Michael Halberstam to Direct Definition Theatre Company's A DOLL HOUSE

Definition Theatre Company has announced the second show of its 2014/15 season, an adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House. Directed by Writers Theatre Artistic Director Michael Halberstam, A Doll's House runs April 3 - May 3, 2015; the press performance is on Thursday, April 9 at 7:30pm. Performances are scheduled Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30pm and Sundays at 4:00pm at the Chopin Theatre (1543W Division Street). Tickets, $25, are on sale now at definitiontheatre.org.

Michael Halberstam comments, "I am excited to be directing for Definition for very specific reasons. This theatre company was founded at my alma mater, The University of Illinois, in partial response to a dialogue about non-traditional casting during a master class I taught a couple of years ago. I felt that this collaboration gave me the opportunity to both mentor an emergent company engaged in this very conversation while allowing me to learn more about the process in an organic and integral way." He continues, "I have always found that the great off-loop theatre scene is often at its most creative when it has lean resources. As I prepare to expand my toolbox in Glencoe with our new theatre center, it seems like a fine idea to re-engage with core values that drive us to do what we do-namely great words and great actors. I am wildly excited about doing this play with this company at this moment in time and I cannot wait to be in the room."

Ibsen's revolutionary classic comes to the stage with Definition's world premiere adaptation. Nora, a young wife and mother is married to Torvald, a recently promoted bank manager. To the neighbors, their life together seems perfectly content, settled and respectable until a terrible secret from Nora's past comes back to haunt her and she begins to question everything about her marriage, family and life. A Doll's House illustrates how no matter how well-intended your actions are the past will always come to light.

Michael Halberstam (Director) is Artistic Director and founder of Writers Theatre, located on the North Shore of Chicago. For his company he has directed over forty productions. As an actor he spent two seasons with The Stratford Festival in Ontario and performed with Wisdom Bridge, Court Theatre and Chicago Shakespeare Theater. He also taught Shakespeare at The Theatre School DePaul University. Elsewhere he has directed at American Theatre Company, Northlight, Peninsula Players, Illinois Shakespeare, Jean Cocteau Repertory, Drury Lane Oakbrook, 59E59 Theatres, Milwaukee Repertory, Chicago Opera Theater, and the Ravinia Festival. Halberstam received awards from The Chicago Drama League, The Arts and Business Council, Lawyers for the Creative Arts and the 2010 Zelda Fichandler Award (SDC Foundation - recognizing an outstanding director or choreographer who is transforming the regional arts land scape through singular creativity and artistry in theatre). Halberstam directed A Minister's Wife in New York as part Lincoln Center Theater's 2010/11 Season.

De?nition Theatre Company is a Chicago ensemble-based theatre founded by six graduates of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Featuring a multi-ethnic core companionship of actors, Definition strives to artistically reflect the myriad of modern America to inspire and engage the communities it represents through contemporary and classical theatrical works. Our mission is to tell language-driven, relationship-oriented, thought-provoking socially relevant stories.

De?nition has been afforded the opportunity to create work that re?ects its unique voice. It shared the words of burgeoning playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney in his poetic story of love, reunion, redemption and loss in The Brothers Size; explored the complexities of family, acceptance, and emotional release in Lynn Nottage's Fabulation; grooved with the late poet-legend Amiri Baraka's whirlwind telling of a chance meeting on a train, delving into intricacies of sex, race, and assimilation in Dutchman and staged its first world premiere production, Genesis, written by ensemble member Mercedes White and inspired by Lorraine Hansberry's iconic A Raisin in the Sun

Ensemble members include Aurora Adachi-Winter, Kelson Michael McAuliffe, Jessica Dean Turner, Julian Parker, Tyrone Phillips and Mercedes White. Artistic Advisory Board members include director May Adrales, Steppenwolf ensemble member Alana Arenas, actress Shannon Cochran, casting director Erica Daniels, actor Brandon Dirden, actor Jason Dirden, artistic director Michael Halberstam, director Pam Mackinnon, professor JW Morrissette, director Ron OJ Parson and professor/lighting designer Kathy Perkins. Tyrone Phillips is the Artistic Director and Neel McNeill is the Managing Director. For additional information, visit definitiontheatre.org and facebook.com/definitiontheatrecompany.

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