Northwestern University Announces Upcoming TIC 2009-10 Season

The Theatre and Interpretation Center (TIC) at Northwestern University, will launch the 2009-10 season this fall with a star-studded classic comedy and a musical exploration of a crisis of faith, as well as a series of solo performances presented by the department of performance studies and the Dance Program's annual Fall Dance Concert.

To open its 79th season, TIC presents Joseph Kesselring's classic comedy "Arsenic and Old Lace" (Oct. 24 through Nov. 8) at the Ethel M. Barber Theater. A macabre farce, "Arsenic" will be directed by Tony Award-winning director Frank Galati. It will feature Northwestern alumnus and Victory Gardens Theatre founder and artistic director Dennis Zacek, Chicago actor John Mohrlein, and award-winning Northwestern acting faculty Cindy Gold and Mary Poole.

The TIC season will continue with five performances of Leonard Bernstein's "MASS: A Theatre Piece for Singers, Players and Dancers" (Nov. 12 to 15), originally commissioned by Jacqueline Kennedy for the opening of The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Directed by Joseph Jefferson ("Jeff") Award-winning Dominic Missimi, "MASS" will be presented for one weekend only in a richly theatrical staging at Cahn Auditorium. The production will feature new lyrics by Stephen Schwartz in consultation with Jamie Bernstein.

Mid-month, the department of performance studies will present "Emergency," a one-man performance by visiting artist and Obie Award-winning actor Daniel Beaty (Nov. 17) and "Delta Dandy" (Nov. 20 and 21), a solo performance by visiting artist Sharon Bridgforth. The latter is part of the department's "solo/black/woman" performance series. The Dance Program will present the New Movement Dance Project's annual Fall 2009 Dance Concert (Nov. 19 to 22) featuring student choreography.

All events are open to the public and will take place on Northwestern's Evanston campus. Ticket information for each event follows each performance listing, as noted below.

Subscriptions for the 2009-10 Mainstage Season are on sale now through the TIC Box Office at (847) 491-7282 or online at www.tic.northwestern.edu.

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2009 THEATRE EVENTS

"Arsenic and Old Lace," by Joseph Kesselring, " 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24; 2 and 8 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 25; 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 29; 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 30; 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 31; 2 and 8 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 1; 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 5; 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 6; 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 7; and 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 8, Ethel M. Barber Theater, 30 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston campus. A macabre farce, Joseph Kesselring's play centers on two elderly sisters, famous in their Brooklyn neighborhood both for their charity and their befuddled nephew who believes he is Teddy Roosevelt. But the sisters have a secret -- a secret that is deadly for the lonely old gentlemen who appear on their doorstep looking for lodging. Under the direction of Tony Award-winning Frank Galati and with costume design by Jeff Award-winning VirGil Johnson, this black comedy will feature Northwestern alumnus and Victory Gardens Theatre founder and artistic director Dennis Zacek, Chicago actor John Mohrlein, and award-winning Northwestern acting faculty Cindy Gold and Mary Poole as the sinister and hilarious sisters. Ticket prices are $25 for the general public; $22 for seniors 65 and older, Northwestern faculty and staff and area educators and administrators; and $10 or full-time students. Single tickets may be purchased through the TIC Box Office at (847) 491-7282 or online at www.tic.northwestern.edu.

"MASS: A Theatre Piece for Singers, Players and Dancers," by Leonard Bernstein, 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 12; 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 13; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 14; and 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 15, Cahn Auditorium, 600 Emerson St., Evanston campus. Commissioned by Jacqueline Kennedy for the opening of The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 1971, "MASS" was composed by Leonard Bernstein based on the Tridentine Mass of the Roman Catholic Church. Featuring an eclectic mix of rock, jazz, Broadway, blues, opera and hymns, "MASS" uses this large-scale musical canvas to examine one celebrant's crisis of faith. Jeff Award-winning director Dominic Missimi first staged the production on Northwestern's campus in 1991, describing the piece as "a work that defies categorization." Presented for one weekend only in a richly theatrical staging and featuring new lyrics by Stephen Schwartz in consultation with Jamie Bernstein, "MASS" remains as artistically and socially relevant today as when it premiered almost 40 years ago. Ticket prices are $25 for the general public; $22 for seniors 65 and older, Northwestern faculty and staff and area educators and administrators; and $10 or full-time students. Single tickets may be purchased through the TIC Box Office at (847) 491-7282 or online at www.tic.northwestern.edu.

NOVEMBER 2009 PERFORMANCE STUDIES EVENTS

"Emergency" by Daniel Beaty, 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 17, Hal and Martha Hyer-Wallis Theater, Theatre and Interpretation Center, 1949 Campus Drive, Evanston campus. A one-man performance by visiting artist Daniel Beaty, "Emergency" explores the impact of centuries of slavery and asks questions about human freedom. Beaty, an Obie Award-winning actor, portrays a cast of 40 characters, including a homeless man, a scientist, a Republican business executive, and a street vendor and their responses to a slave ship that rises out of the Hudson River in front of the Statue of Liberty. Beaty melds slam poetry and song in this stirring, critically acclaimed commentary on modern black life. Admission is free.

"Delta Dandy," by Sharon Bridgforth, 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 20, and 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 21, Annie May Swift Studio Space, 1920 Campus Drive, Evanston campus. Part of the department of performance studies' "solo/black/woman" performance series, visiting artist Sharon Bridgforth's "Delta Dandy" is a cacophony of monologue, chant, memory, dance and song. "Delta Dandy" asks how collective grief and trauma inform the African-American experience. What must a soul do to heal? What is the traditional role of queers in ritual? A re-imagining of sacred concerts and tone poems that jazz icons Duke Ellington and Mary Lou Williams innovated, "Delta Dandy" is ritual jazz theatre conjuring transformation and love. Admission is free.

NOVEMBER 2009 DANCE EVENTS

Fall 2009 Dance Concert, 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 19; 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 20; 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 21; and 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 22, Marjorie Ward Marshall Dance Center, Ballroom Studio, 10 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston campus. The Fall Dance Concert is an annual performance of student choreography produced by Northwestern's New Movement Project, a student group that works closely with the University's Dance Program to produce student work and host workshops and residencies with local and national artists. Student choreographers are selected by a panel of peers and dance faculty to create original and artistically mature premiere works. For more information about this event, e-mail michaelafederspiel2007@u.northwestern.edu. Tickets are $12 for the general public and $5 for children and full-time students. Tickets are available through the Theatre and Interpretation Center Box Office at (847) 491-7282.

NORTHWESTERN NEWS: www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/