bard's epic history of this most fascinating and engaging villain. September 23-November 22, 2009, Courtyard Theater.
  
  
• In the New Year, Associate Artistic Director Gary Griffin directs Private Lives, a revelation of the humorous complications of marriage penned by master playwright Noël Coward. This classic comedy takes us into the private lives of a stylish, ferociously intelligent divorced couple who meet again quite by accident- on their honeymoons, with new spouses in tow. January 6- March 7, 2010, Courtyard Theater.
  
  
• The Subscription Series concludes in the spring with The Taming of the Shrew, Shakespeare's spark-filled comedy of unconventional courtship. Fortune-seeking Petruchio sets his sights on wedding the fiery Katherina, but the verdict is out on just who tames whom in Shakespeare’s all-out battle of the sexes. April 7-June 6, 2010, Courtyard Theater.

World's Stage Series

• This summer, CST's World Stage welcomes Ilotopie, a French troupe which specializes in the creation of waterborne theatrical wonders. The acclaimed company has performed on the Thames in London, the River Seine in Paris and will make their American debut with Water Fools (Fous de Bassin) here in Chicago on Lake Michigan off the east end of Navy Pier. Chicago's aquatic front yard will be transformed into a world where cars drive on water, heads burst into flames and a 12-foot tall lady glides by on a penny-farthing. August 21- 22, 2009, Navy Pier.
  
  
• In the fall, CST hosts Druid, one of Ireland's premiere theater companies, with their acclaimed production of Enda Walsh's tragic comedy, The Walworth Farce. This biting social commentary disguised as a traditional high farce played to sold out houses at the National Theatre in Great Britain and garnered an Edinburgh Fringe First Award. October 28-November 1, 2009, Upstairs at Chicago Shakespeare.



• On the 150th anniversary of Anton Chekhov's birth, the World's Stage Series concludes with Uncle Vanya in the Chicago debut of Russia's illustrious Maly Drama Theatre of Saint Petersburg. Hailed by Peter Brook as "the finest ensemble in Europe" and led by Artistic Director Lev Dodin, the Maly Drama Theatre has found worldwide critical acclaim for this production of Chekhov’s classic. March 17-21, 2010, Courtyard Theater.

CST Family

• This summer, CST creates a new production of Disney’s Aladdin, based on the 1992 award-winning animated film and complete with the original music, including "A Whole New World" and "Friend Like Me." Devanand Janki directs this exciting musical adventure, following Aladdin, the beautiful Princess Jasmine and the fun-loving, wise-cracking Genie as they try and save the kingdom from the villainous Jafar. July 1-August 30, 2009, Courtyard Theater.


• In the New Year, CST presents Short Shakespeare! The Comedy of Errors, adapted and directed by David Bell, on Saturday and Sunday mornings. This 75-minute abridgment of Shakespeare’s first comedy introduces young people and their families to the theatrical genius of CST’s resident playwright. Saturdays and Sundays at 11 a.m. January 23-March 7, 2010, Courtyard Theater.

For further information on all Chicago Shakespeare Theater productions and to purchase subscriptions and tickets online, visit the Theater's website at www.chicagoshakes.com or call the Theater's Box Office at 312-595-5600.

In addition to being a season of Midwest Premieres, Steep's 2008-2009 season is also of note because it features the three graduates of Northwestern University’s 2006 MFA in Directing Program:  the first class selected and mentored by Tony Award-winning director Anna Shapiro.  Joanie Schultz directed Steep's hit Stephen Adly Guirgis’s In Arabia We'd All Be Kings and Jonathan Berry will direct the Midwest Premiere of The Hollow Lands by Howard Korder which opens June 25th.  

In Butterworth's newest venture, things are disappearing from Ned and Joy's quiet suburban home: gold cufflinks; a stuffed badger; a tandem bicycle. Is it a case of marital subterfuge or is there something more menacing lurking in the dark corners of their once happy home?  Parlour Song is the story of three ordinary people who find themselves suddenly and unexpectedly in trouble—and their unrealized dreams soon become unwelcome, shattering nightmares.  Parlour Song was given its World Premiere last winter at Atlantic Theater Company in New York.

Over the last eight years, Steep Theatre Company has been home to exciting ensemble work.  Breathing Corpses was recently named to Timeout Chicago’s Top Ten list of 2008 andbecame the third Steep show to be named to that list. (Book of Days, 2005 and The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, 2007)   In the four years that Timeout has come out with this list, only one other theater company has made the list three different years(Steppenwolf) and only one company made the list in both 2007 and 2008: Steep.   

Parlour Song runs Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings at 8 p.m. Performances begin Thursday, April 2nd and run through Saturday, May 9th.  Tickets are $18, and reservations can be made by calling 312-458-0722 or by visiting www.steeptheatre.com. 

"Over 25 years, we have produced over 75 award winning shows, over 20 World and Chicago premieres, and our ensemble members collectively have won numerous Jeff Awards.  However, at this time we are experiencing major administrative and artistic differences. We feel that we need to be an organization that creates a fearless and collaborative working environment for ourselves and for the Chicago artistic community," said ensemble member and former Artistic Director Carmen Roman.

"We are tremendously grateful to our long time patrons, subscribers and donors and we look forward to their participation as we move forward," said Kate Buddeke, an ensemble member for 22 years.

"For anyone who has never seen this ensemble of actors when they worked under the company name 'American Blues', this isn't going to be merely a name change. It will be a revelation," said founding member and Golden Globe and Emmy Award winning writer Rick Cleveland.

Individuals supporting this departure include founding members Rick Cleveland, James Leaming, and William Payne; former Artistic Directors Carmen Roman (two-time Jeff Award and Sarah Siddons winner), Kate Buddeke (four-time Jeff Award winner and numerous Broadway credits), and Stef Tovar (Jeff Award Winner) and returning member Tom Geraty.  Also supporting the departure are ensemble members Dawn Bach, Matthew Brumlow (Jeff Award nominee), Casey Campbell (Jeff Award nominee), Dennis Cockrum (recently on Broadway in Frost/Nixon and TV and film veteran), Lauri Dahl, Cheryl Graeff, Kevin R. Kelly, Ed Kross, Heather Meyers, John Mohrlein (Jeff Award nominee), Jim Ortlieb (currently on Broadway in Guys And Dolls), Suzanne Petri, Tania Richard, Editha Rosario, John Sterchi (Jeff Award nominee) and Gwendolyn Whiteside (Jeff Award nominee).  

This ensemble of artists began collaboration in 1985 with a production of Dog Man's Last Stand and went on to produce such acclaimed productions as Bad Moon, The Hairy Ape, Flight of the Phoenix, Stalag 17, Keely & Du, A Stonecarver, American Buffalo, Dark At The Top Of The Stairs and Oklahoma.

Last Spring, 120 new works were submitted from around the U.S. by playwrights of color, under 40 years old, to Victory Gardens' first-ever national new play festival for emerging writers. Six finalists were selected, workshopped and presented as staged readings in an incredibly well received, weeklong festival this past Summer.

Now, two nearly simultaneous world premieres by young writers of increasing national prominence - Year Zero by Michael Golamco, and The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity by Kristoffer Diaz - will kick off Victory Gardens '2009-2010 season.

Fueling more excitement about Ignition, Victory Gardens will make Year Zero the debut production in its new, 120-seat 2nd floor Studio Theater, currently under construction on the second floor of Chicago's historic Biograph Theater. The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity will be a co-production with Teatro Vista.

Add rotating performance schedules, panel discussions, hot social events like Spark Plug II, a "jewel box" of a new space, and the opportunity to invite producing theaters to visit Chicago for a wider viewing of the playwrights' work promise to make Ignition a new play festival of national interest.

Soon after Ignition, Victory Gardens' smash hit holiday musical The Snow Queen returns for her fourth season, followed in the new year by the Chicago premiere of Blue Door, a Pulitzer-Prize nominated journey through four generations of black history by award-winning playwright and actor Tanya Barfield, a writer new to the Gardens.

Next come three new works from Victory Gardens' own Playwrights Ensemble: the Chicago premiere of Lonnie Carter's acclaimed play The Lost Boys of Sudan, James Sherman's world premiere farce Jacob and Jack, and finally, the debut of A Guide for the Perplexed by Joel Drake Johnson, author of Victory Gardens' 2007 smash hit Four Places. Adding star power to Victory Gardens' season, A Guide for the Perplexed will boast the return to a Chicago stage of acclaimed actor Kevin Anderson. Anderson 's fellow Steppenwolf ensemble member, Francis Guinan, co-stars.

"In many ways this is our most ambitious season ever," said Victory Gardens Artistic Director Dennis Zacek. "It's exciting that we have chosen to present seven projects. We're particularly thrilled to open next season with not just one - but two - of our Ignition finalists, to launch our new Studio Theater, and to have our longtime friend Kevin Anderson join us on stage next season."

Despite the current economy, Victory Gardens is not increasing ticket prices in 2009-2010. "Instead," said new Victory Gardens Executive Director Jan Kallish, "we're cutting costs, seeking new funding and collaborations to support our exciting programmatic initiatives like Ignition, while raising the bar on producing fresh, fully realized productions in our expanded Biograph facility. Additionally, we're incredibly excited about the launch of our new Studio Theater, and the larger opportunities that support our mission."

Five-, six- and seven-play subscriptions are on sale now, starting at $80. Flex Plans, two-year subscriptions, and value added packages including Neighbors Night, Humanities Night, Pub Night, Access Project, and Family Saturday are also available. Convenient parking, easy ticket exchanges, exclusive invitations to special events, a free subscription to Victory Magazine, and plenty of pre- and post-show deals at area bars and restaurants are always part of the Victory Gardens package.

The Victory Gardens Biograph Theater is conveniently located at 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue , in the heart of Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood. For more information, call the Victory Gardens box office, 773- 871-3000 or visit victorygardens.org.

A Chorus Line recouped its entire $8 million investment after only 157 performances (19 weeks) on Broadway. It broke the theatre's box office record 7 times in its first 5 months. The show ended its Broadway run on August 17, 2008 after 18 previews and 759 regular performances.

