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Monday, 15 May 2023 12:17

A Red Orchid announces 2023-24 season

A Red Orchid Theatre announces its 31st Season, to include the world premiere of Revolution by Ensemble Member Brett Neveu (September 16-October 29), the Chicago premiere of In Quietness by Anna Ouyang Moench (January 11-March 3) and the world premiere of Turret by Ensemble Member Levi Holloway (April 25-June 15), whose play Grey House, which premiered at A Red Orchid Theatre in 2019, is currently playing on Broadway. Additionally, the theater welcomes new Ensemble Members Esteban Andres Cruz, Sherman Edwards, and John Judd, and Resident Stage Manager Kathleen Dickinson.

 

Subscriptions to the 31st Season are on sale now and can be purchased by calling the box office at 312-943-8722 or visiting www.aredorchidtheatre.org.

Artistic Director Kirsten Fitzgerald shares, “I am honored and grateful to see A Red Orchid continuing our artistic growth with three new Ensemble Members, a resident Stage Manager, and three premiere productions for Season 31. Each of these individuals brings new perspectives, passions, and artistic anomalies to our ongoing collaborations. In the 2023-24 Season, we bring you a series of physical, emotional, and spiritual collisions. With two world premieres and a Chicago premiere, we will dig into family, friendship, and faith; challenging and celebrating our humanity in wildly unexpected fashion.”

About Red Orchid Theatre’s New Ensemble Members:

Esteban Andres Cruz was most recently on stage at A Red Orchid in Last Hermanos. They were born in Berwyn and raised in Cicero, IL and are thrilled to be joining this esteemed ensemble. Chicago theater: Steppenwolf, Writers' Theater, Victory Gardens, Factory Theater, 16th Street, Lyric Opera (as Puck), and many others. West Coast: Pasadena Playhouse, Celebration Theater, Cygnet Theater and Sacred Fools. Regionally: T.A.T.C., Peninsula Players, St. Louis Rep, Milwaukee Rep, and Miami New Drama. Off-Broadway: Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven (Drama Desk Award nomination). Other Guirgis plays: Jesus Hopped the A Train (Jeff Award winner) and Motherfucker with the Hat. Esteban also won the prestigious Theatre Communication Group’s National Fox Fellow Actor Award.Select films: Spa Night (Cassavetti Best Feature), Valley of Bones, The Thin Line,A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas and Rattled.  TV credits: Chicago Fire, Awkward, Easy, Idiot Sitter, The Bridge, You're The Worst and South Side. Mad love to the whole AROT ensemble & company.

Sherman Edwards joined the Ensemble in 2023 during AROT's production of Is God Is and has appeared in A Red Orchid’s productions of Killing GameThe Malignant Ampersands, and their audio play American Bottom. In Chicago, Sherman has performed with Hell in a Handbag Productions (Poseidon! An Upside-Down Musical), The Annoyance Theatre, iO Chicago, Second City’s Educational Touring Company and their Diversity and Outreach Ensemble. He was named 2012’s ‘Best Stand-Up Comic in Chicago’ by the Chicago Reader. He tours and performs locally doing stand-up and performing with a few improv and sketch comedy groups, notably BLACKOUT, Sherman and Rob, and Tomato/Tomatoe. TV and Film credits include Southside on HBOmax, FOX’s EmpireChicago PD on NBC, and the independent films Monuments and American Schemers. Sherman holds a bachelor's degree in both Theatre and Mass Communications from Old Dominion University and is the Co-founder of Comedy Plex, a comedy club in Downtown Oak Park. He is represented by Stewart Talent.

John Judd is honored, grateful, and genuinely thrilled to join the ensemble at A Red Orchid Theatre. The invitation to share an artistic home with so many of his favorite artists is both an affirmation and a challenge. He can’t wait to work again with old friends and establish new bonds with those with whom he has yet to collaborate. He has appeared with A Red Orchid Theatre in The Malignant Ampersands (2022), Gagarin Way (2005), and in the remount of Simpatico at McCarter Theatre in 2017. John began his onstage life as part of an improv troupe under the tutelage of Del Close in 1985. Over the last thirty-five years in Chicago, he has been seen on virtually all this city’s stages where singing is not required. He has also appeared Off-Broadway in NYC, at regional venues across the US, and internationally.

