2013/14: the 59th Season

2013/14: the 59th Season
Dear Court Theatre family,
Court Theatre’s 2011 production of An Iliad was one of those rare theatrical experiences
that, for those of us who were there to see it, remains close to our heart. Lisa Peterson and
Denis O’Hare’s brilliant adaptation, realized through Charlie Newell’s incisive direction and
Timothy Edward Kane’s courageous performance, struck a chord with audience members.
The play was especially relevant to those students and faculty in the University of Chicago
community for whom Homer’s Iliad is a beloved and perennial text. At the same time, word
of mouth quickly spread regarding Kane’s superb performance and the audience demand
continued to grow. When we were forced to close An Iliad in December 2011 to make way for
the next show in our season, there was still overwhelming demand for tickets from Chicago
theatergoers, many of whom were eager to see the show a second time with friends and
family in tow.
So it is with great pleasure that we are reviving our production of An Iliad for audiences old
and new. We take particular pleasure in welcoming back to Court’s stage Timothy Edward
Kane, who won the 2011 Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Solo Performance for his role as
the Poet in An Iliad. This fall, Tim has been a familiar face around Hyde Park; in addition to
rehearsing and performing An Iliad, he is also teaching an undergraduate class in the Theater
and Performance Studies Program at the University of Chicago.
One of our goals is to continuously expand and deepen our relationship with the artists who
work at Court, particularly those whose contributions have left such a lasting impact. After
the success of An Iliad, we invited playwrights Lisa and Denis to share their next ambitions
with us. The result was no less daunting than adapting Homer: the two playwrights proposed
to us a theatrical treatment of the history of the Bible. Court has commissioned this work
and introduced them to an amazing collaboration with the University of Chicago’s Divinity
School. With the support of the Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry, The Good Book is now being
developed for a future date on our stage.
This is the kind of theatre that you demand and that we strive to create; theatre that is
innovative, engaging, and worthy of your investment of time, treasure, and, most importantly,
heart. We are reminded constantly of how fortunate we are to have an audience that supports
theatre of this caliber.
Whether you’re here to experience An Iliad for the first, second, or even third time, we
welcome you to Court Theatre and hope you’ll join us in 2014 for Seven Guitars, Water by the
Spoonful, and M. Butterfly. A creative and talented collection of artists await you.
Charles Newell, Artistic Director
Stephen J. Albert, Executive Director
Court Theatre 1
2013/14: the 59th Season
Ar t i st i c D i re ct o r
CHA R L E S N E WE L L
E xe cu t i ve D ir ec t or
S T E P H E N J . A LB ER T
AN ILIAD
By Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare
CAST
The Poet ........................................................................ Timothy Edward Kane*
Understudy: Jason Huysman (performing matinees on 11/20, 11/21, 12/4)
*Denotes a member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers
in the United States.
AN ILIAD is presented without an intermission.
Production includes water-based haze effects.
Based on Homer’s THE ILIAD, Translated by Robert Fagles
Directed by Charles Newell
November 13 - December 8, 2013
Scenic Design by Todd Rosenthal U.S.A.
Costume Design by Rachel Ann Healy U.S.A.
Lighting Design by Keith Parham U.S.A.
Sound Design by Andre Pluess U.S.A.
Casting by Cree Rankin
Katherine Kretler, Dialect Coach
Drew Dir, Production Dramaturg
William Collins,* Production Stage Manager
Sara Gammage,* Stage Manager
PRODUCTION STAFF
Assistant Director................................................................................................ Aileen McGroddy
Scenic Assistant................................................................................................... Courtney O’Neill
Scenic Artists................................................................. Scott Gerwitz U.S.A., Julie Ruscitti U.S.A.
Carpenters............................................Brian Claggett, Kevin Decker, Andrew Hidner, Dylan Jost,
.............................................................................. Tristan Meredith, Erik Tylkowski, Rob Weddel
Wardrobe Supervisor.....................................................................................................................Jodi Schmidt
Assistant Master Electrician................................................................................... Ellie Humphrys
Electricians........................ Jessica Goings, Tamar Daskin, Elizabeth Smith, Christopher Wilham,
...................................................... Ted Smith, Jeff Glass, Elizabeth Boros-Kazai, Dayna Shrader,
.................................................... Meghan O’Rourke, Erik Barry, Simon Robinson, Sarah Gilmore
Floor Manager............................................................................................................ Katie Adams
Scenic Artists identified by U.S.A. are members of United Scenic Artists, I.A.T.S.E. Local USA829, AFL-CIO,CLC.
AN ILIAD was originally developed as part of the New York Theatre Workshop Usual Suspects Program, Off-Broadway premiere
produced by New York Theatre Workshop (Jim Nicola, Artistic Director; William Russon, Managing Director) in 2012.
AN ILIAD was originally produced by Seattle Repertory Theatre
(Jerry Manning, Producing Artistic Director; Benjamin Moore, Managing Director).
It was subsequently produced by McCarter Theatre Center, Princeton, NJ
(Emily Mann, Artistic Director; Timothy J. Shields, Managing Director, Mara Isaacs, Producing Director).
AN ILIAD was developed in part with the assistance of the Sundance Institute Theatre Program.
AN ILIAD is presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, New York.
The Director is a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, a national theatrical labor union.
Designers and Scenic Artists identified by U.S.A. are members of United Scenic Artists, I.A.T.S.E. Local USA829, AFL-CIO,CLC.
*Denotes a member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
Cover photo of Timothy Edward Kane by joe mazza/brave lux inc.
Court Theatre performs in the intimate Abelson Auditorium, made possible through a gift from
Hope and Lester Abelson.
The video and/or audio recording of this performance by any means whatsoever are strictly prohibited.
Please turn off all phones, pagers, and chiming watches.
Court Theatre operates under an agreement between the League of Resident Theatres and Actors’ Equity
Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States. Productions are made
possible, in part, by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency; a City Arts grant from the City of
Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events; and the Cultural Outreach Program of the City of
Chicago. Court Theatre is a constituent of Theatre Communications Group, the national organization for the
American Theatre, the League of Resident Theatres, the Illinois Humanities Council, Arts Alliance Illinois, and
the League of Chicago Theatres.
Sponsored by
Harve Ferrill
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PLAY NOTES
How did the idea for An Iliad originate? Was it born purely out of
an interest in adapting Homer’s Iliad for the stage?
In Conversation with the Playwrights
LISA PETERSON
& DENIS O’HARE
Playwrights Lisa Peterson
and Denis O’Hare built
successful careers
respectively as a director
and an actor before they
came together to work on
their very first play, An Iliad.
Originally intended as a
vehicle for O’Hare to perform
and for Peterson to direct,
An Iliad has taken off as
a popular script in its own
right, performed by theatres
across the country, including
Seattle Rep, McCarter
Theatre, and Court Theatre.
On the occasion of Court’s
revival of An Iliad (fortuitously
coinciding with the release
of the first published edition
of the play), Resident Artist
Drew Dir spoke with Lisa
Peterson and Denis O’Hare
about how An Iliad came to
be and what’s next for the
playwriting team.
Photo of Timothy Edward Kane by joe mazza/brave lux inc.
Court Theatre 4
by Drew Dir
LISA: It actually came out of a response to America’s engagement with a real war in Iraq—
to our “Shock and Awe” attack on Baghdad in 2003. I started reading through war plays,
because… I was very aware of us being a country at war in a way that I had never been in
my lifetime. So in the spring of 2003 I started thinking about how theater should respond…
mostly that we ought to be talking about what it’s like to be a country at war. So thinking
about The Iliad was a part of a bigger question about “What are the great war plays?” [Dramaturg] Morgan Jenness had told me years before that she teaches The Iliad as one of the
first plays, which surprised me because I had studied it in college as an epic poem, not a
play. So it was that idea that made me think: maybe it is a play, why is it a play… it probably
was a solo performance before it was ever written down. When I started looking into that
and thinking about it, that’s when I thought that it would be fun to work directly with an actor
on this instead of with a writer.
