SIXCHICAGO SIX Contents Y H P a Chicago Shakespeare Theater 800 E
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#SIXCHICAGO SIX Contents Y H P A R Chicago Shakespeare Theater 800 E. Grand on Navy Pier On the Boards 8 Chicago, Illinois 60611 A selection of notable CST events, plays, and players 312.595.5600 www.chicagoshakes.com HOTOG A Conversation 12 P ©2019 Chicago Shakespeare Theater with the Creators CO All rights reserved. S A ARTISTIC DIRECTOR R CARL AND MARILYNN THOMA CHAIR: Cast Barbara Gaines 19 CA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Criss Henderson A Little Bit of Her-Story 20 PICTURED ABOVE: The company of SIX PHOTO BY: Jeff Sciortino Profiles 22 FFTCHICAGO.COM Proud to be a partner with Chicago Shakespeare Theater www.chicagoshakes.com 3 CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE THEATER CHICAGO SHAKESPEARETHEATER Welcome ng July 6 foll ginni ow th Be ick Road to N e w Br avy P ello s of mu ier Y minute sical m 75 ag for ic DEAR FRIENDS, This year marks the twentieth anniversary of our move to Navy Pier. During our inaugural season in what is now our artistic home, we presented seven productions across our two theaters. We have since grown exponentially, adding The Yard at Chicago Shakespeare, building a nationally recognized education program, curating a vibrant WorldStage Series, launching new plays and musicals, and expanding our annual schedule to feature as many as twenty productions. Highlighting our commitment to new work, new voices, and artists who redesign traditional storytelling paradigms is SIX, an electrifying new pop musical by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss. Our newest venue, The Yard at Chicago Shakespeare, is the perfect home for this genre-defying work, directed by Moss and Jamie Armitage. What began as a small project for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe between writers and friends Marlow and Moss while in their final year at Cambridge has since taken the West End by storm, garnering five Olivier Award nominations. Through powerhouse pop, SIX gives voice to six often overlooked by L . FRANK BAUM with music and lyrics by queens—the wives of King Henry VIII. Aragon, Boleyn, Seymour, Cleves, Howard, HAROLD ARLEN and E.Y. HARBURG and Parr unite to reclaim their places in history through an exuberant celebration adapted by JOHN KANE of female empowerment. directed by BRIAN HILL choreographed by KENNY INGRAM While SIX plays in The Yard, Shakespeare’s timeless 400-year-old masterpiece Hamlet, staged by Artistic Director Barbara Gaines, plays in the Courtyard Theater. For our younger audiences this summer, we will produce a beloved family musical, The Wizard of Oz, on Navy Pier. At the same time, our abridged production of $ The Comedy of Errors will tour to neighborhood parks across the city, free for all, in our eighth year of Chicago Shakespeare in the Parks. TICKETS19 FOR We’re thrilled to have you here today to celebrate the North American Premiere of CHILDREN (12 & under) SIX. Whether you’re a regular visitor or it is your first time with us, we hope we’ll when you book see you again soon! n group of 10 a + Barbara Gaines Criss Henderson Steve Solomon Artistic Director Executive Director Chair, Board of Directors Carl and Marilynn Thoma Chair www.chicagoshakes.com 5 CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE THEATER About CST Under the leadership of Artistic Director Barbara Gaines and Executive Director Criss Henderson, Chicago Shakespeare has redefined what a great American Shakespeare theater can be—a company that defies theatrical category. This Regional Tony Award-winning theater’s year-round season features as many as twenty productions and 650 performances—including plays, musicals, world premieres, family programming, and presentations from around the globe. The work is enjoyed by 225,000 audience members annually, with one in four under the age of eighteen. Chicago Shakespeare is the city’s leading presenter of international work, and in touring its own productions across five continents has garnered multiple accolades, including the prestigious Laurence Olivier Award. Emblematic of its role as a global theater, the company spearheaded Shakespeare 400 Chicago, celebrating Shakespeare’s legacy in a citywide, yearlong international arts and culture festival, which engaged more than one million people. The Theater’s nationally acclaimed arts in literacy programs support the work of English and drama teachers, and bring Shakespeare to life on stage for tens of thousands of their students each school year. Over the summer, the company tours a professional production of Shakespeare’s work, free for all, to neighborhood parks across the city. In 2017 the Theater unveiled The Yard at Chicago Shakespeare—with its innovative design that has changed the shape of theater architecture. Together with the Jentes Family Courtyard Theater and the Thoma Theater Upstairs, The Yard positions Chicago Shakespeare as the city’s most versatile performing arts center. n BOARD OF DIRECTORS Steven J. Solomon* M. Hill Hammock