WILLIAM PETERSEN TO
STAR IN BLACKBIRD TO CLOSE VICTORY
GARDENS’ 2008/09 SEASON
CHICAGO, August 18, 2008 - Victory Gardens Theater,
Chicago’s #1 presenter of new work, announced today it will present the Midwest
premiere of British playwright David Harrower’s provocative drama Blackbird as
the final production of its 2008-2009 season.
William L. Petersen, star of CBS-TV’s CSI, returns to the
theater that first gave him his Equity card to star in Harrower’s intense two-person
story about the destructive cycle of desire and illicit love, under the
direction of Victory Gardens Artistic Director Dennis Zacek. Previews are July 3 through July 12,
2009. Press opening is Monday, July 13 at 7:30
pm. Performances run through August 9 at
the Victory Gardens Biograph Theater, 2433
N. Lincoln Avenue, Chicago.
Single tickets are $20-$48, and go on sale March 31,
2009. However, only subscribers to Victory Gardens’ 2008/09 season are guaranteed
the best seats to Blackbird, and can purchase additional single tickets to the
production before they go on sale to the general public. For subscription information or to inquire
about single tickets, call 773.871.3000, or visit VictoryGardens.org
British vernacular for jailbird, Blackbird is a real-time
account of the awkward reunion of Ray and Una, 15 years after a passionate
affair when he was 40 and she was just a minor. Ray is confronted with his past when Una
arrives unannounced at his workplace.
Guilt, rage and raw emotions run high as they recollect their forbidden relationship. After years in prison and subsequent
hardships, Ray has a new identity and has made a new life for himself, thinking
that he could no longer be found. But
Una, now 27, has thought of nothing else since, and on finding a photo of Ray,
sets out to find him, looking for answers, not vengeance. Nonetheless, their reunion has a devastating
effect that will leave audiences stunned.
Originally commissioned in 2005 by the Edinburgh
International Festival, Blackbird was the surprise winner of the 2007 Laurence
Olivier Award, Britain’s
equivalent to the Tony’s, besting stiff competition including Frost/Nixon by
Peter Morgan and Tom Stoppard’s Rock ‘n’ Roll.
Blackbird premiered in the U.S.
in April 2007 at New York’s
Manhattan Theater Club, directed by Broadway veteran Joe Mantello, starring
Alison Pill and Jeff Daniels. The reviews
were stellar:
“The gifted David Harrower’s intense Blackbird promises to
be the most powerful drama of the season…masterly, mesmerizing…extraordinary…a
miracle.” – The New York Times
“Four stars! This
haunting, powerful, incendiary work is the sort of daring theater far too
absent from our stages these days.” – The New York Post
“A fascinating and unnerving ninety-minute cat and mouse
tale of revenge and sexual intrigue, with genuine theatricality and undeniable
shock value.” – Associated Press
“Blackbird is one of the most poetic, visceral new plays to
hit the scene in years,” said Victory Gardens Artistic Director Dennis
Zacek. “Certainly Ray is an ideal role
for Bill to flex his theatrical acting chops, and to reintroduce to local
audiences the magnetic presence that he demonstrated so ably in his early days
on Chicago’s stages, playing morally questionable characters in In the Belly of
the Beast, The Night of the Iguana, and Flyovers ten years ago here at Victory Gardens.”
Additional casting and the design team for Blackbird is
TBA.
