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Chi, IL LIVE Shows On Our Radar:
REBECCA GILMAN’S LATEST PLAY
SOUPS, STEWS, AND CASSEROLES: 1976
MAKES ITS CHICAGO PREMIERE AT GOODMAN THEATRE
MAY 21 – JUNE 19,
DIRECTED BY ROBERT FALLS, HER LONGTIME COLLABORATOR
Life was sweet in a small Wisconsin town…then corporate America came to the table. Goodman Theatre concludes its 2015/2016 Owen Theatre series with Soups, Stews, and Casseroles: 1976, by Artistic Associate Rebecca Gilman—a timely and thought-provoking look at workers’ rights and the effects of big business on small town lives. Directed by Artistic Director Robert Falls, Gilman’s 1970s-era work centers on the working class Durst family, and the opportunities and moral dilemmas a buy-out of the Farmstead cheese factory raises.
The previously announced cast features Cliff Chamberlain as longtime factory employee Kim Durst; Cora Vander Broek as his wife Kat; Lindsay Stock as their daughter, Kelly and Ty Olwin (Kyle), Angela Reed (Elaine) and Ann Whitney (JoAnne). Please note: the role of “JoAnne” will be portrayed by Meg Thalken on June 3 at 8pm; June 4 at 2pm and 8pm; and June 5 at 2pm and 7:30pm. Soups, Stews, and Casseroles: 1976 appears May 21 – June 19 in the Owen Theatre (opening night is Tuesday, May 31). Tickets ($10 - $40; subject to change) are on sale now at GoodmanTheatre.org/Soups, by phone at 312.443.3800 or at the box office (170 North Dearborn). Mayer Brown LLP is the Corporate Sponsor Partner.
“The past four decades have seen massive changes in American commerce, with the legions of middle class workers who once formed our economic backbone downsized and globalized nearly out of existence. In our current election year, we might find Soups, Stews, and Casseroles: 1976 offers a vital perspective into our vastly transformed landscape of 2016,” said Artistic Director Robert Falls. “As always, I am bowled over by the brevity and craftsmanship of Rebecca’s work; without resorting to flashy overstatement or outsized theatrics, she finds the human truths at the center of social conflict.”
A social awakening is underway for the town of Reynolds, Wisconsin, in the year of the American bicentennial, when the town’s main employer, Farmstead Cheese Factory, is bought out by a Chicago-based food conglomerate. The purchase leaves the Durst family and their friends and neighbors in a cycle of fear and uncertainty for their livelihoods. Although fictitious, the town of Reynolds resembles Green County, which lies in southwest Wisconsin. As in Green County and the world of the play, cheese is not only a delectable food, it represents the foundation of cultural traditions, socializing and finding connections to the residents’ European ancestry.
Gilman found inspiration for her latest work in an unlikely place.
“I was at a garage sale for the volunteer fire department in this little town in Wisconsin, and I found a cookbook called Soups, Stews, and Casseroles: 1976. As I was reading the recipes the women of the town had submitted, I started to think about how communities really come together to help each other out in small towns in ways that remind me of how unions can have a really strong connection to community as well,” said Gilman.
Set Designer Kevin Depinet’s interpretation of a classic 1970s kitchen is the heart and sole set for Falls’ production. The creative team also includes Jenny Mannis (costumes), Richard Woodbury (sound), Jesse Klug (lights) and Kim Osgood is the production stage manager.
The Chicago premiere of Soups, Stews, and Casseroles: 1976 marks the eighth collaboration (five of which were Goodman commissions) between Goodman Theatre and Gilman—“one of Chicago’s hottest playwrights” (Chicago Tribune). Falls’ and Gilman’s last collaboration, Luna Gale, most recently earned the 2016 LA Drama Critics Circle, as well as the 2015 Steinberg/ATCA Award and the 2014 Jeff Award for New Work. Falls first encountered Gilman when he read her 1998 play The Glory of Living (a 2001 Pulitzer Prize finalist that was first produced at Circle Theatre). Soon after, he commissioned Gilman to write a new play for the Goodman; she responded with Spinning Into Butter (premiered in the Goodman Studio in 1999, directed by Les Waters, subsequently produced at Lincoln Center Theater in 2000 and made into a feature film starring Sarah Jessica Parker). The show’s run was extended three times and led to Gilman’s next Goodman commission, Boy Gets Girl (premiered at the Goodman in 2000, directed by the late Michael Maggio), which transferred to New York’s Manhattan Theatre Club and was named by Time magazine as one of the “best theater productions of the decade.” Falls later directed both Blue Surge (2001) and Dollhouse (2005)—a modern interpretation of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House. The Crowd You’re In With, directed by Wendy C. Goldberg, made its Chicago debut in 2009 at the Goodman, followed by A True History of the Johnstown Flood, a Goodman commission that had its world premiere at the Goodman in 2010 under Falls’ direction.
Rebecca Gilman’s plays include Luna Gale, A True History of the Johnstown Flood, Dollhouse, Boy Gets Girl, Spinning Into Butter, Blue Surge (all of which were commissioned and originally produced by the Goodman), The Glory of Living, The Sweetest Swing in Baseball, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter and The Crowd You’re in With. Gilman is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, The Harold and Mimi Steinberg/American Critics Association New Play Award, The Harper Lee Award, The Scott McPherson Award, The Prince Prize for Commissioning New Work, The Roger L. Stevens Award from the Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays, The Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright, The George Devine Award, The Theatre Masters Visionary Award, The Great Plains Playwright Award, The Roe Green Award, and an Illinois Arts Council playwriting fellowship. Boy Gets Girl received an Olivier nomination for Best New Play, and she was named a finalist for the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for The Glory of Living. She is a member of the Council of the Dramatists Guild of America and a board member of the ACLU of Illinois. She received her MFA in playwriting from the University of Iowa. Gilman is a professor of playwriting and screenwriting at Northwestern University as part of its MFA in Writing for the Screen and Stage program. She is the recipient of a Global Connections Grant by Theatre Communications Group and an American Scandinavian Foundation Creative Writing Grant for the development of a new play in conjunction with Göteborgs Dramatiska Teater in Gothenburg, Sweden: Rödvinsvänster (Red-Wine Leftists): 1977.
