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Showing posts with label Visiting Edna. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Visiting Edna. Show all posts

Thursday, October 6, 2016

REVIEW: Rabe World Premiere, Visiting Edna Personifies TV and Cancer

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STEPPENWOLF THEATRE COMPANY PRESENTS 
VISITING EDNA 
A WORLD PREMIERE BY DAVID RABE DIRECTED BY ARTISTIC DIRECTOR ANNA D. SHAPIRO PLAYING NOW THROUGH NOVEMBER 6, 2016 

41ST SEASON OPENS WITH MOVING NEW PLAY FROM TONY AWARD WINNER DAVID RABE 


Visiting Edna has a slow narrative arc without much action or plot. Still, there are nuggets of dialogue that are pure gold and Debra Monk gives an excellent performance carrying the brunt of the dialogue in what almost amounts to a one woman show. We enjoyed David Rabe's clever construct of personification for both cancer and the TV. This enables some dark humor and inner dialogue with a deadly disease that's amusing yet uniquely disturbing. The TV as constant companion and distraction manages to amplify the loneliness of families scattered by distance and lack of deep communication even when they are together.

Although the rapport is decent between characters, the big reveal about the reason for the rift in the mother/son relationship was anticlimactic. Compared to Rabe's other productions, particularly Good for Otto at The Gift Theatre last season, Visiting Edna is a bit underwhelming, yet still worth a look. Recommended. 

Steppenwolf Theatre Company launches its 41st season, the first curated by Artistic Director Anna D. Shapiro, with the moving and enthralling world premiere of Visiting Edna by renowned American playwright David Rabe (Streamers, Good for Otto). Tony Award winner Anna D. Shapiro (Mary Page Marlowe, August: Osage County) directs this powerful play about the enduring connection between a mother and her son. The cast features Tony and Emmy Award winner Debra Monk as Edna and ensemble member Ian Barford as her son, Andrew. Ensemble members Tim Hopper and Sally Murphy form a supporting trio with Michael Rabe

The production runs through November 6, 2015 in the Downstairs Theatre (1650 N Halsted St). Tickets ($20 - $89) are available through Audience Services at 312-335-1650 and steppenwolf.org. 

Edna has suffered a number of losses as she has aged, and now faces the stealthy advance of cancer embodied by an intimate figure that she could do without. Home for a visit, Edna’s son Andrew tries to bridge the gulf between the childhood love they shared and the aggressively polite but baffling relationship they now live with. Mother and son stumble toward honesty as they wrestle with the distractions–-both mundane and profound—that keep us from real connection. 

“Steppenwolf is thrilled to bring David Rabe back on our stage after last producing his play Streamers in 1985. Mr. Rabe, along with being a lion of the American Theatre, has impacted every generation of Steppenwolf’s ensemble. With his form-pushing narratives and deeply complex character construction, he has, decade by decade, created a sweeping body of work that represents everything Steppenwolf aspires to be: truthful, brave, original and vital,” shares Director Anna D. Shapiro

Visiting Edna marks Mr. Rabe’s 18th play and signals yet another chapter in his own formidable journey as an artist and we are deeply honored that he has chosen Steppenwolf as his partner for this next chapter,” adds Shapiro. 
   
Visiting Edna features three Steppenwolf ensemble members—Ian Barford, an original cast member of August: Osage County, who performed at Steppenwolf last season in Mary Page Marlowe; Tim Hopper, most recently seen in 2015’s critically acclaimed Between Riverside and Crazy; and Sally Murphy, also an original cast member of August: Osage County, who was last on the Steppenwolf stage in 2012’s Time Stands Still

Debra Monk’s stage accolades include a Tony Award for her performance in Redwood Curtain, an Obie award for The Time of the Cuckoo, two Drama Desk Awards for Curtains and Oil City Symphony, and most recently a 2012 Tony Award nomination for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Monk has appeared in numerous films and television shows, including Devil's Advocate, Center Stage and currently both TV series, Mozart in the Jungle and Mercy Street. Michael Rabe was last seen in The Future is Not What It Was at New York’s Kindling Theatre Company and makes his Steppenwolf debut with Visiting Edna

