ISSUE thIrty-OnE November 2010 1 Travels wiTh my aunT: On Stage Table of ConTenTs Dear Friends ................................................................................................ 3 “I HAVE NEVER oT n s age: Travels with my aunt ............................................................................ 5 Graham Greene: Literary Legend .............................................. 6 PLANNED ANYTHING Introducing Stuart Carden ............................................................ 10 Funny Families ....................................................................................... 14 Why Here? Why Now? ....................................................................... 16 b aCksTage: Garden Party Event Wrap Up ..................................................... 20 she loves me Opening Night ...................................................... 22 ILLEGAL Footlights and Candlelight ............................................................. 24 Mark Your Calendars: Upcoming Events .......................... 25 Meet the Writers' Theatre Teaching Artists ................... 26 Welcome to Writers’ Theatre! ................................................... 28 Performance Calendar ..................................................................... 29 IN MY LIFE. HOW COULD I WHEN I HAVE NEVER READ ANY OF THE LAWS AND HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THEY ARE?” -n au T augusTa, Travels wiTh my aunT 2 Travels wiTh my aunT: On Stage Travels wiTh my aunT: On Stage 1 Michael Halberstam THE BRIEF CHRONICLE Artistic Director th e offICIal newsMagazIne of wRITeRs’ THeaTRe kathryn M. lipuma Executive Director Issue THIRTY-one November 2010 Michael Halberstam kathryn M. lipuma artistic Director executive Director eDIToR eleanor berman Director of marketing & Communications THe bRIef CHRonICle TeaM Dear Friends, amber bel'cher nicole gilman Development manager Director of education It's always such an adventure to return to Books on Vernon. As the flagship Jaron bernstein bobby kennedy performance space for much of the company's history, we're delighted to Development assistant Producing assistant/literary associate bring new life to our 50-seat theatre year after year, and this season brings a stuart Carden sara M. Poorman particularly exciting project. Our very own Associate Artistic Director Stuart Carden associate artistic Director marketing manager helms his first production at Writers' Theatre, directing Giles Havergal's brilliant Jon faris adaptation of Travels with my aunt. The marriage of the bookstore space to this General manager fascinating and witty literary gem will provide you with a quintessential Writers' Theatre experience. DesIgn In this issue of The Brief Chronicle we look at the prolific author Graham Greene, LOWERCASE, INC. from whose novel Travels with my aunt was adapted. As a major literary voice in the 20th century, we examine Greene's work as it has been presented across a THe wRITeRs’ THeaTRe boaRD of TRusTees variety of mediums from stage to screen. It also gives us enormous pleasure to Officers introduce you to Stuart. elaine Tinberg, President It's always a privilege to honor our generous supporters as we did at the Director's gillian goodman, vice President David Mcgranahan, vice President society 2010 Garden Party. Bringing the 2009/10 Season to a close, the Garden barbara Melcher, vice President Party was a beautiful and perfect way to celebrate another remarkable season. Thomas Hodges, Treasurer In the meantime, the current season got off to a romantic start with a terrific Joseph g. Dillon, secretary opening night of she loves me. Also in this issue, we get to know the Writers' Theatre Teaching Artists. These four educators take the principals of the 'word Trustees and the artist' into classrooms throughout Chicago and the suburbs, nurturing lawrence M. adelman Christopher n. knight future artists and integrating arts education into everyday curriculum. arthur anderson, Jr. beth l. kronfeld Janice beck nelson levy, Ph.D, M.D. susan belgrad kathryn lipuma Thank you again for your continued support. Each season we look forward to lorry borowitz Jennifer litowitz taking you on new and adventurous journey, and Travels with my aunt will certainly amy Pope brock Thomas Mann be a lively stop along the way. Deborah Cogan lorel McMillan sara Cohan Christine Pompizzi Sincerely, Howard Conant, Jr. Mary Pat studdert Michael Halberstam Yelena Vayner linda Havlin Pam Phillips weston avril klaff Kate Michael 2 Travels wiTh my aunT: On Stage Travels wiTh my aunT: On Stage 3 Travels With My Aunt byR g aHaM gReene ADAPTED FOr THE STAGE BY gIles HaVeRgal DIrECTED BY ASSOCIATE ArTISTIC DIrECTOr sTuaRT CaRDen November 9, 2010 – March 27, 2011 | Performed at 664 vernon avenue