DENIS: My story begins with getting a phone call from Lisa, where she said, “Hey, have
you ever read The Iliad?” and I was like: “I think so. Maybe?” At that point, I don’t think
either of us ever thought we would end up with a script. What we thought we would end up
doing was a performance of some kind.
LISA: I thought that it would be a good idea to find an actor who had opinions and could be
articulate about them, because what I really thought we would be doing was recreating the
improvisation of The Iliad—that we would read The Iliad, get really familiar with the story
of the Trojan War, and that Denis would literally walk into a bar or a pub and say, “Hey,
anyone want to hear the story of Hector?” and on any given night it would be different. Then
as we started working on it we realized that we should codify it, write it, etc.
Describe the process of creating the script for An Iliad.
DENIS: It was very accidental. I’m kind of a documentarian, and I thought it would be fun
to have a video camera present to document our conversations. So we had the camera,
and we would go back to the camera occasionally for a reference; we would say, “Oh, what
was that conversation we had last time? Let’s rewind and look at that.” And then we realized that what we talked about ended up becoming us acting it out—I’m an actor so I understand things through the process of acting, which means that in order to talk about it, I’ll get
up and start acting it out. We were talking about a contemporary understanding of The Iliad
anyway so I was improvising on my own reactions to things. We wanted that contemporary
reaction to the text, and that contemporary reaction ended up being part of the text.
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PLAY NOTES
How familiar were you with Homer’s Iliad before you sat down to
work on it?
DENIS: I remembered very little, and I think I had a better grasp on the Odyssey. In fact,
I may have not even read The Iliad; what I knew about The Iliad was the Trojan Horse
(which, or course, is not in The Iliad), I knew it had something to do with Helen and Paris,
I knew it had something to do with Achilles (and Achilles’ boyfriend Patroclus), and I knew
about Menelaus and Agamemnon from the Oresteia and what happens when they come
back from Troy. I had a vague understanding of what The Iliad was, and certainly did not
appreciate that The Iliad was not the entire ten-year war, that The Iliad was only—as we
came to find out—about forty days within that war.
LISA: I had read it in college—not the Robert Fagles translation, but the Fitzgerald. I went
to Yale, and in my freshman year I did a thing called Directed Studies, which was like Crash
Course Western Civilization, and The Iliad and the Odyssey were probably the first books.
My memory of it was that it was powerful and difficult; I wouldn’t say that I immediately fell
in love with it, I remember it just being hard. I think I probably liked the Odyssey better—I
think a lot of people do—because the Odyssey has romance and adventure. When we went
back to look at The Iliad, in the Fagles translation, suddenly my eyes opened and I realized
how glorious and surprising it was.
SKYLIGHT
AN
ILIAD
The reason that the scene about Achilles’s shield stayed in the adaptation was because
I remember studying that in college; I must have had a professor who really elucidated it
for us and I was struck by it. So even over years where smart people were telling me, “you
should really cut that [scene] down” or get rid of it, I would never let it go. I always loved that
in the middle of this war story, Homer had focused on the building of this war implement
that contained all of life on it. I love the poetry of that; that came from college, for sure.
You’ve obviously condensed a lot of material into a relatively short
performance. Was there material you particularly regretted leaving
on the cutting room floor?
DENIS: We struggled with the scope of the story and which stories to tell, because The
Iliad doesn’t tell one story, it tells many stories, and depending on how you edit it you can
produce a different emphasis. We kept boiling it down to the basics. We realized that the
story is Achilles’s story. It’s the rage of Achilles—it begins with “Sing goddess the rage of
Achilles…”—and that’s a framing device, but it’s also the major theme.
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CONTINUED ON P 8-9
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There was a fantastic chapter which we kept in there as long as we could in
which Achilles fights the river Scamander… that was just an incredible chapter.
LISA: This is a play with seven people in it; it’ll have singing, it’ll have theatrics,
and we’re thinking of it as an entirely different kind of thing.
LISA: That’s the one we think about the most. It’s when Achilles already has his
new armor, he’s decided to fight, and he’s on his way to Hector, and the elements
try to intervene. He wades into the river Scamander and he’s attacked by a bunch
of Trojan soldiers, and he devastates them, he just slaughters these soldiers in
the river. So the river itself gets mad at Achilles for choking the river with all this
blood, and the river attacks Achilles and won’t let him go. And there’s an amazing
little fight between Achilles and the river Scamander, and the river finally spits him
out on the other side and says, basically, “F--- you, why did you bring this war to
me?” It’s a great encounter, but we got rid of it pretty early on.
What draws you to epic, foundational texts like Iliad and the
Bible?
I’m pleased to say that Court Theatre has commissioned
your first follow-up project to An Iliad: a theatrical treatment
of the history of the Bible, which you’ve titled The Good
Book. To what extent will The Good Book resemble An Iliad?
Will it be another one-man show?
DENIS: No, I don’t know if Lisa and I ever even entertained that idea. Each piece
of literature demands its own attack, and certainly with The Iliad because it was
“Homer”—he was a bard, he was a storyteller—[a one-man show] made sense.
The Bible is a completely different animal; it’s not the work of a single writer, it’s a
composite of documents, and it requires a completely different approach.
Court Theatre 8
DENIS: I think because they’re challenging and they’re terrifying, and that’s a
good reason to do them. I would also love to do Dante’s Inferno, I would love to
do Paradise Lost… But the other reason is that they’re just great works. Oddly
enough, I think for Lisa and I, it’s not even a matter of taking on great works. What
we’re taking on are great subjects, and those don’t have an expiration date, and
those don’t have a time and a place, they’re universal and they’re timeless. So
war, killing, murder, and death are the subjects we took on for Iliad, and for The
Good Book it’s belief, creation, documentation, and morality, and those are really
exciting things to dwell on theatrically.
LISA: It’s a passion that Denis and I just happen to share; I didn’t realize that until
I went and had coffee with him that day and said to him, “What do you think about
The Iliad?” We both are drawn to the history of culture just as much as literature.
We both like literature, but we feel that The Iliad and the Bible… those are more
for us about looking at and trying to understand how the human species developed
this shared culture. I think it’s about that, as much as it’s about literature—the
question of how we organize ourselves into states and into organized religion and
how we structure our beings—these texts are key to how we organize ourselves as
human beings.
Court Theatre 9
Photo of Timothy Edward Kane by joe mazza/brave lux inc.
Homerathon
UChicago Reads The Iliad in 24 straight hours
by Evan Garrett
It was a brisk, buzzing day on November 20th, 2011. Boatloads of snacks, movies, art supplies, and coffee had been purchased during the restless hours of that afternoon. While the
supplies were overflowing, so was the anticipation felt by the organizers—a few members
of Court Theatre’s administrative staff and three UChicago students—as the clock ticked
toward the 10 P.M. starting time. The next 24 hours were going to be glorious, but they
were also going to be exhausting. Court Theare and UChicago’s Classical Entertainment
Society had been organizing a nonstop marathon reading of all 24 books of Homer’s Iliad,
to be recited aloud by the college’s community members as a supplemental one-day event
coinciding with Denis O’Hare and Lisa Peterson’s hauntingly beautiful An Iliad. The readers
would do so on the Court Theatre set, giving students, alums, and professors a brief time
to play the part of Tim Kane’s poet themselves. As the preview audience of that night’s
performance filtered out of the house and then out of the lobby, the organizers all looked at
each other and breathed in—how in Zeus’ name were they going to get the stamina to pull
the next 24 hours off?
PLAY NOTES
Marathon readings are not as unique as one might imagine. The literary and courageous
have regularly been drawn to opening up their favorite tomes and spending hours (or days!)
proclaiming their words. Bloomsday is probably the most famous example. For the last sixty
years on July 16th, as a celebration of James Joyce’s Ulysses, thousands of people around
the world gather for the entire day to celebrate the book by holding festivals, movie screenings, play productions, and readings. Yes, full day-long marathon readings. Similarly, the New
Bedford Whaling Museum hosts a celebrated reading of Moby Dick every year coinciding
with the date its author Herman Melville departed the Port of New Bedford on his first whaling
trip. Beyond those examples, countless colleges, high-schools, and libraries open spaces for
marathon readings of classics: Les Misérables, The Divine Comedy, Crime and Punishment,
The New Testament, even the more contemporary Infinite Jest. If it’s long, difficult, and heady,
then there’s the temptation for it to be conquered by groups of intellectual fan-boys and girls
with their near-extremist zeal.
