Next Theatre Company to Open 33rd Season with COMPULSION, Begin. 10/10

Next Theatre Company announces the first production in their 33rd season, Rinne Groff's Compulsion, October 10 - November 17, directed by Devon de Mayo, at Noyes Cultural Arts Center, 927 Noyes Street. Previews are Thursday, Oct. 10 at 7:30 p.m., Friday, Oct. 11 at 8 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 12 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 13 at 2 p.m. Opening Night is Tuesday, Oct. 15 at 7 p.m. The performance schedule is Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. There are Saturday 4 p.m. performances October 27 and November 3, 10 and 17. Preview tickets are $25, Tickets are $30 - $40 with subscriber and student discounts available. Tickets may be purchased at nexttheatre.org or by calling 847-475-1875 x2.

It is 1951 and Sid Silver is on a mission to be the guardian of one of the most moving and provocative accounts of the 20th century. Inspired by the true story of Meyer Levin and his obsession with Anne Frank's diary, Compulsion uses complex and inventive storytelling, including puppetry, to explore the lengths that one man (Mick Weber*) will go to honor Anne Frank's powerful and enduring legacy. The San Francisco Chronicle declares Compulsion "a compelling foray along a thin line between idealism and fanaticism."

Devon de Mayo, director of the 2012 - 2013 season's hit production Everything Is Illuminated returns to bring this compelling and complex tale of passion and obsession to the Next stage.

Additional cast includes: Artistic Director Jenny Avery and John Byrnes.

The production team is made up of Grant Sabin (set design), Heather Gilbert (lighting design), Mieka Vanderploeg (costume design), Kevin O'Donnell (sound design/composition) and Eileen Rozycki (prop design).

*Indicates a member of Actors' Equity.

ABOUT Rinne Groff, playwright

Rinne Groff is a playwright and performer. Her plays, including Jimmy Carter was a Democrat, Orange Lemon Egg Canary, Inky, The Five Hysterical Girls Theorem and The Ruby Sunrise, have been produced by The Public Theater, Trinity Rep, Actors Theatre of Louisville, PS122, Target Margin, Clubbed Thumb and Andy's Summer Playhouse, among others. Groff is a founding member of Elevator Repair Service Theater Company and has been a part of the writing, staging, and performing of their shows, both in the U.S. and on European tour, since the company's inception in 1991. A recipient of the Whiting Writers Award and a Guggenheim Fellowship, Groff was trained at Yale University and New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.

ABOUT DEVON DE MAYO, director

De Mayo is a founder and associate artistic director of Dog & Pony Theatre Company. She recently directed Everything Is Illuminated at Next, The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabler and devised and directed As Told by the Vivian Girls (which won three After Dark Awards and an Orgie Award for Outstanding Production) for Dog & Pony. Her directing credits include: Constriction (Collaboraction Theatre, Sketchbook); 2nd Story (Serendipity Theatre); A Matter of Life and Death, Pool (No Water), Nights at the Circus, The World Over (NHSI - Northwestern University); 52 (Canal Café Theatre, London), Ohio, Impromptu (Studio 7, London), The Spider (Indonesian Institute for the Arts), and Clouds (Dog & Pony). Assistant directing includes: Lady With all the Answers (Northlight), Fahrenheit 451 (Steppenwolf), and The Altruists (Mary-Arrchie).

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.

ABOUT Next Theatre Company

Next Theatre Company produces socially provocative, artistically adventurous work. It is Next's vision to become a 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 140-seat space has been home to over a hundred productions, serving nearly a quarter of a million theatregoers 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."

Next Theatre serves more than 10,000 patrons annually, including students, elderly and everyone in between. The Next audience includes locAl Evanstonians as well as Chicago and North Shore residents, and they have come to expect artistic excellence in the pursuit of culturally progressive work.

The Next Theatre is located inside the Noyes Cultural Arts Center in Evanston, adjoining the Noyes street stop on the Evanston "el." Parking is available in the lot adjacent to the theatre and at the Evanston Civic Center.

Next Theatre Box Office hours are from 12 - 6 p.m. weekdays and two hours prior to curtain. All tickets are held at will-call until pick-up on the day of performance, unless the tickets have been purchased in person.

Next Theatre Company presents Rinne Groff's Compulsion, October 10 - November 17, directed by Devon de Mayo, at Noyes Cultural Arts Center, 927 Noyes Street. Previews are Thursday, Oct. 10 at 7:30 p.m., Friday, Oct. 11 at 8 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 12 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 13 at 2 p.m. Opening Night is Tuesday, Oct. 15 at

7 p.m. The performance schedule is Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. There are Saturday 4 p.m. performances October 27 and November 3, 10 and 17. Preview tickets are $25. Tickets are $30 - $40 with subscriber and student discounts are available. Tickets may be purchased at nexttheatre.org or by calling 847-475-1875 x2.

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