Greta Oglesby News

TimeLine Theatre Company begins its 2013-14 season with the award-winning play that 'changed American theater forever' (The New York Times). A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, directed by Ron OJ Parson, runs August 28 - November 17, 2013 (previews August 20 - 25) at TimeLine Theatre, 615 W. Wellington Ave, Chicago. Press Opening performance is Wednesday, August 28, 2013 at 7:30 p.m.

TimeLine Theatre Company, dedicated to presenting plays inspired by history that connect to today's social and political issues, has finalized casting for three of the four productions of its 2013-14 season, as the company embarks upon its most ambitious season ever with major revivals (A Raisin in the Sun, The Normal Heart and the musical Juno), a new play (The How and the Why), and a pioneering partnership with the Chicago Commercial Collective and Broadway In Chicago to remount a previous hit show (To Master the Art).

On Saturday night, BEHOLD: A Gala Performance, honoring 50 years of the Guthrie, took place on the theater's Wurtele Thrust Stage before a packed house. The performance featured a glittering array of contributors including actors and artists linked to all aspects of the Guthrie's past and its vision for the future. BEHOLD, the centerpiece of a weekend that captivated the Twin Cities and marked the long and vital relationship between the Guthrie and the community that it calls home, marked the half-century milestone for the flagship of the American regional theater movement that first opened its doors in 1963.

The Guthrie welcomes 17 accomplished local actors and vocalists who have all appeared on the Guthrie's stages during their careers to complete the artist line-up as the vocal ensemble for BEHOLD: A Gala Performance, honoring 50 years of the Guthrie, tonight, June 22, 2013. Accompanied by a 12-piece orchestra helmed by Musical Director Andrew Cooke, the ensemble will perform songs from some of the greatest musicals of all time, in unexpected ways.

The Guthrie today announced that 17 accomplished local actors and vocalists who have all appeared on the Guthrie's stages during their careers will complete the artist line-up as the vocal ensemble for BEHOLD: A Gala Performance, honoring 50 years of the Guthrie, on Saturday, June 22, 2013. Accompanied by a 12-piece orchestra helmed by Musical Director Andrew Cooke, the ensemble will perform songs from some of the greatest musicals of all time, in unexpected ways.

The Guthrie today announced that two-time Tony Award nominee and Obie and Drama Desk Award winner Brian d'Arcy James joins the artist line-up for BEHOLD: A Gala Performance, honoring 50 years of the Guthrie, onSaturday, June 22, 2013. James is slated to sing an original song based on excerpts of text from Hamlet, as previously announced, which is being composed by Tony Award-winning composer Jason Robert Brown specifically for the celebratory evening.

Penumbra Theatre has announced 15 events offered within the 2013-2014 Season. The season marks the 37th year for Penumbra and it will celebrate the staging of plays and the introduction of new events to deepen and enrich the theatre experience. New events include Let's Talk Theatre hosted by Sarah Bellamy, the Claude Edison Purdy Individual Artist Festival, and ALOUD: A Festival of New Work by Third Year Summer Institute Students.

The Guthrie today announced that eight artists who have graced the Guthrie's stages during its 50-year history, from the first season in 1963 to the theater's current season, are slated to participate in the Guthrie's 50th anniversary on June 22, 2013. Exclusive interviews with the legendary Zoe Caldwell and Christopher Plummer will be unveiled as part of a poignant and celebratory multi-media tribute, while stage veterans Barbara Bryne, Peter Michael Goetz and Stephen Yoakam; two graduates of the University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theater B.F.A. Actor Training Program, Matthew Amendt and Valeri Mudek; and an alum of A Guthrie Experience for Actors in Training, Erik Heger; will perform live for the one-night-only event.

The Guthrie Theater today announced that actors Daniel Gerroll, Patricia Kalember and Whoopi Goldberg will appear in BEHOLD: A Gala Performance celebrating the Guthrie's 50th anniversary on June 22, 2013. BEHOLD marks a return to the Guthrie for Gerroll, who last appeared in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing in the 2011-12 season. Kalember, a stage actress best-known for her roles on television's "Thirtysomething" and "Sisters," makes her Guthrie debut alongside husband Gerroll in the performance, which will be the first time the pair will perform together since a 2002 production of Blithe Spirit at the Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor, NY. Goldberg also returns to the signature thrust stage for the first time since her five-night Guthrie engagement in May of 1988.

The Guthrie Theater today announced that stage, film and television actor T.R. Knight will appear in BEHOLD: A Gala Performance celebrating the Guthrie's 50th anniversary on June 22, 2013. Knight will return to the Guthrie--where he first appeared onstage at the age of five and was subsequently featured in productions including Ah, Wilderness! and Amadeus--for the first time since becoming a national presence on Broadway and Off-Broadway stages and in the television program "Grey's Anatomy." He is currently featured as Harold Parrott in the newly released feature film 42 about the life story of Brooklyn Dodgers player Jackie Robinson.

The Guthrie today announced that it has commissioned Tony Award and Drama Desk Award-winning Broadway songwriter and composer Jason Robert Brown to create an original music piece for its 50th-anniversary gala performance BEHOLD. Brown's composition will be based on text excerpts from Shakespeare's Hamlet.

The Guthrie Theater today announced that Oliver Award winner and Tony Award nominee Tracie Bennett, best known for her tour-de-force performance as Judy Garland in End of the Rainbow, will appear in BEHOLD: A Gala Performance celebrating the Guthrie's 50th anniversary on June 22, 2013. Bennett returns to the Guthrie stage following the play's electrifying run at the Belasco Theatre on Broadway and at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles this spring.

The Guthrie today announced that the award-winning male vocal ensemble Cantus will perform an original arrangement of a classic from the American musical canon at BEHOLD: A Gala Performance, celebrating the theater's 50th anniversary, on June 22, 2013. Called the 'premier men's vocal ensemble in the United States' by the classical music publication Fanfare, the nine-member Cantus lends its mix of stunning vocals and engaging performance to musical works that span from the Renaissance to the 21st century.

The Guthrie today announced that the award-winning male vocal ensemble Cantus will perform an original arrangement of a classic from the American musical canon at BEHOLD: A Gala Performance, celebrating the theater's 50th anniversary, on June 22, 2013. Called the "premier men's vocal ensemble in the United States" by the classical music publication Fanfare, the nine-member Cantus lends its mix of stunning vocals and engaging performance to musical works that span from the Renaissance to the 21st century.

One of the most powerful and beloved American plays ever written, A Raisin In the Sun tells the story of the Younger family's struggle for dignity and a better life - and the backlash that erupts when they try to move beyond their oppressive Chicago tenement home.

The Guthrie today announced that actors Greta Oglesby and Sally Wingert will cohost BEHOLD: A Gala Performance. A star-studded performance featuring actors, composers and writers with ties to the Guthrie's past and future, BEHOLD will be held on June 22, 2013, on the Wurtele Thrust Stage and is a part of the Guthrie's 50th season weekend celebration (June 22-23, 2013).