Kathleen Dickinson is always thrilled to be back with A Red Orchid Theatre. Past shows include stage managing Is God Is, The Malignant Ampersands, The MoorsAmerican Bottom, and Sick by Seven, and assistant stage managing 3C, Traitor, 33 to Nothing, Victims of Duty, Small Mouth Sounds, Fulfillment Center, Killing Game, and Grey House. Other stage/assistant stage management credits include Steppenwolf Garage Rep, The House Theatre of Chicago, Remy Bumppo, Vitalist Theatre Company, Rasaka Theatre, Eclipse Theatre, and Collaboraction. Kathleen also completed the 2013-2014 Stage Management Apprenticeship at Steppenwolf.  

 

 

A Red Orchid Theatre’s 2023-2024 Season is:

The World Premiere of

Revolution

By Ensemble Member Brett Neveu

Directed by Associate Artistic Director Travis A. Knight

Featuring Ensemble Member Natalie West

September 7-October 29, 2023

Previews September 7-September 16 / Regular Run September 21-October 29

Who celebrates their 26th birthday in the alley? Puff, that’s who. With the help of her best friend Jame and the unlikely company of Georgia, Puff rings in her new year with laughter, connection, a dose of danger, and Miller High Life. Revolution interrogates and celebrates the very nature of creating community and building friendships in our ever evolving, ever disconnecting world.

Brett Neveu joined A Red Orchid’s ensemble in 2004. His productions at AROT include The Malignant Ampersands, Traitor, Pilgrim’s Progress, Megacosm, The Meek, The Earl, 4 Murders, and Eric LaRue. Past theatre work includes productions with The Royal Court Theatre and The Royal Shakespeare Company in London; SkyPilot Theatre Company in LA; and The Goodman Theatre, Writers Theatre, The House Theatre, The Inconvenience, The Side Project, TimeLine Theatre Company, American Theatre Company, Greenhouse Theatre, Signal Ensemble, and Strawdog Theatre in Chicago. His film productions include the Shudder original feature film Night’s End, the short film Convo with Breakwall Pictures, and the feature The Earl with Intermission Productions. A Sundance Institute Ucross Fellow, Brett is also a recipient of the Marquee Award from Chicago Dramatists, the Ofner Prize for New Work, the Emerging Artist Award from The League of Chicago Theatres, and an After Dark Award for Outstanding Musical (Old Town). He has developed plays with companies including The Atlantic Theatre Company and The New Group in New York and The Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, and Victory Gardens Theatre in Chicago. Brett is a resident-alum of Chicago Dramatists, a current member of TimeLine Theatre Company’s Writers Collective and an alumni member of the Center Theatre Group’s Playwrights’ Workshop in Los Angeles. He has been commissioned by numerous theaters and has had several of his plays published through Broadway Play Publishing, Dramatic Publishing and Nick Hern Publishing. Brett has taught writing at DePaul University, The Second City Training Center, and Northwestern University.

Travis A. Knight: Revolution will mark Travis’ directing debut at A Red Orchid. Previous acting credits at A Red Orchid include The Malignant Ampersands, Grey House, and Small Mouth Sounds. He is a proud member of the artistic ensemble and serves as the Associate Artistic Director. Other Chicago credits include: The Crucible (Steppenwolf); Toni Stone, Ah, Wilderness!, Christmas Carol, The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window, Measure for Measure, and Camino Real (Goodman); How a Boy Falls (Northlight) and Camelot (Drury Lane). Regional credits include The Brothers Size (Milwaukee Chamber), A Streetcar Named Desire (Uprooted), and Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (Forward Theatre). Selected credits from his five seasons at American Players Theatre are: The Tempest, Glass Menagerie, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Troilus and Cressida, and Richard III. TV and web series: Chicago Fire, Chicago PD, Chicago Med, Mind Games, and Dad Man Walking. Film credits: Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party and Runner.