A Chorus Line reclaimed its place in the heart of Broadway at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre where it opened to rave reviews on October 5, 2006. Elysa Gardner of USA Today calls it "Exhilarating and endearing, it still has a freshness and fervency too seldom seen in contemporary musicals," while The New York Daily News exclaims "There's nothing better! The show thrills from the opening number to the glittering finale," and Jeffrey Lyons of WNBC TV hails it "An American Masterpiece.  A show for the ages." A Chorus Line is directed by its original Tony Award winning co-choreographer Bob Avian and is produced by John F. Breglio for Vienna Waits Productions.

The original production of A Chorus Line opened at the Public Theater's Newman Theatre on May 21, 1975 and transferred to Broadway's Shubert Theatre on July 25th, opening there on October 19th of that year. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, nine Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Score and Book, and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award. It ran for nearly 15 years, closing on April 28, 1990 after 6,137 performances. A Chorus Line remains the longest-running American musical in Broadway history.

Individual tickets range in price from $18 to $85. A select number of premium seats are also available. Tickets are available at ticketmaster.com

"A 35th Anniversary in the life of a theatre is a rare and exceptional thing, a celebration of artistry and integrity. But the lifeblood of a theatre exits on both sides of the footlights. It is our audience's loyalty and passion for our work that has kept Northlight thriving for three and a half decades," says BJ Jones. "To acknowledge their collaboration and in celebration of all these extraordinary years, we are inviting some of our dearest friends and some of our newest friends to bring their world class artistry to Northlight's stage.  John Mahoney, Mike Nussbaum, Rondi Reed, Amy Morton, and David Bell are just some of the stars of Chicago theatre who will remind us all why Northlight Theatre has been such a special place for 35 years."

The 2009-2010 Northlight Season Includes:

The Marvelous Wonderettes
Written and directed by Roger Bean
September 17 - October 25, 2009

When the entertainment doesn't show up for the Class of 1958 prom, The Wonderettes step in to save the day.  Between belting out 50's and 60's favorites like "It's My Party," "Mr. Sandman" and "Dream Lover," the girls trade gossip about high school hijinks and teenage romance.  Your toes will be tapping throughout this nostalgic pop musical, coming straight to Northlight as one of this season's biggest off-Broadway hits!

The comedic and musical true story of Florence Foster-Jenkins: a New York socialite whose tin ear couldn't keep her off the stage at Carnegie Hall.  Seen through the eyes of her beloved accompanist, Souvenir is a touching and comic tribute to Ms. Jenkins' sincerity, ambition, deep love of music and complete lack of talent, all of which brought a very unique joy to thousands.

Featuring Tony Award winner Rondi Reed and Mike Nussbaum
January 21 - February 28, 2010

In a cramped Bronx tenement during the Great Depression, a working-class Jewish family copes with financial hardship even as they dream of a brighter future.  Bessie Berger's fierce determination keeps her family afloat, whatever the cost.  Gritty, passionate, funny and heartbreaking, Odets' 1935 masterpiece (the Tony Award winner for best revival in 2006) beautifully captures both the hopes and the struggles of an unforgettable American family.

In the sequel to the late Hugh Leonard's most celebrated work, Da, John Mahoney stars in this evocative play about the evolution of friendships in a small Irish town.  Desmond Drumm nears retirement and his memories come to life, reminding him of the triumphs and tragedies of his youth and prompting him to mend relationships with a childhood friend and the love interest that had charmed them both.  But as scenes from the past shed light on the misunderstandings of today, Desmond must realize that his lifelong ability to use his great intellect and acerbic wit as a means of self-defense has come at a cost.

TBA
May 27 - July 3, 2010

The Northlight artistic team is still working to choose the perfect show to cap off its 2009-10 Season.  Whether a new musical, a rediscovered classic or a fresh new comedy, the 35th Anniversary Season promises to showcase the blend and range of work found only at Northlight.

Set in 2012 amidst the signing of a peace treaty between Israel and the Palestinians, Motti Lerner's Pangs of the Messiah is an apocalyptic yet fiercely humane drama about eight West Bank Jewish settlers pitted against an Israel they feel betrayed by. The play focuses on a religious family that finds itself torn between fighting to stay in their settlement and obeying their government's decision to dismantle it. Left hanging in the balance is the legacy of their beliefs.

Silk Road Theatre Project Artistic Director Jamil Khoury comments that "I am utterly bound up and wound up by this play. Pangs of the Messiah embodies everything that Silk Road Theatre Project audiences have come to cherish about the company's repertoire. It's an intelligent, provocative, and emotionally compelling play that allows audiences to arrive at their own conclusions." Khoury adds, "I come to this play with lived experience of the issues at hand.  During the first Intifada [Palestinian uprising in the Israeli occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip], I worked with and advocated for Palestinian refugee communities in Jerusalem and the West Bank as a United Nations Refugee Affairs Officer.  Thus Pangs of the Messiah speaks to me and challenges me on deeply personal levels.  The play elicits within me sympathy for the settler family depicted, at times empathy, and in so doing, it creates a distinct discomfort, a fear of committing betrayal and of forgetting, particularly as an Arab American.   But it was while swimming in those initial feelings of anxiety and unease that I knew instinctively we had to produce this play."

Pay What You Can

In light of Chicago's recent spat of gloomy weather - not to mention the country's even gloomier financial forecast - the producer of Don't Dress for Dinner invites theatergoers to enjoy a laugh, and "pay what you can," for two performances of the hit comedy now playing at the Royal George Theatre, 1641 N. Halsted Street.  For the Wednesday evening performances on March 18 and, somewhat fittingly, April 15 ("tax day"), theatergoers may purchase tickets at whatever price they'd like (minimum purchase $1/ticket).  Tickets, which are regularly priced at $49.50 on Wednesday evenings, can only be purchased day of show, at the Royal George Theatre box office only. There is a maximum of six tickets per order, and all are tickets are subject to availability.

"We know there is no better time to be enjoying a laugh, and we don't want financial considerations standing in the way. So, following such pricing pioneers as Radiohead, we are inviting Chicagoans to pay what they can and want so as to enjoy our comedy," explained Damian Arnold, head of Chicago-based British Stage Company which is producing Don't Dress for Dinner. "I am confident whatever they pay - even the standard price of $49.50 - audience members will get their money's worth and more!"

Don't Dress for Dinner is a frenetic case of mistaken identity with more twists than a corkscrew.  Since opening in November, the romantic comedy has attracted both critical and audience acclaim. It was recently announced that actor Gene Weygandt, fresh from his three-and-a-half year starring role in Wicked, plus actresses Bethany Caputo and Katherine Keberlein, will join the cast beginning performances March 25.   

Chicago gets BackStage with Mary Poppins

Local PBS WTTW11-Chicago will air the "BackStage With Mary Poppins" program on Sunday, March 15 at 5:30 p.m. and Tuesday, March 17 at 8 p.m. thanks to an arts education collaboration between Playhouse Square and Cleveland's Ideastream. The "Idea  Center" partnership serves as a convergence of the performing arts, radio/TV broadcast news, technology and education.

The new "BackStage With" series hosted by NPR's Scott Simon explores the creation of this magical Disney musical with Thomas Schumacher (producer), Cameron Mackintosh (co-creater and producer), Richard Sherman (original music and lyrics), George Stiles (new songs and additional music), Anthony Drewe (new songs and additional lyrics), David Caddick (music supervisor), Ashley Brown (Mary Poppins) and Gavin Lee (Bert).

The series features show clips interspersed between dynamic interviews with performing arts masters who offer revealing insights and inspirational motivation into the creation of groundbreaking Broadway musicals. During the initial taping, the program's format allows guests to connect with a live studio audience of high school through graduate school students, particularly those in theater arts.

Mary Poppins will be run at the Cadillac Palace Theatre through July 12, 2009.

Second City's Rod Blagojevich Superstar Comes to Chicago Shakespeare

Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) welcomes Second City back to Navy Pier with a limited six-week engagement of their smash hit, Rod Blagojevich Superstar. The show will play in a cabaret-style setting in which audience members can enjoy drinks Upstairs at Chicago Shakespeare. At CST, the production will feature new music and frequent updates-incorporating Blagojevich's brother, his $100,000 book deal and Roland Burris's son as the Illinois political saga continues to unfold. Following each performance, the cast will improvise a 20-minute political comedy set based on audience suggestions. Rod Blagojevich Superstar runs March 26 through May 3, 2009, Upstairs at Chicago Shakespeare. Performance dates are Thursdays and Fridays at 7:30pm, Saturdays at 3:00pm, 7:00pm and 9:30pm and Sundays at 3:00pm. Tickets are $25 ($20 for groups of 10 or more) and may be purchased by visiting Chicago Shakespeare Theater's website at www.chicagoshakes.com or calling the CST Box Office at 312.595.5600.

Originating as a joke at a holiday party, writers Ed Furman (book) and T.J. Shanoff (music and lyrics) quickly turned Rod Blagojevich Superstar into a critically acclaimed musical account of the rise and fall of ex-Governor Rod Blagojevich. Never afraid to push the boundaries with their long tradition of satirizing political headlines, the Second City writers and cast have turned the Blagojevich scandal into a rollicking musical that quickly sold out its run at the Second City e.t.c. In response to continued, overwhelming demand, the company will give a special command performance in Springfield to delight elected officials and citizens of the capital city before returning to Chicago for a limited engagement on Navy Pier.

"We are hoping to have the Rod wig blessed or anointed while we're in Springfield," reports Second City Vice President Kelly Leonard. "Then, we'll have an armored car service deliver the wig directly to Navy Pier."

Rod Blagojevich Superstar marks Second City's third production with Chicago Shakespeare Theater. The two companies first worked together in 2001 to create the critically acclaimed production of Hamlet! the Musical, followed by Romeo and Juliet the Musical in 2004. With Rod Blagojevich Superstar, Chicago Shakespeare and Second City continue their long tradition of bringing classic theater together with contemporary satire.

