Chicago Shakespeare Theater Presents One Thousand and One Nights

From the pulsating heart of the Arabic-speaking world, Chicago Shakespeare Theater's (CST) World's Stage Series presentation of a spectacular retelling of One Thousand and One Nights kicks off the Theater's 25th Anniversary Season from June 25 to July 3, 2011. The production features an international company of actors, musicians and designers?from the North African countries of Algeria and Morocco to Egypt and across the Mediterranean to Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq. Shahrazad's breathtaking, never-ending tales are brought to life with dazzling movement and music in this two-part epic theatrical event, which is currently in development in Fez, Morocco, and makes its US premiere at CST. Acclaimed director Tim Supple returns to CST's World's Stage with this Dash Arts production following his enchanting Indian A Midsummer Night's Dream, another international collaboration that played to sold-out houses across India, the United Kingdom, Australia and North America. Featuring stories adapted by acclaimed Lebanese novelist Hanan al-Shaykh and presented in Arabic, French and English with projectEd English translation, One Thousand and One Nights comes to Chicago Shakespeare following its presentation at Luminato, Toronto Festival of Arts and Creativity, which commissioned the new work. Tickets for One Thousand and One Nights in CST's Courtyard Theater from June 25 to July 3, 2011, are $130, which includes Parts 1 and 2. The production includes some mature content, and may contain depictions of violence and brief nudity. All patrons receive a 40% parking discount at Navy Pier garages. For more information or to purchase tickets, contact Chicago Shakespeare Theater's Box Office at 312.595.5600 or visit the Theater's website at www.chicagoshakes.com/nights.

"I'm thrilled to be returning to the Chicago Shakespeare Theater, especially as part of such a special anniversary season," said Tim Supple, who is currently rehearsing with the cast of One Thousand and One Nights in Fez, Morocco. "Reaching this stage is a milestone in itself?the result of several years of searching the Arabic-speaking world for the right artists to create this epic event with me. I know from my time at CST with the Indian Dream in 2008 that we will be warmly welcomed by the remarkable audiences and benefit from the expertise and ambition of the Theater's team."

Written over many years by Arabic writers from tales gathered in India, Persia and across the great Arab Empire, the stories of Alf Layla wa Layla (One Thousand and One Nights) found their way out of the tea shops and courtyards of the East and into the libraries, theaters and cinemas of the West?known primarily as the Arabian Nights. However, a great many of the stories and truths of the original have been historically neglected by Western culture. This new, revelatory production of One Thousand and One Nights mines the hidden character of the original Arabic tales, as adapted by acclaimed Lebanese novelist Hanan al-Shaykh. Explicit, erotic, violent and complex, the stories are wholly unlike the tales of the Arabian Nights adapted for children in the West. Extensive research trips for One Thousand and One Nights took place all over the Arabic world: Damascus, Cairo, Beirut, Baghdad, Tunis, Algiers, Marrakesh, Tehran, Delhi and other important centers in North Africa, the Near East and Iran.

Tim Supple has directed and adapted theater and opera throughout the UK and in Europe, North and South America and the Middle and Far East. He is the past artistic director of London's Young Vic, where he staged numerous productions, including A Servant to Two Masters (national/ international tour and London's West End), Grimm Tales (international tour) and More Grimm Tales (Broadway). His work with London's National Theatre includes the national tours of Billy Liar and the Olivier Award-nominated Accidental Death of an Anarchist. Supple launched Dash Arts in 2005 with Josephine Burton to create new performance in collaboration with artists from abroad. His work for Dash Arts includes What We Did to Weinstein (Menier Chocolate Factory, 2005), As You Like It (Leicester Curve, 2009) and A Midsummer Night's Dream, commissioned by the British Council and created in India (2006-2008). An international success known widely as The Indian Dream, the production subsequently completed two tours of India and extensive international tours of the UK, Australia and North America, including a highly acclaimed stop at Chicago Shakespeare Theater as part of CST's 2008 World's Stage Series.

Born in Lebanon and raised in Beirut, Hanan al-Shaykh's most recent novel, Only in London, was shortlisted for The Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. She was educated in Cairo and wrote her first novel there at the age of 19 before returning to Beirut to work as a journalist for Al-Nahar newspaper's Al Hasna Magazine. As a writer, al-Shaykh addresses issues of strict upbringings, traditional and closed societies, religious taboos, sex and politics?topics that have been largely forbidden territory for Arab writers, particularly women. In 1975, al-Shaykh left Beirut because of civil war and moved to the Arabian Gulf, dividing her time between London and the Gulf States for nine years before ultimately settling in London. Although her novels were initially banned in many Arab countries for their sexual explicitness, al-Shaykh's work has been translated from Arabic into 16 languages and is now published around the world. She is frequently invited to lecture at universities in the U.S. and is widely regarded as one of the foremost experts on Arab womanhood.