Robert Falls, a recent inductee into the Theater Hall of Fame, most recently co-adapted/directed the world premiere of his critically acclaimed production of 2666, based on Roberto Bolaño’s internationally celebrated novel. Last season, he reprised his critically acclaimed production of The Iceman Cometh at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, directed Rebecca Gilman’s Luna Gale at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Los Angeles and directed a new production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni for the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Other recent productions include Measure for Measure and the world premiere of Beth Henley’s The Jacksonian. Among his other credits are The Seagull, King Lear, Desire Under the Elms, John Logan’s Red, Jon Robin Baitz’s Three Hotels, Eric Bogosian’s Talk Radio and Conor McPherson’s Shining City; the world premieres of Richard Nelson’s Frank’s Home, Arthur Miller’s Finishing the Picture (his last play), Eric Bogosian’s Griller, Steve Tesich’s The Speed of Darkness and On the Open Road, John Logan’s Riverview: A Melodrama with Music and Rebecca Gilman’s A True History of the Johnstown Flood, Blue Surge and Dollhouse; the American premiere of Alan Ayckbourn’s House and Garden and the Broadway production of Elton John and Tim Rice’s Aida. Falls’ honors for directing include, among others, a Tony Award (Death of a Salesman), a Drama Desk Award (Long Day’s Journey Into Night), an Obie Award (subUrbia), a Helen Hayes Award (King Lear) and multiple Jeff Awards (including a 2012 Jeff Award for The Iceman Cometh). For “outstanding contributions to theater,” Mr. Falls has also been recognized with such prestigious honors as the Savva Morozov Diamond Award (Moscow Art Theatre), the O’Neill Medallion (Eugene O’Neill Society), the Distinguished Service to the Arts Award (Lawyers for the Creative Arts) and the Illinois Arts Council Governor’s Award
EVENTS & ACCESSIBILITY AT GOODMAN THEATRE
May 26, Soups, Stews, and Conversation – 6pm; pre-show mix-n-mingle with artists from the show, followed by 7:30pm performance; Enter promo code SOUPS when purchasing at GoodmanTheatre.org/conversation
June 5, Artist Encounter – 5pm; an in-depth conversation with Playwright Rebecca Gilman & Director Robert Falls, moderator TBD
June 8, American Sign Language Interpreted Performance –7:30pm; Enter the promo code SIGN when purchasing
June 12, Touch Tour Presentation – 12:30pm; a presentation detailing the set, costume and character elements; Audio Described Performance – 2pm; the action/text is audibly enhanced for patrons via headset, enter promo code AUDIO when purchasing
June 19, Open Captioned Performance – 2pm; an LED sign presents dialogue in sync with the performance; Enter the promo code OPEN when purchasing
Visit Goodman Theatre.org/Access for more information about Goodman Theatre’s accessibility efforts.
TICKETS & DISCOUNTS
Tickets ($10-$40) –GoodmanTheatre.org/Soups; 312.443.3800; Fax: 312.443.3825; TTY/TDD: 312.443.3829
MezzTix – Half-price day-of-performance mezzanine tickets available at 10am online (promo code MEZZTIX)
$10Tix – Student $10 advance performance tickets; limit four, with valid student ID (promo code 10TIX)
Group Sales – Discounted tickets for parties of 10+ – 312.443.3820
Gift Certificates – Available in any amount (GoodmanTheatre.org/GiftCertificates)
Box Office Hours –12noon - 5pm; on performance days, the office remains open until 30 minutes past curtain)
About Goodman Theatre
Called America’s “Best Regional Theatre” by Time magazine, Goodman Theatre has won international recognition for its artists, productions and programs, and is a major cultural, educational and economic pillar in Chicago. Founded in 1925 by William O. Goodman and his family in honor of their son Kenneth (an important figure in Chicago’s cultural renaissance in the early 1900s), Goodman Theatre has garnered hundreds of awards for artistic achievement and community engagement, including: two Pulitzer Prizes, 22 Tony Awards (including “Outstanding Regional Theatre” in 1992), nearly 160 Joseph Jefferson Awards and more. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Robert Falls and Executive Director Roche Schulfer, the Goodman’s artistic priorities include new plays (more than 150 world or American premieres in the past 30 years), reimagine
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Wednesday, May 18, 2016
OPENING: The Goodman Theatre Presents SOUPS, STEWS, AND CASSEROLES: 1976
OPENING: The Hypocrites World Premiere of Sean Graney & Emily Casey's Johanna Faustus
Chi, IL LIVE Shows On Our Radar:
Johanna Faustus
From Christopher Marlowe's The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus
Co-adapted by Emily Casey and Sean Graney
Directed by Sean Graney
Don't miss this limited run! Here at ChiIL Mama and ChiIL Live Shows, we've been fans of Sean Graney's adaptations and unique vision for years. He has a depth and insight embedded with a rare, playful streak, that makes his productions utterly unique and entirely compelling. The Hypocrites are one of our favorites on the Chicago theatre scene and we highly recommend checking them out.
What would you trade for happiness?
In the spirit of Sean Graney’s previous hits including 12 Nights and Romeo Juliet, six actors tell a modern Faust story. The performers are also the design team, with purposeful limited resources they will enact the tale using the barest elements. In this new adaptation, Faust is a woman questioning her choices that brought her to success but also isolation.
Limited Engagement May 20 - May 29, 2016
Fri 5/20/2016
at 8:00 PM
Sat 5/21/2016
at 3:00 PM
at 8:00 PM
at 3:00 PM
at 8:00 PM
Sat 5/28/2016
at 3:00 PM
Sat 5/28/2016
at 8:00 PM
at 3:00 PM
Price: $36
The Den Theatre's Heath Main Stage
1329 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago IL 60622
Box Office: 773-398-7028
Johanna Faustus is an hour-long modern Faust story told by six actors who also serve as the design team in the spirit of Graney’s previous hits 12 Nights and Romeo Juliet. The tale is enacted using the barest elements with purposeful limited resources. In this new adaptation, Faust is a woman questioning whether success can really bring power. What would you trade for satisfaction?
Starring and Designed by Breon Arzell, Kate Carson-Groner, Whitney Dottery, Dana Omar, Sasha Smith, and Lauren Vogel.
Johanna Faustus will conclude The Hypocrites’ 2015-16 season with a limited engagement May 20 – 29, 2015 at The Den Theatre’s Heath Main Stage, 1329 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood.
Emily Casey and Sean Graney
CREATIVE BIOGRAPHIES
Emily Casey’s (Co-Adapter) past credits include All Our Tragic (The Hypocrites, Getty Villa), Sailress Billi/Captain Cat Coran in HMS Pinafore (The Hypocrites and Actor’s Theatre of Louisville), Yum-Yum/The Mikado in The Mikado (The Hypocrites, Steppenwolf Garage, American Repertory Theatre), Pirates of Penzance (The Hypocrites, Actor’s Theatre of Louisville, American Repertory Theatre), Frederick (Chicago Children’s Theatre), The Casuals (Jackalope Theatre), Woody Sez (Northlight Theatre), Scapin (Hope Summer Repertory Theatre). She holds a BA in Theatre from Hope College. www.emily-casey.com
Sean Graney (Co-Adapter/Director) has directed over 30 productions for The Hypocrites since 1997, including the critically acclaimed All Our Tragic. He recently returned from a Fellowship at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University. In 2004, Graney was a participant in the NEA/TCG Career Development Program for Directors. He has won four Joseph Jefferson Citation awards for the Direction and Adaptation for Sophocles: Seven Sicknesses, and Directing of Equus and Machinal. He has directed Edward II (Chicago Shakespeare Theater), The Hairy Ape (Eugene O’Neill Festival at Goodman Theatre), The Comedy of Errors, The Mystery of Irma Vep and What the Butler Saw (Court Theatre), Yankee Tavern (Milwaukee Rep) and The Elephant Man (Steppenwolf for Young Audiences). Graney currently serves as the Hypocrites’ Artistic Director.
About The Hypocrites
Artistic Director Sean Graney created The Hypocrites in 1997. The Hypocrites, one of Chicago’s premier off-Loop theater companies, specializes in startling and thoroughly entertaining adaptations of classic plays and stories, mounting bold productions that challenge preconceptions and redefining the role of the audience through unusual staging (such as promenade and in-the-round) and direct engagement. The mission is to explore recognizable stories—mixing the familiar and the strange—to make theater that thrills and provokes, defying expectations with humor, staging, and surprise. The company has a reputation in Chicago for creating exciting, surprising, and deeply engaging theater as it re-interprets well-known works for contemporary audiences, reveling in the absurd while revealing the core of what makes classics classic.