 

The Chicago Premiere of

In Quietness

By Anna Ouyang Moench

Directed by Ensemble Member dado

Featuring Ensemble Member Sadieh Rifai

January 11-March 3, 2024

Previews January 11 – January 20 / Regular Run January 25 – March 3

A former consultant follows her born-again husband to a Southern Baptist seminary. There, she enrolls as a student at the Homemaking House, the nation's premier training ground for future homemakers and a place where marital bliss means never having to say thank you for cleaning the toilet. In Quietness asks us all to consider how fidelity to self, family, community, and faith coexist as we work to manifest our futures.

Anna Ouyang Moench is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter. Her plays include Mothers, Sin Eaters, Man of God, 100 Days of Darkness, Birds of North America, Hunger, and In Quietness. Her plays have been produced at Williamstown Theatre Festival, NAATCO/The Public Theater, the Geffen Playhouse, the Playwrights Realm, East West Players, InterAct Theater, and many other theaters across the country and around the world. In television and film, Anna has worked with Apple TV+, HBO, Netflix, UCP, eOne, PictureStart, and Universal. She is a Supervising Producer on Severance and a Co-Executive Producer on The White Darkness, both on Apple TV+. Anna was a member of the pilot cohort of the WarnerMedia Access Showrunner Program. Anna lives in Los Angeles with her family.

 

dadois an ensemble member at A Red Orchid Theatre. Her most recent AROT productions were Act Five (director/conceiver), The Moors (in which she played the Moor-Hen), Killing Game by Eugene Ionesco (director), and Grey House, in which she originated the role of The Ancient. Her AROT production of Sam Shepard's Simpatico moved to the McCarter Theatre. Dado portrayed Karla Stock in the world premiere of AROT's production of Traitor by Brett Neveu, directed by Michael Shannon; this adaptation of Ibsen's Enemy of the People won three Joseph Jefferson Awards. Dado is the recipient of the Edes Prize from the University of Chicago and produced David Lang's chamber opera little matchgirl passion (Facility Theatre) with this award. She is also the director of Erik Satie's surrealist Ruse of Medusa (Facility Theatre) and the original Vacuum Cleaner Opera, which was produced at the MCA and Prop Thtr. At A Red Orchid, she has directed The Mutilated, The Unseen, The Room, Megacosm, Fastest Clock in the Universe, The Grey Zone, and others. Dado is currently a professor at Purdue University Northwest and holds an MFA in visual art from the University of Chicago.

 

The World Premiere of

Turret

By Ensemble Member Levi Holloway

Featuring Ensemble Members Michael Shannon and Travis A. Knight

April 25-June 15, 2024

Previews April 25-May 4 / Regular run May 9-June 15

Two men survive in a facility deep underground somewhere in the wild woods of the Pacific Northwest, hiding away from something terrible looming just outside. Ensnared in a relentless loop of endless tomorrows, they discover the wolf isn’t at the door, he’s already inside, waiting in the creeping darkness all around them. Turret is an excavation of masculinity, love, loss and isolation. A claustrophobic carnival of carnage, carrier pigeons, cribbage, whiskey, music, mischief and mayhem.

Levi Holloway is a Chicago-based writer, director, actor and teacher. As a playwright, world premieres include his adaptation of Pinocchio at Chicago Children’s Theatre, Haven Place and Grey House (Jeff Award, Best New Work) at A Red Orchid Theatre, with which he is an ensemble member. The Broadway premiere of Grey House is currently onstage at the Lyceum Theatre, directed by Joe Mantello. Levi is the co-founder of Neverbird Project, a youth based Deaf and hearing theatre company. He spent a decade as head of the Sign/Voice theatre program at Chicago’s Bell Elementary, one of the country’s oldest and most prolific Deaf and hearing integrated schools, founded in 1917. As a stage actor, he’s worked most recently with A Red Orchid Theatre, Steppenwolf, Chicago Children’s Theatre and Northlight. He teaches playwriting with Silk Road Rising, fulfilling residencies throughout Chicago, most recently with Heartland Alliance, helping refugees tell their stories. He is repped by CAA and Anonymous Content.

 

Subscription Information – Guarantee your seat and save %10 off single ticketing by becoming a SUBSCRIBER at A Red Orchid Theatre. Subscriptions will be available for purchase starting on Tuesday May 16 at 12pm.