Lifeline Theatre Announces 2009/2010 Season

Lifeline Theatre Artistic Director Dorothy Milne and the artistic ensemble announce their 2009-2010, 27th anniversary season of presenting Big Stories, Up Close.  In its award-winning and audience-acclaimed style, Lifeline's 2009-2010 season will feature five popular books onstage and one original play (four productions written by Lifeline ensemble members).  The season will feature sprawling, classic stories as well as stirring, contemporary titles, as Lifeline retains its reputation for fresh, imaginative interpretations of well-loved stories and embraces the challenge and excitement of new, thought-provoking works.

The MainStage season will begin with the classic adventure of Treasure Island, followed by the post-modern fable, Mrs. Caliban, and conclude with the dark urban fantasy, Neverwhere.  The KidSeries offerings start with the best-selling story of personal expression, Dooby Dooby Moo, followed by the classic tale of empowerment, The Last of the Dragons, and end with a retelling of world folktales in a new musical by Nambi E. Kelley, The Blue Shadow. 

For more information, or to purchase tickets and subscriptions, call the Lifeline Box Office at 773-761-4477, or visit www.lifelinetheatre.com  Season subscriptions go on sale April 1, and offer the three MainStage productions for $75; and the three KidSeries plays for $27.  

The madcap Marx Brothers musical Animal Crackers, directed by Henry Wishcamper, launches the season in the Albert Theatre. Next, Artistic Director Robert Falls and Brian Dennehy team up again for a Broadway-bound double-bill of Eugene O’Neill’s Hughie directed by Falls, and Samuel Beckett’s one-man-show Krapp’s Last Tape helmed by Canadian director Jennifer Tarver. In March 2010, Rebecca Gilman's Goodman commission, A True History of the Johnstown Flood makes its world premiere production. Finishing the season in June 2010- and launching the fifth biennial international Latino Theatre Festival- is Karen ZacharÍas' The Sins of Sor Juana, directed by Henry Godinez, following one of the legendary figures of Mexican arts and literature. Still to be announced is one Spring 2010 production directed by Chuck Smith in the Albert Theatre.

Also, three world premiere productions will debut in the Owen Theatre, beginning with Joan D'Arc; acclaimed Bosnian artist Aida Karic and Tanya Palmer put a contemporary spin on Friedrich Schiller's great romantic tragedy The Maiden of Orleans. Also appearing in the Owen are High Holidays, Alan Gross' boisterous, darkly comic look at coming of age in suburban Chicago in the early 1960s and Brett C. Leonard’s searing The Long Red Road, directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman in his Goodman Theatre directorial debut.

The season also includes the 32nd annual production of the perennial holiday favorite, A Christmas Carol beginning November 2009 in the Albert Theatre.

"Our new season is a broad shouldered line-up of plays ranging from a first look at brand new works, to a new spin on celebrated favorites," said Artistic Director Robert Falls . "I am thrilled to present this remarkable range of projects, many of which have been years in the making, with some of my favorite artistic collaborators who are special to Goodman audiences- Brian Dennehy, Rebecca Gilman, Henry Wishcamper, Karen ZacharÍas and Henry Godinez. And I warmly welcome to Chicago the bold voices of Aida Karic, Jennifer Tarver, Alan Gross, Brett C. Leonard and Philip Seymour Hoffman. It's an honor to bring together these people and their high-profile, dynamic plays in a single season."

The 2009/2010 Season:

IN THE ALBERT THEATRE

Animal Crackers
Book by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind
Music and Lyrics by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby
Directed by Henry Wishcamper
Begins September 2009

When a celebrated sculpture goes missing from Mrs. Rittenhouse's fancy house party in honor of African explorer Captain Spaulding, her guests set out to find the thief in a series of madcap antics and exploits. Based on the original Marx Brothers Broadway hit and film classic, this contemporary adaptation of Animal Crackers is an outrageous, rollicking, laugh-out-loud musical comedy.

A Broadway-Bound Double-Bill

Hughie
By Eugene O'Neill
Directed by Robert Falls

Krapp's Last Tape
By Samuel Beckett
Directed by Jennifer Tarver

Begins January 2010

Robert Falls and Brian Dennehy reprise their 2004 hit production of Eugene O'Neill's one-act play Hughie. High-rolling gambler Erie and Hughie, the credulous night clerk at his apartment building, were confidants. Hughie admired Erie for his bold lifestyle and Erie considered Hughie his good luck charm. When Hughie dies unexpectedly, Erie 's luck changes for the worse and he finds himself in dire straights. Then Erie meets the new night clerk, who reminds him enough of Hughie that he takes the gamble that his luck is about to change.

Brian Dennehy stars in Samuel Beckett's classic one-act, one-man show, Krapp's Last Tape. Every year on his birthday, self-absorbed Krapp records the important-and the banal-moments of the last year. As he prepares to record a new tape on his 69th birthday, he begins to listen to his archives and stumbles upon a tender memory that he recorded half a lifetime ago. This immersion in his own history leads Krapp to question with growing regret whether his present lives up to his past.

A True History of the Johnstown Flood
By Rebecca Gilman
Begins March 2010

The legendarily devastating Johnstown Flood of 1889 serves as the backdrop for this provocative world premiere by Rebecca Gilman. The Baxter Theatre Troupe-namely, siblings James, Richard, and Fanny-has been summoned to perform at a tony resort next to a beautiful man-made lake in the Pennsylvania mountains. Although the troupe's repertoire consists of the romantic trifles typical of the era, brother James envisions a different kind of play, exposing the true struggles of common people. When a violent rainstorm compromises the shoddily constructed dam, the resulting disaster lays bare the tragic inequities of the rigid class system-and paves the way for a seismic change in both theatre and society.

The Sins of Sor Juana
By Karen ZacharÍas
Directed by Henry Godinez
Begins June 2010

Legendary Mexican poet Juana InÉs de la Cruz writes expressive, sensual verse at the Viceroy's court in the 1600s, a time when it was unfashionable-and sinful-for women to exercise their intellect. The Viceroy is jealous of Juana's influence on his beautiful wife, the Vicereine, who has arranged a profitable marriage to ensure that Juana will always have a place at court. Believing his own marriage is threatened by Juana's engagement, the Viceroy hires a charming, educated rogue to seduce Juana and destroy her reputation. When Juana refuses to compromise her poetry for what the church ordains appropriate, she stands to lose everything she loves.

IN THE OWEN THEATRE

Joan D'Arc
Created by Tanya Palmer and Aida Karic
Directed by Aida Karic
Adapted from Friedrich Schiller's Die Jungfrau von Orleans
Begins September 2009

Adapted from Schiller's great romantic tragedy, this riveting world premiere-set to breathtaking live gospel music-places a contemporary spin on the classic story of Joan of Arc. In the midst of a nightmarish war, a young woman rejects her femininity to become a ruthless warrior for her country. Driven by religious faith, Joan murders her enemies in cold blood until she is stopped short and ultimately destroyed when her emotions betray her in a way that she never expected. A compelling story of one woman's fierce struggle to forge her own identity in the heat of battle, Joan D'Arc features a cast of 15 American performers, including seven musicians and Gospel singers-several of whom she discovered while in residence at the Goodman and touring Chicago's neighborhoods and churches to create this piece.

High Holidays
By Alan Gross
Directed by Steve Robman
Begins October 2009

This darkly comic and boisterous look at growing up in the Chicago suburbs during the early sixties is the story of 13-year old Billy Roman and the rollicking, anxiety-riddled preparations for his Bar Mitzvah. When Billy's rebellious older brother returns from college during the Jewish high holidays, his family-the little Roman Empire-begins to wobble and crack as it is forced to examine some hard truths about coming of age in America .

The Long Red Road
By Brett C. Leonard
Directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman
Begins February 2010

In this raw, provocative world premiere, Sam drinks away his life on an Indian reservation in South Dakota , where he has been trying to forget his role in a tragic accident involving his family. When a visitor from his past arrives on the reservation, Sam is forced to face his guilt and to take a harrowing look at the man he has become. The Long Red Road is a searing play about the way one person's demons can tear a family apart.

Subscriptions for the 2009/2010 season are now on sale (subscriptions do not include A Christmas Carol ). Visit www.GoodmanTheatre.org/Subscribe or call 312.443.3800.

The North American National Tour of Mary Poppins commences in Chicago on March 11, 2009 with preview performances. The show opens on March 25, 2009 with the two original Broadway stars, Ashley Brown as "Mary Poppins" and Gavin Lee as "Bert."

Mary Poppins, a co-production by Disney and Cameron Mackintosh, opened on Broadway on November 16, 2006. Based on P.L. Travers' cherished stories and the classic 1964 Walt Disney film, Mary Poppins features the Academy Award-winning music and lyrics of Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman. The stage production has been created, in collaboration with Cameron Mackintosh, by Academy Award-winning screenwriter Julian Fellowes, who has written the book, and the Olivier Award-winning team of George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, who have composed new songs and additional music and lyrics.

Consistently among the top-grossing shows on Broadway, Mary Poppins celebrated its two-year anniversary at the New Amsterdam Theatre on Sunday, November 16, 2008. Simultaneously, the show’s popularity grows around the globe. Following a successful three-year run (December 2004 - January 2008) at the Prince Edward Theatre on London's West End, a U.K. tour of Mary Poppins commenced in summer 2008 and is currently performing in Manchester, with additional dates booked in Cardiff through April 2009. Mary Poppins will later make its Australian debut at the Capitol Theatre in Sydney in October 2009.

Tickets for Mary Poppins prices range from $23 to $90. Premium Ticket Packages, which include prime seat locations and a commemorative souvenir program, are also available and range in price from $123 to $150. Tickets are available ticketmaster.com.

Pascal, Rapp, and Stewart originated the roles of Roger Davis, Mark Cohen, and "Seasons of Love" soloist, respectively, at New York Theatre Workshop and on Broadway. Justin Johnston (Angel), Michael McElroy (Collins), and Stewart were all members of the final company of Rent, which played its last performance on Broadway September 7, 2008.