BIOS:
David Rabe
(Playwright) is an acclaimed American playwright, screenwriter and novelist. He completed his graduate studies in theatre after serving in the army (1965–67), and his experiences as a draftee assigned to a hospital-support unit in Vietnam provided a key influence on his early career as a playwright. Four dramas, later collected in The Vietnam Plays (1993), include his first play, The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel (1971); Sticks and Bones (1972; film 1973), the first of David’s plays to be mounted on Broadway and which won a Tony Award for Best Play; Streamers; and The Orphan (1975), a contemporary reworking of Aeschylus’s Oresteia trilogy. Subsequent plays include In the Boom Boom Room (1975); Goose and Tom Tom; Hurlyburly (1985; film 1998); Those the River Keeps (1991); A Question of Mercy (1998); The Dog Problem (2002); The Black Monk (2004), based on a Chekhov short story; and An Early History of Fire (first performed 2012). Rabe wrote the film adaptations of Streamers and Hurlyburly. He also contributed screenplays for the movies I’m Dancing As Fast As I Can (1982) and Casualties of War (1989). His fiction includes A Primitive Heart (2005), a collection of his short stories and the novels Recital of the Dog (1993); Dinosaurs on the Roof (2008); and Girl by the Road at Night (2010). Most recently, Chicago’s The Gift Theatre produced the world premiere of Good for Otto in 2015 to critical acclaim. 

Anna D. Shapiro (Director) has directed many notable productions with Steppenwolf, including most recently Mary Page Marlowe by ensemble member Tracy Letts. She won the 2008 Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Director August: Osage County, also by Letts. In 2011 she received a Tony Award nomination for her direction of The Motherf**ker with the Hat, which she also directed at Steppenwolf. Broadway credits include Larry David’s Fish in the Dark, the revival of Steppenwolf’s production of This Is Our Youth and the Broadway revival of Of Mice and Men, which National Theatre Live selected as the first American production to be broadcast to over 700 cinemas across the US and Canada. Additional Steppenwolf directing credits include A Parallelogram, Up, The Unmentionables, The Pain and the Itch (also at Playwrights Horizons), Tracy Letts’s Man from Nebraska, (named by TIME Magazine as one of the Year’s Top Ten of 2003), Side Man (also in Ireland, Australia and Colorado), among others. She is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama and Columbia College and the recipient of a 1996 Princess Grace Award, as well as the 2010 Princess Grace Statue Award. Shapiro began working with Steppenwolf in 1995 as the original director of the New Plays Lab, joined the ensemble in 2005 and became Artistic Director at the start of the 2015/16 Season. 

Visiting Edna by David Rabe opens 41st season (Sept 15 – Nov 6) Page 3 of 4 
Visiting Edna production team includes David Zinn (scenic design), Linda Roethke (costume design), Marcus Doshi (lighting design), Rob Milburn and Michael Bodeen (original music and sound design). Additional credits include Jonathan Berry (artistic producer), JC Clementz and Tam Dickson (casting) and Christine D. Freeburg (stage manager) and Brian Maschka (assistant stage manager). 

TICKET AND PRODUCTION INFO
Single tickets
to Visiting Edna are available through Audience Services (1650 N Halsted St), 312-335-1650 and steppenwolf.org. Regular Run: $20 – $89. Prices subject to change. 20 for $20: twenty $20 tickets are available beginning at 11am on the day of each performance (1pm for Sunday performances). Rush Tickets: half-price rush tickets are available one hour before each show. Student Discounts: a limited number of $15 student tickets are available online. Limit 2 tickets per student; must present a valid student ID for each 
ticket. Group Tickets: all groups of 10 or more receive a discounted rate for any performance throughout the season, steppenwolf.org/groups. 

Subscriptions: Season Subscriptions available through mid-October for audiences who like to lock in dates and secure seats in advance. Black and Red Card Memberships: Card memberships are for audiences interested in extreme flexibility with six tickets for use any time for any production. The credits are valid for one year with the option to add additional credits as needed. Perks include easy and free exchanges, access to seats before the general public, savings on single ticket prices and bar and restaurant discounts for pre- and post-show socializing. To purchase a 2016/17 Subscription or Membership, visit Audience Services at 1650 N Halsted St, call 312-335-1650 or visit steppenwolf.org
  
Accessible Performances include Sunday, October 16 at 7:30pm (ASL Interpretation); Saturday, October 29 at 3pm (Open-captioned); Sunday, October 30 1:30pm touch tour with 3pm audio-described performance. 
Full performance schedule included at end of the release. Curtain Times are Tuesdays through Sundays at 7:30pm; Saturday and Sunday matinees at 3pm; Wednesday matinees at 2pm on October 19, October 26, and November 2. 

SPONSOR INFO 
Lead support for Visiting Edna is provided by the Laurents/Hatcher Foundation and Northern Trust is the Corporate Production Sponsor. 
Major support for Steppenwolf’s New Play Development Initiative is provided by The Davee Foundation and the Zell Family Foundation. 

