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Northlight Theatre continues 2024-2025 season with
Prayer for the French Republic
By Joshua Harmon
Directed by Jeremy Wechsler
In a co-production with Theater Wit
April 10 – May 11, 2025
Northlight Theatre, under the direction of Artistic Director BJ Jones and Executive Director Timothy J. Evans, continues its 2024–2025 season with Joshua Harmon’s celebrated play Prayer for the French Republic, directed by Jeremy Wechsler in a co-production with Theater Wit. Prayer for the French Republic runs April 10 – May 11, 2025, at Northlight Theatre, 9501 Skokie Blvd in Skokie.
In 1944, a Jewish couple in Paris desperately awaits news of their missing family. More than 70 years later, the couple's great-grandchildren find themselves facing the same question as their ancestors: "Are we safe?" Following five generations of a French-Jewish family, Prayer for the French Republic is a sweeping look at history, home, and the effects of an ancient hatred. Winner of the 2022 Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best New Off-Broadway Play, this celebrated work is from the author of Bad Jews and Significant Other.
• Prayer for the French Republic is a co-production with Theater Wit.
“Two years ago David Cromer, a Northlight alumnus who directed the original production of Prayer for the French Republic, texted me to say I should see his production at Manhattan Theatre Club and then produce it at Northlight,” says Artistic Director BJ Jones. “I jumped on a plane and caught a full house matinee. Taking place in 2016-2017, I found it provocative, moving, thoughtful, and timely. The audience was in tears at the end, and I knew we needed to bring it to our stage. Fortunately, Jeremy Wechsler of Theatre Wit felt the same way, and his relationship with the playwright Josh Harmon gave us both the opportunity to present this important work.”
Jones continues, “What makes it special is the examination of anti-Semitism over decades and its impact on one family. The haunting question posed in the play by Pierre, the grandfather, that rings out over the years is, ‘Why do they hate us?’ And the elusive answers are a hundredfold. After the Charlie Hebdo Incident in 2015, the Prime Minister of France said, ‘If 100,000 Frenchmen of Spanish origin were to leave, I would never say that France is no longer France. But if 100,000 Jews leave, France will no longer be France. The French Republic will be judged a failure.’”
• The Off-Broadway production of Prayer for the French Republic won the 2022 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play, with the Broadway production earing three Tony Award nominations including Best Play.
Jeremy Wechsler adds, "Joshua Harmon has an uncanny ability to write to the future. I’ve been working on this show since 2018 and, as a Jew in America, I am asking questions today I have never asked myself. The play's central question is simple: Am I safe here? For those of us in cultural minorities, that question is never far away. Watching Charlottesville in 2017 was a jolt—those Nazis felt closer, bolder, and more numerous than I’d ever imagined. I wondered: If I lived there, how safe would I feel? How secure is the promise of assimilation? Prayer is set in France, but its tensions hit close to the bone here in America. My anxiety hasn’t eased. Rhetoric from the current administration is chillingly reminiscent of 1940s Vichy France, with an upswing in the same racist tropes that fueled 20th-century fascism. In the U.S., far-right movements flourish—I can’t forget hearing about ‘good people on both sides’ in 2017. And I believe you only have to look at a movement’s fellow travelers to understand its core."
This production is supported in part by the Crain-Maling Foundation, Paul & Janet Gans Epner, Al Zunaman, and Tiffany and Tobi Laczkowski.
The cast includes Janet Ulrich Brooks (Marcelle Salomon), Rom Barkhordar (Charles Benhamou), Rae Gray (Elodie Benhamou), Max Stewart (Daniel Benhamou), Lawrence Grimm (Patrick Salomon), Maya Lou Hlava (Molly), Henson Keys (Pierre Salomon), Kathy Scambiatterra (Irma Salomon), Torrey Hanson (Adolphe Salomon), Alex Weisman (Lucien Salomon), and Nathan Becker (Young Pierre Salomon).
The creative team is Jeremy Wechsler (director), Joe Schermoly (set designer), Mara Blumenfeld (costume designer), JR Lederle (lighting designer), Joseph Cerqua (sound designer), Nicolas Bartleson (prop designer), Katie Klemme (stage manager), and Jyreika Guest (resident violence and intimacy coordinator).