Rent, The Broadway Tour, is directed by Michael Greif, who received 1996 Tony and Drama Desk nominations as well as the Obie Award for Rent, and choreographed by Marlies Yearby who received a Tony Award nomination for her work on the musical. Tim Weil, the show's original music supervisor and conductor, serves as music supervisor.

Rent, written by Jonathan Larson and directed by Michael Greif, opened at Broadway's Nederlander Theatre on April 29, 1996 following a history making, sold out, extended limited engagement at off-Broadway’s New York Theatre Workshop. The musical went on to win every major best musical award, including the Tony Award, as well as the Pulitzer Prize for drama. Rent played its final performance at the Nederlander Theatre on September 7, 2008 after playing 5,124 performances and 16 previews. Rent is the seventh longest running show in Broadway history and grossed over $280 million during its Broadway run.

Tours of Rent have crisscrossed the country almost continuously since late 1996 and the U.S. national tours have grossed over $330 million. The musical has been translated into every major language and been performed on six continents, including in the following countries: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

Individual tickets range in price from $25 to $80.  A select number of premium seats are also available. Tickets are available at ticketmaster.com.

"Classic Stoppard, the best of Noel Coward, Tennessee Williams at the peak of his achievement and a contemporary American play which delivers a highly unconventional message in the folds of a most conventional story are the driving forces behind the 2009/10 Season," said Artistic Director Michael Halberstam. "I am exhilarated to welcome David Cromer back to Writers' Theatre.  It will be his fifth production with us and certainly one of his most exciting projects to date.  Ron OJ Parson brings the power of his emerging directorial prowess to Glencoe. Jim Corti, who is a veteran musical champion both in Chicago and New York, will helm the effervescent Coward revue in the bookstore. This is a season that celebrates the sophistication, breadth and diversity of our artistic landscape here in Chicago."

Writers' Theatre performs in two performance spaces in Glencoe - its 50-seat venue at Books on Vernon, 664 Vernon Ave, and its 108-seat theatre at 325 Tudor Court in the Woman's Library Club.  Subscriptions and Memberships are available at the Box Office,  376 Park Avenue, Glencoe, 847-242-6000 and www.writerstheatre.org.

THE 2009/10 WRITERS' THEATRE SEASON IS:

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
By Tom Stoppard
Directed by Artistic Director Michael Halberstam
Performed at 325 Tudor Court 
Run dates: September 29 - December 6, 2009

Hamlet, Shakespeare's greatest drama, is retold from the perspective of his schoolmates, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, in Tom Stoppard's comedic masterpiece.  Equal parts Laurel and Hardy, Waiting for Godot and classic Shakespeare, Stoppard's scintillating wit, far-reaching imagination and astonishing skill with words traces the journey of these fascinating characters as they struggle to avoid the inevitability of the Bard's tragic conclusion.

You're invited to a marvelous party!  Weaving together songs and literary delights, Oh Coward! celebrates one of the theater's greatest entertainers, Noel Coward.  His effervescent music and charming quips combine for an unforgettable evening of the most memorable tunes of the 20th century.   

The Old Settler
By John Henry Redwood
Directed by Ron OJ Parson
Performed at 325 Tudor Court
Run dates: February 2 - March 28, 2010

It's Harlem in the Spring of 1943.  Elizabeth and Quilly, sisters of a certain age, are quietly nursing their loneliness and healing from heartache when their lives together change abruptly.  Husband Witherspoon, a handsome young border, moves to New York from the country in search of his fiancee, and ends up finding love in the most unlikely of places.  Told with heartwarming sincerity, humor and a touch of poetry, The Old Settler paints a poignant picture of two women testing the bonds of family and finding the strength and forgiveness only family can offer.  

A Streetcar Named Desire
By Tennessee Williams
Directed by David Cromer
Performed at 325 Tudor Court
Run dates: May 4 - July 11, 2010

One of Chicago's foremost directors takes on one of the country's greatest plays.  After staging last season's nationally acclaimed production of Picnic, David Cromer returns to Writers' Theatre.  Hailed a "genius" by The Wall Street Journal and fresh from his Broadway debut, Cromer directs Tennessee Williams' Pulitzer Prize winning drama, A Streetcar Named Desire. 

Blanche DuBois, an aging southern belle, arrives unexpectedly on the doorstep of her sister Stella and her explosive brother-in-law Stanley.  Over the course of one hot and steamy New Orleans summer, Blanche's fragile façade slowly crumbles, wreaking havoc on Stella and Stanley's already turbulent relationship.  Embodying the turmoil and drama of a changing nation, A Streetcar Named Desire strips Williams' tortured characters of their illusions, leaving a wake of destruction in their path. 

Writers' Theatre season ticket packages provide a convenient theatergoing experience to accommodate busy lives.  The Writers' Theatre Membership is $185 and provides ultimate flexibility.  The Subscription is $200 and offers patrons a preset schedule with the guarantee of the same seat for all of their originally scheduled performances. 

For more information visit www.writerstheatre.org.

Lookingglass' 22nd season opens with Fedra: Queen of Haiti, an explosive retelling of Phaedra that would make Euripides, Seneca and Jean Racine blush. In a re-imagined Haiti, the world's greatest superpower, the king is dead, the son is lost, and the queen is mad. The crown is up for grabs, and Afrodite's fury is unleashed upon the empire. Only the fiercely wicked pen of Ensemble Member J. Nicole Brooks (Black Diamond) could ignite the hidden power of this enduring myth. Award-winning Ensemble Member Laura Eason (Around the World in 80 Days) directs Lookingglass' 51st World Premiere.

In December, Artistic Director David Catlin (Lookingglass Alice) directs his soaring adaptation of Icarus. Commissioned by the Getty in Los Angeles, Catlin tells this captivating story using myth, scientific theory, visual metaphor, song, and gravity-defying choreography. We all dream of flying; our 52nd World Premiere explores the psychological desire to take to the air, the need of a father to have his child succeed, and the dizzying despair of falling.

To conclude the season, Ensemble Member David Schwimmer directs his visceral new script about how families navigate today's uncharted technological landscape in Trust. When children have the freedom to text, email, IM, blog, chat, comment, poke and tweet with complete strangers, where is the line parents must draw between fostering independence and protecting from harm? What price do we pay for intimate connections in an anonymous digital world? A seemingly innocent encounter threatens to unravel the fabric of a normal American household in Lookingglass' 53rd World Premiere.

"This year we completed the most successful subscription campaign in all of our 21 years, but we begin our 22nd season in an uncertain time," says Artistic Director David Catlin. "As our economy recovers, we need art - theatre in particular - now more than ever. We need a place to come together as a community to remind ourselves that we can reinvent the world. Lookingglass is a communal gathering place in which to experience stories that make us laugh and weep. We need stories told with unencumbered creativity that show us how to survive cataclysm and catastrophe, and to express our pain, fear and love. Our 2009-2010 season is about power, love and corruption. About flight, parenthood and loss. About technology and trust. There will be fiercely wicked humor, emotional carnage and moments of extreme physical beauty. I am proud that our season includes three new plays, all by Ensemble Members, that take risks in an uncertain time."

Lookingglass Theatre Company's 2009-2010 Season:

Fedra: Queen of Haiti
Written by Ensemble Member J. Nicole Brooks
Directed by Ensemble Member Laura Eason
September 30, 2009 - November 15, 2009

Only the fiercely wicked pen of Ensemble Member J. Nicole Brooks (Black Diamond) could ignite the hidden power of this enduring myth. a re-telling of this magnitude that would make Seneca, Euripides and Jean Racine blush. Afrodite's fury is unleashed upon Haiti, the world's greatest superpower, in this story of power and lust. Award-winning Ensemble Member Laura Eason (Around the World in 80 Days) deftly directs Lookingglass' 51st World Premiere.

Icarus
Adapted and Directed by Artistic Director David Catlin
December 9, 2009 - January 24, 2010

Lift off with Artistic Director David Catlin (Lookingglass Alice) in this World Premiere commissioned by the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles.  Using myth, scientific theory, visual metaphor, song, gravity-defying choreography, Icarus explores the psychological desire to take to the air, the need of a father to have his child succeed, and the dizzying despair of falling.

Trust
Written by Andy Bellin and David Schwimmer
Directed by Ensemble Member David Schwimmer
March 3, 2010 - May 9, 2010

Ensemble Member David Schwimmer directs the World Premiere of his visceral new script about how a seemingly innocent encounter threatens to unravel the fabric of a normal American household.  Lookingglass examines how families navigate today's uncharted technological landscape. When children have the freedom to interact with complete strangers online, where is the line that parents must draw between fostering independence and protecting from harm?

Subscriptions to the Lookingglass 2009-2010 season are on sale now.  Subscriptions for the 2009-2010 season are $84-$174.

The Wonderful World of Dissocia is a colorful and exciting off-kilter trip that follows Lisa Jones in search of one lost hour that has tipped the balance of her life. The inhabitants of the wonderful world she finds herself in - Dissocia - are a curious blend of the funny, the friendly and the brutal. This is a hugely original play, both magical and moving, that confirmed Anthony Neilson as one of the major voices in contemporary British theatre.

The Wonderful World Of Dissocia received its lauded World Premiere at the Edinburgh International Festival and went on to win every major category at the Critics' Awards for Theatre in Scotland including Best New Play and Best Production. Mr. Neilson's award-winning play subsequently played to sold-out houses and wowed audiences and critics alike at the National Theatre of Scotland and at the Royal Court in London.

This is the fourth production of Profiles Theatre's 20th Anniversary Season following its acclaimed productions of Great Falls by Lee Blessing, The Thugs by Adam Bock and Men of Tortuga by Jason Wells.  The final production of the season will be the World premiere of Graceland by Ellen Fairey.

"The Wonderful World of Dissocia is one the most unique, unorthodox and surprising pieces of theatre I have ever read," says Profiles Associate Artistic Director Darrell W. Cox.  "I have long been an admirer of Anthony Neilson's work- a fearless Scotsman, who was at the forefront of the revolutionary British 'in-yer-face' theatre movement in the early '90's. With Dissocia, one of his most recent plays, Mr. Neilson is no longer content with expanding the boundaries of experiential theatre. This new work brings a blast of fresh, emotionally truthful and physically alive theatre to the stage that is truly remarkable. We are honored to be introducing this play to American audiences and promise an experience that will be unlike anything in our twenty year history at Profiles."

