Next Theatre Presents Rodgers' MADAGASCAR 1/20-2/20

Next Theatre Company is proud to announce the Midwest premiere of J.T. Rogers' Madagascar, directed by Kimberly Senior, January 20 - February 20, 2011 927 Noyes Street in Evanston. Previews run January 20 - January 23. The press/opening night is Monday, Jan. 24 at 7 p.m. and regular performance schedule is Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 5, 12 and 19 have an added 4 p.m. matinee. Tickets are $25 - $40 with subscriber and student discounts available. Tickets may be purchased at nexttheatre.org or by calling 847-475-1875 x2.

Director Kimberly Senior and internationally recognized playwright J.T. Rogers, the creative team behind Next's 2009 production of The Overwhelming, are back offering audiences another gripping thriller. Madagascar is the haunting story of a mysterious disappearance that changes three lives forever. At three different periods in time, three Americans find themselves alone, in the same hotel room overlooking the Spanish Steps in Rome: June (Cora Vander Broek), a young woman who works as a tour guide of the city's ancient ruins; Lillian (Carmen Roman), her wealthy and elegant jet-setting mother; and Nathan (Mick Webber), a rumpled university economist and the best friend of Lilian's famous deceased husband. Their individual stories slowly unfold, weaving between time and space, resulting in a truly gripping and disquieting mystery.

Madagascar‘s creative team includes scenic design by Jack McGraw, costume design by Christine Pascual, lighting design by Sean Mallary, sound design by Christopher Kris. The stage manager is Nancy Staiger.

SUNDAY TALKBACKS
Every 2 p.m. Sunday matinee during the season is followed by a discussion with the artistic staff and artists involved in the production. Plan to join Next for these special behind-the-scenes chats.

ABOUT J.T. Rogers
J.T. Rogers is the author of The Overwhelming, Madagascar, White People, and Murmuring in a Dead Tongue. His works have been produced in London by the National Theatre; the Tricycle Theatre, where he was one of the 2010 Oliver Award-nominated writers of The Great Game; Theatre 503; and have toured the UK with Out of Joint and been heard on BBC radio. In New York City his plays have been seen at the Roundabout Theatre, the SPF Play Festival, and commercially Off Broadway; they have been staged as well in Australia, Israel, Germany, and throughout the United States. His essays have appeared in American Theatre and in London's Independent and The New Statesman. MR. Rogers is a resident playwright at New Dramatists, a member of the Dramatists Guild, and holds an honorary doctorate from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.

Madagascar was commissioned by and had its world premiere at the Salt Lake Acting Company, where it received the American Theatre Critics Association's 2004 M. Elizabeth Osborne Award and the 2005 Pinter Review Prize for Drama. It was also a finalist for the ATCA's Steinberg New Play Award and performed at the Summer Play Festival in New York City in July 2005. In 2010, the play had its Australian premiere at the Melbourne Theatre Company and its European debut at London's Theatre 503.

ABOUT KIMBERLY SENIOR
Kimberly Senior has worked professionally in Chicago in a variety of positions for the past 15 years. Most recently, Kimberly directed Uncle Vanya at Strawdog Theatre Company where she is an Artistic Associate and previously directed Cherry Orchard, Three Sisters, Fuddy Meers and Knives in Hens. In addition, Kimberly directed All My Sons for TimeLine Theatre and The Pillowman for RedTwist. She is an Artistic Associate with Next, where she has directed the Midwest premiere of J.T. Rogers' play The Overwhelming and Keith Bunin's The Busy World is Hushed for the company's 2007-08 season. She is the founder and company member emeritus of Collaboraction Theatre Company, where she directed and/or produced over 30 plays and theatrical experiences, most notably the company's lauded Sketchbook festival for seven years. Senior also serves as an Artistic Associate with Chicago Dramatists (Feast, world premiere.) Other directing credits include Dolly West's Kitchen at TimeLine; Young Playwrights Festival at Pegasus Players; Narnia for Emerald City Theatre Company; the world premiere musical Electronic Baby, BobKat Productions; Bold Girls, Seanachai; the Midwest premiere of Patty Red Pants, Blackbird Productions; and the world premiere of Mouse Cop, Noble Fool Theater.

In addition, she has directed for Adventure Stage Chicago, Estrogen Fest, Maxwell Street Historic Preservation Coalition, Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, Shakespeare's Motley Crew, Northlight Theatre, RoadWorks Productions, Northwestern University, College of DuPage, Oakton Community College, National Louis University, and WFMT Radio, among others. As an educator, Senior spent ten years as both an administrator and Resident Artist with Steppenwolf for Young Adults. She has also either run programs or taught for Court Theater, Northlight Theater, Redmoon Theater, RoadWorks Productions, Victory Gardens, Metropolis, Act One Studios, and Acting Studio Chicago. Currently she is adjunct faculty at DePaul University where she teaches Theatrical Collaboration and Columbia College where she teaches Chekhov, Dramaturgy and Text Analysis. Senior has also served as program director and as a dramaturg for Steppenwolf's First Look Repertory of New Work.

ABOUT Next Theatre Company
Next Theatre Company produces socially provocative, artistically adventurous work.
It is Next's vision to become a national destination for audiences and artists who share this vision that theatre can promote awareness and provoke change with more power than any other medium of expression.

Since its founding in 1981 by Harriet Spizziri and Brian Finn, the 167-seat space has been home to over a hundred productions, serving nearly a quarter of a million theatergoers and winning Jeff Awards in nearly every category. The theater's adventurous spirit and great conviction prompted Richard Christiansen of the Chicago Tribune to announce that Next is "a resounding reaffirmation of what faith, dedication and talent can accomplish. It is what distinguished Chicago theatre in its Early Stages more than a quarter century ago, and it is what continues to make Chicago theater so exciting."

The Next serves over 15,000 patrons annually, including students, elderly, and everyone in between. The Next audience includes locAl Evanstonians as well as Chicago and North Shore residents, and they have come to expect artistic excellence in the pursuit of culturally progressive work.

Madagascar, directed by Kimberly Senior, runs January 20 - February 20, 2011 at 927 Noyes Street in Evanston. Previews run Thursday, Jan 20 at 7:30 p.m., Friday, Jan. 21 and Saturday, Jan. 22 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Jan. 23 at 2 p.m. The press/opening night is Monday, January 24 at 7 p.m. and regular performance schedule is Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 5, 12 and 19 have an added 4 p.m. matinee. Tickets are $25 - $40 with subscriber and student discounts available. Tickets may be purchased at nexttheatre.org or by calling 847-475-1875 x2.

Next Theatre Box Office hours are from 12 - 6 p.m. weekdays and 2 hours prior to curtain. The box office is closed on Monday unless a show is scheduled. All tickets are held at will-call until pick-up on the day of performance, unless the tickets have been purchased in person.

The Next Theatre is located inside the Noyes Cultural Arts Center in Evanston, right next to the Noyes street stop on the Evanston "el." Free parking is available in the lot adjacent to the theatre and the Evanston Civic Center.

The Next Theatre is funded in part by The Alphawood Foundation, The Chicago Community Trust, The Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Prince Charitable Trust, Shubert Foundation and the Illinois Arts Council.

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