Henry Pulling, a mild-mannered retired banker, leads a quiet life tending his beloved dahlias and never strays too far from his Southwood, England home. But when his eccentric and outrageous Aunt Augusta suddenly appears in his life with mysterious information about his past, Henry is drawn from the safety of his flower beds into a series of exotic international adventures. Henry, Aunt Augusta and more than 25 of the characters they meet along the way are brilliantly and inventively portrayed by just four actors who switch identities, nationalities, ages and genders in this exciting theatrical escapade. Adapted from the celebrated novel by Graham Greene, Travels with my aunt takes you on an irreverent, often hilarious and absolutely unforgettable adventure. THE CAST: lasHawn banks, sean foRTunaTo, JoHn HoogenakkeR AND JeReMY sHeR SCENIC DESIGN: bRIan sIDneY beMbRIDge LIGHTING DESIGN: Jesse klug COSTUME DESIGN: JaCquelIne fIRkIns SOUND DESIGN: MIkHaIl fIksel PrOPErTY DESIGN: nICk HeggesTaD STAGE MANAGEMENT: RebeCCa PeCHTeR Corporate Production sponsor This program is partially supported by a grant from the illinois arts Council, a state agency. 4 Travels wiTh my aunT: On Stage Travels wiTh my aunT: On Stage 5 G RAHAM GREENE: L ITERARY LEGEND BY bobbY kennedy, Producing assistant/literary associate Graham Greene was the greatest and school. ruthlessly bullied and perpetually most popular English novelist of his an outcast, his experience was so generation. His rich oeuvre, fondly traumatic that he attempted suicide referred to by fans as “Greeneland,” numerous times. At age 16 his parents immaculately captures mid-20th sent him to a psychoanalyst who century life and continues to thrill opened Greene up to his emotions and readers with its impeccably incisive yet kindled his love of literature. humbly heartfelt character portrayals, all topped off by a boundless sense of adventure. Inn HeRe TlY CIneMaTIC, Henry Graham Greene was born October 2, 1904 in Berkhamsted, HIS STOrIES HAVE England. His father was Headmaster BEEN CONTINUOUSLY at Berkhamsted School and at the ADAPTED INTO FILMS age of 13, Greene would leave his sheltered home for the boarding 6 Travels wiTh my aunT: On Stage Travels wiTh my aunT: On Stage 7 Greene excelled upon returning to gems—1948’s The heart of the matter with Catherine Walston—a beautiful school and went on to attend Balliol and 1951’s The end of the affair— the wealthy married woman who converted Gr EENE WAS College at Oxford University. In books prominently feature Catholic to Catholicism because of the author’s A PrOLIFIC addition to publishing a volume of themes and characters, even though books, even going so far as to ask him poetry (Babbling april, which sold Greene insisted he was not a Catholic to be her godfather—would ultimately PHILANDErEr, poorly), he founded the Mantichorean writer; rather, he merely considered lead to his separation from Vivien. Society, whose secretive antics around himself a writer who happened to be Despite the many affairs perpetuated bu T neVeR campus would live on in the espionage Catholic. A testament to their lasting throughout his lifetime, Greene never plots of his future novels. After impact, Time magazine included both divorced his wife or remarried. wITHouT graduating, he worked as a trainee The Power and the Glory and The heart with the nottingham Journal before of the matter on its 2005 list of “The Second only to his love for writing ReMoRse becoming a sub-editor for The Times 100 Best English-language Novels was Greene’s penchant for travel. classification suggests that Greene in London. The monotony of journalism From 1923 to the Present.” Beginning with an expedition to Sierra had finally come to accept that his Leone and Liberia in 1935, the novelist entertainments were just as significant Inherently cinematic, his stories have traversed the globe over the course of Travels wiTh my aunT as his novels. Never again would he been continuously adapted into films, his life. He often documented his trips, release a book labeled an entertainment, IS UNIQUE IN THAT including Our man in havana (with a as he did with West Africa in Journey and in the Collected edition of Greene’s GrEENE LABELED IT A 1959 film adaptation starring Alec without maps and Mexico in The works all are referred to as novels. NOVEL, rATHEr THAN Guinness) and The Quiet american lawless roads. Later travels took him (first adapted in 1958 and again in to West Africa again (for the British Greene died in 1991 at the age of 86 AN ENTErTAINMENT, 2002, the latter earning actor Michael Secret Intelligence Service during after his life spanned almost the entire Caine an Oscar nomination). Greene’s World War II), Anacapri, Italy (where DesPITe ITs lIgHTeR 20th century. The legacy he left behind own