REMY BUMPPO ANNOUNCES 16TH SEASON AND FIRST UNDER ARTISTIC DIRECTOR NICK SANDYS
2012/2013 Season Theme is The Marriage Game: Truth and Consequence?
CHICAGO–Remy Bumppo Theatre Company announces its 16th season, the first under the new leadership of longtime company member Nick Sandys. The 2012/2013 season is replete with the type of plays that the group has become renowned for producing, modern classics full of thought-provoking ideas, passionate debates, and sophisticated wit. The season kicks off with the company’s third foray into the works of Edward Albee, the Pulitzer-Prize-winning Seascape (rights pending), directed by Nick Sandys. Remy Bumppo returns for the holiday season to the dazzling wit and social critique of George Bernard Shaw and his delightful romantic comedy of mis-matched parents and children, You Never Can Tell. The production will be directed by Artistic Associate Shawn Douglass, who also helmed the company’s 2010 box-office hit, The Importance of Being Earnest. The season concludes with the Midwest premiere of David Greig’s critically-acclaimed new adaptation of the savagely witty “comedy,” Creditors, by August Strindberg. A smash hit in both London and New York, this taut psychosexual thriller will be directed by one of Chicago’s finest directors, Kimberly Senior. All shows will be presented at the Greenhouse Theater Center at 2257 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago. Subscriptions go on sale March 28, 2012 at www.remybumppo.org or by calling the box office at 773-404-7336. Single tickets go on sale Aug. 1, 2012.  Read the rest of this entry »

TIMELINE THEATRE COMPANY ANNOUNCES 2012-13 SEASON

Chicago, IL — TimeLine Theatre Company, named one of the nation’s top 10 emerging theatre companies (American Theatre Wing, founder of the Tony Awards®, 2011) and Chicago’s “Best Theatre” (Chicago magazine, 2011), announces its four-play 2012-13 season. TimeLine is dedicated to presenting plays inspired by history that connect to today’s social and political issues, and its upcoming season includes one world premiere and three Chicago premieres.  Read the rest of this entry »

FOUR WORLD AND TWO CHICAGO PREMIERES HIGHLIGHT GOODMAN THEATRE’S 2012/2013 SEASON

***NEW SEASON OPENS WITH DAVID CROMER’S GOODMAN DIRECTORIAL DEBUT, INCLUDES JON ROBIN BAITZ’S BROADWAY HIT, LYNN NOTTAGE’S LATEST WORK, THE 35th ANNIVERSARY PRODUCTION OF A CHRISTMAS CAROL AND CULMINATES WITH MARY ZIMMERMAN’S WORLD-PREMIERE MUSICAL ADAPTATION OF DISNEY’S THE JUNGLE BOOK***

(Chicago, IL) Artistic Director Robert Falls announced Goodman Theatre’s 2012/2013 subscription season today, featuring four world- and two Chicago-premiere productions. The new season begins in September with Chicago native David Cromer’s revival of Sweet Bird of Youth by Tennessee Williams. Next up in the Albert Theatre are two consecutive Chicago premieres: Jon Robin Baitz’s Other Desert Cities directed by Henry Wishcamper, and By the Way, Meet Vera Stark by Pulitzer Prize-winner Lynn Nottage, directed by Chuck Smith. The season culminates with the world-premiere production of The Jungle Book, a new musical based on the Disney animated film and the stories by Rudyard Kipling, adapted and directed by Tony Award-winner Mary Zimmerman. Three Goodman-commissioned plays take the stage in the Owen Theatre: Black n Blue Boys/Broken Men, written and performed by Dael Orlandersmith, directed by Chay Yew; Christopher Shinn’s Teddy Ferrara, directed by Evan Cabnet; and The Happiest Song Plays Last by Quiara Alegría Hudes. The 2012/2013 Season also includes the 35th annual production of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, directed by Steve Scott. NOTE: one play in the Albert Theatre (in spring 2013) is to be announced. Call now to subscribe to the Goodman’s 2012/2013 Season: 312.443.3800; online subscription sales (GoodmanTheatre.org) start March 6. Individual tickets go on sale beginning in August.  Read the rest of this entry »

Miriam Reuter and Jon Matteson/Photo: Nicholas Gang

Chicago’s bustling theater scene might seem already saturated with companies, but the newly founded (re)discover theatre hopes their specific angle will help them find a bit of room in the city: Their mission is rediscovering classical theater while staying true to the ideals of the classic playwrights.

For their maiden production: Hamlet.

