Writers’ Theatre announces 2008/09 season

Scotty Zacher | May 25, 2008 | 0 Comments

Writer’s Theatre 2008/09 Season

Nixon’s Nixon

By Russell Lees

Directed by Michael Halberstam

Featuring William Brown and Larry Yando

Just in time for the elections, we bring back our critically acclaimed, award-winning production of Nixon’s Nixon. This box office record-breaking production returns to our most intimate theatre for a limited engagement. Artistic Director Michael Halberstam will once again direct William Brown and Larry Yando as they reprise their tour-de-force performances as Kissinger and Nixon in this thrilling, hilarious and brilliantly imagined story of what might have happened in the Lincoln sitting room the night before Nixon resigned.

September 16 – November 16, 2008

Picnic

By William Inge

Directed by David Cromer

When a charismatic young drifter arrives in a small Kansas town on the eve of a Labor Day picnic, the simmering repressions of its residents come rapidly to a boil. Frequently hilarious and profoundly mo ing, Inge’s masterpiece chronicles the hopes and despairs that lie between the realization of adulthood and the eternal optimism of youth. This American classic is staged by Chicago’s own David Cromer, whose previous work for Writers’ Theatre includes The Price and Booth, and whose highly acclaimed production of The Adding Machine is enjoying a successful run in New York.

September 16 – November 16, 2008

The Maids

By Jean Genet

Translated by Martin Crimp

Directed by Jimmy McDermott

When the mistress is away, the maids will play. Two women in service to a younger socialite pass the moments of their day in play-acting and fantasy. As the line between fantasy and reality begins to disintegrate, their games take a deadly turn. Jealousy, resentment, sexual tension and murder converge in this 1947 classic French thriller. Jimmy McDermott, one of the city’s most exciting young directors, brings his trademark edginess to this seminally rebellious play.

November 18 , 2008 – April 5, 2009

A Christmas Carol

By Charles Dickens

Adapted & Performed by Michael Halberstam

Artistic Director Michael Halberstam masterfully recreates the greatest ghost story ever written with his tour-de-force solo performance of Ebenzer Scrooge’s journey over the course of one magical Christmas Eve. Now in its 13^th season, this holiday tradition has been extended to nine performances after last year’s sold-out run.

December 13 – 23, 2008

World Premiere!!

Old Glory

By Brett Neveu

Directed by William Brown

William Brown, director of last season’s triumphant As You Like It, turns his attention from the old to the new. One of the country’s hottest young playwrights, Brett Neveu, brings us the world premiere of Old Glory.This gripping drama in which a family confronts loss as a conseqwuence of war is brought intensely to life through Neveu’s direct yet poetic language. No government, no politics, just people. Razor sharp wit and fiercely emotional confrontation combine as this viscerally powerful mystery unfolds.

February 3 – March 29, 2009

World Premiere Musical!!

A Minister’s Wife

Music by Josh Schmidt, Lyrics by Jan Tranen

Adapted by Austin Pendleton

Conceived & Directed by Michael Halberstam

After his unanimously acclaimed New York debut, The Adding Machine, Writers’ Theatre Associate Artist Josh Schmidt has become the most eagerly anticipated young musical theatre composer in the country. Schmidt’s second creation, in collaboration with artistic director Michael Halberstam, playwright Austin Pendleton and lyricist Jan Tranen, receives its world premiere in Glencoe. A poet, a preacher and his wife enter into a delicious conflict when a fantastical assumption turns an ordinary day topsy-turvy.

May 19 – July 19, 2009

For more information on Writers’ Theatre, call 847-242-6000, or go to www.writerstheatre.org.