Would it be a surprise, then, that the UChicago community would want to put on a marathon
reading of Homer’s Iliad? The epic poem, composed of 24 “books,” flows poetically and philosophically about the Trojan War and has been a standard in higher educational institutions for
literally centuries. The College, composed of 1,500 undergrads and countless notable faculty
members, has been considered one of the most intellectually rigorous educational institutions in the world. If you are reading this program, you are probably familiar, either directly or
indirectly, with the University’s “nerdy” (said with respect) reputation. In short, the marathon
reading and the College’s relationship had the potential to be on the same level as Achilles
and Patroclus’ love.
I was one of the three student organizers that year. Together, the three of us composed a
dream team: Ryan Mease—a Classics student, he was the one who ran up to me one day
expounding this event as a dream of his; Erin Kelsey—a theater producer at UChicago and an
all-out expert at “Getting Things Done;” and myself—not too knowledgeable on Greek texts,
but a student crazed with any theatrical event that seemed like it could be an extreme sport.
The meeting where the three of us had pitched our “Homerathon” three months before was
memorable. When we threw out our idea, Court Theatre’s staff had a moment united in their
jaw-dropped incredulity. The two questions were, “Why on Earth would you want to do this?”
and “Is this something others would actually want to do?” All three of us looked at each other
and giggled: “Oh, you have no idea.”
In the next three months, we needed to fill about 120 slots with readers. It was incredibly
easy. We first reached out to the Classics, English, and Theater departments—60 slots filled
with enthusiastic readers, just like that. Then, we attempted to reserve high-demand slots for
professorial celebrities. The scene where Achilles’ horse cries? “Oh, that’s so heart-wrenching—Christina Von Nolcken, from the Committee of Medieval Studies? She would love it!”
Ryan Mease would chime in at meetings—“Well, this section is actually really beautiful in the
CONTINUED ON P 12
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PLAY NOTES
Ancient Greek—we should give it to someone
who can actually read it in that language.”
Court Theatre,
Done—it was given to David Wray, Diin collaboration with the
rector of the Master of Arts Program
Classical Entertainment Society,
in the Humanities, who started our
is partaking in another
Homerathon off by reciting the
Homerathon this year.
first part of Book 1 in its original
language. A classic moment was
November 25th from 8 am - 8 pm
when an alumna wanted to read a
A reading of Homer’s Odyssey
section from Book 5. I wrote a very
For more information or to sign up to
apologetic email back: “Well, we can
read, contact Carlo Steinman at
give you that part, but you’d have to
[email protected]
drive to Hyde Park from Logan Square at
3:45 in the morning.” She responded immediately: “Great! But I’ll probably get there a little
earlier just to hear the rest of the book before my part.”
By the start of the event, we had nearly every slot filled; during the day, I remember texting the
most bizarre collection of friends that I had to see if they could swing by to read. From the Phi
Gamma Delta fraternity to members of UChicago’s a cappella groups, almost every group on
campus had someone interested in hearing their favorite parts of the saga. Some decided to
put a spin on their 200-line sections. Singers came at 6 A.M.; clowns at 10:30 A.M.; I think a
puppet theater happened at 2:30 A.M. (but maybe that was a dream). During the nychthemeron, I remember spending only about five minutes in the sun before running back inside
because someone was reading Book 15 in, get this, Yiddish!
While readers read on Todd Rosenthal’s gorgeous set, there were also supplemental activities
occurring in the Court Theatre lobby. For example, at 11 P.M., everyone made gingerbread
Trojan Horses (filled with marshmallow Greeks!); at 3 P.M., I made the most bedazzled shield
out of a paper plate and glitter (it was supposed to imitate Achilles’ shield, described in Book
18). There was also a constant stream of movies related to anything Ancient Greek. I have
them all on my shelf at home now—O, Brother Where Art Thou?, Jason and the Argonauts,
Percy Jackson and The Olympians (which I still hold as a cultural gem akin to Citizen Kane).
Everything we produced kept participants in high spirits, whether they dropped in for five
minutes or stayed for five hours. I think most people were simply happy to know that Homer
was being celebrated.
In 24 hours, we did end up reading the entirety of Homer’s Iliad. We also, and more importantly, engaged the larger Hyde Park community. This is the stuff theater is made to do—be
so brazen that walls are brought down between patrons. We did that, while also bringing to life
one of the most celebrated texts of history.
Court Theatre 12
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“The ancient Greeks regarded the Trojan War as not
only a mighty conflict but the very beginnings of Greek
culture. When Zeus, in the form of a swan, raped Leda,
resulting in the birth of those fatal sisters, Clytemnestra and Helen, human history discovered its origin and
epiphany in a sexually violent meeting of the divine and
the human. A brilliant reinterpretation of that story
for us today, in Court Theatre’s splendid An Iliad, is to
chronicle the history of war among humans ever since
Troy. War is a struggle that never ceases; it is both
nobly tragic and ultimately senseless. Homer’s account
of the Trojan War is probably not anti-war, despite the
carnage and the terrible death of Hector. Tim Kane’s
defiant updating of that story does not hesitate to see
war in our terms, as irresistibly fascinating, terrible,
and doomed.”
David Bevington
Phyllis Fay Horton Distinguished
Service Professor Emeritus,
Department of English at the
University of Chicago
“It was powerful and inspiring to experience an
actually rhapsodic performance of The Iliad. While
the debt to Homer and his characters is very clear,
what stands out in my memory is the catalogue, at
top-speed, of the wars fought through history into
the present. Like Homer’s Iliad, An Iliad is able to
take a specific tale of grief and loss and show how
it reverberates endlessly and painfully.”
Sarah Nooter
Assistant Professor, Department of
Classics at the University of Chicago
UChicago Speaks
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Photo of Timothy Edward Kane by joe mazza/brave lux inc.
PLAY NOTES
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Court Theatre 15
PLAY NOTES
Water by the Spoonful
A Preview
By Resident Artist Drew Dir
Water by the Spoonful, which will begin previews March 6 at Court Theatre, bears
an unlikely distinction: it is the first play ever produced at Court that features a
representation of the Internet on stage. Specifically, it is a representation of an
online chat room, where former crack addicts gather to support each other on
the path to recovery. The participants are a cross-section of American society
connecting anonymously behind online monikers like Fountainhead, Orangutan, and Chutes&Ladders. The humor and conviviality of their hangouts belie
the painful reality that has brought them all together—namely, that without the
fragile thread of trust and support that binds them together, each one would
find him or herself falling back on their old destructive habits.
Water by the Spoonful is that rarest of plays at Court, a thoroughly contemporary
drama, not only in its mise en scène (which includes, of course, the casual depiction of the internet in everyday life) but in its poetics—that is, how it weaves a
plot out of not only an ensemble of characters but multiple layers of storylines.
Parallel to the story of the chat room is also the story of Elliot Ortiz, a young
veteran just returned from the Iraq War and bewildered by the challenge of
transitioning back into a normal life; he works a job at Subway and is haunted by
the memory of a deadly encounter with an Iraqi civilian. His older cousin, Yaz,
an assistant professor of music at Swarthmore, is distracted by her pending divorce until a death in the family reconnects her and Elliot with Elliot’s estranged
mother: Odessa Ortiz, alias Haikumom, the maternal moderator of the online
chat group and a recovering addict herself.
Quiara Alegría Hudes
The fact that these disparate stories cohere and vibrate with one another is a
testament to the voice of the playwright, Quiara Alegría Hudes, who brings a
healing warmth and humor to this play about regret, atonement, and human
generosity. American theater audiences first encountered Hudes through her
book for Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical In the Heights; she then won the Pulitzer
Prize for Drama in 2012 for Water by the Spoonful, the second installment in
a trilogy of plays that take as their subject the soldier character of Elliot Ortiz.
