MARITUS By Theresa Rebeck Comes To Northlight Theater

Artistic Director BJ Jones and Executive Director Timothy J. Evans announce the Chicago Premiere of Mauritius by Theresa Rebeck, directed by Rick Snyder. The production, featuring Anne Adams, Lance Baker, Gary Houston, Dan Kuhlman and Suzanne Lang runs February 25- April 5, 2009 at Northlight Theatre, 9501 Skokie Blvd in Skokie. The press performance is Thursday, March 5, 2009, at 7:30 p.m.

The stakes are high when half-sisters inherit a book of rare stamps that may include the "crown jewel" of the stamp-collecting world. The battle for possession takes a dangerous turn when three rival collectors enter the sisters' world, willing to go to any lengths to stake their claim on the find.
Named one of Time Magazine's "Top Ten Plays of 2007," Mauritius is a gripping blend of sharp comedy and heart-pounding drama that combines the best aspects of Hitchcock, Chandler and Mamet. Mauritius was written by the Pulitzer Prize nominated author of Omnium Gatherum and The Scene.

"Mauritius is gritty and explosive-two words I never thought I would use to describe the most erudite of hobbies, stamp collecting," says Artistic Director BJ Jones. Set in the unusual world of philately, the practice of stamp studying and collecting, Mauritius is a terrific potboiler, examining familial competition, greed, and personal integrity. Rick Snyder, an original Steppenwolf ensemble member, makes his Northlight directing debut with Mauritius, giving this recent Broadway hit the pungent kick that only a Chicago theatre artist can provide."

The cast includes Anne Adams, Lance Baker, Gary Houston, Dan Kuhlman and Suzanne Lang.

The design team includes Tom Birch (set), Nan Zabriske (Costume), Robert Christen (lighting), Andrew Hansen (sound) and Dan Katz (props). The fight consultant is Joe Dempsey. Rita Vreeland is the stage manager and the dramaturg is Meghan Beals McCarthy.
Theresa Rebeck (playwright) recently made her Broadway debut at the Biltmore Theatre with Mauritius, a co-production of the Manhattan Theatre Club and the Huntington Theatre Company. Past New York productions include The Scene, The Water's Edge, Spike Heels, Loose Knit and The Family of Mann at Second Stage; Bad Dates and The Butterfly Collection at Playwrights Horizons; and View of the Dome at New York Theatre Workshop. Omnium Gatherum (co-written with Alexandra Gersten-Vassilaros, and finalist for the Pulitzer Prize) was featured at the Humana Festival 2003, and had a commercial run at the Variety Arts. Publications include Collected Plays and Free Fire Zone, a book of comedic essays about writing and show business (all by Smith and Kraus). Her first novel, Three Sisters and Their Brother, was published by Shaye Areheart Books, a division of Random House. In television, Rebeck has written for Dream On, Brooklyn Bridge, L.A. Law, Maximum Bob, First Wave, Third Watch, and NYPD Blue, where she also worked as a producer. Produced features include Harriet the Spy, Gossip, and the independent feature Sunday on the Rocks. Awards include the Mystery Writer's of America's Edgar Award, the Writer's Guild of America award for Episodic Drama, the Hispanic Images Imagen Award, and the Peabody, all for her work on NYPD Blue. She has been a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn prize twice, won The National Theatre Conference Award (for The Family of Mann), and was awarded the William Inge New Voices Playwriting Award in 2003. Rebeck holds a PhD. from Brandeis University in Victorian Melodrama. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband Jess Lynn and two children, Cooper and Cleo.