The company has grown significantly in the past few years, receiving acclaim for productions at the Steppenwolf Garage, Goodman Theatre, Museum of Contemporary Art, DCASE Storefront and Chopin Theater. The company’s smash-hit production of Our Town, directed by David Cromer, transferred in 2009 to Off-Broadway, Los Angeles and Boston. The Pirates of Penzance has appeared at Actors Theater of Louisville and American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.). A.R.T. has also brought Romeo Juliet, 12 Nights and The Mikado (forthcoming). The American Theatre Wing, best known as the creator of the Tony Awards, presented The Hypocrites with one of the 2013 National Theatre Company awards. The critically acclaimed fall 2013 production of All Our Tragic was brought back by popular demand in June 2015. Graney’s critically acclaimed ALL OUR TRAGIC, an epic 12-hour adaptation of all 32 surviving Greek tragedies, was honored with six 2015 Equity Joseph Jefferson Awards, including Best Play (midsized), Best New Adaptation and Direction for Graney and the prestigious Ensemble Award.
The Hypocrites on the Road
The Hypocrites continue to make a national imprint, with remounts of Graney’s wildly popular musical adaptations from the Gilbert & Sullivan canon set for engagements across the U.S. THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE and THE MIKADO will play the The Olney Theatre Center near Washington, D.C. (July 14 – August 21, 2016).
Want More Hypocrites? Check out ChiIL Mama (16+ features on The Hypocrites) & ChiIL Live Shows' (11+) past Hypocrites features. Just click and scroll down.
Tuesday, May 17, 2016
SAVE THE DATES: American Theater Company (ATC) Announces Season 32 Led By New Artistic Director Will Davis
AMERICAN THEATER COMPANY ANNOUNCES
2016-17 SEASON
LED BY NEWLY APPOINTED ARTISTIC DIRECTOR WILL DAVIS
World premiere of T. by Dan Aibel
World premiere of We’re Gonna Be Okay by Basil Kreimendahl
Regional premiere of acclaimed Men On Boats by Jaclyn Backhaus
Reimagined classic Picnic by William Inge
Plus a new season-long partnership with the Chicago Inclusion Project
SEASON SUBSCRIPTIONS ON SALE NOW
American Theater Company (ATC) proudly announces Season 32, led by its newly appointed Artistic Director Will Davis and continuing the theater’s dedication to developing new works. The 2016-17 season kicks off this September with the world premiere of Dan Aibel’s T., an exploration of the competitive ice skating saga between Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding, directed by Margot Bordelon, Sept. 23-Oct. 30, 2016. In the New Year, ATC presents Jaclyn Backhaus’ Men On Boats, making its regional premiere at ATC Jan. 6-Feb. 12, 2017, under Will Davis’ direction after he remounts his acclaimed New York production Off Broadway at Playwrights Horizons this summer. Next spring brings another world premiere at ATC, Basil Kreimendahl’s We’re Gonna Be Okay, March 17-April 23, 2017. The production is directed by Bonnie Metzgar and was originally developed at ATC in collaboration with The Araca Group during AracaWorks: Chicago 2015. The final production of ATC’s 2016-17 Season is a reimagined classic, Pulitzer Prize winner Picnic by William Inge, under Davis’ direction May 19-June 25, 2017. Season subscriptions are on sale now and range from $60-$150, with special pricing available for advance purchases before July 31, 2016. To purchase a subscription or for more information, visit www.atcweb.org or call the ATC Box Office at 773-409-4125.
“With Season 32, ATC is opening up a dialogue with theatricality and style. I want ATC to become a home for wild new plays and old plays done in new ways that experiment with form. We're deepening our commitment to the mission question ‘What does it mean to be an American?’ by using it as a spring board to ask identity questions not just about the plays we curate and produce, but also how those works get made and who brings them to life,” says Artistic Director Will Davis. “As one of the first trans identified artists to run a professional theater, I feel both responsible and honored to make ATC an organization dedicated to access and inclusion, and to move our company towards a place of openness and curiosity about how we champion and celebrate truly new work for the American theater.”
ATC also announces a new season-long partnership with Chicago Inclusion Project, whose work creates inclusive theater experiences that bring together Chicago artists and audiences normally separated by physical ability, gender identity and/or ethnic background. The two companies will partner around casting for ATC's Season 32, giving diverse theater artists access to roles they might traditionally have been excluded from. Together with the Chicago Inclusion Project, ATC will continue its commitment to presenting works that boldly reflect the diversity of stories and experiences in America today.
2016-17 SEASON SUBSCRIPTION AND TICKET INFORMATION:
The American Membership $150 (available until Oct. 31)
Includes reserved seating
Early Bird 4-Ticket Membership $120 (before July 31)
4-Ticket Membership $135 (Aug. 1-Oct. 31)
Early Bird 3-Ticket Membership $90 (before July 31)
3-Ticket Membership $105 (Aug. 1-Oct. 31)
Under-35 Membership
4-Ticket Membership $80 (available until Oct. 31)
3-Ticket Membership $60 (available until Oct. 31)
ATC is offering the new American Membership in Season 32 for $150, which offers the member a reserved seat at each production in the season. ATC is transitioning to general admission seating in Season 32. Under 35 Memberships range in price from $60-80. Early Bird 3- and 4-ticket subscriptions range in price from $90-$120 and are available until July 31, 2016. Regular subscriptions range in price from $105-$135 and are available Aug. 1-Oct. 31, 2016. All Memberships allow you to choose your performance dates upon purchase. To purchase a subscription or for more information, please contact the ATC Box Office at 773-409-4125 or visit www.atcweb.org.
Past world premiere productions at ATC include Stephen Karam’s Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-nominated The Humans and Ayad Akhtar's Pulitzer Prize-winning Disgraced, both of which enjoyed acclaimed Broadway runs. Last spring ATC presented the world premiere of The Project(s), a documentary play about Chicago’s public housing residents written by late Artistic Director PJ Paparelli and Joshua Jaeger. In the 2015-16 Season, ATC produced the co-world premiere of Thomas Bradshaw’s Fulfillment with The Flea Theater in New York and the world premiere of Bruise Easy by Dan LeFranc, playwright of ATC’s blockbuster world premiere The Big Meal, which went on to an acclaimed Off Broadway run at Playwrights Horizons.
AMERICAN THEATER COMPANY’S 2016-2017 SEASON:
World Premiere
T.
Written by Dan Aibel
Directed by Margot Bordelon
September 23–October 30, 2016
“Ice Follies” read the cover of Time Magazine on January 24, 1994, after ice skating medalist favorite Nancy Kerrigan was struck in the leg with a police baton by Shane Stant. In his darkly funny and unrelenting play, Dan Aibel explores the lengths one will go to for fame. Margot Bordelon returns to Chicago to direct this world premiere play named for Tonya Harding, the first woman ever to complete a triple axel jump in competition. Nancy Kerrigan never saw her coming.
Regional Premiere
Men On Boats
Written by Jaclyn Backhaus
Directed by Will Davis
January 6–February 12, 2017
Ten explorers set out on four boats to map the raging rapids of the Green and Colorado Rivers on the government’s first sanctioned expedition in the American West. Playwright Jaclyn Backhaus and director Will Davis team up again on this play, originally produced by Clubbed Thumb and returning to Playwrights Horizons in New York this summer, in Davis’ first production as ATC’s artistic director. Performed by a genderfluid cast of women and folks otherwise defined, Men On Boats takes back 1869.