(Elliot, a Soldier’s Fugue and The Happiest Song Plays Last are the first and third
plays in the series, though each play can and does stand alone as an independent work.)
CONTINUED ON P 19
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Court Theatre 17
, NYC
rama Book Shop
at the D
A book signing
Quiara Alegría Hudes is a Puerto Rican American (her father is also Jewish), and
her plays are often heralded as the work of a major new Latino playwright. For
Hudes, who was raised in Philadelphia (which provides the setting of almost all
of her stories, including Water by the Spoonful), questions about her identity as
a Latino are somewhat beside the point. “’Do I consider myself to be a Latino
writer?’ ‘What does it mean to be Latino?’ Those are very strange questions
to answer in a three-minute response.” (Hudes admits that she feels more
comfortable identifying herself as a feminist; the roles for women she writes are
dynamic and plentiful.)1 There are Latino characters in Hudes’s play, but they
are not the only characters, and more importantly, the play is not so reducible
to tokenism. The pluralism of Water by the Spoonful is one of ethnic, racial, and
socio-economic diversity, for certain; that is, for those of us living in or around
modern cities, her play looks and sounds like our experience of the world.
However, the play’s pluralism is also in its multitude of stories, one overlapping
the other, reiterating the playwright’s themes of human connection and mutual
generosity in the face of suffering.
Potts, Kathleen. “Water by the Spoonful: An interview with Quiara Alegría Hudes”
Guernica Magazine. July 2, 2012
1
Court Theatre 18
Court Theatre 19
PROFILES
TIMOTHY EDWARD KANE (Poet) is pleased to return to Court Theatre
having previously appeared in An Iliad (2011), The Illusion, Wild Duck,
Titus Andronicus, Uncle Vanya, The Romance Cycle, and Hamlet.
Chicago credits include: Blood and Gifts (Timeline Theatre Company),
Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Arms and the Man
(Writers’ Theatre), The North Plan (Steppenwolf Garage), The Miser,
She Stoops to Conquer–After Dark Award (Northlight Theatre), and more than a dozen productions
at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre including: The Comedy of Errors, A Flea In Her Ear, and Henry IV
Parts 1 & 2 (CST and at the Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-Upon-Avon). Regional credits:
The Mark Taper Forum, Notre Dame Shakespeare, Peninsula Players and the Illinois Shakespeare
Festival. TV: Chicago Fire. Education: BS, Ball State University; MFA, Northern Illinois University.
Mr. Kane is married to actress Kate Fry.
TA K E
C E N T E R S TA G E
JASON HUYSMAN (Understudy) is a company member of Raven
Theatre, where he has appeared in their productions of The Cherry
Orchard, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and Death of a Salesman. Other
Chicago credits include: BackStage, Greasy Joan, and Trap Door.
Jason received his MFA from Ohio University. He would like to thank
Robyn, Griffin, and his family for their love and support.
CHARLES NEWELL (Director / Artistic Director) was recently awarded
the 2013 SDCF Zelda Fichandler Award, “which recognizes an
outstanding director or choreographer who is transforming the regional
arts landscape through singular creativity and artistry in theatre.”
Charlie has been Artistic Director of Court Theatre since 1994, where
he has directed over 40 productions. He made his Chicago directorial
debut in 1993 with The Triumph Of Love, which won the Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Production.
Charlie’s productions of Man of La Mancha and Caroline, Or Change have also won Best Production
Jeffs. Other directorial highlights at Court include The Molière Festival (The Misanthrope and
Tartuffe), Proof, Angels In America, An Iliad, Porgy & Bess, Three Tall Women, The Year Of Magical
Thinking, The Wild Duck, Titus Andronicus, Arcadia, Uncle Vanya, Raisin, The Romance Cycle, The
Glass Menagerie, Travesties, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, The Invention of Love, and Hamlet.
Charlie has also directed at Goodman Theatre (Tom Stoppard’s Rock ‘N Roll), Guthrie Theater
(Resident Director: The History Cycle, Cymbeline), Arena Stage, John Houseman’s The Acting
Company (Staff Repertory Director), the California and Alabama Shakespeare Festivals, Juilliard,
and New York University. He has served on the Board of Theatre Communications Group, as well
as on several panels for the NEA. Opera directing credits include Marc Blitzstein’s Regina (Lyric
Opera of Chicago), Rigoletto (Opera Theatre of St. Louis), Don Giovanni and The Jewel Box
(Chicago Opera Theatre), and Carousel (Summer 2014, Glimmerglass Festival). Charlie was the
recipient of the 1992 TCG Alan Schneider Director Award, and has been nominated for 16 Joseph
Jefferson Director Awards, winning four times. In 2012, Charlie was honored by The League of
Chicago Theatres with their Artistic Achievement Award.
DENIS O’HARE (Playwright) is an actor and writer who lives in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. Mr. O’Hare
attended Northwestern University where he studied poetry for two years under Alan Shapiro, Mary
Kinzie, and Reginald Gibbons. He ultimately received a B.S. in the theatre department and pursued
Court Theatre 20
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Court Theatre 21
PROFILES
Behind-the-scenes means more
than just going backstage.
’
an acting career in Chicago while maintaining a literary salon called the “Ansuz.” In 1992, Mr. O’Hare
moved to New York to continue his acting career where he appeared in numerous productions
on Broadway and Off-Broadway all the while exploring creative writing in the form of plays and
screenplays. He has written three screenplays, numerous poems, and one other play. Mr. O’Hare
and Ms. Petersen began collaborating on An Iliad in 2006 and honed the project through multiple
workshops with New York Theatre Workshop at Vassar and Dartmouth and with the Sundance Lab
Institute. Denis is married to Hugo Redwood, an interior designer, with whom he has a son.
LISA PETERSON (Playwright) is a theater director who wrote and adapted An Iliad with actor Denis
O’Hare, for which they won 2012 Obie and Lucille Lortel Awards. Her other adaptations include
The Waves, adapted from the novel by Virginia Woolf, with composer David Bucknam (Drama
Desk nominations), the upcoming The Good Book with Denis O’Hare, and Insurance Men with
composer Todd Almond. She was Resident Director at the Mark Taper Forum for ten years, and
Associate Director at La Jolla Playhouse for three years before that. Her directing credits include
the world premieres of Tony Kushner’s Slavs!, Donald Margulies’ Collected Stories and The Model
Apartment, Naomi Wallace’s Trestle at Pope Lick Creek, Janusz Glowacki’s The Fourth Sister, John
Belluso’s The Poor Itch, Beth Henley’s Ridiculous Fraud, Jose Rivera’s Sueno, Marlane Meyer’s
The Chemistry of Change, and many others. She has worked at theaters around the country
including New York Theater Workshop, The Public, Playwrights Horizons, The Vineyard, Primary
Stages, Manhattan Theater Club, MCC, Guthrie Theater, Seattle Rep, Berkeley Rep, Actors Theater
of Louisville, Arena Stage, Yale Rep, and the McCarter Theater. Lisa won an Obie in 1991 for
Caryl Churchill’s Light Shining in Buckinghamshire at NYTW, and Dramalogue, Drama Desk, and
Calloway Award nominations for many other productions. She was the recipient of a TCG/NEA
Career Development grant, and regularly develops new plays with the Sundance Theater Lab, New
Dramatists, The Playwrights’ Center, and the O’Neill Theater Center. She is a graduate of Yale
College and a member of Ensemble Studio Theater and the executive board of SDC.
Join the Producers’ Circle, a donor society that gives
you exclusive access to the research and creative
process behind each Court Theatre production.
Court Theatre’s Producers’ Circle offers our most passionate
supporters unique, behind-the-scenes previews of select productions
each season. At three dinners a year, scholarship and artistry intersect
when renowned faculty from the University of Chicago join Court’s
Artistic Director Charles Newell and other members of the artistic team
in conversation and exploration.