Rick Snyder (director) most recently directed Men of Tortuga at Profiles Theatre, The Lion in Winter at Writers' Theatre, The Actor at the Goodman Theatre and Aristocrats at Strawdog Theatre. He directed Art, which opens in February at Steppenwolf Theatre Company. Other recent directing credits include Betrayal at Steppenwolf, Jolly and The Disappearance of the Jews at the Goodman, St. Scarlet at ATC, Bus Stop at Writers' Theatre and Last of the Boys at Steppenwolf. Other directing credits at Steppenwolf include Tavern Story, Things Being What They Are, Orange Flower Water (which traveled to the Galway Arts Festival), and The Fall to Earth. As an actor, Rick recently appeared in August: Osage County and The Unmentionables at Steppenwolf Theatre as well as Man From Nebraska and I Never Sang For My Father. Other Steppenwolf Theatre productions include Wedding Band, Time of your Life, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in London and on Broadway, and Sideman in Galway, Ireland. David Copperfield, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, Slaughterhouse Five, Molly Sweeney, Picasso at the Lapin Agile, the Tony Award-winning Grapes of Wrath, The Road to Nirvana, and A Walk in the Woods. He has appeared at the Goodman Theatre in As You Like It, Down the Shore and as Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol. At Northlight Theatre he appeared in Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf and The Rear Column. Television credits include Crime Story, First Steps, Lady Blue, Legacy of Lies, The Woman Who Loved Elvis, Overexposed, and guest starring roles on Early Edition, Profiler, Chicago Hope, Angel Street, The Untouchables, Missing Persons, and Mind of the Married Man. Rick has appeared in the films Meet the Applegates, The Tuskegee Airmen, Alien Nation Millennium, The Net starring Sandra Bullock, Whiteboys, and Soul Survivors. He appeared in The Human Stain and as agent Frank Burrows in U.S. Marshals. Rick has taught acting classes at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, MN, as well as advanced acting class at Northwestern University and DePaul. He currently teaches at Columbia College in Chicago. Rick has been a member of the Steppenwolf ensemble since 1983, and an instructor for The School at Steppenwolf and Associate Artist at Steppenwolf for the last ten years
Anne Adams (Jackie) has appeared in Cherry Orchard and Carter's Way (Steppenwolf); This Our Youth, Imagining Brad, and Life and Limb (Pine Box Theatre); Orange Lemon Egg Canary (Uma Productions); The House of Bernarda Alba (Greasy Joan) and BottleCanDraft and Can You Spot Me? (Sandbox Theatre Project). Anne made her directing debut with Paula Vogel's Hot N' Throbbing for Pine Box Theatre, and this spring will be directing The Revenants by Scott T. Barsotti with WildClaw Theatre, for which she serves as casting director.

Lance Baker (Sterling) returns to Northlight, where he last appeared in the world premiere of Craig Wright's Lady. He was most recently seen in Amadeus at Chicago Shakespeare; A Steady Rain for Chicago Dramatists; A Park in Our House, I Sailed with Magellan, and Young Lady from Rwanda at Victory Gardens; Thom Pain (based on nothing) (Jeff Award - Solo Performance) and Santaland Diaries for Theater Wit; Ionesco's Hunger and Thirst and The Grey Zone at A Red Orchid; Dollhouse and Lobby Hero at Goodman (both Jeff nominated); Thyestes, Travesties (Jeff nomination), The Importance of Being Earnest, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf at Court; No Place like Home at Steppenwolf; Nocturne for Naked Eye; This Is Our Youth (After Dark Award), Dealer's Choice (Jeff nomination), and Ecstasy with Roadworks. Directing credits include the world premiere of Brett Neveu's The Earl, and the Chicago premiere of A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant, both at A Red Orchid.

Gary Houston (Philip) appeared in Northlight's Free Advice from Prague, Dealing, The White Plague and Belmont Avenue Social Club. He was last onstage in Permanent Collection at Lansing's BoarsHead Theater, where he had acted in Voice of Good Hope (directed by the author, Kristine Thatcher) and Mrs. Warren's Profession. Last year he played Serebriakov in TUTA Chicago's Uncle Vanya, a production slated for revival not long after the closing of this show. Other roles: Roger in the world premiere of Grease (Kingston Mines Theater Co.), Saul Alinsky in The Love Song of Saul Alinsky (Terrapin), Nelson Algren in Nelson & Simone (Live Bait), Prospero in The Tempest (European Repertory), George Pullman in American Enterprise (Organic), McCue in The Front Page (Goodman), Wilson in Free Man of Color (Victory Gardens), Chris in Anna Christie (Albuquerque's Fusion Theater), Pitman in Unchanging Love (The Artistic Home). Film credits include: Watchmen, Eagle Eye, The Express, Proof, Fargo, The Blues Brothers, Hoffa, Class, The Astronaut Farmer, Major League, Raw Deal and others.