Subscribers enjoy date flexibility and exchanges, additional ticket discounts, and reserved seating. The Regular Run Subscription is $140 and includes one ticket to each of the 3 productions in our 31st Season, excluding Opening Nights.  The Preview Subscription is $105 and includes one ticket to a preview performance of each of the 3 shows in our 31st season. Each production has 8 preview performances leading up to its opening. 

Subscriptions may be purchased online starting Tuesday May 16 at 12pm at www.aredorchidtheatre.org or by calling the box office at 312-943-8722. A Red Orchid Theatre is located at 5631 N Wells St. in Chicago.

A Red Orchid Theatre remains grateful for the support of our board, donors, and loyal audience who continue to champion our ambitious and powerful storytelling. We are currently looking for season sponsors to foster the development of our work. These sponsors help to create a platform for our talented Ensemble to reach new audiences, and ensure that we remain a source for honest, compassionate, and aesthetically rigorous theatre-making. Interested in sponsoring a production? We view our sponsors as partners, helping to take our work to the next level of artistic excellence while also providing you with deeper access to our artists and the creative process. To learn more, please contact Artistic Director Kirsten Fitzgerald at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 312-943-8722.

 

COVID-19 Policies- as of May 1, 2023

Due to the intimate nature of the venue and to keep all artist and patrons safe, patrons are currently required to wear a mask throughout their time at A Red Orchid Theatre. All protocols are subject to change based on recommendations from WHO and CDC and our unions. Additional safety policies and precautions can be found at: https://aredorchidtheatre.org/covid-updates/.

About A Red Orchid  

A Red Orchid Theatre has served as an artistic focal point in the heart of the Old Town community of Chicago since 1993 and was honored with a 2016 MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions. Over the past 31 years, its Resident Ensemble has welcomed into its fold an impressive array of award-winning actors, playwrights, and theatre artists with the firm belief that live theatre is the greatest sustenance for the human spirit. A Red Orchid is well known and highly acclaimed for its fearless approach to performance and design in the service of unflinchingly intimate stories.    

A Red Orchid Theatre is: Karen Aldridge, Lance Baker, Kamal Angelo Bolden, Esteban Andres Cruz, Dado, Mike Durst, Sherman Edwards, Myron Elliott-Cisneros, Jennifer Engstrom, Kirsten Fitzgerald, Joseph Fosco, Steve Haggard, Levi Holloway, Mierka Girten, Lawrence Grimm, John Judd, Karen Kawa, Karen Kessler, Travis A. Knight, Danny McCarthy, Shade Murray, Brett Neveu, Sadieh Rifai, Grant Sabin, Steve Schine, Michael Shannon, Guy Van Swearingen, Doug Vickers and Natalie West.

Wednesday, 03 May 2023 15:45

Writers Theatre announces 2023-24 season

Writers Theatre announces the inaugural season for Artistic Director Braden Abraham, in partnership with Executive Director Kathryn M. Lipuma, to include award winning plays and audience favorites. Abraham joined Writers Theatre in February 2023 and this marks his first full season at Writers Theatre.

The company’s 2023/24 season launches with Tony and Pulitzer nominated playwright and Chicago/North Shore native Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice, directed by Braden Abraham in his Writers Theatre directorial debut. Coming off the heels of the acclaimed and sold-out success of Once is the Tony Award winning musicalThe Band’s Visit, in a co-production with TheatreSquared,directed by Zi Alikhan. Next Spring will usher in Hershey Felder’s tour de force performancein an original piece he wrote with Chopin’s music, Monsieur Chopin, A Play with Music. Director Lili-Anne Brown will then bring her talents to Writers with Katori Hall's Pulitzer Prize winning play The Hot Wing King.

 

A highlight of the season includes a subscription add-on with the return of the stunningly beautiful new holiday tradition Manual Cinema’s Christmas Carol with the company’s groundbreaking creativity and powerful storytelling. The 2023/24 season introduces an expansion of Writers Theatre impactful educational programs and community offerings withTheatre for Young Audiences. The program begins this fall with FORTS: Build Your Own Adventure, a collaboration with Chicago’s Filament Theatre, which celebrates and amplifies the perspectives and experiences of young people through the performing arts. Details will be available at a later date.

