BoHo Launches Season with Stephen Schwartz's Pippin 10/14-11/13

BoHo Theatre kicks off its 2011/2012 Season with Pippin, Stephen Schwartz (composer of Wicked and Godspell) and Roger O. Hirson's musical experience about the search for meaning, significance, and love. Pippin runs October 14 through November 13, 2011, at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Avenue, and is directed by BoHo's Artistic Director Peter Marston Sullivan, director of BoHo's recent productions of Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (remounted this summer at Theater on the Lake) and Ghosts, and co-director of BoHo's I Am My Own Wife. Pippin features Shaun Nathan Baer as Pippin and Travis Porchia as the Leading Player.

What does it mean to live an extraordinary life? This is the question that drives Pippin through the adventures of war, sex, politics and love - all the while guided by the malicious hand of the Leading Player. While The Players strive to steer Pippin towards the perfect, theatrically tragic end of his story, Pippin begins to discover what it truly means to be extraordinary in our world. Full of dance, passion, and Schwartz's iconic music (including "Corner of the Sky," "Magic to Do," and "Extraordinary"), Pippin is the ultimate theatrical experience that will leave audiences debating what boundaries are crossed for love.

Pippin
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz
Book by Roger O. Hirson
Directed by Peter Marston Sullivan
Choreographed by Brenda Didier
Music Direction by Nick Sula
Scenic Design by John Zuiker
Lighting Design by Christpher Burpee
Costume Design by Bill Morey

October 14 - November 13, 2011
Thursdays through Saturdays at 8:00 pm and Sundays at 2:00 pm.
Opening Night is Saturday, October 15, at 8:00pm.

Theater Wit
1229 W. Belmont Ave, Chicago
For tickets, call the Theater Wit Box Office at 773-975-8150 or visit www.BoHoTheatre.com
Tickets go on sale September 14
Opening weekend (October 14-16) ticket price: $18
Regular run ticket price: $22-28

BIOS

Stephen Schwartz (Composer and Lyricist)
Stephen Schwartz has contributed music and/or lyrics to Godspell, Pippin, The Magic Show, The Baker's Wife, Working (which he also adapted and directed), Rags, Children Of Eden, and the current Broadway hit Wicked. He collaborated with Leonard Bernstein on the English texts for Bernstein's Mass and wrote the title song for the play and movie Butterflies Are Free. For children, he has written songs for two musicals, Captain Louie and My Son Pinocchio. For films, he collaborated with Alan Menken on the songs for Disney's Enchanted as well as the animated features Pocahontas and The Hunchback Of Notre Dame and wrote the songs for the DreamWorks animated feature The Prince Of Egypt. He has released two CDs of new songs entitled Reluctant Pilgrim and Uncharted Territory. His first opera, Seance on a Eet Afternoon, premiered with Opera Santa Barbara in the fall of 2009 and was recently produced by New York City Opera. A book about his career, Defying Gravity, has recently been released by Applause Books. Under the auspices of the ASCAP Foundation, he runs Musical Theatre Workshops in New York and Los Angeles, and is currently the President of the Dramatists' Guild. Mr. Schwartz has recently been given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Other awards include three Academy Awards, four Grammy Awards, four Drama Desk Awards, and a tiny handful of tennis trophies. www.stephenschwartz.com.
Roger O. Hirson (Book)
Roger O. Hirson is an American dramatist and screenwriter best known for his books of the Broadway musicals Pippin, for which he was nominated for a Tony Award, and Walking Happy. For over 50 years, he also wrote extensively for original television anthology series episodes and TV movies beginning in the 1940s.

Peter Marston Sullivan (Director)
Peter Marston Sullivan (Director) has worked for the Marriott Theatre for over seven years in various capacities, including his current position of Artistic Associate, and is the proud Artistic Director of BoHo Theatre. Peter earned a BA in Theatre and an MA in Teaching at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, and an MFA in Directing at Illinois State University. Recent directing projects include last fall's Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Jeff Award-nominations for Best Production (Musical) and Best Director), Icarus, I Am My Own Wife (co-director), Ghosts, Playing with Fire, and M. Butterfly at BoHo; Black Comedy at Piccolo Theatre, Monster Garden at the Gorilla Tango Theatre, and Cry Havoc at Bailiwick.

BoHo Theatre structures each of its seasons around the four pillars or Bohemian philosophy: Truth, Beauty, Freedom, and Love. BoHo's 2011/2012 mainstage season features Pippin by Stephen Schwartz and Roger O. Hirson, Tartuffe by Moliere in a translation by Ranjit Bolt, The Rainmaker by N. Richard Nash, and Floyd Collins by Adam Guettel and Tina Landau.

BoHo Theatre seeks to challenge convention through literary originality and eclectic expression while fostering an ever-evolving artistic environment in which people are inspired to learn, think, dream, and feel; to teach others and ourselves how to expand, create, and present art through theatre while reveling not only in the process, but also in the journey.