w* Judith Pierpont Chair Kathryn J. Hayley Richard W. Porter* Paulita A. Pike* Criss Henderson* John Rau Treasurer Stewart S. Hudnut Nazneen Razi* William R. Jentes* Sheli Z. Rosenberg w* Frank D. Ballantine John P. Keller w Robert Ryan John Blazey Christie B. Kelly Carole Segal Stephen A. Brodsky Richard A. Kent Eric Q. Strickland* Thomas L. Brown Barbara Malott Kizziah Harvey J. Struthers, Jr. Allan E. Bulley III Chase Collins Levey Sheila G. Talton Clive Christison Anna Livingston Marilynn J. Thoma* Patrick R. Daley Judy Loseff Gayle R. Tilles Brian W. Duwe Renetta McCann William J. Tomazin, Jr. Philip L. Engel w Raymond F. McCaskey w* Donna Van Eekeren Jeanne B. Ettelson Robert G. McLennan Pallavi Verma Kevin R. Evanich Jess E. Merten Priscilla A. (Pam) Walterw* Harve A. Ferrill Linda Myers Ray Whitacre Sonja Fischer Madhavan Nayar Richard J. Franke Christopher O’Brien * Denotes Executive Committee Barbara Gaines* Dennis Olis* Members C. Gary Gerst w* Mark S. Ouweleen* w Denotes Former Board Chairs Marguerite H. Griffin www.chicagoshakes.com 7 SIX CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE THEATER On the Boards ON STAGE IN THE COMMUNITY AROUND THE WORLD BEHIND THE SCENES The expansive 2019/20 Season offers a The annual free Chicago Shakespeare In 2000 Chicago Shakespeare launched its From rain to blood to mud to rapid series of inspired productions. This fall, in the Parks tour provides the WorldStage Series, a program dedicated quick-changes, Dresser Jess Kenyon deals enjoy the North American Premiere of perfect opportunity to explore a new to fostering global artistic dialogue and with it all backstage, ensuring that actors The King’s Speech, based on the remarkable neighborhood this summer. From Calumet bringing boundary-pushing international are cleaned up and in all the right costume true story that inspired the Academy to Loyola, Ping Tom to Columbus, Chicago work to Chicago. The Theater has since pieces for their next entrance. To honor Award-winning film. Shakespeare’s Shakespeare is bringing Shakespeare’s welcomed more than 1,000 artists from Jess’s work on CST's wardrobe team, enduring genius ignites Romeo and Juliet, boisterous farce, The Comedy of Errors, twenty-three countries. Next fall, South she was presented with the seventeenth one of the most famous love stories of directed by David H. Bell, to parks Africa’s Isango Ensemble brings A Man annual Hurckes Award. Created by all time. Hit songs from The Beatles mix across the city of Chicago. This beloved of Good Hope. Vividly told through music Dick Hurckes, a founding member of with Shakespeare’s poetry in the joyous summertime tradition will feature and dance steeped in African traditions, the Theater’s Board, and his late wife romantic comedy As You Like It. Tony twenty-five performances, from July 18 the play illuminates a young Somalian Lou, the Hurckes Award supports the work Award-nominated composer Paul Gordon to August 18, in eighteen of Chicago’s refugee’s unfailing hope throughout his and ongoing professional development transforms Jane Austen's Emma into a neighborhoods. The Comedy of Errors odyssey across a continent. Makuyeika of the artisans and technicians who create charming musical, and a host of artists from tells the tale of a young man and his Theatre Collective presents Andares, which the worlds onstage, yet rarely receive around the world fill the Theater’s stages. lifelong servant and companion searching chronicles the lives of indigenous youth this type of public recognition. Director A variety of Subscription packages— the world over for their twins, lost in in México—and the realities of merging of Production Chris Plevin explains: designed for every taste, schedule, and infancy. Everywhere they go, strangers modern life with tradition—devised from “Jess brings an almost incomprehensible budget—are now on sale. More than just insist that they’re old friends. Mistaken personal anecdotes, ancestral myths, wizardry to her work. Her technical a few dates on your calendar, this total identities abound, until chaos at last gives and traditional art forms. And in spring, skillset in her craft allows our productions artistic experience celebrates the theatrical way to clarity in this comedy filled with the world renowned Royal Shakespeare to unfold seamlessly, with actors moving innovation and powerful performances equal measure of mayhem, madness, and Company returns to Chicago for the from scene to scene with seemingly that you can expect with every visit to heart. For tour locations and dates, visit first time in 25 years with a signature limitless flexibility—and the audience Chicago Shakespeare. Learn more at www.chicagoshakes.com/parks. Shakespeare production. oblivious to the miracles she is working www.chicagoshakes.com/subscribe. behind the scenes.” From left: Courtyard Theater; Chicago Shakespeare in the Parks at Polk Bros Park; The Company of Isango Ensamble's A Man of Good Hope; Jess Kenyon, Kate Hurckes Arias, and Gill Arias. photos by Liz Lauren, J Lauryn Photography, and James Steinkamp, Steinkamp Photography.