Court Theatre Revises Events in 2020/21 Season In Response to Ongoing Pandemic

Court Theatre has announced further revisions to its 2020/21 Season in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and continuing restrictions on public gatherings. The newly-revised season has Court postponing its production of August Wilson's Two Trains Running and pushing back dates of Owen McCafferty's Titanic (Scenes from the British Wreck Commissioner's Inquiry, 1912) and Shakespeare's Othello. If public health conditions allow, Court will offer limited in-person viewership for Titanic and Othello, with digital access provided for patrons who do not yet wish to attend in person. In addition, Court will offer on-demand digital viewing of their critically acclaimed production An Iliad, by Lisa Peterson and Denis O'Hare. Court is also announcing the free Chicagoland premiere of Theatre for One: Here We Are, a series of digital microplays written, directed, and starring an array of BIPOC artists and designed to be experienced one-on-one.

"While the coronavirus pandemic continues to pose unique challenges to live performance, Court Theatre remains steadfast in its goal to offer intellectually rigorous artistic experiences to our patrons," says Charles Newell, Marilyn F. Vitale Artistic Director. "Our newly-revised season offers patrons several new ways to engage with theatrical narratives while we wait for the widespread rollout of a COVID-19 vaccine."

"COVID-19 has necessitated tough programming decisions in the interest of keeping our patrons, artists, and staff safe," says Angel Ysaguirre, Executive Director of Court Theatre. "I'm optimistic about the unparalleled access our digital and hybrid programs offer, as online programming continues to provide the opportunity to engage with our work regardless of a patron's schedule or geographic location."

The previously announced production of Two Trains Running has been postponed and will be produced in a future season.

The Revised 2020/21 Court Theatre Season up close:

From the Archives:

AN ILIAD, the site-specific production filmed at the Oriental Institute

by Lisa Peterson and Denis O'Hare, based on Homer's The Iliad
translated by Robert Fagles, directed by Charles Newell

available for digital viewing March 3 - March 31, 2021

Remounted three times across Court's history, An Iliad continues to showcase the power of classic theatre to speak to our current moment. Interrogate how rage and division reverberate throughout civilization in this streaming release of our limited-engagement, site-specific production of An Iliad at the Oriental Institute. The production takes audiences on a journey through ancient societies and cultural artifacts in a thrillingly visceral performance. This professionally-captured, multi-camera stream of the play allows you to experience this one-of-a-kind production at home, which Rick and Brenda McCain of Chicago Now hailed as "a superb collaboration of theater and history in a site-specific platform that is sure to bring chills to the historian that resides in all humanity."

THEATRE FOR ONE: HERE WE ARE

Creator and Artistic Director: Christine Jones

Co-Artistic Director for Here We Are: Jenny Koons

Platform Programing and Design by Open Ended Group-Marc Downie and Paul Kaiser

Produced by Octopus Theatricals-Mara Isaacs, Executive/Creative Producer

Plays:

Before America Was America by DeLanna Studi

Here We Are by Nikkole Salter

What Are The Things I Need To Remember by Lynn Nottage

whiterly negotiations by Lydia R. Diamond

Vote! (the black album) by Regina Taylor

Pandemic Fight by Carmelita Tropicana

Thank You For Coming. Take Care. by Stacey Rose

Thank You Letter by Jaclyn Backhaus

Preview Performances: February 18 and 19, 2021
Press Opening: February 20, 2021 matinee
Regular Run: February 20, 2021 - March 14, 2021

Theatre For One: Here We Are is a live digital theatrical experience that brings together one actor and one audience member featuring eight new microplays that speak to these times we are in.a??A laugh shared with a stranger, a world created by imagination, a soul nourished through storytelling: these are things only theater can accomplish. Following its critically acclaimed run in New York, Court Theatre brings these eight stories to life with Chicago actors to offer audiences a deeply personal theatrical experience.

TITANIC (SCENES FROM THE BRITISH WRECK COMMISSIONER'S INQUIRY, 1912)

by Owen McCafferty
Directed by Vanessa Stalling
Preview Performances: April 29, 2021 - May 7, 2021
Press Opening: May 8, 2021
Regular Run: May 9 - May 30, 2021

A digital version will be available to stream for patrons who do not yet wish to attend in person.

The sinking of the RMS Titanic has long been studied for its historical significance and unmistakable hubris. A survivors' story fraught with intrigue, Owen McCafferty's Titanic (Scenes from the British Wreck Commissioner's Inquiry, 1912) tells the story using verbatim testimonies from witnesses of the wreck. What emerges is a startling portrait of class, chaos, and moral ambiguity. Vanessa Stalling (Jeff Award-winning director of Photograph 51 and United Flight 232) brings her singular artistry to McCafferty's text. Leveraging audio technology, she and her team will create an expansive soundscape that allows the testimonies of each individual to resonate with audiences through a heightened, visceral experience that pushes the boundaries of design and theatrical performance.

OTHELLO

by William Shakespeare

Adapted and Directed by Charles Newell

with Associate Director Gabrielle Randle-Bent

Preview Performances: July 8 - July 16, 2021

Press Opening: July 17, 2021

Regular Run: July 18, 2021 - August 8, 2021

A digital version will be available to stream for patrons who do not yet wish to attend in person.

Othello, the great Venetian general, unknowingly seals his fate when he fails to select his standard-bearer, Iago, for a military promotion. When his wife, Desdemona, is implicated in an affair, Othello is faced with a series of irreversible events that spell catastrophe for him and his country. Kelvin Roston, Jr. (Oedipus Rex, King Hedley II) returns to Court to star in this intimate new take on Shakespeare's complex tragedy about jealousy, ego, and betrayal. Marilyn F. Vitale Artistic Director Charles Newell and his team will rigorously interrogate how identity is constructed along personal, racial, and political lines.

Subscription and Ticket Information

Court's Box Office will email ticket holders and subscribers to discuss how these changes impact them. Individual event tickets will be on sale soon. To purchase a subscription or receive more information, call the Court Theatre Box Office at (773) 753-4472, or visit Court's website at CourtTheatre.org.

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