CONTACT: Judy Moore at (847) 491-4819 or jkm229@northwestern.edu

October 13, 2003

‘Real Thing’ Opens Theatre Season

EVANSTON, Ill. --- The Northwestern University 2003-04 Mainstage Theatre Season begins with Tom Stoppard’s backstage comedy “The Real Thing,” winner of the 1984 Tony Award for Best Play and the 2000 Tony Award for Best Revival. The production will feature a student cast.

It will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 31 and Nov. 1; 2 p.m. Nov. 2; 7:30 p.m. Nov. 6, Nov. 7 and Nov. 8; and 2 p.m. Nov. 9, at the Ethel M. Barber Theatre, 30 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston campus.

Stoppard’s engaging play about an articulate and romantically idealistic playwright whose second wife is trying to merge worthy causes with her art as an actress, will be directed by Craig Kinzer, associate professor of theatre at Northwestern.

Kinzer has always admired and envied the intellectual dazzle of Stoppard’s work, where ideas mattered enough to be both engaging and fun. “But while I always enjoyed his work, something about it always left me a little cold. Heart was missing, I suppose, and it almost felt more fun to read than to witness. Until, that is, I saw this play.”

In 1984, Kinzer attended the opening night performance of the Broadway production of “The Real Thing,” when it starred Jeremy Irons, Glenn Close, Kenneth Welsh, Christine Baranski and a 15-year-old Cynthia Nixon (of “Sex and the City” fame), and was directed by Mike Nichols.

It was a memorable experience for Kinzer, who believes that Stoppard found a heart to his characters when he wrote “The Real Thing,” something that he feels had been missing from the playwright’s earlier works.

“’The Real Thing’ plunges headlong into the confusions of love, the messiness of mid-life, the complexities of knowing and being known, that terrible loneliness when you confront yourself in the presence of someone else, all of which mark a passage into maturity for the man and the artist,” said Kinzer. “This is a play in which characters grow in complex and subtle ways, and our feelings for and understanding of them grow as well.”

The eight-show Northwestern University 2003-04 Mainstage season is generously supported by the Sara Lee Foundation. A season subscription ranges from $63 to $127.

Single tickets are $17 for the general public; $15 for senior citizens and Northwestern faculty and staff; and $9 for full-time students. To order a season subscription or single tickets by phone, call the Theatre and Interpretation Center box office at (847) 491-7282.