World Premiere
We’re Gonna Be Okay
Written by Basil Kreimendahl
Directed by Bonnie Metzgar
March 17–April 23, 2017
Mag has a horse inside her, the spirit of a horse anyway. It’s the Cuban Missile Crisis, and President Kennedy said that “…the greatest danger of all would be to do nothing” so Efran and Leena and Mag and Sul are thinking about doing something big. Two families wrestle with macrame, female empowerment and a shared property line in Basil Kreimendahl’s We’re Gonna Be Okay. Bonnie Metzgar directs this world premiere play first workshopped through ATC’s partnership with The Araca Group (Disgraced).
Picnic
Written by William Inge
Directed by Will Davis
May 19–June 25, 2017
Closeted and dogged by an acute sense of failure for most of his life until he ended it, William Inge wrote some of the great lyrical plays of the American mid-century, and Picnic was his masterpiece, his playground and, quite possibly, his fantasy. In this loving reimagining, ATC Artistic Director Will Davis puts Inge at the center of his Pulitzer Prize-winning play and animates what is both sacred and profane about small town life against the backdrop of dust bowl hymns and love songs. Part séance, part love letter to a ghost, this Picnic explores a life lived at the periphery of one’s own desire.
ARTIST BIOS:
Dan Aibel's plays have been developed and/or produced by the Detroit Rep, the Sundance Institute, Syracuse Stage, the Blank Theater (Los Angeles), Flashpoint Theatre Co. (Philadelphia), the Source Theatre (Washington, D.C.) and Outsider's Inn Collective (Seattle). In New York he has worked with Page 73, Rattlestick and The New Group. His play The Meaning of Lunch was seen in Chicago at Stage Left as part of Leapfest 7. A 2014 Sundance Theatre Lab fellow, Dan's plays have been published by Smith & Kraus and Playscripts. He lives in New York.
Jaclyn Backhaus is an Indian-American playwright and co-founder of Fresh Ground Pepper. Recent New York productions include Men On Boats (NYT Critics’ Pick, Clubbed Thumb’s Summerworks, The Kilroys' 2015 List), People Doing Math Live! (Under The Radar Festival's INCOMING! Series at The Public Theater), The Incredible Fox Sisters (Live Source, The New Ohio), and You On the Moors Now (Theater Reconstruction Ensemble, upcoming with The Hypocrites in Fall 2016). She has received commissions from Playwrights Horizons and Ars Nova and is the 2016 Tow Foundation Playwright-in-Residence at Clubbed Thumb. Her work has been developed and showcased with the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, Playwrights Horizons, The Public and Joe’s Pub, The Ice Factory Festival, (not just) 3 New Plays, The Civilians R&D Group, SPACE on Ryder Farm, Ars Nova’s ANTFest, and The Falcons. She hails from Phoenix, Arizona.
Margot Bordelon is a freelance director who specializes in new work. Recent projects include Jiehae Park's peerless at Yale Repertory Theater, Anna Ziegler's A Delicate Ship for Playwrights Realm (NYT's Critics' Pick), and Joshua Conkel's Okay, Bye at Steppenwolf Theater. In New York, she's directed for Atlantic Theater, NYTW, Clubbed Thumb, Ars Nova, Dodo Theater Collective, Target Margin, The Lark, Juilliard, The Bushwick Starr, Theater Masters, and Stella Adler Institute, among others. Margot moved to the East Coast after spending six years in Chicago working as a director, writer, and performer. She is a founding member of Theatre Seven of Chicago, where she conceived and directed We Live Here; Lies & Liars; and Yes, This Really Happened to Me (all with Cassy Sanders). Margot spent four seasons working at Lookingglass Theatre, where she served as Literary Manager and Company Dramaturg. In Chicago she also worked for Collaboraction, Timeline, Pavement Group, Live Bait, Around the Coyote, Bailiwick, Hell in a Handbag, and Steppenwolf Theatre. She spent three years as a storyteller for 2nd Story, and her autobiographical work has been seen numerous times on the Victory Gardens stage. Theater BFA, Cornish College of the Arts. Directing MFA, Yale School of Drama.
Will Davis is a director and choreographer focused on physically adventurous new work, and the newly appointed artistic director of American Theater Company. Recent projects include: an upcoming production of Evita for the Olney Theatre Center remade and reconsidered; Men on Boats by Jaclyn Backhaus for Clubbed Thumb's Summerworks, receiving a remount at Playwrights Horizons in August; Orange Julius by Basil Kreimendahl; Mike Iveson’s Sorry Robot for PS122’s COIL Festival; and two productions of Colossal by Andrew Hinderaker for Mixed Blood Theater and the Olney Theatre Center, for which he won a Helen Hayes award for outstanding direction. Davis has developed, directed and performed his work with New York Theatre Workshop, Clubbed Thumb, the New Museum, the Olney Theatre Center, the Alliance Theatre, the Playwright's Realm, the Fusebox Festival, New Harmony Project, the Orchard Project, the Ground Floor Residency at Berkeley Rep, Performance Studies International at Stanford University, and the Kennedy Center. He is an alum of the Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab, the NYTW 2050 Directing Fellowship and the BAX (Brooklyn Art Exchange) artist in residence program. He holds a BFA in Theatre Studies from DePaul University and an MFA in Directing from UT Austin.
William Inge (1913-1973), a playwright, teacher, and novelist born in Independence, Kansas, wrote a string of successful plays throughout the 40s and 50s. His play Come Back, Little Sheba earned him the title of most promising playwright of the 1950 Broadway season. This success was followed in 1953 by Picnic (winner of the 1953 Pulitzer Prize) and again in 1955 by the highly revered Bus Stop. Inge’s fame continued to grow as The Dark at the Top of the Stairs, a reworking of his first play Farther Off from Heaven opened on Broadway in 1957. The Dark at the Top of the Stairs, considered to be Inge’s finest play, is one in which he draws most directly from his own past. He spent the final years of his life writing two novels: Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff in 1970 and My Son Is a Splendid Driver in 1971. Inge committed suicide on June 10, 1973 at the age of 60.
Basil Kreimendahl is a resident playwright at New Dramatists. Basil’s plays have won the Rella Lossy Playwright’s Award and a National Science Award at The Kennedy Center. Basil has had a Jerome Fellowship and a McKnight Fellowship from the Minneapolis Playwright’s Center, and an Arts Meets Activism grant from the Kentucky Foundation for Women for theatre work with the trans community. Orange Julius was developed at the O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, included in La Jolla Playhouse’s DNA new work series and The Kilroy’s List. Basil was commissioned by Actors Theatre of Louisville for Remix 38 in the 2014 Humana Festival of New Plays. Basil's plays have also been developed or produced by New York Theatre Workshop, The LARK, ATC, The Playwright’s Center, Victory Gardens, About Face Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Inkwell, Rattlestick Theater, Labrynth Theater, and The Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Basil’s work has been published by Howlround, Dramatic Publishing, Playscripts, Inc., and included in Xlibria’s Becoming: Young Ideas on Gender and Identity. MFA University of Iowa, 2013.
