Photo Flash: WINTER at Rivendell Tackles Difficult Subjects of Dementia and Suicide

As previously announced on broadwayworld, Rivendell Theatre Ensemble (RTE), Chicago's only Equity theatre dedicated to producing new work with women at the core, announces the world premiere of Winter by Julie Jensen. The production, co-directed by RTE members Megan Carney and Mark Ulrich, runs January 7 - February 11, 2017, at Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, 5779 N. Ridge Avenue in Chicago. The press opening is Monday, January 16, 2017 at 7:00pm.

Winter features Barbara E. Robertson (Annis), Sean Cooper (Roddy), Steve Haggard (Evan), Martasia Jones (LD) and Dan Flannery (Robeck).

Winter was inspired by ROBECK, IN ENDING LIFE: Ethics and the Way We Die by Margaret Pabst Battin © 2005 Oxford University Press.

Winter by nationally acclaimed Utah playwright Julie Jensen is an alluring world premiere about one of the most controversial topics in America. Co-directed by RTE members Megan Carney and Mark Ulrich, Winter tells the story of Annis, a retired professor and poet, who is on a road she knows too well. She is slowly losing herself to dementia seeks to end her life on her own terms at a time when she can still recognize herself. Her husband and she have always had a pact to go off together, when the time is right. But he has his work to finish and is not ready. When her sons come home for Thanksgiving, one of them decides something must be done. Inspired by by distinguished author and University of Utah professor Margaret Pabst Battin's story, Robeck, Julie Jensen's Winter is a searing, compassionate, and often very funny examination of the end of life-and the unconventional path one woman takes to get there.

Winter is being produced at Rivendell Theatre Ensemble as part of a National New Play Network's Rolling World Premiere. Other partnering theaters are Salt Lake Acting Company (Salt Lake City, Utah) and Central Works Theater Company (Berkeley, CA). Through this program, the NNPN provides production support to the playwright and the partnering theaters, including assistance with the creation and the contracting of the premiere agreement, collaborative interactions between the theaters, and funds for the playwright's residency in each city to further develop the play.

Photo credit: Michael Brosilow