VICTORY GARDENS THEATER
ANNOUNCES 2008/09 SEASON - Click here for Video Brochure
William L. Petersen to return to the VGT stage in
2009! Also on tap:
Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice,
Gloria Bond Clunie’s Living Green,
Jeffrey Sweet’s Class Dismissed,
Aditi Brennan Kapil’s Love Person, and the return of The
Snow Queen
CHICAGO,
March 31, 2008 - Victory Gardens Theater, Chicago’s #1 presenter of new work,
announced today an exciting line-up of two world premieres, a Chicago premiere,
a major revival, the return of its smash hit holiday musical The
Snow Queen, and a TBA project starring William L. Petersen, to complete its 2008/09 season of “theater so
close, it touches you.”
The
season kicks off October 3-November 9, 2008 with a major revival of Eurydice,
an astonishingly fresh take on the Greek Orpheus myth by Sarah Ruhl, author of The
Clean House, Passion Play, and Dead Man’s Cell Phone, and one of the most
important young voices in American theater today. Victory Gardens Associate Artistic Director Sandy Shinner will direct.
“Even
stronger the second time around,” (Chicago Sun-Times), Chicago folk legend Michael
Smith’s smash hit musical The Snow Queen, based on Hans
Christian Andersen’s beloved winter tale, directed again by Tony Award-winner Frank
Galati, with puppets by Blair Thomas & Co. and choreography by Jim Corti,
is gathering momentum for her third straight year as Chicago’s #1 alternative
to traditional holiday fare, November 28-December 28, 2008.
Next
are two consecutive world premieres by members of the Victory Gardens Playwrights
Ensemble. Living Green, by Gloria
Bond Clunie (Shoes, North Star), is a timely drama about an upper middle class
black family considering a move back to the “old neighborhood,” January
23-March 1, 2009. Victory Gardens
Resident Director Andrea J. Dymond will direct.
Class Dismissed by Jeffrey Sweet (Flyovers, The Value of Names), directed
by Victory Gardens Artistic Director Dennis Zacek, is a comedic drama set in the free-spirited 1960s about youth and living with the consequences of how
you spend it. Performances are March
20-April 26, 2009.
Playing
May 15-June 14, 2009 is the Chicago
debut of Aditi Brennan Kapil’s Love Person. One of the hottest new plays among regional
theaters devoted to new work, this intriguing love story, performed in English, Sanskrit,
American Sign Language, and projected e-mail, explores language as
a portal and barrier to human connection. Sandy
Shinner will direct.
Closing Victory Gardens’
35th season is Chicago’s
must-see theater event of 2009. William L. Petersen, star of CBS-TV’s CSI,
will return to the theater where he earned his Equity card to star in a new
project to be announced, directed by Dennis Zacek,
July 3-August 9, 2009.
“Collectively,
next season’s productions do what new plays do best - explore the hot-button issues
on our minds right now,” said Zacek. “Responsibility
to one’s community, language and communication, love and loss, and class
divisions in the U.S.
are just a few of the topics that will be artfully investigated on our stage
next season.”
Five-play
subscriptions to Victory
Gardens’ 2008/09 season
are on sale now for only $80-$185. Five
play packages include Eurydice, Living Green, Class Dismissed,
the TBA starring Bill Petersen, and a choice of Love Person or The Snow Queen. Six-play packages are $96-$222. All
performances will be staged at the Victory Gardens Biograph Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue. For subscription information, call the Victory Gardens box office, (773) 871-3000 (tty:
(773) 871-0682), email information@victorygardens.org, or visit victorygardens.org.
Victory Gardens Theater’s
2008/09 Season: A Closer Look
EURYDICE
By Sarah Ruhl
Directed by Sandy Shinner
October 3-November 9, 2008;
Opens Monday, October 13, 7:30 pm
Victory Gardens’
season opens with a major revival of Eurydice, a fresh take on the Greek
Orpheus myth by Evanston
native, Pulitzer Prize nominee, and MacArthur Genius award winner Sarah
Ruhl. Eurydice’s wedding
to Orpheus is cut short when she wanders after a man bearing a letter from her
dead father. Her disappearance turns out to be from life itself, when she
is transported to the underworld in a raining elevator. A story of love, loss and the
mystery of death, The New York Times called Eurydice “weird
and wonderful, devastatingly
lovely.” From the author of The Clean House, Passion Play, and Dead
Man’s Cell Phone.
THE SNOW QUEEN
Music and Lyrics by Michael
Smith
Directed by Frank Galati
Puppet Design by Blair
Thomas & Co.
