Northlight
Theatre announces
The
Whipping Man
Written
by Matthew Lopez
Directed
by Kimberly Senior
Northlight
Theatre, under the direction of Artistic Director BJ Jones and
Executive Director Timothy J. Evans, continues its 2012-2013 season
with Matthew Lopez’s The
Whipping Man,
directed by Kimberly
Senior.
The production will run at Northlight Theatre, 9501 Skokie Blvd in
Skokie, from January 18-February 24, 2013.
When
Caleb, a wounded Confederate soldier returns to his family’s home
at the end of the Civil War, he finds it in ruins and abandoned by
all but two former slaves. United by their Jewish faith, the three
men celebrate a Seder while wrestling with a shared past they can’t
escape—and uncover a tangle of secrets that threatens their family
and their faith.
Artistic
Director BJ Jones
comments, “There is historical precedence for the storylines in
Mathew Lopez’s compelling and surprising play The
Whipping Man.
The context of the fallen South at the end of the Civil War, the
newly freed slaves, the returning Confederate soldier - son of a
Jewish slave owner, makes for an exotic and combustive cocktail for a
play, which is at once gripping and intellectually satisfying.”
The
cast features
Derek Gaspar, Sean Parris,
and Tim
Edward Rhoze.
The
design
team includes Jack
Magaw
(set design), Rachel
Laritz
(costume design), Chris
Binder
(lighting design), Christopher
Kriz
(sound design),
Eva Breneman
(dialect coach) and Chris
Rickett
(violence design).
ABOUT
THE ARTISTS
Matthew
Lopez (Playwright)
The
Whipping Man is
one of the most celebrated and widely-produced new American plays of
the last few theatrical seasons. It premiered off-Broadway at
Manhattan Theatre Club, directed by Doug Hughes and starring André
Braugher. Mr. Lopez was awarded the John Gassner New Play Award
from the Outer Critics Circle for this production. His play Somewhere
premiered
in 2011 at the Old Globe and is currently on the stage at Theatre
Works in Palo Alto. Other plays include Reverberation,
The Legend of Georgia McBride
and The
Sentinels,
which premiered in 2011 in London. He is commissioned by
Roundabout Theatre Company, Manhattan Theatre Club, and Hartford
Stage, where he is the 2012/13 Aetna New Voices Fellow. Mr.
Lopez is currently a staff writer on Aaron Sorkin’s HBO series The
Newsroom.
Kimberly
Senior
(Director)
Northlight:
The
Whipping Man
(debut). Chicago: The
Letters
(Writers' Theatre); Want,
The
North Plan
(Steppenwolf); After
the Revolution,
The
Overwhelming
(Next); Cripple
of Inishmaan,
Bug,
The
Pillowman
(Redtwist); Disgraced
(American Theater Company); Waiting
for Lefty
(American Blues); Old
Times,
Uncle
Vanya,
Cherry
Orchard,
Three
Sisters
(Strawdog); Thieves
Like Us
(House Theatre); All
My Sons,
Dolly
West's Kitchen
(TimeLine Theatre). Regional: Disgraced
(LCT3); Murder
on the Nile,
A Few
Good Men
(Peninsula Players); Mauritius
(Theatre
Squared). Founder/Collaboraction, Artistic Associate/Next, Strawdog,
Chicago Dramatists. Kimberly lives in Evanston with her husband,
scenic designer Jack Magaw and her two children.
Derek
Gaspar (Caleb),
making his Northlight debut, has appeared in Three
Sisters
and The
March (Steppenwolf
Theatre), Chicago
Boys
(Goodman Theatre), Waiting
for Lefty (American
Blues Theater) and Orpheus
Descending (Shattered
Globe). Other companies he has had the pleasure to work with include
Court, Next, Timeline, Pinebox and Trap Door Theatres.