2016/17 SEASON 
Steppenwolf’s 2016/17 Season also includes the world premiere of The Fundamentals by Erika Sheffer, directed by ensemble member Yasen Peyankov (November 10 – December 23, 2016); the Chicago premiere of The Christians by Lucas Hnath, directed by ensemble member K. Todd Freeman (December 1, 2016 – January 29, 2017); the Chicago premiere of Straight White Men, written and directed by Young Jean Lee (February 2 – March 19, 2017); the world premiere of Linda Vista by ensemble member Tracy Letts, directed by Dexter Bullard (March 30 – May 21, 2017); and the Chicago premiere of Hir by Taylor Mac, directed by Hallie Gordon 


Steppenwolf Theatre Company is America’s longest standing, most distinguished ensemble theater, producing nearly 700 performances and events annually in its three Chicago theater spaces—the 515-seat Downstairs Theatre, the 299-seat Upstairs Theatre and the 80-seat 1700 Theatre. Formed in 1976 by a collective of actors, Steppenwolf has grown into an ensemble of 46 actors, writers and directors. Artistic programming includes a seven-play season; a two-play Steppenwolf for Young Adults season; Visiting Company engagements; and LookOut, a new multidisciplinary performance series. While firmly grounded in the Chicago community, nearly 40 original Steppenwolf productions have enjoyed success both nationally and internationally, including Broadway, Off-Broadway, London, Sydney, Galway and Dublin. Steppenwolf has the distinction of receiving the National Medal of Arts, in addition to numerous other prestigious honors including an Illinois Arts Legend Award and 12 Tony Awards. Anna D. Shapiro is the Artistic Director and David Schmitz is the Executive Director. Nora Daley is Chair of Steppenwolf’s Board of Trustees. 

For additional information, visit www.steppenwolf.org, facebook.com/steppenwolftheatre and twitter.com/steppenwolfthtr. 

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Steppenwolf 2016/17 Season Begins With Visiting Edna In Previews Starting September 15th and Opening the 27th

What's On Tap For Steppenwolf


As previously announced, the complete 2016/17 Subscription Season includes the world premiere of Visiting Edna by David Rabe, directed by Artistic Director Anna D. Shapiro (September 15 – November 6, 2016); the world premiere of The Fundamentals by Erika Sheffer, directed by ensemble member Yasen Peyankov (November 10 – December 23, 2016); the Chicago premiere of The Christians by Lucas Hnath, directed by ensemble member K. Todd Freeman (December 1, 2016 – January 29, 2017); the Chicago premiere of Straight White Men, written and directed by Young Jean Lee (February 2 – March 19, 2017); the world premiere of Linda Vista by ensemble member Tracy Letts, directed by Dexter Bullard (March 30 – May 21, 2017); and the Chicago premiere of Hir by Taylor Mac, directed by Hallie Gordon (June 29 – August 20, 2017). 



Dexter Bullard will direct the world premiere production of ensemble member Tracy Letts’s Linda Vista and Hallie Gordon will direct the Chicago premiere of Taylor Mac’s Hir

Dexter Bullard last directed Steppenwolf’s critically acclaimed production of Annie Baker’s The Flick this season. Hallie Gordon, who serves as  Steppenwolf Artistic Producer and Artistic Director of Steppenwolf for Young Adults (SYA), has directed several SYA productions including George Orwell’s 1984 last season. Gordon will also direct next season’s SYA adaptation of Walter Dean Myers’s Monster.

An additional seventh play, the world premiere of Pass Over by Antoinette Nwandu, will be produced in May 2017 in the Upstairs Theatre. Winner of the Lorraine Hansberry Playwriting Award, Antoinette Nwandu is an exciting new voice in the American theater. Pass Over will run in the non-subscription summer slot; however, subscribers will have access to pre-sale tickets. The director is TBA.

With the larger and more diverse selection of programming next season, Steppenwolf is increasing the ways in which audiences can experience the offerings with the new Steppenwolf Black Card, a membership program offering extreme flexibility. The Steppenwolf Black Card provides six ticket credits that can be used at any time for any production at Steppenwolf. The credits are valid for one year, and there is the option to add on additional credits as needed. Additional perks include easy and free exchanges, access to seats before the general public, savings on single ticket prices and bar and restaurant discounts for pre- and post-show socializing. 

The Steppenwolf Black Card is available through Audience Services (1650 N. Halsted) at 312.335.1650 and steppenwolf.org 

Season Subscription Packages are still available and are currently on sale. Packages start at $100. Student, educator and access discount subscriptions also offered. To purchase a 2016/17 subscription, visit Audience Services at 1650 N Halsted St, call 312-335-1650 or visit steppenwolf.org.