Tickets for The Wonderful World of Disscoia are $25 for Thursdays and Sundays; $30 for Fridays and Saturdays. Tickets are available by phone, 773-549-1815, or online, www.profilestheatre.org.  Performances are Thursdays-Saturdays at 8:00pm and Sundays at 7:00pm.

Sorority star Elle Woods doesn't take "no" for an answer. So when her boyfriend dumps her for someone more "serious," Elle puts down the credit card, hits the books, and sets out to go where no Delta Nu has gone before: Harvard Law. Along the way, Elle proves that being true to yourself never goes out of style.

In its first year on Broadway, Legally Blonde The Musical earned seven 2007 Tony Award nominations, ten 2007 Drama Desk Award Nominations, a 2007 Outer Critics Circle Award and the chorus of the musical was honored by Actors’ Equity Association’s Advisory Committee on Chorus Affairs (ACCA) with the first ever ACCA Award. The musical also ranked in the top ten list of the most requested Ticketmaster "Arts & Theatre Events" for 2007.

As previously announced, Becky Gulsvig, the Elle understudy in the original Broadway cast, is Elle Woods in the tour. Fans of the MTV reality show "Legally Blonde The Musical: The Search for Elle Woods," which premiered on June 2, 2008, will recognize two familiar faces in the tour casting: Third runner-up Rhiannon Hansen plays Elle's best friend Margot and fourth runner-up Lauren Ashley Zakrin is an ensemble member and understudies the role of Elle. The reality show represented the musical's second venture with MTV. In the fall of 2007, MTV aired Legally Blonde The Musical in its entirety to stellar ratings and was subsequently nominated for two 2007-2008 Daytime Emmy Awards.

The Original Broadway Cast Recording for Legally Blonde The Musical, was released on Ghostlight Records, an imprint of Sh-K-Boom Records, and captured the #1 slot on the Billboard Cast Album chart and charted at #86 on the Billboard Top 200. The album has continued its success, charting every week as one of the top-selling Broadway cast recordings and soared to the Top 10 albums (of any genre) on iTunes once the show premiered on MTV.

As on Broadway, Tony Award-winner Jerry Mitchell is the director and choreographer. Music and lyrics are by both Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin, and the book is by Heather Hach.

Individual tickets will go on sale Friday, March 6, 2009 at 10 a.m. and range in price from $32 to $95. A select number of premium seats are available for select performances. Tickets are available ticketmaster.com.]]> http://www.theatreinchicago.com/news.php?articleID=468 http://www.theatreinchicago.com/news.php?articleID=468 Sat, 28 Feb 2009 06:53:17 -0600 Chicago Shakespeare Theater will conclude its 2008/09 subscription season with Twelfth Night, William Shakespeare's rollicking comedy of disorder and revelry staged by London's Bush Theatre Artistic Director Josie Rourke. CST's Courtyard Theater stage will be flooded with water to create the coast of the imaginary world in which the play is set.

Josie Rourke, a celebrated director of both classical and contemporary theater, makes her Chicago debut directing Twelfth Night. Ms. Rourke was recently appointed Artistic Director of London's Bush Theatre, a 36-year-old company that focuses on the development and presentation of new plays. The theatre has supported a number of successful new playwrights including David Eldridge, Neil LaBute, Conor McPherson and Stephen Poliakoff and, under Rourke's leadership, was able to reverse major funding cuts threatened by Arts Council England last year, making her one of England's foremost voices for not-for-profit theaters. Rourke has held positions at the Donmar Warehouse, Sheffield Theatres and the Royal Court and has directed a number of critically acclaimed productions, including David Mamet's The Cryptogram starring Kim Cattrall and Douglas Henshall at the Donmar Warehouse and Believe What You Will and King John for the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Collaborating with Rourke, and in the European tradition of designing both the Elizabethan costumes and scenic design for the production, is renowned designer Lucy Osborne who will fill CST's thrust stage with nearly 7,000 gallons of water to create the coast of the dreamlike land of Illyria. "We wanted to set the play on a pier-on this pier here in Chicago," says Osborne. "There's something about a pier that suggests a voyage into the unknown. People like venturing out, we like to go out into open spaces, and pleasure piers are just fundamentally playful and sort of decadent." Ms. Osborne's extensive theater credits include designs for the Bush Theatre, Nottingham Playhouse, Northampton Theatre Royal, Edinburgh Festival and Cambridge Arts Theatre.

Often regarded as Shakespeare's "most perfect comedy," Twelfth Night is set in the make-believe country of Illyria where "nothing that is so, is so." Sebastian and Viola-twins separated in a shipwreck-wash ashore on the strange land, each thinking the other dead. The tale of mistaken identities and mismatched loves is set into motion when Viola disguises herself as a man to serve as a page in the court of the love-sick Duke Orsino. She becomes enamored with the Duke who pines for the Countess Olivia, who in turn wants nothing to do with him and instead falls in love with the Duke's new page. As the confusion persists, the surly Sir Toby Belch and his fellow pranksters humiliate the brooding steward, Malvolio, for trying to curb their merriment. Throughout all the chaos, Sebastian and Viola find each other and all, with the exception of an irate Malvolio, are reconciled.

Twelfth Night runs March 29 through June 7, 2009 in the Courtyard Theater. Tickets are $44–$70 and may be purchased by calling Chicago Shakespeare Theater's Box Office at 312-595-5600 or by visiting the Theater's website at www.chicagoshakes.com.

A cool-as-ice psychopath smooth talks his way into the home of an unsuspecting blind woman. Unbeknownst to Susie, she's harboring a dangerous prize, and he’ll use every trick to get it. Spend an evening on the edge of your seat with the genre Hitchcock made classic. This psychological thriller probes which frightens us more - the evil you can see coming, or the one you can't?

"I'm excited to bring Wait Until Dark back to its original home, the stage," says Ron OJ Parson.  "The suspense genre is something that theater-goers rarely have the opportunity to see, and Wait Until Dark is a perfect example of what that genre can accomplish. This production is going to be a uniquely thrilling theater experience that is going to surprise people in a lot of ways!"

Wait Until Dark was written by playwright Frederick Knott in 1965 and opened on Broadway February 2, 1966 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. The production was directed by Arthur Penn and the cast included Lee Remick, Robert Duvall and Mitchell Ryan. The production transferred to the Shubert, the George Abbott and the Music Box Theatre before ending its eleven-month run. Remick was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a play for her depiction of Susy Hendrix.

Frederick Knott (1916-2002) was an English playwright and screenwriter who garnered fame for his thrillers Dial M for Murder, Write Me a Murder, and Wait Until Dark.  Knott was born in Hankow, China to English missionaries, and educated at Cambridge University before serving in the British Army from 1939 to 1946. A film version was made in 1967 starring Audrey Hepburn, Alan Arkin, Richard Crenna, and Efrem Zimbalist Jr, with Hepburn nominated for both the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Actress, and Zimbalist nominated for a Globe in the supporting category. The film ranked tenth on Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments for its riveting climax, and is also ranked #55 on AFI's 100 Years 100 Thrills.

Tickets for Wait Until Dark are $32-$54 and are available at www.CourtTheatre.org.

The three readings include:

The Naked Show
by Amy Binns-Calvey, directed by Chris Arnold
Thursday, February 19 at 7:30pm
When working in a collaborative environment, who owns the art?  And how much of yourself do you expose for the sake of your craft? Big Nuts Theater Company is in trouble and is about to close.   In an effort to forestall the Board, the ensemble decides to stage an all nude version of Our Town.  The actors struggle with baring themselves and Big Nuts Company starts to come apart at the seams as they fight over artistic control. 

Ratkillers by E. Eugene Baldwin, directed by Brian Rabinowitz
Friday, February 20 at 7:30pm
Welcome to the dilapidated Starboard Room Restaurant in downstate Alton, Illinois, where proprietor and resident loudmouth Glenn Miller and his philosophical cook Joe G. engage in a daily battle of wits, wills, and salty put-downs.  Into the mix comes hapless would-be ladies man One-Date Dave,  crazed Country singer wannabee Mary Pat Elizabeth Margaret Carolyn Maureen O’Reilly, Joe's loving wife - biker chick and Jesus freak Chelsea G., a couple of local gangsters, and a basement full of rats.  Add a box of firearms, a faulty fusebox, and an insane scheme for pest extermination, and the result is a profanely funny comic explosion.  Most definitely intended for adults!

The Analytical Engine by Jon Steinhagen, directed by Bob Knuth
Saturday, February 21 at 7:30pm
In 1850 Connecticut, Hippolyta Powell has actually built the world's first computer, an analytical engine.  Rather than use the machine to solve complex mathematical equations, she has used it to find her "perfect match," much to the consternation of her family, the chosen suitor, Lord Byron's daughter, and the man who truly loves her.

Tickets are available for a suggested donation of only $5. Each reading will be followed by a discussion with the playwright and cast. For further information visit www.circle-theatre.org or call 708-771-0700.

Academy Award-nominated actor Chazz Palminteri returns to the stage in an unforgettable performance fresh from a successful run on Broadway, where it was praised by the critics and adored by the public. In A Bronx Tale, the celebrated play on which he based the legendary movie, Palminteri vividly depicts a young boy's rough childhood in the 1960s-era Bronx and the unforgettable people he encountered. A classic coming-of-age story about reaching ones true potential and trusting one's heart, A Bronx Tale is directed by four-time Tony Award-winner Jerry Zaks.

A Bronx Tale was first mounted off Broadway in 1989 and helped establish Palminteri as a writer and actor with a distinct voice. In A Bronx Tale, Palminteri brings 18 characters to vivid life, depicting a rough childhood on Bronx streets populated by a cast of friends and enemies. This production of A Bronx Tale directed by Tony Award-winner Jerry Zaks opened on Broadway at the Walter Kerr Theatre, quickly becoming one of the few bona fide hits of the 2007-2008 Broadway season.