Sean
Parris
(John),
making his Northlight Theatre debut, has appeared in the world
premiere of A
Girl with Sun in Her Eyes
(Pine Box Theatre), Letters
Home
(Griffin Theatre), A
Midsummer Night’s Dream
(Chicago Shakespeare), Pornography
(Steep Theatre), Seascape
(Remy Bumppo); Understudy in Angels
In America (Court
Theatre). Regional Credits include: Hamlet
(Saratoga
Shakespeare Festival). Sean is a graduate of The Theatre School at
DePaul University.
Tim
Edward Rhoze (Simon)
is
the Producing Artistic Director of the Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre in
Evanston, Illinois; he has directed For
Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf,
Having Our Say,
Five
Guys Named Moe,
From
the Mississippi Delta,
Heat,
Home, and
playwright Tania Richards’ solo performance in her autobiographical
Truth
Be Told.
Tim has performed at the Goodman Theatre in over a dozen plays, and
more than 30 other productions at Steppenwolf, Victory Gardens,
Detroit Repertory Theatre, Detroit’s Harmonie Park Playhouse, Plow
Shares and Attic Theatres, Wayne State University’s Hilberry
Repertory, University of Detroit Theatre Company and GEVA Theatre in
Rochester New York.
The
Box Office is located at the North
Shore Center for the Performing Arts, 9501 Skokie Boulevard, in
Skokie. Box
Office hours are Monday-Friday 10:00am-5:00pm, and Saturdays
12:00pm-5:00pm. On performance days, the box office hours are
extended through showtime. The Box Office is closed on Sundays,
except on performance days when it is open two hours prior to
showtime.
Curtain
times are:
Tuesdays:
7:30pm; Wednesdays:
1:00pm and 7:30pm; Thursdays:
7:30pm;
Fridays:
8:00pm; Saturdays:
2:30pm and 8:00pm; Sundays:
2:30pm, and 7:00pm.
Northlight
is continuing its popular special event series in conjunction with
each production. All
events are free for subscribers and ticket holders.
Salon
Series will
be held on select Wednesdays at 6:15pm and last approximately one
hour.
Gain deeper insight into each of the five plays in our 2012-13
mainstage season. Salon Series for The
Whipping Man
will be held January 30, 2013 and will feature Northwestern
University professor E. Patrick Johnson.
Event
is FREE, but RESERVATIONS ARE REQUIRED. Please call
847.679.9501 x 3605 to RSVP.
Community
Conversations is
a series
of post-show
discussions.
Local experts join a Northlight facilitator, engaging audiences in a
dialogue about the play's themes and the creative process behind live
theatre!
The post-show discussions for The
Whipping Man will
be held on Sundays,
January 20 and February 3 after the 2:30 performances; Tuesday,
January 22
after
the 7:30 performance; Wednesday, January 23, after the 7:30
performance; and Wednesdays January 30 and February 13 after the
1:00pm performances.
Backstage
with BJ is
a
mid-day
discussion with Artistic Director BJ Jones, featuring special guest
artists, actors, directors and designers, offering behind-the-scenes
insight into each production while it is still in
rehearsal. Backstage with BJ for The
Whipping Man will
be held on January 11 at 12:00pm and will last approximately one
hour. Reservations are required, 847.679.9501 x3555 or
specialevents@northlight.org.
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.
Now
in its 38th
season, the organization has mounted nearly 200 productions,
including over 40 world premieres. Northlight has earned 151 Joseph
Jefferson Award nominations and 28 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’s
production of The
Whipping Man
is sponsored in part by The Pauls Foundation, The Elizabeth F. Cheney
Foundation, and Quince at the Homestead.
Northlight
is supported in part by generous contributions from The Allyn
Foundation; Arts Midwest; Blackman Kallick Bartelstein, LLP; BMO
Harris Bank; Draft FCB; the Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation; ComEd, An
Exelon Company; Edgerton Foundation for New American Plays Award;
Ernst & Young; Evanston Community Foundation; Gand Music &
Sound; The Homestead Hotel; Illinois Arts Council, a state agency;
The Irving Harris Foundation; The Joyce Foundation; Kirkland &
Ellis Foundation; The
John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; Madison Dearborn
Partners; Melvoin Award for Playwriting; Modestus Bauer Foundation;
North Shore Center for the Performing Arts Foundation; Nuveen
Investments; The Offield Family Foundation; The Pauls Foundation;
Pioneer Press; Quince at the Homestead; Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice
Foundation; Room & Board; Sanborn Family Foundation; Shubert
Foundation; Skokie Fine Arts Council; Sullivan Family Foundation;
Target; and Tom Stringer Design Partners.