Director Bios
Dexter Bullard has strong ties with Steppenwolf, having most recently directed Annie Baker’s The Flick and having directed ensemble member Tracy Letts’s Bug at the Barrow Street Theater, for which he received the 2004 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Direction Off-Broadway. He has directed for Steppenwolf’s First Look Repertory of New Work in 2006 and 2013. Recent directing credits include the critically acclaimed production of Sucker Punch at Victory Gardens Theater, Big Meal at American Theatre Company and Craig Wright’s Grace at Northlight Theatre. He is the head of Graduate Acting and Showcase Artistic Director with The Theatre School at DePaul University.  

Hallie Gordon serves as Artistic Director of Steppenwolf for Young Adults and an Artistic Producer at Steppenwolf. Along with selecting the young adult productions each season, she has created the Young Adult Council, a group of high school students who collectively help to create innovative programming for their peers. Previously as SYA’s Education Director, Gordon worked closely with the Chicago Public Schools to create an environment in which all students and teachers have access to the theater. For Steppenwolf, Hallie has directed George Orwell’s 1984 and Animal Farm, as well as Leveling Up, The Book Thief, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, To Kill a Mockingbird, the world premiere of a new adaptation by Tanya Saracho of The House on Mango Street and Harriet Jacobs, adapted for the stage by Lydia R. Diamond. A world premiere of Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, also adapted by Lydia R. Diamond, won a Black Excellence Award from the African American Arts Alliance of Chicago and also transferred Off-Broadway to The New Victory Theatre. She is the recipient of The Helen Coburn Meier & Time Meier Achievement Award. Gordon most recently directed Dry Land at Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, playing now through May 28, 2016. For SYA’s 2016/17 season Gordon will direct an adaptation of Walter Dean Myers’s Monster.

About the Steppenwolf Black Card
Steppenwolf is excited to offer a larger and more diverse selection of programming next season, and to that end has increased the ways in which audiences can experience the offerings. Launching next season is the new Steppenwolf Black Card, a membership program offering extreme flexibility. The Steppenwolf Black Card provides six ticket credits that can be used at any time for any production at Steppenwolf. The credits are valid for one year, and there is the option to add on additional credits as needed. Additional perks include easy and free exchanges, access to seats before the general public, savings on single ticket prices and bar and restaurant discounts for pre- and post-show socializing. 

“We have heard from our audiences that they crave both choice and flexibility. The Steppenwolf Black Card will provide insider access to everything we have to offer, making it easier than ever to be a part of Steppenwolf,” shares Managing Director David Schmitz.  

Audiences will be able to choose from three Steppenwolf Black Card options: Anytime ($70 a credit to use any way, any day of the week); Weeknight ($50 a credit to use Sunday evening –Thursday evening) and Preview ($30 a credit to use towards early performances in the run). Steppenwolf Black Cards will go on sale July 15, 2016 through Audience Services at 312-335-1650 or steppenwolf.org.

The Steppenwolf Black Card is modeled after the popular Steppenwolf Red Card, which offers audiences under the age of 30 the option to purchase six ticket credits at a discounted price to use towards any play, anytime.

Still available will be Steppenwolf’s Season Subscriptions including the Preview Series, Regular Series and Dinner Theatre Series, in addition to discounted Student/Educator Series, Accessible Series and Saver Series. With the new season format, subscribers will see five plays; four in the Downstairs Theatre with the option to choose between two shows in the Upstairs Theatre. Packages start at $100 and are currently available for purchase through Audience Services at 1650 N Halsted St, call 312-335-1650 or visit steppenwolf.org

Steppenwolf Theatre Company is America’s longest standing, most distinguished ensemble theater, producing nearly 700 performances and events annually in its three Chicago theater spaces—the 515-seat Downstairs Theatre, the 299-seat Upstairs Theatre and the 80-seat 1700 Theatre. Formed in 1976 by a collective of actors, Steppenwolf has grown into an ensemble of 46 actors, writers and directors. Beginning in 2016/17, Steppenwolf expands artistic programming to include a seven-play Season; a two-play Steppenwolf for Young Adults season; Visiting Company engagements; and LookOut, a new multidisciplinary performance series. While firmly grounded in the Chicago community, nearly 40 original Steppenwolf productions have enjoyed success both nationally and internationally, including Broadway, Off-Broadway, London, Sydney, Galway and Dublin. Steppenwolf has the distinction of being the only theater to receive the National Medal of Arts, in addition to numerous other prestigious honors including an Illinois Arts Legend Award and 12 Tony Awards. Anna D. Shapiro is the Artistic Director and David Schmitz is the Managing Director. Nora Daley is Chair of Steppenwolf’s Board of Trustees. 





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