Tickets for the remainder of the 2024-2025 season, including Prayer for the French Republic and Twisted Melodies, are now on sale through the box office, 9501 Skokie Blvd, Skokie; 847.673.6300; northlight.org.
About the Artists
Joshua Harmon (Playwright) is a Tony-nominated playwright and the winner of two Drama Desk Awards and two Outer Critics Circle Awards. He graduated from the School of Drama’s Dramatic Writing program in 2010. His plays include Bad Jews, Significant Other, Admissions, and Prayer for the French Republic. He and Sarah Silverman co-wrote the libretto for The Bedwetter based on her memoir. His plays have been produced on Broadway and the West End; Off-Broadway at Roundabout Theatre Company, Lincoln Center Theater, Manhattan Theater Club and Atlantic Theater Company; across the country at Geffen Playhouse, Speakeasy, Studio Theatre, Theater Wit, About Face, Actor’s Express, and The Magic, among others; and internationally in a dozen countries. He is a two-time MacDowell fellow, a 2024 Guggenheim fellow, and an Associate Artist at Roundabout.
Jeremy Wechsler (director) is the Artistic Director of Theater Wit where he has directed the Chicago premieres of Inanimate, The Whistleblower, Hurricane Diane, The Realistic Joneses, Admissions, 10 Out of 12, Naperville, The Antelope Party, The New Sincerity, The (Curious Case of the ) Watson Intelligence (Best of 2015 – Chicago Sun Times), Bad Jews (Best of 2015 – New City), Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play (Time Out Peoples’ Choice Award for Direction, Best of 2015), Seven Homeless Mammoths Wander New England (Sun Times Best of the Year 2014), Completeness, Tigers Be Still, This, The Four of Us, Feydeau-Si-Deau, Men of Steel, Thom Pain (Based on Nothing) (Jeff Award – Best Solo Performance), Two for the Show and annual favorite The Santaland Diaries. Under Jeremy’s leadership, Theater Wit has emerged as the go-to destination for cutting edge contemporary work, gaining national recognition for excellence. He has directed over fifty shows at various Chicago theaters, including Tragedy A Tragedy, The Flu Season, A Taste of Honey (“US Best of 2008” in The Wall Street Journal), Now Then Again (Jeff Award - Best New Work), The Play About the Squirrel, The White Devil, This is Not a Play About Cancer, Peer Gynt, The Real Thing, Szinhaz, The Duchess of Malfi, Tragedy a Tragedy, Titus Andronicus, The Roaring Girl, Flight, The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told, This is the Rill Speaking, Hay Fever, A Month in the Country, Europe, Henry VI: Blood of a Nation, The Promise, Spin, Un Robot, Horror Academy, Kind Lady, Playing By the Rules, The Marriage of Bette and Boo, Solitaire, The Coarse Acting Show, Life is a Dream, The Prisoner’s Dilemma, Cabaret and The Three Penny Opera. His productions have been nominated for and won multiple awards for design, performance, adaptation and best new work. He has been featured multiple times in the New York Times and American Theatre Magazine.
Janet Ulrich Brooks (Marcelle Salomon) was last seen at Northlight Theatre in 2017’s By The Water. Select credits include: The Audience, Fiddler On The Roof, Murder On The Orient Express, Steel Magnolias (Drury Lane Theatre); Beautiful, The Music Man (Marriott Lincolnshire Theatre); The Cherry Orchard, 2666, Vanya Sonya Masha & Spike, Seagull (Goodman Theatre); The Children (Steppenwolf); Plantation (Lookingglass). She has appeared in 16 productions with TimeLine Theatre Company (Company Member) including Bakersfield Mist with the late Mike Nussbaum, and Master Class (Jeff Award Principal Actor). Tiny Beautiful Things, Pipeline, Native Gardens (Victory Gardens). Women Laughing Alone With Salad (Helen Hayes Nomination - Woolly Mammoth DC) and work with Milwaukee Rep, Theatre Squared in AR., and Peninsula Players in Door County, WI. Film credits include: Divergent, Conviction, One Small Hitch, M.O.M.. T.V. credits include: Work In Progress, Fargo, Sense8, Proven Innocent, Boss, Chicago Med, Fire & Justice.