Dan Kuhlman (Dennis) is a proud alumnus of Carnegie Mellon University's School of Drama. Over the past eight years he has worked extensively in Chicago's theater, independent film, and improv communities. His theatrical credits include: Famous Door's multi-Jeff Award winning production of The Cider House Rules: Parts I and II, The Fastest Clock in the Universe with A Red Orchid Theatre, The Caretaker and Saved at Mary-Arrchie Theatre, and The Misanthrope with Next Theatre. His film credits include: Crime Fiction, which was an official selection at the Slamdance, Vail, Crossroads and Gen Art film festivals; and Sphinx Productions' The Memoirs of Don Walker, which received high acclaim at The New York Film Festival and Chicago's IndieFest. He is the owner of Breakwall Pictures, which is currently in development of the feature film Helena.

Suzanne Lang (Mary) returns to Northlight Theatre where she was last seen as Charlotte Lucas in Pride and Prejudice and for which she received the Jack Springer Award. Recent theater credits include: The Savannah Disputation, Othello and Bus Stop (Writers' Theatre), A Christmas Carol (Drury Lane Theatre in Oakbrook), The Apple Cart (ShawChicago Theater), The Life and Times of Tulsa Lovechild (CollaborAction/Theatre on the Lake) and The Tempest (the English-American Theatre Festival in Düsseldorf, Germany); as well as performances with Estrogen Fest, Stage Actors' Multicultural Fest, Chicago Dramatists, Brown Couch Theatre Company and The Indiana Shakespeare Company. Film credits include Elsewhere, An Open Door and, most recently, Walter's Wife. Suzanne has an MFA from The Theatre School at DePaul University and is a proud member of Actors' Equity, SAG and AFTRA

Tickets for Mauritius range in price from $25- $55 and are available by phone, 847/673-6300, or online at www.northlight.org. Tickets for the opening night of Mauritius (March 5) will be priced at $75 and will include a post-show reception with the company. The Box Office is located at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, 9501 Skokie Boulevard, in Skokie. Box Office hours are Monday-Friday 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m., and Saturdays 12:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m. On performance days, the box office hours are extended through showtime. The Box Office is closed on Sundays, except on performance days when it is open two hours prior to showtime.

Curtain times are: Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m. (except March 17 and 31).; Wednesdays at 1:00 p.m. (except February 25 and March 4) and 7:30 p.m. (except March 18); Thursdays at 7:30 p.m.; Fridays at 8:00 p.m.; Saturdays at 2:30 p.m. (except February 28) and 8:00 p.m.; Sundays at 2:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. (except March 15, 29 and April 5).

Northlight is supported in part by generous contributions from The Allyn Foundation; the Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation; ComEd, An Exelon Company; Patrick and Anna M. Cudahy Fund; Edgerton Foundation New American Plays Award; Illinois Arts Council, a state agency; The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; National Endowment for the Arts; Northern Trust Charitable Trust; The Pauls Foundation; Polk Bros Foundation; Sanborn Family Foundation; Dr. Scholl Foundation; Tthe Shubert Foundation; the Skokie Fine Arts Commission; the Sullivan Family Foundation; and The Chicago Community Trust.
Northlight continues its 34th season in 2008-09 as the fourth largest non-profit theatre in Chicago. Dedicated to enhancing the cultural life of the North Shore and Chicago, Northlight presents theatrical works which reflect and challenge the values and beliefs of the community it serves while continuing to grow its reputation for launching world premieres, new musicals, classic plays and intelligent dramas.

In its 34-year history, the organization has mounted over 160 productions, including over 33 world premieres, and garnered 140 Joseph Jefferson Award nominations and 24 Awards. As one of the area's premier theatre companies, Northlight is a regional magnet for critical and professional acclaim, as well as talent of the highest quality. For more information on Mauritius and Northlight Theatre, visit www.northlight.org.

 

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