American Theater Company Presents 'Celebrity Row'

AMERICAN THEATER COMPANY PRESENTS

THE CHICAGO PREMIERE OF CELEBRITY ROW

IN A NEW VERSION BY Itamar Moses

 DIRECTED BY David Cromer

 

American Theater Company (ATC) continues its ambitious Season 24 with the Chicago Premiere of Celebrity Row written by Itamar Moses and directed by David Cromer. The production will run October 16- November 9, 2008 at American Theater Company, 1909 W Byron St, Chicago.  

Fact: For a time in the late 1990s, Colorado Supermax, the most secure prison in America, housed in neighboring cells: Latin Kings Leader Luis Felipe, WTC Bomber Ramzi Yousef, Unabomber Ted Kaczynski, and Oklahoma City Bomber Timothy McVeigh.

Fiction: When a young lawyer defends the civil liberties of one of the country's most notorious criminals locked up on the infamous Celebrity Row, her idealism stands face to face with a criminal genius who, along with his neighbors, has a plan of his own. 

"It's kind of the perfect theatrical storm," says playwright Itamar Moses. "Chicago has maybe the most exciting theatre scene in America; David Cromer is a thrilling collaborator; and Celebrity Row is probably my most overtly political play, an attempt to speak directly to issues that are increasingly relevant, in the election, and in the culture generally, which is a somewhat rare thing to be able to do in the arts."

Playwright Itamar Moses is one of the most-produced contemporary playwrights in the country this season; his play Yellowjackets premiered at Berkeley Rep in August and The Four of Us recently opened in Los Angeles after a run at Manhattan Theatre Club in March. Back, Back, Back will also run this year at San Diego's Old Globe and at Manhattan Theater Club. Celebrity Row premiered at Portland Center Stage in 2006 and now makes its Chicago Premiere at ATC in an all-new version.

"Itamar Moses makes a statement in Celebrity Row that encompasses the play's essence: 'Believers are strong. Unbelievers are weak,'" says director David Cromer. "This plays shows us that people who passionately believe in their position wield incredible power. It demonstrates that there is a strength in conviction that can make the world beautiful, but can also make the world terrible."

Cromer comes to Celebrity Row after a string of lauded productions, including Our Town, which returns to Chicago this January, and the Off-Broadway, Lucille Lortel award-winning The Adding Machine (Outstanding Director, Outstanding Musical).

"Itamar Moses’ Celebrity Row embraces the core question of ATC’s mission head on, examining critical issues about America's justice system and rights reserved for every citizen.  The epic scope of this piece combined with its electric shifts in tone and story come from the imagination of an American artist who wants to make this country a better place, while entertaining and intriguing an audience,“ says Artistic Director PJ Paparelli.  “We are thrilled to be the matchmaker for theatre geniuses Itamar Moses and David Cromer. Cromer continues to break new ground while religiously returning us to the basics of great theatre: imaginative and clear storytelling told through the most truthful and passionate acting. Cromer continually inspires his performers to cross their comfort zone into greatness."

Celebrity Row's cast features Jeff Award-winning Larry Neumann, Jr., Emmy-nominated Kelli Simpkins, ATC Ensemble Member Joe Minoso, and Usman Ally and Chris McLinden.

The designers are Josh Schmidt and Andy Krumeich (composition/sound design), Keith Parham (Lighting Design), Alison Siple (Costume Design), and Andre LaSalle (Scenic Design and Properties). The Stage Manager is Helen Lattyak.

David Cromer (Director) Recent credits include Picnic at Writers Theatre, Our Town at The Hypocrites, Perfect Mendacity for Steppenwolf First Look Rep, and Adding Machine at the Minetta Lane Theatre in New York (2008 OBIE and Lortel Awards for Direction). Other Chicago credits include Come Back Little Sheba (Shattered Globe), Adding Machine (Next), The Cider House Rules (Famous Door, co-directed w/ Marc Grapey), The Dazzle and Golden Boy (Steppenwolf), The Price and Booth (Writers Theatre), Angels in America (The Journeymen), MOJO and The Hot L Baltimore (Mary-Arrchie), and Journey’s End (Seanachai). New York and regional credits include Orson’s Shadow (Barrow Street Theatre in NYC, Alley Theatre in Houston, Williamstown, Steppenwolf), The Clean House (Alley Theatre), and The Grapes of Wrath (Ford’s Theatre in Washington DC).  Later this season he will direct The Farnsworth Invention and The SantaLand Diaries at the Alley and The Glass Menagerie at Kansas City Rep. He has received Jeff awards for his direction of Angels in America, The Price, and The Cider House Rules.

Itamar Moses (Playwright) is the author of the full-length plays Outrage, Bach at Leipzig, Celebrity Row, The Four of Us, Yellowjackets, Back Back Back, and Completeness, and various short plays and one-acts. He is presently adapting Jonathan Lethem’s The Fortress of Solitude. His work has appeared Off-Broadway and elsewhere in New York, at regional theatres across the country and in Canada, and has been published by Faber & Faber, Heinemann Press, Playscripts Inc., Samuel French, Inc., and Vintage. Moses has received new play commissions from The McCarter Theater, Playwrights Horizons, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, The Wilma Theater, Manhattan Theatre Club, and South Coast Rep Repertory. Moses holds an MFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU and has taught playwriting at Yale and NYU. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, MCC Playwrights Coalition, Naked Angels Mag 7, and is a New York Theatre Workshop Usual Suspect. He was born in Berkeley, California, and now lives in Brooklyn, New York.

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