A donation of $2,500 or
more each year ensures
your invitation to our
Producers’ Circle dinners.
Learn more by contacting:
Rebecca Silverman
773-834-5293
[email protected]
Photo by joe mazza/brave lux inc.
Court Theatre 22
ROBERT FAGLES (Translator) was an American professor, poet, and academic, best known for his
many translations of ancient Greek classics, especially his acclaimed translations of the epic poems
of Homer. His translations generally emphasize contemporary English phrasing and idiom but are
faithful to the original as much as possible. Fagles was nominated for the National Book Award in
Translation and won the Harold Morton Landon Translation Award of the Academy of American
Poets in 1991 for his translation of The Iliad. He taught English and comparative literature for many
years at Princeton University, and died at his home in Princeton, New Jersey in 2008.
TODD ROSENTHAL (Scenic Design) received the 2008 Tony Award for August: Osage County and
a 2011 Tony Award nomination for The Motherfu**er with the Hat. Recent and upcoming designs
include Luna Gale and Venus in Fur at the Goodman; Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf at the Booth
Theatre on Broadway; The Qualms at Steppenwolf; Born Yesterday at the Guthrie Theater; The
Beauty Queen of Leenane at Theatre Royal in Ireland; Domesticated at Lincoln Center; August:
Osage County at Sydney Theatre Company in Sydney, Australia, and the National Theatre in
London; Tribes at Berkeley Rep; Stephen King and John Mellencamp’s Ghost Brothers of Darkland
County at the Alliance Theatre; A Parallelogram at the Mark Taper Forum and Mother Courage at
Arena Stage. Mr. Rosenthal was an exhibitor at the 2007 Prague Quadrennial International Exhibition
of Scenography and Theatre Architecture in the Czech Republic, and designed MythBusters: the
Explosive Exhibition and Sherlock Holmes the Science of Deduction museum exhibition. Accolades
include: Laurence Olivier Award, Ovation Award, Helen Hayes Award, Los Angeles Back Garland
Court Theatre 23
PROFILES
Award, Jeff Awards and a Michael Merritt Award for Excellence in Design and Collaboration. He
is an associate professor at Northwestern University and a graduate of the Yale School of Drama.
Please visit www.toddar.com.
RACHEL ANNE HEALY (Costume Design) Chicago credits include: productions at Goodman
Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Chicago Children’s
Theatre, Northlight Theatre, Apple Tree Theatre, American Theater Company, Next Theatre
Company, TimeLine Theatre Company, Remy Bumppo Theatre Company, Writers’ Theatre, and
currently in Goodman Theatre’s new play festival called “New Stages Amplified.” Regionally,
Ms. Healy has designed with Alliance Theatre, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory
Theater, First Stage Children’s Theatre of Milwaukee, American Players Theatre, and Long Wharf
Theatre. Ms. Healy is also an adjunct professor of costume design, drawing, and painting at The
Theatre School at DePaul University.
KEITH PARHAM (Lighting Design) returns to Court Theatre where his lighting designs include
Tartuffe, The Misanthrope, Proof, Angels in America, and An Iliad. New York: The Model Apartment
(Primary Stages); Through the Yellow Hour (Rattelstick Theater); Tribes, Mistakes Were Made, and
Red Light Winter (Barrow Street Theatre); Stop the Virgens (Karen O at St. Ann’s Warehouse);
Ivanov, Three Sisters (CSC); A Minister’s Wife (Lincoln Center Theatre); Adding Machine (Minetta
Lane); Crime and Punishment, Sunset Limited (59E59). International: Stop the Virgens (Sydney
Opera House); Homebody/Kabul (National Theatre of Belgrade, Serbia). Regional: The Dumb
Waiter, Fulton Street Sessions, Baal (TUTA Theatre, Company Member); Teddy Ferrara, Sweet
Bird of Youth, Red, Mary, The Seagull (Goodman Theatre); The Birthday Party, Time Stands Still,
Sunset Limited, Red Light Winter (Steppenwolf). Arena Stage, The Alley Theatre, The Milwaukee
Repertory, Trinity Repertory, Shakespeare on the Sound, American Players Theatre, Actors Theatre
of Louisville, Northlight Theatre, Writers’ Theatre, Lookingglass Theatre, Chicago Opera Theatre,
and TUTA Theatre West among others. Awards: Obie, Lortel, Afterdark, and Michael Maggio.
ANDRE PLUESS (Sound Design) Broadway credits: Metamorphoses, I Am My Own Wife, 33
Variations, and The Clean House (Lincoln Center). Regional: Cymbeline (Shakespeare Theatre
D.C.), Legacy of Light (Arena Stage), Ghostwritten (Goodman Theatre), Palomino (Center Theatre
Group), Equivocation (Seattle Repertory Theatre), Merchant of Venice and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
(Oregon Shakespeare Festival), Marcus (American Conservatory Theatre), Macbeth and Much Ado
About Nothing (California Shakespeare Festival). Mr. Pluess is an Artistic Associate at Lookingglass
Theatre Company and the California Shakespeare Festival, resident designer at Victory Gardens
Theater, and teaches Sound Design at Northwestern University.
DREW DIR (Production Dramaturg) is a Resident Artist at Court Theatre, where he oversees
dramaturgy and literary management. Production highlights include Orlando, The Comedy of Errors,
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, The Illusion, Porgy and Bess, An Iliad, and Angels in America. He is
also co-Artistic Director of Manual Cinema, a Chicago-based shadow puppetry company, whose
productions include Ada/Ava and Lula del Ray. Drew is a lecturer in Theater and Performance
Studies at the University of Chicago, where he co-teaches History and Theory of Drama with
Professor David Bevington.
KATHERINE KRETLER (Dialect Coach) received her Ph.D. from the Committee on Social Thought
at the University of Chicago. She is a Homerist specializing in performance and in Homer’s influence
Court Theatre 24
PROFILES
on the ancient philosophers. She has taught Greek and Latin language and literature, philosophy,
and general humanities courses at the University of Chicago and Dartmouth College, and once
taught an eight-and-a-half-year course on The Iliad at the U of C’s Graham School. She currently
teaches in the Liberal Arts College at Concordia University in Montreal. Her book project, “One Man
Show: Poiesis and Genesis in the Iliad and Odyssey,” takes a detailed look at the Homeric poems
as scripts for performance.
WILLIAM COLLINS (Production Stage Manager) is in his eighth season with Court Theatre. Stage
Management credits include The Misanthrope, Tartuffe, Angels in America, An Iliad, Porgy and
Bess, Three Tall Women, The Year of Magical Thinking, Uncle Vanya, Thyestes, Titus, The Comedy
of Errors, and Arcadia, among others. William has worked at the Goodman Theatre (Other Desert
Cities, Rock N’ Roll, Vigils, and Blue Surge), Peninsula Players Theatre in Door County Wisconsin
(Chicago, Murder On The Nile, Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure, and Around the World In 80
Days), Paramount Theatre (My Fair Lady), Drury Lane Theatre (Sugar), the Chicago Humanities
Festival, Redmoon Theater, About Face Theatre, and the Guthrie Theatre.
SARA GAMMAGE (Stage Manager) is delighted to return to Court Theatre. Previous Court Theatre
credits include Flyin’ West, What the Butler Saw, The First Breeze of Summer, Wait Until Dark,
The Mystery of Irma Vep, The Illusion, Sizwe Banzi is Dead, Home, Orlando, Porgy and Bess,
Spunk, and The Misanthrope. Other Chicago credits include productions with Chicago Shakespeare
Theater, Greenhouse Theater, Theatre at the Center, Marriot Theatre, Apple Tree Theatre, and
Redmoon Theater. She spent several seasons at Peninsula Players Theatre in Door Country, WI;
credits there include A Little Night Music, Comic Potential, Wait Until Dark, Is He Dead?, Rumors,
and The Lady’s Not for Burning. Sara is a proud graduate of Northwestern University.