During the original Off Broadway and subsequent Los Angeles engagements of A Bronx Tale, Palminteri caught the attention of studios, producers and directors - all of whom wanted to make the film version - without him. Palminteri turned down a million dollar offer for the film rights, despite having $200 in his bank account at the time. Then, Robert DeNiro came to see the show, and brought the story and star Palminteri to the screen in 1993, making his directorial debut in the process.

Chazz Palminteri has over 50 movies to his credit including The Usual Suspects, Bullets over Broadway, Analyze This, Hurly Burly, Mulholland Falls, and A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints. He has also directed the HBO series Oz (episode, Unnatural Disasters), Showtime's Women vs. Men, and the feature film Noel, starring Susan Sarandon, Penelope Cruz, Robin Williams and Paul Walker. He was also seen on the New York stage in the play The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui starring with Al Pacino, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, and Billy Crudup.

A Bronx Tale will run March 10 - 22, 2009 at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts, Oriental Theatre ( 24 W. Randolph St .). Tickets are $18 to $80 and are on sale at ticketmaster.com.

The stakes are high when half-sisters inherit a book of rare stamps that may include the "crown jewel" of the stamp-collecting world.  The battle for possession takes a dangerous turn when three rival collectors enter the sisters' world, willing to go to any lengths to stake their claim on the find.  

Named one of Time Magazine’s "Top Ten Plays of 2007," Mauritius is a gripping blend of sharp comedy and heart-pounding drama that combines the best aspects of Hitchcock, Chandler and Mamet.  Mauritius was written by the Pulitzer Prize nominated author of Omnium Gatherum and The Scene.

"Mauritius is gritty and explosive- two words I never thought I would use to describe the most erudite of hobbies, stamp collecting," says Artistic Director BJ Jones.  Set in the unusual world of philately, the practice of stamp studying and collecting, Mauritius is a terrific potboiler, examining familial competition, greed, and personal integrity.  Rick Snyder, an original Steppenwolf ensemble member, makes his Northlight directing debut with Mauritius, giving this recent Broadway hit the pungent kick that only a Chicago theatre artist can provide."

Tickets for Mauritius can be purchased by calling 847-673-6300 or visiting www.northlight.org.

"Steppenwolf dedicates its 2009-2010 season to the power of belief and how it illuminates what's authentic in our lives," comments Artistic Director Martha Lavey. "We present three new plays and two classic plays from the canon of American and world drama that look at how the power of belief can corrupt, delude, nourish or empower us. They examine domestic intimacy, they question historical accuracy, they puzzle existential reach. They ask us to look at what happens when we take a leap of faith and choose to believe," adds Lavey.

The Steppenwolf Theatre Company 2009-2010 Subscription Season includes:

Fake
September 10 - November 8, 2009
A new play written and directed by ensemble member Eric Simonson.
Featuring ensemble members Kate Arrington, Francis Guinan and Alan Wilder

In 1914, renowned mystery writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle invites four guests to his English country home. Each visitor has a connection to the infamous "Piltdown Man," purported to be the missing link between ape and man-later exposed as a hoax. Swinging back and forth through time, Fake investigates how "Piltdown" rattled assumptions about evolution, faith and science-and how we are transformed by our quest for the truth.

American Buffalo
December 3, 2009 - February 7, 2010
By David Mamet
Directed by ensemble member Amy Morton
Featuring ensemble members Francis Guinan and Tracy Letts

In a cluttered, run-down Chicago junk shop, three small-time crooks plot to steal a valuable buffalo nickel. As the heist unravels, the men's frustration and paranoia intensify. Ensemble member Amy Morton directs this groundbreaking American play that weaves humor and menace throughout an emotionally charged struggle for identity and dominance.

The Brother/Sister Plays:
In the Red and Brown Water, The Brothers Size and Marcus; Or the Secret of Sweet
January 21 - May 23, 2010
By Tarell Alvin McCraney
Directed by ensemble member Tina Landau
Featuring ensemble members Alana Arenas and Jon Michael Hill

A breakthrough theatrical event: three interconnected plays by a brilliant new American voice. Grand in scope, yet intimate and heartfelt, Tarell McCraney's plays are daring, funny and genuine.

On the banks of a steamy bayou, the tiny community of San Pere , Louisiana springs to life with stories of love, sexuality and coming-of-age. Influenced by lively Afro-Caribbean folklore, The Brother/Sister Plays explore the struggles that arise when the quest for self identity is at odds with community values.

Presented in two separate programs, these three plays can easily be enjoyed independently, but gain a special resonance when experienced in collection. Steppenwolf will present the plays in repertory, with In the Red and Brown Water on one night in alternation with The Brothers Size and Marcus on another. Subscriptions will include one of these engaging programs, and subscribers will be given an exclusive opportunity to purchase tickets to the other before the general public.

Endgame
April 1 - June 6, 2010
By Samuel Beckett
Directed by ensemble member Frank Galati
Featuring ensemble members Ian Barford, Francis Guinan, William Petersen and Rondi Reed

Beckett's absurd comic masterpiece follows Hamm, a blind man unable to stand, and his servant Clov, who is unable to sit, as they pass their days in a tiny house by the sea- if the sea still exists. Pestered by Hamm's parents, they move through their daily rituals, awaiting the end of everything. A powerful all-ensemble cast anchors this profound exploration of the stories we construct to make sense of our lives.

A Parallelogram
July 1 - August 29, 2010
A new play by Bruce Norris
Directed by ensemble member Anna D. Shapiro
Featuring ensemble member Kate Arrington

If you knew your fate- would you accept it? Or try to change it? Bee is a young woman who believes she has an uncanny ability to see the future, and maybe even alter it. From the playwright and Tony Award-winning director who brought you The Unmentionables and The Pain and the Itch comes this dark, funny world premiere about a woman bent on reinventing her own destiny- and possibly the world.

Subscription Series packages start at $130 and are now on-sale. To purchase a 2009-2010 subscription, contact Audience Services at 1650 N. Halsted, (312) 335-1650 or visit www.steppenwolf.org.]]> http://theatreinchicago.com/news.php?articleID=462 http://theatreinchicago.com/news.php?articleID=462 Tue, 3 Feb 2009 10:08:02 -0600 High School Musical, the theatrical version of Disney's Emmy Award-winning mega-hit, sings and dances its way onto Marriott Theatre for Young Audiences' stage from March 10th through May 9th and is expected to be the hottest ticket in the Chicago-land area for families and young audiences. High School Musical is directed and choreographed by Marriott Theatre for Young Audiences favorite, Rachel Rockwell (Disney's Aladdin, Seussical, Wizard of Oz, and Princess and the Pea).

"The show is a hip, modern mixture of Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet and Grease and has gained an unbelievable following worldwide" notes Andy Hite, Marriott's Lead Artistic Director. "We could not be more excited to bring this fun, fast paced, one-hour version of the show to our young audiences. Adults and children alike will be dancing in their seats."

High School Musical, based on the wildly popular Disney Channel Original movie, follows Gabriella, a shy, brainy transfer student, and Troy, the hunky captain of the basketball team as they discover their secret passion for singing. East High's well established social structure is rocked to its core when Troy and Gabriella no longer "Stick to the Status Quo," and audition for the school's winter musical. The culmination of the resulting twists and turns is a singing and dancing extravaganza where the students of East High proudly proclaim, "We're All in This Together!" High School Musical boasts a quadruple platinum soundtrack filled with hits like: "Breaking Free," "What I've Been Looking For," and "Start of Something New."

High School Musical is the most successful movie that Disney Channel Original Movie ever produced.  The film's DVD release sold 1.2 million copies in its first six days, making it the fastest selling television movie of all time.  In 2007, the soundtrack made it into the Guinness World Records for "Most hits from a soundtrack in the U.S. Chart simultaneously."  Nine tracks were in the U.S. Hot 100 at the same time, a world first.  High School Musical 2 was the highest-rated Disney Channel Movie to date at the time of its airing and High School Musical 3: Senior Year currently holds the record for the highest-grossing movie musical in its opening weekend, earning over $80,000,000 worldwide.

Tickets for High School Musical are $12. To reserve tickets with call the Marriott Theatre Box Office at 847-634-0200 or visit www.marriotttheatre.com.       

Charlotte d'Amboise returns to Chicago after receiving a second Tony Award nomination for her acclaimed performance as Cassie in Broadway's A Chorus Line last season. With Chicago, Ms. d'Amboise holds the record for playing Roxie Hart more than any other actress in the history of the revival - more than 2,000 performances and counting. For her portrayal of Roxie in the show's first national tour, she earned the L.A. Drama Critics Circle, L.A. Ovation and Bay Area Theatre Circle Awards. Her other NY credits include Sweet Charity (Charity; Fred Astaire Award), Can-Can (Encores!), Contact, Damn Yankees (Lola; Fred Astaire Award), Jerome Robbins' Broadway (Tony nomination), Company, Carrie, Song and Dance, and Cats. Film: The Preacher's Wife, The In Crowd.

Joining Ms. d'Amboise and John O'Hurley will be Terra C. MacLeod as Velma Kelly, Kevin Chamberlin as Amos Hart and Roz Ryan as Matron 'Mama' Morton.  The ensemble includes D. Micciche, Shawn Beck Gifford, Shamicka Benn, Cornelius Bethea, Daniel Gutierrez, Brent Heuser, Marla McReynolds, Andrea Mislan, Drew Nellessen, Adam Pellegrine, Lindsay Roginski, Sarah Shepler, Steven Sofia, Kevin Steele, Evelyn Christina Tonn, Melanie Waldron, and Corey Wright.

Murder. Greed. Corruption. Violence. Exploitation. Adultery. Treachery. Set amidst the razzle-dazzle decadence of the 1920s, Chicago is the story of Roxie Hart, a housewife and nightclub dancer who maliciously murders her on-the-side lover after he threatens to walk out on her. Desperate to avoid conviction, she dupes the public, the media and her rival cellmate, Velma Kelly, by hiring Chicago's slickest criminal lawyer to transform her malicious crime into a barrage of sensational headlines, the likes of which might just as easily be ripped from today's tabloids.

