Oak Park Festival Theatre announces its 2010-2011 performance season. For the first time in OPFT's history, there will be two productions indoors, in addition to the two outdoors in Austin Gardens.
On the heels of a hugely successful 2010 summer season, OPFT will produce Betrayal by Harold Pinter, directed by Kevin Christopher Fox, in the studio theatre at the Oak Park-River Forest Performing Arts Center (formerly Village Players Theatre). A spring production of Faith Healer by Brian Friel, directed by Belinda Bremner, will play in the same location. The summer season in Austin Gardens will be two Shakespeare histories: The History of King Henry the Fourth, adapted and directed by Stanton Davis from Shakespeare's Henry IV Part 1 and Part 2; and Henry V, directed by Kevin Theis.
Nobel Prize, Tony, and Olivier Award winner Harold Pinter is one of the most celebrated and influential playwrights in the English language. His masterpiece, Betrayal, is a dangerous, funny, sexy and deeply personal journey backward-from the end, to the beginning of a seven year affair between Jerry and Emma, the wife ofJerry's best friend. The play's unique structure, with Pinter's trademark economy of language and silence, sets the stage for a thrilling meditation on marriage, passion, trust and friendship. Kevin Christopher Fox directed the Jeff Recommended Arms and the Man for OPFT to the delight of both critics and audience. He now turns his attention to a later 20th century classic. Betrayal opens Sunday, October 10, 2010 at 8:00 p.m. and runs through Saturday, November 13, 2010, with previews October 7 to 9.
Brian Friel's lyrical, riveting and haunting work Faith Healer is a masterpiece of storytelling, interlacing three lives and examining ancient questions of faith and truth. Frank, Grace, and Teddy are bound together and yet each confesses his own reality of the struggles and events they shared. This haunting, puzzling, and provocative play entices the audience to become the fourth character and to tease out the answers. Faith Healer is directed by Belinda Bremner, who directed OPFT's critically acclaimed production of Dancing at Lughnasa in 2008 and this year's Jeff Recommended Of Mice and Men. Faith Healer opens on Sunday, March 13, 2011 at 8:00 p.m. and runs until Saturday, April 16, 2011, with previews March 10 to 12.
The History of King Henry the Fourth is a new adaptation of Shakespeare's Henry IV Part 1 and Part 2, commissioned by OPFT. Stanton Davis, the adapter and director, has made a single evening of theatre of these two popular history plays. Artistic Director - More - Oak Park Festival Theatre's 2010-2011 Season Contact Lisa Gordon, 708-445-4440 Jack Hickey (recently seen on the OPFT stage as Cyrano) returns to the stage as the lovable, dissolute Falstaff. Intrigue, suspense, family tragedy, and swashbuckling battles mingle with history, wit, and slapstick comedy in a Shakespeare play that has something for everyone. The History of King Henry the Fourth opens in Austin Gardens on Saturday, June 11, 2011 at 8:00 p.m. and runs until Saturday, July 9, with previews on June 9 and 10.
In Henry V, the formerly roguish Prince Hal has now become Henry the Fifth, King of England. Immediately upon taking the throne, Henry is urged to quell a rebellion abroad and sets out to defend his dominions on the "vasty fields of France." Filled with political intrigue, fierce battles and some of Shakespeare's most soaring and beautiful language, Henry V stands as one of the most beloved plays ever written and it contains the most profound and personal meditation on the weight of power ever written. Henry V opens on Saturday, July 16, 2011 at 8:00 p.m. and runs until Saturday, August 20, with previews on July 14 and 15.
In the past, OPFT has presented one play indoors in the spring, followed by a modern classic and a Shakespeare in the park. This year is less of a departure from tradition than an expansion on it. Having a year-round venue allows the theatre to produce modern classics indoors in the winter this year, followed by a rollicking summer season of Shakespeare history plays outdoors in Austin Gardens. In future years, look for a modern classic outdoors again, and maybe a more venerable classic indoors.
Indoor performances will be Thursday through Saturday at 8:00 p.m. and Sundays at 5:00 p.m. Outdoor performances will be Thursday through Saturday at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday at 7:00 p.m. There will be occasional Wednesday performances, as well. The full schedule will be posted at oakparkfestival.com. Ticket prices are $25 for adults and $20 for students and seniors. Four-play season subscriptions are available for for $80 (full price) and $60 (students and seniors).
Oak Park Festival Theatre-Oak Park's only Equity theatre and the Midwest's oldest professional theatre performing the classics outdoors-is proud to present its 37th year of theatrical excellence and providing Chicagoland with the greatest classical plays ever written. Since 1975, the greatest playwrights have illumined our stage and enlightened our audiences. More information on Oak Park Festival Theatre is available at http://www.oakparkfestival.com or by calling (708) 445-4440.