STEPHEN J. ALBERT (Executive Director) is a founding Partner in
Albert Hall & Associates, LLC, a leading arts consulting firm. Prior to
forming the consulting practice, Albert was recognized as a leading arts
manager. He has led some of America’s most prestigious theatres,
including the Mark Taper Forum/Center Theatre Group, Alley Theatre,
and Hartford Stage Company. Albert began his career with the Mark
Taper Forum/Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles where he worked in senior management
positions for over a decade, rising to Managing Director. He went on to become Executive Director
of Houston’s Alley Theatre where he led a turnaround that stabilized the organization, enabling the
Alley to return to national standing and drove a capital campaign that secured the organization’s
future. At Hartford Stage, his partnership with Mark Lamos resulted in some of the theatre’s most
successful seasons and reinforced Hartford Stage’s position at the forefront of the regional theatre
movement. During his tenure in Hartford, Mr. Albert led the initiative to create a 25,000 square foot,
state-of-the-art production center, securing the donation of the facility and the funding for its
renovation. Albert has served as both President and Vice President of the League of Resident
Theatres (LORT) and as a board member of Theatre Communications Group (TCG). He has also
written and produced a variety of productions for television, is an ACE award nominee, and has
been an associate producer of numerous acclaimed Broadway productions. He is a Senior Fellow
with the American Leadership Forum, a graduate of the University of Southern California, and holds
an MBA from the UCLA Graduate School of Management.
Court Theatre 25
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
STAFF
Marilyn Fatt Vitale, Chair
Barbara E. Franke, Vice Chair
Margaret Maxwell Zagel, Vice Chair
Michael McGarry, Treasurer
Trustees
Mary Anton
Roland Baker
Joan Beugen
Leigh Breslau
Tim Bryant
Jonathan Bunge
Joan Coppleson
Kenneth Cunningham
Lorna C. Ferguson
David Fithian
Karen Frank
Virginia Gerst
Mary Louise Gorno
Jack Halpern
Kevin Hochberg
Dana Levinson
Karen Lewis
Michael Lowenthal
Linda Patton
Diane Saltoun
Karla Scherer
Leon I. Walker
FACULTY ADVISORY COUNCIL
Shadi Bartsch-Zimmer
David Bevington
Robert Bird
James Chandler
Cathy Cohen
Michael Dawson
Philip Gossett
Tom Gunning
Reginald Jackson
Travis A. Jackson
Heinrich Jaeger
Jonathan Lear
David J. Levin
Patchen Markell
Court Theatre 26
Margaret Mitchell
Deborah Nelson
David Nirenberg
Sarah Nooter
Larry Norman
Martha Nussbaum
Jessica Stockholder
Kenneth Warren
David Wellbery
Christopher Wild
David Wray
Judith Zeitlin
Honorary Trustee
Stanley Freehling
Ex-Officio
Stephen J. Albert
David Bevington
James Chandler
Charles Newell
Larry Zbikowski
D. Nicholas Rudall
Artistic Director
Executive Director
Resident Artist
Resident Artist
Casting Director and
Artists-in-the-Schools Director
Teaching Artists
Casting/Education Assistant
Kemper Casting/Education Fellow
Charles Newell
Stephen J. Albert
Ron OJ Parson
Drew Dir
Cree Rankin
Caren Blackmore, Kamal Angelo Bolden,
Tracey N. Bonner, Ashley Honore,
Patrese D. McClain, Courtney O’Neill,
Michael Pogue, Mark Villafranco
Jamie Mermelstein
Scarlett Kim
Production Manager
Assistant Production Mgr/Company Mgr Technical Director
Assistant Technical Director
Properties Manager
Costume Shop Manager
Master Electrician
Sound and Video Supervisor
Jennifer Gadda
Joshua Kaiser
Ray Vlcek
Adina Lee Weinig
Lara Musard
Erica Franklin
Brenton Wright
Sarah Ramos
Development Specialist
Deputy Director of Development
Associate Director of Development for
Individual Giving and Special Events
Development Manager
Kemper Development Fellow
Elaine Wackerly
Elizabeth Wills
Rebecca Silverman
Erin Kelsey
Grace Wong
General Manager Heidi Thompson Saunders
Business Manager Zachary Davis
Management Assistant Melissa Rose
Director of Marketing and Communications
Associate Director of Marketing
Assistant Director of Marketing
Kemper Marketing Fellows
Public Relations
Adam Thurman
Traci Brant
Kate Vangeloff
Chloe Atchue-Mamlet, Adam Przbyl, Nick Sidoran
Cathy Taylor Public Relations, Inc.
Audience Services Manager
Box Office Manager
Associate Box Office Manager
and Database Admininstrator
Box Office Assistants
House Managers
Concessionaires
Volunteer Ushers
Volunteer Coordinator
Matthew Sitz Diane Osolin
Heather Dumdei
Navea Frazier, Ariel Mellinger, Kareem Mohammad,
Rachel Robinson, Conner Westby
Reginald Edmond, China Whitmire
Alexander Colborn, Demi McLaren,
Mallory VanMeeter, Christina Williams
Courtesy of The Saints
Judd Rinsema
Court Theatre 27
INSTITUTIONAL SPONSORS
INDIVIDUAL SUPPORT
Court Theatre would like to thank the following institutions for their generous contributions.
Court Theatre would like to thank the following individuals for their generous contributions.
Crown Society ($50,000 and above)
Crown Society ($50,000 and above)
The Chicago Community Trust
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
The Joyce Foundation
Polk Bros. Foundation
The Shubert Foundation
University Of Chicago
Royal Court ($25,000 – $49,999)
Allstate Insurance Co.
Alphawood Foundation
BMO Harris Bank
The Boeing Company
Cultural Outreach Program, City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs
Hyde Park Bank
The Julius Frankel Foundation
Barbara and Richard Franke
Mr. and Mrs. David J. Vitale
Royal Court ($25,000 – $49,999)
Mr. John and Rita Canning
Joan and Warwick Coppleson
Joan and Bob Feitler
Mr. and Mrs. James S. Frank
Virginia and Gary Gerst
Karla Scherer
Distinguished Patrons ($15,000 – $24,999)
Mr. and Mrs. Timothy Bryant
Kevin Hochberg and James McDaniel
James Noonan and Dana Levinson
Linda and Stephen Patton
Robert and Joan Rechnitz
Lawrence E. Strickling and Sydney L. Hans Fund
Sarita I. Warshawsky
Directors ($10,000 – $14,999)
Benefactors ($10,000 – $24,999)
The Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation
Grant Thornton LLP
Harper Court Arts Council
Illinois Arts Council
The James S. Kemper Foundation
Kirkland and Ellis LLP
The National Endowment for the Arts
Northern Trust
Nuveen Investments
Prince Charitable Trusts
Sidley Austin LLP
Southwest Airlines
The University of Chicago Women’s Board
Winston and Strawn LLP
Patrons ($2,500 – $9,999)
