THE BEATS Return to 16th Street, 9/15

After a sold-out run at 16th Street in January, The Beats, due to popular demand, are back with the original cast starting September 15.

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 the return of Marilyn Campbell's acclaimed adaptation of THE BEATS directed by Ann Filmer September 15 - October 15, 2011 at the Berwyn Cultural Center, 6420 16th Street in Berwyn, with a press opening of Thursday, September 15 at 7:30 PM.

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 born 60 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?"

As witnessed last winter, The Beats fired up audiences of both young and old alike: many surprised (and others not so) at its relevance to today. Thursday and Friday post-performances will once again feature renowned Chicago poets discussing the current performance and slam poetry scene, as well as sharing the poetry of today. Come and experience the hip and heartfelt wonder that is The Beats.