Next Theatre Company Concludes Season With AFTER THE REVOLUTION, Opening 4/5

Next Theatre Company will present the Midwest premiere of Amy Herzog's After the Revolution, directed by Kimberly Senior, April 5 – May 13, 2012, at Noyes Cultural Arts Center, 927 Noyes Street. Previews are April 5 - 8 and the opening/press night is Tuesday, April 10 at 7 p.m. The performance schedule is Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m.

There are 4 p.m. Saturday performances April 21 and 28 and May 5 and 12. The Thursday, April 26 performance is a Gala performance that includes silent auction, refreshments and appetizers with the performance. Gala tickets are $150 for non-subscribers. For more information on the Gala, please call 847-475-1875 ext. 2. Tickets are $25 - $40 with subscriber and student discounts available. Tickets may be purchased at nexttheatre.org or by calling 847-475-1875 x2.

As Amy Herzog's After the Revolution begins, we find the Joseph family celebrating the graduation of Emma Joseph from law school. The young, brilliant Emma Joseph proudly carries the torch of her family's Marxist tradition by devoting her life to the memory of her famously blacklisted grandfather. When history reveals a shocking truth about the man himself, the entire family is forced to confront questions of honesty and an allegiance they thought had been long resolved. After The Revolution is a bold and hilariously moving portrait of an American family forced to reconcile a thorny and delicate legacy.

The cast includes Dana Black, Tasha Ann James, Mike Nussbaum, Marvin Quijada, Phil Ridarelli, Christine Stulik, Mary Ann Thebus and Mick Weber. The production team is made up of set design: Keith Pitts, lighting design: Heather Gilbert, costume design: Elizabeth Flauto and sound design: Chris Kriz.

 ABOUT Amy Herzog

Amy Herzog received the 2008 Helen Merrill Award for Aspiring Playwrights. Her plays have been produced at Playwrights Horizons, Ensemble Studio Theater, American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, The Williamstown Theater Festival, The Actors Theatre of Louisville and the Yale School of Drama; she has had readings and workshops at Manhattan Theater Club, New York Stage and Film, Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., The Black Dahlia in Los Angeles, The Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre, and the Juilliard School, among others.  Herzog is an alumna of Youngblood at Ensemble Studio Theater, a member of the Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab, a Fellow at The Playwrights' Realm, and the Playwright in Residence at Ars Nova. She teaches Playwriting at Bryn Mawr College. MFA in Playwriting, Yale School of Drama. 

ABOUT Kimberly Senior

Next Artistic Associate Kimberly Senior has earned her place among Chicago's top directors by putting vibrant new spins on classic texts (Strawdog's sold-out run of Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard) or bringing dangerous intimacy to taut thrillers (Redtwist's award-winning The Pillowman). Senior has worked professionally in Chicago in a variety of positions for more than 15 years and returns to Next after directing Madagascar, The Overwhelming, and The Busy World is Hushed. At Strawdog where she is also an artistic associate, she has directed The Conquest of the South Pole, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters, Fuddy Meers, and Knives in Hens. Additional Chicago credits include: The North Plan (Steppenwolf), Bad Dates and Mouse Cop (Fox Valley Repertory), Bug and Cripple of Inishmaan (Redtwist Theatre), Thieves Like Us (The House Theatre), All My Sons and Dolly West's Kitchen (TimeLine Theatre) among others.  Regional: A Few Good Men (Peninsula Players), Mauritius (Theatre Squared, Fayetteville, AR). Upcoming: Waiting for Lefty (American Blues), Old Times (Strawdog), Want (Steppenwolf), Moonlight and Magnolias (Fox Valley) and The North Plan (Theater Wit). Senior is also an artistic associate at Chicago Dramatists. She is on the faculty of Columbia College Chicago (2010 Excellence in Teaching Award Winner). Senior lives in Evanston with scenic designer, Jack Magaw, and her children, Noah and Delaney, and is a proud member of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.

SUNDAY TALKBACKS

Every 2 p.m. Sunday matinee during the season is followed by a discussion with the artistic staff and artists involved in the production, as well as special guests familiar with the topic to be discussed.

Next Theatre Company produces socially provocative, artistically adventurous work. It is Next's vision to become a national destination for audiences and artists who share this vision that theatre can promote awareness and provoke change with more power than any other medium of expression.

Since its founding in 1981 by Harriet Spizziri and Brian Finn, the 167-seat space has been home to over a hundred productions, serving nearly a quarter of a million theatergoers and winning Jeff Awards in nearly every category. The theatre's adventurous spirit and great conviction prompted Richard Christiansen of the Chicago Tribune to announce that Next is "a resounding reaffirmation of what faith, dedication and talent can accomplish. It is what distinguished Chicago theatre in its Early Stages more than a quarter century ago, and it is what continues to make Chicago theatre so exciting."

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