First Folio Announces 15th Anniversary Season, Begins With TEA AT FIVE

Tickets and subscriptions are now on sale for First Folio Theatre's 2011-2012 season, celebrating their 15th Anniversary. Opening this special season is the one-woman show based on the life of Katherine Hepburn, Tea at Five. This will be followed by the Chicago premiere of Sean Grennan's newest comedy Making God Laugh. Continuing First Folio's reputation for spine-tinglers with The Turn of the Screw will complete the indoor portion of the season. The annual summer Shakespeare-under-the-stars will consist of The Merchant Project, a special two month long series of events centering around Shakespeare's most controversial play, The Merchant of Venice. Season subscriptions and individual tickets may be purchased by calling the box office at 630-986-8067 or online at www.firstfolio.org. Ticket prices range from $22-37, and subscription packages begin as low as $52.

Oak Brook-based First Folio Theatre begins its 15th Anniversary celebration with a chance to spend an evening with Katharine Hepburn, Hollywood's most private celebrity, in Tea at Five. This one-actress show, by Matthew Lombardo, takes place in the living room of Hepburn's New England estate. With act one set in 1938 and act two in 1983, the show gives audiences an intimate look at two major periods in the life of the feisty, aristocratic, and unrepentant star of such cinematic treasures as The Philadelphia Story, The African Queen, and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. Melissa Carlson stars in this one-woman show that brings Hollywood's greatest legend to life. "A fascinating character study of an actress who was every bit as colorful as the characters she portrayed." (Pioneer Press)

The anniversary merriment continues with the laugh filled Making God Laugh, the latest comedy from First Folio's own Sean Grennan, the playwright behind such comic masterpieces as Married Alive, A Dog's Life, and Another Night Before Christmas. Grennan has created that rare play which manages to be absolutely genuine, moving, and deeply funny all at once, providing a portrait of a family seen in four holidays over thirty years. Featuring Kevin McKillip and David Rice, this comedy proves that you can go home again...but is it a good idea?

The indoor portion of the subscription series finishes with Jeffrey Hatcher's brilliant adaptation of Henry James' The Turn of the Screw. A young governess journeys to a lonely English manor house to care for two recently orphaned children. As the story unfolds, however, she begins to see the specters of the former governess and her lover haunting the children. As the young governess strives to stop the fiends from taking the children away, one frightening question tortures the would-be heroine: Are the ghosts real, or merely a product of her own fevered imagination? First Folio associates Nick Sandys and Melanie Keller play all of the characters in the show the Boston Globe calls "a portrait of psychological vampirism..." and the NY Times says is, "A dazzling act of the imagination. Mr. Hatcher has pushed James' clever turn to its furthest degree."

Closing the season with its annual Shakespeare-under-the-Stars, First Folio will present The Merchant of Venice. Shakespeare's most controversial play is a complex tale of hatred, love, revenge, and betrayal. Set in 16th C. Venice, this production will be the central element of a two-month long series of events that examine the Bard's dark tale and the effect it has had not only on future dramas, but on all of society.

Working under the title of "The Merchant Project", the core series of events include bringing in four other theater companies to present staged readings of alternate versions of Shylock's tale. The companies and plays include:
· The Yiddish National Theater of New York  presenting Shylock and His Daughter, by Maurice Schwartz. This English translation of a Yiddish theater work tells the same tale as Shakespeare - but from Shylock's perspective.
· Teatro Vista (Chicago's only fully professional Latino theater) presenting The Merchant of Santa Fe, by Ramon Flores and Lynn Butler. Set in late 17th C. Santa Fe, then a frontier town in colonial New Spain, the story revolves around the money lender Don Saul, who claims to be a converso, (a Jew who has converted to Christianity), but who is really still practicing Judaism in secret.
· Silk Road Theatre (which showcases playwrights of Asian, Middle Eastern, and Mediterranean backgrounds) presenting Merchant on Venice by Shishir Kurup. Set among the South Asian community of Culver City, California, on Venice Blvd., in this version the Shylock character and is a Muslim who lends money to the predominantly Hindu residents of the area.
· Signal Ensemble (one of Chicago's hottest young theater companies) presenting Christopher Marlowe's The Jew of Malta. This dark tale, which experts cite as one of the inspirations for Shakespeare's tale, is a satiric comedy in which Catholics and Turks come off as no less venal than the Jew, who at least is not a hypocrite.
In conjunction with the management of Mayslake Hall, the Merchant Project will also feature a series of lectures, concerts, and art exhibits revolving around The Merchant of Venice. A full calendar of events will be released after the first of the year.

All performances take place on the grounds of the Mayslake Peabody Estate, which is owned and operated by the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County. Indoor shows are presented in Mayslake Hall, a 30-room Tudor Revival style mansion originally built by coal baron Francis S. Peabody. Completed in 1922, the mansion is on the National Registry of Historic Places. Located at 31st St. and Rt. 83 in Oak Brook, First Folio is easy to get to from either the East-West Tollway (I-88) or the Stevenson Expressway (I-55). Free parking is available on the grounds.

First Folio Theatre is supported in part by grants from the Illinois Arts Council, a State Agency, the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, and the DuPage Community Foundation.

2011-2012 SEASON SCHEDULE

Tea at Five by Matthew Lombardo,
Previews: Sept. 14, 15, 16 @ 8:00
Opening Night: Sept. 17 @ 8:00
Runs: September 14 ~ October 16
Performance Times: Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays @ 8:00; Sunday matinees @ 3:00

Making God Laugh by Sean Grennan
Previews: Feb. 1, 2, 3 @ 8:00
Opening Night: Feb. 4 @ 8:00
Runs: February 1 ~ March 4
Performance Times: Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays @ 8:00; Sunday matinees @ 3:00

The Turn of the Screw by Jeffrey Hatcher, from the story by Henry James
Previews: March 28, 29, 30 @ 8:00
Opening Night: March 31 @ 8:00
Runs: March 28 ~ April 29
Performance Times: Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays @ 8:00; Sunday matinees @ 3:00

The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare
Previews: July 11, 12, 13 @ 8:15
Opening Night: July 14 @ 8:15
Runs: July 11 ~ August 19
Performance Times: Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, & Sundays @ 8:15

Tickets: $20-37 adults, $26-30 Students/Seniors (Previews $22)
Subscriptions: $51-99

Season subscriptions and individual tickets may be purchased by calling the box office at 630-986-8067 or online at www.firstfolio.org.

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