Creative team members joining Supple and al-Shaykh for One Thousand and One Nights include Set Designer Oum Keltoum Belkassi, Costume Designer Zolaykha Sherzad, Lighting Designer Sabri El Atrous, Music Directors Ahmed Elsawy and Bastien Lagatta, Sound Designer John Gzowski, Movement Director Imen Smaoui and Assistant Director Sophie Austin.

The ensemble of One Thousand and One Nights includes Ahmad Mahmoud Hamdy Elsawy Aly (Egypt), Mohamed Samy Taha Aly Abdelrahman (Egypt), Eslam Eissa Abdelbaset Eissa (Egypt), Mohamed Breaka Ali Elsaied (Egypt), Nanda Mohamed (Syria), Amal Omran (Syria), Jamal Chkair (Syria), Saad Al Ghefari (Syria), Ammar Taha Haj Ahmad (Syria), Hend Zouari (Tunisia), Adila Bendimerad (Algeria), Abdelhalim Zreiby (Algeria), Laith Faisal Ali Suleiman (Jordan), Hajar Graigaa (Morocco), Rachid El Adouani (Morocco), Said Bey (Morocco), Fatima Zohra Lahouitar (Morocco), Falah Ibrahim Flayyih Daraji (Iraq), Bastien Lagatta (France), Ava Farhang (France), Ramzi Choukair (Lebanon), Assaad Bouab (France), Tewfik Ali Jallab (France) and Houda Elsokari (United Kingdom).

For more information about One Thousand and One Nights, please visit Chicago Shakespeare Theater's website at www.chicagoshakes.com/nights.

About the World's Stage Series

Chicago Shakespeare Theater's World's Stage Series gives Chicagoans the unique opportunity to experience different cultural and artistic traditions and some of the world's finest productions without leaving home. In curating the World's Stage, CST takes its cue from Shakespeare's high mark of quality and from the eclectic diversity of Europe's touring circuit, joining an international community of creative exchange. Since the inception of the series in 2000, CST has hosted over 20 iconic troupes, including The Abbey Theatre (Dublin), Shakespeare's Globe Theatre (London), the Chekhov InterNational Theatre Festival (Moscow) and La Comédie-Française (Paris). The works presented by these companies range from intimate one-man works like South African Omphile Molusi's Itsoseng to grand spectacles like the French troupe Ilotopie's Water Fools (Fous de Bassin), performed atop the waters of Lake Michigan. Chicago Shakespeare Theater has contributed to this exciting international exchange by sending some of its best works abroad, including the Olivier Award-winning production of Stephen Sondheim's Pacific Overtures (2003), Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2, which marked CST's debut at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-Upon-Avon (2006) and Funk It Up About Nothin', which garnered acclaim at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe (2008) and completed a six-week tour of Australia this year before making its London debut at Theatre Royal Stratford East.

About Chicago Shakespeare Theater

Recipient of the 2008 Regional Theatre Tony Award, Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) offers a broad spectrum of theatrical experiences year-round, engaging and entertaining audiences from all walks of life and from around the world. CST has garnered acclaim under the leadership of Artistic Director Barbara Gaines and Executive Director Criss Henderson, including 55 Joseph Jefferson Awards and three Laurence Olivier Awards. The Theater has experienced record growth since moving to its current, state-of-the-art facility on Navy Pier in 1999, and will celebrate its 25th Anniversary next season.

The 38-play canon of William Shakespeare forms the core of CST's work and Subscription Series, complemented by other dramatic works-from traditional classical theater to new classics that resonate with Shakespeare's timeless insights into the human condition. Through a 48-week season encompassing more than 600 performances, Chicago Shakespeare leads the community as the largest employer of Chicago actors. CST also contributes to an international community of creative exchange through its World's Stage Series, which affords Chicago audiences prime opportunities to experience the cultural and artistic traditions of some of the world's iconic theater troupes as well as sending some of CST's best works abroad. Chicago Shakespeare is committed to making theater an expansive, ever-changing and lifelong relationship. For family audiences, CST Family presents abridged Shakespeare productions, timeless fables and fairy tales, interactive music concerts and world-premiere musical theater created with families in mind. CST's education outreach program, Team Shakespeare, has served over 1 million students and teachers throughout the Midwest, introducing Shakespeare's legacy to a new generation.

 

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