Northwestern University News

Adventure Stage Chicago (ASC) closes their 10th season with the world premiere of SPARK: Chapter One of The Prometheus Project, which completely re-imagines the myths of Prometheus and Pandora. SPARK runs April 5 - May 8, 2014 and is written by Tom Arvetis (ASC Producing Artistic Director) and directed by Rives Collins (Theatre and Drama for Youth Specialist, Northwestern University).

One of the world's leading Wagnerians, Maestro Donald Runnicles, returns to lead the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in the BNY Mellon Grand Classics program on March 21 and 23.

Southwestern University is proud to present Gypsy, with book by Arthur Laurents, music by Jule Styne, and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, March 26-30, 2014. Gypsy is directed by Rick Roemer. Performances will run at 7:30pm on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday and 2:00pm on Saturday and Sunday at the Alma Thomas Theater. Tickets are $10-20.

Continuing its 26th Season, Lookingglass Theatre Company presents the World Premiere of In the Garden: A Darwinian Love Story, by Artistic Associate Sara Gmitter and directed by Jessica Thebus. In the Garden runs April 16 - June 15, 2014 at Lookingglass Theatre Company, located inside Chicago's historic Water Tower Water Works, 821 N. Michigan Ave. at Pearson. The Press Opening is Saturday, April 26, 2014 at 7:30 p.m..

Court Theatre continues its 2013-2014 season with the Chicago premiere of Water by the Spoonful written by Quiara Alegria Hudes, and directed by Henry Godinez. Water by the Spoonful will run tonight, March 6 - April 6, 2014 at Court Theatre, 5535 S. Ellis Avenue. Press Opening is Saturday, March 15, 2014 at 8:00PM.

Britt McHenry will join ESPN as Washington, D.C.-based bureau reporter, who will serve as correspondent for various news-gathering platforms including SportsCenter, Outside the Lines and sport-specific programs like NFL Live and Baseball Tonight. The move is effective March 17.

Adventure Stage Chicago (ASC) has announced the appointment of Mary Kate Barley-Jenkins as Managing Director. Ms. Barley-Jenkins comes to ASC from the Chicago Humanities Festival, where she served as the Managing Director of Programming and Production. At the CHF, she produced two diverse festivals and year-round humanities and educational programming (150+ events), serving an audience of 55,000 and an online audience of 200,000. She also conceived and was the Artistic Director of Stages, Sights and Sounds, CHF's international performing arts festival for young audiences, which each year reaches thousands of youth and families.

Lorrie Farrelly is proud to announce the release of her novel 'Timelapse' in paperback, eBook, and audiobook formats. A READERS' FAVORITE 5-STAR novel, 'Timelapse' has twists and turns from start to finish. It's a gripping romantic adventure full of action and suspense. The book trailer for 'Timelapse' was revealed today on DGT Book Promotion news. In addition, Farrelly shared her insights in an interview this week on the Reading and Writing Addiction blog about the inspiration for 'Timelapse.' Lorrie Farrelly's interview can be followed at www.readinwritin.blogspot.com and the official 'Timelapse' trailer can be viewed on YouTube. About The Book The accidental death of his beloved wife sent college Professor Alex Morgan into a numbing world of suppressed grief and rage, eased only by a profound bond with his young son. Suddenly his life is shattered again when a chance discovery propels him into a world gone horribly, terrifyingly wrong. Piecing together clues in this new nightmare, Alex suspects a colleague of taking a few, meddling steps back in time, changing the course of history - destroying Alex's family and his world. Desperately clinging to his sanity, he searches for any evidence his son still exists. Jessica O'Neil is fighting a nightmare of her own, captured and facing execution for freedom-fighting heroics in her grim, oppressive world. When Alex rescues the feisty young rebel, she resists her dangerous attraction to him - a man who's clearly crazy, literally in a world of his own. Bound together first by chance and desperation, then by growing purpose, respect, and passion, Alex and Jessie must depend on each other to survive. More than that, they must find a way to prevent a terrible crime from taking place - a crime that plunged both their worlds into nightmare - over a hundred years before. To have a future, they will have to find their way to the past. Praise for 'Timelapse': 'Romance, time-travel and thrilling twists and turns under one cover? There's nothing predictable about the events in Timelapse' - Diane Donovan, Senior Reviewer, The Midwest Book Review, March 2014 'A fascinating book with amazing characters. It is a story of courage, people risking it all to fight for peace. I was hooked from the first page and couldn't put the book down until the end.' - Readers' Favorite About The Author Lorrie Farrelly is the author of a Western historical romance trilogy, contemporary romantic suspense novels, and sci fi/paranomal romantic suspense novels. A graduate of the University of California, Santa Cruz, and Northwestern University, she has earned READERS' FAVORITE 5 STARS and been an ORANGE ROSE AWARD finalist. She's been a Renaissance nominee for Teacher of the Year, a ranch hand at Disneyland's Circle D Ranch, and a 'Jeopardy!' champion. She and her family live in Southern California. 'Timelapse' (320 pages, ISBN: 978-1469953501) is available at Amazon.com. To learn more about Lorrie Farrelly and 'Timelapse,' visit her on Facebook at facebook.com/LorrieFarrellyAuthor or Twitter @lorriewrites, or at her website sites.google.co/site/yourbestreads.