Bonnie Metzgar is a Chicago-based playwright, director, dramaturg and producer. Recent directing credits include American Theater Company’s production of Let Me Down Easy by Anna Deavere Smith, The Secretaries by the Five Lesbian Brothers at About Face and Walk Across America for Mother Earth by Taylor Mac for Red Tape as part of the 2015 Garage Rep at Steppenwolf. She is currently writing a commission for Sideshow Theater’s Freshness Initiative and was a member of the Goodman's 2014-15 Playwrights Unit. From 2008-2013, Metzgar served as Artistic Director of About Face Theatre and was proud to work on behalf of LGBTQ artists at a theater dedicated to advancing the national dialogue on sexuality and gender. In 2013-2014, Metzgar was awarded the Carl Djerassi Fellowship in Playwriting at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Her plays have been finalists for the Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Festival, and selected for the Great Plains Theater Conference in Omaha. Previously, Metzgar produced the 365 Festival with Suzan-Lori Parks and was Associate Producer at the Public Theater where she founded Joe’s Pub. Metzgar is on the National Advisory Committee for Howlround and has taught at a number of universities including Brown, University of Chicago and currently at Purdue and DePaul. She received her MFA in Playwriting from the University of Iowa and her BA from Brown.
About American Theater Company
American Theater Company (ATC) challenges and inspires its community by exploring stories that ask the question, "What does it mean to be an American?" ATC’s Ensemble includes Patrick Andrews, Kareem Bandealy, Jaime Castañeda, Kelly O’Sullivan, Tyler Ravelson, and Sadieh Rifai.
American Theater Company is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency, and CityArts grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, the Lloyd A. Fry Foundation, Polk Bros. Foundation, the MacArthur Fund for Arts and Culture at Prince, and the Shubert Foundation.
About the Chicago Inclusion Project
The Chicago Inclusion Project is a collective of artists, committed to creating inclusive theater experiences by bringing together Chicago artists and audiences often separated by ethnic background, economic status, gender identity, physical ability and countless other barriers. By deliberately choosing the unexpected, both in play choices and non-traditional casting, cultivating a diverse audience by bringing new combinations of artists to as many communities in Chicago (and its surrounding suburbs) as possible, choosing facilities for the multiple projects that are handicap accessible and keeping price of tickets affordable, The Chicago Inclusion Project programming aims to unite diverse collections of Chicagoans. For more information, visit www.thechicagoinclusionproject.org.
Tuesday, May 10, 2016
OPENING: Trap Door Theatre's NO MATTER HOW HARD WE TRY OR WE CAN EXIST ON THE BEST TERMS WE CAN
Chi, IL LIVE Shows On Our Radar:
NO MATTER HOW HARD WE TRY
OR WE CAN EXIST ON THE BEST TERMS WE CAN
Written by Dorota Masłowska
Translated by Artur Zapałowski
Directed by Max Truax
Featuring: Tiffany Bedwell, Marzena Bukowska, Simina Contras, Hallie Ecker, Michael Garvey, Johnny Graff, Emily Nichelson, Beata Pilch, and Kelsey Shipley.
Dorota Masłowska’s NO MATTER HOW HARD WE TRY is a scathing satire about the decaying Polish national identity in the aftermath of war, occupation and the commodifying forces of Western capitalism.
Three generations of Polish women live together in squalor, escaping their desperate lives through the fantasies provided by television and fashion magazines.
The Playwright DOROTA MASŁOWSKA is a Polish writer born in 1983. Her first novel translated into English as SNOW WHITE AND RUSSIAN RED, was published while she was still a teenager and made her an instant literary sensation in her native country. The novel detailed the growing pains of marginalized small-town youth. In 2005, Masłowska published her second book, THE QUEEN’S PUKECOCK, a 150 page rap poem in prose. Both of these books were adapted for the stage in Poland, Germany and Great Britain. Masłowska wrote her first play, A COUPLE OF POOR-POLISH SPEAKING ROMANIANS, in 2006 (Trap Door staged it in 2009) and her second one, NO MATTER HOW HARD WE TRY, OR WE CAN EXIST ON THE BEST TERMS WE CAN, in 2008. In 2012, Masłowska published another novel, HONEY, I KILLED OUR CATS, and in 2014 released her first music album, THE SOCIETY IS MEAN, a mixture of punk, rap and dance music with lyrics commenting on current social issues. Masłowska ’s writing is characterized by her ironic, pessimistic worldview and extraordinary linguistic power; as a postmodern writer she confronts, disturbs and subverts sacred ideas of selfhood and nationhood.
The Director MAX TRUAX is a Resident Director at Trap Door, where he has directed productions of THE BALCONY by Jean Genet, THEY ARE DYING OUT by Peter Handke, an operatic interpretation of HAMLETMACHINE by Heiner Muller, NO DARKNESS ROUND MY STONE by Fabrice Melquiot, and A COUPLE OF POOR, POLISH-SPEAKING ROMANIANS, also by Dorota Masłowska. His production of A COUPLE OF POOR, POLISH-SPEAKING ROMANIANS performed at the Fun Underground Festival in Arad, Romania and at the Bagatela Theatre in Krakow, Poland. Max is a freelance director and the Artistic Director of Oracle Productions, where he recently directed NO BEAST SO FIERCE, THE PRESIDENT, and THE MOTHER. His production of THE MOTHER received several Jeff Awards including awards for Best Production and Best Ensemble. Max studied visual art, performance art and choreography at Oberlin College and received his MFA in Theatre Directing from California Institute of the Arts.
Set Designer Joanna Iwanicka/ Lighting Designer Richard Norwood / Costume Designer Rachel Sypniewski / Sound Designer Steve Labedz/Video Design Paul Deziel/Stage Manager Deirdre Connelly/ Makeup Designer / Zsófia Ötvös Graphic Designer Michal Janicki/
Opens: Thursday, May 12, 2016 at 8PM
Closes: Saturday, June 25, 2016 at 8PM
Runs: Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays at 8PM
Special Talk Back: On SATURDAY MAY 14th following the performance, there will be a talk back and reception with guest playwright from Poland DOROTA MASŁOWSKA and the cast focusing on the play’s theme and director MAX TRUAX’s process and vision. Wine and cheese reception to follow.
Admission: $20 on Thursdays and Fridays, with two-for-one admission on Fridays, $25 on Saturdays
Where: TRAP DOOR THEATRE 1655 West Cortland Ave. Chicago, IL 60622
For Information/Reservations: 773-384-0494. To purchase online www.trapdoortheatre.com
SAVE THE DATES: THODOS DANCE CHICAGO'S NEW DANCES 2016 IS JULY 16 &17
AT THE ATHENAEUM,
TRADITION OF SELF-CREATED
NEW WORKS PAVES WAY FOR
POST-PERFORMANCE DANCE CAREERS
Every year, Thodos Dance Chicago cultivates new dance creation through its nationally renowned New Dances series, Chicago's earliest and most extensive in-house choreography project, and always a highlight of the city's summer dance season.
Now in its 16th year, New Dances is an annual opportunity for Thodos's dancers to take off their dance shoes, step off the stage and call their own shots as choreographers.
(top, from left) Thodos Dance Ensemble members John Cartwright, Tenley Dorrill, Abby Ellison, Alex Gordon, (bottom) Hattie Haggard, Jessica Miller Tomlinson, Brennen Renteria, Briana Robinson and guest choreographer Shannon Alvis are creating world premiere works for Thodos Dance Chicago's New Dances 2016, July 16 and 17 at the Athenaeum Theatre.
New works that debuted at last summer's New Dances 2015 included (top, from left)
Jessica Miller Tomlinson's Something To Do With Five, Tenley Dorrill's Waiting For What, (bottom, from left) Taylor Mitchell's All You Need Is and Kevin McGinnis's Miriam.
