JoAnn Montemurro News

The Jeff Awards Committee today announced 118 nominations in 24 categories for the 42nd Annual Non-Equity Jeff Awards for productions that opened between April 1, 2014, and March 31, 2015. The Non-Equity Awards honor excellence in Chicago theatres not under a union contract. Jeff judges attended opening nights of 133 productions offered by 56 Non-Equity producing organizations. The Jeff Committee recommended 62 of those shows, making them eligible for Non-Equity Jeff Award nominations. Of the 62 Jeff Recommended productions, 46 received nominations, representing 23 theatre companies.

Raven Theatre Company's exploration of Horton Foote will continue with its free reading of Foote's Courtship, the fifth of nine plays in the writer's The Orphans' Home Cycle, a series of plays based on the life of Foote's father between the years 1902 and 1928.

Following its artistic and popular successes of the past 12 months, which included multiple Jeff nominations for The Playboy of the Western World, praise for the rarely produced Vieux Carre by Tennessee Williams, universal acclaim for All My Sons and the Chicago premiere of Horton Foote's Dividing the Estate, Raven Theatre will produce a five-show subscription season for the first time in the company's 33-year history. Three of the subscription-season plays will be performed on the company's 140-seat East Stage and two will be played in its intimate 60-seat studio, the West Stage.

Raven Theatre Company's exploration of Horton Foote will continue with its free reading of Foote's Courtship, the fifth of nine plays in the writer's The Orphans' Home Cycle, a series of plays based on the life of Foote's father between the years 1902 and 1928.

Noted Chicago playwright Susan Lieberman will join Raven Theatre's [Working Title] new play development series with a fully staged workshop production of her play Netta at Ninety, to be directed by Michael Ryczek and performed on the Raven Theatre East Stage Monday, February 23 through Wednesday, February 25. Curtain times for all three performances will be 7:30 pm.

Dividing the Estate, a 2008-09 Tony Award nominee for Best Original Play and Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role (Hallie Foote), can finally be seen in Chicago in Raven Theatre's production, which began preview performances on Tuesday, January 27.

Hallie Foote, actress and daughter of the late playwright Horton Foote, visited the Raven Theatre on Tuesday, January 13 to observe a rehearsal of Horton Foote's Dividing the Estate and again on the 14th for a public interview to discuss her father's work. The January 14th interview was conducted by Goodman Theatre Resident Artistic Associate Henry Wishcamper. Scroll down for photos from Foote's visit!

Raven Theatre's production of Dividing the Estate, by the Pulitzer Prize and two-time Academy award winning playwright Horton Foote, will feature a cast of 13 actors from many of Chicago's most celebrated theater companies, according to Michael Menendian, Raven's co-Artistic Director. Foote's comedy-drama, which focuses on the feuds and disputes among members of a wealthy Texas family whose fortunes have declined, was his last new play to be presented on Broadway. That 2008 production was nominated for Tony Awards for Best Original Play and Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play (Hallie Foote). Raven Theatre, who produced Foote's The Trip to Bountiful in 2013, will be the first company to bring this acclaimed script to a Chicago stage. Raven associate artistic director Cody Estle (Raven's Brighton Beach Memoirs and Vieux Carre, The Artistic Home's Watch on the Rhine, Mary-Arrchie's Uncle Bob) will direct.

Arthur Miller's intense drama, raising questions of morality and the limits of family ties, promises to be a special opening production for Raven's 2014-2015 season. Headlining the cast will be Chuck Spencer and JoAnn Montemurro as Joe and Kate Keller. These two Raven ensemble members, who earned accolades for their work as Willy and Linda Loman in Miller's Death of a Salesman and as Victor and Esther Franz in his The Price, will play Joe and Kate Keller. Raven first produced All My Sons in 1990 and they appeared in that production as well, playing George Deever and Ann Deever.

Raven Theatre Co-Artistic Directors Michael Menendian and JoAnn Montemurro have announced the appointment of Cody Estle as Associate Artistic Director. Estle, a Raven ensemble member, has directed five of the theatre company's productions over the past three seasons, including Dating Walter Dante, Boy Gets Girl, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Good Boys and True and Vieux Carre'. He is set to direct the company's Chicago premiere of Horton Foote's Dividing the Estate in January.