City Arts IV, City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs
The Irving Harris Foundation
The Rhoades Foundation
Walgreens
Court Theatre 28
Helen N. and Roland C. Baker
Joyce and Bruce Chelberg
Martha and Bruce Clinton
Lorna Ferguson and Terry Clark
Mary Louise Gorno
Dr. and Mrs. Peter T. Heydemann
Tom and Esta Kallen
Earl and Brenda Shapiro Foundation
Joan E. Neal and David Weisbach
Margaret Maxwell Zagel and the Honorable James Zagel
Benefactors ($5,000 – $9,999)
Stephen and Terri Albert
Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Bunge
Richard and Ann Carr
James E. Clark and Christina Labate
David Cooper
Shawn M. Donnelley and Christopher M. Kelley
Sylvia Fergus
Mr. Harve Ferrill
Sonja and Conrad Fischer Foundation
David B. Fithian and Michael R. Rodriguez
Mr. and Mrs. Graham Gerst
Ms. Janice Halpern
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Helman,
in honor of Virginia Gerst
Bill and Jan Jentes
Mr. Carroll Joynes and Ms. Abby O’Neil
Anne Kutak
Mr. Bennett Lasko
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Lewis
Mr. Michael C. Litt
William and Kate Morrison
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Patterson
Diane Saltoun and Bruce Braun
Susan H. and Robert E. Shapiro
Joan and James Shapiro
Fidelis and Bonnie Umeh
Leon and Rian Walker
Court Theatre 29
INDIVIDUAL SUPPORT
Patrons ($2,500 – $4,999)
Mary Anton and Paul Barron
Judith Barnard and Michael Fain
Mary Jo and Doug Basler
Leigh S. Breslau and Irene J. Sherr
Jonathan and Gertude Bunge
Stan and Elin Christianson
Ginger L. Petroff and Kenneth R. Cunningham
Mr. Charles F. Custer
Dr. and Mrs. Willard A. Fry
Ms. Susan Gordy and Mr. David Epstein
Mr. and Mrs. Richard Gray
Mark and Melanie Greenberg
Gene and Nancy Haller
Jack Halpern
Dr. Lynn Hauser and Neil Ross
INDIVIDUAL SUPPORT
Mr. and Mrs. Jack Karp, in honor of Karen Frank
Michael Lowenthal and Amy Osler
Charlene and Gary MacDougal
Margaret and Steven McCormick
Robert McDermott and Sarah Jaicks McDermott
Robert Moyer and Anita Nagler
Thomas Rosenbaum and Katherine Faber
Mike and Pamela Starr
Kathy and Robert Sullivan
Elaine and Richard Tinberg
Anne and William Tobey
Dr. and Mrs. James Tonsgard
Thomas and Barbara Weil
Gretchen Winter and Jim Brown
Paul and Mary Yovovich
Leaders ($1,000 – $2,499)
Anonymous
Mr. Ed Bachrach
Jay R. Franke and Pamela Baker
Jean and John Berghoff, in honor of Virginia Gerst
Mr. and Mrs. David L. Blumberg
Mary and Carl Boyer, in honor of Virginia Gerst
Mary Douglass and Thomas P. Brown
Mr. and Mrs. James K. Chandler
Greg and Jessica Coleman
Paula and Oscar D’Angelo
Paul Dykstra and Spark Cremin
Philip and Phyllis Eaton
Mrs. Emlyn Eisenach and Mr. Eric Posner
Deborah and David Epstein
Jacqueline and Howard Gilbert
Peter Gotsch
Mr. and Mrs. Craig Griffith
Doris B. Holleb
Kineret Jaffe and Mort Silverman
Ben and Laura King
Ms. Nancy A. Lauter and Mr. Alfred L. McDougal
Mr. and Mrs. Michael McGarry
Dr. Larry Norman
Mr. and Mrs. Don Robinson
Mr. and Mrs. John Sabl
Alan and Allison Satyr
Ms. Yolanda Saul
Lynne F. and Ralph A. Schatz
Ms. Terese Schwartzman
Mr. and Mrs. Richard Seid
David and Judith L. Sensibar
James and Chelsea Smith
Nikki and Fred Stein
James Stone
Otto and Elsbeth Thilenius
Mr. and Mrs. R. Todd Vieregg
Elaine and Patrick Wackerly
Charles and Sallie Wolf
Luigi and Jill Zingales
Supporters ($500 – $999)
Drs. Andrew J. and Iris K. Aronson
Brett and Carey August
Joan and Julian Berman
Henry and Leigh Bienen
Douglas Bragan
Brady and Geraldine Brownlee
Thomas Coleman and Susan Kuenstner
John and Patricia Cook
Barbara Flynn Currie
Anne M. and Scott Davis
Court Theatre 30
Nancy and Eugene De Sombre
Frederick T. Dearborn
Mr. Lawrence D. Delpilar
Nancie and Bruce Dunn
Eileen and Richard Epstein
Dr. and Mrs. Wolfgang Epstein
Mr. Stephen Fedo
Ann and Bill Fraumann
Mr. and Mrs. Paul E. Freehling
Supporters cont’d
Delphine and Timothy Geannopulos
Mr. Charles R. Hasbrouck
Beth and Howard Helsinger
Mr. and Mrs. Arnold Hirsch
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Howell, in honor of Virginia Gerst
Ms. Deone Jackman
Jean A. Klingenstein
Mr. and Mrs. Martin J. Koldyke
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas A. Lasinski
Barry Lesht and Kay Schichtel, in memory of Jack Shannon
Ms. Carolyn S. Levin
Ms. Nancy Levner
Phoebe R. and John D. Lewis Family Foundation
Mr. and Mrs. Michael B. Lowe
Mr. and Mrs. John W. McCarter, Jr.
Greg and Alice Melchor
Dr. and Mrs. Ernest Mhoon
Joanne Michalski and Mike Weeda
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Moeller
Contributors ($250 – $499)
Anonymous
Mr. and Mrs. Steven A. Adelman
Mrs. Geraldine S. Alvarez
Mr. and Mrs. John Anderson
Eugene L. Balter and Judith R. Phillips
Randy Barba
Catharine Bell and Robert Weiglein
Thomas C. and Melanie Berg
Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Berry
Ms. Kathleen Betterman
Mr. and Mrs. Adrian Beverly
James Bishop
Phyllis Booth
Gregory and Rosalie Bork
Jim and Sandy Boves
Mr. Scott Brickwood
John and Sally Carton
Dr. Adam Cifu
Mr. Richard Clark and Ms. Mary J. Munday
Lydia G. Cochrane
Mr. and Mrs. Robert J. Darnall
Eloise DeYoung
Nancy Felton-Elkins and Larry Elkins
Sidney and Sondra Berman Epstein
Edie and Ray Fessler
B. Ellen Fisher
Celia and David Gadda
Dr. Thomas Gajewski and Dr. Marisa Alegre
Judy and Mickey Gaynor
Joan M. Giardina
Ms. Deborah Hagman-Shannon
and Dean Daniel Shannon
Lisa Kohn and Harvey Nathan
Mr. and Mrs. Phil C. Neal
Ms. Grayce Papp
Elizabeth M. Postell
Edward M. Rafalski
Mr. and Mrs. James M. Ratcliffe
Ms. Martha Roth and Mr. Bryon Rosner
Sharon Salveter and Stephan Meyer
Mr. Craig Savage and Dusan Stefoski
Ilene W. Shaw
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Shea
Tim Burroughs and Barbara Smith
Mr. and Mrs. David Stalle
Mr. Carl Stern and Mrs. Holly Hayes,
in honor of Marilyn Vitale
Ms. Isabel Stewart
Gary Strandlund
William and Marisol Towns
Mrs. Ruth Ultmann
Mr. and Mrs. Robert B. Hartfield,
in honor of Virginia Gerst and Marilyn Vitale
Richard and Marilyn Helmholz
Douglas and Lola Hotchkis
Carrie and Gary Huff
Mr. Gilbert Johns
Mr. James Jolley and R. Kyle Lammlein
Ms. Anne Van Wart and Mr. Michael Keable
Nancy and Richard Kosobud
Bill and Blair Lawlor
Steven and Barbara Lewis
Mr. and Mrs. Joe Madden
Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Mages
William Mason and Diana Davis
Mr. and Mrs. Frank D. Mayer, Jr.