With a book by Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb, Chicago is the winner of six 1997 Tony Awards including Best Musical Revival and the Grammy Award for Best Musical Cast Recording.

Produced by Barry and Fran Weissler, Chicago has become a worldwide phenomenon. The London production of Chicago continues to hold the record as the longest running American Musical in West End history.

Individual tickets range in price from $30 to $95 and are available at ticketmaster.com.

Building on the facts that are known about Shakespeare's life, and drawing on the plays themselves, Pennington creates a portrait of the man that he likens to "a letter to my best friend" in this tour de force performance. With only a chair and a red handkerchief on stage, Pennington goes in and out of characters, blending commentary and biography with performances of famous and lesser-known monologues.

As one of England 's foremost Shakespearean actors, Michael Pennington has spent over 20,000 hours of his life on stage performing the works of William Shakespeare. He studied at Cambridge University before joining the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1964, launching his celebrated international career as an actor and director. In 1986, he and director Michael Bogdanov founded the English Shakespeare Company to present and promote the works of Shakespeare internationally, especially through large-scale touring shows of modern interpretations. The company's inaugural production was the 23-hour The Wars of the Roses, an anthology of seven history plays that toured from 1986 to 1989, and played in Chicago as part of the International Theatre Festival. In 1996 Pennington directed CST's Joseph Jefferson Award-winning production of Twelfth Night. Pennington is the author of numerous books, including User's Guides to Hamlet, Twelfth Night, and A Midsummer Night's Dream.

"Michael's lifelong dedication to the performance of Shakespeare and his work with Michael Bogdanov in creating the English Shakespeare Company was an inspiration to many," says Artistic Director Barbara Gaines. "Our first invitation to Michael, over a decade ago, was to direct a production for us- and indeed, many will remember a wonderful production of Twelfth Night. I am thoroughly delighted that on Michael Pennington's return to Chicago he will grace our stage with his presence. His extraordinary talent, intelligence and unique relationship with Shakespeare will both illuminate and entertain."

Pennington has criss-crossed the Atlantic bringing Sweet William to audiences throughout the United States and United Kingdom to critical acclaim. The Guardian raved that "Pennington embraces the infinite variety found in Shakespeare's world," describing the production as "Brilliant." The Sunday Times wrote "Pennington has played most of the big parts and he knows what makes them tick," and concludes, "This show is a gem."

Sweet William begins its limited engagement on February 3, with performances scheduled through February 22, 2009 Upstairs at Chicago Shakespeare. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit www.chicagoshakes.com/william.

"Bob the Builder has become one of the biggest stars on any stage around the globe," says producer Martin Flitton of I.P. Live. "For many kids in the United States, Bob the Builder will be their first theatrical experience and opportunity to learn how theater works. All the wonderful lessons that come from Bob the Builder's live show are a plus."

Based on the popular international television show sensation that airs in the United States on PBS KIDS and PBS KIDS SproutSM, Bob the Builder LIVE! Spud's Big Mess is a singing and dancing extravaganza for budding builders and their families. The show stars Bob the Builder, his business partner Wendy, trusty machine-team members Scoop, Dizzy, Lofty and Scrambler and other favorite friends from Sunflower Valley , including the mischievous scarecrow Spud, Farmer Pickles and Mayor Bentley.

The show begins as Bob and his team build the first-ever recycling center and wind farm in Sunflower Valley . It isn't long before some items go missing and a few of Bob's friends mysteriously disappear. Faced with a mountain of garbage, they must figure out who is responsible for the mess and work together to fix it, while dealing with Spud's antics. Can they all pull together and get the job done? Yes they can!

The 90-minute show features ten original songs and sees the characters embark on an adventure that promotes positive messages of caring for the environment, recycling, teamwork, cooperation and, of course, the importance of a can-do spirit. Interwoven into the storyline are takeaway lessons for kids and good reminders for the grown-ups, including how to:

Written by 2008 Pulitzer Prize-winner Tracy Letts (Superior Donuts, Man From Nebraska, Killer Joe, Bug), this grand and gripping new play tells the story of the Westons, a large extended clan that comes together at their rural Oklahoma homestead after the alcoholic patriarch disappears. Forced to confront unspoken truths and astonishing secrets, the family must also contend with matriarch Violet, a pill-popping, deeply unsettled woman at the center of the storm.

Directed by 2008 Tony Award-winner Anna D. Shapiro, August: Osage County is a rare theatrical event: a large-scale work filled with 13 unforgettable characters, a powerful tragicomedy told with unflinching honesty and the unforgettable breakthrough of a major American playwright. August: Osage County premiered and was produced at Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago in 2007.

"Steppenwolf is delighted that August: Osage County has a new life in Chicago," comments Steppenwolf Artistic Director Martha Lavey. "Steppenwolf audiences were the first to see this exciting play written by our ensemble member Tracy Letts, under the direction of fellow ensemble member Anna Shapiro, and we're thrilled that it will be playing in Chicago again after its successful runs on Broadway and at the National Theatre of London," Lavey said.

Estelle Parsons is currently appearing in the show on Broadway where The New York Times recently raved, "Estelle Parsons gives a superb performance...sends chills down your spine. It may prove to be a crowning moment in an illustrious career." Ms. Parsons joined the company in June, 2008.

Ms. Parsons first foray into the business began when she was hired by "The Today Show," first as a production assistant, then staff writer, which eventually led her to become the first female television network political news reporter. Estelle began acting and appeared in her first stage performance on Broadway in Happy Hunting. Since then, Estelle has gone on to either star in or direct over 25 productions. Most notably, she has been nominated for the Tony Award for her performances in The Seven Descents of Myrtle, And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little, Miss Margarida's Way and Mornings at Seven.

Nominated for seven Tony Awards including Best Play and Best Director, and the recipient of Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and New York Drama Critics Circle Awards, including Best Play, Best Director and Best Scenic Design, August: Osage County opened at the Imperial Theatre Broadway on December 4, 2007, to wide critical acclaim. The New York Times called August: Osage County "The most exciting new American play Broadway has seen in years," and it was voted The #1 Play of the Year by Time, The Associated Press, Entertainment Weekly, and TimeOut New York. After a sold-out engagement at the Imperial Theatre, the show re-opened at the Music Box Theatre on April 29, 2008, and will reach its 500th performance on February 3, 2009.

The show, which the London critics hailed as "the must-see play of the year - possibly a lifetime," opened to rave reviews at The National Theatre on November 26, 2008, where it will play for a limited eight-week engagement featuring members of the original Broadway company.

August: Osage County is a part of the 2010 Broadway In Chicago Season Subscription Series. Subscribers will have an opportunity to purchase tickets beginning in April 2009. Tickets will go on-sale to the public at a later date to be announced.]]> http://www.theatreinchicago.com/news.php?articleID=457 http://www.theatreinchicago.com/news.php?articleID=457 Wed, 21 Jan 2009 15:58:53 -0600 The Prague Shakespeare Festival, Prague's only professional English-language classical theatre company, and the Mermaid Theatre Company will present the American premiere of a new one man presentation of William Shakespeare's Hamlet by PSF Artistic Director Guy Roberts in Chicago at the Gorilla Tango Theatre February 6th-15th, 2009 in preparation for a May 2009 European premiere

One man. Eighteen Characters. Ninety Minutes. In his tour-de-force one-man presentation of Hamlet, Guy Roberts presents unique insights into the mind of Shakespeare's greatest and most famous creation. Using only Shakespeare's words, the audience experiences the world of the play through Hamlet's eyes - only seeing and hearing the scene and moments that the character Hamlet himself experiences in the play. Taking this singular journey with the Prince of Denmark, audiences will understand the actions, themes and motives of the play's main character as never before. Whether seen as story of devastating human domestic passions or a suspenseful political mystery of intrigue, revenge and betrayal, the tragedy of Denmark's "sweet prince" continues to challenge and inspire.

PSF Artistic Director Guy Roberts starring as Hamlet, states, "Perhaps what keeps Hamlet fresh and exciting is that these questions remain for each audience: why does not Hamlet immediately avenge his father's murder? Is it the weight of the conscience 'that doth make cowards of us all?'  What keeps us from acting on our basest and most immediate impulses-is it social convention or personal morality-or simply the fear of punishment? What keeps us alive when all forces point towards giving up and submitting to death-that 'undiscovered country from whose bourne no traveler returns?' Is Hamlet a hero?  Perhaps-but the ambiguity of his heroic nature is what keeps him so fascinating. Though the play contains as much intrigue (and possibly bloodshed) as many action movies, perhaps no hero-or villain-in history has embodied such a complexity of thought and emotion. In the end, Hamlet is an exciting and essential theatrical experience compelling audiences to decide for themselves whether he is philosopher, dilettante, hero, villain, lover, madman, fighter, victim or some fluid, ambiguous and contradictory combination of all of these."

The Prague Shakespeare Festival presents professional theatre productions, workshops, classes, lectures and other theatrical events, of the highest quality, conducted primarily in English by a multinational ensemble of professional theatre artists, with an emphasis on the plays of William Shakespeare, bringing to the Czech Republic, European and World audiences English-language based performances that are fresh, bold, imaginative, thought-provoking, and eminently accessible, connecting the truths of the past with the challenges and possibilities of today.

Hamlet will run at the Gorilla Tango Theatre February 6 - 15 and tickets can be purchased at www.gorillatango.com or by calling 773-598-4549.

MaTEENee tickets cost $15 and include: a Steppenwolf performance, lunch and a post-show discussion with actors featured in the production - hosted by Steppenwolf’s Young Adults Council.  The 2008-2009 MaTEENee performance schedule is as follows:

MaTEENee tickets cost $15 and are available at Audience Services, 1650 N. Halsted St., the day off the performance or by calling at (312) 335-1650.  Students should mention "MaTEENee" to receive the ticket discount. For additional information, visit www.steppenwolf.org/education. 

The Steppenwolf Young Adults Council is a small group of high school students from around Chicago devoted to exploring the collaborative possibilities between the theater and young adults.  Council members work with their peers, Steppenwolf staff and artists to create programs that speak to their interests, ideas and creative goals.  During the year-long membership, the Council participates in various workshops and discussions, sees productions and creates their own programming for young adults at Steppenwolf.