Rom Barkhordar (Charles Benhamou) is making his Northlight/Theater Wit debut with Prayer for the French Republic. Previous Chicago area credits: A Lie of the Mind (Raven Theatre), White Christmas (Marriott Theatre), The Band’s Visit, A Distinct Society, Wife of a Salesman (Writers Theatre), Mosque4Mosque (About Face Theatre), Acts of God, Around the World in 80 Days (Lookingglass Theatre), Yasmina’s Necklace, Ruined (u/s) (Goodman Theatre), The Elephant Man, Homebody/Kabul (u/s) (Steppenwolf Theatre Company), The Who and the What (Victory Gardens Theatre), Mosque Alert, Night over Erzinga (Silk Road Rising), Pravda, Halcyon Days, Not About Nightingales (Timeline Theatre). Regional credits: The Band’s Visit (TheatreSquared), The Art of Burning (Huntington Theatre, Hartford Stage), Proof (Kitchen Theatre); Disgraced (Virginia Stage Co.); The Who and the What (HuntingtonTheatre) Around the World in 80 Days (Kansas City Rep.)
Rae Gray (Elodie Benhamou) has appeared on Broadway in The Real Thing (Roundabout), in the National Tour of To Kill a Mockingbird, and internationally in The Beacon (Druid/Gate Theatre, Ireland). Chicago credits include: Graveyard Shift, The Little Foxes, A Christmas Carol (Goodman); Domesticated, Slowgirl, The Book Thief, Wedding Band (Steppenwolf); King Charles III (Chicago Shakespeare); The North China Lover (Lookingglass); The Real Thing (Writers); Inherit the Wind (Northlight); Spay, Crooked (Rivendell), The Whistleblower, Completeness (Theater Wit) and, most recently, Uncle Vanya (The New Theatre Project). Regional credits: Queens (La Jolla Playhouse); Slowgirl (Geffen Playhouse). TV credits include: A League of Their Own, Power Book IV: Force, Justified: City Primeval, American Rust, Fear the Walking Dead, Grace and Frankie, For the People, Sea Oak, Boardwalk Empire, Shameless, The Resident, Bull, Adventure Time, Chicago Fire, PD and Med, and Bossy Bear. Film credits include: Slice, I Do...Until I Don’t, Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon, The Robbery (Sundance Selection), Dismissed, and Invitation to a Murder. Rae is a Rivendell Theatre Ensemble member and a graduate of the University of Chicago.
Max Stewart (Daniel Benhamou) has appeared in Noises Off (Steppenwolf and Geffen Playhouse); Fairview (Definition Theatre); Southern Gothic, Sons of Hollywood (Windy City Playhouse); Walk on the Wild Side (Pale Horse Playhouse); Romeo and Juliet (Kane Repertory Theatre); Letters Home (Griffin Theatre). Television credits include: Chicago Fire (NBC), Soundtrack (Netflix). Awards include: NFAA YoungArts. He studied at The Theatre School at DePaul University (B.F.A. Acting), British American Dramatic Academy, and with The Groundlings.
Lawrence Grimm (Patrick Salomon) has been an actor and teacher for over 30 years. A founding ensemble member of A Red Orchid Theatre, Lawrence is a Jeff Award-winning actor who has worked extensively at Chicago’s most prominent theaters, including Goodman, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Steppenwolf, Lookingglass, Victory Gardens, Raven, Next, Timeline, Shattered Globe, Court, Collaboraction, and Piven Theater Workshop. With a Masters in Education from DePaul University, Lawrence was a high school English and Drama teacher at Stevenson High School and Chicago’s public high school for the arts, Chi-Arts. Film credits include Eric Larue, Captive State, Welcome to Me, Night’s End, Murphy’s Law, Cicero in Winter, and A Perfect Manhattan. TV credits include: Somebody, Somewhere, Chicago PD/Med/ Fire, The Red Line, Unsolved Mysteries, and Late Night with Conan O’Brien.
