Court Theatre Presents 'Radio MacBeth'

COURT THEATRE PRESENTS
THE CHICAGO PREMIERE OF Siti Company'S
RADIO MACBETH

Court Theatre continues its 2008/09 season with Siti Company's Radio Macbeth adapted from the play by Shakespeare and co-directed by Siti Company Artistic Director Anne Bogart and Darron L. West. The production will run November 6, 2008 – December 7, 2008 at Court Theatre, 5535 S. Ellis Avenue.  The press opening will be Saturday, November 8, 2008 at 8:00 p.m.

Late at night in the guts of an abandoned theater, a company of actors gathers to rehearse Shakespeare's Macbeth. They soon realize that they are not alone. As they are drawn deeper into the Bard's most magnetic play, the ghosts that have haunted the story since its inception hover and encroach. History, ambition, fortune, fate, free will, hubris, pride, indecision, and madness permeate Siti Company's production of Shakespeare's haunting classic.

Court Theatre Artistic Director Charles Newell says, "We are thrilled to welcome Siti Company back to Hyde Park.  Their innovative and accessible version of Macbeth is going to appeal to those familiar with the play and those seeing it for the first time.  Staging Macbeth as a radio play will make sound an interval part of the story.  Combine the unique use of sound with Court's intimate venue and you have a powerful evening of theatre."

Siti Company is an ensemble based theater company whose mission is to create bold, new productions which tour both nationally and internationally, and to train theater professionals and students in an approach to acting and collaboration that forges unique and highly disciplined theater artists.

Founded in 1992 by Anne Bogart and Tadashi Suzuki, Siti Company began as an agreement to redefine and revitalize contemporary theater in the United States through an emphasis on international cultural exchange and collaboration. Originally envisioned as a summer institute in Saratoga Springs, New York, SITI expanded to encompass a year-round company based in New York City with a summer season in Saratoga. The company is known internationally as a top-level artistic collective that generates groundbreaking theater while training artists from around the world.  

The cast of Radio Macbeth features Akiko Aizawa, Will Bond, Gian-Murray Gianino, Ellen Lauren, Barney O'Hanlon, Makela Spielman, and Stephen Webber.

The designers are James Schuette (scenic and costume design), M.L. Dogg (sound design), and Brian H. Scott (lighting design). Elizabeth Moreau is the Company stage manager and J. Ed Araiza is the Dramaturg.

Anne Bogart (Co-Director) is the Artistic Director of the Siti Company, which she founded with Japanese director Tadashi Suzuki in 1992. She is a Professor at Columbia University where she runs the Graduate Directing Program. Works with SITI include Who Do You Think You Are, Radio Macbeth; Hotel Cassiopeia; Death and the Ploughman; La Dispute; Score; bobrauschenbergamerica; Room; War of the Worlds; Cabin Pressure; The Radio Play; Alice's Adventures; Culture of Desire; Bob; Going, Going, Gone; Small Lives/Big Dreams; The Medium; Noel Coward's Hay Fever and Private Lives; August Strindberg's Miss Julie; and Charles Mee's Orestes. Other recent productions include: I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Glimmerglass Opera, Nicholas and Alexandra, Los Angeles Opera, Marina A Captive Spirit (American Opera Projects), Lilith and Seven Deadly Sins (New York City Opera). She is the author of three books: A Director Prepares, The Viewpoints Book and And Then, You Act.

Darron L. West (Sound Design and Co-Director) has been a Siti Company member since 1993 and first collaborated with Anne Bogart in 1990 while resident sound designer at Actors Theatre of Louisville.  His work for theater and dance has been heard in over 400 productions nationally and internationally.  His accolades include a 1998 Obie award for SITI's Bob, The Princess Grace Award, an Entertainment Design MagazinE Eddy, the 2004 and 2005 Henry Hewes Design award, a 2006 Lortell and AUDELCO Award.  As director: Kid Simple (2004 Humana Festival at Actors Theater of Louisville), Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse and Eurydice (Children's Theater Co. Minneapolis), Big Love (Rude Mechanicals Austin, Texas), Siti Company's War of the Worlds – The Radio Play and Radio Macbeth.

Previews are November 6 & November 7, 2008.  The opening press performance is on Saturday, November 8, 2008, at 8:00 p.m. Curtain times are Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7:30 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. with Saturday matinees at 3 p.m.; Sundays at 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

Ticket prices are $32 to $40 for preview performances; $38 to $56 for regular run performances. Tickets are available at the Box Office, 5535 S. Ellis Avenue, Chicago; 773.753.4472 or online at www.CourtTheatre.org. Student and senior discounts available. Groups of 10 or more may purchase tickets by calling Milan Pejnovich at 773.834.3243.

Radio Macbeth is sponsored by the Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation

Court Theatre, the professional theatre in residence at the University of Chicago, is located at 5535 S. Ellis Ave. in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood.  To purchase single tickets for Radio Macbeth or to receive more information, call the Court Theatre Box Office at (773) 753-4472, or visit Court's website at www.CourtTheatre.org.

Court Theatre's 54th Season, under the leadership of Artistic Director Charles Newell and Executive Director Dawn J. Helsing, is generously supported by Richard and Barbara Franke, The Chicago Community Trust, Hyde Park Bank, Virginia and Gary Gerst, The Joyce Foundation, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Polk Brothers Foundation, Shubert Foundation, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, and the University of Chicago.  Court Theatre is also funded in part by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, CityArts Program IV of the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, and the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.

Radio Macbeth / FACT SHEET

Synopsis: Late at night in the guts of an abandoned theater, a company of actors gathers to rehearse Shakespeare's Macbeth. They soon realize that they are not alone. As they are drawn deeper into the Bard's most magnetic play, the ghosts that have haunted the story since its inception hover and encroach. History, ambition, fortune, fate, free will, hubris, pride, indecision, and madness permeate Siti Company's production of Shakespeare's haunting classic.

Title:                  Radio Macbeth
Created by:         Siti Company
Adapted from:     Shakespeare's Macbeth
Co-Directed by:   Anne Bogart and Darron L. West
Featuring:           Siti Company Ensemble Members 
   
Dates:       

Previews:             November 6 & November 7, 2008   
Press opening: Saturday, November 8, 2008 at 8:00 p.m.       
Regular run:     November 9- December 7, 2008    
Schedule:         Wednesdays & Thursdays:     7:30 p.m.
Fridays:            8:00 p.m.
Saturdays:            3:00 p.m. & 8:00 p.m. 
Sundays:         2:30 p.m. & 7:30 p.m.
Location:         Court Theatre, 5535 S. Ellis Ave.
Tickets:        $32-$56
Box Office:    Located at 5535 S. Ellis Avenue, Chicago; (773) 753-4472 or online www.CourtTheatre.org

NOTES OF INTEREST:
•    The Chicago Premiere of Radio Macbeth marks Siti Company's second touring production performed at Court Theatre; its production of Hotel Cassiopeia also made its Midwest Premiere at Court in November of 2006.

•    Since its workshop performance at The Public Theater in New York, Radio Macbeth has played The Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio; the International Festival of Arts & Ideas in New Haven, Connecticut; Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York; The Dublin Theatre Festival; and Suny Purchase Performing Arts Center in Purchase, New York.