Shrouded in mystery, the circumstances surrounding six ordinary people grappling with the emotional casualties of war unfold in the latest work from Brett Neveu, one of Chicago's hottest young playwrights.  William Brown, director of last season's triumphant As You Like It, explores with fierce wit and gritty honesty what happens when you play by the rules-and lose.

Old Glory is part three of Neveu's three-play series, "Trilogy: '04-'05-'06" (Part I: Harmless, Part II: Weapon of Mass Impact).

Regarding the trilogy, Neveu comments, "The subject matter, the general tone of the play and how war affects people at home are the linking devices.  The plays are about regular people and how they're dealing with what the American government has done in Iraq and what people ask of each other in times of crisis. The trilogy is a response to terrorism, people not trusting each other and deceit within the American government.  If the plays were only about the Iraq War it would ground them too specifically in time. I think they speak past the present day to a place where people relate to each other."

Brown adds, "What I love about this play is that it's six strangers getting emotionally naked in front of each other, and the event that brings them all together is the death of a soldier.  A large extent of the play is about transparency, what we're willing to reveal and what we need to hide from each other, which fuels the mystery.  You don't know who's telling the truth or how much of the truth they're willing to tell."

Tickets are $40-$65 and are available at the Box Office, 376 Park Avenue, Glencoe; 847-242-6000 or online at www.writerstheatre.org.

The production will run February 11 - April 5, 2009, at Lookingglass Theatre Company's home inside Chicago's historic Water Tower Water Works at 821 N. Michigan Ave and will star David Schwimmer.

Schwimmer, long associated with Lookingglass, starred as Ross on TV's "Friends" and appeared in the recent Broadway production of The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial. He will take on the role of George Gibbs in the production of Our Town.

The citizens of Grover's Corners share the ultimate tale of community in this American classic. The Lookingglass Ensemble will infuse the play with a singular chemistry you won't see anywhere else. In the hands of these renowned artists, Thornton Wilder's masterpiece will be disarmingly beautiful, utterly compelling and painfully funny.

Our Town will also feature Lookingglass Ensemble Members Thomas J. Cox (Ensemble), Christine Mary Dunford (Mrs. Webb), Laura Eason (Emily Webb), Raymond Fox (Ensemble), David Catlin (Dr. Gibbs), David Kersnar (Simon Stimson),  Heidi Stillman (Mrs. Gibbs), Tracy Walsh (Ensemble), and Andrew White (Mr. Webb), and Artistic Associates Kevin Douglas (Ensemble) and Louise Lamson (Rebecca Gibbs).

Tickets, $30-$60, will be available online, www.lookingglasstheatre.org; by phone, 312-337-0665; or at Lookingglass Theatre Company.

This wildly funny musical delivers a surprisingly touching story about the nine magical muse-daughters of Zeus, who come to earth in 1980 (disguised in roller skates, leg warmers and Australian accents) to inspire humans to create truly great work and discover the meaning of the universe's greatest secret: the Gift of Xanadu. Zeus' most important decree is they can't fall in love with any mortals! But all that changes when the young Kira (Elizabeth Stanley) meets the handsome artist Sonny (Max Von Essen), who needs her help in achieving his greatest dream. It is only when Sonny teaches Kira the true meaning of inspiration, that the secret of Xanadu is revealed!

With a book "ingeniously adapted" (New York Times) by Douglas Carter Beane, and a score by Jeff Lynne (writer and producer for the Electric Light Orchestra (E.L.O.)) and John Farrar (responsible for most of the hits performed by Olivia Newton-John in the 1970's), Xanadu features the top 20 Billboard hits, "Magic," "Xanadu," "All Over the World" and "I'm Alive." Award-winning Christopher Ashley directs "at roller-derby speed" (New York Times) with choreography by Dan Knechtges.

Xanadu performances begin January 16, 2009 and ticket prices are $25 to $87.50 and may be purchased at ticketmaster.com.

"We've been involved in the development of this remarkable new work over the last two years," TimeLine Artistic Director PJ Powers said. "Masha has been a true collaborator, wrestling with big ideas, making changes and treating the process like a laboratory to experiment. We are honored to premiere her dynamic new play for Chicago audiences."

Playwright Masha Obolensky is a director, playwright and performer. She has written and directed several original performance pieces, which have been presented in New York City by La Mama E.T.C., New Georges, Here Arts Center, 78th Street Theatre Lab, Access Theatre and The Director's Collective. A reading of her play Not Enough Air was presented at the Association for Theatre in Higher Education/Women in Theatre Conference in Chicago as the recipient of the 2006 Jane Chambers Award. It also was awarded First Prize by Boston Theatre Works and was presented in their 2005 Unbound Festival of New Plays.

Not Enough Air will run January 24 through March 22, 2009 at TimeLine Theatre, 615 W. Wellington Ave.  To purchase tickets call 773.281.TIME (8463) or visit timelinetheatre.com.

American Classic Repertory begins with Sam Shepard's True West, which will run January 15 - March 8, 2009. Shepard's most produced play tells the story of two brothers: Austin, an ambitious Hollywood screenwriter working on a potential million-dollar deal and Lee, a vagabond thief with a compulsion for six-packs and toasters. Austin and Lee face off for control while venting demons from their dysfunctional past.

On January 22, Suzan-Lori Parks' topdog/underdog joins True West in repertory and will run January 22 - March 8, 2009. Suzan-Lori Parks' Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece explores two brothers: Lincoln, ex-"3-card" player turned legitimate entertainer, and Booth, a petty thief who wants to learn his brother's game. Lincoln and Booth struggle to make a new life that will finally lead them out of poverty.

In addition to the plays alternating nightly, the actors playing the brothers will switch between productions beginning February 5, 2009. In this groundbreaking decision to reverse casts, ATC's American Classic Repertory offers audiences the opportunity to see two versions of each play on a single set.

"The inauguration of American Classic Repertory with True West and topdog/underdog is historical simply in the pairing of the plays, that it goes on to break ground with the first ever nontraditional production of topdog/underdog is truly thrilling for us," says Artistic Director PJ Paparelli. "American Classic Repertory provides a unique theatre experience for both audiences and artists. We gather in a space to experience two stories about brotherhood from two radically different vantage points of American culture, and the goal is that we all come out of this experience with a greater respect for each other and a profound understanding and connection to that which unites all of us as Americans."

The original cast for True West features ATC Ensemble Members Matthew Brumlow as Austin and Suzanne Petri as Mom, Ian Paul Custer as Saul, and Stephen Louis Grush as Lee.

The original cast for topdog/underdog will feature Congo Square Ensemble Members Daniel Bryant as Booth and Anthony Irons as Lincoln.

When the casts are switched on February 5, Daniel Bryant will assume the role of Austin and Anthony Irons will play Lee in True West. In topdog/underdog Stephen Lois Grush will play Booth and Matthew Brumlow will play Lincoln. 

American Classic Repertory will be performed at American Theater Company, 1909 W. Byron St. in Chicago.  Previews for True West are January 15 - January 17, 2008.  Previews for topdog/underdog are January 22 - January 25, 2009. Regular performances for American Classic Repertory run Thursdays and Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 3 and 8 p.m., and Sundays at 3 p.m.

Tickets are $35 Thursdays and for matinees, and $40 on Friday and Saturday evenings. For reservations or further information, call 773-409-4125 or visit www.atcweb.org.

The Tony and Grammy Award winning Monty Python's Spamalot continues to taunt cities across the nation. "A high energy blast, you'll leave the theatre whistling!" said Terry Byrne from The Boston Herald. CTV's Chris Perez said "Hilarious show... it pushes comedy to its limits. This show is a crowd pleaser!" "You could put a happy-meter in the theatre and watched it go off the charts!" exclaims Richard Ouzounian, Toronto Star.

Lovingly "ripped-off" from the internationally famous comedy team's most popular motion picture, "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," Monty Python's Spamalot is the winner of three 2005 Tony Awards including Best Musical and Best Director (Mike Nichols), as well as the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards for Best Musical. The original cast recording of Monty Python's Spamalot recently won the 2006 Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album.

Monty Python's Spamalot made its pre-Broadway debut in Chicago at the former Shubert Theatre, now known as Bank of America Theatre, on January 9, 2005. The show was outrageously successful and played to sold out crowds before opening on Broadway at New York's Shubert Theatre March 17, 2005. Over one year after its pre-Broadway debut in Chicago, Monty Python's Spamalot made a triumphant return home April 19 to June 4, 2006 at the Cadillac Palace Theatre.

Directed by Mike Nichols, Monty Python's Spamalot features a book by Eric Idle, based on the screenplay of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" by Monty Python creators Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin, with music and lyrics by the Grammy Award-winning team of Mr. Idle and John Du Prez. Casey Nicholaw is the choreographer.

Telling the legendary tale of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, and their quest for the Holy Grail, Monty Python's Spamalot features a chorus line of dancing divas and knights, flatulent Frenchmen, killer rabbits and one legless knight.

Mike Nichols has been acclaimed as one of the great American directors in film, theater and television. He has won an Academy Award and eight Tony Awards. He recently received the Directors' Guild of America Award for Lifetime Achievement as well as a DGA Award for the direction of the HBO adaptation of "Angels in America."

Aside from his work with Monty Python in films and on TV, Eric Idle has written a West End play, "Pass the Butler;" three novels, including "The Road to Mars," "The Rutles - A Mockumentary;" and many songs too rude to mention. He has sung opera, acted in movies, appeared on television and crossed America performing comedy on "The Greedy Bastard Tour." His diary of his 15,000 mile journey by bus was recently published by Harper Collins, and his long awaited sequel "The Rutles2: Can't Buy Me Lunch" was released by Warner Video in March. There's no saying what he might do next...

 John Du Prez has composed over 20 feature film scores including "A Fish Called Wanda," "A Private Function," "The Meaning of Life," "Personal Services," "UHF," and "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles I, II & III." He has worked with Eric Idle s