HEDDA GABLER to be Presented at The Artistic Home in February

The Artistic Home will present the Chicago premiere of Mark O’Rowe’s adaptation of Ibsen’s HEDDA GABLER. This pioneering work of a woman trapped by societal expectations has sparked debate and intrigue for over a hundred years. Ibsen’s classic gets a refreshing update in O’Rowe’s translation. The Irish Times said “O’Rowe’s superb and subtle new version is similarly contained, finessing Ibsenite naturalism into meticulously wrought, unfussy exchanges.”
 
HEDDA GABLER will be directed by Monica Payne, longtime Artistic Home collaborator, and Associate Professor of Acting and Directing at Tulane University in New Orleans. Payne says, “this play feels as prescient now as it did when it was first performed in 1891. A woman in a loveless marriage, wanting to break free from society's rigid, brutal expectations. Hedda is bold, strong-willed, and unable to bear the small life that she is required to live.”
 
A debate over Hedda Gabler has spanned generations.  Katy Hayes of the Irish Independent, in her review of O’Rowe’s translation, called Hedda “the most intriguing female character ever created for the stage.”
 
The cast, announced today, includes Jeff Award winner Brookelyn Hébert* in the title role of Hedda. Jeff Award winner Todd Wojcik* will perform as Hedda’s husband Jorge Tesman. Judge Brack will be played by John Mossman*, Jeff Award winner for his direction of The Artistic Home’s REQUIEM FOR A HEAVYWEIGHT. The cast also includes Laura Coleman* as Berte, Ariana Lopez* as Thea, Dan Evashevski as Lovborg, and Jeff Award nominee Lynne Baker as Aunt Julle. Understudies will include Elizabeth Stam (u/s Thea), Delia Ford (u/s Berte, Aunt Julle), Martin Tebo (u/s Tessman), and others to be named.