Acclaimed writer Joan Didion adapts her own National Book Award-winning memoir to the stage. A fiercely intelligent, courageous, and comic exploration of loss, this monumental one-woman journey will be performed by Mary Beth Fisher in its Chicago Premiere. The Year of Magical Thinking marks Mary Beth Fisher's seventh production under the direction of Court Theatre Artistic Director Charles Newell; her latest collaborations with Newell include Rock 'n' Roll at the Goodman and Court's production of The Wild Duck.
"Joan Didion's book The Year of Magical Thinking was instrumental for me in coping with the loss of my mother, so when Mary Beth Fisher and I were invited to visit Didion herself at her home in New York, it was an unforgettable meeting for me, both personally and artistically." says Artistic Director Charlie Newell, "This process has been a journey for Mary Beth and me, and I'm thrilled to return to directing in Court Theatre's space for the first time since Caroline, or Change."
The designers are Jennifer Tipton (lighting design), John Culbert (set design), Susan Hilferty (costume design), Andre Pluess (sound design), and Mike Tutaj (projection design). Megan Geigner is the production dramaturg, William Collins is the production stage manager, and Jonathan Nook is the assistant stage manager.
Joan Didion (Playwright) was born in California and is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley. Winner of the 2005 National Book Award, The Year of Magical Thinking is one of 13 books by Joan Didion. Her other books include Play It As It Lays, Democracy, Slouching Towards Bethlehem, The White Album, Salvador, Miami and Political Fictions. With her husband, John Gregory Dunne, she wrote the screenplays for such pictures as The Panic in Needle Park with Al Pacino, True Confessions with Robert De Niro and Robert Duvall, A Star Is Born with Barbra Streisand, and Up Close & Personal with Michelle Pfeiffer and Robert Redford. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, which awarded her its 2005 Gold Medal in nonfiction. She also received the 1996 Edward MacDowell Medal, the 1999 Columbia Journalism Award and the 2002 George Polk Book Award. She contributes to various periodicals, most frequently The New York Review of Books. Didion has spent her adult life in New York and Los Angeles.
Charles Newell (Artistic Director / Director) has been Artistic Director of Court Theatre since 1994, where he has directed over 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 highlights at Court include The Wild Duck, Caroline, or Change, Titus Andronicus, Arcadia, Man of La Mancha, Uncle Vanya, Raisin, The Glass Menagerie, Travesties, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Hamlet, The Invention of Love, The Little Foxes, Nora, and The Misanthrope. Charlie has also directed at the Goodman Theatre (Rock 'n' Roll); the Guthrie Theater (Resident Director: The History Cycle, Cymbeline); Arena Stage; John Houseman's The Acting Company (Staff Repertory Director); the California and Alabama Shakespeare Festivals; Juilliard; and New York University. He is the recipient of the 1992 TCG Alan Schneider Director Award. He has served on the Board of Theatre Communications Group, as well as on several panels for the National Endowment for the Arts. Opera directing credits include Marc Blitzstein's Reginaat the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Rigoletto at Opera Theatre of St. Louis. Charlie is a multiple Joseph Jefferson Award nominee and recipient. Most recently, his production of Caroline, Or Change at Court was the recipient of 4 Joseph Jefferson Awards, including Best Production- Musical and Best Director- Musical.
Mary Beth Fisher (Joan Didion) Chicago credits include The Wild Duck, What the Butler Saw, Arcadia, The Glass Menagerie, Travesties, The Importance of Being Earnest (Court Theatre); Frank's Home, The Clean House, Dinner With Friends, Heartbreak House, The Rose Tattoo, The Guys, Boy Gets Girl, Spinning Into Butter, Design For Living, Light Up the Sky, The Night of the Iguana, Marvin's Room (Goodman Theatre); Dead Man's Cell Phone, The Dresser, The Memory of Water (Steppenwolf Theatre); Little Dog Laughed, Theatre District (About/Face); My Own Stranger (Writer's). Her NY credits include Frank's Home (Playwright's Horizons); Boy Gets Girl (Drama League Honoree, Lucile Lortel and Drama Desk nominations), The Radical Mystique, By The Sea (Manhattan Theatre Club); The Night of the Iguana (Roundabout); Extremities (Westside Arts); Are You Now or Have You Ever Been? (Promenade). She has worked in regional theatres all over the country, most recently in the world premiere of Richard Nelson's How Shakespeare Won the West (Huntington Theatre, Boston). Her TV/Film credits include: Without a Trace, Numb3rs, Prison Break, NYPD Blue, Profiler, Early Edition, Turks, To Have & To Hold, Formosa Betrayed, Dragonfly, Trauma, and Safe Storage. Ms. Fisher was recently named an inaugural fellow of The Ten Chimneys' Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship Program dedicated to the creation of artist-mentors in the American Theatre.
Ticket prices are $32 to $40 for preview performances; $38 to $56 for regular run performances. Tickets are available by calling 773-753-4472 or online at www.CourtTheatre.org.