Season Packages are available online at www.writerstheatre.org, and at the Box Office by calling 847-242-6000.

Writers Theatre Artistic Director Braden Abraham comments, “This season aims to strengthen the bonds between our community and Chicagoland artists. The plays presented this year serve as a reminder of how a chance encounter could lead to a life-altering moment, how love appears and endures in unexpected ways, and how music and language have the power to reach across the boundaries of culture, space, and time. We hope these plays will help us connect more deeply with one another through exceptional artistry within our uniquely intimate theatre spaces.

Productions will be presented in the 255-seat Alexandra C. and John D. Nichols Theatre and the intimate Gillian Theatre in the in the award-winning building at 325 Tudor Court in Glencoe, designed by Studio Gang Architects.

Writers Theatre is pleased to welcome back BMO Harris Bank as the distinguished 2023/24 Season Sponsor, marking the Bank’s ninth consecutive year as season sponsor.

The Writers Theatre 2023/24 Season includes:

 

Eurydice

Written by Sarah Ruhl

Directed by Artistic Director Braden Abraham

September 21 – October 22, 2023

Opening Night: Friday, September 29, 2023

The season launches with Braden Abraham’s directorial debut at WT, and it’s even more thrilling that he begins with the acclaimed play by Sarah Ruhl—who was raised practically next door to Glencoe.

The newlywed and newly dead Eurydice arrives in the underworld without memories or language and struggles to recover her humanity with the aid of the father she lost years ago. When Orpheus arrives to rescue her, Eurydice must choose between staying with her father or escaping with her husband—between life and death. Pulitzer and Tony nominated playwright and North Shore native Sarah Ruhl infuses the ancient myth with humor, poetry, and hope as this classic heroine finds her voice.

 

The Band’s Visit

Music and Lyrics by David Yazbek

Book by Itamar Moses

Based on the screenplay by Eran Kolirin

Directed by Zi Alikhan

February 8 – March 17, 2024

Opening Night: Friday, February 16, 2024

 

Following the blockbuster success of Once, Writers Theatre ventures into another immersive and engaging musical production. For this co-production with TheatreSquared, Writers welcomes director Zi Alikhan, previously the Associate Director for the First National Tour of The Band’s Visit and the Resident Director for the National Tour of Hamilton. 

In a small Israeli desert town where every day feels the same, a lost bus arrives carrying an Egyptian Police Band. With no hotel and no buses until morning, the musicians are taken in for the night by the locals. Under the spell of the desert sky, these misplaced musicians bring everyone together in the way that only music can. Winner of ten Tony Awards, including Best Musical, The Band’s Visit is a beautifully intimate show, perfectly suited for the Nichols Theatre, about the unifying power of music. 

Hershey Felder as

Monsieur Chopin

A Play with Music

Music of Fryderyk Chopin

Book by Hershey Felder

Directed by Joel Zwick

April 10 – May 12, 2024

Opening Night: Friday, April 12, 2024

Storyteller, musician and Chicago favorite Hershey Felder makes his Writers debut with his original script and live performance of Chopin’s gorgeous masterpieces.

Days after the February 1848 revolution, Fryderyk Chopin is teaching a piano lesson in Paris. Set in the Polish pianist-composer’s intimate salon, Chopin shares with his students secrets about the piano and secrets about himself—as well as playing some of his most beautiful and enduring compositions. In a tour de force performance, the beloved virtuoso actor/pianist, Hershey Felder brings to life the romantic story and music of the man once called the “Poet of the Piano.” 

The Hot Wing King

Written by Katori Hall

Directed by Lili-Anne Brown

June 20-July 21, 2024

Opening Night: Friday, June 28, 2024

Lili-Anne Brown, a Chicago native and a veteran of stages in Chicago and across the country, comes to Writers to direct this hot, new play by celebrated writer Katori Hall (P-Valley, Broadway’s Tina: The Tina Turner Musical).