Schedule:
Tuesdays:
7:30pm (January 22 and February 12 only)
Wednesdays:
1:00pm (except February 6), and 7:30pm (except February 13)
Thursdays:
7:30pm
Fridays:
8:00pm (except Opening on January 25 at 7:30pm)
Saturdays:
2:30pm (except January 19) and 8:00pm
Sundays:
2:30pm, and 7:00pm (except January 27, February 3 and 24)
Location: Northlight
Theatre is
located at the North Shore
Center
for the Performing Arts, 9501 Skokie Blvd,
Skokie.
Tickets: Previews:
$25-$54
Regular
run:
$25-$72
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
Notes
of Interest:
Over
the past year, Kimberly Senior directed the World Premiere of
Disgraced
at American Theater Company and in New York; After
the Revolution
at Next; Cripple
of Inishmaan
at Redtwist; Murder
on the Nile
at Peninsula Players; and The
Letters
at Writers’ Theatre. Kimberly was, formerly, a teaching artist at
Northlight Theatre.
The
Whipping Man is
the first play by Matthew Lopez’s to be professionally produced. He
won the 2011 John Gassner Playwriting Award by the NY Outer Critics
Circle. The
Whipping Man
was one of the most produced plays in the country this year.
The
Whipping Man represents
an important part of American History. There is record of slaves
being raised Jewish, most likely if the owner was Jewish. The play
takes place at the end of the Civil War and raises questions of
freedom, servitude and identity for all the characters.
In
conjunction with The
Whipping Man, Northlight
is hosting a number of special
events
with community partners. All events are subject to change, and new
events may be added. For up-to-date details, visit
northlight.org/events.
- Civil War era medical practice: why amputation was often the answer
Monday,
January 21 at 4:00pm
Evanston
Public Library
Free
and open to the public
- A post-Civil War state of affairs: the politics of race and religion and the Great Migration of African Americans
Wednesday,
January 30 at 6:15 PM (preceding 7:30 performance)
Free
and open to the public as part of Northlight’s Salon Series
- A conversation with director Kimberly Senior and cast members
Thursday,
January 31 at 3:30pm
Skokie Public Library
Skokie Public Library
and
Wednesday
February 6 at 3:30pm
Wilmette Public Library
Wilmette Public Library
Free
and open to the public
- Jewish slave owners in 19th-century America: a panel discussion with Rabbi Andrea London (Beth Emet), Reverend Mark Dennis (Second Baptist Church), Tim Rhoze (cast), and Skokie Mayor/Civil War expert George Van Dusen
Thursday
February 7 at 3:30pm
Skokie
Public Library
Free
and open to the public
- Abraham Lincoln on stage and screen: an expert from Springfield’s Lincoln Library examines the historical accuracy of Lincoln’s many theatrical representations
Date
and Time TBA
Location
TBA
Free
and open to the public
- Contrasts in construction: the Chicago Architecture Foundation compares Chicago’s post-Civil War architectural boom with a rapidly deteriorating South
Date
and Time TBA
Location
TBA
Free
and open to the public
- Scene Selections and Discussion of Matthew Lopez’s The Whipping Man
Saturday,
February 2 at 7:30pm
Chicago
History Museum (1601 N Clark, Chicago)
***This
event is part of the New
Voices: Festival of Jewish Playwrights
presented in collaboration with the Chicago History Museum. For
staged reading plays and dates, visit northlight.org/newvoices.
Tickets $15/$10 museum members: 312.642.4600