Collectively, New Dances has spawned more than 140 world premieres, launched the choreographic careers of more than 75 Chicago-based dance artists, and created a platform for 300+ dance artists to showcase their skills and build their reputations.
Past New Dances works have subsequently entered the Thodos Dance repertory, been showcased at festivals including Jacob's Pillow and Dance Chicago, and been remounted by the Joffrey Ballet and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago.
As always, Thodos Dance Chicago's New Dances 2016 promises to be another wildly diverse program boasting nine, fresh, homegrown world premiere works created by the ensemble's own dancers. Performances are Saturday, July 16 at
7:30 pm, and Sunday, July 17 at 3 p.m., at the Athenaeum Theatre,
2936 N. Southport Ave., Chicago. Tickets are $14-$40. For tickets, visit athenaeum.org or call the Athenaeum box office, (773) 935-6875.
New Dances 2016 will feature world premieres by TDC company members John Cartwright, Tenley Dorrill, Abby Ellison, Alex Gordon, Hattie Haggard, Jessica Miller Tomlinson, Brennen Renteria and Briana Robinson.
Each is already making all production decisions about his or her work, from submitting written creative proposals, to developing budgets, casting their works from within and outside the company, collaborating with costume and lighting designers, contributing to marketing plans and scheduling their own rehearsal time.
"Members of Thodos Dance Chicago are far more than performers - they are creative artists selected to join the company based on their passion and talent for choreography," explains TDC Founder and Artistic Director Melissa Thodos.
"We are unique in our strong commitment to support dance creation as no other dance organization offers as comprehensive of an in-house choreography initiative to its artists as ours, in part to help assure they are fully equipped to pursue a post-performance career in dance."
In total, each dancer/choreographer is given a three-month development period with more than 30 hours of studio time - unprecedented in the field - to bring their choreographic vision to life with their hand-picked ensemble of dancers.
Thanks to their New Dances experiences, past TDC dancer/choreographers have gone on to set works on the Joffrey Ballet, Hubbard Street, River North, Goodman Theatre, Paramount Theatre, Dutch National Ballet Project, Dance Kaleidoscope, Atlanta Ballet, Dance Works Chicago, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Idaho Dance Theatre, Grand Rapids Ballet, Giordano Dance Chicago, Eisenhower Dance Ensemble and the second companies of Alvin Ailey and American Ballet Theater.
Likewise, Thodos' artists are mentored throughout the process by a panel of high-profile Chicago dance professionals who gather for two private showings of each work to provide feedback, clarity, ideas and encouragement. New Dances 2016 panelists are:
Jeff Hancock, founding member of River North Dance Chicago and former Hubbard Street Dance Chicago dancer;
Kristina Isabelle, artistic director of Kristina Isabelle Dance Company and director of HighJinks Productions;
Kristina Fluty, former dancer with Mad Shak, founder of Kinespark Consulting and a professor at Columbia College Chicago;
Zachary Whittenburg, Manager of Communication at Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, and former dancer with Hubbard Street, BJM Danse Montréal and Pacific Northwest Ballet.
In addition to eight exciting and diverse brand new works created from within the ensemble, each year Melissa Thodos selects a guest choreographer to create a new work for the project. The New Dances 2016 guest choreographer is Shannon Alvis, former dancer with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and Nederlands Dans Theater, currently on the faculty of Joffrey Academy.
Check out the behind the scenes sizzle reel for
TDC's Tenley Dorrill's New Dances 2015 new work Waiting for What.
About Thodos Dance Chicago
In 1992, Melissa Thodos, a young Evanston-born, Chicago-based dancer and choreographer, was frustrated with the lack of opportunities for dancers to work in what in her mind was the obvious environment for a well-rounded dance professional: A place to perform. A place to create. And a place to educate. Fast-forward 24 years, and Thodos is the only female choreographer and director to have helmed her own mid-sized, contemporary dance company in Chicago for more than two decades with this unique mission.
Today, Thodos Dance Chicago (TDC) is an ensemble of twelve versatile dance artists with a captivating style that uses a variety of dance forms. The company's unique mission of inspiring expression through dance education, dance creation and dance performance has established TDC as an innovative presence in American contemporary dance.
In addition to performing works by Melissa Thodos and resident artists, TDC performs works created by other renowned choreographers: Bob Fosse, Ann Reinking, Sybil Shearer, Lar Lubovitch, Shapiro & Smith, Jon Lehrer, Garfield Lemonius, Zachary Whittenburg, Lucas Crandall, Brian Enos, Amy Ernst, Ron De Jesús, Gustavo Ramírez Sansano, Ahmad Simmons, KT Nelson, Kevin Iega Jeff and Robyn Mineko Williams.
Thodos Dance Chicago's 12 ensemble members, who each teach, choreograph and perform for the company, include Caitrin Bellavance, John Cartwright, Tenley Dorrill, Abby Ellison, Alex Gordon, Hattie Haggard, Thomas Jacobson, Jessica Miller Tomlinson, Shelby Moran, Brennen Renteria, Briana Robinson and Luis Vasquez, plus performing trainee Richard Peña.
Thodos Dance Chicago continues to expand its artistic and institutional boundaries under the guidance of Founder and Artistic Director Melissa Thodos, Executive Director Gail Ford, Booking Director Rick Johnston, Artistic Associate Laura Gates, Resident Lighting Designer Nathan Tomlinson, Education and Outreach Associate
Kate Weatherly, Board President Sharon Lear, a dedicated board of directors and the support of thousands of contemporary dance enthusiasts both in Chicago and nationwide.
The company is supported by the The Sono and Victor Elmaleh Foundation, The Garden of the Phoenix Foundation, the Illinois Arts Council-a state agency,
Target, The Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, the MacArthur Fund for Arts & Culture at the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, The Arts Work Fund, The Morrison-Shearer Foundation, The Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation, The Service Club of Chicago, Project 120, the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events and many individual and corporate sponsors.
For more information, visit thodosdancechicago.org.
EXTENDED: War Paint at The Goodman Theatre Now Slated to Run Through August 14
Chi, IL LIVE Shows On Our Radar:
TONY AWARD NOMINEES JOHN DOSSETT AND DOUGLAS SILLS JOIN THE CAST OF
WAR PAINT, A NEW MUSICAL
STARRING PATTI LUPONE AND CHRISTINE EBERSOLE,
PREMIERING AT GOODMAN THEATRE
**DESIGN TEAM ANNOUNCED—SETS BY DAVID KORINS, COSTUMES BY CATHERINE ZUBER,
LIGHTING BY KENNETH POSNER, SOUND BY BRIAN RONAN**
ORCHESTRATIONS BY BRUCE COUGHLIN ** MUSIC DIRECTION BY LAWRENCE YURMAN**
***WAR PAINT EXTENDS BY POPULAR DEMAND THROUGH AUGUST 14, NEW BLOCK OF SEATS NOW AVAILABLE***
Goodman Theatre announces Broadway stars John Dossett and Douglas Sills will join the cast of War Paint, a new musical starring two-time Tony Award winners Patti LuPone and Christine Ebersole as Helena Rubinstein and Elizabeth Arden, respectively. Dossett will portray Tommy Lewis, Miss Arden’s husband and chief marketing officer, and Sills will portray the ambitious Harry Fleming, Madame Rubinstein’s clubby confidante and faithful ally.
