HOME, COMEDY OF ERRORS, PORGY AND BESS & More Part of Court's New Season

Court Theatre proudly announces the company's fifty-sixth annual season, which opens with William Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors directed by Sean Graney. The season continues with Samm-Art Williams's Home directed by Resident Artist Ron OJ Parson and Sarah Ruhl's adaptation of Virginia Woolf's Orlando directed by Jessica Thebus. Artistic Director Charles Newell, Music Director Doug Peck and Resident Artist Ron OJ Parson will close the season with Gershwin and Heyward's Porgy and Bess. The 2010-11 season's fifth play, to be directed by Charles Newell, is yet to be determined; the complete season will be performed at Court Theatre, 5535 S. Ellis Avenue in Hyde Park.

"I'm thrilled to bring Porgy and Bess to our Hyde Park home. With collaborators Doug Peck and Ron OJ Parson, we'll be working with an all-African-American ensemble to tell the story of Porgy and Bess in a way that honors the humanity of the characters and the original intent of Gershwin and Heyward. Court Theatre's intimate space makes it possible to present Gershwin's soaring music and classic story in a way that audiences have never before experienced," says Artistic Director Charles Newell. "The rest of our season is equally exciting. With Ron's award-winning production of Home, the return of Sean Graney to present the Bard in a radical new light, and a rarely seen Sarah Ruhl adaptation of Virginia Woolf's Orlando helmed by Jessica Thebus in her Court directorial debut, the 2010-11 season continues to propel Court Theatre forward as a center for classic theatre."

The 2010/11 Court Theatre Season Up-Close:

The Comedy of Errors

By William Shakespeare

Directed by Sean Graney

Run Dates: September 16, 2010 - October 17, 2010

Innovative director Sean Graney (The Hypocrites) re-imagines Shakespeare's funniest farce about mistaken identity, mental illness, and xenophobia. The story of two sets of twins separated at birth, The Comedy of Errors will be a theatrical event full of energetic slapstick and lyrical comedy, performed by six virtuosic actors. This season opener represents the next step in Graney's exploration of classic farce at Court Theatre, following What the Butler Saw (2007) and The Mystery of Irma Vep (2009).

Home

By Samm-Art Williams

Directed by Ron OJ Parson, Resident Artist

Run Dates: November 11, 2010 - December 12, 2010

Originally produced by the legendary Negro Ensemble Company in 1981, Home is an enduring and poetic story of hope and the resiliency of the human spirit told against the backdrop of the political and social upheavals of the 1960s and 70s. In 2008, Resident Artist Ron OJ Parson (Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, The Piano Lesson) directed an Audelco Award-winning production of Home at Signature Theatre Company in New York, which the New York Times called "a portrait of the black experience...that finds a homey beauty not in suffering but in carrying on."

Virginia Woolf's Orlando

Adapted by Sarah Ruhl

Directed by Jessica Thebus

Run Dates: March 10, 2011 - April 10, 2011

Sarah Ruhl, one of American theater's most exciting young playwrights, adapts Virginia Woolf's gender-bending novel about sex, love, and history. Often called the longest love letter in literary history, Woolf's Orlando tells the story of an English nobleman who lives for hundreds of years before falling asleep and waking up as a woman. Directed by longtime Ruhl collaborator Jessica Thebus (The Clean House at Goodman Theatre, Dead Man's Cell Phone at Steppenwolf), Orlando is told with humor and imagination, and it represents a step forward in Court's ongoing commitment to contemporary translations and adaptations of classic works.

 

Porgy and Bess

By George Gershwin, DuBose and Dorothy Heyward, and Ira Gershwin

Directed by Charles Newell

Music Direction by Doug Peck

Artistic Consultant Ron OJ Parson

Run Dates: May 12, 2011 - June 19, 2011

Porgy and Bess remains George Gershwin's magnum opus, with an unforgettable score that includes songs ("Summertime," "It Ain't Necessarily So") later recorded by popular musicians from Billie Holiday to Ella Fitzgerald. Coming off their 2008 Jeff Award-winning production of Caroline, or Change, Charles Newell, Doug Peck and Ron OJ Parson come face-to-face with one of the greatest-and most controversial-pieces of American music theater ever created. Often denounced as a racially insensitive portrayal of black southerners, Newell, Peck, Parson and an all-African-American cast, will present a thoughtful, never-before-seen retelling of Gershwin and Heyward's "folk opera" Porgy and Bess, a classic but contested piece of American theater history.
Subscription Information

Five, four and three play subscriptions to Court's 2010/2011 season range from $90 to $250 and are on sale now. To purchase a subscription or to receive more information, call the Court Theatre Box Office at (773) 753-4472, or visit Court's website at www.CourtTheatre.org. Individual tickets go on sale July 15, 2010. Groups of 10 or more may purchase tickets by calling Milan Penjovich in Court's Group Sales Office at (773) 834-3243.

Court Theatre is guided by a mission to discover the power of classic theatre. In pursuit of this mission, Court produces five adventurous main stage shows each year and sponsors a wealth of audience and student enrichment programs; actively explores a wide range of dramatic texts, including African-American and musical works; and works to expand the canon of classic theatre through initiatives such as the Barbara E. Franke Commissioning Program for New Classics. Above all else, Court endeavors to inspire audiences and make a lasting contribution to American theatre by examining and re-envisioning classic works to illuminate timeless themes and uncover immediately relevant messages.

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. You can reach the Court Theatre Box Office at (773) 753-4472, or visit Court's website at www.CourtTheatre.org.

Court Theatre, under the leadership of Artistic Director Charles Newell, Board Chair Virginia Gerst and Deputy Provost of the Arts Larry Norman is generously supported by Richard and Barbara Franke, Hyde Park Bank, The Joyce Foundation, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Shubert Foundation, 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; a Cultural Outreach Program grant from the City of Chicago; and the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.