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June
24, 2002
Eclectic
2002-02 Theatre Season
EVANSTON,
Ill. --- A drama set in 18th century Australia, a Shakespeare tragedy,
an annual dance showcase, an inspirational family play, a French
farce, and three musicals that include a Stephen Sondheim and James
Lapine work, a musical stage adaptation of one of Robert Fulghum’s
best selling books, and the world premiere of a new Frank Galati
production based on Gertrude Stein’s poetry, are all part of
Northwestern University’s 2002-03 Mainstage Theatre season.
Northwestern
theatrical and dance productions are held in facilities in the Theatre
and Interpretation Center, 1979 S. Campus Drive, Arts Circle, Evanston
campus, or as noted below.
A
series subscription to all eight shows is $157 for the general public;
$135 for senior citizens and Northwestern faculty and staff; and
$78 for full-time students. Subscription series go on sale Sept.
10. Single tickets will be available Oct. 1. Single ticket prices
are listed below.
Northwestern’s
2002-03 theatre season begins with Timberlake Wertenbaker’s
"Our Country’s Good." Her award-winning play is set
in a 1789 penal colony that later became Sydney, Australia. It will
be performed at the Ethel M. Barber Theatre at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 1
and Nov. 2; 2 p.m. Nov. 3; 7:30 p.m. Nov. 7, Nov. 8 and Nov. 9;
and 2 p.m. Nov. 10. The plot centers on a British marine lieutenant
who puts on a play to celebrate King George III’s birthday
and casts the production with English convicts who populate the
prison camp. Few can read, let alone act. The play has been called
"a remarkable tale of the power that theatre has to transform
and humanize even those whom society considers unredeemable."
Winner of the Laurence Olivier Play of the Year Award in 1988 and
the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best New Foreign Play
in 1991, it will be directed by faculty member David Downs.
The
second fall quarter production, "Into the Woods," a musical
by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine, will be directed and choreographed
by Tony Award nominated song and dance man and Northwestern faculty
member Lara Teeter. It will be performed at Cahn Auditorium, 600
Emerson St., Evanston campus, at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 15 and Nov. 16;
2 p.m. Nov. 17, 7:30 p.m. Nov. 21, Nov. 22 and Nov. 23; and 2 p.m.
Nov. 24. Winner of three Tony Awards when it first appeared on Broadway
in 1988 and the recent recipient of a 2002 Tony for best revival
of a musical, Sondheim’s masterpiece weaves favorite storybook
characters with a brand new tale of a childless baker and his wife.
The first act recreates the world of fairy tales, while the second
ponders what happens to the characters AFTER "happily ever
after."
Another
musical will kick off the winter quarter. "All I Really Need
to Know I Learned in Kindergarten," by Ernst Zulia was adapted
from Robert Fulghum’s book of the same name with music and
lyrics by David Caldwell. It will be directed by theatre faculty
member Rives Collins. Performances are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Jan.
31 and Feb. 1; 2 p.m. Feb. 2; 7:30 p.m. Feb. 6, Feb. 7 and Feb.
8; and 2 p.m. Feb. 9, at the Ethel M. Barber Theatre. Fulghum’s
best seller turned hit musical offers this priceless advice: Wisdom
is not at the tip of the graduate school mountain, but in the sandbox
at nursery school. These are the things Fulghum learned as a child:
Share everything. Play fair. Don’t hit people. Put things back
where you found them. Clean up your own mess. Don’t take things
that aren’t yours. Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody.
Live a balanced life. Learn and think, draw and paint, sing and
dance, play and work a little every day.
Shakespeare’s
"King Lear" is perhaps the greatest dramatic work ever
created. Northwestern’s production will be directed by faculty
members Ann Woodworth and Dawn Mora and performed at 7:30 p.m. Feb.
14 and Feb. 15; 2 p.m. Feb. 16; 7:30 p.m. Feb. 20, Feb. 21 and Feb.
22; and 2 p.m. Feb. 23, at the Josephine Louis Theatre. This tale
– old even when the mature, peak-of-his-career Shakespeare
penned his version around 1605 -- of an aging father/monarch’s
tragic descent into lunacy never seems to deplete its power and
appeal.