When it comes to wings, Cordell is king! Supported by his beau Dwayne and the best friends who serve as his fry crew, the group embarks on a fun night of pre-competition prep for Memphis’ Annual “Hot Wang Festival.” But when Dwayne’s troubled nephew unexpectedly needs a place to stay, it quickly becomes a recipe for disaster. Winner of the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, The Hot Wing King is a fierce comedy about the risks and rewards of celebrating who you are. 

Manual Cinema’s Christmas Carol

Adapted from the Novel by Charles Dickens

Devised by Manual Cinema

Additional Writing by Nate Marshall

November 16 – December 24, 2023

Performances start November 16, 2023

An avowed holiday skeptic, Aunt Trudy has been recruited to channel her late husband Joe’s Christmas cheer in a family Zoom call turned puppet show. But as Trudy becomes more absorbed in her own version of the Ebenezer Scrooge story, the puppets take on a life of their own, and the family’s call transforms into a stunningly cinematic adaptation of this beloved ghost story. Named one of Chicago Tribune’s Top Shows of 2022, the awe-inspiring, one-of-a-kind rendition of the Dickens classic returns this holiday season.

Subscribers will have exclusive first access to this limited run holiday performance and can purchase up to six tickets.

Theatre for Young Audiences

Writers is expanding its renowned educational programs and community offerings for young people and families—including the launch of an annual Theatre for Young Audiences production. The program begins this fall with FORTS: Build Your Own Adventure, a collaboration with Chicago’s Filament Theatre, which celebrates and amplifies the perspectives and experiences of young people through the performing arts. Details will be available at a later date.

SEASON PACKAGES

This season, Writers Theatre is offering five subscriptions with an option for every theatregoer. Each subscription includes a deeply discounted ticket price for one ticket to the 4-play series, subscriber-only perks and an exclusive first purchase option for the limited run of Manual Cinema’s Christmas Carol

PREMIERE SUBSCRIPTION—$240

Reserved seats and fixed dates for Friday nights, Saturday matinees and nights, and Sunday matinees.

FLEXIBLE SUBSCRIPTION—$240

First choice of seats and dates, before tickets go on sale to the public. We’ll send you reminders throughout

the season to give you the opportunity to select your dates, times and seats.

STANDARD SUBSCRIPTION—$212

Reserved seats and fixed dates for Wednesday matinees and nights, Thursday nights, and Sunday nights.

PREVIEW SUBSCRIPTION—$172

Reserved seats and fixed dates for preview performances.

NEW FLEXIBLE SAVER—$120

Claim select seats to Wednesday matinees and nights, Sunday nights, and preview performances before

tickets go on sale to the public.

 

Season package subscribers receive exclusive benefits including complimentary ticket exchanges by phone and mail (upgrade fees may apply), access to special play readings and lectures, special “subscriber-rate” prices on additional tickets, discounts at the bar, on Writers Theatre merchandise, event rentals, and more. For a complete list of benefits visit writerstheatre.org.

Season Packages are available online at www.writerstheatre.org, and at the Box Office by calling 847-242-6000.

AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT OPPORTUNITIES:

WT offers Open Captioning on select dates for each production. Please visit writerstheatre.org/accessibility for more information.

Writers Theatre is working with Erika Walker and Maylene Peña of the Walker Thomas Group on workplace culture and equity, diversity and inclusion initiatives. Additional information about this important and ongoing work can be found at writerstheatre.org/working-at-wt.

ABOUT WRITERS THEATRE 

Writers Theatre boldly looks to the future as it concludes its 31st season. Having captivated audiences for years with its dedication to creating the most intimate theatrical experience possible, the theatre is now a major Chicagoland cultural destination with a national reputation for excellence, being called “America’s finest regional theater company” by The Wall Street Journal.

Since 1992, Writers Theatre has stayed true to its core values: valuing the power of the written word and uplifting the artists who bring that word to life. The company has produced over 120 productions—everything from inventive interpretations of classics to groundbreaking new work. In 2016, Writers Theatre opened a new, state-of-the-art facility designed by the internationally renowned Studio Gang Architects. The new facility has allowed the Theatre to accommodate its growing audience, while maintaining its trademark intimacy.