“Hamlet is so huge, you can’t get it right. Nobody can get it right, it doesn’t matter how long you’ve been in the business or how well you know Shakespeare,” executive director Miriam Reuter says. Read the rest of this entry »

THE JOFFREY BALLET ANNOUNCES 2012-2013 PROGRAMMING, A SEASON CELEBRATING MAVERICKS AND MILESTONES

Season to feature two mixed repertory programs including the 80th Anniversary of Kurt Jooss’ The Green Table, works by James Kudelka, Ji?í Kylián, Jerome Robbins and Twyla Tharp, a Chicago Premiere by Houston choreographer Stanton Welch, the return of acclaimed story-ballet Othello, and the Silver Anniversary of Robert Joffrey’s The Nutcracker

CHICAGO – Ashley C. Wheater, Artistic Director of The Joffrey Ballet, announces the company’s 2012-2013 season, launching in the fall with a mixed repertory program featuring James Kudelka’s Pretty BALLET and Ji?í Kylián’s Forgotten Land, along with the return of Kurt Jooss’ anti-war masterpiece The Green Table, celebrating its 80th Anniversary, October 17 – 28, 2012. Following will be the 25th Anniversary production of Robert Joffrey’s beloved The Nutcracker, December 7 – 27, 2012. In the New Year, the Joffrey presents a winter mixed repertory program featuring a Chicago Premiere by Stanton Welch and the return of Twyla Tharp’sNine Sinatra Songs and Jerome Robbins’ Interplay, February 13 – 24, 2013. The season is completed in the spring with the return of Lar Lubovitch’s acclaimed Othello, presented in honor of the choreographer’s 70th birthday, April 24 – May 5, 2013.  Read the rest of this entry »

Darren Criss (#4) with Team StarKid

With our criteria shifted back to artistic accomplishment in theater, dance, comedy and opera this year, our task got infinitely tougher. Because while the number of performing venues grows at a steady rate, the increase in the number of noteworthy artists seems to grow exponentially. For everyone we name on the list below, we had to leave off five, an embarrassment of riches for Chicago. We made a conscious effort to introduce a meaningful number of new faces to the list this year; the necessary absences should not be construed as a loss of worthiness as a consequence. We often find trends when we do the research these lists require; this year we’re starting to see a more meaningful effort to redefine performance itself in the internet age, from the runaway success of StarKids, to the more calculated endeavors of Silk Road. So what defines a “player”? Consider it some complex stew of career achievement, recent “heat” and, in some cases, rising stardom.

Written by Zach Freeman, Brian Hieggelke, Sharon Hoyer and Dennis Polkow

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Anthony Freud, general director of Lyric Opera of Chicago, announced today the repertoire, principal singers, conductors, directors, and designers for Lyric’s 2012-13 season. This was Freud’s first news conference since becoming Lyric’s general director on Oct. 1, 2011. Joining Freud for today’s announcement was Sir Andrew Davis, Lyric’s music director; and Lyric’s creative consultant, Renée Fleming (via Skype).

Lyric’s 2012-13 subscription season will offer 68 performances of nine different operas beginning Saturday, October 6, 2012, and concluding Saturday, April 6, 2013.  Read the rest of this entry »

DREAM THEATRE COMPANY announces their TENTH ANNIVERSARY SEASON

Chicago’s Dream Theatre Company is proud to announce its tenth anniversary season. The season features the world premier of playwright Jeremy Menekseoglu’s new trilogy: PETER PAN’S SHADOW. This landmark season also includes remounts of Dream Theatre’s past hits THE GRISLY/GLORIOUS ADVENTURE OF CHRISTOPHER ROBIN, WINNIE-THE-POOH AND BILLY MOON and THE DEVILISH CHILDREN AND THE CIVILIZING PROCESS.  Read the rest of this entry »

"Being Harold Pinter"/Photo: Aleksandr Paskannoi

Top 5 Plays of 2011
“Being Harold Pinter,” Belarus Free Theatre
“Clybourne Park,” Steppenwolf
“Yellow Face,” Silk Road Theatre Project
“The Original Grease,” American Theater Company
“Stage Kiss,” Goodman Theatre
—Brian Hieggelke

Top 5 Musicals of 2011
“The Original Grease,” American Theater Company
“Follies,” Chicago Shakespeare Theater
“West Side Story,” Broadway in Chicago
“Next to Normal” Broadway in Chicago
“Working,” Broadway Playhouse
—Brian Hieggelke

Top 5 Shows
“Black Watch,” The National Theatre of Scotland and Chicago Shakespeare Theater
“The Real Thing,” Writers’ Theatre
“Church & Pullman, WA,” Red Tape Theatre
“The Hot L Baltimore,” Steppenwolf Theatre
“Cyrano,” The House Theatre
—Neal Ryan Shaw Read the rest of this entry »

Season 6: A YEAR OF ENVY

CHICAGO, IL–Hubris Productions is proud to announce its 2012 season: House of Yes by Wendy MacLeod, Butley by Simon Gray and Hubris Productions own Annee Pocalypse by Jason Dabrowski, Jacob Christopher Green and Calidonia Olivares.  Read the rest of this entry »