Also joining the project are David Korins (set design), Catherine Zuber (costume design), Kenneth Posner (lighting design) and Brian Ronan (sound design), as well as Bruce Coughlin (orchestrations) and Lawrence Yurman (music director). Due to high demand for tickets, the Goodman adds one extension week to the engagement, which will now run through August 14, 2016 in the 856-seat Albert Theatre; opening night is Monday, July 18. War Paint is a world premiere musical by librettist Doug Wright, composer Scott Frankel, lyricist Michael Korie, choreographer Christopher Gattelli and director Michael Greif. The musical is inspired by the book, War Paint, by Lindy Woodhead, and the documentary film, The Powder & the Glory, by Ann Carol Grossman and Arnie Reisman.
Tickets are on sale now; call 312.443.3800 or visit GoodmanTheatre.org/WarPaint. Group savings are available for parties of 15 or more; call 312.443.3820 or email Groups@GoodmanTheatre.org. The Goodman is grateful for the generosity of its sponsors: Allstate Insurance Company and JPMorgan Chase are Major Corporate Sponsors and ComEd is the Official Lighting Sponsor.
War Paint tells the story of cosmetics titans Helena Rubinstein (LuPone) and Elizabeth Arden (Ebersole), who defined beauty standards for the first half of the 20th Century. Brilliant innovators with humble roots, both women were masters of self-invention who sacrificed everything to become the country’s first major female entrepreneurs. They were also fierce competitors, whose 50-year tug-of-war would give birth to an industry. From Fifth Avenue society to the halls of Congress, their remarkable rivalry was ruthless, relentless and legendary—pushing both women to build international empires in a world dominated by men.
About the Artists
John Dossett’s (Tommy Lewis) Broadway credits include Chicago, Pippin, Newsies, Mamma Mia!, The Constant Wife, Democracy, Gypsy (Tony and Drama Desk Award nominations), Dinner at Eight, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Ragtime, Prelude to a Kiss, Mastergate, Fifth of July and King of Schnorrers. Off-Broadway credits include Giant (The Public Theater/Dallas Theater Center, Drama Desk Award nomination); Down the Road and White People (Atlantic Theater Company); Saved! (Playwrights Horizons); Hello Again and The Clean House (Lincoln Center Theater); Poster of Cosmos, Sunshine, Reckless, Child Byron and The Diviners (Circle Repertory Theatre) and Trudy Blue (MCC Theatre). National tour credits include Kiss of the Spider Woman. Regional credits include Newsies and Paper Moon (Paper Mill Playhouse), First Wives Club (The Old Globe), Dinner with Friends (Variety Arts), How I Learned to Drive (Philadelphia Theatre Company), Ragtime (Shubert Theatre) and Elmer Gantry and Captain’s Courageous (Ford's Theatre).
Douglas Sills (Harry Fleming) received Tony and Drama Desk Award nominations for his performance as the title character in The Scarlet Pimpernel on Broadway. Additional Broadway credits include Living on Love opposite Renee Fleming and Little Shop of Horrors (Drama League Award). National tour credits include The Scarlet Pimpernel (Ovation Award), The Addams Family, The Secret Garden and Into the Woods. Off-Broadway credits include My Favorite Year (York Theatre); Lady Be Good, Music in the Air and Carnival (Encores!); On the 20th Century and Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol (The Actors Fund) and Moonlight & Magnolias (Manhattan Theatre Club). Regional theater credits include His Girl Friday (La Jolla Playhouse), Ride the Tiger (Long Wharf Theater), White Noise (Royal George Theatre), Peter Pan (Paper Mill Playhouse), She Loves Me (Westport Country Playhouse), A Little Night Music (Kennedy Center), Much Ado About Nothing (South Coast Repertory), Mack & Mabel (Reprise LA) and numerous leading roles for the California Shakespeare Festival. Ms. Sills has appeared on television in recurring roles on CSI and The Closer, as well as Numb3rs, Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Will & Grace. Film credits include the upcoming feature Erotic Fire of the Unattainable and Deuce Bigelow: European Gigolo. He attended the University of Michigan and the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco.
Patti LuPone (Helena Rubinstein) most recently starred in Douglas Carter Beane’s Shows for Days, directed by Jerry Zaks, at Lincoln Center Theater. Her New York stage credits include Anna 1 in The Seven Deadly Sins (guest soloist with the NY City Ballet); Joanne in Company (NY Philharmonic); David Mamet’s The Anarchist; Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle Award nominations); Gypsy (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Drama League Awards); John Doyle’s production of Sweeney Todd (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle Award nominations); Passion; Candide; Can Can; Noises Off; Sweeney Todd (NY Philharmonic); The Old Neighborhood; Master Class; Patti LuPone on Broadway (Outer Critics Circle Award); Pal Joey; Anything Goes (Tony Award nomination, Drama Desk Award); Oliver!; Accidental Death of An Anarchist; The Woods; Edmond; The Cradle Will Rock; Evita (Tony and Drama Desk Awards); Working; The Water Engine; and The Robber Bridegroom (Tony Award and Drama Desk nominations). London credits include Matters of the Heart, Master Class, Sunset Boulevard (Olivier Award nomination) and Les Misérables (Royal Shakespeare Company world premiere production) and The Cradle Will Rock (Olivier Award for both productions). Opera credits include Jake Heggie’s To Hell and Back (San Francisco’s Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, for the Los Angeles Opera), John Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles and Brecht-Weill’s The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (LA Opera debut) and Marc Blitzstein’s Regina (Kennedy Center). Films include Parker, Union Square, City by the Sea, David Mamet’s Heist and State and Main, Just Looking, Summer of Sam, Driving Miss Daisy and Witness. TV credits include Penny Dreadful, Girls, American Horror Story: Coven, Ugly Betty, Will & Grace, Passion, and Sweeney Todd, Oz, Monday Night Mayhem, Evening At the Pops with John Williams and Yo Yo Ma, Frasier (Emmy Award nomination), Law & Order, The Water Engine, L.B.J. and Life Goes On. Recordings, in addition to original cast recordings include Patti LuPone Live, Matters of the Heart, The Lady With The Torch, Patti LuPone at Les Mouches and Far Away Places. LuPone is a founding member of the Drama Division of The Juilliard School and of John Houseman’s The Acting Company. She is the author of the New York Times best-seller, Patti LuPone: A Memoir.