Writers Theatre now welcomes more than 60,000 patrons each season and has helped establish the North

Shore of Chicago as a premier cultural destination. Through its Literary Development Initiative, which has been responsible for the nurturing and premiering of over two dozen world premieres, the theatre has established itself as a major originator of new theatrical works. Serving as an extension of the Writers Theatre mission, WT Education programs engage an average 10,000 students each year with active learning opportunities centered around the written word.

Monday, 24 April 2023 16:22

Northlight announces 2023-24 season

Northlight Theatre, under the direction of Artistic Director BJ Jones and Executive Director Timothy J. Evans, announces its 2023-2024 season, opening with the critically-acclaimed Broadway hit Birthday Candles by Noah Haidle, directed by Jessica Thebus; the murder mystery made famous by Alfred Hitchcock Dial M for Murder, adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher from the original by Frederick Knott and directed by Georgette Verdin; the suspenseful 2022 Pulitzer Prize Finalist Selling Kabulby Sylvia Khoury, directed by Hamid Dehghani; and the world premiere of John Patrick Shanley’s Brooklyn Laundry, directed by BJ Jones. One title is yet to be announced.

“Artistic Director BJ Jones comments, “Our audience has told us time and again how much they appreciate the eclectic nature of our work. As Northlight plans for a bold and exciting future, we've been surveying our audience, and we're delighted that new work is their favorite work at Northlight: fresh projects, like next season's world premiere of Brooklyn Laundry by John Patrick Shanley, or even a new adaptation of a familiar title, like Jeffrey Hatcher’s Dial M For Murder. We are highlighting exciting artists, like Hamid Dehghani in Andy Warhol in Iran who is returning to direct Selling Kabul; our new Associate Artistic Director Georgette Verdin, who will direct Dial M; and Chicagoland favorite Kate Fry starring in Birthday Candles, directed by Northlight veteran Jessica Thebus. With this upcoming season, we continue to deliver on our promise of producing compelling, inspiring, and entertaining work.”

The 2023-2024 season includes:

BIRTHDAY CANDLES

By Noah Haidle

Directed by Jessica Thebus

Featuring Kate Fry

September 7 – October 8, 2023

Opening: Friday, September 15, 2023

Ernestine Ashworth spends her 17th birthday agonizing over her insignificance in the universe. Soon enough, it’s her 18th birthday. Even sooner, her 41st. Her 70th. Her 101st. Five generations, an infinity of dreams, and one cake baked over a century.

DIAL M FOR MURDER

Adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher

From the original by Frederick Knott

Directed by Georgette Verdin

November 30– December 31, 2023

Opening: Friday, December 8, 2023

A new version of the celebrated murder mystery that inspired Hitchcock's masterpiece!

Tony Wendice married his wife Margot for money, neglected her, got jealous of her affair, and now he wants her dead. In his meticulous planning of the perfect crime, Tony spins a web of suspicion and deception that will ensnare them both in this edge-of-your-seat adaptation of a modern classic.

The Lead Sponsor for Dial M for Murder is Byline Bank.

 

SELLING KABUL

By Sylvia Khoury

Directed by Hamid Dehghani

January 25 – February 25, 2024

Opening: Friday, February 2, 2023

The 2022 Pulitzer Prize Finalist is a suspenseful drama about family and sacrifice. Taroon once served as an interpreter for the U.S. military in Afghanistan. Now that the Americans have withdrawn — along with their promises of protection — Taroon spends his days in hiding, a target of the increasingly powerful Taliban. On the eve of his son’s birth, he must choose between staying safe but trapped in his sister’s apartment or risking his life to see his child.

 

BROOKLYN LAUNDRY

By John Patrick Shanley

Directed by BJ Jones

April 11– May 12, 2024

Opening: Friday, April 19, 2023

A world premiere from the Pulitzer, Tony, and Oscar-award winning author of MoonstruckDoubt, and Outside Mullingar!

Fran is chronically single, has piles of bills, and finds Owen obnoxious. Owen has a bad back, runs a laundry, and thinks Fran is gloomy. And then he asks her out. After years of putting the rest of her family first, Fran is ready to make the leap toward her own romantic dreams. Little does she know that even bigger challenges are headed her way.

