The Wooden Breeks

Dreamers, schemers and would-be lovers inhabit Brood, a miserable hamlet on an unspecified British coast, and the fantastical setting for Glen Berger's The Wooden Breeks, receiving its first Chicago production January 24-March 11, 2007 at Lookingglass Theatre Company.
 
"Breeks" is Scottish for "breeches," making "wooden breeks" vernacular for "wooden pants."  Or, "coffin." "Brood," Berger reminds us, "means not only to mull over events long ago, but to await for new life to hatch."

Drenched in humor, heartache and hopeful idealism, The Wooden Breeks boldly celebrates the joy of storytelling, revels in the awe of love, and uses acrobatic language to create some of the most deeply funny and soulful characters for the stage in years.

Chief among them is Tom 'the tinker' Bosch.   Tormented by the memory of his beloved (and long-gone) Hetty Griggs who left him with her bastard child, Bosch gets stuck in his own story.  Like all who dwell in the comically miserable town of Brood, he and the young child can't find a way beyond Brood's borders. Until one day, a mysterious stranger appears...and disappears.
 
Berger, who last worked with Lookingglass in 2003 as author of Great Men of Science, Nos. 21 & 22, is one of the nation's most sought-after writers for the stage and screen.  Lookingglass Artistic Director of New Work Heidi Stillman directs The Wooden Breeks.  
 
Glen Berger launched his playwriting career as a member of Annex Theatre in Seattle. He has spent the last decade in New York. He is a fourth-year member of New Dramatists. His plays include: Underneath the Lintel (Over 450 performances Off-Broadway, 2001 Ovation Award (Los Angeles) and 2003 Sterling Award (Edmonton) for Best Play, Garland Award for Best Playwriting, and one of Time Out New York's Ten Best Plays of 2001, published by both Broadway Play Publishing and Stage & Screen, productions in over 45 cities on 3 continents), The Wooden Breeks (nominated for Best Writing by the L.A. Weekly, 2001; NEA/TCG Fellowship, O Lovely Glowworm (2005 Portland Drammy Award Winner for "Best Script"; 2002 "BugNBub" Primary Stages Award, premiered at Portland Center Stage, 2005), the musical A Night in the Old Marketplace (Loewe Award, National Foundation for Jewish Culture grant), Great Men of Science, Nos. 21 & 22 (1998 Ovation Award and 1998 L.A. Weekly Award for Best Play), I Will Go...I Will Go (published in Applause Book's 2001 Best Short Plays Anthology), and On Words and Onwards (Manhattan Theatre Club/Sloan Foundation Fellowship). Berger was recently commissioned as bookwriter for the musical adaptation of Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, and has also received musical commissions from the Children's Theatre of Minneapolis and the Lookingglass Theatre, was selected for the 2003 Old Vic/New Voices program, participated in the 2001 A.S.K. Playwrights Retreat, and was playwright-in-residence at New York Stage & Film.  He has written several episodes for the PBS children's series Arthur, (for which he was nominated for two Emmys), its spin-off Postcards From Buster (one Emmy nomination), Time Warp Trio (debuting on NBC in Summer, 2005), Peep (The Learning Channel), and is the head writer for Fetch, which debuted on PBS in 2006.
 
Heidi Stillman is an actress, writer and director. She most recently co-directed Lookingglass' Hephaestus with Tony Hernandez.  Additional directing credits with Lookingglass include Hillbilly Antigone, Hard Times (2001 Jeff Award) and The Master and Margarita (codirected with David Catlin). Adaptation credits include The Old Curiosity Shop, co-adapted with Raymond Fox and Laura Eason (2006 Jeff Award), Hard Times (2001 Jeff Award), The Baron in the Trees, co-adapted with Larry DiStasi (Jeff nominated) and The Master and Margarita.  Stillman was last seen on stage at Lookingglass in The Secret in the Wings.  In addition to numerous Lookingglass productions, she has performed at the Goodman, Steppenwolf, and Remains Theatre in Chicago, and Second Stage Theatre in New York.
 
Following The Wooden Breeks, April brings the world premiere of Black Diamond:  The Year the Locusts Have Eaten, a timely and explosive new story of an African American journalist and a young female Liberian freedom fighter by Lookingglass Artistic Associate J Nicole Brooks, co-directed by Brooks and Lookingglass Artistic Director David Catlin.  In June, the 2005 smash hit Lookingglass Alice, also directed by David Catlin, returns to the Water Tower Water Works following a major East coast tour to complete Lookingglass' 2006/07 season.
 
Previews of The Wooden Breeks are January 24-February 4:  Wednesday through Saturday at 7:30 pm; Sunday at 3 pm. Previews are $20-$25. Regular performances continue through March 11:  Tuesday at 6:30 pm; Wednesday at 7 pm; Thursday at 6:30 pm; Friday at 7 pm; Saturday at 3 and 8 pm; Sunday at 3 pm.   Performances are $20-$50.  For tickets and information, call (312) 337-0665, or visit www.lookingglasstheatre.org