Maya Lou Hlava (Molly) is thrilled to be making her debut at Northlight Theatre. Additional Chicago credits include, The Little Mermaid, Christmas Carol, Shrek, White Christmas and Bye Bye Birdie (Drury Lane Theatre); The Penelopiad (Goodman Theatre); Happy Days Are Here (Again) and Zurich (Steep Theatre); The Best Damn Thing (The Understudy Cafe); Dory Fantasmagory and Last Stop On Marketplace (YPPT/Greenhouse Theater); Spring Awakening (Porchlight Theater); Act 5, The Killing Game and The Nether (A Red Orchid Theatre); Oklahoma (Marriott Theatre); Violet (Griffin Theater); Trevor (Writers Theatre); The Secret Garden (Court Theatre); Jane Eyre (Lifeline Theatre); and The Wheel (Steppenwolf Theatre). Film and Television Credits include Will Trent, The Perpetrator, Chicago Med, The Chi, and The Big Leap.
Henson Keys (Pierre Salomon) is credited with some 125 roles in NYC, Chicago, and such regional theatres as Yale Rep, McCarter, Asolo, and MeadowBrook, including 45 roles in Shakespeare. For 27 years he led Acting Programs at Ohio University, Alabama Shakespeare, and finally 16 years at the U. of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. In Chicago, he’s worked with Chicago Shakes and Steppenwolf.
Kathy Scambiatterra (Irma Salomon) is making her Northlight Theatre debut. As artistic director and co-founder of The Artistic Home, she has helmed 25 seasons, is director of the AH Acting Studio and was most recently seen there in Dying for It for which she received a Jeff nomination. In Chicago, she has worked at Steppenwolf, Drury Lane Oakbrook, Chicago Shakespeare, Goodman Theatre, Rivendell, Raven among many others and was a longtime ensemble member at Center Theater. In LA, she was an ensemble member at Pacific Resident Theatre. TV/Film credits include: recurring role on Chicago PD (NBC Dick Wolf Productions), Mr. Throwback (Peacock), Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams (Amazon), Good Guy with a Gun (One Shot Productions), Monuments (Zaxiefilms), and Into the Wake (Diesel Brothers), among others.
Torrey Hanson (Adolphe Salomon) has performed in over 160 theater productions, regionally at Milwaukee Rep (seventeen seasons), Oregon Shakespeare Festival (five seasons), Alley Theater, Seattle Rep, Cleveland Play House, Indiana Rep, Intiman Theatre, A Contemporary Theatre, Empty Space Theatre, and Utah Shakespeare Festival; in Chicago at Steppenwolf, Goodman, Chicago Shakespeare, Writers, Drury Lane, Profiles, Silk Road, The House, and Provision. He’s had guest, recurring and co-star roles in Emperor Of Ocean Park, Somebody Somewhere, Fargo, The Exorcist, Shining Girls, Chicago Med, Chicago Fire, Chicago PD, South Side, Empire, Crisis, Cheers and Wings. He played Jack Hyde in Jordan Peele’s remake of Candyman. Upcoming: Monsters: The Ed Gein Story on Netflix.
Alex Weisman (Lucien Salomon) makes his Northlight debut and returns to Theater Wit where he starred in the sold-out Chicago premiere of Josh Harmon’s Significant Other. Broadway credits include: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (OBC). In Chicago he appeared at the Goodman, Lookingglass, Chicago Shakespeare, Court Theater, Victory Gardens, Paramount, About Face, TimeLine among many others. He is a two-time Joseph Jefferson Award winner for The History Boys and Hand to God. Regional credits include: Milwaukee Rep, Chautauqua, and Zoetic. TV credits include: “Frank” on Sesame Street (GLAAD New Media Award), five years as “Chout” on NBC’s Chicago Fire/Med/P.D., New Amsterdam, Empire, Living With Yourself, Inventing Anna, Everything’s Trash, White House Plumber, and American Crime Story. Film credits include: A Complete Unknown, An Acceptable Loss, Black Box, Your Monster, and Another Happy Day. He is a founding stakeholder with BackRoom Shakespeare and proud NU grad!
Nathan Becker (Young Pierre Salomon) is making his Northlight and Theatre Wit debut. He has performed at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Provision Theatre, Porchlight Music Theatre, and Theatre at the Center among others. A native Chicagoan, Nate spent the last four years living in NYC attending NYU Tisch School of the Arts.