"Danceworks
2003," an annual showcase that features the finest choreography
of the Northwestern University Dance Program, will include new works
by faculty members and guest artists that will be performed by students.
From ballet to modern, jazz to tap, "Danceworks" has something
to offer everyone. This year, dance faculty member Billy Siegenfeld
is the show’s artistic director. Performances are scheduled
for 7:30 p.m. March 7 and March 8; 2 p.m. March 9; 7:30 p.m. March
13; 7:30 p.m. March 14; 7:30 p.m. March 15; and 2 p.m. March 16
at the Josephine Louis Theatre. A special children’s lecture
and demonstration is scheduled for 10 a.m. March 15.
"Selkie,"
a family play by award-winning New York playwright Laurie Brooks
Gollobin, will launch the spring quarter. Set in the Orkney Islands
that lie north of the rocky coast of Scotland, this tale is based
on the Scottish myth of the selkies – the beautiful seals who
shed their skins to take human form once a year. When a young woman
emerges from a stolen sealskin, the thief takes the selkie maiden
for his wife and sires a child. Narrated by Pa, the grandfather
in the play, the story tells of Ellen Jean, who is born with webbed
hands and must choose between living in the sea with other selkies
or on land as a human with a young gypsy lad. About the search for
identity and the peer pressure that accompanies that search, the
play explores the challenge, confusion and pain in the struggle
for self-acceptance. "Selkie" will be performed at 7:30
p.m. April 10 and April 11; 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. April 12; and 2
p.m. April 13, at the Ethel M. Barber Theatre. It will be directed
by Northwestern graduate student Lynn Kelso. The play will tour
Districts 65 and 202 schools next spring.
George
Feydeau’s French farce, "A Flea in Her Ear," will
be directed by Adam Burke. To test her husband’s fidelity,
Raymonde has her best friend, Lucienne, write an anonymous love
letter to him suggesting a rendezvous at a disreputable hotel. The
plan is thrown into chaos when Lucienne’s hysterically jealous
Spanish husband intercepts the letter leading to dubious infidelities,
mistaken identities and mismatched partners. It will be performed
at 7:30 p.m. April 25 and April 26; 2 p.m. April 27; 7:30 p.m. May
1, May 2 and May 3; and 2 p.m. May 4, at the Josephine Louis Theatre.
The
2002-03 theatre season will conclude next spring with the world
premiere of "A Long Gay Book," a new chamber musical based
on the poetry of Gertrude Stein by the creative team behind the
Broadway musical, "Ragtime." The various texts by Stein
have been adapted for the stage by Frank Galati, with music by Stephen
Flaherty. Galati, a Northwestern faculty member, a member of Chicago’s
renowned Steppenwolf Theatre ensemble since 1987, and an artistic
associate of The Goodman Theatre, was the recipient of two 1990
Tony Awards for his adaptation and direction of "The Grapes
of Wrath." Flaherty received the 1998 Tony Award for his original
musical score for "Ragtime." Performances are scheduled
for 7:30 p.m. May 9 and May 10; 2 p.m. May 11; 7:30 p.m. May 15,
May 16 and May 17; and 2 p.m. May 18, at the Ethel M. Barber Theatre.
Single
tickets for "Our Country’s Good," "King Lear,"
"Danceworks 2003," "A Flea in Her Ear," and
"Selkie" are $17 for the general public; $15 for senior
citizens and Northwestern faculty and staff; and $9 for full-time
students. Single tickets for "Into the Woods," "All
I Really Need To Know I Learned in Kindergarten" and "A
Long Gay Book" are $24 for the general public; $20 for senior
citizens and faculty and staff: and $11 for full-time students.
For
more information about the upcoming productions, or to order tickets
by phone, call the Theatre and Interpretation Center box office
at (847) 491-7282.
Online
ticket sales for all Northwestern Mainstage productions are also
available through TicketWeb.com by going to the Northwestern Theatre
& Interpretation Center Web site at http://www.tic.northwestern.edu/boxoffice.html
and clicking on the TicketWeb icon.
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