THE BEATS Come To 16th Street 1/13-15, 2011

Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka), Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Diane di Prima: Beat poets took on 1950's mainstream America and dragged change kicking and screaming into the 60's. 16th Street Theater, a part of the North Berwyn Park District, announces Marilyn Campbell's adaptation of THE BEATS directed by Ann Filmer performing January 13 - February 5, 2010 at the Berwyn Cultural Center, 6420 16th Street in Berwyn, with a press opening of Thursday, January 13 at 7:30 PM. This is the first play in 16th Street's Season Four 2011: Season of Change.

Marilyn Campbell's adaptation premiered at Writers' Theatre in Glencoe with Kate Buckley directing and David Cromer as Ginsberg. Ann Filmer was Assistant Director. It was 1997, the year Allen Ginsberg died. "14 years later," Filmer states, "our country is in a very different place, having possibly reached the ceiling as a superpower. As we look ahead to what's next, Berwyn's 16th Street turns to The Beats. A young cast of five born60 years after Kerouac dig into these poets' words, ideas, culture, lifestyle and ask: Are we progressing? Regressing? And do we still have a love affair with the road?"
"and I am waiting for someone
to really discover America
and wail" - Lawrence Ferlinghetti

"The Beats were part of a society that lived on the border of perpetual fright... they've given us the only serious literary movement indigenous to this country." - Arthur Knight
"It was a complete reaction: socially, politically, and of course artistically to what the 50s represented." - LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka)

Marilyn Campbell biography

Marilyn Campbell is a published playwright, award winning actress and co-founder (w/ Michael Halberstam) and artistic associate of the Writers' Theatre in Glencoe, Illinois. Her co-adaptation of Crime and Punishment w/Curt Columbus is published by Dramatic Publishing as well as the recipient of a 2003 Joseph Jefferson Award, a 2009 Los Angeles Backstage Garland Award and a 2009 nomination from the LA Drama Critics Circle for "Best New Adaptation."

Crime and Punishment has been produced in over 40 productions both nationally and internationally in some of the largest theater's in the country including Berkeley Rep, Intiman Theater, 59E59th Street Theater, Cleveland Playhouse and in 2011 Centerstage in Baltimore, directed by Jason Loweth. She currently has a commission at Writer's Theatre and is working on a new retelling of Frankenstein entitled The Monster's Lullaby. In addition to her playwriting, Ms. Campbell is an award winning actress and has been seen in many productions at Writer's Theatre including, My Own Stranger with Mary Beth Fisher (a play she also co-adapted).

Ms. Campbell has had a long association with Ann Filmer who produced Mixing It Up in 2009 for the Words and Motion Festival (an original work Ms. Campbell co-authored and performed with her daughter Maria Merrin). They also co-produced Estrogen Fest together in 2003 and 2005 at the Storefront Theater. Marilyn is thrilled that Ann has chosen to remount and direct The Beats at 16th Street. The play premiered at Writer's Theatre in 1997 and featured David Cromer as Allen Ginsberg. At that time it received special mentions from both Lawrence Bommer (Chicago Tribune) and Andrew Patner (Chicago Sun-Times) as one of the best shows of the 1997 Chicago Theater Season. Ms. Campbell is also the host of a new radio show on WFMT called The Feminist Lens, which will air on New Year's Day 2011.

16TH STREET THEATER

Recognized by the Chicago Reader as Chicago's Best Emerging Theater 2009, 16th Street Theater exists to tell the stories of ALL in our community and is located 17 minutes from downtown Chicago at the Berwyn Cultural Center, 6420 16th Street, Berwyn, IL 60402. Just west of Ridgeland, the theater is one mile southwest of the Austin exit off the Eisenhower Expressway/290 and the Austin Blue line. There is free parking in the lot one block west at 16th and Gunderson. Go to www.16thstreettheater.org to subscribe to Season Four, purchase tickets or for more information.

THE BEATS
Adapted by Marilyn Campbell
Directed by Ann Filmer

RUNNING TIME:
Under 2 hours including one intermission.

WHEN:
January 13 - February 5, 2011
Press Opening: Thursday, January 13, 2011 @ 7:30 PM
VIP Opening: Friday, January 14 @ 7:30 PM
Regular Run: Thursdays & Fridays @ 7:30 PM, Saturdays @ 5:00 & 8:30 PM
Closing: February 5, 2011

WHERE:
Berwyn Cultural Center, 6420 16th Street, Berwyn

WHO:
CAST: Malcolm Callan, Carly Ciarrocchi, Jon McGilberry, Adam Poss, John Taflan and Grant Strombeck on drums.

TO PURCHASE TICKETS:
$18 Tickets
Online - www.16thstreettheater.org
In Person - at North Berwyn Park District, 1619 Wesley Ave., Berwyn
Ticket and Information Hotline - (708) 795-6704

HOW MUCH:
General Admission: $18
Student Rush Tickets (available day of show only): $10