Raven Theatre’s 2012/2013 Season to Include THE BIG KNIFE, BOY GETS GIRL and More

Producing Artistic Director Michael Menendian and Co-Artistic Director JoAnn Montemurro announce Raven Theatre's 30th anniversary 2012/2013 season, which includes The Big Knife by Clifford Odets, Boy Gets Girl, by Chicago playwright, Rebecca Gilman; A Soldier's Play by Charles Fuller and Brighton Beach Memoirs (rights pending) by Neil Simon.

 

Performances take place at Raven Theatre, 6157 N. Clark

Tickets are $20 during previews, $40 on opening nights, $36 all regular performances

($5 off the regular ticket price for students/seniors)

 

Subscription packages are: Preview package for $56

Flexible package for $88 (valid anytime)

Additional benefits of subscribing include free ticket exchanges, priority seating, free concessions, special friends discounts and an exclusive invitation to a closed rehearsal of each production

 

Free parking is provided in a lot adjacent to the theatre; additional street parking is available

Raven Theatre is handicapped accessible

Tickets/information: www.raventheatre.com or 773-338-2177

 

Quoting Co-Artistic Director Michael Menendian, "Our theme for our 30^th anniversary season is Power Plays, focusing on projects that deal with dominance. In the pursuit of power each project clearly identifies the struggle of maintaining and losing control or wresting it from others."

 

Written by Clifford Odets

directed by Michael Menendian

All performances in Raven's East Theatre

Previews: Tuesday, September 11 through Friday, September 14, 2012 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday September 16 at 3:00 p.m.

Opening Night: Monday, September 17, 2012 at 7:30 p.m.

Performances continue Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 3:00 p.m.

"Out at Raven" performance: Friday, September 21, 2012

Performances continue through November 11, 2012

 

Based on Odets own caustic experience in 1950's Hollywood, this is the story of Charlie Castle, a top movie star and idealist, whose years of artistic and moral compromise for the sake of a Hollywood career have resulted in the slow destruction of his personality. When efforts to force his hand with a studio contract turn sinister, Charlie is faced with the biggest decision of his life.

 

Clifford Odets was the leading dramatist of the theater of social protest in the United States during the 1930s. In 1931 he joined the influential Group Theatre as one of its original members. Waiting for Lefty (1935), a plea for labor unionism, was his first great success. His other notable works include Awake and Sing, Golden Boy, and The Country Girl. He moved to Hollywood in the late 1930s to write for motion pictures, including the screenplay for the acclaimed, Sweet Smell of Success (1957).

 

Director Michael Menendian is a founding member and the Producing Artistic Director of Raven Theatre, where he has directed and designed sets for many productions, earning numerous Joseph Jefferson and After Dark awards. Along with JoAnn Montemurro, Menendian received a 2007/2008 Jeff Award for Outstanding Contribution to Chicago Theatre and he recently received a 2010 Jeff nomination for his direction of Raven's Death of a Salesman. Other productions include Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Hedda Gabler, Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train, The Night of the Iguana, Dancing at Lughnasa, Golden Boy, Marvin's Room, A Streetcar Named Desire, A View from the Bridge, and Glengarry Glen Ross.

 

Written by Rebecca Gilman

directed by Cody Estle

All performances in Raven's West Theatre

Previews: Tuesday, January 15 through Friday, January 18, 2013 at 8:00 p.m. and Saturday, January 19 at 4:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.

Opening Nights: Sunday, January 20 at 7:00 p.m. and Monday, January 21 at 7:30 p.m.

Performances continue Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. and Sundays at 3:30 p.m.

"Out at Raven" performance: Friday, January 25 at 8:00 p.m.

Performances continue through March 2, 2013

 

When smart and sophisticated Theresa Bedell realizes that her new acquaintance, Tony, isn't the man of her dreams, her life soon turns into a living nightmare.

 

Rebecca Gilman is a Chicago playwright whose works include Spinning Into Butter, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, and My Sin and Nothing More. Her play The Glory of Living was a finalist for the 2002 Pulitzer Prize. Boy Gets Girl was included in Time Magazine's List of the Best Plays and Musicals of the Decade.

 

Cody Estle is very happy to be returning to Raven Theatre after directing Dating Walter Dante last season. Other Chicago directing credits include The Teacher with The Neapolitans Theatre Company and The Tooth of Crime with City Wind Theatre Company. Cody is a graduate of Columbia College Chicago.

 

Written by Charles Fuller

directed by Michael Menendian

All performances in Raven's East Theatre

Previews: Tuesday, February 12 through Saturday, February 16, 2013 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, February 17 at 3:00 p.m.

Opening Night: Monday, February 18 at 7:30 p.m.

Performances continue Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 3:00 p.m.

"Out at Raven" performance: Friday, February 22 at 7:30 p.m.

Performances continue through March 30, 2013

 

Set on a black U.S. Army base in Louisiana near the end of WWII, this gripping, Pulitzer Prize winning military drama about racism, self-hatred, humanism, and personal responsibility, tracks the investigation of a murdered black sergeant which turns out to have more to do with the character of the victim than the identity of the killer. The play's original production won the Outer Critics Circle Award, the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award, the Obie Award, as well as the Edgar Allen Poe Award for Best Mystery.

 

Charles Fuller is a playwright and novelist who served in the U.S. Army, fighting in both Japan and South Korea, and later co-founded the Afro-American Arts theater in his hometown, Philadelphia. Fuller first received critical acclaim for his play, The Perfect Party. He won an Obie award for The Zooman and the Sign and the Pulitzer Prize for drama for A Soldier's Play. Other works include The Brownsville Raid, The Village: A Party and the 2010 novel Snatch: The Adventures of David and Me.

 

by Neil Simon

directed by Cody Estle

All performances in Raven's East Theatre

Previews: Tuesday, April 30 - Saturday May 4, 2013 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, May 5 at 3:00 p.m.

Opening Night: Monday, May 6 at 7:30 p.m.

Performances continue Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 3:00 p.m.

"Out at Raven" performance: Friday, May 10, 2013 at 7:30 p.m.

Performances continue through June 29, 2013

 

Brighton Beach Memoirs follows Eugene Jerome and his family, fighting the hard times and sometimes each other-with laughter, tears, and love. With a marvelous sense of humor, Eugene shares the hardships of puberty, sexual fantasy, and living the life of a poor boy in a crowded house. Based on Simon's memories of growing up in Brooklyn in the years just before World War II, Brighton Beach Memoirs is the first of a trilogy including Biloxi Blues and Broadway Bound.

 

Neil Simon is a Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning playwright. Presenting human weaknesses in an honest and uniquely comedic way, Simon is best known for mastering the art of making serious issues funny. Other works include The Odd Couple, Lost in Yonkers,Barefoot in the Park and Laughter on the 23rd Floor.