The New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) and The Johnny Mercer Foundation announced today a partnership on a unique new program, the only of its kind in the country, for 100 Newark and East Orange middle school students. In The Johnny Mercer Foundation /NJPAC Musical Theater Residency Program, students from four schools - Maple Avenue School (Newark), LINK Community School (Newark), Marion P. Thomas Charter School (Newark), and Cicely Tyson School of Performing and Fine Arts (East Orange) - will study the history of the American Musical and the creative, rehearsal and performance process. Each class will then individually create sections of a joint musical, coming together at the finale to perform the full, collaborative musical on May 21, 2014 at NJPAC.

A Chicago Premiere, Love and Understanding by Joe Penhall, will open tonight, March 1, 2014 at Redtwist Theatre, directed by Jaclynn Jutting.

The Johnny Mercer Foundation and the American Music Theatre Project (AMTP) at Northwestern University will present the 9th Annual Johnny Mercer Foundation Songwriters Project. The weeklong songwriting workshop for emerging songwriters and writing teams will take place from June 22 through 28, on Northwestern's Evanston campus.

The House Theatre of Chicago presents DORIAN, a modern adaptation of Oscar Wilde's novel 'The Picture of Dorian Gray.' This famous thriller of Dorian's ill-fated portrait is performed in promenade style. This original play is intended for mature audiences only, and is written by Company Members Ben Lobpries and Tommy Rapley. Company Member Kevin O'Donnell provides the score. Rapley directs and choreographs. The production previews April 4 - 13 and opens on Monday April 14 at 7pm at the Chopin Theatre (1543 W. Division St, Chicago). DORIAN will run through May 18, 2014.

The Barrow Group announces its production of The Beautiful Dark by Erik Gernand. The play will run in the TBG Studio Theatre, 312 West 36th Street, floor 3, New York, NY from April 23 through May 18, 2014.

Danceworks 2014: 'HOT BUTTONS,' a rich tapestry of contemporary and modern dance forms, will be presented at Northwestern University from tonight, Feb. 28 through March 9.

Berkshire Theatre Group is pleased to announce Tony Award and Drama Desk nominated actress Kate Baldwin, and husband, Broadway and television actor Graham Rowat in the roles of Countess Charlotte Malcolm and Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm for BTG's 2014 summer musical, Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music.

Atlantic Theater Company and Atlantic for Kids is tuning up to present the New York premiere of Mr. Chickee's Funny Money, an all-new, rhythm and blues family musical, featuring music and lyrics that groove to an original score by Motown legend Lamont Dozier (hits include Stop in the Name of Love, Sugar Pie Honey Bun, How Sweet it Is, more;) and his son, Paris Dozier, with a book by David Ingber (Major League Baseball Fan Cave), directed by Jade King Carroll (Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Portland Stage), and musical supervision by Brian Usifer (Kinky Boots, Book of Mormon).

Duplicity Ensemble presents the world premiere of Anne Walaszek's Folk Bound, the story of a young woman's trek through a world made up of folk stories. Beginning with a telegram from a bird, Lucy senses that something has gone terribly wrong. She sets out on a great journey to return to her mother, only to find that things are worse than she could possibly have imagined. Filled with original music by composer Pamela Maurer (a.k.a Baby Money) and choreography by Annaleah Tubbin, the story follows Lucy on her quest for home, wherever and whatever that may be.

American Blues Theater, Chicago's second oldest Equity Ensemble, hosts 'Blue Bash,' their annual fundraiser, tonight, Feb. 27, 2014 from 5:30 - 9 p.m., at the office of Seyfarth Shaw, Suite 2400, 131 S. Dearborn.

Buzz22 Chicago has announced the casting for the World Premiere production of Laura Jacqmin's 'GHOST BIKE,' directed by Co-Artistic Director Sara Sawicki, tonight, February 27 - March 30, 2014 at Red Tape Theatre, 621 W Belmont Ave. Combining elements of Greek, African, and Chinese mythology, 'GHOST BIKE' depicts two best friends navigating the ultimate challenge to a friendship through an underworld beneath their home city of Chicago. 'GHOST BIKE' is Buzz22 Chicago's next production after their sold out and highly acclaimed production of 'She Kills Monsters' at the Steppenwolf Garage in Feb-April 2013.