David E. McNeel
Renee M. Menegaz and Prof. R. D. Bock
Doris and Glenn E. Merritt
Drs. Donald E. and Mary Ellen Newsom
Mr. and Mrs. Norman Raidl
Nuna and Ennio Rossi
Mr. James Sampson
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Scott
Elizabeth and Hugo Sonnenschein
Dorie Sternberg
George P. Surgeon
Prof. and Mrs. Lester Telser
Edward and Edith Turkington
Sharon and John Van Pelt
Virginia Wright Wexman and John Huntington
Howard S. White
Jennifer Wishcamper
Court Theatre 31
INDIVIDUAL SUPPORT
Associates ($150 – $249)
Anonymous
Filomena and Robert Albee
Wendy Anker and Ed Reed
Mr. and Mrs. Cal Audrain
Ms. Ann Becker
Mr. Melvin Belton
Mr. Stephen Berry
David and Peggy Bevington
Helen and Charles Bidwell
Mr. Aldridge Bousfield
Mr. Norman Boyer
Mr. John Buenz
Karen A. Callaway
Mr. Robert Chicoine
Elizabeth Fama and John Cochrane
Mr. and Mrs. Howard Cohn
Katherine and John Culbert
David Curry and George Kohler
Quinn and Robert Delaney
Lynn and James Drew
John Dyble
Rose B. Dyrud
Ms. Erika Erich
Donald and Martha Farley
Paul Fong
Ms. Carma Forgie
Dr. Sandra Garber
Paul B. Glickman
Natalie and Howard Goldberg
Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Golden
Mr. Ray Greenblatt
Mr. Andrew Halbur
Joel and Sarah Handelman
Carrie L. Hedges
Mr. and Mrs. Allen Hintz
Ms. Susan Horn
Mr. James Ibers
Ms. Terry Iverson
Mr. Richard K. Jacoby
William Kaplan and Kathryn Clarke
Elizabeth Kieff and Tom Levinson
Margaret M. and Thomas L. Kittle-Kamp
Mr. Norman Kohn
ABOUT COURT
Susan and Anthony Kossiakoff
Maria and Peter Lagios
Mrs. Dianne Larkin
Bruce and Mary Leep
Mr. Michael Lewis
Charles and Fran Licht
Ms. Barbara Mallon
James and Katharine Mann
Sharon Manuel
Michelle Maton and Mike Schaeffer
Ms. Corinne McArdle
Stacey and Patrick McCusker
Dean Miller and Martha Swift
Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Molner
Doug and Jayne Morrison
Marianne Nathan and Jim Hugunin
Alan and Kathryn Nesburg
Mr. and Mrs. Harold Newton
Mr. Gary Ossewaarde
Ms. Jane Grady and Mr. Alan J. Pulaski
Michael and Virginia Raftery
Bruce Rodman
Dr. Lya Dym Rosenblum and Dr. Louis Rosenblum
Cecilia and Joel Roth
Dr. Janet Rowley
Manfred Ruddat
Michele and Jesse Ruiz
Martha Sabransky
Roche Schulfer and Mary Beth Fisher
Mr. Barre Seid
Mr. Joseph Senese
Robert A. Smith
Dr. and Mrs. Eric Spratford
Judith E. Stein
Ms. Cheryl L. Thaxton
James and Sue Thompson
Daina Variakojis and Ernest Fricke
Ms. Linda Vincent
Ms. Lynn Werner
Dr. Willard E. White
Nancy and John Wood
Mr. and Mrs. Joel Zemans
Ms. Nicole Zreczny
5535 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637
(773) 753-4472 www.CourtTheatre.org
Mission: The mission of Court Theatre is to create innovative productions of
classic plays that are thought provoking, character-driven, and thematically
enduring. Through main stage productions, audience enrichment programs, and
collaborations with the University of Chicago, we re-examine, re-envision, and
renew classic texts that pose enduring and provocative questions that define the human experience.
Vision: Court Theatre’s vision is to create the Center for Classic Theatre at the University of Chicago.
Dedicated to the creation of large-scale interdisciplinary theatrical experiences, the Center will:
• Inspire, educate, and entertain audiences both on and off the stage.
• Attract and feature artists of extraordinary talent.
• Add new adaptations and translations of classic works to the canon.
• Collaborate directly with University of Chicago scholars and students.
• Connect Court Theatre to individuals throughout Chicagoland, and especially to our
community on Chicago’s South Side.
As a professional theatre-in-residence at the University of Chicago, Court is uniquely positioned to be a
leader in the successful marriage of artistic practice and academic inquiry; by integrating the making of
art with the creation of knowledge, Court will mount ambitious theatrical events unlike any other theatre
in the country. The Center for Classic Theatre represents the realization of this potential and will propel
Court Theatre to a position of national preeminence.
Bolded names indicate members of Court’s Board of Trustees. If you would like to make a
correction or remain anonymous, please contact Erin Kelsey, Development Manager, at
(773) 834-0941 or [email protected]. This list reflects gifts received before October 9, 2013.
Court Theatre 32
Court Theatre 33
SPECIAL GIFTS
Endowment Support and Planned Gifts
Court Theatre greatly acknowledges the generous individuals and institutions who have supported
Court’s artistic excellence by contributing to our endowment or making a planned gift.
Hope and Lester Abelson Family
The Michael and Lillian Braude Theatre Fund
Joan S. and Stanley M. Freehling Fund for the Arts
The Helen and Jack Halpern Fund
The William Randolph Hearst Foundation
Anne Kutak
Marion Lloyd Court Theatre Fund
Michael Lowenthal
Carroll Mason Russell Fund
For more information on how to leave a legacy of support for the arts by making a planned
gift or contribution to Court Theatre’s endowment, please contact Erin Kelsey at (773) 834-0941 or
[email protected].
Court Theatre Facility Support
The University of Chicago
In-Kind Contributions
The following companies and individuals support Court through the donation of goods or services:
Stephen J. Albert
Alliance Francaise de Chicago
Bin 36
Tim and Jackie Bryant
Chant
Joan and Warwick Coppleson
Disney Theatricals
Food for Thought
Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts
Freehling Pot and Pan
Karen and Jim Frank
Gold’n Pear Catering
Harris Theater
Dr. and Mrs. Peter T. Heydemann
Kevin Hochberg and James McDaniel
Hyatt Hotels Corporation
The Jupiter Hotel, Portland, OR
The David and Reva Logan Center
for the Performing Arts
Mary Mastricola and La Petite Folie
Larry Norman
Piccolo Mondo
Ritz Carlton Chicago
The Saints
Diane Saltoun and Bruce Braun
Susan H. and Robert E. Shapiro
Southwest Airlines
Supreme Jewelers
Trenchermen
United Airlines
David and Marilyn Fatt Vitale
Court Theatre 34
the center for
CLASSIC
T H E AT R E
Campaign for the Center for
Classic Theatre at Court Theatre
Court Theatre recognizes those individuals
whose generosity supported the creation
of The Center for Classic Theatre at Court
Theatre and the University of Chicago.
Leadership Supporters
Virginia and Gary Gerst
Barbara and Richard Franke
David and Marilyn Fatt Vitale
Karen and James Frank
Additional support provided by:
An exhibition of photographs by
Jason Reblando documents how
many modern jobs were invented
in the ancient Middle East.
Open Tuesday through Sunday
58th & University Ave
oi.uchicago.edu
Linda and Stephen Patton
Lawrence E. Strickling and Sydney L. Hans
Lorna Ferguson and Terry Clark
Ms. Margaret Maxwell Zagel
and the Honorable James Zagel
Helen and Roland Baker
Michael Lowenthal and Amy Osler
Photo of Patrese D. McClain by Michael Brosilow.
Court Theatre 35
DINING PARTNERS
Court Theatre patrons receive 10% off at Chant, The Nile, and Piccolo Mondo with their
ticket stubs on the night of the show. One discount per ticket. Not valid with any other offers.
uhd
1509 E. 53rd St.
(773) 324-1999
chantchicago.com
La Petite Folie offers a prix
fixe menu for Court patrons
1504 E. 55th St.
(773) 493-1394
lapetitefolie.com
Food for Thought is Court
Theatre’s Premier Caterer
435 N. Michigan Ave.
(312) 222-3022
fftchicago.com
Kimbark Beverage is Court
Theatre’s Beverage Sponsor
1214 E. 53rd St.
(773) 493-3355
kimbarkbeverage.com
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NILd
HYDd PaRk
1162 E. 55th St.
(773) 324-9499
nilerestaurantofhydepark.com
1642 E. 56th St.
(773) 643-1106
piccolomondo.us
Hotel Partner
Chicago-South/University Medical Center
5225 S. Harper Ave.
(773) 752-5300
chicagosouthuniversity.place.hyatt.com