Christine Ebersole (Elizabeth Arden), a native of Winnetka, received virtually every off-Broadway award and her second Tony Award for Leading Actress in a Musical for her dual performance as Edith Beale and Little Edie Beale in Grey Gardens. Other Broadway credits include her Tony Award-winning performance as Dorothy Brock in the smash hit revival 42nd Street, Dinner at Eight (Tony and Outer Critics Circle Award nominations), Steel Magnolias, On the Twentieth Century, I Love My Wife, Angel Street, Oklahoma, Camelot opposite Richard Burton, The Best Man and the recent revival of Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit, co-starring with Dame Angela Lansbury. She has starred in five City Center Encores! productions, and received an Obie Award and a Drama Desk Award nomination for her work in Alan Bennett's Talking Heads. Ebersole has appeared in over 20 feature films including The Wolf Of Wall Street, Amadeus, Tootsie, Richie Rich, Black Sheep, My Favorite Martian, Dead Again, Folks!, True Crime, My Girl 2 and The Big Wedding, which also features an original composition that she wrote and sang for the end credits of the film. Her television credits include being a regular cast member of Saturday Night Live‘s 1981-82 season, the First Lady on the CBS hit show Madame Secretary, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, American Horror Story: Coven, Royal Pains, three seasons of Sullivan and Son for TBS, Ugly Betty, Law and Order: SVU, Boston Legal, Will & Grace, and she starred as Tessie Tura in the TV movie Gypsy with Bette Midler. Ebersole has performed in the concert version of the opera The Grapes of Wrath at Carnegie Hall, and she appeared with the San Francisco Symphony at Carnegie Hall in a tribute to Leonard Bernstein. She performed at Boston's Symphony Hall and Tanglewood starring as Desiree Armfeldt in a concert version of A Little Night Music with the Boston Pops. In televised concerts, she has often appeared on PBS, including her star turns in Ira Gershwin at 100: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall and The Rodgers & Hart Story: Thou Swell, Thou Witty. She has performed on the Kennedy Center Honors, for Andrew Lloyd Webber and Jerry Herman. As a recording artist, she has released several albums including Live at the Cinegrill, Sunday in New York, In Your Dreams,Christine Ebersole Sings Noel Coward and Strings Attached. christineebersole.com
About the Creative Team
Director Michael Greif’s Broadway credits include Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey's Next to Normal and If/Then, as well as Never Gonna Dance, Grey Gardens and Rent. Recent work includes Benj Pasek, Justin Paul and Steven Levenson’s musical Dear Evan Hansen at Arena Stage (also upcoming at off-Broadway’s Second Stage Theatre), Katori Hall’s Our Lady of Kibeho and Angels in America at New York's Signature Theater, the premiere of Tony Kushner's The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide. .. at The Public Theater, and The Tempest, Winter's Tale, Romeo and Juliet at The Public's Delacorte Theater. Regional work includes premieres and revivals at Williamstown Theatre Festival (10 seasons), La Jolla Playhouse (Artistic Director 1995-99), Goodman Theatre, Arena Stage, Center Stage, Mark Taper Forum, Dallas Theatre Center and Trinity Repertory Theatre. Work off-Broadway includes plays and musicals at The Public Theater, Second Stage, Playwrights Horizons, Roundabout Theater Compay, Manhattan Theatre Club, MCC, Signature and the New York Theater Workshop, where he is an artistic associate. Education: B.S. Northwestern; M.F.A. UCSD.
Michael Korie (lyrics) was nominated for a Tony Award and received an Outer Critics Circle Award for his lyrics to Grey Gardens, created with composer Scott Frankel, book by Doug Wright, directed by Michael Greif, produced at Playwrights Horizons, and subsequently on Broadway, nationally and abroad. Grey Gardens premieres in January at London’s Southwark Playhouse. He wrote the lyrics to Far From Heaven with composer Frankel and playwright Richard Greenberg produced at Williamstown Festival, Playwrights Horizons and at Chicago’s Porchlight Theater later this season. Also with Frankel, lyrics to Happiness at Lincoln Center Theater, Meet Mister Future at Cardiff Festival, and Doll presented at Ravinia Festival. He co-wrote lyrics with Amy Powers to Doctor Zhivago produced internationally and on Broadway, and is currently collaborating on a new show with Tom Kitt and Donald Marguiles for Disney Theatricals. For opera, Korie adapted John Steinbeck’s novel for the libretto to The Grapes of Wrath, with composer Ricky Ian Gordon, and created original librettos to operas with composer Stewart Wallace including Harvey Milk, Hopper’s Wife, Where’s Dick? and Kabbalah. Their operas have been produced at San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Minnesota Opera, New York City Opera, BAM Next Wave Festival, Carnegie Hall and Disney Los Angeles Symphony Hall. Korie’s lyrics have received the Edward Kleban Prize, Jonathan Larson Award and the ASCAP Richard Rodgers Award. His songs with composer Frankel were featured at The Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage Broadway Today. He serves on the council of The Dramatists Guild and moderates the Dramatist Guild Musical Theater Fellows Program. MichaelKorie.com.
Scott Frankel (music) was nominated for Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for his work on Grey Gardens, which ran at Playwrights Horizons before moving to Broadway. Since then, the show has been performed regularly across the country as well as internationally. He has also written the music for Far From Heaven (Playwrights Horizons, Williamstown Theatre Festival), Finding Neverland (UK premiere, 2012), Happiness (Lincoln Center Theater), Doll (Ravinia Festival, Richard Rodgers Award) and Meet Mister Future (winner, Global Search for New Musicals), all with lyricist Michael Korie. Frankel is the recipient of the ASCAP Foundation Richard Rodgers New Horizons Award and the Frederick Loewe Award. He was the 2011-2012 Frances & William Schuman Fellow at The MacDowell Colony and is a graduate of Yale University.
Doug Wright (book) earned the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award for his play I Am My Own Wife. Other stage works include Grey Gardens (Tony Award nomination), The Little Mermaid and Hands on a Hardbody. Film credits include Quills, based on his Obie Award-winning play, nominated for three Academy Awards. Television credits include Tony Bennett: An American Classic, directed by Rob Marshall. Honors include the Benjamin Dank Prize, the American Academy of Arts and Letters; Tolerance Prize, Kulturforum Europa and the Paul Selvin Award, Writers Guild of America. Professional affiliations include president of the Dramatists Guild; member, Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers; board of the New York Theatre Workshop. Wright is married to singer/songwriter David Clement.
About Goodman Theatre
Called America’s “Best Regional Theatre” by Time magazine, Goodman Theatre has won international recognition for its artists, productions and programs, and is a major cultural, educational and economic pillar in Chicago. Founded in 1925 by William O. Goodman and his family in honor of their son Kenneth (an important figure in Chicago’s cultural renaissance in the early 1900s), Goodman Theatre has garnered hundreds of awards for artistic achievement and community engagement, including: two Pulitzer Prizes, 22 Tony Awards (including “Outstanding Regional Theatre” in 1992), nearly 160 Joseph Jefferson Awards and more. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Robert Falls and Executive Director Roche Schulfer, the Goodman’s artistic priorities include new plays (more than 150 world or American premieres in the past 30 years), reimagined classics (including Falls’ nationally and internationally celebrated productions of Death of a Salesman, Long’s Day’s Journey into Night, King Lear and The Iceman Cometh, many in collaboration with actor Brian Dennehy), culturally specific work, musical theater (26 major productions in 20 years, including 10 world premieres) and international collaborations. Diversity and inclusion have been primary cornerstones of the Goodman’s mission for 30 years; over the past decade, 68% of the Goodman’s 35 world premieres were authored by women and/or playwrights of color, and the Goodman was the first theater in the world to produce all 10 plays in August Wilson’s “American Century Cycle.” Each year the Goodman’s education and community engagement programs serve thousands of students, teachers and life-long learners. In addition, for nearly four decades A Christmas Carol has led to the creation of a new generation of theatergoers in Chicago.
Goodman Theatre’s leadership includes the Artistic Collective: Brian Dennehy, Rebecca Gilman, Henry Godinez, Steve Scott, Chuck Smith, Regina Taylor, Henry Wishcamper and Mary Zimmerman. Joan Clifford is Chair of Goodman Theatre’s Board of Trustees, Swati Mehta is Women’s Board President and Gordon C.C. Liao is President of the Scenemakers Board for young professionals.
Visit the Goodman virtually at GoodmanTheatre.org—including OnStage+ for insider information—and on Twitter (@GoodmanTheatre ), Facebook and Instagram.
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