November 28-December 28,
2008; opens Monday, December 1, 7:30 pm
“Even
stronger the second time around,” (Chicago Sun-Times), The Snow Queen is
gathering momentum for her third year as Chicago’s #1 alternative to
traditional holiday family fare. Warm
storytelling, amazing puppetry and Michael Smith’s magical score combine for a
wild ride into Hans Christian Andersen’s beloved winter tale. Returning are Tony-winning director Frank Galati, master
puppeteer Blair Thomas & Co., choreographer
Jim Corti, as well as veteran cast and band members. A delight for kids eight and up, Smith’s
wickedly funny lyrics and sophisticated songs of the heart equally engage
adults of all ages. “The nicest present
we’ve gotten for the holidays.” (Time Out Chicago)
LIVING GREEN
A World Premiere
By Gloria Bond Clunie
Directed by Andrea J. Dymond
January 23-March 1, 2009;
opens Monday, February 2, 7:30 pm
The
year is 1995. The Freemans, an upper
middle class black family in an affluent, predominantly white Chicago
neighborhood are contemplating selling their home to fund their daughter’s
college education When the men in the
family return from the first Million Man March, the Freemans grapple with where
to resettle their two children: another
“safe” white community, or back to “the old neighborhood?” A modern-day homage to A Raisin in the Sun, this
timely new work by ensemble member Gloria Bond Clunie (North Star, Shoes) asks “What
happened to our families as we “moved up” and fled the black communities that
once nurtured us?”
CLASS DISMISSED
A World Premiere
By Jeffrey Sweet
Directed by Dennis Zacek
March 20-April 26, 2009;
opens Monday, March 30, 7:30 pm
In the heat of the 1960s, you can't blame a rich kid for wondering
where his priorities lie. There's your dad, who wants you to carry
on the family business. Your friends (who don't know you have
money) are trying to build a new way of living. There’s a
renegade professor. And sex, of course. Some pot, naturally.
And you know what comes after sex and drugs...a comedy about youth
and living with the consequences of how you spend it. From the
award-winning author of Court-Martial
at Fort Devens, Flyovers, and The Value
of Names.
LOVE PERSON
A Chicago premiere
By Aditi Brennan
Kapil
Directed by Sandy Shinner
May 15-June 14, 2009;
opening Tuesday, May 26, 7:30 pm
One of the hottest new plays among regional theaters devoted to new work, Love
Person is an intellectually intriguing love story about language as a portal
and a barrier to human connection. Can
love transcend sexual orientation, physical attraction, and social structure,
and rely instead on the ways in which people communicate? Two couples, three cultures, and four
languages blossom, break, sustain, repair, and flourish in this language laden
love mystery, performed
in American Sign Language, Sanskrit, English, and projected e-mail. “A fascinating brew of emotion, wit and
intellect.” (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)
CHICAGO’S MUST-SEE
THEATER EVENT OF SUMMER ’09 - TBA!
Starring William L. Petersen
Directed by Dennis Zacek
July 3-August 9, 2009;
opening Monday, July 13, 7:30 pm
William
L. Petersen will return to Victory Gardens, the theater where he first earned his Equity
card, and the last Chicago
stage he played before becoming the star of CBS-TV’s hit drama CSI. Back in 1978, Bill rose from the ranks of
the Victory Gardens Training
Center to play the title
role in Dillinger. The rest is
history. Petersen went on to be a
nationally acclaimed star, and was a sensation when he last performed at Victory Gardens in Jeffrey Sweet’s 1998 smash
hit Flyovers. Don’t miss the fireworks
when he reunites with director Dennis Zacek
next summer to star in an exciting new project to be announced.
The Benefits of Subscribing
In
addition to being an important part of Victory
Gardens’ new play process, Victory Gardens
subscribers enjoy special perks, including free ticket exchanges, premium seat
locations, $5 off additional tickets for family and friends, special offers at
neighborhood restaurants and bars, exclusive invitations to special subscriber
events, and a discount on classes at the Victory Gardens
Training Center. To receive added value events at the same low
price, subscribers can select the Humanities Night Speaker Series, Post Show
Discussion Series, the Pub Night Series, or the Family Saturday Series (you
watch the show; we’ll watch your kids, ages 5-12, $5 sitter fee per child.
Special
discounts include the “Generation VGT” plan for people under 30 - five plays
for only $80. Three- and five-play flex
plans are also available, offering deep discounts on tickets, plus all the
perks of being a subscriber.
Educators
can sign up for a five-play package, including pre-show speakers, for only $90. Seniors receive up to 20 percent off regular
performances. Access subscriptions are only $80 for persons
with disabilities, for performances of all five plays interpreted in sign
language, offered in word for word captioning, or audio described, preceded by
a touch tour of the set.