Curtain times are: Wednesdays at 1:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.; Thursdays at 7:30 p.m.; Fridays at 8:00 p.m.; Saturdays at 2:30 p.m.and 8:00 p.m.; and Sundays at 2:30 p.m.

 

Subscriptions to the 2023-2024 Northlight Season are available at northlight.org/subscribe or 847.673.6300.

 

Subscriptions range in price from $127-$289. Flex pass options are $129-$189. With its wide range of ticket prices, discounted subscription packages and complimentary parking, Northlight remains of one of the best theatrical values in Chicagoland. Package options include traditional 5-Play Packages, 4-Play Packages, and Flex Packages. Subscriptions are available at northlight.org/subscribe or 847.673.6300.

The complete 2023-2024 season will be performed in theater’s current location at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, 9501 Skokie Blvd in Skokie, IL.

Northlight Theatre aspires to promote change of perspective and encourage compassion by exploring the depth of our humanity across a bold spectrum of theatrical experiences, reflecting our community to the world and the world to our community.

Founded in 1974, the organization has mounted over 240 productions, including more than 45 world premieres. Northlight has earned 217 Joseph Jefferson Award nominations and 36 Awards, as well as 11 Edgerton Foundation for New Play Awards. As one of the area’s premier theatre companies, Northlight is a regional magnet for critical and professional acclaim, as well as talent of the highest quality.

Northlight is supported in part by generous contributions from the Paul M. Angell Family Foundation; BMO Harris Bank; Bulley and Andrews; Byline Bank; The Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation; CoBank; ComEd, An Exelon Company; Eckenhoff Saunders; Evanston Arts Council; Evanston Community Foundation; Lloyd A. Fry Foundation; Full Circle Foundation; The Gross Foundation; Gruman Butkus Associates; Hagerty Consulting; John R. Halligan Fund; Illinois Arts Council, a state agency; Illinois Humanities; Katten Muchin Roseman LLP; Kirkland & Ellis Foundation; The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; Modestus Bauer Foundation; National Endowment for the Arts; Niles Township; NorthShore University HealthSystems; Northwestern University; The Offield Family Foundation; PNC Bank; Polsinelli; Pritzker Foundation; Ralla Klepak Trust for the Performing Arts; Room & Board; Sanborn Family Foundation; The Saints Foundation; Dr. Scholl Foundation; The Shubert Foundation, Inc.; The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust; The Sullivan Family Foundation; and Tom Stringer Design Partners.

LAKE FOREST, IL - Citadel’s 2022-23 season will continue when Lucas Hnath’s thought-provoking and Obie Award winning play THE CHRISTIANS begins performances on February 8. The drama, set in a mega church, is neither an endorsement nor an indictment of organized religion in general, nor of Christianity specifically, but Hnath raises philosophical and theological questions that he trusts audiences to answer for themselves. What if there is no Hell? What if we all are welcomed into Heaven by a loving God who forgives all – even humanity’s worst? The pastor who poses these questions in a sermon finds that his congregants are not all ready to give up the promise of eternal damnation for those whose sins they find to be unforgiveable. THE GUARDIAN said in its review of the play’s New York City production, “Whether or not you believe in God, you should believe in Lucas Hnath.” THE CHRISTIANS will open to the press on Friday, February 10, 2023, at 7:30 pm, following previews on February 8 and 9. It will play through March 12, 2023.

To create the setting of an elaborate megachurch, Citadel’s production will employ a grid of some 90 two-foot square state of the art digital video monitors to depict the church’s expansive interior and a choir. The monitors, provided by Pangea Technology, are of a level of sophistication that is normally found only in big-budget productions like Disney’s Star Wars series THE MANDALORIAN, or TV shows like AMERICAN IDOL or THE VOICE. The monitors will allow the production to achieve an epic scope not normally feasible in an intimate venue like Citadel’s 125-seat theatre, located inside Lake Forest High School’s West Campus. At the same time, the intimacy of Citadel’s performance space will bring the audience close to the characters in what is, in spite of the play’s setting in a huge and grand church, a very personal drama of Pastor Paul’s journey.

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