Chicago Shakespeare Theater Announces Their 2010/11 Season

By: Mar. 17, 2010
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Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) Artistic Director Barbara Gaines and Executive Director Criss Henderson announced today the lineup of productions for the 2010/11 Season. A three-play Subscription Series of classics, renowned artists from around the world and productions for the entire family set the stage for Chicago Shakespeare Theater's 24th season.

Inaugurating the 2010/11 Subscription Series, world-renowned Director Gale Edwards brings an exhilarating new production of Shakespeare's iconic romantic tragedy Romeo and Juliet (September 15?November 14, 2010). Bringing her unique vision of Shakespeare to CST for the first time, the award-winning Queensland Theatre Company Artistic Director (International Emmy Award, Helpmann Award and the Sydney Critics Award) has directed productions for Shakespeare theaters across America and around the globe, including the Royal Shakespeare Company. In the New Year, CST Associate Artistic Director Gary Griffin directs As You Like it (January 5?March 6, 2011), Shakespeare's beloved pastoral comedy set in the magical Forest of Arden. Griffin directs his first Subscription Series Shakespeare production, following his acclaimed CST Olivier and Jeff Award-winning Sondheim musicals and recent productions of Private Lives and Amadeus. The three-play Subscription Series concludes in the spring with The Madness of George III (April 13?June 12, 2011) by Olivier and Tony Award-winning playwright Alan Bennett (The History Boys). This masterpiece of royal intrigue follows the account of a monarch's slide into insanity, the ensuing political power struggle and the enduring devotion of his Queen. This international stage phenomenon was later adapted into an Academy Award-nominated film. The production will be directed by Penny Metropolus, whose work has been seen for nearly two decades at Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Shakespeare theaters across the country, including The Two Gentlemen of Verona at Chicago Shakespeare Theater in 2000.

CST Artistic Director Barbara Gaines begins the 2010/11 season making her debut at the Lyric Opera of Chicago when she directs Verdi's Macbeth. In the winter, she will direct a production in the theater Upstairs at Chicago Shakespeare, which will be announced at a later date.

CST's celebrated World's Stage Series begins with Itsoseng (June 9?20, 2010), written and performed by Omphile Molusi who won a Scotsman Fringe First Award at the Edinburgh Festival in 2008. Taking its name from the South African township where Molusi was raised, Itsoseng is the story of a young man desperate for change but unable to achieve it. Balancing comedy and tragedy, it explores the effects of changing politics on the township. The 28-year-old playwright Molusi was the first recipient of the Royal Shakespeare Company's Brett Goldin Bursary Award in 2006. Then in December?just in time for the holiday season?French performance artist Aurélia Thiérrée brings to Chicago her dazzling display of stage illusion in Aurélia's Oratorio (December 1?12, 2010). Inspired by French cirque nouveau, Aurélia's Oratorio follows the successful Chicago engagements of her brother James Thiérrée's productions of Farewell Umbrella and Bright Abyss. The World's Stage Series concludes in the spring when Ireland's Druid Theatre Company presents its celebrated production of The Cripple of Inishmaan (March 15?27, 2011) by Tony Award-winning playwright Martin McDonagh (The Pillowman, The Beauty Queen of Leenane). Staged by Druid's Artistic Director Garry Hynes, this premier Irish theater company brings to the stage the darkly comic story of the sleepy town of Inishmaan and its residents who are electrified by the arrival of a Hollywood film crew making a documentary. "Cripple" Billy Claven vies for a part in the film, and to everyone's surprise, the orphan and outcast gets a shot at stardom.

CST Family programming begins this summer with the world premiere of Alan Schmuckler and David Holstein's The Emperor's New Clothes (June 30?August 29, 2010), a CST-commissioned musical adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's classic story. In this fast-paced, stylish musical, the Emperor and his daughter can't seem to get along, but with the help of some colorful characters and not so colorful threads, the two come to see themselves?and each other?for who they really are. In January, a theatrical percussive world of swords, sound and the supernatural make Shakespeare's language come alive in Short Shakespeare! Macbeth (January 22?March 5, 2011)?a 75-minute abridged production created for families.

Subscriptions including Romeo and Juliet, As You Like It and The Madness of George III begin at $120 and are on sale now. All 2010/11 Subscribers receive exclusive discounts and priority access to World's Stage performances of Aurélia's Oratorio and The Cripple of Inishmaan.

Tickets for The Emperor's New Clothes are $23 for adults and $18 for children (12 and under) and are on sale now. Groups of 10 or more receive an "early booking" discount price of $15 for adults and $10 for children.

Subscriptions and single tickets can be purchased by visiting the Theater's website at www.chicagoshakes.com or by calling the CST Box Office at 312.595.5600.



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