Dates: Previews begin April 10, 2025
Press Opening: Thursday, April 17, 2025 at 7:30pm
Regular run: April 18 – May 11, 2025
Schedule:
Tuesdays: 7:30pm (April 15 only)
Wednesdays: 1:00pm and 7:30pm
Thursdays: 7:30pm
Fridays: 7:30pm
Saturdays: 2:30pm (except April 12) and 7:30pm
Sundays: 2:30pm and 7:30pm (April 13 only)
• Theater Wit, in collaboration with the Crown Family Center for Jewish Studies at Northwestern and Northlight Theatre, hosts CityTalk: A Series of Conversations on Assimilation, Antisemitism and Culture. This free, unprecedented series of curated talks and convenings with distinguished experts in Jewish history will be presented throughout the Chicago area, March 23 – May 9, 2025. The events are free, and advance registration is required. For more information and registration, visit https://citytalkchicago.org/.
Backstage with BJ – Northlight’s popular discussion series with Artistic Director BJ Jones – will be held April 4 at 12pm.
An Open Captioned performance will be held on Friday, May 2 at 7:30pm. An Open Captioned and Audio Described/Touch Tour performance will be held on Saturday, May 3 at 2:30pm.
Location: Northlight Theatre is located at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, 9501 Skokie Blvd, Skokie
• Theater Wit has produced all of Joshua Harmon’s Chicago premieres with this co-production of Prayer for the French Republic being the largest. Bad Jews explored young Jews grappling with religion amid American secularism; Admissions dove into the explosive mix of college anxiety and white fragility.
Tickets:
Previews: $35-$74
Regular run: $49-$91
Student tickets are $15, any performance (subject to availability)
Box Office: The Box Office is located at 9501 Skokie Blvd, Skokie. 847.673.6300; northlight.org
• The first production of Prayer for the French Republic was directed by Chicagoan David Cromer and premiered at the Manhattan Theatre Club in New York City in January 2022. The Broadway production began previews in December 2023 and officially opened in January 2024. It starred much of the off-Broadway cast alongside Anthony Edwards as Patrick, with Cromer returning as director.
About Theater Wit
Founded in 2004, Theater Wit is a cultural hub of the Chicago theater landscape, specializing in contemporary works of comedy, intellect and heart. Under a unique, playwright-centric second production process, Theater Wit has become a nationally recognized producer of new work by writers like Anne Washburn, Will Eno, Itamar Moses, Joshua Harmon and Madeleine George.
Under founding Artistic Director Jeremy Wechsler’s leadership, Theater Wit has grown from a small $40K annual budget to a leader in the Chicago landscape with an annual budget of $750K. In 2007, he supervised and designed a new home for Theater Wit, a three-theater facility that hosts Wit’s own award-winning work and gives a home to a number of Chicago's best neighborhood theaters with over 500 performances per year from 20+ companies in a typical season.
About Northlight Theatre
Northlight Theatre aspires to promote change of perspective and encourage compassion by exploring the depth of our humanity across a bold spectrum of theatrical experiences, reflecting our community to the world and the world to our community.
Founded in 1974, the organization has mounted over 240 productions, including more than 45 world premieres. Northlight has earned 230 Joseph Jefferson Award nominations and 36 Awards, as well as 11 Edgerton Foundation for New Play Awards. As one of the area’s premier theatre companies, Northlight is a regional magnet for critical and professional acclaim, as well as talent of the highest quality.
Northlight is supported in part by generous contributions BMO Harris Bank; Bulley & Andrews; Byline Bank; ComEd, An Exelon Company; Dr. Scholl Foundation; Eckenhoff Saunders Architects, Inc.; The Field Foundation of Illinois; Full Circle Foundation; Grumman Butkus Associates; Hagerty Consulting; Illinois Arts Council, a state agency; John R Halligan Charitable Fund; LionBird; Lloyd A. Fry Foundation; Mabadi Realty; Mammel Family Foundation; Modestus Bauer Foundation; Northwestern University; Paul M. Angell Family Foundation; Pritzker Foundation; The Schubert Foundation, Inc.; The Sullivan Family Foundation; The Weatherlow Foundation; Tom Stringer Design Partners.
