Stage Door News
Stage Door News
Chicago—March 25, 2015—Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) Artistic Director Barbara Gaines and Executive Director Criss Henderson announce today the line-up of the 2015/16 Season, including innovative reimaginings of the classical canon, new work developed at CST and the first installment of Gaines' ambitious Shakespeare history cycle. Anticipating Shakespeare 400, the international celebration of the playwright's four-hundred-year legacy in 2016, the season honors Shakespeare’s spirit of inventiveness and audacity.
Crowning the season is Barbara Gaines’ landmark Shakespeare history cycle, Tug of War. An examination of wars both foreign and domestic through the perspectives of kings and common men, two extraordinary acts traverse the multi-generational narrative of six Shakespeare history plays. Premiering in Spring 2016, Tug of War: Foreign Fire incorporates Edward III, Henry V and Henry VI, Part 1; in Fall 2016, Tug of War: Civil Strife takes the stage with Henry VI, Parts 2 and 3 and Richard III. With productions as large in scale as the subject matter, this bold enterprise offers fresh insight into the playwright’s timeless wisdom regarding conflict and its consequences.
Chicago Shakespeare launches the 2015/16 Season with Larry Yando as Prospero in Shakespeare’s The Tempest, adapted and directed by Aaron Posner and Teller (of the legendary duo Penn & Teller), who also contributes astonishing feats of magic. Next is celebrated American playwright David Ives’ whip-smart The Heir Apparent, based on Jean-François Regnard‘s comic masterpiece, under the direction of Tony Award® winner John Rando. Following a yearlong development at CST, a refreshingly offbeat new musical from Canadians Jacob Richmond and Brooke Maxwell, Ride the Cyclone, makes its Chicago debut under the direction of Jeff Award-winner Rachel Rockwell. The season continues with a gripping Othello staged by renowned British director Jonathan Munby and featuring Dion Johnstone from Canada’s Stratford Festival in the title role. The annual Short Shakespeare! production brings Shakespeare’s work to family and student audiences with CST’s first abridged production of Twelfth Night, adapted and directed by Kirsten Kelly.The Q Brothers return to CST in their newest hip-hop collaboration, Madsummer—based on Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
This summer, Chicago Shakespeare continues its commitment to engage audiences of all ages with Disney’s The Little Mermaid directed and choreographed by Rachel Rockwell. Touring to 18 neighborhood parks across the city, Chicago Shakespeare in the Parks presents a music-infused mash-up of Shakespeare’s most memorable scenes and characters—Shakespeare's Greatest Hits, adapted and directed by Geoff Button.
Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s 2015/16 Season Calendar includes:
NEW MUSICAL
Ride the Cyclone
September–November, 2015 | Upstairs at Chicago Shakespeare
book, music and lyrics by Jacob Richmond and Brooke Maxwell
directed and choreographed by Rachel Rockwell
with musical direction by Doug Peck
Part comedy, part tragedy and wholly unexpected, Ride the Cyclone is a wildly imaginative new musical with a refreshingly offbeat twist. The lives of six teenagers from the Uranium, Saskatchewan chamber choir are cut short in a freak accident aboard a roller coaster called the Cyclone at the Wonderville Traveling Fairground. The fair’s mechanical fortune-teller Karnack invites the teens to tell their stories of lives interrupted—and offers them the chance to come to terms with their fate. At once quirky and smart, edgy and beautiful, this irreverent new musical directed and choreographed by Rachel Rockwell ultimately reveals the resilience of the human spirit in spite of senseless tragedy.
Othello
February–April, 2016 | CST’s Courtyard Theater
by William Shakespeare
directed by Jonathan Munby
With the launch of Shakespeare 400 celebrating four centuries of the playwright’s legacy in 2016, renowned British theater artist Jonathan Munby directs actor Dion Johnstone from Canada’s Stratford Festival in the title role of Shakespeare’s Othello. Both return to Chicago Shakespeare after collaborating in Munby’s 2013 production of Julius Caesar. Othello is the unequaled hero of his age—a fearsome leader, respected citizen and devoted husband. But he is also an outsider whose success has created enemies driven by envy and prejudice. Shakespeare’s intimate tragedy excavates the most universal of human emotions: passion in love—and jealousy.
For information on purchasing tickets, visit the Theater’s website at www.chicagoshakes.com or call the CST Box Office at 312.595.5600. Chicago Shakespeare Theater offers a broad selection of affordable tickets providing opportunities for a wide-range of audiences to interact with the Theater. Patrons can purchase subscription packages with low-priced, preview series and discounted family subscriptions; accessibly-priced, family productions; discounts for groups and tickets and young professionals for as little as $20.
Photo: Dion Johnstone as Othello at the Stratford Festival. ©2013 Michael Cooper.
2015-03-25
Chicago: Canadian musical and Dion Johnstone as Othello part of Chicago Shakespeare Theater's 2015/16 season