Raven Theatre is the recipient of a $100,000 gift from a single donor, Executive Director Kelli Strickland announced today - the largest gift the theatre has received for general operations. The donor, who chooses to remain anonymous, is a Chicagoan who regularly attends performances of all types of performing arts produced by institutions of varying sizes. In making this contribution, the donor said, 'It reflects my belief in general that storefront theaters are an important aspect of the Chicago cultural environment and in particular that Raven Theatre is an integral part of that community. In my judgment, Raven Theatre has been taking the kind of steps that will move it forward to the next level in providing superb theatrical productions and education. I trust this contribution will help the theater reach that level more rapidly than it otherwise would have.'

Arthur Miller's intense drama, raising questions of morality and the limits of family ties, promises to be a special opening production for Raven's 2014-2015 season. Headlining the cast will be Chuck Spencer and JoAnn Montemurro as Joe and Kate Keller. These two Raven ensemble members, who earned accolades for their work as Willy and Linda Loman in Miller's Death of a Salesman and as Victor and Esther Franz in his The Price, will play Joe and Kate Keller. Raven first produced All My Sons in 1990 and they appeared in that production as well, playing George Deever and Ann Deever.

Raven's revival of this later play by Tennessee Williams that was 'rediscovered' in acclaimed productions in London and New York is an autobiographical play that Williams first began writing around the time he started The Glass Menagerie. It concerns a young writer who in 1938 moves to a ramshackle French Quarter rooming house that's home to an assortment of desperate and eccentric characters. The New York Times said Vieux Carre is, along with The Glass Menagerie, Williams' other autobiographical memory play, one of two 'critical bookends' to Williams' career. Scroll down to see a trailer for the production!

Raven's revival of this later play by Tennessee Williams that was 'rediscovered' in acclaimed productions in London and New York is autobiographical play that Williams first began writing around the time he started The Glass Menagerie. It concerns a young writer who in 1938 moves to a ramshackle French Quarter rooming house that's home to an assortment of desperate and eccentric characters. The New York Times said Vieux Carre is, along with The Glass Menagerie, Williams' other autobiographical memory play, one of two 'critical bookends' to Williams' career. Scroll down to see some pictures of the cast in action!

Complete casting has been announced for Raven's revival of this later play by Tennessee Williams that was 'rediscovered' in acclaimed productions in London and New York. An autobiographical play that Williams first began writing around the time he started The Glass Menagerie, it concerns a young writer who in 1938 moves to a ramshackle French Quarter rooming house that's home to an assortment of desperate and eccentric characters. The New York Times said Vieux Carre is, along with The Glass Menagerie, Williams' other autobiographical memory play, one of two 'critical bookends' to Williams' career.

Raven Theatre's 32nd Season, under the theme 'Family Business,' will include four plays exploring the nature of family ties, according to Producing Artistic Director Michael Menendian and Co-Artistic Director JoAnn Montemurro.

Raven Theatre will present THE PLAYBOY OF THE WESTERN WORLD, by J.M. Synge, and directed by Michael Menedian. The show will begin previews on Feb. 4, and continue through Feb. 9, with ticket prices at $22. Opening night is set for Feb. 10, and the show wil run through April 5, Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 pm, Sundays at 3 pm Tickets $36, $15 for students, teachers and military personnel, $5 discount for seniors

Everyone knows Scrooge and Mr. Potter, but can the holiday spirit work its magic on everyone's favorite man of mystery? Now in a fully realized stage version, appriopriate for audience ages 10 and up, Raven Theatre's Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Christmas Goose follows Holmes and Watson as they investigate the mysterious theft and even more mysterious discovery of the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle. The story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has been adapted for the stage by Raven Theatre's co-Artistic Director Michael Menendian and John Weagly. With a dash of Christmas intrigue and a heap of good will, Raven's holiday offering is fun for the whole family!

Raven Theatre, whose production of Horton Foote's The Trip to Bountiful just finished a successful run, will stage the Chicago premiere of Foote's Dividing the Estate next season. The announcement was made today by Michael Menendian and JoAnn Montemurro, co-Artistic Directors of the company.

Everyone knows Scrooge and Mr. Potter, but can the holiday spirit work its magic on everyone's favorite man of mystery? Now in a fully realized stage version, appriopriate for audience ages 10 and up, Raven Theatre's Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Christmas Goose follows Holmes and Watson as they investigate the mysterious theft and even more mysterious discovery of the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle. The story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has been adapted for the stage by Raven Theatre's co-Artistic Director Michael Menendian and John Weagly. With a dash of Christmas intrigue and a heap of good will, Raven's holiday offering is fun for the whole family!